Add the Metro Lutheran to your hunger reading...

Are you a regular reader of the Metro Lutheran? Hopefully you know that this very unique “independent voice for all Lutherans in 20 counties of East-central Minnesota and West-central Wisconsin” is a real gift for us in the Saint Paul Area Synod.

Eva Jensen

The really good news for us in hunger ministry is that there will be a new columnist who will write about hunger and its causes as well as solutions. The Rev. Eva Jensen will be writing from her excellent background in hunger work, most recently as coordinator of the Region 3 Ethics of Eating event. Quickly find the April 2011 edition of Metro Lutheran and read the column titled “A Simple Feast” and watch for it bimonthly from now on. (There is also an article titled “Dirt lovers fight hunger?” that you won’t want to miss in this issue, too.)  

The Metro Lutheran is a source of information for about upcoming events as well as a place to learn about the latest books, school and college news, and real news about ALL the Lutherans in our area. Very likely copies of Metro Lutheran are delivered to your congregation and available for you. Ask at your church office if you do not find it monthly.

Free education and free rice

Learn and donate together online!

Did you know that you could expand your knowledge of art, literature, math, geography, Spanish, and other subjects online while you are helping hungry people? Sounds too good to be true, but it is. 

The nonprofit website www.freerice.com is the place to go. There you can decide which of the topics you wish to be tested on (always multiple choice) or learn more about. And while you are learning, you can watch the kernels of rice piling up in the bowl on your right as they are being donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. Ten grains of rice are donated for each correct answer; you can check for the total number of grains of rice donated per day, month, and year—or join with a group or keep track of your own scores.

Join the Free Rice movement on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freerice

Hunger, land, and consumption

"Hunger can eat us alive, reduce us to being imprisoned in our bodies where sleep, movement, and all thoughts revolve around the next time we will have food to eat. Hunger can be a devouring addiction. Originally, the word consumption referred to a disease; now it is an economic and personal characteristic of our culture. We are often referred to as consumers. In the last one hundred years, we have devoured so much of the earth and its resources that we are stealing food and sustenance out of the mouths of our children and grandchildren, while we live without any compunction about the gulfs between those who are rich and those who are poor. The United Nations defines the rich as 'those who have more than enough to survive on today. That defines many of us."

   

This begins the chapter titled “Food and Land” in the book This Will be Remembered of Her: Stories of Women Reshaping the World by Megan McKenna. It’s a powerful book which speaks to many justice and peace issues, written by a woman who is a storyteller, theologian, speaker, spiritual writer, retreat leader, peace and justice activist, world traveler, and author of more than thirty books. The interweaving of ancient stories from many cultures with stories of women from scripture to Nobel prize winners will keep you reading, underlining (if it’s your copy!), and recommending the book to many others.

Who says consumption is not a disease today?

Holy food and groceries

"HOLY FOOD AND GROCERIES." How could you, or anyone who cares about hunger, not want to attend a lecture with this title! Especially when you see that the subtitle of the lecture is: How Feeding and Healing Transforms Lives. For many of us, isn’t this why we are involved in hunger work? 

This is a wonderful opportunity to hear someone who is involved in that feeding and transformation. Sara Miles, author of Take This Bread and Jesus Freak, will be giving the Mahle Lecture in Progressive Christian Thought at Hamline University on Tuesday, March 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is in Sunday Music Hall at 1531 Hewitt Avenue and is free to the public. (Parking is available in the Drew Lot, one block east of Sundin along Hewitt Avenue.)

Sara Miles, also a war correspondent, cook, and poet, serves as the director of ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco where she founded The Food Pantry to increase food access for hungry people. Launched in 2000, the Food Pantry new registers more than 1,200, serving up to 600 a week and relying only on donations. Since the founding, Sara and volunteers have launched 18 pantries in the poorest parts of San Francisco under the theme “Peace on Earth & Food for All.” On Fridays at St. Gregory’s, 50 volunteers sit down for a meal together cooked by their priest, Paul Fromberg. Following dinner, they pack up free food for whoever comes through the open church doors. Families select the food they need from a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, rice, pasta, beans, and cereal served farmers-market style. Through this hospitality, the volunteers create a community that shares the unconditional welcome of Jesus’ table.

Come and be inspired!

Sunday morning words

By Vernita Kennen

My pastors usually include in their prayer as their sermons begin words that say something like "God, speak to us today, whether the words are ever spoken aloud or not." And one of the professors at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) that I really appreciated assured us that we would not always be moved by a particular sermon. He gave us permission to listen a bit and if we were not tracking simply to "preach your own sermon." I’ve been thinking more about these ways of hearing Sunday morning words lately.

One of the reasons might just be because I’ve been reading the sermon starters from ELCA World Hunger, written by David Creech. I have found reading them in preparation for the next Sunday makes me think during the week--and helps me listen to both the Word of God in scripture and the words of the sermon more carefully on Sunday. Go to www.elca.org/hunger and search for "Sermon Starters."

Bread for the World has a similar website and makes use of some materials published in Hunger for the Word: Lectionary Reflections on Food and Justice. Go to www.bread.org and search for "Bread for the Preacher." The three books for Years A, B, and C in the lectionary cycle are also available in print editions, too. They include hymn suggestions and children’s sermon ideas.

You can sign up to receive each or both of these on a regular basis. I think they will make your Sunday morning worship much more meaningful--and help you see how often the lessons speak to our work in hunger ministry.