What About Almsgiving?

I’ve been reading up on fasting a lot recently and so much of the early church writers connected almsgiving to fasting, something many of us miss the connection on today. Throughout church history people who fasted gave the food they did not eat during the fast away to those who need it as alms. I’ve been convicted about almsgiving and fasting before, but haven’t ever done anything with that conviction.

I think the disconnect between fasting and almsgiving today is because of the decentralization of food from the neighborhood and community. The democratization of food purchasing in our country, when you can use food stamps at Aldi’s, Whole Foods, Costco or the farmer’s market stands in stark contrast to the corporate overtaking of our food systems by the industrial oligarchy of corporate food profiteers (watch Food, Inc.).  The democratization of food purchasing and the corporate overtaking of our food system has led to people on food stamps blending in at supermarkets when purchasing and to receiving over-preserved, high fructose corn syrup laced chemical equivalents of foods in donations (there is a growing movement of soup kitchens and food pantries getting local produce; let this continue to blossom!). The bottom line is that those that need food do not stand out in society. That’s a good thing when it means you’ve eliminated the problem, but a not so good thing if you haven’t. People just aren’t aware of the problem anymore. It’s hidden.

What do you think the disconnect between fasting and almsgiving stems from in our culture?