The Face of Hunger

Almighty and most merciful God,

     we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord  

                                                                                                 Amen                                                                           

                                                                  The Book of Common Prayer
                                                  

The world is filled with the poor and neglected. The over one billion extremely poor of our human family are forced to survive on less than a dollar a day. A Starbuck’s double soy latte with an extra shot of espresso is not on their must-have list for this morning. Another two billion “moderately poor” live on less than two dollars a day.

Remembering those who have none to care for them, and lifting them to God in prayer, is a beautiful act of compassion and a wonderful place to start. But, we cannot, we must not stop there.

We need to reach out to heal the broken, feed the hungry, comfort the sorrowful and befriend the despised and rejected. In so doing we are reaching out to the Christ who for our sake, and the sake of the whole world, became poor.

I have listed and discussed three small but meaningful ways to help the hungry in previous posts. This will be number four.

The first three ways I listed to help the hungry are:

1. Collect pennies for the hungry
2. Start a resource library on hunger
3. Contribute to UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Education Fund)

Another simple project to help the hungry is to collect used books. Canvas your family and friends for books. Everyone has books they no longer want. You will be doing them a favor by taking the books off their hands. Be sure you tell them you want the books to use for helping the hungry.

Once you have collected a good stack of books, set up a sale rack in your church, synagogue, temple or mosque. Use the profits from the used book sales rack for hunger projects.

Everyone loves a bargin,  and with the price of books getting more expensive all the time, used books are a good deal.  Selling used books is an easy way to provide a useful service while making a difference on behalf of the hungry.

If you make sure that the congregation knows the proceeds from the used book sales are all going to help the hungry you will not only have numerous opportunities to talk about why you care about the needs of the hungry, you will also find out that there wll be many others who are will donate used books or help in other ways.

A small basket or other container for loose change or other donations will encourage all those passing the used book rack to donate to your hunger projects, even if they do not want to buy any books.

If any man is hungry, this is both a religious and a political concern, and out of a religious concern for one created in God’s image, political means must be divised for ensuring that everyone gets enough bread—which is a suitable enough definition of the act of politics.

                                                            Robert McAfee Brown
                                                The Spirit of Protestanism, 1961

If a man is hungry it is a spiritual issue. It is an ethical issue, a moral issue, and yes, most definitely a political issue.

We who are not hungry must never forget that for those whos stomachs are never full, hunger is all encompassing. Every aspect of their lives are framed with the constant companion of that painful emptiness. Hunger colors their every decision.

We who are not hungry and have the gifts of freedom and citizenship need to be aware of how powerful those gifts truly are on behalf of the hungry. We need to seek every opportunity to exercise our citizenship for the good of those most in need.

Bread for the World is the most useful organization I know for helping us use our citizenship for helping the hungry. I have been a member of Bread and have worked with them for over thirty years and  I encourage anyone  concerned with hunger to learn more about them.

There is no question that the United Nations Millennium Development Goals provide the world with the most significant opportunity in the history of humankind. The MDGs, established in 2000 by the largest gathering of world leaders ever assembled. These leaders representing 191 countries met in New York City and agreed to a time-frame for ending the world’s top global concerns.

All agreed that today’s world is one of both opportunity and technology, and is a world where just little political effort would be required to achieve the eight utterly affordable goals. Now, eight years later, even though a number of countries are making wonderful progress toward meeting the goals, so much more needs to be done.

Most experts agree that to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals would require an annul expenditure of between $40 -60 Billion annually for the next fifteen years. That amount seems large until it is put into perspective. 

The United States will spend over $230 Billion this year on military contractors. If the United States would put just a fifth of its military hardware budget toward making the world a better and more just place, the MDG’s could be fully funded.

The truth is that even as our government has vocally supported the Millennium Development Goals, the rhetoric has not been matched by action. In fact, many of the decisions made and actions taken by the current administration have been intentionally counterproductive toward meeting the MDGs.

The United States cannot and should not be unilaterally responsible for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. But, it should provide the necessary leadership to make sure the goals are met. We need to lead by example and demonstrate a moral strength that inspires the rest of the world. So far, that has not happened.

The world can end hunger and poverty. But our nation should provide the leadership to make it happen. So far, however, our leaders have lacked both the moral wisdom and the political will to provide such leadership. And so millions of poor will remain hungry in a world which daily demonstrates it really doesn’t care.

The Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

These eight simple goals are designed to close the enormous gap between the obscenely rich nations of the world and the abyssmaly poor countries which make up the vast majority of the world’s population. The MDGs are truly a roadmap to a more just world.

Stop Hunger Now’s efforts are focused on achieving the first goal, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, but the reality is that working to eradicate poverty and hunger impacts each of the remaining seven goals as well.

What makes these eight goals so exciting is that they are all measurable, and that many countries are making great strides in achieving them. All of us can help achieve the MDGs, and all of us need to be aware of how ending hunger plays such a critical role in that achievement.

More details to follow…

“When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now is that political, or social?” He said, “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.”

                                                                  Desmond Tutu

There can only be one Christian response to hunger. If we who claim to be disciples of the Christ allow ourselves to be sidetracked by any consideration other than the need for food we are failing the one we follow.

There are some who see hunger as an opportunity to evangelize, using the need for food to lure or bait the hungry into hearing their message of God’s love. Feeding the hungry for them is a means to an end. The hungry are fed in order that they might “hear the good news and get saved.”

As Bishop TuTu states, bread is the gospel to the hungry. Any attempt to use bread to proselitize is not only misguided but is theologically unacceptable. There is something terribly lacking in our understanding of God’s love if we feel we are doing good by using another’s need to get them to believe as we do.

The Christian response to hunger is to provide bread. That is the good news.

Father,                                       

           Thank you for the faith to believe that you continually make adequate provision for those left out in the normal distribution of goods and services related to food. We bring these broken, weeping, and often lost peoples to you in prayer, our hearts burdened by their needs, as we, your Body, ask that you may move us in compassion to creatively release adequete provision so that the hungry may join us in our gratitude for your generosity and constant love. In the midst of the occupation, for Jesus sake.
                                                                                      Amen  

A prayer from Graham Kerr (from for they shall be fed, edited by Ronald J. Sider)

As I reported in an earlier post (“Perfect Storm” in the making) on 14 March of this year, the acute rise in food prices is causing increased turmoil around the world. Two brief news pieces in yesterday’s Raleigh News & Observer seem to confirm my prognosis.

The first news piece is “hunger goup issues plea.” Although the piece is barely two column inches in length, it is frighteningly stark, with huge ramifications.

The World Food Program has now issued an “extraordinary emergency appeal” to cover their rising costs. The need is critical. Unless donor nations respond with more financial support, the United Nations agency will have to drastically cut food aid to those depending on the World Food Program for survival.

Soaring food prices (now up over 41% since October 2007), coupled with rising fuel costs have created a growing deficit. There will be a $500 million funding gap by May 1 according to WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. The poor around the world are being “priced out of the food market,” Sheeran said.

The second piece, a little larger than the report on the WFP’s “extraordinary emergency appeal,” is “Bread shortage roils Egypt.” The subtitle is “at least seven have died in lines.”

Clashes and fighting have been occuring in Egyptian breadlines due to the increasing shortage of subsidized bread. “The turmoil in the world’s most populous Arab country, a top US ally, is a stark sign of how rising world food prices are roiling poorer countries.”

Some of the poor who depend on the subsidized bread are now waiting over four hours a day for bread. “Our life has become so miserable,” one told a reporter.

The article points out that opposition and independent parties are using the bread shortage to attack the current government. This isn’t surprising. Food shortages in poor countries definitely create an enviroment ripe for political instability and unrest.

The “perfect storm” is building. And it is already leaving a trail of dead in its wake. Stay tuned for more storm updates.

Dear God,       
         You who hate injustice and love what is good. Save us, O Father, from this evil world and its cruelty. Protectus from the Evil One’s attacks against us. Guard us as he and his messengers whisper in our ears urging us to prey on those who are weak and helpless. Give us the power to defeat injustice and oppression through goodness and righteousness. Help us to light candles in the darkness that will dispel the evil in this world by small acts of service and courageous work for justice. Set the world right again, Lord, and use us to do it. We are your willing servants.
                            Amen

                                                                 from for they shall be fed
                                                                 edited by Ronald J. Sider

We have just gone past several ugly milestones worth thinking about. None are uplifting or need celebrating, but all should be recognized and discussed.

The Iraq War has just slogged into its fifth year. During that time the United States has sacrificed over 4,000 of its citizens to the conflict. And that doesn’t count those tens of thousands physically, emotionally, and pschologically maimed for the rest of their lives. It also doesnt even begin to count the loss of life and property of the Iraqis.

The war has cost our country over $484,000,000,000 in cash, and the respect, good will and friendship of millions of people around the globe. Our military budget this year is now $522 BILLION.

These are costs that need to be pondered and prayed over. Our country will spend over TEN TIMES MORE this year on it’s military than it would take to eliminate hunger ($19 Billion), achieve universal primary education ($12 Billion), and provide clean water and sanitaion for the entire world ($23 Billion).

We live in a broken and hurting world. I am not naive. I realize we also live in a dangerous world. But, I would far more rather have my money going to help heal the world’s hurts than adding to them. Surely I am not the only one that feels this way.

The primary question for me is simple.  How do we act in a way that is true to our moral values? Supporting the Iraq War and a obscenely bloated military budget sure isn’t it.