When did we see you hungry and not give you food?

Then the righteous will say to him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food?” -- Matthew 25:37

The headline read, “World hunger reaches 1 billion mark” - and I never got any further in praying for the news this week.

Lord, when did we see you hungry, and not give you food?

The global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world’s hungry to a record 1 billion, an increase of 100 million over last year. One billion. That’s one out of six people in the world.

Lord, when did we see you hungry, and not give you food?

Pray the rest of this prayer (you will need a Yahoo Id

Ecumenical Advocacy Days - March 13-16 in Washingston DC

1. Would you like to know more about the connections between climate change, migration, and poverty here in the U.S. and around the world?
2. Would you like the opportunity to come together with faith-based advocates and activists from other Christian communities?
3. Would you like to meet and talk with other Presbyterians from all over the country who are concerned about these issues?
   
4. Would you like to learn more about the abundance of our world and how it can be allocated in a way that's fair and just for all creation?
5. Would you like to talk personally about your concerns with your representative and senators (or their staff members)?
6. Do you have a pulse?
   

If you can answer "yes" to at least one of the above and if your schedule is open, Ecumenical Advocacy Days is for you! Scholarship assistance of $500 is available from the Synod of the Northeast for use by Ministers and for Members of churches with membership greater than 150. Student scholarships are also available from Ecumenical Advocacy Days (applications due by February 6).

Registration Information

• Conference fee: $160 including two lunches and Sunday reception.
• Registration after February 13th will be $175. Register early!
• Student scholarships are available, visit the young adult page or email scholarships@advocacydays.org.
• Consider making a donation to help students attend the conference.

Click here to Register Now!

Souper Bowl Sunday - February 1

Souper Bowl of Caring is a national movement of congregations, schools, community organizations and compassionate individuals caring for others on Super Bowl weekend. Souper Bowl of Caring equips and mobilizes youth to positively impact their communities by collecting money or food on or near Super Bowl weekend. 100% of the collections are donated directly to the charity of each group's choice.

Souper Bowl also includes a Service Blitz. In addition to collecting the dollar donations, youth are encouraged to serve hands-on at the charity of their choice the Saturday before the big game.

32 congregations (about 70%) in Monmouth Presbytery are registered for Souper Bowl!

Invitation to a Church-wide Fast

I recently received an invitation to a Denomination-wide Fast. It says, "At the behest of the 218th General Assembly, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is inviting its congregations to engage in a monthly church-wide fast to discern faithful responses to the global food crisis, in a world where more than 845 million people go hungry. As many as 100 million more may be driven into extreme poverty due to the food crisis, while others live with plenty to spare." Download the document.

How do you feel about fasting? I must admit that the idea scares me, mostly because I'm not sure I can do it and I really hate failing. And, as a lifelong member of churches in the Reformed tradition, it's not part of my repertoire (even though John Calvin called for fasting as part of the Public and Mutual Practice of Penance.) But I have decided it's time to give it a try--for a year, and one month at a time.

For one thing, as a musician, I know how deadly it can be to never change your tunes.

It sounds like fasting is a spiritually (and socially) transforming and life-giving practice. Noelle Damico, Coordinator of the PC(USA) campaign for Fair Food, notes that “a central purpose is that of reconciliation—to God and to one’s neighbor” which can sharpen our vision to see God’s vision for our world more clearly, strengthen our resolve to live with integrity, and prepare us to act with God to transform ourselves and our world. And—not the least for people like me who too often are overfed—it “brings lasting insights into the physical needs of the body and the daily struggles of those who are hungry and poor.” (You can find much more at www.pcusa.org/hunger/foodcrisis.) I can’t even begin to imagine how God could use our denomination in new ways if just two people in every congregation would become part of this!

I will also be in good company. Fasting used to be a common thing "back in the day" for Jews and Christians, too--which means that I would be joining giants of the faith like Moses, King David, Queen Esther, the prophets Isaiah and Joel, the people of Nineveh, and Jesus--just to name a few. And then there are John Calvin, Mahatma Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr. Closer to home, I already have connections to 453 Presbyterians (several from Monmouth Presbytery) who have joined the new Facebook group "Presbyterians Respond to Global Food Crisis"--and there's plenty of room for more.

Finally, there's more than one way to be part of this. Congregations can commit to the fast as a body, and individuals and smaller groups may also participate. And, for those who are physically unable to fast, there is the alternative of simpler meals.

Are you ready to sign on? The first of the monthly fasts begins on Friday evening, October 3. And break the fast with Holy Communion on Sunday if your place of worship does Communion then. Fittingly, October 5 is World Communion Sunday!

If it's October, it's time for a CROP Hunger Walk

What is a CROP Hunger Walk? Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. Neighbors walking together to take a stand against hunger in our world. Together we raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger-fighting. Read more»

Since 1969, CROP WALKS and Walkers have been putting a lot of soul into the fight against hunger, but there are still steps we need to take together. Join in a CROP Hunger Walk near you to help raise awareness and funds to fight hunger--around the block and around the world. Or, if there isn't one in your community -- contact Church World Service NJ office to volunteer to help start one!

Following are the NJ CROP walks taking place in our Presbytery:

• October 5 - Tuckerton
• October 19 - Bordentown, Freehold, Hightstown, Long Branch, Ocean County North, and Red Bank
  
• October 26 - Allentown

Bread for the World Sunday - October 19 and other Sundays this fall

Note: the following info is from Bread for the World's website.

Bread for the World Sunday is an opportunity for churches to renew their commitment to overcoming hunger and poverty in God's world. On October 19 and other Sundays this fall, worshipping communities across the country will join together in lifting up their voices on behalf of hungry people. Order your free worship resources below.

This year's observance of Bread for the World Sunday takes place at a time when soaring prices for food and fuel have created an urgent hunger crisis – both in our own country and overseas. An additional 100 million people have fallen into poverty and are at risk of hunger and starvation.

In the midst of this global hunger crisis, our nation is electing a new president and new Congress. Living in God's grace in Jesus Christ, we have received a great inheritance: the gift of citizenship – a resource to use on behalf of those in need. As citizens, we have the privilege to elect our nation's leaders as well as the responsibility to use our country's abundant resources to make sure people have enough to eat – and the opportunity to make a living and feed their families.

The Bible study by Pastor Heidi Neumark found in this year's Reflection Resource offers insights that will be useful for both sermons and adult education forums. The Parable of the Prodigal Son calls us to repent of our own squandering of our inheritance of God's grace – and invites us to return to our gracious Father and place our faith in the Faithful Son who creates an abundant feast for all in need. These themes of repentance and return, faith and abundance can be found in many of the different Gospel readings used throughout the fall worship season.

Join with churches and worshipping communities across the country as we rededicate ourselves to ending hunger in God's world.

Read ideas on how to celebrate Bread for the World Sunday at your church.

Then a Miracle Occurs

Do you believe in miracles? And did you ever wonder exactly when does a miracle occur? Something happened late last week. It was the culmination of years of work by many people. What was the miracle? Were there more than one? When did it happen? I'd like to hear what you think!

There is a cartoon called "Then a miracle occurs" in which a "rubber meets the sky" type of person has drawn a flowchart with a box that says "then a miracle occurs" to make his vision happen. [if you want to see this, you have to google it] Next to him is a "rubber meets the road" guy who says, "I think you should be more explicit here in step 2." Having been a "rubber meets the road" type who works for a vision of something better, I always appreciate when miracles occur. A miracle happened last week when the Coalition of Imokalee Workers signed an agreement with Burger King to improve farmworkers' wages and enforce human rights standards in the fields.

And I think it's worth celebrating that Monmouth Presbytery helped to make it happen. About 50 people who attended meetings at the Presbytery Center added their signatures to a petition that was delivered to Burger King headquarters last month. Plus there were all those students at Rutgers University who signed up at a table I had at their Tent State University. And, of course, PC(USA) leaders like Clifton Kirkpatrick and Linda Valentine. We are part of that miracle!

May 23, 2006 – Today, the CIW and Burger King Corporation signed an agreement to improve farmworkers’ wages and enforce human rights standards in the fields!

A signing ceremony and press conference took place in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Capitol, hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Your prayers, your participation in marches, the incredible number of signatures you garnered in the petition campaign, and your ongoing letters and emails to Burger King made this victory possible.

We read in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Through faith we know that this agreement is a harbinger of that soon-coming day, when the entire fast-food and grocery industry will embrace these human rights standards, and farmworkers will enjoy a fair wage and humane working conditions. As we celebrate this human rights victory, let us also renew our comittment to keep walking together with the CIW until we see that day dawns.

• Read a related story by the Presbyterian News Service: Burger King and CIW strike deal – PC(USA)-backed farmworkers will receive higher wages, improved work conditions

Growing Food Crisis - Prayers for those who suffer, Prayers for Guidance

I received the following message from Andrew Kang Bartlett of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. Please pray for those who suffer and for guidance on what we can do to respond. For starters on a response, I highly recommend the Bread for the World meetings we are holding on April 30.

"I'm sure you've been hearing about the growing food crisis (as if 25,000 people dying daily from hunger and hunger-related disease was not already a crisis of epic proportions!) due to increases in food prices. The short piece from the Globe and Mail gives a stark glimpse of this.

"I believe that we need to think, pray and work together to come up with the best strategies (that we can connect to and/or devise ourselves) for dealing with this. As the article mentions, higher prices could be with us for a long time - and it is estimated that for every 1% rise in food prices, worldwide 16 million more people become hungry.

"Please pray for those who are suffering. And let us pray for guidance about what our responses should be. Please share your thoughts and ideas!"

Bread for the World Meetings - April 30 - Cranbury, Tennent, and Bayville

The Presbytery of Monmouth and Bread for the World

invite you to a meeting to learn about

Special Guest: Bread for the World Organizer for the Northeast Region, Derrick Boykin

We will explore the possibility of forming a new Bread for the World chapter in central and/or southern NJ

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Choose from three times and locations:

10-11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 22 South Main St., Cranbury, NJ

12-1 p.m. at the Presbytery Center, 446 Tennent Road, Tennent, NJ

4-5 p.m. at Morning Star Presbyterian Church,1 Morning Star Way, Bayville, NJ

Because:

• More than 854 million people in the world go hungry.
• In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.
• In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

* Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian movement that seeks justice for the world’s hungry people by lobbying our nation’s decision-makers.

Bread for the World Chapters: meet on a regular basis and study issues concerning hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world; create action plans to reach out to local, state, and national elected officials; create programs to reach out to other churches, community groups and campuses to become involved in the movement to end hunger.

For more info or to R.S.V.P. contact Rev. Phyllis Zoon

e-mail phylliszoon@gmail.com, phone 201-910-7047

Reflections on Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2008

I was one of over 700 people (109 of them Presbyterians) gathered in Washington, DC in early March for the sixth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) Conference. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore new visions of security in our homes, neighborhoods, nation, and world. Having attended EAD in 2006, I felt a little bit like an “old hand”. I knew we would learn a lot about the issues; I knew the speakers would motivate and inspire us; I expected to greet old associates and make some new ones; I looked forward to the opportunity to learn and practice my skills in advocacy on Capital Hill.

And all of that was true—and there were some surprises.

When I arrived at the registration table, I learned that we had appointments with NJ Senator Robert Menendez and Representative Donald Payne but no one had been able to confirm an appointment with Senator Lautenberg. I offered to call and (after getting an idea of what to say and making two calls) was rewarded with an appointment!

At dinner time I scanned the room for other Hunger Action Enablers and found some. (Advocacy is one of the five program areas of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and HAEs can be counted on to turn out for these events.) And I was so pleased to see Clint McCoy (what a great example!) and some other folks from the Synod of the Northeast who had been at the Stony Point conference on “Doing Theology and Ethics in the Context of Globalization, Migration, and Sustainability,”

The Reverend Dr. Mark Lomax, Pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, was the preacher for the opening worship. He inspired us (and proved that not all Presbyterians are frozen chosen) by connecting the story from Daniel 3 to the current political situation. (In the story King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue and insists that everyone bow down—which they all do except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who stand up and survive the fiery furnace.)

After workshops in the various tracks on Saturday, on Sunday we turned to the practical issues of how to advocate and broke up into our state groups to get ready for our trip to Capital Hill on Monday. The best surprise was meeting the Reverend Keith Rae, a United Methodist minister who works on Africa for the National Council of Churches. I knew him from my seminary fieldwork in East Orange. We decided to focus on issues in Africa when we went on our visits. Not only was legislation going to markup on Wednesday; but both of our Senators were on the committee where this would happen and Representative Payne chairs the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on the Committee for Foreign Affairs.

For all of the interesting workshops, inspiring speakers, and visits to Capital Hill, there is one thing that stands out: a conversation I had with one of the men as we talked on the train going back to Newark. He remarked that there weren’t many “people like him”—lay persons who were not there because of their jobs in the church or other organizations. As soon as he said it, I realized it was true and decided to make it a priority to personally recruit folks for next year’s conference. Our pews are filled with wonderful, faithful, dedicated people. They need to be there—you need to be there.

Mark your calendar now: March 13-16, 2009.

For more inspiration, read the reflections of Elaine Newby--one of the people like my friend on the train.

Trinity, Monmouth Presbytery, and Greenfaith

GreenFaith,

in collaboration with Monmouth Presbytery, presents a
Creation Care Conference
Saturday, March 29, 2008
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Trinity Presbyterian Church,
367 Cranbury Road East Brunswick, NJ

For all ages--invite family and friends!

GreenFaith speakers will offer numerous workshops
Crafts and special workshops for children
Information tables from Environmental Organizations

Continental Breakfast About the photo
Light Lunch provided by Trinity Presbyterian Church���s Women at the Well

There is no cost for this event; however it would be helpful if you registered ahead
To register Email: tesattpc@yahoo.com

Lenten Series - Wednesdays at Noon - Just Eating

Wednesdays February 6, 13, 20, 27 and March 6 and12
noon to 1 p.m. at the Presbytery Center, Tennent, NJ

Special for Lent—our Hunger Action Program offers an innovative Lenten Series that explores the way we eat and live. Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table aims to bring into dialog daily eating habits, the Christian faith, and the needs of the broader world through readings, action steps, and healthy eating tips. The title is a reminder that we can eat as an everyday activity or we can eat justly and explore the relationship between our food and our faith.

The curriculum will take us on a journey from the table of the Lord to the table of the world that will challenge, encourage, and enrich all who participate. Scripture, prayer, and stories from the local and global community are used to explore five key aspects of our relationship with food:

• the health of our bodies;

• the challenge of hunger;

• the health of the earth that provides our food;

• the ways we use food to extend hospitality and enrich relationships;

• the opportunities for action, renewal, and transformation in our eating practices—as individuals and as faith communities.

Please register by phone at 201-910-7047 or email phylliszoon@gmail.com. A copy of the curriculum can be picked up at the Presbytery Center.