One of the most influential experiences during my first trip toSouth Africa as a college student involved a missionary from the United States I’ll call Anna. When I first met Anna, a middle aged woman from the Pacific Northwest, she had been living in Cape Town for a few months. On a year long mission trip, she came with the intention of spreading the gospel and helping people who were living in poverty. She ended up working with a group of teenage boys who were homeless, hungry and orphaned (whether physically or emotionally). The boys were not in school nor did they have any other support system.

Anna had a good heart and good intentions. She met with the boys fairly regularly and led traditional Bible studies with them. They would listen to Bible stories (remember, most of them had not been to school and therefore couldn’t read) and then try to participate in the reflection and questions that Anna posed to them. There was usually a small meal for them, too.

During her stay, Anna had to leaveCape Town for several weeks. In order to tide them over while she was away, she left a jar of peanut butter and a Bible for the boys. I was very disturbed by the fact that she left a group of homeless youth with nothing but peanut butter and a Bible. The fact that Anna left rather suddenly and without much notice had complicated ramifications (trying to develop lasting relationships and sustainable strategies takes consistency) but that’s not what bothered me. It was the fact that, to those boys, the church had only provided them with a book they couldn’t read and one small jar of food to be split between all of them.

This cannot be all that we, as Christians, have to offer. If it is, then I think we must seriously reconsider our understanding of the gospel.

In keeping with the theme of churches and development work, it saddens me that there is so much potential and possibility within the church and yet we often reach out in terribly impractical and unrealistic ways. Our churches are full of talented individuals who have wide ranging skills and interests that could benefit a group like these boys.

Poverty is extremely complicated. I certainly don’t have the solution. But I do believe that we must build the type of relationships that allow us to know each other’s needs—physical and spiritual. Homeless boys have physical needs that take priority over spiritual ones, at least initially. Have you ever tried to pay attention in a meeting or at school on an empty stomach? The Bible is full of power but handing someone who is illiterate a Bible is like handing me an email written in Chinese—pretty meaningless. We must take context and situation into account when building life-affirming relationships.  How do you think we can be most successful in our missions?

Emmi Gordon is in the second year of her M.Div. program at the University of Chicago.  Prior to her studies she lived for several years in South Africa and noticed the effectiveness of Christian aid programs and wondered why Christian programs in particular were so successful.  She is posting a series of reflections on this topic in the coming weeks.  Your own thoughts and reflections, as always, are welcome.

Raise your hand if you knew that October 16 was World Food Day.

Raise your hand if you, your congregation, your community or local news media did something to commemorate and remember the significance of that day.

In case you are wondering about my virtual hand…it’s trying to rise. This month, I quietly celebrated my second full month with ELCA World Hunger. I grow more and more encouraged each day. And yet…some things remain a challenge.

During the first weekend in October, I had the joy to participate in the ELCA World Hunger Region 7 Ethics of Eating event in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. We talked about domestic and global hunger, visited farms and talked with those who farm. We lifted up advocacy as an important priority and shared time of fellowship over delicious meals prepared by the staff at Men-O-Lan Camp. At the end, we all committed to doing something, one thing based on what we learned. It was important and inspiring to stand with others and commit.

Then, during the first week back from the event, I read this articlein Business Week. Here are my top three highlights:

• “The cost of hunger in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, was $167.5 billion last year […].”
• “The number of food-insecure and hungry Americans in 2010 rose 30 percent from 2007 […].”
• “The cost of hunger for every U.S. citizen was $542 in 2010 […].”

The “cost” of hunger cited above looks at cost factors such as additional health care costs ($130.5 billion), poor education outcomes ($19.2 billion) and private donations of food money and volunteer time ($17.8 billion).

Hunger is a complex issue. I know this. You know this. The question is, what do we do in the face of a multifaceted issue like hunger, like poverty? As a self-proclaimed “do-er,” I must admit to you on this rainy Chicago day that I am leaning toward the eschaton today based on a sermon shared with us yesterday by former bishop, Pastor Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl who coordinates the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

During that service of healing, Pastor DeGroot-Nesdahl encouraged us to come with our hands open at our sides to receive the forgiveness and grace that we are given freely through Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

As hard as I try to raise my hand to the opening questions of this post, to the issues raised through the Ethics of Eating event or in protest of the staggering “cost” of hunger…today, I want to be found head bowed, heart and hands open to embrace the grace that allows us to continue onward in the call that Christ has put before. I want to re-join the journey.

As we hear in the story of The Anointing at Bethany (Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, John 12:8) “You will always have the poor with you…” This is the call that is set before us. Not a burden, but the call, and Christ would not call us to such a task alone. By grace through faith we are freed to serve, and we do that service in the most significant way possible– together.

Re-join the journey.

—

More about the ELCA World Hunger Ethics of Eating Event:

Read another reflection about the event.

Visit the group on The Table (membership needed).

See my pictures.

Almost everyone feels empathy when they see pictures of a hungry child. This is not a uniquely Christian emotion. However, the response to such empathy-producing situations should be what sets us apart: we act. This action space is where I see the difference between faith-based responses and non-faith based responses.

In my limited experience of what I shall call development work, I have found that more often than not, it is the religiously-affiliated organizations that provide the most enduring and direct services to people who need them. This is not to say that Christians “save” those who are poor; rather we (should!) try to provide the means and access to resources for people to help themselves and maintain their dignity. We walk with our brothers and sisters. Most other development agencies are either top heavy and out of touch with the people they are trying to serve or run inefficiently by idealists who a) have little experience and b) suffer burnout early on. There are, of course, many exceptions but I would like to ask the question as to why these faith-based groups seem to endure and act much more effectively.

My own thoughts are that we, as Christians, are directed by more than just empathy, more than just our feelings and emotions. We have a real sense of right and wrong, just and unjust. Though we may have varying opinions about the particularities of what is right, we look outside of ourselves for the definition and for guidance on how to live out the definition. By turning to God, meditating on Christ’s life and resurrection, and reflecting on our scriptures and our traditions, we are able to situate ourselves in world much bigger than ourselves. When we see the world beyond our reaction to it, that is as something more than the empathy we feel seeing a hungry child, we start to see others as autonomous children of God and as such, deserving of relationship. From this foundation, I believe, Christians are able to sustain mission work and outreach. We see that it is truly God’s work, not our own, that is done through our hands.

Emmi Gordon is in the second year of her M.Div. program at the University of Chicago.  Prior to her studies she lived for several years in South Africa and noticed the effectiveness of Christian aid programs and wondered why Christian programs in particular were so successful.  She will be posting a series of reflections on this topic in the coming weeks.  Your own thoughts and reflections, as always, are welcome.

I present the following thoughts with a bit of fear and trepidation.  I want to say up front that I am not taking sides and that the reason I am posting is to provoke reflection and conversation.  I hope a healthy sense of ambivalence (in the literal sense of the word) emerges and that the ambivalence leads to constructive conversation.

I have watched with interest the recent occupy movements.  As you might suspect, because I am engaged in anti-hunger work (which is the result of a strong empathy for those who are poor and vulnerable) and because I am not in the top 1% of wage earners I was initially sympathetic to the occupiers.  It seemed to me to be a creative way to voice frustration about a prolonged economic crisis that has left many hungry and many more financially insecure.

As I have thought more about it, I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the protests.  Part of it may be due to my general pacifist and conflict-averse tendencies (which, admittedly, are probably in need of more critical reflection, maybe in a later post?).  Another part may be due to the fact that I live in a pretty wealthy town (my wife works for a local church).

In my head though, what concerns me most about the occupy movement is that it is focused on others’ faults rather than one’s own.  While it may be true that some greedy bankers (note that just because someone works in the financial sector it does not follow that they are therefore particularly greedy) played a part in the current mess, and it may be true that the top 1% possesses more wealth than the bottom 50%, it is not entirely their fault that we find ourselves in this place.  If you are like me, in the good years you overleveraged yourself and are now cutting back, paying down debt, and trying to save more money.  Even in the midst of this crisis, I may not be in the top 1%, but I have assets and a lifestyle that I am working very hard to maintain.  Maintaining that lifestyle impacts my ability to work for the common good (and I am paid to care!).  I am just as much a part of the problem as the super wealthy.  So long as I blame it on others, though, I do not have to be critical of my own lifestyle and choices.  This is why the conclusion to David Brooks column yesterday deeply resonated with me—we need to occupy ourselves.  At the end of the day, if we are to move out of this morass, if we are truly going to address widespread hunger and poverty, it is going to take a whole lot more change than just at the top.  “Let’s occupy ourselves.”

-David Creech

In Wichita and many other communities across Kansas, more than a month of high temperatures and no rain has harmed crops and triggered water conservation efforts. The swimming pool in my Holiday Inn is closed. There’s no drain plug in the bath – a hint to take short showers only, perhaps?

Whether global climate change is behind this is controversial. Yes, says a scientist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research: “When climate change and natural variability happen in the same direction, that’s when records get broken.” Others disagree. On blogs about the weather and human behavior, a lot of name-calling is going around.

In the clamor, I’ve been encountering darker, more pessimistic views about what lies ahead of us. “I am not about despair, but I am leaving hope up to someone else,” one young man told me. A friend who consults with businesses on sustainability no longer believes that her work will have any impact on the near future. She says she is working for people in the far distant future—the small group of humans who will survive whatever comes next.  And responding to a climate question in a lecture on gardening, writer Jamaica Kincaid shrugged her shoulders and said: we are ephemeral. The world lasts. People don’t.

For an optimist who lives by the saying, “hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is dancing to its tune,” this was hard to take.  But my friends who hear a dirge have a point. Maybe our actions have little immediate impact. Maybe no one cares. Maybe temperatures will rise, rainfall decrease, ocean currents change direction, disasters overwhelm us, and our era on earth draw to a close. We don’t know. Instead of being optimistic or pessimistic, we can let go of the outcome, and strive to make choices now and live in ways today that care for the earth and its future residents.

Weeds are growing in the Little Arkansas River bed. Wells are dry.  The Kansans at this weekend’s Glocal Mission Gathering can only pray for rain. Act on their new-found solidarity with people contending with drought and famine in the Horn of Africa. Remember that God is good, and turn off the tap water.

Thank you for your hopeful music, Kansas. May it rain soon.

Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity

Greetings Fellow Hunger Rumblings Blog Followers,

It’s been a while, but if you sift back through the records, you’ll find some old posts by me, Mikka. Since my time as an intern with ELCA World Hunger, I’ve finished college and worked with the ELCA doing gender justice advocacy, spent some time with ELCA Global Mission and now have returned to ELCA World Hunger as program director for constituent engagement and interpretation.

Re-introduction aside…on to my short post for the day.

Though I’ve been living in Chicago for two years now, it’s only been recently that Chicago has become “home.” Now, I’m working on three things: 1. Finding a church home. 2. Making more friends. 3. Getting better acquainted with the community, politics and life here in Chicago.

This brings me to an article on a topic that’s been in and out of the local news here in Chicago.

Have you heard of Asian Carp? It is a species of fish that is invasive to the Great Lakes. This is a fish that does not belong here in the Great Lakes ecosystem. According to the article, Illinois officials have hatched a plan and hope to “kill two birds with one stone.” The idea is to harvest the carp from the lakes and provide the fresh meat to local food pantries and food shelves to help reduce hunger and provide nutritious, fresh food.

From the article: “We are in unchartered water here,” said Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud. “Why remove them and put them into a landfill when you can take them and use them for good? If we can get past the name ‘carp’ and the perception … we can prove this is going to be a highly nutritious, cheap meal.”

As the article goes on to state that an average of 1.8 million people rely on the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program each month, according to figures from earlier this year. That’s up from 1.2 million people monthly in 2006.

Hunger—like the invasive carp—does not “belong” here in the human ecosystem.

What do you think? Carp, please?

Mikka McCracken

It has been quite the eventful summer!  A PhD in May (I’m that much smarter now, which means you should be even more skeptical of my claims), a move in June, a baby in July (yes, the two are related, and welcome Dylan James), and a serious influx of new staff in August.  Time now to get back in the blogging saddle (thanks to Karen Ward, Jessica Nipp, and the other World Hunger staff who kept this afloat in my absence!).   Since this is my first post in a while, I think I will make a quick return to my comfort zone–the Bible and theology.  For future posts, I would love to hear from you what topics you would like me to explore.  Leave comments or drop me an email and I will offer my best thinking in my weekly post.

Last Sunday’s text (Matthew 20:1-16) offered a serious challenge to our sense of fairness (curiously, the junior member of the pastoral staff had to preach in my church…).  In this parable, Jesus describes how those who worked all day were paid the same wage as those who only worked for an hour.  We have all heard the well-worn (and often enough baseless) justifications for apathy towards poverty—people are hungry or poor because they are lazy, don’t manage money well, or somehow deficient.  Their hunger and poverty is their fault.  Aside from the fact that claims such as these are woefully imprecise, this parable invites us to rethink notions of justice.  God gives freely to all, as God wishes.  Might the people of God have the same call when it comes to hunger?  Even if the above-mentioned biases prove true, are we still called to share?  Does this parable speak somehow to the widespread poverty and hunger we face in our day?  Let me know what you think!

David Creech

The time is now! That’s what we keep saying about the ELCA Malaria Campaign.  The ELCA is proud to be a part of a global movement, a movement that has been picking up speed for the past ten years.

At increasing speeds in the past ten years, mosquito nets have been distributed to affected communities. Technologies have been researched and circulated. Educational programs have taught countless households. Medications have been administered. And at an increasing pace in the past ten years, the incidences of malaria have gone down!

When I began my position at the ELCA Churchwide office a little over a year ago, we often used this statistic: every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of malaria.

But this year? This year it’s every 45 seconds. Correct me if I get the math wrong, but I think that means that global efforts to roll back malaria have resulted in saving the life of an African child every two minutes.

That’s amazing work. But we know that as long as even one life is threatened by a preventable and treatable disease, we must keep working.

This article from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says a little more about the progress we’ve made as a global community in rolling back malaria in the past ten years. And we’re glad to be a part of the work in the next years.

-Jessica Nipp,
ELCA Malaria Campaign

As it closes its doors, Walter Reed Hospital has been featured in several NPR stories over the past few weeks.

Here’s a fascinating and well-written story about malaria research that’s happening there, on live volunteers, with the hope of finding a vaccine.  It also includes some interesting information about how malaria has affected the course of military history.

Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Jessica Nipp,
ELCA Malaria Campaign

Last week, one of the voting members at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly urged us to remember Will Herzfeld, who served as the executive of ELCA Global Mission and who died of malaria that he contracted while on a trip to Africa. In addition to the impact malaria has on the lives of our African sisters and brothers, let us also lift up our ELCA  mission personnel whose lives can be affected by the disease. A few days ago we received this note from Anne Langdji, the ELCA’s Regional Representative for West Africa.  She wrote:

“Nice to read the good news about the Malaria Campaign this morning. And it came in between phone conversations with Pastor Jackie Griffin, who arrived in CAR two week ago to start work with that church’s Women’s Organization, “Femmes Centrafricaines pour Christ”.  I welcomed her in Bangui and got her settled in the village of Bohong, where she is spending two months learning Sango.  She spent the past year in N’gaoundere, studying French, and had earlier served in Congo, so is somewhat comfortable in this new setting.

Unfortunately, since this weekend she’s been experiencing her first case of malaria and it’s been hard.  She’s getting good care both from local Catholic health centers and the staff of Lutheran health centers who are visitors in Bouar for a training.  She’s our only ELCA personnel in country right now as Pastor Deborah and Joe Troester and daughter are still on home assignment.

I would ask you to lift her up in prayer.  Many others are suffering tonight as she is, but she is one who has been sent by the ELCA to serve and right now she’s suffering and receiving the compassion and expert care of our Central African brothers and sisters, as well as a German missionary doctor.”

So together, let’s remember Will, and praise God for the good care that Jackie is receiving.  And let’s support the work of the ELCA Malaria Campaign that will make possible excellent malaria treatment and prevention  for many more people in the near future.

Jessica Nipp
ELCA Malaria Campaign