Earlier this summer, the Episcopal Evangelism Society (EES) announced that MDiv senior Sarah Mast and her spouse, Greg, were the recipients of of one of EES’s evangelism grants for 2022 grant cycle. The award is to support the work the Masts plan to do in ‘leading an affirming, land-based liturgical community.’ The grant funding will be used to allow the Masts to visit and learn from other like-minded efforts and communities, and then take what they have learned and convene a similar community in Austin.
“We are interested in the intersection of food justice and liturgy, community-building and farming, ecotheology and antiracism,” said Sarah Mast. “We envision an affirming, land-based liturgical community that worships together, grows food together, and reckons with the long-standing injustices and harms of both the church and the food system, seeking healing and restoration for the Earth, our bodies, our relationships, and our spirits.”
“More immediately, with the work associated with this grant, we are building connections and deepening our understanding of this work by visiting active land-based communities that focus on spirituality and/or justice work,” continued Mast. “We are touring their spaces, hearing their stories, gleaning wisdom from those building similar projects. After returning, we will invite others to engage intellectually with what we’ve learned via a presentation, and engage bodily and spiritually by offering Episcopal liturgy at our small farm, inviting an encounter with the land itself and with one another.”
“We hope, through this project, to learn more about agrarian ministry and various models currently practiced. We also hope to share with our communities the ways in which God can be found in growing and sharing food, that the Spirit might catch us all up into other ways of being Church together.”
