Guest Post - 40 Days of Giving and Epiphany Star Words

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving and Epiphany STAR Words: Discipleship

by Dawn Byrd

When I drew the star word DISCIPLESHIP out of the basket on the Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany (January 3), immediately I wanted to throw it back into the basket and draw something I was more familiar with, something easier to accomplish and fulfill! In fairness, I couldn’t really do that. It wasn’t meant to be something we are familiar with! I believe it was intended as an exercise to help each of us stretch out of our comfort zone (both here in our church life AND out in the community). So, I kept the word (it sits on my desk in the church office so that I can remember it every day!).

Discipleship n. . . . break it down to its origination – Middle English, from Old English discipul and from Old French disciple, both from Latin discipulus,  pupil, to learn – 1.) a. one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another; b. an active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy; 2.) often Disciple (with a Capital D) one of the original followers of Jesus; 3.) Disciple, a member of the Disciples of Christ.

But what does it mean to be a disciple? How does one practice discipleship? Clearly I’m not one of the original followers of Jesus, nor am I a member of the Disciples of Christ; however, I hope that I am one who embraces and helps spread the teachings of Jesus. Right? But how? I struggle with this daily.

So, a few Wednesdays ago, while doing the Lent in a Bag daily devotional from the ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving booklet, the Scripture reading for the day was John 13:35. I grabbed up my Kindle, opened up the HOLY BIBLE app (I like Eugene H. Peterson’s translation, The Message, as I find it easier to understand), and this is what I read:

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35.

That’s it! This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ! Love one another! That is so much easier to understand AND DO than any of the other definitions of disciple(ship) I had previously found . . . to follow in Christ’s footsteps. What does that mean? How do we follow in his footsteps?

Love one another is so much easier to do! Right?  Then I continued reading the day’s devotion:

“Please help us to live in your reflection, shining your love through us not only onto those who are near and dear and easy to love, but onto ALL of your precious and beloved people.”
OK, so it is not always going to be easy to love everyone, but I can certainly start by loving those around me. I can show love when I help serve meals at the Community Café, host during Family Promise, bake bread for communion, read scripture during worship, do the dishes after fellowship hour, just to name a few.

I believe I was meant to pull that word out of that basket . . .  perhaps God’s way of nudging me out of my comfort zone . . . to show love. To share food with the hungry, shelter the homeless, perhaps it is as simple as that.

Guest Post - Fasting for Hunger

This Lent, CtK joins thousands of other ELCA congregations in ELCA World Hunger's 40 Days of Giving. A daily devotional booklet, a piggy bank, and the challenge from CtK's 40 Days of Giving Team to give $0.25/day will help us learn about hunger issues, and make a difference in our world. Look for occasional guest posts from team members during this season!

Fasting for Hunger

February 29, 2016 - LEAP DAY!

by Barb Benson

Are you giving up something and fasting for Lent? …how about on February 29^th?

I sort of grimaced when Pastor Lindean asked me to write up something about fasting for our CtK blog. Given I am a registered dietitian, I would be expected to know something about fasting…and I do. Unfortunately, I did too much of it as a teenager in angst that it imprisoned me into an unhealthy binge/purge cycle.  After individual and group counseling and regular visits with a dietitian in my early college years, I am thankful that I learned to like my body and take better care of it. I also changed my major to nutrition and have not had the desire to fast or restrict my eating since then.

The word “fast” from the Unger’s Bible Dictionary means, in Hebrew, “to cover” (the mouth) and in Greek “to abstain.” Yet the purpose of “fasting” described in the Bible also has a spiritual component connected to it that goes far beyond restriction and dieting for the sake of self-sacrifice or the hope of cleansed living or temporary weight reduction.  Many of the Bible’s Greats like Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, and even Jesus, fasted as a way to draw closer to God, as it seems to be combined with prayer and often repentance. I’m told that fasting can help remind us of our dependence on God and his provisions- help fine-tune the senses to be more like-minded with our Creator.

We are given an extra day this year on February 29^th. The ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving is challenging us to consider fasting and instead of eating a meal or drinking a fancy coffee to spend that time with God and pass the money “saved” to someone in need. Collectively this could be a big “drop” into our piggy banks and not only make a difference in our World Hunger giving but time alone with God promises to have an even more profound impact on our living. That’s exciting!

Jeff and I have seen first-hand what “piggy bank” donations can do. Early in our marriage we returned to Jeff’s home in Tanzania and were Associates in Mission with ELCA Global Mission. Jeff worked for MSAADA that helped church-related projects design and build buildings such as hospitals, colleges, and churches. They designed a rural hospital cooking structure for families to use for providing food to sick family members. Actually- CtK's Sunday School donations helped fund that project! CtK also was a part of starting the “nutrition program” at that same hospital, to provide local and nutritious foods to malnourished children and microloans in the surrounding community. For under $1/day, “piggy bank” donations helped treat a malnourished toddler for a day in that hospital. God really does miraculous things with little offerings.

Will you join me in some sort of “fast” this leap year? Your fast will look different than mine. Could be you will fast from the technological feast we devour each day or the extra hours you spend at the office. Whatever you “give up”…may God and the amazing things he can do through us be our focus as we entrust our time, talent, and treasure back to him.

Guest Post - The Faces of Hunger

This Lent, CtK joins thousands of other ELCA congregations in ELCA World Hunger's 40 Days of Giving. A daily devotional booklet, a piggy bank, and the challenge from CtK's 40 Days of Giving Team to give $0.25/day will help us learn about hunger issues, and make a difference in our world. Look for occasional guest posts from team members during this season!

Faces of Hunger, by Jerry Johnson

The many faces of hunger are . . . emaciation, bloated bellies, stunted minds, helplessness, hopelessness, disease and death . . . a trackless wasteland . . . a vast emptiness . . .

About 34 years ago, shortly after I returned from an ALC (American Lutheran Church) hunger-justice study trip to Mexico and Nicaragua, I was sitting in a church council meeting in Whitefish, MT and one of the members said he was tired of hearing about hunger. As a new hunger advocate, I vigorously disagreed.

A few years later, in 1998, I wrote an essay where I quoted Martin Luther who said, "If you preach the gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching the Gospel." It was at that time that the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Reno, NV, began a once a month second offering with fast food cups to support the ELCA World Hunger Appeal against world hunger.

In 1999, when Margaret and I joined Christ the King Lutheran Church, we mentioned this way of collecting funds for World Hunger and CtK began using the fast food cups, also. Christ the King's "hunger" offering went from almost nothing to several thousand dollars a year for hunger relief, locally (Food Bank) and globally (ELCA World Hunger Appeal).

On the first Sunday of every month, when the ushers pass around the fast food cups for a second offering, it does two great things: 1) it helps educate people to curb obesity, and stave off diabetes and hypertension; and 2) it helps feed hungry  brothers and sisters and teaches them how to combat hunger, thus achieving dignity and life quality.

A couple of the Montana Synod congregations have adopted this same means of collecting special offering for ELCA World Hunger, but I must admit I haven't been able to get the churchwide organization to adopt this as a good way to increase hunger giving churchwide.

There are approximately four million members in the ELCA and the 2016 budget for hunger is 24 million dollars. This amounts to $6.00 a year per member, 50 cents a month or 1 3/4 cents a day. If every ELCA member gave a dime (10 cents) a day, it would add up to $3.00 a month and $44 million dollars a year. Can you imagine what could be done to alleviate world hunger with that?

I hate to say it, but in 10 years the average ELCA Lutheran has only increased hunger giving by 3/4 of a penny a day. We pray for God to help, but God uses our hands to do it! We don't give to pat ourselves on the back, but I thank you, thank you CtK for holding up our end of the bargain and also for taking on the 40 Days of Giving journey.

Guest Post - Jesus is our Power Supply for Faithfulness and Generosity

This Lent, CtK joins thousands of other ELCA congregations in ELCA World Hunger's 40 Days of Giving. A daily devotional booklet, a piggy bank, and the challenge from CtK's 40 Days of Giving Team to give $0.25/day will help us learn about hunger issues, and make a difference in our world. Look for occasional guest posts from team members during this season!

Power Supply
February 7, 2016

My computer crashed this weekend and perhaps in a causative yet reflective way, so did I.

How do I write an inspirational “devotion” addressing ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving for CtK’s website when I am swamped  trying to book tickets and Airbnb rentals for my daughter Natalie and my long-awaited trip to meet Jeff in Italy next month?   One night spent in a European hostel could feed an African village for at least a day!  Our wealth and opportunity in the face of world-wide poverty and oppression makes my “circuits” cross and shutdown.   Sorting out thoughts, feelings, and experiences with hunger and poverty, and more importantly rebooting myself to take action in helping alleviate it, is about as looming and complex for me as trying to understand the operation of my aged computer. Can’t we just fix it?

I am thankful for the insight and guidance of others - in particular to Joel and “the computer guy” who tell me that it’s possible my computer “just” has a power-supply issue; diagnose that and it could continue to still have a use in my life - cool!  Power-supply issue…hmmm, could this help explain my own “shut-down” lately when it comes to feeling like I have little purpose, reflected in even less effort , in helping end hunger and poverty?  “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord…”  The song we sang in worship today reminded me that Jesus is our never-failing Power Supply, who can plug hearts back into seeing, feeling, and caring for all of God’s children and their wellbeing.  I can’t fix poverty or feed the whole world, but connected to Jesus I can be useful in someone’s life in some way that can makes progress in doing so.  

Once again, I am thankful for the insight and guidance of others - in particular the ELCA World Hunger 40-day devotional book and adult forum studies/discussions that will happen during Lent in our families and church.  With our Power Supply issue diagnosed (like my computer, I hope), we can wake up to the invitation of participating in life-changing work and “refresh” our efforts in ending hunger and poverty here at home and overseas.

With you together on our 40 Days of Giving journey-

Barb Benson
CtK 40 Days of Giving Team

CROP Walk 2014

Want to help end hunger, in Bozeman and around the world? Participate in the annual Church World Service's CROP Walk. This year's CROP Walk is THIS Sunday, October 19th. Walkers collect pledges, in person or online, and then walk 10k, rain or shine!

Everything you need to register, or donate, can be found on the CROP website.

Many thanks to the CtK walkers and donors!

Pedal for Peas - LUNCH!

Tomorrow (Thursday, July 3) we are blessed to be able to be a blessing to the riders on the Pedal for Peas journey. From 11am-3pm or so, lunch will be served on CtK's lawn as riders complete their ride.
Want to come and help serve the food? Just show up!
Want to come and thank the riders? Just show up!
Want to come and administer ice packs? Just show up!
It will be a great time. Just show up!

Pedal for Peas

Cyclists from around the Montana Synod will be joining together for "Pedal for Peas" - a 160-mile bike ride to raise awareness of, and funds for, ELCA World Hunger ministries.
Two members of CtK will be riding, and we will be participating as a congregation by providing a staggered lunch for the riders after the last leg of their trip. We'll be offering lunch on Thursday, July 3rd, from 11:00am until 4:00pm.
Want to help? Contact the church office.
Want to donate? Put a check made out to "CtK," with "Pedal for Peas" in the memo line, in the offering plate this Sunday. Thanks!
Want more information on the whole thing? Check out this site (Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church in Helena).

Want to ride your bike with others? Join the new-ish CtK small group that gathers to ride for a couple of hours on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays each month. Meet in the CtK parking lot (bring your bike, helmet, water bottle, etc.) THIS SATURDAY, June 28th at 9:00am. The group will return about 11:00am.

Happy cycling!

Cereal drive update

Thanks for your generous response to the boxed cereal food drive for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank during the month of September.

As of today, September 13th, we’ve gathered eighty eight boxes and bags of cereal for the food bank.

Our goal is to collect 300 boxes and bags of cereal for 2011.

We collected 275 boxes and bags of cereal in 2010.

With your help, we can reach our goal.

To God be the glory!

Share the Harvest this coming Sunday

Share the bounty of your garden on Sunday, September 4th after worship.

We’ll have a green salad “starter’ present. Bring peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, peas, beans, and other tasty vegetables and fruits to share with your fellow members and friends of Christ the King.

Bring extra produce to put on a provided table to share.

If your household has a hard time putting food on the table, bring an empty sack and take home some of the bounty that will be present.

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His mercy endures forever!”

Our goal is 300 boxes

During the month of September Christ the King is holding its annual boxed cereal drive for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.

Last year we collected 275 boxes of cereal for hungry individuals and families living in the Gallatin Valley.

Let’s make it our goal to collect 300 boxes of cereal.

Take advantage of all the back to school sales at local grocery stores featuring boxed cereal.

Next week when I go grocery shopping for my family, I plan to pick up four boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. We’ll eat one at our house and the other three we plan to give to the cereal drive.

Together we can reach our goal of 300 boxes for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.

Thank you

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Matthew 25:35

Over the weekend I attended the Montana Synod Assembly in Great Falls, MT with Pastor Lindean, Jane Mangold, and John Sheppard from Christ the King.

Good news was shared with us and the other voting members and guests of the assembly that I want to pass on to you.

Christ the King ranked third in our regional church body (Montana Synod) for being generous in our gifts towards the Evangelical Lutheran Church Hunger Appeal for 2010. And we were less than $500 from being the number one ranked congregation.

What makes this news even more remarkable is that we gave the greatest amount of gifts for a congregation of our size.

You are making a difference here in the Gallatin Valley and across the globe.

In the name of our Lord Jesus I say, “thank you.”

Despair at the gym

Why do we obsess about this woman?

I was working out The Ridge, a Bozeman athletic club, on Friday morning.
In front of the treadmills, stationary bikes, and elliptical trainers are a number of very large flat screen televisions. Two of them are always tuned to Sports Center. One is usually tuned to a local station. Another one broadcasts re-runs of popular cable shows. One television is dedicated to the entertainment channel E!
That television is usually right in front of my favorite elliptical trainer, the third one from the left in the back row.

At the time I was doing my workout, between 8:45 a.m.-10:15 a.m. E! was broadcasting a report about the recent arrest of Paris Hilton in Las Vegas. She was charged with drug possession, a minor charge if she didn’t have a prior criminal record. Unfortunately she does have a record, so it’s big entertainment news.

The report continued with countless portrayals of Ms. Hilton at parties, gatherings, celebrity functions, and the like.

Ms. Hilton appears to enjoy the spot light, no matter how harshly it shines upon her.

My question to the E! Channel and to my fellow television viewers is “Why do we obsess about this woman?” There is hunger in the world. Countless men, women, and children are dying for lack of food, clean water, and sustainable shelter. Who gives a rip what Paris Hilton is up to these days?

Throughout much of my workout I was in great despair.

Then I came to work at Christ the King.

In the social hall, against the north wall by the kitchen entrance, there is a table set up for Gallatin Valley Food Bank. During August and September Christ the King collects boxes and bags of cereal for the food bank. Our goal is three hundred boxes collected by the end of September.

Fifty boxes sat on the table, waiting to be brought to the food bank. Fifty boxes had been collected and distributed.

We are a third of the way to our goal!

I am glad to know there are people in the world who worry more about their hungry neighbors near and far, than the troubles of a misguided celebrity.

One in Eight

It was reported in the Wall Street Journal today (February 3rd, 2010) that one in eight Americans has turned to local food banks to meet daily nutritional needs.
One in eight. That means almost 4900 of our fellow citizens here in Bozeman turn to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank to ward off hunger. Lord, have mercy!
What can we do about it?
During the month of February, Christ the King will attempt to reach the goal of collecting 300 cans of soup for the Gallatin County Food Bank.
This coming Friday I will receive my paycheck from Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. I will tithe ten percent of the earnings towards hunger issues. I plan to go to Costco over the weekend and pick up a couple of cases of soup and chili.
Our house has plenty of food. We frankly have an embarrassment of riches in our cupboards. According to the statistics I just quoted, as well as word on the street, there are hungry people in our community who need our help.
When you shop for groceries this month, pick up a can of soup. Pick up a case of soup! With enough members and friends participating, we can meet our goal of addressing hunger here in Montana.
When we reach our goal, I’ll let you know.

Rising to the Challenge

We are close. We are SO close.

Every August-September Christ the King collects boxes of cereal to help hungry people who visit the Gallatin County Food Bank.

Last year we collected 200 boxes within two months.

This year we are SO close in meeting that total, and exceeding it.

Last year, Christ the King gave over $5800 to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
As of August 31,2009 we have collected over $4800. We are within $1000 of matching last year's total. I am confident we can surpass it.

You as a congregation have been so generous in your gifts of food and money to support hunger programs both here in Bozeman and globally.

Friends, we are SO close. Keep up the good work, for the sake of the hungry in our midst.