When we collected an Offering o f Letters (OL) at Woodridge United Methodist Church on April 28th, I shared that writing to support food aid reform put us on the cutting edge; that we were helping Bread for the World try out a new focus for OLs. Food aid reforms in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 …
Category: poverty
Record-breaking OL not done yet
Last Sunday, my congregation, Woodridge United Methodist Church, partnered with Bread for the World in taking an Offering of Letters. Rosie's story (see above video) was a key component of our presentation and perhaps part of the reason the OL produced 110 names on the petition to the President and 120 letters to our Senators. The …
Remembering that ‘shot rang out in the Memphis sky’
I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but it was 45 years ago today (April 4) that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Yesterday, Fred Clark posted a long excerpt from Dr. King's April 3rd speech, often called the "I've been to the mountaintop" speech. It's fabulous oratory. Fred rightly pointed …
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Watch, read, and give for #WorldWaterDay
Today, March 22, is World Water Day. So what? Water changes everything: I first learned of World Water Day two years ago. Some of what I wrote then still applies: I don’t know about you, but I generally don’t even notice just how available water is to me. Among the kitchen sink, the water dispenser in our …
Victory! What’s next?
Thursday was a really good day. After months and even years of delay, the U.S. House of Representatives FINALLY passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - and with it the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA)! The General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church reminded us what The United Methodist …
I do love Bread
I know there much more important issues to cover: protecting SNAP and other programs vital to caring for poor and hungry people in any fiscal cliff deal; raising our voices to destigmatize mental health care; drowning out the NRA's insanity with petitions, letters, posts, conversations, and every other way we can; continuing to care for …
“I’m not just sitting back waiting for somebody to hand me something.”
I was thrilled that we had a full room watching The Line last week. Plenty of discussion going on in small groups afterwards, too. After the small group discussion time, I asked for people willing to share some of what they discussed regarding three questions: What in the film surprised you? What did you learn …
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Hands, feet and voice
“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” It was just a few weeks ago that we read in worship those …
Watch “The Line” and #TalkPoverty
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, tonight you can watch the world premiere of (what promises to be) a terrific, important and compelling movie: The Line. I threw in that parenthetical qualifier because, of course, I haven't actually seen the film. Hence the "world premiere" part. 🙂 But I absolutely expect The Line to …
Toeing “The Line”
I've written rather extensively about my involvement with and support for Bread for the World. I've been less vocal about my involvement with and support for Sojourners. But both organizations help me reflect upon a Christian commitment to social justice. Both organizations help me act on that commitment. So you can imagine my interest when …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 