Welcome back to Theological Banquet! We’re in a five-part series inspired by Undivided Love and Rev. Janet Gear’s research, using a banquet metaphor for different faith expressions. Understanding these categories helps us see how people are motivated by faith and even when they disagree with us—all paths are valid.
Last week, we focused on those with ecclesial faith, who find meaning in church traditions, worship, and community—they help sustain the church.
This week’s topic is ecumenical faith, which unites gospel values and social action. Ecumenical believers seek justice and systemic change, inspired by Jesus’ inclusive approach and advocacy. Tey not only support initiatives like the food bank but also question underlying causes such as economic inequality. Their goal is to challenge systems and examine their own contributions to them, adjusting personal behaviour accordingly.
Ecumenicals are driven by hope and anticipate positive change. A person who practises ecumenical faith will bring food for the food bank drive, but they will also want to know why we even need food banks in a country as well-off as ours, and why our resources are so disproportionately distributed. They look at both the larger picture – what is causing this problem, what needs to change to solve it?
And the closer picture – what am I doing in my life, either knowingly or unknowingly, that is contributing to this problem? I might believe that the answer to poverty and hunger is a fair wage for everyone, and advocate for what they call living wages, or lobby for a guaranteed minimum income. So far, so good, right? But if I insist on buying the cheapest food available, much of which is imported, harvested and grown by poorly paid immigrant workers instead of buying locally produced food and eating in season, I’m not living what I’m saying, am I? I’m contributing to the problem. I’m not contributing to local success, local vitality, or local economic power.
Ecumenicals build expertise in social issues, collaborate with others passionate about justice, and remain self-reflective, thinking critically about both societal structures and their own involvement. Common traits include hopeful anticipation, significant knowledge, transformational relationships, and self-awareness. They often work across different communities and prioritize working ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ others, advocating for collaborative change rather than paternalism. Potential challenges include burnout, impatience, exclusivity, and losing sight of broader goals.
They take seriously the words of Micah 6
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?
That’s a very brief snapshot of a longer passage. Micah’s perspective was that of an ordinary rural citizen; he saw firsthand how the wealthy elite in Jerusalem exploited common people.
Micah’s time was marked by:
- Economic injustice: Wealthy landowners were seizing the land of small farmers (Micah 2:1–2).
- Corrupt leadership: Political leaders, priests, and prophets were taking bribes and serving their own interests (Micah 3:9–11).
- Religious hypocrisy: People maintained public worship rituals but ignored the ethical demands of covenant life — justice, mercy, humility.
Micah 6 opens like a courtroom scene: often called a covenant lawsuit, “Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains…” (Micah 6:1) In this passage:
- God acts as the plaintiff, accusing Israel of breaking the covenant.
- The mountains and hills serve as eternal witnesses, having “seen” the covenant between God and Israel.
- God reminds the people of their redemption story; how they were brought out of slavery in Egypt (Micah 6:4–5).
In verses 6–7, the people respond with escalating offers of sacrifice: burnt offerings, thousands of rams, rivers of oil, even the “firstborn.” This builds dramatic irony: they think God wants more religion when what God actually wants is right relationship.
Then comes verse 8: the prophetic punchline:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?
This is not a new law but a summary of the covenant ethic already given in Torah: a distillation of what it means to be God’s people.
Jesus echoed that same kind of message at the beginning of his public ministry in Luke 4, let’s listen to those words now:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
First-century Galilee was under Roman occupation, and local life was shaped by:
- Economic hardship: Heavy taxes from Rome and the temple system left peasants poor and landless.
- Class divides: A small elite controlled wealth, while most people struggled to survive.
- Social and spiritual oppression: People longed for liberation: not only political, but also spiritual, from sin, sickness, and exclusion.
Into this world, Jesus’ words about ‘good news to the poor’ and ‘freedom for the oppressed’ had explosive social and political meaning. They echoed the Jubilee tradition from Leviticus 25: a time every 50 years when debts were forgiven, land was returned, and the enslaved went free. Jesus’ proclamation of ‘the year of the Lord’s favor’ signals the arrival of God’s new order, a reversal of injustice and oppression.
Luke emphasizes the Holy Spirit throughout his Gospel; from Jesus’ conception to his baptism and now his ministry. The Spirit’s anointing signifies divine empowerment for a mission of transformation, not domination.
In Luke, ‘the poor’ are not only the financially destitute but all those marginalized or excluded; the sick, women, Gentiles, and sinners. Jesus’ ministry consistently brings them dignity, healing, and inclusion. Freedom for the captives; this includes both literal and figurative release; liberation from injustice, sin, and social systems that hold people captive. Recovery of sight; physical healing, yes; but also spiritual insight. Seeing as God sees. The Year of the Lord’s Favor; this is Jubilee language; the radical reordering of life under God’s justice.
Initially, the people of Nazareth are amazed at Jesus’ words; but when he continues to suggest that this good news extends beyond Israel (citing Elijah and Elisha aiding foreigners), they turn against him (Luke 4:22–30).This shows how inclusive liberation can threaten established privilege; a theme Luke revisits throughout the Gospel and Acts. These are the kinds of passages that ecumenical, those who feast in the ecumenical bowl of faith, find nourishment.
So, who are those people? They might be folks who organize around community concerns such as Save Dartmouth Cove. They might be folks who contribute money to the Mission and Service Fund, knowing that that money supports partnerships and long-term solutions.
They might be folks who work and volunteer for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. This is what their website says: Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies working together to end global hunger. We work with locally-based organizations in developing countries to meet emergency food needs, achieve long-term solutions to hunger and work to foster informed action by Canadians and governments to support this international cause. Most hunger responses are either short-term emergency projects or longer-term development projects. https://foodgrainsbank.ca/our-work/
I got involved with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank when I participated in Hunger on the Hill a year ago. I spent a week in Ottawa learning about global hunger, what CFB does, and every introverts favourite thing, role playing how to talk to MPs about supporting the Canadian Foodgrains bank. 😉
They are a both/and organization: providing emergency aid, but primarily focused on long-term solutions to global hunger. They are a good example of ecumenicals
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend, we do so in a world where some tables overflow while others are bare. The impulse to give thanks is deep within us, and gratitude is holy work, and gratitude is most authentic when it leads to compassion and justice. To thank God for the harvest while ignoring those who hunger is to miss the heart of Micah’s call ‘to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.’
Thanksgiving invites us not just to say grace, but to live it, to notice who is missing from the feast, and to ask why. In a few days, we’ll also mark World Food Day, a reminder that food security is not a privilege, but a right. Around the globe, the number of people facing hunger continues to rise, not because the earth fails to provide, but because human systems fail to share.
Ecumenical faith refuses to separate gratitude from responsibility. It listens to the cries of creation and the poor, and answers with action: supporting fair wages, local producers, sustainable practices, and organizations like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Mission and Service Fund that work for lasting solutions.
Thanksgiving and World Food Day together call us to a deeper discipleship, one that is grateful and generous, prayerful and practical, faithful and fierce for justice. May our gratitude be more than words; may it be a way of life that seeks, in all things, to feed both body and spirit, and to proclaim with Jesus the year of the Lord’s favor, where all may eat and be satisfied.
Thanks be to God for the challenge and the opportunity, amen.
Micah 6:8
Luke 4:18–19
October 12, 2025 – SJ – Thanksgiving – TB
© Rev. Catherine MacDonald
St. James United Church Dartmouth 