A duck walks into a barn

Are you a last-minute shopper? Need some inspiration? Watch this video from ELCA Good Gifts showing some of the realities present in the world today in a cute, simple way. Your gifts will help make a difference for those who hunger this Christmas.

'Faith, food stamps, and the fight against hunger'

While checking out a new lectionary resource (ON Scripture—also recommended!) From the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Odyssey Networks, an interfaith media organization, I discovered the video below. You might remember the “Food Stamp Challenge” from other years—where people are urged to spend no more for a week than those who receive food stamps (now the SNAP program).

The challenge continues. And good news to hear that some of our federal legislators have accepted the challenge for a second time! Representative Keith Ellison talks about his experience and how it has helped him to see the problem of hunger in new ways. I appreciated his comments about budgets being moral documents.

Perhaps this will inspire YOU to consider taking the challenge. Any time is a good time to put yourself in the shoes of those who hunger so you not only know their story firsthand but also as inspiration for you to continue with your hunger ministry.

Our faith and the federal budget

We are in a budget conversation at the federal level that few of us can remember having before. Newspapers, TV, magazine, the Internet, and other social media are alive with articles, interviews, and information. We have to choose carefully to be sure the reporting is accurate and the views credible. As the November 23 deadline rapidly approaches for the recommendations of the "Super Committee," I urge you to use this prayer for your own devotions as well as for sharing in groups and in congregational worship.

Litany for a Faithful National Budget
(Prepared by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns)

Leader: Let us pray…
 

All: Blessed be our God.

Leader I: Twenty percent of all children in the United States live in poverty. We cannot leave our children a legacy of rising debt, nor can we leave them a legacy of rising poverty.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that protects all our children from hunger and homelessness, from inadequate education and healthcare, from poverty. Our God hears the cry of the children who are poor. Blessed be our God.

Leader: Many older adults in the United States live near or below the poverty line. Social Security and Medicare are their lifelines. We cannot neglect the very real needs of our senior citizens.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that protects our elders from poverty, financial insecurity and inadequate healthcare. Our God hears the cry of our seniors who are poor or vulnerable. Blessed be our God.

Leader: Women in the United States are disproportionately served by the social safety net. Women rely on many of the programs facing drastic cuts – from Medicare and Medicaid to SNAP and TANF, from SSI and Pell grants to domestic violence prevention to nutrition and child care. We cannot ignore the real needs of women in our society or fail to address the systemic injustice that perpetuates their vulnerability.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that protects women from poverty, financial insecurity, inadequate healthcare and physical danger. Our God hears the cry of the women. Blessed be our God.

Leader: With an official unemployment rate over nine percent, millions of U.S. Americans are struggling to meet their most basic needs. Yet an unjust federal budget could reduce or eliminate assistance for unemployed families.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that responds to the needs of those who are unemployed, protecting them and their dependents as much as possible from the overwhelming anxiety of financial insecurity and lost self‐esteem. Our God hears the cry of those who are unemployed. Blessed be our God. 

Leader: We live in a world that is intensely interconnected. Loving our neighbors requires that we promote the global common good. Yet, programs that respond to HIV and AIDS, extreme poverty, food insecurity, overwhelming debt, violence against women, natural disasters and other urgent needs are likely to be severely cut.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that responds to the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world. Our God hears the cry of those who live on the margins of our world. Blessed be our God.

Leader: God’s good creation continues to suffer from our use and abuse of its precious gifts. The enforcement of laws that protect the integrity of creation could be severely compromised by unjust budgetary decisions.

All: We pray for a just and compassionate budget that respects and protects the integrity of creation. Our God hears the cry of Earth. Blessed be our God.

Leader: For the gift of vision to see a way forward that is just and compassionate.

All: Give us your vision.

Leader: For the gift of conviction to work with vigor for a just solution to the crises we face.

All: Give us your courage.

Leader: Spirit of God, renew the hearts of all of us who are gathered here. Inspire Congress and the administration to act justly and to protect our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, here and around the world. Reinvigorate our nation’s vision of the common good.

All: May God, our Creator and parent, breathe into us new life and new meaning. May the Wisdom of God breathe into us new hope and a new awareness. May the Spirit of God breathe into us a new spirit and a new understanding of the world in which we live. AMEN.

Hunger is scary

Light of the World Lutheran Church in Farmington is planning two fun (and scary!) events to help combat local hunger. We think they are onto something great, and surprisingly simple, "have fun and fight hunger!"
 
The haunted maze
Light of the World's Matt Philpot is organizing his annual haunted maze to benefit the Farmington food shelf. Admission to the maze is one canned good. Last year's maze raised 350 pounds; the goal this year is to double it.

If you want to check it out, the haunted maze will be open at 7:00 p.m. on October 22, 29, 30, and 31. It is located at 19337 Ellington Trail in Farmington. Contact Matt Philpot at mgphilpot@charter.net if you have questions.

"All check in...Most check out!"
Light of the World's Dean Wedul is refurbishing the scary "Redrum Hotel." It will be open for check-in October 29, 30, and 31 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Located at 17371 Faraday Court, Farmington.

Donations of canned goods will be accepted for the Farmington food shelf. Last year's results: 437 pounds of food + $10. A water balloon target range will be open. Three balloons for $1.

Check out these events, or simply use this as inspiration for a "have fun and fight hunger" event in your own congregation.

October hunger connections

October is here! This year there is an enormous convergence of special events, celebrations, and weeks that relate to hunger. Celebrate and share hunger information with your family, friends, and congregation.

OCTOBER is Fair Trade Month. Many of our congregations work with Equal Exchange or another organization to provide fairly traded coffee, tea, and chocolate for sale to members.  Some go farther and sell nuts, dried fruit, olive oil, and other products. (Zion Lutheran, Chisago City, clearly states on their web site that they serve Fair Trade coffee exclusively.) Make an extra effort to shop fairly this month.

OCTOBER brings Church World Service’s CROP Walks. CROP Hunger Walks raise money to assist hungry people in many countries around the world. They provide for people in need in our local communities as 25 percent of the funds raised stay locally. CROP Walks serve to remind us that no matter how we may set out tables, we are all members of one human family created in God’s image. Be a walker or support one financially.

Photo from www.churchworldservice.org/CROP

OCTOBER brings World Food Day on October 16. This day, celebrated in many countries is sponsored/promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, on the day on which the organization was founded in 1945. The theme for 2011 is “Food Prices—From Crisis to Stability.”

OCTOBER also brings Food Day on October 24—in 2011 and in years to come. Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. The day is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit watchdog group, and is backed by an impressive advisory board that includes anti‑hunger advocates, physicians, authors, politicians, and leaders of groups focused on everything from farmers markets to animal welfare to public health.

OCTOBER ends on Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), preceding All Saint’s Day. Don’t forget that you can do “reverse trick or treating” by sharing and explaining Fair Trade treats. The UNICEF boxes are still a good way to help hungry children—and online trick and treating for UNICEF is now possible.

Dining in and building community

Picture from a community breakfast
at North Emanuel, St. Paul.

Sometimes it takes cooperation to show the neighborhood the value of dining together. A shared meal can build solidarity, strengthen relationships, and enrich lives. Community meals happen all over this synod, but a new effort recently started in the synod’s North Conference is a great example of how inviting communities to dine together can feed and strengthen its members.

Beginning in mid-September, each Monday from 4:00-6:00 p.m. you find people dining together in the fellowship hall at Zion Lutheran in Chisago City. The meal isn’t just for members of Zion. All people in the community are welcome, and no donations are accepted.

This new venture is made possible through the partnership of three ELCA congregations (Zion, Trinity in Lindstrom, and Chisago Lake in Center City) through Christians in Action Team and Family Pathways. The congregations provide volunteers, supplies, and some beverages. Family Pathways provides the food and expertise in coordinating such an effort.

Family Pathways, a grassroots, community-based agency, has been around for over 30 years. It provides senior and youth services and food pantries in 16 counties in central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. It will continue support the meals as long as at least 50 people are consistently fed through this program.

Exciting idea! The meals are a way to feed more than just the physical body as people dine together in community.

Memorials, numbers, and real people

By Vernita Kennen, co-chair, Saint Paul Area Synod Hunger Work Group

Today I am still thinking and reading about the many tenth anniversary events for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Perhaps you are, too, and maybe you were one of the many who attended a special ecumenical event in remembrance. Your pastor(s) may have made mention of the anniversary during the sermon and/or included it in the prayers of the people. In fact, the commemoration and conversation about it were difficult to avoid.

With all of the attention given to the 9/11 anniversary, I am struck by how the loss of lives in that tragic series of events seem to overshadow the daily loss of lives by those who do not have enough food. While I certainly do not want to make the loss of any life insignificant, the numbers continue to assail me. Each death, no matter if lost in a tragedy like 9/11 or through insufficient food, is the death of a real person.

Ten years later, terrorism still exists in our world. Unfortunately there are also many more hungry people. And, after much progress in the struggle against hunger in the 1980s and 90s, a plateau was reached and the numbers are climbing again.

The causes are many but include weather conditions, political and economic turmoil, and population growth. Today there are more hungry people in the world than the combined population of the United States, Canada, and the European Union! (Facts from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO)

Each death is important to God who creates and loves all. I ask God to help me remember that—and do something to be about God’s work with my hands today and every day.

What's fair in your world today?

Photo by Salina J Photography

By Vernita Kennen, co-chair, Hunger Work Group

I got to thinking about the word "fair" today. I suppose it was because I was at the Minnesota State Fair yesterday. The Great Minnesota Get-Together is always nostalgic and fun for me, no matter the weather or the size of the crowds. My family went when I was a child; I continued to come several times while a participant in 4-H events, even bringing my yearling dairy heifer one year; and I have continued to attend as often as possible.

Meaning of "fair"
I checked the dictionary for the meaning of the word "fair." Much to my surprise, the first definition that appeared describes "fair" as an adjective meaning "good to look at or light in complexion." The next definition included the legality of fairness, followed by "fair" as it is used as a baseball term. It wasn't until the fifth definition that the version of "fair" meaning "just or unbiased" was described.

The first time "fair" was defined as a noun it was referred to as the competitive exhibition that I attended yesterday at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

What's fair about the fair?
Nowhere did I see anything about food–and yet that seemed to be what the fair yesterday was all about. There were plenty of fruits, vegetables, and meats on display, some of it still on the hoof. And there were the endless varieties of deep-fried objects and things "on a stick." Perhaps you join me in wondering what’s truly fair about the fair when more people seem to come to eat as much as possible these days.

Questions for pondering
What do you suppose people in places like Central America, Somalia, Sudan, and Kenya would think about our state fair? What would they see first? What would they find missing? How, or more importantly, what would they find us truly exhibiting?

Did you get to the fair this year? Did it bring you to thoughts of what’s really fair in your world? I hope so and I hope you will use this as an inspiration to work toward ending hunger everywhere in our world. None of us should have more than enough to eat while any others go hungry. God would consider that fair and hopes we will, too.

Global food price crisis

We can hardly ignore the news about hungry people today. The print and on-air media are filled with stories of famine, especially in the Horn of Africa. Many of us are feeling a sense of "didn't this happen before?" Because it certainly has.

Unfortunately, information about causes and effects of the crisis are more difficult to come by.

This interactive map from Oxfam helps explain.

Oxfam is a 15-member organization of NGOs founded in 1995 and working in 90 countries. Oxfam United States is one of the members.

Look, interact, and learn.