{"id":417,"date":"2008-10-05T22:12:05","date_gmt":"2008-10-05T22:12:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-10-05T22:12:05","modified_gmt":"2008-10-05T22:12:05","slug":"fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/","title":{"rendered":"Fasting, malls and the eucharist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shoppingfloridamall\"<\/a>I was told I’d need a taxi. Instead, I started out walking from the hotel east on Route 70 in search of a church where I could break my fast with communion. Cars whizzed by me as I walked where few had walked before. After 10 minutes, I spotted a steeple! "Wow, that was quick," I thought.<\/p>\n

As I approached, I saw that it rested on a Wegman’s supermarket in a strip mall. <\/p>\n

But ahead there was a bulbous roof. Could it be Greek Orthodox church? I bet they celebrate communion every week. But no, this round roof and turret sat on an Asian restaurant in yet another mall.<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes_benz_logo\"<\/a>Then I passed under the shadow of a cross, yet strangely shaped. Alas, there was no bread or wine – only shiny cars for sale and a bloated cat carcass by the curb.<\/p>\n

Beyond the vast mall, chain restaurants and departments stores, I passed a cemetery and saw in the distance a white steeple. "Could that be the Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church?" I hoped. I really wanted to worship where they were celebrating World Communion Sunday.<\/p>\n

Although at the same time, I know how wordy Presbyterian services can be. I would be just as happy to find a Catholic church where I pictured there would be more ritual, prayer, the host and a sip of wine. Sure enough, it was the Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, and it was packed.<\/p>\n

I had made it there in 35 minutes, but mass had begun at 10:30, so at 11:05 the Ugandan priest was already leading up to Communion. (Luckily I hadn’t yet read the Introduction to Communion in the front of the hymnal, which disqualified me from participation – but ignorance was mine and I fully joined in the eucharist!)<\/p>\n

The body of Christ melted on my tongue as I walked over to the Asian woman who wiped the chalice and offered me the blood of Christ. As I returned to the pew, the voices of children choir singing "Pescador de Hombres" rained down on me. (Here it is on Youtube<\/a> if you can’t remember the tune)<\/p>\n

We passed the peace and the Latina family a couple pews up from me were horsing around and hugging. <\/p>\n

Then it was over. And each car swallowed up its designated passengers and off they went. I walked \"Bakedeggsouffle\"<\/a>down the steps and headed west down Route 70. I walked to Panera and was blown away by the abundance of freshly baked breads and pastry creations. I ordered a fruit cup and an egg souffle pastry with four cheeses, artichoke and spinach. Oh, what richness to consume after fasting!<\/p>\n

After eating, I set off again toward the hotel and conference on community food security. As I passed the cathedrals of capitalism, as whizzing cars passed me, I wondered how long this lifestyle could possibly last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was told I’d need a taxi. Instead, I started out walking from the hotel east on Route 70 in search of a church where I could break my fast with communion. Cars whizzed by me as I walked where…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nFasting, malls and the eucharist - Food and Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fasting, malls and the eucharist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was told I'd need a taxi. Instead, I started out walking from the hotel east on Route 70 in search of a church where I could break my fast with communion. Cars whizzed by me as I walked where...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Food and Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/\",\"name\":\"Fasting, malls and the eucharist - Food and Faith\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fasting, malls and the eucharist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/\",\"name\":\"Food and Faith\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944\",\"name\":\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/author\/andrewkangbartlett\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fasting, malls and the eucharist - Food and Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fasting, malls and the eucharist","og_description":"I was told I'd need a taxi. Instead, I started out walking from the hotel east on Route 70 in search of a church where I could break my fast with communion. Cars whizzed by me as I walked where...","og_url":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/","og_site_name":"Food and Faith","article_published_time":"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00","author":"Andrew Kang Bartlett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Kang Bartlett","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/","url":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/","name":"Fasting, malls and the eucharist - Food and Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-05T22:12:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/fasting-malls-and-the-eucharist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fasting, malls and the eucharist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/","name":"Food and Faith","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944","name":"Andrew Kang Bartlett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andrew Kang Bartlett"},"url":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/author\/andrewkangbartlett\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}