:Hunger for Justice

A month from now, Joel and I are headed to the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM.  we’re participating in a conference about simple living.  Joel and I reflect on this concept/lifestyle fairly often, so we are grateful to join another community of people who are taking steps towards greater simplicity  Recently, I read an article by one of the main speakers, Sr. Paula Gonzales, SC, where she writes:

We humans are called to leave behind our adolescent ways of relating to God, to one another and to the magnificent cosmos of which we are a part.  We are called to return to basic essentials and strive for clarity out our role in God’s magnificent plan; to struggle with the challenges of what it means to grow into our name, Homo sapiens (wise humans)!

I appreciate this idea of “leaving behind our adolescent ways of relating to God.”  Lately, I find myself stuck in a teenage phase of the faith journey - a petulant youth, demanding my own way of doing and being.  Embracing an adult faith requires a recognition of my interconnectedness to the earth and community.  Living simply, practicing sabbath, silence and rest are part of recognizing this connectedness and God’s presence there.

I’m challenged by these questions: What fundamental changes am I being asked to make?  What changes is the church called to?  How are we, as the church, discipling people into an adult, wise faith with a recognition of our dependency on God?

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Southern California is in the midst of an extreme drought. The City of Los Angeles has yet to alert people to this fact. There’s a short mention of the drought on their website, but the situation needs greater publicity. It is the driest summer in 130 years! The city should devote extensive resources to encourage conservation.

Here are some resources on the water situation and climate change:

Personal

• 12 steps for water conservation

Local

• LA Water Conservation Council

National

• Water Use It Wisely

Global

• Lifewater International

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In my previous post, I mentioned the excellent editorial by the LA Times - “Cut the farm bill fat.”  With the help of my colleague Shawnda in Portland, I wrote a letter in response and it was published today!

Crystal, an advocate from Colorado, also had a letter published in the Coloradoan News and the Rocky Mountain News.  I met Crystal in 2006 while traveling with Bread for the World in Colorado.  She attended an event where our vice president spoke about advocacy and hunger.  We recently reconnected at The Gathering 2007 in Washington, DC.  Her letter to the editor is awesome.  Way to go, Crystal.

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The farm bill debate is really starting to buzz. If you are new to the farm bill, it’s a wonderfully massive piece of legislation that impacts our federal farm and food policy. There are ten titles in the farm bill - each title could stand alone as its own piece of legislation. It’s that huge.

Bread for the World and other religious groups have joined together to urge broad reform of the 2007 farm bill. The bill is authorized every five years, so this offers us an incredible opportunity for change. (Check out Bread for the World’s video about what we’re looking for in the farm bill.) I created this fun acrostic to help understand what reforms we’re looking for:

Food stamp program is strengthened and benefit levels are expanded.

Alternate means of support for US farmers

Rural communities receive funding for development and industry

Market access and equal opportunity for farmers in the developing world

Get it? FARM! There are a few other reforms not included in the FARM acrostic. For a full listing, check out Feminary’s awesome post - Time to Write Congress.

LA Times Editorial Board wrote an excellent editorial called “Cut the farm bill fat.” Props to the LA Times for giving the farm bill such attention. Feel free to email me if you want to write a letter in response.

Church World Service produced another excellent resource about the farm bill for churches. It provides an in depth overview of what’s at stake and how people of faith can take action.

Finally, the Presbyterian Food and Faith blog posted a moving poem by Wendall Berry. Their blog is definitely a read.

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While writing this post, I thought of an image that bests describes my retreat from blogging. The image that came to mind was open hands, so like any good web 2.0 geek - I googled “hands.” This was the first image in google:

It embodies many aspects of the past few months: restful reflection, advocacy work around the 2007 farm bill, sowing seeds conference with bread for the world, growing a relationship with very special people and committing to a church body more fully.

(more…)

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It seems I had a case of bloggers block - 8 month bloggers block. I went to a really cool technology conference last week with my job. The sessions focused on using technology in the non-profit world. It was hosted by nten (definitely check out their site.) I always meet cool people at these types of events. I’ll post some resources on the blog for future reference.

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I’m taking a break from blogging for the time being.  Thanks for reading the blog.

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I recently added Marva J. Dawn’s book to my list of current reading. She write an incredible book called - Unfettered Hope:A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society. In the first chapter about fettered hopes, she provides a synopsis of our world, our fears and our addiction to technology. She raises some very significant questions about information technology - does technology really make our lives easier? How do new forms of communication impact our decisions and relationships? Are we able to make better choices with more information?

As I reflected on this chapter, I realized I send and receive over 500 emails a week. My main form of communication at work, with friends and family is my blog or my email account. During a good month, I’ll make 3 or 4 phone calls to close friends who are living on the opposite coast and we’ll chat for a good hour. But mainly, I stick to email as a form of relating, checking-in and keeping up to date about our lives. Marva J. Dawn isn’t saying that email is wrong, rather she asks the reader to ask - is this an authentic form of communication? (It’s a bit ironic to me to be discussing the authenticity of internet communication on my blog!) Most of the time, it’s easier to pick up the phone rather than send an email!

“We’re shackled in many ways- for example, by the impossibility of discerning what information is useful, the danger of idolizing information for its own sake, or the confusions of contextless information. Jacques Ellul particularly emphasized that ‘people…deluged by information become incapable of making decisions. An excess of information…results in total paralysis of the process of decision [-making].’” - Marva J. Dawn

As I read this excerpt, I thought - Welcome to my world! Often I feel incapable of making decisions with a lack of information. I’m paralyzed by the desire to know and have reassurance of the future. It prevents me from taking risks and being open to the movement of God in my life.

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My friends and I went camping over Labor Day weekend in the Central Coast - San Simeon. It was beautiful and 30 degrees cooler than Pasadena! Praise God! My friend Emily asked a question, “What would you do if you could live an alternate life?” (Her husband Wess posted about this over at gathering in light.)

In his comments, I wrote about my addiction to the concept “the grass is always greener on the other side.” Throughout college, I was challenged by the discipline of gratefulness and I’m constantly reminded of that discipline in my adult life. During times of uncertainty, insanity or sadness, it’s medicine for my soul to reflect on this question: What can I be grateful for at this moment? It may be as simple as what I ate for breakfast or a smile from a friend. It sounds trite, but I believe God calls us to live in the present, be grateful.

“If we are ardently thankful for all the blessings the Trinity has given us, we find ourselves loving God too much to complain and crave more.” Marva J. Dawn

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Over a week ago, I read an article in the LA Times about James Dobson’s efforts to register voters in Christian, evangelical churches. Focus on the Family is recruiting coordinators to target such churches in key states:

[Focus on the Family] is seeking “church coordinators” who would encourage pastors to “speak about Christian citizenship,” conduct voter-registration drives, distribute voter guides and run get-out-the-vote efforts.

In many ways, this strategy is similar to Bread - presenting to churches about advocacy, encouraging Christians to use their citizenship to speak out about hunger and poverty. But, there is a significant distinction between Bread and Focus on the Family. Dobson’s voter guides highlight hot-button issues, which tacitly endorse specific (republican) candidates. On the other hand, Bread never endoreses a particular political party or candidate. We are non-partisan. Christians should not be partisan or believe that one party can do a better job than the other.

I also noticed the media has difficulty distinguishing evangelicals from the Religious Right. As a young evangelical in college and a recovering evangelical in my early 20s, I take offense to the media’s improper melding of two distinct terms and social groups. While some evangelical may identify themselves with the religious right, this by no means makes the whole lot of them conservative republicans.

Be sure to read the full article:

Group to Rally Evangelical Voters

Another article of interest, somewhat unrelated:
Big Cooperative Push in Venezuela

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