Welcome to 2026 and to the season of Epiphany!  

Last month, billions of people around the world celebrated Advent and the birth of Jesus. Advent and Christmastide remind us of the importance of living out the virtues of peace, love, joy, and hope, as we receive the Christ child in our lives. (See Bread’s Advent resource: Advent 2025: People in Uncertain Times.) 

Now, we begin the season of Epiphany leading up to Ash Wednesday, when we will enter the 40 days of Lent before Easter. Epiphany is a time to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying anew in our lives. It is a season for our own rebirth, personally and collectively, as we reflect on the birth of Jesus. Epiphany invites us to take inventory and identify opportunities for growth. This personal assessment can guide our collective lives. 

The 250^th anniversary of the United States is another opportunity to take inventory of where we have been, collectively, and to identify opportunities for good growth—both in the United States and around the world. I recognize, for example, that 250 years ago I, as a person of African descent, would not have had the opportunity to freely live out and share my humanity. Indeed, the horrors of hunger and poverty during enslavement, Jim Crow laws, and Black Codes prevented huge groups of people from experiencing their God-given dignity and right to nutritious food and well-being. Today, African peoples around the world are still disproportionately affected by hunger. 

At the same time, we can see instances when the collective struggle for human and environmental dignity has resulted in progress. The president of Bread for the World, the Rev. Eugene Cho, points this out relative to our mission to end hunger. Over the past 50 years, the world has moved closer to meeting that mission.  

But Rev. Cho also acknowledges that “a series of [U.S.] administrative and congressional actions [have] dealt devastating blows to the United States’ international assistance and domestic social safety net programs.” He emphasizes that millions of families rely on these programs in times of crisis and that those cuts resulted in an increase in hunger. 

Rev. Cho reminds us that although “our collective efforts could not save all the programs and infrastructure that Bread has championed, tested, and improved over the years,” our advocacy has mattered and still does matter. You can read more about this in Rev. Cho’s article Working Together to End Hunger: 2025 Legislative and Policy Achievements.  

As we enter 2026, in this season of Epiphany, let us recognize that this is a unique year for advocacy, with the 250^th birthday of the United States and the U.S. hosting of the G20 Summit. As you take inventory and reflect on renewal, think about how you can be an advocate for those who face hunger.  

Partner with us for the launch of the 2026 Offering of Letters on February 10, 8-9:15 a.m. Register here.

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How do we as Christians – as a community focused on advocacy – show up in a period of uncertainty? Our Advent devotional wrestles with this question. Advent, as a season of waiting and uncertainty, is an especially appropriate time to reflect on this question.  

Each weekly devotional message approaches this question through the lens of the traditional Advent themes of peace, love, joy, and hope.

Michael Wear urges us to move toward God so that we might experience God’s peace and take it into the world. Rev. Lori Tapia invites us to love our neighbors when political polarization makes it challenging. Rev. Heather Taylor shares a model for finding joy in darkness. And Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson reminds us that we can find hope in God’s presence with us. 

This devotional is appropriate for both individuals and groups. It is structured with scripture that comes from the Revised Common Lectionary, a reflection, a prayer, and a prompt for deeper reflection and discussion.  

One practice that is helpful in times of uncertainty is to slow down and ground ourselves in our bodies. Take your time as you read. While the reflections are short, there is a lot packed into each of them. Every person may engage with each devotional in different ways. In group settings, you might consider building in time for stillness in silence or with musical accompaniment, discussion of the question provided or other pieces of the devotional, and prayer with the text provided and/or prayer specifically for one another.   

On behalf of Bread for the World staff, we wish you a meaningful and joy-filled Advent.

– Rev. Nancy Neal

Here are Bread for the World’s 2025 weekly Advent themes:

Week 1: “Being Peace”

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5 and Psalm 122

Reflection: Peace comes from the Lord. He causes the nations to change their foreign policies. While they once invested in tools to kill and destroy, they will now invest in tools to grow and nurture. The people ascend the mountain of the Lord, and everything changes!

This Advent, we wait on the Lord, who can teach us and change us into people of peace. 

– Michael Wear

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Week 2: “Being Love”

Scripture: Romans 15:5-13, Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Reflection: As Advent people in uncertain times, the call to love becomes both a hope and a challenge. The words of Paul in Romans invite us to live in harmony, “so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

– Rev. Lori Tapia

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Week 3: “Being Joy”

Scripture: Luke 1:46b-55, Psalm 46:5-10

Reflection: Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1 is a renowned song of praise in the Advent season. It is a direct response to God’s prophetic word to her in a profoundly dark time.

Christ’s birth is not only a witness of God’s glory, but also a reflection of our Creator’s desire to send light, hope, and transformative power in the darkest of times through us as conduits if we remain humble and believe God’s Word.

– Rev. Heather Taylor

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Week 4: “Being Hope”

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Reflection: Advent is a time and season of expectation. Great expectation. The coming of the Christ child brings mystery, hope, and signs of God’s presence at work in the world.

Advent is a reminder that God is with us. We carry with us this hope that God is present and does not leave us. As people of faith, we bring with us the truth that God’s presence with us makes the difference in the world.

– Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson

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Pan African Hunger Justice Leaders led in the seasons of biblical and apostolic life—throughout time and still today. Recently, Bread for the World honored its 50th anniversary of faithful advocacy and this included honoring the legacy of Pan African Justice Leaders.

Sadly, the stories, memories, and advocacy of People of Africa and of African Descent as Hunger Justice Leaders of Faith have had limited attention and regard. Indeed, this legacy has been more of a footnote in the ecumenical and social histories/herstories of Civil Rights and Human Rights. One of the keys ways to addressing the importance of this Pan African Hunger Justice agenda is to explore and excavate this legacy—to provide lessons for future generations.

The 50th Anniversary Advocacy Summit Pan African Consultation offered an inspiring and informative opportunity to share how faith-fueled resilience and advocacy have driven transformational change in the fight against hunger. Pan African leaders imparted their experience at Bread for the World’s 50th anniversary, held at the Museum of the Bible.

In addition, a new book, A Legacy of Faith and Justice: Pan African Advocacy and Leadership for Ending Hunger, illuminates the lessons of this rich history by sharing Biblical illustrations and theological reflections of Pan African Hunger Justice leadership as well as by examining structures, policies, and contexts related to the past, present, and future that have and can further the mission of ending hunger—even in our lifetime.

The key themes of the Consultation, shaped by the book and the book’s contributing writers, included: spiritual and cultural foundations of Pan-African hunger advocacy; profiles of leaders who shaped and continue to shape justice movements; the intersection of faith, public policy, and grassroots mobilization; and lessons in perseverance, unity, and the power of collective action.

Although hunger and poverty continue to disproportionately affect Pan-African communities around the world, A Legacy of Faith and Justice and its contributing writers tell a different story—one of hope, unity, and powerful leadership. Through vivid storytelling, the critical role that Pan-African leaders have played in developing and implementing effective practices and policies to end hunger is highlighted. The book celebrates the passion, leadership, and unwavering faith of often-overlooked Pan African leaders in the Bible and since through faith and social justice narratives.

Both the 50th Anniversary Advocacy Summit Pan African Consultation and the debut of this book provided more than a historical account: “It was and is a call to action from Pan African Justice leaders.”

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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This month ushers in the Christian season of Pentecost – the birth of the Church. In Acts 1-2, we learn the Holy Spirit filled the people in a diverse assembly from many nations in the “Upper Room.”  But where did this happen? Mary, mother of John Mark who wrote the gospel book of St. Mark, has often been overlooked in this remarkable story. Still, many scholars agree her role as host was not only important at Pentecost but also in events leading up to Pentecost and other key events after the birth of the Church. This, in addition to her being an active participant among “the women” and the others at Pentecost.

Many scholars say that this was the same “Upper Room” where Jesus celebrated the Passover and the first Communion supper (Luke 22:12) and where Saint Peter, the first Pope, often visited, and went to her house immediately went upon his deliverance from prison in Jerusalem. The Coptic Orthodox Church not only acknowledges St. Mark, as the founder of their church but refers to the “Upper Room” as “Mary’s House.”  This holy site has been proclaimed a church by the holy apostles under the name of the Virgin Mary, mother of God, after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven and that it was renewed after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year A.D. 73. Still others call it the “House of Mary.”

The idea of an “Upper Room” where men and women gathered for advancing the gospel of Jesus the Christ to and for all, convened the occasion of the Lord’s Supper and Pentecost as well as gather prayers for Peter’s rescue from prison and have a general “open door” for all leads us to an important question today, especially for people of faith. Where is “Mary’s House” today when God’s people are being sent away from their homes and not invited in the public and private spaces, unjustly imprisoned, affected by policies that advance severe cuts to SNAP and other food related policies and programs like the termination of United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

The early Church and Jesus were assaulted from every side, including by the Roman government that indicted and crucified Jesus and imprisoned Peter. But Mary’s house was an inclusive place of refuge and where the Holy Spirit was invited and came. It was a place of advocacy to follow the anointing of Jesus who said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor…” (Luke 4:18-19). There is an increasing need for “Mary’s House” today that follows the example of Jesus and the early Church. We invite you to be a part of this movement at bread.org. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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“Bread for the World celebrates with the Roman Catholic Church the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope. We are grateful to see the choice of his name, showing his affinity with Pope Leo XIII, who made Catholic Social Teaching a central issue during his pontificate and which is deeply aligned with our mission to end hunger. We look forward to learning more about Pope Leo XIV’s plans for the Church and will be praying for him as he takes on this new mission.”

Pope Leo XIV was born on the south side of Chicago, IL and is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union. He spent much of his adult life in Peru, where his mother is from and in which he holds dual citizenship, first as a missionary and in later years as a bishop. Pope Leo XIV was said to be close with Pope Francis, who brought him to Rome and named him a cardinal-bishop in February of this year.

“As Pope Leo XIV begins his leadership of the global Catholic Church, we prayerfully urge him to prioritize people suffering from hunger and poverty around the world. Bread for the World believes that ending hunger is possible in our lifetime, and we advocate for policies that reduce global malnutrition, increase support for mothers and children, promote climate resilience for farmers, and strengthen equitable access to economic opportunity. We hope the new Pope will lend his voice to these vital issues and encourage world leaders to act with moral urgency.

“We also invite Pope Leo XIV to continue Pope Francis’s powerful witness in calling for just food systems, compassionate immigration policies, and debt relief for countries burdened by poverty. As a faith-based organization working across denominations, Bread for the World stands ready to support and partner with the Catholic Church in advancing a shared commitment to justice, dignity, and the flourishing of all people.”

The post Bread Statement on Election of Pope Leo XIV appeared first on Bread for the World.

The Pope asked this question on his historic visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa to pray for refugees and migrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia seeking to enter Europe, but who were lost at sea. Pope Francis—the first non-European pope, the first pope from the global south—prayed for those who had drowned during their journey. He threw a wreath of flowers into the sea as a sign of mourning. He then proceeded with an open-air mass, during which he denounced the “globalization of indifference,” which “makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people.”

His last post before he died on Easter Monday 2025 reflected a similar sentiment when he stated, “Christ is risen! These words capture the entire meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life.”

As we celebrate Africa Day this month, we have another moment for celebrating life. While Africa Day has a focus on the celebration of life of Africans and people of African descent globally, it is also a day for celebrating the lives of all. With his papal campaign of mercy for all and not just the selected few, Pope Francis recognized the horrors that end life and our call to sustain life. 

Pope Francis declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Year of Hope with a focus on debt relief, which disproportionately affects countries in Africa and small island nations populated by people of African descent. Bread is supportive of this focus and its relation to our Nourish Our Future campaign. This campaign will be our theme for our 50^th Anniversary Advocacy Summit, June 9–11 in Washington, D.C. Please go here to learn more about this campaign and act with your Offering of Letters. And go here for more information on the Summit and to participate. Meanwhile, you are invited to participate in the Call to Prayer on May 25—or at any time in May. 

The African Union is the primary host for Africa Day and the African Union Global Interfaith Day of Prayer. The Global Day of Prayer is being convened, not as a symbolic gesture but as a prophetic summons. A call for repentance, realignment, and radical love for the Earth and one another. 

Recently, I was honored to be a part of discussions about this call at the recent UN session at the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent Fourth Session that addressed these concerns of life—including through a faith lens. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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“Bread for the World is deeply saddened by the passing of Pope Francis. He was a fierce champion for people experiencing hunger and poverty, and throughout his life and papacy, advocated for alleviation of both. Our prayers are most especially with our Catholic friends and family around the world.   

“During his address to the World Food Programme in 2016, Pope Francis shared ‘A people plays out its future by its ability to respond to the hunger and thirst of its brothers and sisters. In that ability to come to the aid of the hungry and thirsty, we can measure the pulse of our humanity.’ Those words could not be more relevant today.”

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Recently, Bread for the World held a timely national prayer vigil in DC to advocate for life saving international aid. It was an initiative-taking response to recent executive orders of the Administration. These orders were further discussed at our recent National legislative update session and in a recent Bread article, “Meeting Human Needs Because We Can.” The article states “The foreign assistance community is reeling from the order to pause new and existing U.S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days, the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the termination of nearly all current U.S. foreign assistance programs. This is an existential threat and an escalation of persistent efforts to disrupt U.S. assistance to vulnerable people around the world.” 

As of January 2025, The Independent cites a model showing 15,000 having died, including 1500 children, because of these executive decisions. During recent discussions with African leaders and leaders of African Descent preparing for the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in April, they observed that these decisions are not just part of domestic and international trends identified from within the US, but that such is part of a global scene of larger geo-political shifts disproportionately affecting Africans and People of African Descent. 

These shifts happen with a long-term backdrop of African Peoples and nations being subject to human and land extractions for labor and financial gain even as we commemorate the 140^th anniversary of the Berlin Conference of the Scramble for Africa in 1884-1885 this year. A conference that codified the colonial structures of African nations and her Diaspora. Additionally, the backdrop of debt of African, Latin American and Caribbean countries prevents spending on basic needs is a major challenge. 

In this Good Friday Season, we understand Easter hope still abides but our commitment to be witnesses of this by taking advocacy action is what makes Easter hope real. Easter Season 2025 is a special time for this on this the 1700^th anniversary of the Nicaea Council that codified the Nicene Creed foundational to Christian churches today and historically. This unique season compels us to identify global and national strategies that move us forward.

Strategic proposals that include supporting the building up of a Pan African and global focus of unity and self-determination; strategic diplomatic and trade alliances at domestic, national, and global levels, including support for the reauthorization of US trade policies like the African Growth Opportunity Act/African Women’s Entrepreneurial Program. Such also includes advocating for debt relief, climate justice, global nutrition, SNAP benefits for students, the reauthorizing and expansion of WIC, and reparatory justice. These strategies are also aligned with the UN PACT for the Future that calls for a transformation of the global financial architecture with a full awareness of a renewed global transactional ethos. I invite you to learn more about Bread’s Offering of Letters campaign where you can participate in the implementation of these strategies. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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Join Us in this Lenten Season

Our journey in this Lenten season begins at the table of grace where we are invited to penitence and opening our hearts to be cleansed by God. We move to the table of promise, where we are invited to trust in the Lord. We come to the table of transformation next, where we are invited to be courageous in the face of so much mystery in the world around us. On the third Sunday, we come to the table of repentance, where we are invited to change our minds—to open our minds and be aligned with the mind of Christ. At the table of reconciliation, we are invited to speak the truth. We come then to the table of new life, where we are invited to let go of the past. Finally, on Palm/Passion Sunday, we come to the table of welcome, where we are invited to practice radical hospitality with one another.

Each week you will find a scripture on which to meditate, a reflection to read, a practice to engage, and an element for a table setting—each piece inviting you to go deeper. You might gather as a community around a table, collecting the elements each week. Or you might set aside a space in your home to gather with God at a table each week. If you are using this piece to inform your worship service, you might bring each element to the communion table or altar in the worship space.

A special word about Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters, an annual campaign that engages churches, campuses, and other faith communities in writing personalized letters to Congress on issues related to hunger in the U.S. and around the world. This year we celebrate Bread for the World’s 50th Anniversary. As we reflect on the legacy of the Bread for the World community, we remember that in the early years of the organization, churches participated in the Offering of Letters as a Lenten practice. We have written this devotional to both follow the lectionary text and create practices that would support the church in participating in the Offering of Letters.

We hope that you will consider participating in an Offering of Letters this year. Letter writing would be especially appropriate for the fourth week of Lent but would also work well on week five and for Palm/Passion Sunday. To learn more about how to write a letter individually, please visit bread.org/act. To lead an offering of letters in your church or community, visit bread.org/ol.

On behalf of Bread for the World staff, we wish you a thoughtful and meaningful Lent.

– Rev. Nancy Neal

Rev. Nancy Neal is the Minister for Spiritual Formation and Wellness at Bread for the World, where she works to create a culture grounded in Christian practice. She is an ordained PC(USA) pastor and has spent her career working to alleviate social inequalities. See her detailed biography at https://www.bread.org/bio/nancy-neal/.

Here are Bread for the World’s 2025 weekly Lent themes:

Ash Wednesday: “Grace“

Scripture: Psalm 51:17

Reflection: We begin our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday sitting at the table of grace. Lent is a time for journeying inward and preparing our hearts for the death and resurrection of our beloved teacher, Jesus. We turn with penitent hearts to God, confessing with the psalmist, “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

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First Sunday of Lent: “Promise”

Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Reflection: At the table of promise, we remember God’s faithfulness in keeping promises. Through Moses, God brought the Israelites to freedom from their suffering under the Pharoah’s harsh rule.

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Second Sunday of Lent: “Transformation”

Scripture: Luke 9:28-43

Reflection: At the table of transformation, we sit with patience in the face of mystery and the unknown around us. Like Peter and the disciples with him, who try to make sense of what is happening around them, we are invited to sit in the unknown in our lives.

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Third Sunday of Lent: “Repentance”

Scripture: Luke 13:1-9

Reflection: At the table of repentance, we hold the tension of what is and what we hope can be. We open ourselves to seeing things in new ways, to a change in heart and mind.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent: “Reconciliation”

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3,11B-32

Reflection: At the table of reconciliation, we speak the truth about who we are and what is happening in the world. We do this in the hope that we can restore relationships among ourselves.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent: “New Life”

Scripture: Isaiah 46:16-21

Reflection: At the table of new life, we focus our attention on how God is moving now. We remove the blinders of the past and contend with the reality in front of us.

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Palm/Passion Sunday: “Welcome”

Scripture: Luke 22:14-27

Reflection: In between the crowd that cheers Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a colt with cries of Hosanna and Hallelujah and the crowd deserting Jesus in his trial, we find ourselves at the table of welcome.

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It can be difficult to pause when we are busy thinking about work or family facing disasters. We find it difficult to pause when we know that others cannot pause. We find it difficult to pause because we might be overwhelmed by heartbreak if we do. But pausing is important. Our scriptures urge us to the practice of weekly Sabbath. Taking time to slow down is good for our souls and our bodies.  

It can be difficult to give thanks in these moments when the world is facing what is increasingly being called a poly-crisis—a series of crises whose cumulative effect is greater than the sum of the individual crises. We can get bogged down in what is going wrong around the world, in our communities, in our lives. It is easy to be filled with gloom and cynicism and to forget that there is much to be grateful for. 

Some people keep gratitude journals or gratitude jars. The idea is that you write at least one thing that you’re grateful for every day in a journal or on a slip of paper that goes into a jar. That daily practice fosters gratitude. One thought leads to two thoughts, and two lead to four. Gradually, instead of writing one thing you’re grateful for, you start writing multiple things each day. Before you know it, your jar is full. Writing out what we’re grateful for trains our brains to be able to see good in the world. The repetition literally remaps our neuropathways. 

It can be difficult to connect with loved ones during the holidays. Some of us feel so much isolation that we struggle to reach out. Some of us have strained relationships with our families. Some of us are living in situations where it’s challenging to connect with other people. But gathering as a community, particularly in this time of poly-crisis, is important for our mental health. Connection is what we long for. 

For these reasons and more, Bread for the World hosted a vigil last month. We gathered to pause, connect as a community, and to pray for our world. (If you missed it, you can watch the recording here.) 

Bread has also created resources for connection during Advent. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, December 1, is the start of our new liturgical year. Our Advent devotional guide, Seeking Peace in this Advent Season, features reflections from Lisa Sharon Harper, founder of Freedom Road; Bread’s own Eddie Kaufholz, director of communications; Kimberly Mazyck from the Georgetown Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life; and Fr. Nicholas Anton of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. They invite us into spiritual practices to help us experience God’s peace in this season. 

Our hope is that connecting with God’s peace will be a balm for our souls. 

It can feel overwhelming when we see how many people in our country and around the world are struggling with hunger and vulnerability. It can lead us to question if our efforts are making a difference. 

I want to remind you that Bread advocacy for programs such as D-SNAP (Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) ensure people recovering from disaster in the U.S. have access to nutrition assistance during times of crisis. Bread advocacy for programs such as the Global Food Security Act help developing countries become more resilient so that there is more food available locally when war breaks out. Bead advocacy for food aid funding and programmatic efficiency ensures that there is food available in hunger hot spots such as Gaza or Sudan. 

Your advocacy makes a difference. Your gifts to Bread for the World make a difference. 

We now have a new Administration and Congress. Bread advocacy will not falter, and we will work with our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle to advocate for the anti-hunger policies and programs that we know will make a difference. Please consider taking action today on the Farm Bill at bread.org/act. 

I want to end this message with a scripture that has guided us at Bread for the World for the last several years, Psalm 46. As we pray for our nation and our neighbors, as we pray for peace and for those working for peace, let us remember the words of the Psalmist (using the NIV translation): 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

The post A Thanksgiving Message appeared first on Bread for the World.

As a community focused on advocacy, the promise of the peace of Emmanuel – God with us – grounds us, brings us joy, and prepares us for the work that is before us. That is why we chose the theme Seeking Peace in this Advent Season. We hope that peace may be a balm for our souls on the heels of an election, continued hunger and violent conflict in the world, and the beginning of a new liturgical year.

Each weekly devotional message approaches peace with a different invitation: Lisa Sharon Harper invites us to find peace in remembering God’s promises. Eddie Kaufholz invites us to pause and be still as a way of preparing for Christ’s coming. Kimberly Mazyck invites us to find joy as we turn over our burdens to God. And Rev. Fr. Nicholas Anton invites us to let the proclamation of God’s justice change us from the inside out.

Take your time as you read. While the reflections are short, there is a lot packed into each of them. Every person may engage with each devotional in different ways. Trust yourself and your body.

At the end of each reflection, we intentionally invite you to a series of spiritual practices to provide grounding in a time of transition in politics and in the world around us.

On behalf of Bread for the World staff, we wish you a meaningful and joy-filled Advent.

– Rev. Nancy Neal

Here are Bread for the World’s 2024 weekly Advent themes:

Week 1: “Remembering God’s Promises”

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-15

Reflection: Advent is the time of waiting. We wait for light to cut the darkness of destruction and desolation and dystopian despair. It is the context before the revelation of Emmanuel, God with us. It is what we practice to ground ourselves in the floating space where chaos rules and light is a faint memory.

– Lisa Sharon Harper

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Week 2: “Preparing by Being”

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-15

Reflection: About a year ago, I developed an interest in Transcendental Meditation (TM, if you’re in the know) and enrolled in a “Basics of TM” course. It was enlightening.

Sure, there were the woo-woo, vaguely spiritual elements of meditation that piqued my curiosity about the practice. Yet, despite all the new and curious elements of this course, nothing was more impactful to me than what my TM teacher instructed me repeatedly: “You don’t have to do anything. The meditation will happen. Simply be present. Be where you are.”

– Eddie Kaufholz

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Week 3: “Rejoicing in God’s
Promise of Peace”

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7

Reflection: As a child, I was always excited when it was time to light the solitary pink candle on the Advent wreath.

This year, as we enter the third week of Advent, I am particularly aware of God’s presence and promise despite the events in the past few months: executions, elections, ongoing conflict in Sudan, Ukraine and near the birthplace of Jesus in Israel and Palestine. The prophet Zephaniah reminds us that God is in our midst and turning our enemies away. I know that I must surrender my anxiety and worries to God and remember that God is always with me. It is during this time of Advent that as we wait, we prepare ourselves for the most joyful promise of all, God’s promise to send Christ to the world.

– Kimberly Mazyck

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Week 4: “Proclaiming God’s Justice”

Scripture: Luke 1:52-54

Reflection: Proclaiming God’s justice — what in his teaching the Lord described as good news to the poor … freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:18) — contextualizes peace as manifest through our relationship with and in Christ. This is the authentic communal response for the common good. Otherwise, justice can assume many other forms, including revenge and retaliation. Outside of the perspective or path of Christ, an eye-for-an-eye justice may seem reasonable or rational; but it is actually a self-centered and self-focused response. In the light of Christ, the way of retribution is not justice, but selfishness.

– Rev. Fr. Nicholas Anton

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May is known for Mother’s Day, May Day, graduations, and springtime blooms. Sometimes the Christian calendar also brings the annual celebration of the birth of the Church in May: Pentecost. All these beautiful occasions invite us to new life, hope, and possibilities, as does Easter. This year both Ascension Sunday and Pentecost happen during this month of May for many Christians. But Ascension Sunday often does not get as much attention as the holy days of Easter and Pentecost—but still, this day is important.

The ascension of the risen Lord Jesus the Christ is an important moment in the life of the Church and community because it marks the holy and miraculous event of Jesus the Christ being taken up from the earthly dwelling places to the heavenly places. More specifically, this dramatic event helps us to remember that the heavenly places matter and that we are a part of a divine universality and spiritual connection, not only to earth but all the universes. In sum, Jesus’ rising and ascending is good news for all of creation. The occasion of the ascension of Jesus is an illustration of how our lives are called to continually renew and proclaim a risen life for all that is always ascending to new heights.

Mark presents the universal glory of Jesus the Christ and the heavens to which Jesus returns, while quickly turning our attention to the good work that must follow this uniquely divine moment of the risen and ascending Lord.

Recently, many of us took the opportunity to look up to the eclipse. Many were arrested by the majesty of the moon eclipsing the sun. Some travelled to locations where this phenomenon might be more fully seen. Perhaps this looking up helps us to imagine the awe of the disciples and others gathered for the glory of seeing Jesus ascend to the heavenly places as well. 

But very importantly, Mark’s accounts of the ascension of Jesus the Christ did not stop with the viewing of the glory in heaven; it is also an invitation to be agents of God’s glory by doing good works that demonstrate God’s power of the Holy Spirit. 

Advocacy is an important good work of this wonder and power. Bread for the World is committed to doing this in our holy call to ensure all are fed. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post The Ascension, the Heavenly Places, and the Call to Work appeared first on Bread for the World.

These are not the only passages that address the challenges of people who face hunger and poverty or Jesus’ mandate to care for our neighbors.

As you consider the actions you might take in advocating for an end to hunger, you are invited to find inspiration or motivation in a favorite Bible story or verse or to explore the Bible on your own.

Use this brochure as a guide for finding your own basis as a Christian for answering this call.

Brochure Downloads:

The post The Biblical Basis for Advocacy to End Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

Last month, many of us celebrated the joyful resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We welcomed life anew after a sacrificial season of prayer and fasting during Lent. But this resurrection was not initially revealed to the disciples. Rather they were initially left with the question of where their Lord was when he was not found at the tomb.

Although the crucifixion and resurrection had been foretold to them at the Lord’s table days before, they were fearful during and even after these events. One of these fears was the possible high cost of being associated with Jesus who had been convicted and sentenced to die by the Roman authorities. But still, Jesus gathered them knowing their fears and that some would remain close to Him and others would not. In the end, Peter denied Jesus and Judas betrayed Jesus. 

Today we also struggle with fears of association. There are conflicts in this world today that are based in fears of the so-called “other.”  Such fears have led to deep and violent conflicts and wars resulting in polarized leadership, bloodshed, snuffed out lives of children and other vulnerable populations such as women, older men, and youth on the battlefield. Such has also led to a renewed crises of hunger and famine, with people not knowing if they will live. 

But history has taught us that before or after wars and conflicts, a table must be eventually set to  “reason together (Isaiah 1:18).” Calls for peace can and should be an invitation to be at a table to “reason together” and begin the process of peacemaking and healing for the benefit of all. 

Jesus convened a diverse table of those who were allies before and after the crucifixion and resurrection and those who were not. At the table he convened after his resurrection, he said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This is what resurrection looked like then and looks like now, the receiving of peace within the heart and a table that invites, celebrates, and finds new life despite our differences. 

Leaders of conflicts and wars are invited to come to a table not only for peace but to “reason together” for the betterment and feeding of our world that saves lives. History tells us a table must be eventually set even after conflict and war, so why not sooner than later?

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post What Does Resurrection Look Like? appeared first on Bread for the World.

I witnessed this recently when I was honored to sojourn to Nigeria where partners of Bread for the World gathered for historic moments together: the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC-CETA) on the occasion of its 60^th anniversary and 12^th Assembly—and the historic visit of the World Council of Churches during its 75^th year. I was invited to give the message of the related service at the First Baptist Church hosted by the Nigerian Baptist Church Convention and a host of other national churches and the councils of churches.

The invitation also included hosting a Bread related side event at the AACC on Pan Africanism and Faith, featuring issues related to a Pan African lens on hunger, poverty, women, and climate justice. The side event included a follow up to the joint work with our Faithful Voice on Hunger and Climate Justice coalition statement, adopted last year at the AACC headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, in preparation for COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Bread’s partnership on hunger and climate as well as with Pan African Women of Faith/Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) was also featured. Last month PAW/PAWEEN held its annual conference in Washington, D.C., and online. The women made their voices known on Capitol Hill concerning Bread’s advocacy agenda that featured support for the Farm Bill from their lens. Go here to be engaged. 

Both the conference and AACC 60^th featured the launch of my new book, Ahead of Her Time: Pan African Women of Faith and the Vision of Christian Unity, Mission, and Justice, published by WCC. The book launch also included the “Ahead of Her Time” Lifetime Awards to the women featured in the book. The book shares the untold stories of several pan-African women of faith from Africa, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, who provided local, national, and global ecumenical leadership in the history of the churches during formative periods of the modern-day ecumenical movement. A global announcement about this event at Bread for the World is here. The book can be ordered in print or on Kindle at Amazon.com as well. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post The Gifts of an Alive Pan African Faith in Nigeria and in Women’s Leadership appeared first on Bread for the World.

War continues to rage in Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas. Earthquakes have torn apart communities in Afghanistan and Morocco. Disagreements between our nation’s leaders grind our government to a halt and sow amongst neighbors and family members Climate change and economic forces continue to impact food security for those who are most vulnerable. It would be easy to survey the landscape and think that God is absent in all of it. 

It’s also tempting to think that there is more tumult now than ever before, but we know that there was also great tumult when Jesus was born.  We know something of Herod the Great from the Book of Matthew where he orders the murder of all the children two years old and under because he is paranoid about possibly losing his throne. So paranoid that he had three sons murdered, one of his ten wives murdered, and others murdered. Caesar Agustus issued a decree for a census in order to be able to tax people with greater accuracy so that he could invest in the military, building expansion, and overall imperial control. 

It was also seen as a time of God’s silence. For 400 years there had been no prophets raised up by God.  No brave men or women empowered by the Holy Spirit to call the people to repent and turn back to God.  No amazing miracles, signs, or wonders. Only silence. Had God forgotten God’s people?  Had God abandoned them in frustration?  Looking back now we can see what was going on.  We can see that God was putting everything in place for the birth of the Messiah Jesus Christ.

In Advent we wait with anticipation for the return of Christ while we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came during the darkest hour, bringing hope and light. Even in times of apparent silence, God is not absent. God is at work. God is not yet done. 

In the face of all that is happening in the world—all the injustice, the violence, the climate crisis, the hunger, the war—on top of our own challenges, it is easy to feel powerless. Like a deer in headlights, we can get frozen and not know what to do. Sometimes the intense suffering causes us to just get numb so that we don’t have to feel so much intense emotion. 

But instead of letting ourselves get stuck, in this period of waiting, we can lean into our spiritual practices, whatever they may be, to help us draw closer to God, to help us wait with anticipation and hope. We can also join together in community to take action that will make a difference. 

This year, in our advent journey at Bread for the World, we are turning to the Psalms which invite us to see with clear eyes, the world as it is, crying out, come Lord, Jesus, come! And they invite us to hold all of that in the hope, peace, joy, and love that is promised with Christ’s coming. We trust in God’s promises of restoration of the world. We stand in hope, peace, joy, and love to ground us as we offer our lives, following God’s path toward justice and righteousness in the world. 

If the God of the universe was born in a dirty, messy manger, in the midst of conflict and injustice and oppression, there is no mess or brokenness in the world or in our lives that God is not willing to step into. New light and life are promised.  

Rev. Eugene Cho is president and CEO of Bread for the World. To download the 2023 Advent Devotional from Bread for the World, visit bread.org/adventprayer. 

The post Advent Reflection appeared first on Bread for the World.

Today we are faced with the challenges of war, religious nationalism, and polarization. The conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel-Palestine, the Horn of Africa, Syria, and Ukraine immediately come to mind. Yet conflicts and wars are perpetual and threaded throughout the Bible. Hunger and famine are related consequences of these horrors of death. The hatred and fears about who is an enemy have fueled and still fuel the atrocities of bloodshed and loss of life.

Yet Jesus says, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you and even bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you.” For many this seems counter-intuitive and certainly not doable. After all, in so doing, self-interest may be compromised.

Exodus 2:1-10 provides a lesson on what it means to love and pray for the “enemy.” Although enemies, an enslaved Israelite mother, Jochebed; her daughter Miriam; and an African princess, Bithiah, reject the hatred to show love to Moses.

Together they protect baby Moses’s life. They conspire to work across enemy lines, with God on their side. Jochebed and Miriam place baby Moses in a basket and send him on his way to the river waters—hidden, not knowing where or if the baby will arrive safely to a destination point. God sees them and steps in with the angels and protects the vision of the mother and daughter and, most importantly, baby Moses.

The so-called enemy, Bithiah (the Pharoah’s daughter), sees the child and does not offer what may be the expected response of showcasing the baby to her father as a prize for his evil law. Rather, the African princess has compassion for the baby and extends hospitality to the baby, his mother, and his sister. And she protects him, not only during the encounter but also by adopting the child into her regal home! This, after the dignified negotiation with Miriam and Jochebed about the nursing care of the baby.

This important and timely biblical illustration invites us to ask ourselves what we are doing to cross so-called “enemy lines”—not only to pray for our enemies, but to show love to our enemies, with children in mind first. How do we re-imagine and implement alternative pathways that stop violence and engage love and diplomacy?

Nonpartisan advocacy is one of the ways Bread does this. We invite you to work with us to advocate for a farm bill that benefits all.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Loving the Enemy: Jochebed and Bithiah’s Story appeared first on Bread for the World.

Empezando el 15 de septiembre hasta el 15 de octubre se celebra en los Estados Unidos el Mes de la Herencia Hispana y Pan para el Mundo dedica esta serie de oraciones para tener en nuestros corazones y honrar a la comunidad hispana/latina en los Estados Unidos y las Américas. Como somos llamados a ser el cuerpo de Cristo, honrémonos unos a otros como honramos a Cristo – Dios con nosotros. 

En 2022, había 63.7 millones de hispanos viviendo en los Estados Unidos y durante la última década los latinos representaron más de la mitad de todo el crecimiento de la población en los EE.UU. Se calcula que la producción económica total de los hispanoamericanos supera con creces los 2 billones (trillion) de dólares La mayoría de los latinos de EE.UU. viven en cinco estados: California, Texas, Florida, Nueva York y Arizona, pero en todo el mundo los latinos están creciendo y provocando cambios para bien.

Los latinos aportan una gran diversidad junto con profundas raíces en las comunidades indígenas y africanas. Dios nos ha bendecido verdaderamente para que, en nuestra diversidad, mostremos el amor extravagante de Dios por todas las personas.

Oremos:

Santo Dios, tú hiciste todo lo que es y siempre será,

Y por tu Amor nos has conectado a cada uno de nosotros. 

Oramos ahora por tus hijos hispanos/latinos(a).

Oramos por las diversas lenguas, culturas y contribuciones de los hispanoamericanos.

Oh Dios, bendice a tu diversa familia humana

y fortalécenos para que caminemos juntos en tu gracia.

Toda la Gloria y el Honor son tuyos Dios.

Amén

Para unirse a Pan para el Mundo en la oración, suscríbase a Oraciones para acabar con el hambre o visite Bread.org.

The post El Mes de Herencia Hispana appeared first on Bread for the World.

Los discípulos obedecieron las instrucciones de Jesús. Trajeron lo que tenían, y Jesús se encargó del resto. La tarea de poner fin al hambre parece más desafiante que alimentar a 5,000 hombres, sin contar mujeres y niños, con solo 5 panes y dos peces. Nos cuestionamos si nuestras voces serán suficientes. La respuesta es afirmativa. Podemos actuar con fe y confiar en que Dios completará la obra.

Oremos.

Dios de abundancia,

Nos resulta complicado confiar

en que baste actuar con fe,

como Tú nos invitas a hacerlo.

Te imploramos que actúes a través de nosotros

para levantar un mundo libre de hambre.

Te lo rogamos en el nombre de Jesús,

Amén.

The post Milagro de los Cinco Panes y Dos Peces appeared first on Bread for the World.

This month, we think back to the March on Washington, which occurred 60 years ago this August, along with some other significant Pan African moments from 1963. Tradition suggests that the diamond is the symbol for 60^th anniversaries, which causes us to reflect on the Greek root of diamond—adamas, meaning unconquerable and enduring. 

The epigraph from Deuteronomy suggests that remembrances of generations past can provide lessons for our todays and tomorrows about being unconquerable and enduring. 

We draw one such lesson from the story of Moses and the deliverance of the Israelite people from bondage. It is a story about newfound freedom and discovering a new way to live. This was not an easy task. This was illustrated when they were hungry in the wilderness after their release: 

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt!” (Exodus 16:2-3)

And God heard their plea and provided food for the people to eat. 

This biblical text of God’s faithfulness to the Israelite people comes to mind during this month of Black August. This is a time for recognizing the enduring faithfulness of Pan African peoples in their resilient advocacy.  

This year’s Black August includes a remembrance of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. A commemorative event will take place at the Lincoln Memorial on August 26. 

August 31 will be another date to commemorate, as it marks the third International Day of People of African Descent. That date will be complemented with recommendations from the United Nations 2^nd Permanent Forum of People of African Descent. 

On August 29 Bread will have a hybrid event to celebrate and commemorate both of these significant dates.

We will also be thinking about two 60^th anniversaries from earlier this year. May 25, 1963, marked the founding of the Organization of African Unity, now called the African Union. And the All Africa Conference of Churches held its first assembly on April 20, 1963 in Kampala, Uganda. 

Bread for the World has partnered with these Pan African partners and continues to do so with its mission and vision to end hunger and to address the wealth and income racial equity gap. 

In this moment, Bread believes the reauthorization of the farm bill is a policy that addresses equity, nutrition, and sustainable life—vital issues for Black August.

Pan African communities can and will continue to speak out, advocate, and show their historic resilience and resolve to address these issues from a faith perspective. Bread celebrates Pan African leadership as we partner to end hunger. 

Please visit www.bread.org/offering-letters/ to learn more about the farm bill and to advocate for it. 

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Black August 2023: Pan African 60th Anniversaries! appeared first on Bread for the World.

This week, we have adapted the final Advent prayer in response to the devastating tornadoes that tore through several states in the South and Midwest.

I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when I realized that I am loved; loved ardently, eternally, unconditionally, with a love that knows no bounds. Eventually, I couldn’t help but seeing it: Love is pervasive and contagious. Love is the most powerful gift, with an infinite variation of expressions. Like loaves and fish, love multiplies as it is freely given. Like the break of dawn, love brings light to the darkest night and fills life with the brightest warmth. I saw it in the smile of an elderly woman who got visited today; heard it in the cry of a newborn; tasted it in the food that we shared and the fight for justice so that others will not go without; felt its strong pull in the patient hand of a Good Samaritan. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8) and its power is transformative. Will you love others today?

Let us pray:

“God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”  (Psalm 46:1-3)

In this Advent season, we cry out, Come, Come, Immanuel.

We pray for our siblings in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee,

who face the devastation of tornado damage.

We pray for those who have lost loved ones,

for those who are waiting for help,

for those who have lost everything.

We pray for those who need food,

for those who need shelter and clothing

and protection from the cold weather.

May they find the hope, peace, joy, and love

in disaster response teams,

in neighbors,

in government and community leaders,

and in leaders rising up in the crisis.

May they be comfort for your people, O God.

We trust “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God'” (Luke 3:4-6).

We pray in the name of the one who comes,

Wrapped in swaddling clothes

and lying in in a manger,

born in Bethlehem.

Amen

María del Mar “Mar” Muñoz-Visoso wrote this reflection. She is executive director of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). She holds a Master of Theological Studies from Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan. In 2010, she received the Benemerenti Medal from Pope Benedict XVI for exemplary and sustained service to the Catholic faith. 

The post Advent Prayers to End Hunger: Love appeared first on Bread for the World.

Esta semana, hemos adaptado la última oración de Adviento en respuesta a los devastadores tornados que azotaron varios estados en el sur y el medio oeste.

No puedo precisar el momento exacto en que me di cuenta de que soy amado(a); amado(a) ardientemente, eternamente, incondicionalmente, con un amor que no conoce límites. Al final, no pude evitar verlo: el amor es omnipresente y contagioso. El amor es el regalo más poderoso, con una variación infinita de expresiones. Como los panes y los peces, el amor se multiplica cuando se da gratuitamente. Como el amanecer, el amor trae luz a la noche más oscura y llena la vida con el calor más brillante. Lo vi en la sonrisa de una anciana que fue visitada hoy; lo escuché en el llanto de un recién nacido; lo probé en la comida que compartimos y la lucha por la justicia para que otros no se queden sin ella; se siente su fuerte tirón en la mano paciente de un buen samaritano. El amor nunca falla (1 Corintios 13: 8) y su poder es transformador. ¿Amarás hoy a los demás? Oremos:

“Dios es nuestro amparo y fortaleza,
Nuestro pronto auxilio en todos los problemas.
Por eso no tenemos ningún temor.
Aunque la tierra se estremezca,
y los montes se hundan en el fondo del mar;
aunque sus aguas bramen y se agiten,
y los montes tiemblen ante su furia.”. (Salmo 46: 1-3)

En esta temporada de Adviento, clamamos: Ven, ven, Emanuel.

Oramos por nuestros hermanos en Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri y Tennessee,

que enfrentan la devastación del tornado.

Oramos por aquellos que han perdido a sus seres queridos,

por los que esperan ayuda,

por los que lo han perdido todo.

Oramos por los que necesitan comida,

por los que necesitan abrigo, ropa y protección contra el frío.

Que encuentren la esperanza, la paz, la alegría y el amor

en los equipos de respuesta a desastres,

en vecinos,

en líderes gubernamentales y comunitarios,

y en líderes que surgen de la crisis.

Que sean consuelo para tu pueblo, oh Dios.

Confiamos en la “Voz de uno que grita en el desierto:

“Preparen el camino del Señor,

háganle sendas derechas.

Todo valle será rellenado,

toda montaña y colina será allanada.

Los caminos torcidos se enderezarán,

las sendas escabrosas quedarán llanas.

Y todo mortal verá la salvación de Dios” (Lucas 3: 4-6).

Oramos en nombre del que viene.

Envuelto en pañales

acostado en un pesebre,

nacido en Belén.

Amén

María del Mar “Mar” Muñoz-Visoso escribió esta reflexión. Es directora ejecutiva del Secretariado para la Diversidad Cultural de la Iglesia de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos (USCCB). Tiene una Maestría en Estudios Teológicos de la Universidad Madonna en Livonia, Michigan. En 2010, recibió la Medalla Benemerenti del Papa Benedicto XVI por su servicio ejemplar y sostenido a la fe católica.

The post Oraciones para Terminar el Hambre: Amor appeared first on Bread for the World.

Fue mi hermana J quien me enseñó por primera vez sobre la alegría. Tiene un trabajo de tiempo completo y cuida de tres miembros enfermos de la familia. “¡NO voy a dejar que nadie me robe la alegría!” dijo un día mientras estábamos cocinando para alguien. (En mi familia cocinamos, cantamos y luego planeamos la siguiente ronda de cocina y canto). Ni siquiera recuerdo qué motivó la oración, pero ahí estaba, alegría, en la forma de una gracia que todos poseemos. J es dueña de su alegría por completo y la difunde. Entra en su casa y la alegría es tan palpable como las ollas en la estufa. Han pasado años desde que pronunció esa frase por primera vez, y estoy seguro de ello. Mientras cocinamos juntas la semana pasada, se transformó en “Nadie puede robarme mi alegría. Punto.” 

Que Dios nos ayude a reconocer el gozo de nuestro corazón; aprender las alegrías ocultas a simple vista, estar abiertos a aprender de los demás y cómo encender una alegría más profunda para que podamos convertirnos en llamas de energía para manifestar hábiles actos de amor que pueden traer una sociedad justa y el fin del hambre en el mundo. 

Oremos:

Dios paciente y amoroso,
Estamos atrapados en el ajetreo y el bullicio, intentando
llegar a fin de mes, intentando
planificar bien, intentando
hacer todo el trabajo de justicia, intentando
hacer felices a todos, intentando…
El tiempo se mueve tan rápido que luchamos por
pausa,
para reconocer esta temporada de adviento.

Detennos en seco.
Danos maravillas.
Danos anticipación.
Danos nostalgia.
Prepara nuestros corazones para tus dones de
Esperanza
Paz
Alegría
Amor
Envuelto en pañales
y acostado en un pesebre,
nacido en Belén.
Esperamos a aquel en cuyo nombre oramos,
Amén.

Muchas gracias a Ana Hernández por escribir esta reflexión de adviento. Ana es compositora / arreglista, facilitadora de talleres, teomusicóloga, líder de canciones y autora. Ella viaja colaborando con grupos pequeños y grandes para profundizar la comunidad y crear hermosas liturgias en muchos estilos diferentes. Facilita conversaciones significativas utilizando las modalidades Art of Hosting. El trabajo de Ana tiene como objetivo llevar a cada uno de nosotros a un lugar sostenible en términos de aparecer, estar presente y escuchar generativamente, para que podamos recordar lo amados que somos todos.

The post Oraciones para Terminar el Hambre: Alegría appeared first on Bread for the World.

It was my sister J who first taught me about joy. She has a full-time job and is the primary caregiver for three ailing family members. “I am NOT going to let anybody steal my joy!” she said one day as we were cooking for someone. (In my family we cook, sing, and then plan the next round of cooking and singing). I don’t even remember what prompted the sentence, but there it was, joy – in the form of a grace we all possess. J owns her joy completely and spreads it around. Walk into her house and the joy is as palpable as the pots on the stove. It’s been years since she first spoke that sentence, and even I’m sure of it. As we cooked together last week, it had morphed into “Nobody can steal my joy. Period.” 

May God help us to recognize the joy in our hearts; to apprehend the simple joys hidden in plain sight, to be open to learning from others, and how to kindle a deeper joy so we may become flames of energy to manifest skillful acts of love that can bring about a just society and an end to hunger in the world. 

Let us pray:

Patient and Loving God,
We are caught in the hustle and bustle—trying
to make ends meet, trying
to plan just right, trying
to get all the justice work done, trying
to make everyone happy, trying…
Time moves so quickly, we struggle to
pause,
to recognize this advent season.

Stop us in our tracks.
Give us wonder.
Give us anticipation.
Give us longing.
Prepare our hearts for your gifts of
Hope
Peace
Joy
Love
Wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger,
born in Bethlehem.
We wait for the one in whose name we pray,
Amen.

Many thanks to Ana Hernández for writing this advent reflection. Ana is a composer/arranger, workshop facilitator, theomusicologist, songleader, and author. She travels around collaborating with groups small and large to deepen community and create beautiful liturgies in many different styles. She facilitates meaningful conversations using the Art of Hosting modalities. Ana’s work aims to bring each of us to a sustainable place in terms of showing up, being present, and listening generatively, so we can remember how beloved we all are.

The post Advent Prayers to End Hunger: Joy appeared first on Bread for the World.

This periodic emergence of cicadas reminds us of the complex design of creation and its intrinsic interconnectedness. It is also an opportunity to pause to reflect on the slow, yet steady unfolding of God’s grace evident in each of our lives, including in our advocacy to end hunger. 

Much of advocacy involves people and works we will never know, but efforts that nevertheless become evident through direct works of mercy and service, faithful advocacy with elected officials, and fervent prayers that open us to encounter God anew.  Anchored in the rhythm of our seasons and their steady unfolding, we pray:

God of All Creation,

We give thanks for the ways your wisdom and beauty are revealed to us through sacred creation, including the cicadas.  Our hearts are full as we reflect on the many people, prayers, and actions that have been taken – their cumulative total known only to you – for the sake of ending hunger.

As we grow to encounter you anew through other living things, humble us to recognize the dignity of all creation and our shared partnership in caring for the earth and its resources that nurture life.

By the power of your Holy Spirit, may we see ourselves as one part of the food system, not at its top or center, but in a unique position to steward it and ensure all who are part of it are treated with equity and dignity.  And may we never tire or grow weary for an end to hunger, but look instead to the seasons and our natural surroundings for inspiration and renewal. 

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.  

The post Prayers to End Hunger: Cicadas appeared first on Bread for the World.

Watch the interview. 

The post Christianity Today: Building Community and Advocating for the Vulnerable appeared first on Bread for the World.

When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples; and as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me ….” And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the maids of the high priest came; and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it. Matthew 26: 20-21, Mark 14:66a-68a

2020 is behind us, but our past year leaves haunting questions for 2021. As we approach the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we ask, “What has 2020 taught us about the importance of gathering in our diversity at common tables?” Despite COVID-19, we have gathered virtually—and, sometimes, in person. But who has been at our tables?

The gospel lessons tell us that Jesus invited His disciples who had grown to love Him over three years, but his invitation was not exclusively for them. Through His ministry, He invited them to invite others. The acceptance of Jesus’ invitation meant His disciples had to be willing to have their perspectives challenged to pursue a fuller humanity and divinity for themselves and others. In sum, they had agreed to a persistent test of their assumptions.

The Last Supper presented a climactic test of their assumptions of who was willing to follow Jesus. This was done when he announced the troubling truth that there would be one among them who would betray Him and one who would deny Him. Although Jesus knew this before he invited them to the table, he still invited all of them. He knew that such truths would make for uncomfortable moments at the commonly gathered table of the Passover meal.

2021 is also a season for us to be gathered at diverse tables of discomfort and to actively tell and address our truths together. Like Jesus, this means inviting those who are both familiar and unfamiliar to us. Very importantly, this means inviting those who we perceive to be betrayers and deniers of our truths and being willing to arrive at new and renewed truths together.

In 2020, COVID-19 invited us to a common table that revealed the truth about our common human frailties and vulnerabilities, despite counternarratives that have distracted us from such truth. In 2021, we remain at this same table, where we are invited to share our authentic stories of joy, lament, and hope. We are invited to share and redress the traumas of historical racial and gender inequities and environmental and economic crises—all of which relate to the scourge of hunger and poverty.

2021 is a new season for us to embrace these truths and to seek common solutions that have been addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Bread invites persons of diverse faith, ages, and politics to gather at a common table to end hunger and poverty. As at Jesus’ table, there will be discomfort amid the hope.

Won’t you join us in this God-given moment to do this? Please go to www.bread.org to learn more.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World.

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“When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendent of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. When the angel came to her, he said, ‘Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!’” (Luke 1:26-28)

We can only begin to imagine what it was like for young Mary to be approached by the angel Gabriel. It must have been a surreal experience—and it certainly summoned immense courage from her. In the verses that follow the quoted scripture above from Luke’s Gospel, Mary learns that she will bear in her womb the very Son of God, Jesus Christ

But before receiving this big news, Gabriel greets Mary by inviting her to rejoice, for she is favored and declares that the Lord is with her! As we prepare ourselves for the fourth and final week of Advent, we are invited to receive this love-filled greeting from Gabriel to Mary as it if were intended for us: we, too, are favored as beloved children of God — and the Lord is with us!

And then we are invited to respond to God’s love and care for us by extending God’s love to others, including through our advocacy to end hunger and poverty. Let us rejoice and pray

“Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!”

— Luke 1:28

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Throughout the Bible, when we read, “do not be afraid,” God is often letting us know that something new and previously unimaginable is coming and in the Gospel of Luke, the angel brings good news of great joy.

God’s son is coming into the world and nothing will ever be the same again. We give thanks that as promised, God is doing a new thing and we are invited to be a part of it as we prepare for the Christ Child to enter our hearts and our lives.

Even in this challenging and often frightening world, we are given a chance to be part of the hope and love that comes through Jesus. Let us pray:

“Do not be afraid … I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people”

— Luke 2:10

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The vigil began at 7:00 a.m. ET today and will end with a closing ceremony at 6:00 p.m. ET. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the vigil this morning. Other Members of Congress, including Republican leadership, have been invited to participate.

As Members of Congress plan their departures from the nation’s capital, Americans continue to struggle to retain jobs during the global pandemic. The U.S. has now surpassed the sobering loss of more than 200,000 lives due to COVID. Millions are unemployed. People across the country are struggling to pay rent and feed their families. Faith leaders from across the U.S. representing a broad array of religious beliefs and faith traditions will come together in prayer and to call on Congress to pass a desperately needed robust COVID relief bill.

The HEROS Act, the last COVID relief bill, was passed in May. Since that time Congress and the White House have failed to come to agreement on another bill to help families who are struggling from the economic fallout from COVID. According to recent reports, 1 in 3 families with children in the U.S. do not have enough food to eat, with nearly 40 percent of Black and Latino families with children struggling to put food on the table. Worldwide, more than 270 million people are on the brink of starvation. WISC is calling on Congress and the White House to act now because #FamiliesCantWait.

The Lead organizers of the vigil are Bread for the World, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. Other participants include the National Council of Churches, The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, Islamic Relief USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Church World Service, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Faithful Democracy, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Interfaith Working Group on Foreign Assistance.

Quotes from Faith Leaders:

Rev. Eugene Cho, President and CEO, Bread for the World: “We are in the midst of an unprecedented epidemic that has also become a hunger crisis. Tens of millions of people in the United States are unable to feed their families. The impact is falling especially hard on Black and Brown families, as well as immigrant families. Globally, the situation is even more dire as 270 million people stand on the brink of starvation. God calls on us to care for our neighbors in need. Congress and the White House must act and pass a meaningful relief bill that keeps families out of hunger.”

Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO, Church World Service: “It’s shocking that President Trump and Congress have delayed in providing needed relief for suffering Americans and a vital economic stimulus for the U.S. economy. The House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, but the Senate majority remains unresponsive. American compassion should also extend to our impoverished neighbors around the world, facing a catastrophic food crisis because of COVID-19. I urge President Trump and Congressional leadership to reach an agreement immediately on robust domestic and international supplementary Coronavirus aid.”  

Diane Randall, General Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers): “The United States has lost more than 200,000 to COVID, and the world is on the verge of surpassing one million dead. If these two numbers are not enough to get the Congress – specifically the Senate – to pass COVID relief and now, what will? Unfortunately, the fact that our leaders in Washington are ignoring COVID does not mean COVID is ignoring us. Until we confront this virus head-on with the seriousness it deserves, we will continue to slowly pay the price in lives and economic stability.”

Sharif Aly, Chief Executive Officer, Islamic Relief USA: “Covid-19 has significantly changed our way of life during the past several months. The way we work, the way we interact, the way we travel, the list goes on. More than 200,000 people in the United States have succumbed to this pernicious disease, and it continues to remain a severe threat throughout the world.  Throughout this time, Islamic Relief USA has remained committed to its mission of helping, and uplifting the most vulnerable populations here and around the world, helping them forge a path to self-determination and tiding them over rough patches. As tumultuous a time as this has been, we believe the experiences stemming from the pandemic could serve as a time of reflection and restoration of our strongest values. We need to put our differences aside and unite to achieve only one goal: to serve humanity. If we all pull together and aspire toward that, we will overcome the current hardships and prevail. Jazak Allah Khair!” 

Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director, Leadership Conference of Women Religious: “As women of faith we urge members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to focus on the common good and to immediately pass a robust COVID-19 relief bill that addresses the suffering of our people, especially those most in need. Every day that passes more and more children go hungry, seniors are made homeless, parents lose their livelihoods and families face economic disaster. Our faith teaches us that a basic moral test for society is measuring how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst. The wellbeing of our neighbors is not a partisan issue that can be ignored or postponed until after the November election; we need relief now.”

Susan Gunn, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns: “Just as a virus knows no borders, neither should our response. The poor countries where Maryknoll missioners live are sinking under the weight of the coronavirus. If we don’t provide foreign aid now, the United States will sink with them. It will make it more difficult to contain the pathogen; it will make any type of economic recovery harder, and it will intensify the political instability and human suffering that have contributed to high levels of migration in recent years. The vast majority of Americans agree that foreign assistance to fight disease makes us all safer. Please listen and take action now.”

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice: “We mourn the deaths of over 200,000 Americans and believe it is immoral that the Administration still does not have a federal testing and treatment plan. The House passed the HEROES Act months ago, which provides the robust protections families and communities need. Senator McConnell ignores the needs of our people. Instead he is playing crass partisan politics rushing to push a Supreme Court Justice nominee through the Senate during the 2020 election. This November, voters have a choice. We must elect leaders who understand the pain of our people and are committed to working for real solutions.”

Lawrence E. Couch, Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd: “Regrettably, we are not done with COVID and it is not done with us. We cannot put our heads in the sand and wish these health care, economic and social justice crises away. The Senate must do its job and pass robust COVID Relief legislation to lift up the lives of people who are suffering greatly through no fault of their own.”

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We must work together to right the wrongs that have been laid bare for the world to see and begin to build a society based on justice, wisdom, and racial equity so that all may flourish in its abundance.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with all of those suffering in this time of mourning. We hope that you will join us in this season of Pentecost as we call upon the power and presence of the Holy Spirit for such a time as this.

——

Come, Holy Spirit, Come

We long for your shalom—for the healing, wholeness, and restoration of your people and your world.  We long to know your abundance and your peace. 

Yet many of us participate and uphold the systems of evil, injustice, and oppression that are established to privilege some and hinder the breath of others.

These systems are unveiled and exposed in this season…

…whether it is in the rampant spread of COVID-19 that has stolen the breath of life from more than 100,000 people, disproportionately people of color,

…or hospitals discounting COVID-19 symptoms in African Americans, who are denied testing and proper treatment until it is too late and they take their last breath,

…or a police officer using excessive force, while ignoring George Floyd’s pleas for his life until he could breathe no more,

There are so many names to recount whose lives were lost unjustly.

Breathe on us, Holy Spirit

may the fire of righteous indignation burn in our hearts so that we might be refined, transformed, and renewed by its flame each day.

Breathe on us, Holy Spirit

so that we might be emboldened to interrupt the sinful systems of evil, injustice, and oppression all around us. That we might root it out of ourselves and our laws and our institutions. 

Breathe on us, Holy Spirit

so that we might be agents of your shalom.

Come Holy Spirit, Come. Amen. 

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We are bombarded by bad news—war, violent weather, violent policies:

“O Lord, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words…They crush your people, O Lord…”  (Psalm 94)

But we have reasons for hope and persistence. The world’s unprecedented progress in recent decades—shown on the right side of the graphic below—is a powerful reason for hope. At Bread for the World, we have come to see this progress as a contemporary experience of our saving God—a great exodus from hunger.

The left side of the graphic shows that we have made progress in our country, too. Nearly all this progress was made in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the nation set up programs like Medicaid and SNAP for low-income people. We learned from that experience that we can reduce hunger and poverty in our country too, and we have maintained and improved those programs over the years.

Bread for the World and its members have played a significant role in the advances shown in this graphic.

Over the last few decades, Bread for the World has been an important voice as U.S. international aid has quadrupled in scale and steadily improved in effectiveness. President Trump has pushed for deep cuts in international aid, but—thanks in part to our advocacy—Congress has continued to increase aid. In fact, the average annual appropriation for international aid during the Trump administration has been higher than in the last year of Obama’s presidency.

Starting in 2011, powerful political forces have pushed for massive cuts in programs that help low-income families in this country. Budget after budget proposed to cut about $2 trillion from these programs. That’s what the government shutdowns and the fiscal cliff were about.

Bread for the World has been a leader of the faith community’s response to the budget debate. Remarkably, Congress has, in the end, made virtually no cuts in poverty-focused programs. At the end of 2019, Congress finally approved some much-needed increases in low-income programs.

Despite all the bad things happening now, progress against hunger and poverty continues.  Although the number of people who cope with calorie-deficient diets has gradually increased over the last five years, most of the international indicators of human welfare (including the number of stunted children in the world) are still moving in the right direction. In our country, the Great Recession was a huge setback, but hunger and poverty are now inching downward again.

Decades of progress, the clear impact of advocacy, and continued progress—these are reasons for hope and persistence.

More fundamentally, God is our source of hope. We draw hope from the abundance and resilience of creation, the biblical pattern of moral failure and divine rescue, and the worldwide explosion of faith in a gracious God that began in the resurrection of Jesus.

Psalm 94 promises that “the Lord will not forsake his people.”  And Jesus taught his disciples “to pray always and not give up” (Luke 18:1). 

David Beckmann is the president of Bread for the World.

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The Circle of Protection has received videos from Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer. More videos are expected. By publicizing the videos, the Circle of Protection hopes to make poverty and hunger key issues for candidates and voters in the 2020 elections.

The Circle of Protection is a coalition of diverse Christian leaders including leaders from the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Catholic Church, major Protestant denominations, and faith-based organizations. 

The Circle of Protection and its partners will distribute the candidates’ videos among their churches and the general public. They will encourage people to share the videos with their friends, family, and church and community groups. However, the Circle of Protection will not publicly evaluate the proposed policy positions or endorse any candidate.  

 This is the third presidential election cycle the Circle of Protection has asked presidential candidates for videos. In 2012, both President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney provided videos. In 2016, nearly all of the primary election candidates made videos, including Hillary Clinton. Clinton and Donald Trump also provided statements to the Circle of Protection during the general election. 

The Circle of Protection is a coalition of diverse Christian leaders working together for help and opportunity for hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world.

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“This past weekend, our nation experienced another senseless mass killing in El Paso, TX that was motivated by racism and discrimination and the mass shooting in Dayton, OH. We mourn the loss of these men, women, and children, and all who are victims of violent hate crimes in the United States.

“Christianity is grounded in the experience of God’s love for all people. ‘We love, because God first loved us.’ (I John 4:19). Knowing that God is with us in our grief and in our times of need gives us the courage to stand up for dignity and justice.

“America’s tragic history of racism is one that we must challenge the White House, our political leaders, and ourselves to address. We call on our political leaders and everyone in these United States, especially Christians, to love our neighbors by our words and deeds and pray that God brings peace, justice, and most of all, healing to all. Join us in praying that our faith will be turned into action, our political leaders will stand against racism, hatred, and violence, and God will use us so that this world may be transformed.”

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The statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Bread for the World congratulates Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith on her election as president of the Historic Black Family of Christian Churches Together. Walker-Smith is CCT’s first female president, from any of the families, and we celebrate this historic moment with her and CCT.

“We know Rev. Walker-Smith will bring the same passion, skill, and energy to her presidential duties as she does to her role at Bread. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with CCT and believe that Rev. Walker-Smith’s election will only bring us closer together.”

CCT is the broadest church fellowship in the United States, seeking to build relationships and foster unity among all the major Christian traditions. These traditions are grouped into five families: Historic Black, Catholic, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, and Evangelical-Pentecostal. There are five presidents in CCT, one for each family.

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“Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The dreamer is gone, but the dream remains. Dr. King’s dream of the promised land was informed by his belief that ending hunger and poverty was possible. Upon his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he said: ‘There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.’

“Dr. King’s impenetrable legacy inspires Bread for the World’s work. Like Dr. King, we too, imagine a world without hunger and poverty, and engage in actions to get there. Bread for the World supports the events commemorating the 50th anniversary of his martyrdom, including the ACT to End Racism rally in Washington, D.C. It is important that churches are coming together for this, because you cannot end hunger and poverty without ending racism. We hope these events help to put us on the path to finally fulfilling Dr. King’s dream.”

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By Derick D. Dailey

The Pan-African Young Adult Network (“PAYAN”), of Bread for the World, recently gathered in Washington, D.C. on the 150th birthday of W.E.B. DuBois. They engaged in prayer, worship, and critical reflection to advocate for a hunger-free world. 

The weekend brought together over two dozen young adults representing a diverse cross-section of the African diaspora, both ethnically and theologically. They affirmed the importance of grounding anti-hunger policy and advocacy in Pan-African experiences, theology, strategies, and history. On Friday, PAYAN gathered at the historic Ebenezer United Methodist Church on Capitol Hill for dinner, fellowship, and worship. The group was joined by Ebenezer’s pastor and members, the church historian (who is also a local Washington television personality), local non-profit leaders, senior leadership of Bread for the World, and members of a local theatrical ministry called “Breathe.” After a refreshing time of praise and worship, members of Bread’s leadership team affirmed the work of PAYAN with thoughtful remarks.

On Saturday the group convened at Howard University School of Divinity. The group engaged in asset-mapping, capacity building, and short and long-term planning, along with a healthy dose of organizational and institutional development. PAYAN agreed to a number of goals, a few being:

• Participating in  the June 11-12, 2018 Pre-Lobby Day and Lobby Day activities
• Developing a Policy Position Statement to be shared with coalition partners 
• Developing a covenantal commitment of advocacy engagement with the Offering of Letters and Bread for the World Sunday in the home communities of PAYAN participants
• Consideration of traveling to Africa on a learning and service mission – the group termed this goal (“Wakanda”)

PAYAN believes that we are living in a kairos moment and at its core is a global resistance movement for justice and equity; a movement firmly rooted in the African principles of togetherness, community, and shared interdependence. These principles are evidenced in the Black struggle for justice and liberation lived out in Ethiopia, South Africa, and in what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. termed the “Beloved community” in the Civil Rights era in the United States. 

Confident in the hope found in the resurrection of Christ, anchored in the faithfulness of African indigenous commitment, and moved to act by current black fervor and Pan-African collaboration, PAYAN believes that God is calling all of creation to partake in his liberation and abundance. 

Join us by urging your federal legislators to support comprehensive immigration reform, real sentencing reform within the criminal justice system, and any and all efforts to protect programs for those who are hungry and poor in the United States and around the globe. 

Dailey is a lawyer and currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a former Bread for the World Board Member and Hunger Justice Leader. Dailey is a graduate of Westminster College, Yale University, and Fordham University School of Law. He is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the convener of the PAYAN.
 

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The Unity Declaration on Racism and Poverty, which was sent to members of Congress before last night’s State of the Union address, appeals to all people, especially Christians, to actively work against racism and poverty. It notes that the “body of Christ is perhaps the most diverse racial community in the world.”

The leaders call on political leaders from both parties to develop legislative agendas that will reduce racism and poverty. They assert that “[r]acism is systematic and structural in America and harms people of color in very specific, measurable, and tangible ways.”

The leaders are “deeply troubled” by budget and other proposals coming from Congress and the administration that would hurt struggling people of all races in both the United States and around the world. These threats to anti-poverty programs have unified them into “a more vigorous, multiracial Christian movement to maintain a circle of protection around all people in poverty and God’s children of color in particular, who are disproportionally impacted.”

A letter to Congress introducing the Declaration reads in part: 

“As Christians, we are grounded in God’s love for all people, and we feel called to ask our churches and political leaders of both parties to work together to overcome racism and poverty which are theological, biblical, and gospel issues for us, not merely political or partisan ones…

“We are purposefully sending you this statement before you go to your respective retreats. In addition to reading this statement thoughtfully, we ask for the following three things: first, we ask you to discuss this statement and the issues central to it—racism and poverty— at your retreats; second, we ask you to incorporate these concerns into your policy decisions and legislation in 2018 and beyond; third, we ask you to convene meetings with faith leaders in your communities to plan follow-up action on these issues in your states and districts…

“Racism and poverty are systemic issues that are central to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, they are critical to policy choices made by political leaders of faith and conscience.”

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Dear Members of Congress,

As the president and Congress are preparing their plans for this year, almost 100 church leaders—from all the families of U.S. Christianity—are sharing a common “Unity Statement” on racism and poverty. As Christians, we are grounded in God’s love for all people, and we feel called to ask our churches and political leaders of both parties to work together to overcome racism and poverty which are theological, biblical, and gospel issues for us, not merely political or partisan ones.

This moment in time and the clear movement of the Spirit have brought diverse multi-racial church leaders together over the last several months for dinner conversations and times of prayer. Out of those moving times together, we developed a Unity Statement on Racism and Poverty. It has attracted many more racially and theologically diverse church leaders and is now embraced by the Circle of Protection, the broadest group of Christian leaders focused on poverty. The leaders who have signed this statement are from African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, Native American, Evangelical, Catholic, Pentecostal, and mainline Protestant churches; and many national faith-based organizations. We are all committed to help build a fresh, newly energetic, multi-racial Christian movement to make the integral connection between racism and poverty and seek the spiritual power to end both. We are also committed and are ready to work with allies from other faith communities on the crucial intersection between racism and poverty as it shapes public policy.

We are purposefully sending you this statement before you go to your respective retreats. In addition to reading this statement thoughtfully, we ask for the following three things: first, we ask you to discuss this statement and the issues central to it—racism and poverty—at your retreats; second, we ask you to incorporate these concerns into your policy decisions and legislation in 2018 and beyond; third, we ask you to convene meetings with faith leaders in your communities to plan follow-up action on these issues in your states and districts. Racism and poverty are systemic issues that are central to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, they are critical to policy choices made by political leaders of faith and conscience. We will be following up with you directly to see how we can be helpful and useful to you as you consider these deeply biblical and theological issues.

We believe if we Christians from diverse backgrounds and traditions were known, not mostly for our divisions, but for our unity in a shared commitment to faithfully address both racism and poverty—together—it could be powerful force—both for our churches and the country. So help us God. 

Rev. Jim Wallis
President and Founder, Sojourners 

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner
Co-Convener, National African-American Clergy Network and President, Skinner Leadership Institute

Rev. David Beckmann
President, Bread for the World

Rev. Carlos Malavé
Executive Director, Christian Churches Together USA
(in his personal capacity)

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Thank you for inviting me to preach here at Duke University Chapel. And I especially want to thank the Bread for the World members who have come this morning.

Bruce Puckett urged me to be specific about actions we can take to help hungry people, so I’m going to talk about the two Bible passages we just heard at the beginning and end of this sermon. The middle of this sermon is going to be practical talk about hunger, the work of Bread for the World, and what you can do to help.

This is World Communion Sunday, and the passage from 1st Corinthians is about Christian communion. Paul repeats the words Jesus said at the first communion meal. The bread, he said, is his body broken for us. The cup is the new covenant which began with the blood he shed on the cross. 

The Christian experience of God’s embrace is grounded in the forgiving death of Jesus Christ, and our communion with other people is powered by God’s communion with us.

In Jesus Christ, we know that God loves each one of us–and everybody else. God’s love includes the people who make us furious, people on the other side of the world, different racial and ethnic groups, and certainly all the people who must struggle just to feed their kids.

Some of the first-century churches started their worship with an actual dinner that led into the Lord’s Supper. But in the church at Corinth, some people ate and drank to their fill while other people went hungry. St. Paul tells them that if they ignore the hungry people in their midst, their sacrament is sacrilege.

You can’t be connected to God and ignore hungry people.

Watch David’s Complete Sermon

Worldwide, there are about 800 million really hungry people in the world. In these families, many of the children die young, and people don’t have enough energy to be fully productive. In our country, one in six children lives in a home that sometimes runs out of food. The intermittent and relatively moderate hunger that usually characterizes hunger in America cripples young children for life and causes health problems for adults, too.

I think the most important thing to know about hunger is that the extent of hunger is declining. According to the World Bank, the number of extremely poor people in the world is less than half what it was in 1990. In the United States, the number of people in poverty has, roughly, been cut in half since the 1960s. So we have made progress, and more progress is possible. 

If you believe in God, this is something for which to give thanks. The great liberation from material misery that is underway is like the biblical exodus—an experience of our loving God in the world. And God is asking us to be part of it–to help move it forward.

There are lots of ways you can help to reduce hunger. You can help struggling people among your family and friends. You can give time and money to food banks or other community efforts. Some of you have made your careers in service to people in need.

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy movement to end hunger. Bread for the World and our members help hungry people by urging our members of Congress to get our government to do its part. In fact, we can’t make dramatic progress against hunger in our country or worldwide unless we can get the U.S. government to do its part. Bread for the World includes Christians of all stripes, and we work in a bipartisan way.

I think the best way for me to explain Bread for the World is to tell you about two Bread for the World members, Pat Pelham and Dave Miner.

My story about Pat starts almost 20 years ago. She was a young mother in Birmingham, Alabama. In her prayers one morning, she felt a strong call to do something about widespread hunger in Africa. She didn’t know what to do, because she had young children, and her husband’s job was in Birmingham. Her pastor suggested she get involved in Bread for the World.

At that time, many of the poorest countries in the world were struggling with impossible debts, and some church groups were organizing a campaign to get some of that debt reduced. Birmingham’s member of Congress, a conservative Republican named Spencer Bachus, was chair of the House committee with jurisdiction over this issue. At my suggestion, Pat and several friends from her church came to Washington to meet with Bachus.

Surprisingly, they convinced him, and he became a champion on this issue. Over the next several years, they organized in lots of ways to give Bachus credit back home for what he was doing. Many people across the country weighed in with their members of Congress, and the U.S. government eventually supported international debt relief. 

The recipient governments were required to use the opportunity to take actions to reduce poverty, and a number of African governments dramatically expanded primary education. Over a ten-year period, the number of African children in school increased by 50 million. A whole generation of girls learned to read and write, add and subtract. About half the countries in Africa have sense then enjoyed continued progress against hunger and poverty. 

I do not see how debt relief for Africa would have happened if Pat Pelham had not responded to the call she sensed in her morning prayers.

Dave Miner is an anti-hunger activist in Indianapolis. He has worked for years to involve other people in service and advocacy for hungry people.

This year, President Trump and Congress are pursuing an unprecedented attack on virtually all the U.S. programs that help hungry and poor people in our country and worldwide. President Trump’s budget would cut $2.5 trillion from programs that help people of limited means in our country and internationally. 

$2.5 trillion is a big number. Dave decided to focus on just one proposed cut in the budget of the House of Representatives. They want to cut $150 billion from SNAP (food stamps). Dave calculates that this just this one cut would translate into the loss of 50 million meals for kids, seniors, and veterans in Indiana. So he has embarked on a long fast. He is giving up 50 meals–that’s 16 days of not eating–one meal for every one million meals that the House budget would take away from kids, seniors, and veterans in Indiana.

Dave’s fast is getting press attention, especially in Indiana, and he has so far been able to share his concern directly with his state governor and one of his senators. And I share his story with you, because Dave’s fast dramatizes for all of us just how dangerous the current political assault on hungry and poor people is.

You don’t have to fast for 16 days to let your members of Congress know that you want them to keep our country and the world moving toward the end of hunger.

It’s easy to communicate with them by letter or email, or to call their offices in Washington or here in North Carolina. If a group of concerned people get together, you may be able to meet with one of your senators–or a staffer–in person. If you are part of Bread for the World’s network in North Carolina, you will help to make our collective advocacy impactful.

So what can you do?

• Connect with Bread for the World, either by filling out one of the membership brochures that you’ll find on a table at the back of the church or on our website, bread.org.
• A few minutes after this service, I’ll be meeting with some of Bread for the World’s members in this area. The Bread for the World people here in Durham organize a state Bread for the World convention every spring, and you might want to help organize next spring’s convention.
• It’s also important to get involved in electoral politics next year. Pick a good candidate and help him or her get elected. Bread for the World will be trying to get voters and candidates from both parties to treat hunger as an important issue.

Finally, let me go back to the Bible. In the gospel lesson for today, Jesus tells us, in no uncertain terms, to take action. The son who professed loyalty to the father but didn’t actually do the work, didn’t please the father. We don’t need to be perfect; God is forgiving. But Jesus repeated to the Pharisees what John the Baptist had told them: the kingdom of God is coming into the world right now. Get with it. Make yourself part of it.

Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 11:20-26:

20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Matthew 21:23-32

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 

25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of  righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

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People escaping war, hunger, poverty, and persecution are stripped of their human worth when we label them as murderers, rapists, or terrorists. Rather than seeing immigrants and refugees as men, women, and children created in the image of God, some are seeing them as manifestations of evil. This perspective hardens hearts to suffering and deafens ears to cries for mercy and pleas for an opportunity to start anew. 

We need to be mindful that God has a purpose in the migration movements of people around the world (Amos 9:7). Today´s migration and refugee crises present us with an opportunity to show God´s love and spirit of service towards our neighbor, the stranger at our gates. Strangers, like all people, are made in the image of God, and the Father has bestowed them with intrinsic worth. They need our affirmation and support.

Matthew 25:31 calls us to live out our faith. It clearly indicates that our Christian witness will be judged by the way we help our neighbors in need. But we do not serve our neighbors because we fear judgment. Rather, we follow Jesus’ teaching: “When you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.” (Matthew 25:40). This reminds us of Proverbs 14:31, which reads, “Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors Him.” Through the eyes of my faith, when I serve the stranger, I see Jesus giving me an opportunity to serve and honor Him.

The Chinese Exclusion Act, the Mexican Repatriation Program, Japanese internment camps, the rejection of the MS St. Louis in 1939 carrying Jewish refugees, and other ethnophobic measures are senseless and shameful chapters of American life. They have left deep scars in the minds and souls of those who faced harsh discrimination. That is why the current immigration and refugee crises challenge us to live our faith. Are we going to be faithful stewards of the grace and gifts of love, hospitality, and service bestowed to us as citizens of the Kingdom of God?  The Father has given us the ministry of reconciliation — to act as Christ’s ambassadors, reconciling the world to Him.

When the law of the land is not aligned with the higher moral imperative of the Bible, God’s word, we need to ask, “To whom do we owe a greater allegiance?” Let us remember the words of James the Just: “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (James 4:17).

Bishop Jose Garcia is senior advisor for prayer and strategic initiatives at Bread for the World.

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Celebrate

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Celebrate

Meditation: Christmas is a feast of the senses! It is a celebration of our ability to see and know and taste and touch the power and glory and revelation of God. It is not just about a birth that happened long, long ago and far, far away. It is about the way in which God manifests himself to us in the person of Jesus as friend and food and hope and love. It is a celebration of our ability to grasp God and to sense him with all our being.

–Br. James Koester

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Live

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Live

Meditation: We are meant for life in all its fullness. Our getting together for the sheer pleasure of it anticipates the Kingdom and the heavenly banquet. Conviviality and celebration, especially in the face of difficult circumstances, bring light into the world.

–Br. Mark Brown

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Animate

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Animate

Meditation: The Spirit of God animates us, but it all happens in the flesh: every deed of kindness, every act of generosity, every word of encouragement happens in the flesh. Every embodiment of Christ’s grace or truth or love happens in the flesh—or it doesn’t happen.

–Br. Mark Brown

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Abide

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Abide

Meditation: God’s invitation for us to abide in God as God abides in us is not an invitation to settle down and get comfortable. It is a call to mission, a summons to fruitfulness. We are meant to share the fruits of the divine life with others.

–Br. David Vryhof

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Prune

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Prune

Meditation: We prune to let go of growth, letting die what is alive but not growing in the best direction. We prune to let go of death, letting go what is dead but still taking up space. Pruning is a form of dying in order for the tree to more fully live and bear more fruit.

–Br. Luke Ditewig

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Simplify

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Simplify

Meditation: A simpler lifestyle can be a way to share with those who have less and a way of returning to them what is usurped by unjust social and economic structures. Assuming a stance of under-consumption can be a provocative invitation to others into a conversation about affluence, poverty and social justice.

–Br. Robert L’Esperance, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Open

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Open

Meditation: When we open our hearts enough to truly love, our enemies can open up the possibility for our healing. It’s not just about treating our enemies a certain way; it’s about the fruits of relating to each other, to everyone, in the fullness of Christ’s love. When we practice loving fully, our great reward is being free from holding onto feelings like anger and hatred.

–Br. Nicholas Bartoli, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Embrace

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Embrace

Meditation: We are a manifestation of Christ in the world. Our mission is not to bring Christ to people, but to help people come to know and embrace Christ already present.

–Br. Mark Brown, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Awaken

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Awaken

Meditation: Jesus calls us to live into the fullness of our humanity, to embrace what we, in our brokenness, experience as physical, psychic, or spiritual limitations. Jesus urges that, rather than seeking to be cured of our limitations, we ask God to heal us in them, and waken us to the spiritual gifts hidden in them.

–Br. Jonathan Maury, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Trust

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Trust

Meditation: God’s love, like any love, involves real trust. And in relationships, trust requires mutuality. Sometimes it may require a part of myself that I don’t necessarily want others to see. This same vulnerability, intimacy, and mutuality should characterize our love for and trust in God.

–Br. Robert L’Esperance, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Surprise

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Surprise

Meditation: God comes to us as a vulnerable human baby to an unlikely couple in an obscure place. And in doing so turns the world upside down. Jesus says: Stick with me even if I am different, confusing, or surprising. I have come, and I am coming to you today with love! Look for me. Listen. I am coming in an unexpected way.

–Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Mend

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Mend

Meditation: Christianity is really all about mending. That is what redemption means: mending something which is broken. Every Christian is called to share with God in mending that which is broken: mending our relationship with God, with one another, and mending the torn canvas of God’s broken world.

–Br. Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Rely

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Rely

Meditation: When we are inconvenienced, we have to rely on God. When we have to rely on God, the impossible becomes possible, and we find that we are able to do and achieve that which we never could do or achieve on our own power. We have to have God’s help.

–Br. John Braught

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Glow

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Glow

Meditation: As children of the light we have the opportunity to either squander God’s riches or to capitalize on them by being ministers of God’s light, life, and love for all people.

–Br. Jim Woodrum

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Befriend

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Befriend

Meditation: On my journey of faith, Mary has become a kind of friend, and our shared experience of Jesus has become a sacred communion. He invites me into her presence with contagious joy. She points me to him with fresh insight and renewed simplicity.

–Br. Keith Nelson

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Promise

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Promise

Meditation: God gives us the responsibility of doing something ourselves about those faithless fears and worldly anxieties that are holding us back. We don’t have to do this alone. We have God’s promise of holding our hand and of helping us.

–Br. David Allen

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Hope

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Hope

Meditation: Converted anxiety is hope. Anxiety is dreadful expectation; hope is expectant desire. They are like cousins to each other. Pray for the conversion of your fretful anxiety into promising hope. If you are anxious just now, you are almost already hopeful.

–Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Act

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Act

Meditation: What will we do with the blessings God gives us in answer to prayer? When we pray and God heals us, what will we do with our restored health? When we cry out of our need and God meets that need, what will we do with the resources that have come to us in answer to our prayer?

–Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Be

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Be

Meditation: People in trauma need our presence and our prayer rather than our preaching. We will bear a much more comforting witness to someone facing deep loss by simply being with them, and in so doing, representing God

–Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Commit

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Commit

Meditation: In Advent, reflect on a commitment you are considering accepting, or a commitment that needs renewing. In building the house of your life on the rock of God’s committed love, you may discover that you are called to commit; that you cannot claim the Life that God desires for you without it.

–Br. Keith Nelson, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Touch

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Touch

Meditation: As followers of Jesus, our responsibility is to listen for those calling out to us, and to respond in love by reaching out and touching the untouchable, reminding them by word and deed of their sacred identity.

–Br. Nicholas Bartoli, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Play

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Play

Meditation: Our Society’s rule states that “as our faith matures we come to recognize Christ’s hidden presence everywhere.” That’s because a maturing faith is paradoxically childlike. It is marked by openness to new ideas, points of view, and experiences, all of which enable us to see again our God, who knows neither time, nor place, nor limitation.

– Br. John Braught, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Light

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Light

Meditation: We will be a more luminous epiphany of the love of Christ not only when we love, but when we recognize Christ present in the loving hearts of others, whatever their beliefs or understanding of God.

– Br. Mark Brown, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Proclaim

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Proclaim

Meditation: The gospel Jesus proclaims is that in God’s economy everyone will be fed, but we have to be willing to share from the riches that God has given us. In order to do that we have to stop and recognize the goodness that God has given us in our lives.

–Br. Jim Woodrum, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Listen

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Listen

Meditation: On the cross, exposed and vulnerable, Jesus draws the whole world in a loving embrace. Everything hangs, everyone is held here. Jesus holds the people of Charlestown and Ferguson and Baltimore and all around the globe. Jesus listens to the grieving and grappling, the terrorized and troubled, the frightened and crying. Jesus listens to all the heartache, all the questions. On the cross Jesus bears the weight, the weight of the world, holding us all in his wounded hands.

–Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Renew

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord #Renew

Meditation: Christ is all in all. He is here symbolically in a stone altar. He is here sacramentally in bread and wine. He is here spiritually in hearts lifted up and returned to us renewed, transformed, consecrated

– Br. Mark Brown, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Love

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Love

Meditation: Falling in love is one of the most profoundly spiritual experiences a person can have. By falling in love we discover our capacity for selflessness. We experience what it means to entrust ourselves, our souls and bodies, to another. When we fall in love as God does, we too will ultimately “stretch out [our] arms of love on the hard wood of the cross,” just as Jesus did.

– Br. James Koester, SSJE

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Each day, Bread will post a picture, meditation, and word of the day. Bread members are encouraged to participate and help create the Global Advent Calendar via social media. On Twitter and Instagram, tag your image/prayer #adventword plus the tag for the day. On Facebook go to the AdventWord Page and write on page using #adventword and the tag for the day.

Word of the Day: Shine

Hashtag of the Day: #AdventWord  #Shine

Meditation: Rather than experiencing the sorrows of our world as a source of desolation, hear the news as a clarion call, as motivation and clarification for what we are to be about as followers of Jesus Christ: to bear the beams of God’s love and light and life, especially to those who wouldn’t otherwise know it.

– Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE

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This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of September 11-17: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia

God, you are the God of life.
Transform us in the depths of our hearts
into people through whom your peace is carried out into your world.
Send your Spirit into the hearts of those
who are captured in the net of violence,
be it as perpetrators or as victims,
and let us never give up the search for the chance to talk to them.
(Prayer by Frano Prcela OP, Croatia. European Ecumenical Assembly, Graz 1997.)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:

Albania: 14.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 17.9
Croatia: Not available
FYR of Macedonia: 27.1
Kosovo: 29.7
Montenegro: 11.3
Serbia: 24.6
Slovenia: Not available

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2016 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread. 

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Esta serie de oraciones seguirá el Ciclo Ecuménico de Oración, un listado recopilado por el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias que les permite a los cristianos por todo el mundo viajar en oración por cada región del mundo, reafirmando nuestra solidaridad con los cristianos a través del mundo, nuestros hermanos y hermanas, quienes viven en diversas situaciones, enfrentando sus retos y compartiendo sus dones.

En concreto, estaremos ofreciendo, por medio de oración, los retos relacionados con el hambre y la pobreza de los que padecen los pueblos de cada uno de los países de la semana. En una oración que compartimos todos – el Padre Nuestro – rezamos, “Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día”. Esta petición de la oración también puede ser una petición por el fin de hambre.

Te invitamos a que te unas a Pan en nuestra oración para que los países del mundo acaben con el hambre. Y te animamos a que compartas con nosotros tus oraciones por los países de cada semana, o por el fin del hambre en general.

Para la semana del septiembre 11 – 17: Albania, ARY de Macedonia, Bosnia y Herzegovina, Croacia, Eslovenia, Kosovo, Montenegro, y Serbia

A través del agujero de mi techo, oh mi Dios, estoy tratando de verte;
tratando de decirte que todo tu pueblo está sufriendo,
tratando de pedirte que nos traigas paz,
para que se detenga esta terrible matanza y destrucción,
este frenesí asesino del nacionalismo!
(First published in A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from around the World, comp. John Carden, WCC, and Cassell, London, UK, 1998.)

Porcentaje de las poblaciones de estos países que vive debajo de la línea de pobreza:

Albania: 14.3
ARY de Macedonia: 27.1
Bosnia y Herzegovina: 17.9
Croacia: No disponible
Eslovenia: No disponible
Kosovo: 29.7
Montenegro: 11.3
Serbia: 24.6

Fuente: indicadores del Banco Mundial, incluidos en el Informe Sobre el Hambre 2016.

La oración es fundamental en el trabajo de Pan para el Mundo. Ve cómo te puedes unir tú en oración con Pan.

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This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of August 28-September 3, we pray for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania:

O Holy Spirit, flow over us as rain over parched fields
so that new life enters into the hearts of all.
Pour yourself over our land so that it blooms and bears the fruit of righteousness.
Encourage all to renew themselves in their mind and spirit!
You, Spirit of Strength, make the weak strong,
the fearful confident, the doubting faithful.
You, Spirit of Love, tie us all together with your bond of completeness
so that we live with our neighbours in peace and harmony without hate and envy.
Refresh those who are in trouble and sorrow
and make us all worthy to praise and glorify you, O God our Father,
with new hearts and tongues.

(© Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:

Estonia:
Latvia: 19.4
Lithuania: 20.6

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2016 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread. 

Photo: A Latvian dinner at Lido (a chain of grocery stores that often have a cafe inside) – cold soup, cooked cabbage, a cutlet of meat, a pickle, sour milk (kefir), and some Russian kvass (fermented drink). Photo by By aigarius.

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Bread for the World’s annual Offering of Letters campaign engages congregations and other faith communities in writing letters to Congress. There are as many ways to hold an Offering of Letters as there are groups that undertake the activity. 

Jon Gromek, a Bread regional organizer, is a lifelong member of the Greek Orthodox Church but calls himself an “honorary Catholic.” After all, his wife is a member of the Catholic Church. Gromek worked with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to spearhead an advocacy campaign with the Offering of Letters as its vehicle. 

The archdiocese invited all of its parishes, schools, and institutions to pen letters urging Congress to renew funding for U.S. child nutrition programs. Letters were then collected at the archdiocese to be blessed.

In September, more than 12,000 letters arrived on Capitol Hill. “We had delegations visiting every member of Congress, personally delivering the letters,” Gromek said. The archdiocese saw this collective effort as an especially powerful way to mark Pope Francis’s address to the U.S. Congress.

Social Media Encourages Letters

Rev. Dave Buerstetta serves as Koinonia pastor for Woodridge United Methodist Church in Woodridge, Ill. He has integrated the Offering of Letters into the life of Woodridge. He uses the power of social media to raise awareness. Buerstetta also writes a personal blog.

Robin Stephenson, Bread’s social media manager, said, “I use Pastor Dave as an example in my Social Media for Pastors training. He uses social media so effectively as part of his ministry.” 

Buerstetta praises Bread for the support provided to churches that are planning Offerings of Letters. “Bread develops terrific, detailed information on the issues and how we can help,” he said.

The letters from Cincinnati and from Woodbridge Church were among the more than 200,000 letters sent to Congress in 2015. In January of this year, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act of 2016. This bill would reauthorize child nutrition programs and expand summer and after-school meal programs. The full Senate must now act, but the bipartisan cooperation is a positive sign. 

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Spanish-Speaking Evangelical Churches

In Southern California, David Gist, another of Bread’s regional organizers, has helped forge an exciting pilot program with four pastors who lead Spanish-speaking evangelical churches. The program’s goal is to launch advocacy ministries in all four churches — including a monthly Offering of Letters.

“These congregations come from conservative backgrounds,” Gist explained. “These four pastors are taking on a new and prophetic voice to honor God and help end hunger.”

Participating churches are Centro de Restauración Familiar (Garden Grove), Primera Asamblea del Condado de Orange (Costa Mesa), Primera Asamblea del Condado de Orange (Santa Ana), and Latino-americana Christian Reformed Church (Anaheim).

Rev. Fernando Tamara of Primera Asamblea, Santa Ana, explained, “The reason we started this strategy was the need for leadership in topics such as hunger, injustice, poverty, humanitarian need, and immigration.” During February, Tamara visited two of the partner churches, taking the pulpit to introduce Bread to the congregants. 

Tamara, who is also a professor for the Latin American Theological Seminary, is passionate about Spanish-speaking churches joining the chorus of voices: “Our desire is to ‘awake’ these churches and show them that they have a voice and vote. They need to know that they can change laws and regulate the legislative system.”

Tamara reported that the churches are inviting pastors and ministers to a forum on hunger and poverty, to which they will invite candidates for the California State Senate. The churches will also send 10 people to participate in Bread’s annual Lobby Day on June 7.

These pastors are taking on a new, prophetic voice to honor God and end hunger.

David Gist, Bread for the World Regional Organizer

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By Lacey Johnson

Eugene Callahan’s life began to unravel in 2007, starting with his knees. Chronic pain in both legs forced him to leave his job as an ironworker.

Two knee replacement surgeries barely improved his condition and left him with a nasty addiction to prescription painkillers. When his workers’ compensation benefits expired and he could no longer pay the mortgage, his wife left with their two children and filed for divorce.

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Navigators are ‘friends’

“The last thing you want to do is tell people who can’t find work that you can’t have public assistance to keep you from going hungry,” said Amelia Kegan, deputy director for government relations at Bread for the World.  “People with lower incomes and people living in poverty are much more likely to enter into the criminal justice system.”

Part of NeighborCorps’ recipe for success is a program it calls “GPS,” which stands for gainful employment, personal development, and social integration. To help participants reach these goals, each person is assigned three “navigators” who support them as they transition back into society. These volunteers meet with participants multiple times a month, helping them with everything from housing referrals to mending broken relationships with family members.

“If I wanted to go somewhere, all I had to do was call them. They would come pick me up, take me to DMV, sit with me, and then leave,” said Callahan, who has been living with his mother since his release. His navigators also helped him make a five-year plan and set goals, like acquiring permanent disability benefits due to his worsening knees.

“They’re on top of what you have to do,” Callahan said. “Every day it gets better.”  

Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, senior co-pastor at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, is careful to point out that navigators aren’t trained therapists or case managers.

“They’re friends that appreciate coming out of jail is hard and know that having someone accompany you can make the journey much less painful,” he said.

NeighborCorps started with just one participant and no external funding. Today the program works with 12 to 15 participants a year and has over 25 volunteers working as navigators. The program operates largely off a renewable grant from Middlesex County and raises extra revenue by hosting fundraising events.

There are plans to expand to other correctional facilities in central New Jersey.

Bread for the World believes that reforming our country’s mass incarceration system is crucial to ending hunger and poverty. Kegan says the faith community has been instrumental in the growing bipartisan support for sentencing reform in Congress, but more can be done. 

“It’s really, really important for the faith community to speak out about these issues,” Kegan said. “The whole Christian message of redemption and second chances – a new start and a new life – that is so central to who we are as Christians.”

Lacey Johnson is a freelance writer and photographer in Washington, D.C.

Photos:

Top: NeighborCorps was spearheaded in 2013 by a passionate intern at the Reformed Church of Highland Park in New Jersey. Joseph Molieri/Bread for the World.

Bottom: Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale is senior co-pastor at the Reformed Church of Highland Park in New Jersey, which houses the NeighborCorps program. Joseph Molieri/Bread for the World.

 

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During the McGovern Hunger Summit at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., in mid-November, Cathy Brechtelsbauer got official recognition for the advocacy that many have admired for decades. The longtime Bread member received the McGovern South Dakota Hunger Ambassador Award for her efforts to spark systemic changes that address the root causes of poverty.

“She exemplifies what it means to put together passion and a big heart,” said Michael Troutman, who oversees Bread’s Midwest donor relations, and who presented the award to Brechtelsbauer.

While Brechtelsbauer was recognized for advocacy, she’s really a gifted storyteller whose talents span visual arts, plays, and music. During her 39-year involvement with Bread, her narratives have helped to educate the public and advance causes that drive the organization’s values.

Her credits include the song “Justice Means,” which has been used at Bread workshops. It starts:  
“Justice means that all are fed and everyone will have their bread, a place to lay their heads.” And there’s the play she wrote during the campaign on developing world debt that’s been performed in numerous churches. The plot is inspired by the Bible’s jubilee theme of debt forgiveness, and some of the main characters are indebted farmers from developing countries.

A visual display she was once part of has had a lasting impact for South Dakota’s children in need. In the early 1990’s, Brechtelsbauer led a group that wrapped a half-mile chain of 13,000 paper dolls around the state capitol building in Pierre to draw attention to the 13,000 children who were denied a cost-of-living increase under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program. (The program is now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families following welfare reform in 1996.)

At first, the state’s government ignored the spectacle. Undeterred, the following year, Brechtelsbauer, who serves as Bread’s state coordinator in South Dakota, positioned the dolls along a CROP Walk route. The display motivated the Sioux Falls Ministerial Association to write the governor’s office to get the kids in the budget. Since then, the state’s cost-of-living increases have usually included the children.

Brechtelsbauer is Lutheran (ELCA). The passion for her work is driven by the call for justice in the Gospel. “You hear the Bible say, ‘Do justice,’ but you don’t have a handle on how to do it,” she said. “I think Bread for the World gives you a way to work for justice.” She continued, “I feel like it’s a faith calling. You’re kind of on God’s wave length when you’re working on hunger. It helps you get God’s agenda to be part of your own agenda.”

Currently, Brechtelsbauer’s efforts have expanded to payday lending. She’s part of an attempt to force a ballot initiative in the general election that will cap interest on such loans at 36 percent. The state average is 574 percent. “There’s a reason we call this predatory,” she said.

Even as Brechtelsbauer gears up for new challenges, she wrestles with old ones too, like working to get food exempt from the state sales tax. After many years of including a cost-of-living increase for children in the state budget, it was dropped in 2015. She’s working to have it restored next year. But these setbacks don’t discourage her. “I feel like we’re not necessarily called to have success. But we are called to be faithful.”

Marc Hopkins is a writer living in Silver Spring, Md.

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Unexpected layoffs. The violence and terror of war. Simply being born into a poor family.

The reasons people suffer the pain of hunger vary, but they have one thing in common: The programs that help people who are hungry are on Congress’ chopping block year after year.

We need your support today to ensure that budgets are not balanced on the backs of people who are already suffering. Donate today and a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift — making it go twice as far to fund hard-hitting advocacy work in the new year.

I know we can convince our elected officials to do better — because we’ve done it before. Thanks to supporters like you, we’ve made great strides in 2015:

• A ten-year extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which fills bellies and saves lives by helping women farmers grow food in better ways.
• Introduction of two bills in Congress to feed children during the summer when school is out. Thanks to you, both bills have dozens of co-sponsors from both parties.
• The Global Food Security Act has a whopping 121 cosponsors and is close to becoming law. It would save lives and brighten futures by helping more smallholder farmers grow enough food to feed their families.

But we can’t lose the progress we’ve made. Lend your support now to ensure that when our elected officials cast their votes in Congress next year, they’re voting on behalf of people who struggle with hunger and poverty.

Donate by midnight tomorrow and your gift will go twice as far to ensure that Bread can continue our fierce, committed Christian advocacy for an end to hunger.

Thank you for your commitment, faith, and compassionate action.

Rev. David Beckmann is the president of Bread for the World

Donate today

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On the eve of Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. in September, Bread for the World gathered about 100 top religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim denominations and organizations across the country in Washington, D.C., for a summit about ending hunger. Many of them committed themselves to ending hunger by 2030 by signing the Interfaith Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger.

Among the faith leaders at the summit was David Jeffrey, National Commander of The Salvation Army in the United States. Excerpts from an interview he had with Marco Grimaldo, Bread’s senior national associate for Latino engagement, follow.

“…to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”

from The Salvation Army mission statement

Q.  How does your faith inform how or why we seek an end to hunger?

David Jeffrey: I think one of the most poignant passages for me is Matthew chapter 25. When Jesus is talking about the end of time, and he’s talking about when the king of glory gathers all the nations together, that he’s going to separate the sheep and the goats as a shepherd would. He’s going to say to those on his right, “Come and receive the inheritance I’ve prepared for you from the beginning of the world.”

The reason they were to receive it, he says, is, “Because when I was hungry you gave me something to eat. When I was naked you clothed me. When I was sick you visited me. When I was in prison you came to see me.”

Jesus said, “When you did it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it unto me.”

Jesus came and was basically homeless after his early years of living in Nazareth. He became an itinerant preacher, traveling throughout Galilee and Jerusalem. He had a real love and concern for the poor. I think if he were with us today he would be among the homeless. He would be reaching out and touching them. He would be among those in our society that would be considered outcasts because he had a real concern for the poor, because when he himself came, he left the glories of heaven and he became like one of us.

Q.  What would it mean if we could see an end to hunger in our lifetime?

DJ: It would mean a great deal…Even though we’ve made great progress in the past 20 to 25 years by cutting the poverty level in the world by half, we still have a long way to go. There’s still over a billion people around the world who are living in abject poverty, and there are 47 million people in the United States who live in poverty… today in America we’ll [The Salvation Army] feed 161,000 meals. Tonight we’ll sleep 29,000 people in our shelters, and with basic social services, we’ll serve about 18 million people this year. It’s about one person every two seconds, but we want to do more than just maybe meet people one time and just meet their need on that one particular day. But how can we break this cycle of intergenerational poverty?

Q.  How can we be stronger advocates for hungry people?

DJ:  First of all, people have to be aware that there is a need. I think people need to educate themselves and read about what can be done. I think folks can volunteer to help those that are needy, and I think that we can all be involved in advocating for the poor by writing our congressman or speaking out on behalf of the poor…

We can have our relationship to God, but I think it was John Wesley that said, “All holiness is social holiness.” It’s how we treat each other. It’s how we respect each other that really makes the difference. I think one of the basic tenets of all faiths is that we have to be concerned for other people.

The Salvation Army’s annual red kettle campaign began at Thanksgiving and will continue through Advent and conclude on Christmas Eve. Seeing the ubiquitous red kettle for the collection of change at grocery stores and other shopping places is a reminder of the many organizations across the country and around the world that are helping to address hunger and poverty along with Bread for the World.

Editor’s note: Bread’s church relations department maintains the organization’s relationship with The Salvation Army, one of its national religious partners.  

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Thousands of fallen apples dotted the ground at Marker-Miller Orchard in Winchester, Va. The bounty of colorful fruit had been lying in the grass for days, still shiny and ripe, but facing an uncertain future as the growing season in Virginia drew to a close.

About an hour after sunrise, more than 200 volunteers one late October day began trekking between the rows of trees, eager to fill plastic buckets with the glut of red and green Stayman apples.

The 355-acre orchard invites paying customers to pick their own fruit, but this group was recruited for a special task. They had come to harvest food for the hungry as part of a biblical mandate known as gleaning.

“It’s working, but it’s not even hard work. You get to do it with your friends, and it’s for a good cause,” said 15-year-old Rachel Hayes, as she crouched under an apple tree filling a red bucket.

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A growing mission since 1979

Founded by two ministers and their families in 1979, the Society of St. Andrew opened its first office inside a sheep shed in Big Island, Va. Today, the organization is one of the top gleaning organizations in the country, with offices in 15 states and more than 30,000 annual volunteers nationwide.

Harvesting everything from sweet corn to potatoes to peaches, St. Andrew, so far in 2015, has donated more than 21 million pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste in fields.

“The mission they had was just save the food,” Heishman said. “When you see those truckloads of apples that would have rotted in a few days, and it’s going on trucks to D.C. to feed the homeless, it overwhelms you emotionally.”

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Not a matter of quantity but distribution

A staggering 6 billion pounds of fresh produce goes unharvested or unsold each year in the United States, according to estimates by the nonprofit Feeding America.

A multitude of factors are to blame: An abundance of sunshine may cause a crop to ripen too quickly, market prices could be too low for farmers to turn a profit, or field workers might be in short supply.

In the case of Marker-Miller Orchard, buyers are reluctant to purchase apples once they’ve fallen to the ground.  

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A bountiful harvest

High school students, church groups, and families worked for two hours in the orchard, filling pickup trucks with bags of gleaned apples headed for the nation’s capital. Elderly volunteers brushed dirt from fallen Staymans, while young boys triumphantly knocked apples out of trees using sticks.

For volunteers like Steve Cunningham, gleaning with the Society of St. Andrew is a tradition dating back 15 years or more. “You can see people who actually need food getting it, and that’s the neat thing,” said Cunningham, who helps distribute salvaged food to low-income residents in Winchester. Seeing immediate results has motivated him to volunteer at more than 100 gleaning events over the years.

“I think gleaning is one of the greatest things that God has instituted for his people to be fed,” said 74-year-old Leotha Woodson, founder of the charity Noah’s Ark. “There is nothing that I have ever done that is more rewarding than giving to someone that’s homeless and seeing a smile on their face.”

Every Saturday, Woodson offers a truckload of donated food to hungry residents living in northeast Washington, D.C., including most of the apples gleaned during the late fall event – a harvest totaling 18,000 pounds, or roughly 54,000 apples. The remaining fruit went to local food pantries and nonprofits in nearby Virginia cities.

Despite the success of gleaning organizations, 7 percent of planted fields in the United States still go unharvested, and only 10 percent of surplus food is recovered, according to a 2012 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“People don’t have time to put much thought into these things,” Heishman said. “We need to get the word out and get people educated.”

She says gleaning hasn’t ended hunger in America, but the Society of St. Andrew is showing that there’s enough food for everybody.

Lacey Johnson is a freelance writer and photographer in Washington, D.C. 

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“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.”
—Deuteronomy 24:19

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“I am drawn to bringing people together in ways that affect lives. Changing legislation makes this happen,” says C. Jean Hayen, BVM. “We can literally help people — here in our country or in other countries — get the sustenance they need for life.”

Hayen explains that she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), the community of women religious, after receiving her education from the Sisters. “When I told my mother I wanted to be a BVM, she insisted I check around—just to be sure I knew my options! In 1960, I was received into the BVM community.”

Hayen, an Iowa native, took her vows in 1961 and then attended college and earned a master’s degree in biology.  She created a hands-on elementary science curriculum as part of her master’s thesis at St. Mary’s College in Minnesota and then returned to Iowa to teach.

It was during the years she taught at Catholic schools in Davenport and Dubuque, she recalls, that she received a letter from Bread for the World. It described Bread’s mission and simple actions people can take to help, such as writing letters to their members of Congress that press for legislative changes to help hungry people.

Hayen remembers thinking, “Here is something to help the students be more social justice-minded — and that I could do along with students and staff.” She was inspired to lead an Offering of Letters — the first of many in a history of advocacy that now spans 30 years and is still going strong. The locations and the letter-writers vary, but the Offering of Letters is always about engaging churches, campuses, and other faith communities in writing letters to Congress. The letters are presented as an offering to God before they are mailed.

Each year, the campaign focuses on specific legislation to help people struggling with hunger. Hayen says her students were always willing and happy to be involved. “The offerings were a great teaching tool, because Bread’s topic was always a good legislative action to help those in need.”

After 22 years of teaching, Hayen became the administrator of a motherhouse that brought together five communities of sisters. She led Offerings of Letters there and in the parish affiliated with the motherhouse. Later she became the Resident Services Coordinator for the Dubuque Housing Initiative—living space for low-income people sponsored by several congregations of women religious.

“I came to help residents with life skills, from balancing checkbooks to nutrition to housekeeping,” Hayen says. One of those skills was advocating for policy change through Offering of Letters campaigns.

Since 1996, Hayen has worked in the BVM Community’s Mount Carmel Motherhouse in Dubuque. She assists sisters with impaired vision or hearing — putting to work what she learned while earning a certificate in gerontology services. And, of course, she has brought Bread’s message with her to Mount Carmel.

“I have a small media center where I house assistive devices which aid in a better quality of life for these retired sisters,” she says. “These are women of such wisdom and prayer!”

Hayen notes with appreciation that Bread continues to provide print resources for the Offering of Letters. She suggests that printing some of the materials in larger type would make it easier for older Bread members to read.

In her free time, Hayen enjoys prayer, reading, T’ai Chi, and jigsaw puzzles. She says that puzzles allow her to reflect. “I even take them on retreat,” she says. She also enjoys getting together with her large extended family.

Patricia Bidar is a freelance writer.

The post Celebrating 30 Years (and Counting) of Leadership on Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

But then came God’s instruction: “Why are you calling out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” Moses needed only to do as the Lord had instructed and lead the people forward in their journey. God promised deliverance, and that promise was fulfilled.

Sometimes we cry out to the Lord for rescue, and the answer we receive is simple: Do what you’ve been called to do! The Israelites needed to keep moving, resisting the stalling effects of fear. We know God has called us to work to end hunger. As we pray and cry out for that very thing, we can’t forget to keep moving forward, to continue our mission to end hunger and suffering around the world.

With confidence in God’s calling, let’s pray together for:

1. All those who suffer from the effects of hunger, that they might be filled with good things.
2. The church to follow God’s call to work for an end to hunger through prayer, action, and giving.
3. Our leaders in Congress, that they make hunger a priority by enacting effective tax policies that reward our nation’s hardworking families.

When you commit to joining in praying for an end to hunger, we will email you twice a month with specific prayer requests and sample prayers. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

Photo: Lobby Day 2015. Zach Blum for Bread for the World.

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This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect — and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us — the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father — we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the Week of Oct. 25-31: Indian Ocean Islands: Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles

Our heavenly Father,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we glorify you,
we give thanks to you,
for in your infinite mercy you extended your family
to include the islands of the sea,
even islands at the end of the earth:
Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles.
We praise your name
for you moved your Holy Spirit
who stirred and sustained
a century-long revival movement in Madagascar,
an awakening to your power that brought transformation, reconciliation,
healing and empowerment.
We magnify your name
for through this revival the different denominations have discovered
a spirit-filled way to come to a unity in diversity.
Lord of the church,
we pray that the churches be strengthened in their spirituality,
one that would powerfully engage them
in a priestly and prophetic way in the midst of their local contexts.
Strengthen the churches to recover their sight
and so to resist overt and covert manipulation
in the political arena,
from either government officials or politicians.
God of all creation and nature, we pray for the inhabitants of these islands,
that they may be spared the devastation of cyclones or typhoons
with the open seas lashing every year against the coastal areas,
causing suffering and loss for the population.
(© 2005 Péri Rasolondraibe, Antananarivo, Madagascar.)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line (2014 figures):

• Comoros: Not available
• Madagascar: 75.3
• Maldives: Not available
• Mauritius: Not available
• Seychelles: Not available

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2015 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

Photo: Village near Ambalandingana, Madagascar. Bernard Gagnon/Wikimedia Commons.

The post World Prayers for Oct. 25-31: Indian Ocean Islands appeared first on Bread for the World.

“I am drawn to bringing people together in ways that affect lives. Changing legislation makes this happen,” says C. Jean Hayen, BVM. “We can literally help people — here in our country or in other countries — get the sustenance they need for life.”

Hayen explains that she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), the community of women religious, after receiving her education from the Sisters. “When I told my mother I wanted to be a BVM, she insisted I check around — just to be sure I knew my options! In 1960, I was received into the BVM community.”

Hayen, an Iowa native, took her vows in 1961 and then attended college and earned a master’s degree in biology. She created a hands-on elementary science curriculum as part of her master’s thesis at St. Mary’s College in Minnesota and then returned to Iowa to teach.

It was during the years she taught at Catholic schools in Davenport and Dubuque, she recalls, that she received a letter from Bread for the World. It described Bread’s mission and simple actions people can take to help, such as writing letters to their members of Congress that press for legislative changes to help hungry people.

Hayen remembers thinking, “Here is something to help the students be more social justice-minded — and that I could do along with students and staff.” She was inspired to lead an Offering of Letters — the first of many in a history of advocacy that now spans 30 years and is still going strong. The locations and the letter-writers vary, but the Offering of Letters is always about engaging churches, campuses, and other faith communities in writing letters to Congress. The letters are presented as an offering to God before they are mailed.

Each year, the campaign focuses on specific legislation to help people struggling with hunger. Hayen says her students were always willing and happy to be involved. “The offerings were a great teaching tool, because Bread’s topic was always a good legislative action to help those in need.”

After 22 years of teaching, Hayen became the administrator of a motherhouse that brought together five communities of sisters. She led Offerings of Letters there and in the parish affiliated with the motherhouse. Later she became the Resident Services Coordinator for the Dubuque Housing Initiative — living space for low-income people sponsored by several congregations of women religious.

“I came to help residents with life skills, from balancing checkbooks to nutrition to housekeeping,” Hayen says. One of those skills was advocating for policy change through Offering of Letters campaigns.

Since 1996, Hayen has worked in the BVM Community’s Mount Carmel Motherhouse in Dubuque. She assists sisters with impaired vision or hearing — putting to work what she learned while earning a certificate in gerontology services. And, of course, she has brought Bread’s message with her to Mount Carmel.

“I have a small media center where I house assistive devices which aid in a better quality of life for these retired sisters,” she says. “These are women of such wisdom and prayer!”

Hayen notes with appreciation that Bread continues to provide print resources for the Offering of Letters. She suggests that printing some of the materials in larger type would make it easier for older Bread members to read.

In her free time, Hayen enjoys prayer, reading, T’ai Chi, and jigsaw puzzles. She says that puzzles allow her to reflect. “I even take them on retreat,” she says. She also enjoys getting together with her large extended family.

Patricia Bidar is a freelance writer.

The post Member Profile: Sister C. Jean Hayen appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Bread staff

Through various events and outreach efforts during the visit of Pope Francis last month, Bread for the World rallied the faith community around the goal of ending hunger by 2030.

The pontiff has made concern for people who are hungry and living in poverty one of the themes of his papacy as well as a theme during parts of his visit.

Bread wanted to take advantage of Francis’ presence in the U.S. to cement the commitment of top leaders of American faith communities and ordinary people of faith to end hunger in our time.

Interfaith Summit

On Sept. 21, the eve of Francis arrival, Bread hosted a summit in Washington, D.C., of about 100 top religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim denominations and organizations.

Several of them offered remarks on reaching the 2030 goal. They were:

• Rev. Carlos Malavé, executive director of Christian Churches Together
• Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service
• Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw, past president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
• The Most Rev. Richard E. Pates, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa
• Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World
• Suzii Paynter, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
• Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)

“At this particular hour, we all join together to salute Pope Francis for speaking out against poverty and hunger, for seeking to protect the rights of indigenous farmers and to pursue justice,” Messinger said in her remarks. “We thank him for reminding us in the recent encyclical to stop and give thanks to God before and after meals because as he says there, ‘It reminds us of our dependence on God for life, strengthens our gratitude for the gifts of creation, acknowledges those who by their labor provide us with these goods, and reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.’”

“Until all can eat, none of us is free. Until all can eat, we are each complicit,” she added.

Over dinner, the leaders conversed with each other and spoke about obstacles but also success stories in addressing hunger and poverty. They also signed a pledge committing themselves to push national leaders to focus on ending hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world (see below).

Before the dinner concluded, Rev. David Beckmann, Bread’s president, called the faith leaders assembled an “extraordinarily influential group of people” extraordinarily committed to their work.

He also spoke about the significance of the pope’s visit. “What I most love about Pope Francis is the way he grounds our work for social justice in our experience of God. I think that is what has brought us here tonight. That our experience of God, our communion with God can find real expression, credible expression by reforming the world to make it more consistent with the fact that God cares for everybody.”

“This is at the core of what it means to worship a living God,” Beckmann added. 

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Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger

The following morning, several of the religious leaders from the larger group gathered the evening before issued a formal call for a fundamental shift in the nation’s priorities – namely to end hunger and poverty by 2030. They held a press conference, organized by Bread, at the National Press Club so their message could be heard and spread by the media. Their call was officially contained in the Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger, which many of the leaders had signed on to the previous evening.

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), spoke passionately about the integral role government can play in ending hunger and poverty by 2030.

“Since 2011, powerful political forces have pushed for deep and disproportionate cuts in all the programs that go mainly to people in poverty,” she said. “Starting this fall, Congress needs to steer away from brinkmanship and put an end to the sequester. We will make it clear that we want a president and a Congress by 2017 who will work together, who reflects God’s special concern for hungry and poor people – our neighbors around the world.”

“Today, we turn our effort to end hunger in our time,” she added.

Others who spoke represented various faith-based organizations, including American Jewish World Service, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Islamic Relief, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, and the Salvation Army.

For its part, the Salvation Army is launching an initiative to reduce “intergenerational poverty across the United States by transforming the lives of 100,000 families by 2030.”

Commissioner David Jeffrey, national commander of The Salvation Army in the United States, said that last year his organization served roughly 30 million people by providing meals, shelter, and other services.

“Serving such vast numbers of people, we are keenly aware of the trials that our clients face,” he said. “We also know that their struggles will persist if we keep treating the recurring symptoms of the problem and not the source. That is why we are expanding our focus from serving to solving.”

The pledge reads in part:

“U.S. faith communities are deeply engaged with many sisters and brothers who struggle with hunger and poverty, and we have become increasingly active in urging our nation’s elected leaders to do their part – defending low-income people in the national budget debate, for example. Our experience of God’s mercy and compassion for all people moves us to engage in God’s work of overcoming hunger and human misery, and our sacred traditions include visions of the world transformed.”

The faith leaders will take this message back to their communities to rally support for the change in our nation’s priorities.

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Outreach Efforts

During Pope Francis’ various public appearances on his three stops in the U.S., Bread staff and volunteers canvassed the crowds, encouraging people to take a pledge to end hunger (#Pledge2EndHunger). The canvassers wore bright orange Bread T-shirts and took photos as people made their pledge. The canvassers also passed out fans with information about the pledge printed on them. The fans said, “I’m a fan of Francis.”

Jennifer Gonzalez and Stephen Padre, editors in the communications department at Bread for the World, contributed to this article.

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The post Bread Galvanizes Support for Ending Hunger During Pope’s Visit appeared first on Bread for the World.

As a Christian organization, Bread puts prayer at the heart of our work to end hunger. We have a new partner in our prayer work, which means we will be inviting more people to pray for the end of hunger.

This new partnership with Guideposts is part of the momentum around prayer that we’ve been building since we announced our renewed commitment to prayer in March. At the encouragement of Bread’s beloved founder, Rev. Art Simon, we kicked up the volume on our prayer work earlier this year. Convinced that prayer makes a difference, Simon and Bread’s board of directors urged us to set a goal to mobilize 100,000 people praying regularly for the end of hunger.

Bread is joining with the OurPrayer Ministry of Guideposts for a week of prayer to end hunger. Guideposts is a nonprofit organization that touches millions of lives every day through products and services that inspire, encourage, and uplift. Through magazines, books, a prayer network, and outreach programs, Guideposts helps people connect their faith values to their daily lives.

Guideposts’ campaign with Bread will take place the week of World Food Day — October 12 to 18. This week culminates on Bread for the World Sunday.

We’re thankful for the thousands of Bread members and supporters who have already committed to praying regularly for an end to hunger. Many have found Bread’s bimonthly prayer suggestions helpful in their spiritual disciplines. During Bread’s campaign with Guideposts later this month, perhaps you will be inspired or have your faith deepened in knowing that other Christians will be joining you to pray for an end to hunger.

If you haven’t joined Bread in these prayers yet, commit to regular prayer for an end to hunger and learn more about these prayers at bread.org/pray.

Over the past several months, Bread staff, board members, advocates, and church partners have each taken on hunger prayers in their own way. Some large denominations like the Episcopal Church and the Church of God of Prophecy have called their members to prayer. We’ve seen thousands praying at once during conferences, and those of you who came to Bread’s National Gathering in June prayed as you visited your members of Congress.

Bishop José García is the director of the church relations department at Bread for the World.  

Photo: Bread for the World Lobby Day 2014. Rick Reinhard for Bread for the World.

The post Join us for a week of prayer for an end to hunger Oct. 12-18 appeared first on Bread for the World.

The faith leaders gathered to reflect on the pope’s exhortations to people around the world to pray and work for the end of hunger. They also signed a pledge committing themselves to changing U.S. national priorities, so that the next president and Congress put the government on track to end hunger in our country and around the world by 2030.

The pledge reads in part:

“A wide array of the nation’s faith leaders have come together on the eve of Pope Francis’ arrival in the United States to commit ourselves to encourage our communities to work for the end of hunger by 2030 and, toward that end, for a shift in U.S. national priorities…

“U.S. faith communities are deeply engaged with many sisters and brothers who struggle with hunger and poverty, and we have become increasingly active in urging our nation’s elected leaders to do their part – defending low-income people in the national budget debate, for example. Our experience of God’s mercy and compassion for all people moves us to engage in God’s work of overcoming hunger and human misery, and our sacred traditions include visions of the world transformed…

“This special time in our nation could open many hearts to God and to God’s loving purposes for the world. That is why the leaders of many of this nation’s diverse faith communities have gathered in the nation’s capital today. We pray that our collective witness will help to make this a turning point in the history of our nation and the world.”

Read the pledge in its entirety.

The faith leaders are now taking this message back to their communities to rally support for the change in our nation’s priorities.  

The post Faith Leaders Pledge Together to Change U.S. National Priorities, End Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

Ahead of Pope Francis’ arrival in Washington, D.C., today, an interfaith collection of religious leaders issued a call this morning for a fundamental shift in the nation’s priorities – namely to end hunger and poverty by 2030.

Those who spoke were united in the belief that ending hunger and poverty by 2030 was an achievable goal in our lifetime. The faith leaders gathered at the National Press Club for a press conference to amplify their call through the media.

There is definitely work to be done. Recent data released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that roughly 15 percent of Americans live in poverty and that more than 15 million children, 1 in 5, live at risk of hunger.

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), spoke passionately about the integral role government can play in ending hunger and poverty by 2030.

“Since 2011, powerful political forces have pushed for deep and disproportionate cuts in all the programs that go mainly to people in poverty,” she said. “Starting this fall, Congress needs to steer away from brinkmanship and put an end to the sequester. We will make it clear that we want a president and a Congress by 2017 who will work together, who reflects God’s special concern for hungry and poor people – our neighbors around the world.”

“Today, we turn our effort to end hunger in our time,” she added.

Others who spoke represented various faith-based organizations, including American Jewish World Service, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Islamic Relief, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, and the Salvation Army.

For its part, the Salvation Army is launching an initiative to reduce “intergenerational poverty across the United States by transforming the lives of 100,000 families by 2030.”

Commissioner David Jeffrey, national commander of The Salvation Army in the United States, said that last year his organization served roughly 30 million people by providing meals, shelter, and other services.

“Serving such vast numbers of people, we are keenly aware of the trials that our clients face,” he said. “We also know that their struggles will persist if we keep treating the recurring symptoms of the problem and not the source. That is why we are expanding our focus from serving to solving.”

On Monday night, a larger interfaith group – approximately 100 religious leaders – participated in a summit and wrestled with how to end hunger and poverty by 2030. Over dinner, they conversed with each other and spoke about obstacles but also success stories in solving hunger and poverty.

They also signed a pledge committing themselves to push national leaders to focus on ending hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.

The pledge reads in part: “U.S. faith communities are deeply engaged with many sisters and brothers who struggle with hunger and poverty, and we have become increasingly active in urging our nation’s elected leaders to do their part – defending low-income people in the national budget debate, for example. Our experience of God’s mercy and compassion for all people moves us to engage in God’s work of overcoming hunger and human misery, and our sacred traditions include visions of the world transformed.” (Read the full pledge.)

The faith leaders will take this message back to their communities to rally support for the change in our nation’s priorities.

Many of the leaders who participated in last night’s summit and this morning’s press conference have significant roles in the pope’s visit to the U.S. One of the speakers at the press conference was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, the archdiocese that is hosting Pope Francis on his first stop. Wuerl is expected to be among the first to greet Pope Francis upon his arrival.

Jennifer Gonzalez is the associate online editor at Bread for the World.

Photo: Anwar Khan, CEO of Islamic Relief, speaks at this morning’s press conference organized by Bread for the World. Jennifer Gonzalez/Bread for the World

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This week, Pope Francis will visit Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia. As a prominent world religious leader brings faith to bear on our government, President Obama will welcome him to the White House, and Francis will make the first-ever address by a pope to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Over the past two years, Pope Francis has led the Catholic Church by example: praying with and serving the disabled, disfigured, and the destitute. His humility and willingness to refuse the trappings of privilege when they interfere with opportunities to love and serve others is inspiring to all Christians.

In the first chapter of Isaiah, the prophet heralds God’s call to repentance to the people of Israel. The Israelites had rejected God’s precepts, and Isaiah was there to call them back, saying, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Plead the rights of widows” (Isaiah 1:17, NLT). God promises to restore Israel if only they would seek the things he calls them to. “Zion will be restored by justice; those who repent will be revived by righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27).

Over these next two weeks, join us (and Pope Francis) as we follow Isaiah’s call to pray for all people in need and to plead for justice. Specifically, pray for:

1. The desperate, the widow, the orphan, and all people who suffer in this country and around the world, that they would be relieved of suffering, receive justice, and find wholeness.
2. The church, that we would follow the example of Jesus and those around us, like Pope Francis, who truly seek to follow him in service to people who are hungry.
3. For our elected officials in Congress, that they would open their hearts to the message Pope Francis brings, especially as he calls for justice for prisoners, care for creation, and inclusion for the marginalized.

When you commit to joining in praying for an end to hunger, we will email you twice a month with specific prayer requests and sample prayers. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

The post Prayers to End Hunger: Following the pope’s example appeared first on Bread for the World.

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
— Matthew 9:9

When Jesus was filling his cabinet of disciples, he didn’t always choose from the most admired, prominent, or upstanding citizens or business leaders of the time. Most of them would not have gotten congressional confirmation in our day and age. Some were despised because of their profession, while others were ordinary, working-class people, like fishermen.

Take Matthew, whose saint day we celebrate today. Before Jesus recruited him, Matthew was a tax collector, working for the Romans, the occupying empire of Jesus’ day. Tax collectors were known to be corrupt because they kept some of the money they collected for themselves.

Going from that to being in Jesus’ inner circle is an amazing turn of professions and reputation. Matthew ended up having the first of the Gospels named after him.

In 1599-1600, Caravaggio captured that moment of Jesus calling Matthew. The Italian painter depicts a stunned Matthew being picked out of a group of friends. “Who, me?” he seems to be asking as Jesus points to him.

Tonight, before Pope Francis arrives for his first visit to the United States tomorrow, Bread for the World is hosting a gathering of prominent faith leaders in Washington, D.C., to consider another call — how to respond to one of the biggest issues of our time — ending hunger and addressing poverty in our world.

Bread wants its member denominations and other faith-related groups to help push our federal government to change priorities between now and 2017, so that our next president and Congress put us on track to end hunger and extreme poverty in our country and around the world by 2030.

Bread’s president, David Beckmann, will give remarks at the summit of faith leaders. The Caravaggio painting is one thing he will refer to when speaking to the national faith leaders, who will come from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. “I suppose that most of us sometimes feel like Matthew — surprised that God is using us as religious leaders. But by God’s mercy, we were drawn into relationship with God and, over time, chosen as leaders within the U.S. faith community,” Beckmann’s prepared remarks say.

We don’t all have to be the head of our denomination or a prominent member of the clergy to be a leader or even to take action. Jesus’ call is to all of us. You have already been chosen by Jesus to be a disciple. And whether you work for the IRS or are a fisherman off the New England coast or are a teacher or fast food worker, you can do your part to end hunger. You can join Bread and the faith leaders this week who will pledge to end hunger by 2030. “Who, me?” you may still ask. “Yes, you,” Jesus says.

Stephen H. Padre is the managing editor at Bread for the World.

Photo: “The Calling of St. Matthew” by Caravaggio (1599-1600). Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The post Who, me? On St. Matthew’s Day, let’s do as he did and follow the call appeared first on Bread for the World.

A flurry of activity is expected in Washington, D.C., this week as Pope Francis makes his first visit to the United States.

The pope is expected to meet with President Obama, address a joint session of Congress, and speak to the U.N. General Assembly.

Ahead of the visit, The National Journal published an article over the weekend describing the “pre-pope campaign” being undertaken by D.C. faith-based organizations. This is understandable given the weight the pope has on many issues.

Rev. David Beckmann, Bread for the World president, was quoted prominently in the article. The article highlights a meeting Beckmann had at the Vatican in late August.

During that meeting, Beckmann told the Archbishop Paul Gallagher “that American faith leaders stand ready to ‘echo and affirm’ any call from the pope to end hunger — if, of course, Francis decides to talk about that when he makes history as the first pope to speak to a joint session of Congress on September 24.”

The pope has repeatedly spoken out on the issue of poverty. And Bread hopes he does it again during his visit to the United States.

Jennifer Gonzalez is the associate online editor at Bread for the World.

Photo: Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, speaking at a hunger summit in Washington, D.C.

The post Bread for the World featured in National Journal article appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.

This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect — and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us — the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father — we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the Week of Sept. 13-19: Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania

Come, true light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, hidden mystery.
Come, treasure without name.
Come, reality beyond all words.
Come, person beyond all understanding.
Come, rejoicing without end.
Come, light that knows no evening.
Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.
Come, raising of the fallen.
Come, resurrection of the dead.
Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly
you create, refashion and change all things by your will alone.
Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me.
Come, my breath and my life.
Come, the consolation of my humble soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.

(St Symeon the New Theologian)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line (2014 figures):

• Bulgaria: 21.2
• Hungary: Not available
• Romania: 22.6

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2015 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

Photo: The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Wikimedia Commons.

The post World Prayers for Sept. 13-19: Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania appeared first on Bread for the World.

We know that God desires for all those who bear the image of God to flourish. Christ’s life of sacrifice and service calls us to work for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor. The SDGs represent one way that the world’s leaders have chosen to align with God’s desire for flourishing by supporting the development of all those who bear God’s image.

While you’ll hear a lot from Bread for the World about the SDGs over the coming years, we thought it appropriate to pause here at their nascent beginning to ask in prayer for:

1. People who most desperately need help around the world, that they too would flourish in their expression of the image of God.
2. The church, that we would support the sustainable development of all of our neighbors with prayer, action, and giving.
3. Our government’s leaders, that they would prioritize the good of the most desperate in our society.

When you commit to joining in praying for an end to hunger, we will email you twice a month with specific prayer requests and sample prayers. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

The post Prayers to End Hunger: A nascent beginning appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Krisanne Vaillancourt-Murphy

“Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up: In a town there was once a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. In that same town there was a widow who kept going to the judge and saying, ‘Make sure that I get fair treatment in court.’ For a while the judge refused to do anything. Finally, he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.’”  (Luke 18:1-5)

Luke 18 begins with a lesson – to encourage fervent and unceasing prayer and to never give up. Pray and act. The formula is simple; the implementation is the challenge.  

Losing heart and becoming discouraged is nothing new. Jesus uses the powerful story of the persistent widow to get us to realize God’s never-ending love and faithfulness.

In the telling of this parable, Jesus’ listeners would have been instantly familiar with the daunting situation facing the widow. Widows were often the poorest people in Jesus’ society. They were powerless and denied the inheritance of their deceased husbands. It took real courage for the widow to face a system in which she had little hope of getting any relief.    

Instead of emphasizing the limits of the widow’s power, Jesus points to how our faithful God hears the cry of his children.  If even an unrighteous judge could be moved to make the right choice, certainly our merciful and loving God will not fail us. 

The story reminds us that our praying and acting has meaning and relevance. 

In praying, we acknowledge our dependence on God. As believers we know God is with us and at work in the world. For the widow, her prayer compelled her to step out. Could justice prevail? Just maybe she’d get her land back after her husband died.  Who knew that the judge’s self-serving, cynical ways were no match for her persistence?   

God knows.

Taking action requires courage – the kind the widow exhibited and that is required of us today.

Ending hunger by 2030 is a bold claim. Seeking an end to hunger requires us to trust in what we know God intends for us. And it requires that we muster our courage. Despite statistics that demonstrate its feasibility, there are those who insist hunger will always be with us. 

Bread for the World invites you to renew your commitment to pray unceasingly for an end to hunger. As individuals and as a collective body of Christians, we acknowledge our dependence on God.  

Like the widow, we need to muster the courage to educate, inform, and persuade our nation’s decision makers that ending hunger is feasible.  

The question I ask myself is how am I living with the hope and courage today? 

God knows.

Krisanne Vaillancourt-Murphy is the senior associate for national Catholic engagement at Bread for the World. 

The post Scriptural Manna: Never cease persisting appeared first on Bread for the World.

This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect — and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us — the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father — we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of September 6-12: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia:

Prayer of a Bosnian villager:

Through a hole in the roof, O my God, I am trying to see you;
trying to tell you that all your people are suffering,
trying to ask you to bring peace,
to please stop this awful killing and destruction,
this murderous frenzy of nationalism!

(First published in A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from around the World, comp. John Carden, WCC, and Cassell, London, UK, 1998.)

O God, so many of these countries have been wracked by war and continue to be wracked by poverty and hunger. Give all of these countries strong governments, strong economies, and strong people who are trying to build and rebuild nations. Give Christians and churches in these places strength to carry out their missions of helping people in need. Give all who live in hunger there food to eat and strength to live, O God our provider. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line (2014 figures):

Albania: 14.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 17.9
Croatia: NA
FYR of Macedonia: 27.1
Kosovo: 29.7
Montenegro: 11.3
Serbia: 24.6
Slovenia: NA

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2015 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

Photo: Interior of an old Christian Orthodox church in Sarajevo, the oldest sacred building in the city. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The post World Prayers for Sept. 6-12: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World is an organization made up of Christians from a wide variety of traditions. Rarely does it allow one denomination – let alone a single person (except for Jesus) – to set the tone for a while. Yet Pope Francis has been a force of nature since he ascended to the papacy only two years ago, and Bread is grabbing on to his cassock tails as he visits the U.S. later this month and hopefully calls Americans of all faiths to end hunger and poverty in our time.

Francis’ U.S. visit will capture the attention of not only American Catholics, but also the broader religious community, the president, Congress, the secular public, and world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The pope is expected to refocus the country’s attention on the plight of the world’s poor. 

On the eve of his arrival in Washington, D.C., the first stop on Francis’ trip, Bread will gather many of the country’s top leaders of many faiths – not only Christian but Jewish, Muslim, and others – to welcome him to the nation’s capital. Bread will host the Interfaith Religious Leaders Summit, titled “End Hunger by 2030.” The dinner-hour summit will take place Sept. 21.

More than 100 faith leaders have been invited to the summit. They include heads of denominations and religious bodies, CEOs of faith-based agencies, and seminary presidents.

The pope’s visit comes at a critical point on the road to ending hunger. The campaign to choose the major parties’ nominees for U.S. president is well underway, and Bread is involved in efforts to push the candidates to address its issues through the Circle of Protection coalition. Bread wants to use this opportunity to drum up and consolidate support among faith communities across the country for ending hunger by 2030.

Ending hunger by 2030 will require having political leaders in place much earlier than that – by 2017. In January of that year, the U.S. will have a new president and a new Congress, and Bread has started to push candidates for these offices to make hunger and poverty a priority during their time in office.

The other major political part of Francis’ U.S. visit will play out in New York, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly. The body will be considering adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, which Bread hopes will also steer the world’s nations toward elimination of chronic hunger and poverty over the next 15 years.

At the Washington, D.C., interfaith summit, Rev. David Beckmann, Bread’s president, will deliver remarks. Also on the program are short addresses by several other faith leaders as pledges to the 2030 goal of ending hunger. The summit will produce a written pledge by the faith leaders that will be shared with the media the following morning at a press conference. Speaking at the press conference will be Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. Wuerl, whose city and archdiocese are hosting the pope on his first stop, is helping to plan Francis’ overall visit. Wuerl is an adviser to Francis as a member of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for Clergy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.

Overall, the welcome summit of religious leaders as well as the visit itself of Francis to three East Coast cities will encapsulate a large part of what Bread is about. The papal visit will inspire the religious community to take action. Bread is hoping the new energy that emerges will result in a large-scale mobilization of people of faith to push the federal government – and candidates for office – to do their part in ending hunger. Thanks to Francis, faith and politics will come together.

Stephen H. Padre is editor of Bread newsletter and managing editor for Bread for the World.

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In June, Pope Francis delivered his impactful encyclical on climate change. “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” Francis wrote, blaming consumerism, overconsumption, and dependence on fossil fuels on the growing environmental problem.

To continue with his mission, Pope Francis announced a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1.

Climate change “represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day,” the pope wrote. “Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades.”

This is a collective opportunity for the Christian body to take action. God has entrusted humankind to act as stewards of this planet. Psalm 115:16 says, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.”

God has given this earth to us, and as the Earth’s caretakers we are to protect the land, animals, and vegetation for the common good of all. The Bible is clear that it’s our responsibility to care for the Earth the way God would care for it. This means that we are to use the earth but not abuse it.

Let’s continue being good stewards through prayer, advocacy, and conservation. Join World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation  on September 1.

Shalom Khokhar is a summer intern in the communications department at Bread for the World.

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By Jared Noetzel

“Remember this month as a time when our sorrow was turned to joy, and celebration took the place of crying. Celebrate by having parties and by giving to the poor and by sharing gifts of food with each other.” (Esther 9:22)

Only one verse in the entire book of Esther is highlighted in The Poverty & Justice Bible (which emphasizes social justice issues), and it has to do with a party. In Esther 9, Mordecai, the wise father figure to the book’s heroine, gives instructions to the people of Israel on how to celebrate the festival of Purim, which marks God’s faithfulness in rescuing the Jews from destruction.

Earlier in the story of Esther, Haman enters. He is the newly appointed penultimate manager of Persia and descendant of Agag—King of the Amalekites, whom Saul spared in disobedience to the Lord’s commands. Enraged by Mordecai’s defiant refusal not to bow to him, Haman launches a campaign to destroy the Jews. Signed by the king and delivered to every town, a decree is issued, legalizing the execution of any Jew and the seizure of their property. When Mordecai discovers this plot, he and all Israel with him are distraught.

Here Mordecai faces an insurmountable challenge. A royal decree such as this one required another action by the king to amend. Steeled by his resolve, Mordecai, covered in sackcloth and ashes, goes to gain the attention of the only person who can advocate for the Jews—Esther. Before the gates of the king’s palace, Mordecai sits, wearing a symbol of mourning calling to all people, Esther included, to hear and see the gross injustice of Haman’s planned genocide. Upon learning of Mordecai’s condition, Esther immediately sends clothes to Mordecai so that he might take off his sackcloth. He ardently refuses.

Mordecai cannot take those clothes. He cannot remove himself from his petition. If he gives up his lament, then what will happen to the people of God? Mordecai knows well within his heart what faithfulness requires of him: to keep his protest until the Lord opens a pathway to justice and righteousness. Esther eventually hears Mordecai’s petition and decides to take up the cause of her people, but only because of the persistent, faithful advocacy of Mordecai.

Esther twice refuses to address the issue at hand: once with a gift and second out of fear for her own well-being. However, Mordecai is not deterred. He keeps up his patient work of advocacy using symbols, logic, and moral authority to move Esther to action. Like Mordecai, and later Esther, we too must keep up our faithful advocacy, knowing that God will open a way to justice and righteousness.

Jared Noetzel is a project coordinator in the church relations department at Bread for the World.

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This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect — and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us — the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father — we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of August 16 – 22: Oceania: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia (Maohi Nui), Kanaky, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu

Oh God, we take this time to lift up the beautiful Pacific islands to you. We especially pray now for those suffering from food insecurity. We ask for your divine provision so they can have opportunities to work and get an education. We know that the poor and hungry are often those most vulnerable in society, and we ask for the protection of their rights as well as the rights of the indigenous people.  

We also pray for the government leaders in these islands. There has been much political corruption and unrest, violence, and crime, and we need your divine intervention. We specifically ask for your law to be written in hearts and a deep sense of morality to be present within the island cultures. In addition, we ask for wisdom to guide the decisions of the leaders and for integrity to keep them from manipulation and further corruption.

Lastly, we pray for the light of the Gospel to shine brightly upon these nations. We thank you for revivals that have swept the islands in the past, but there is a need for another revival of truth that will lead to a change of hearts and the society as a whole in this region. There are also unreached people among the indigenous on these islands, and we pray for new opportunities to hear the Gospel that would lead to many salvations for your glory.

We thank you for hearing our prayer and we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line (2014 figures):

• American Samoa, Cook Islands: N/A
• Fiji: 35.2
• French Polynesia (Maohi Nui), Kanaky, Kiribati: N/A
• Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau: N/A
• Papua New Guinea: 39.9
• Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu: N/A

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the new 2015 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread. 

Photo: Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk Island, Palau. LuxTonnerre/Wikimedia Commons

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By Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith

“Jesus looked up and saw some rich people tossing their gifts into the offering box. He also saw a poor widow putting in two pennies. And he said, ‘I tell you that this poor woman has put in more than all the others. Everyone else gave what they didn’t need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had.’” (Luke 21:1-4)

A few months after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, whose epicenter was in Cairo, I found myself in that city. I had been invited to visit Coptic Orthodox and Evangelical churches, the Bible Society of Egypt, and youth who had been involved in the revolution. Tensions were still high, but the churches continued to provide spiritual and material support to people in need as they have been doing since the earliest days of Christendom. The churches carried out this ministry despite complications from increased tensions between Christians and Muslims, who had been living together in the region for hundreds of years.

During my visit, my host invited me to share a message with a special church he was supporting in a very poor area of Cairo. The church’s location wasn’t readily apparent. It was in a hidden upper room in a very modest, small building on a fairly desolate and isolated street. The congregants met in the evening. They were primarily older and younger women in modest, traditional Egyptian dress and women from other parts of northern and sub-Saharan Africa. Their children, youth, and a few older men were also present. Most of the women wore black or another dark or neutral color. As is the case in similar cultures, my host confirmed that the dress indicated most of the women were widows.

Although the Bible consistently refers to care for widows, the passage from Luke 21 is one of the few sections that makes an important departure from that to the empowerment and dignity of widows. In this passage, Jesus describes how the widow gave and did not receive from the rich, who have given what they did not need. The rich witness the widow’s empowerment from Jesus, who lifts her dignity to one who is blessed because she gave and did so in a true sacrificial way.

The same was true of the widows I saw in Egypt. The women brought oils, food, coins, embraces, and tears for their offering. While many of the husbands or other men in their lives were somehow lost or dead as a consequence of political strife, hunger, war, and poverty, these women still sacrificially gave what they had. Despite their weariness from travel, health ailments from childbirth, and other pains that were prayed over, touched, and anointed, the women made offerings out of their limited means to the church community and others outside the church.

Today, among even refugees and internally displaced people in the U.S. and around the world are many widows and others who give despite their lack of money and other material goods. Bread is a partner with these communities as it advocates for public policies to end hunger and address poverty. May we, like the widow in the Bible and the women in Egypt, always find ways to give of ourselves sacrificially so that all may be fed.

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is Bread for the World’s national senior associate for African-American and African church engagement.

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