Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Shopping with the Seasons

Published by

Matt Stone

2006-10-14

I have been challenged by the lifestyles of my Pagan friends to review my shopping habits. They practice what’s called “seasonal shopping,” meaning they only buy fruit that is in season. While this keeps them attuned to the natural rhythms of the earth, their primary motivation is practical—it’s a much more environmentally friendly way to consume.

As someone who cares deeply for the Creator’s creation, this has made me reflect on my own lifestyle. Surely this is something Christians should be mindful of too. When I buy fruit out of season, it often means it’s being imported from far across the world, contributing to a significant environmental footprint.

I can already hear objections, like, “Jesus never mentioned this, so why should it matter?” But if we adopted that reasoning, we’d have nothing to say about important modern issues like cloning or abortion. While Jesus didn’t specifically address global warming, His teachings on stewardship and care for creation are clear.

This is an area where I feel prompted to make changes, and I’m committed to exploring where this path will lead me.

Tags Money, Nature, Pagan, Seasons

4 responses to “Shopping with the Seasons”

Jen

2006-10-14

Matt,
I agree. I buy only in season fruit and vege because I get excited when things comes into season, they taste so much better in season, and they are cheaper (student with mortgage)!
I love going to fruit and vege markets and the small local owned green grocer to pick up in-season foods – the two down in Pendo are great.

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Sun Warrior

2006-10-16

Jesus would agree. Just like Himself and the birds, the earth can sustain us indefinitely if we take ‘just enough.’ Respecting life means respecting more than human life, and being thankful for the death that sustains us.
Unfortuately, we are all so disconnected from this principle that withdrawing from our addiction to our lifestyle feels like deprivation, i.e. poverty, which Jesus told us to fight. So we are confused.

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Brendan Stone

2006-10-17

This is something that I have been thinking a lot on recently too.
If you take it one step further, we should be giving preference to food that is grown locally. eg Fruits like mango’s and bananas etc even when ‘in season’ are still travelling great distance by road or air from North Queensland.
My struggle is I’m not sure I want to give up eating some of my favourite fruits, but it is food for thought (so to speak)…

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sally

2006-10-17

Brendan, I think that food miles is a real issue, we have a crazy cabbage story too tell here in rural Norfolk UK , where locally grown cabbages are shipped to Poland, washed, packaged and shipped back again…that is truly crazy, and all the more reason to shop from local farms/ vege stores than from major supermarkets!

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