16 Mar Rice & Beans & Imago Dei, Oh My!

The Woodlawn Home Community is Eating Rice & Beans

My Imago Dei home community loves food. For years, we have hosted potlucks every other week with fun themes like international food, comfort food, red and green foods, casseroles, etc. Between potlucks, someone always brings snacks. These can range from bacon wrapped dates to vegan cookies to popcorn. We have bachelors who can only cook using a microwave, some amateur gourmets, and at least one trained chef in the mix, so there is always a unique and delicious spread to look forward to each week.

My home community also loves Lahash—more specifically, the vulnerable children in East Africa that Lahash advocates for. For almost four years now, as a group, we have been sponsoring an amazing young lady in Uganda named Golda. She was handpicked for us by Lahash’s East African Sponsorship Director, Leisha, who just happened to be a member of our home community at the time.

Two years ago, Katie, another member of our home community who works with Lahash, introduced us to a concept called Rice & Beans Month. Most people were skeptical about only eating rice and beans for an entire month, but a handful of us were just crazy enough to give it a try. The following year, our home community had grown so large it had to split, so when the second Rice & Beans Month came around, there were actually members from two Imago home communities participating.

This March, for the third year in a row, a large percentage of my home community is participating in Rice & Beans Month, including our entire leadership team. As a home community leader, it is incredibly inspirational to see a group of people continue to sacrifice year after year for kids on another continent that they’ve never even met. Even those not actively participating in Rice & Beans Month are making small sacrifices, as we have opted to cancel snack nights and focus the theme of all potlucks in March on rice and bean dishes.

Bethany Schlacter, who is participating in Rice & Beans Month for the third year in a row, had this to say:

“The simplicity of eating rice and beans gives me the space to reflect on the way I view food, and the importance I give it in my daily life. I have realized that all too often my thoughts are focused on what I eat, and what pleasure or satisfaction it will provide me, rather then focusing on Christ and praising him for His many provisions and blessings. Committing to eating meals of rice and beans allows me to consciously be aware of those in the world who are eating the very same thing day in and day out.”

This Lenten season, as Imago Dei Community invites the church body to join in a rice and beans fast for the last two weeks of March, the members of Woodlawn Home Community want to encourage you to give it a try. It’s a daunting thing and it’s not easy, but I promise that you won’t regret it.