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.

Five Things You Don't Know About the Big Game

Here's an eye-opening consideration of some numbers associated with the Super Bowl - and how they stack up to some other things going on in the US.

Don't lose heart

Last Tuesday evening I attended an event sponsored by HRDC at the Emerson Center. The event was centered around the screening of a documentary produced by HBO called "American Winter."

The documentary follows eight families in the Portland, OR area who find themselves homeless because of unemployment, health issues with loved ones, low pay, and lack of available social services.

Frankly, it was easy to lose heart watching the families lose their homes, their jobs, and their sanity.

It didn't seem fair to see honest, hardworking people like you and me end up suddenly without shelter, food, electricity, water, and security.

Our gospel reading for this coming Sunday, October 20th is Luke 18:1-8

18"  Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Luke 18:1

After feeling helpless halfway through the film, I began to feel hope and not lose heart. Up on the big screen in the Emerson Center were churches in the greater Portland area, including First Immanuel Lutheran Church, opening their doors and their hearts to families in need. I saw church members staff food pantries and overnight shelters. I saw church members display compassion to the families depicted in the documentary with mercy and tenderness. I saw church members living out their calling as disciples of Jesus Christ, loving God and loving the neighbor in need. And then it dawned on me, we do the same for the homeless here in Bozeman.

Christ the King, in its Rooted in Faith, Growing in Giving capital campaign over the past two years, has given over $1000 to the HRDC to address homelessness and hunger in Bozeman. Our dollars support the warming center and the transitional housing unit. Our dollars and volunteer hours help keep the doors of the Bozeman Community Café open 365 days a year, to feed hungry neighbors in need.

Christ the King participates as a partner church in Family Promise of the Gallatin Valley. Four weeks out of the year we house homeless families on campus with safe and comfortable shelter, so families can concentrate on the hard task of finding work and permanent housing.

Losing heart and despairing are common themes in the Bible. All you have to do is read some of the psalms to hear deep songs of lament. But you will also find in the Bible stories of hope and compassion, rooted in the love of God as expressed by God's Son Jesus Christ.

"American Winter" does not have to be the predominate season in Bozeman, or the world for that matter.

 

A thousand thank yous!

Last Sunday during the "Blessed to be a Blessing" distribution of funds, Dawn Byrd made an appeal to join her in supporting and volunteering at the Bozeman Community Café. The café serves a hot meal every evening to residents of Gallatin County who are in need of food assistance. Christ the King serves dinner at the café on the first Sunday of the month. Our next host date is May 5, 2013.

Dawn informed me this morning that she received $900 from nine households of the congregation.
Dawn's contribution plus the $900 received adds up to $1000.

A thousand thank yous goes out to the ten households who decided to give their "Blessed to be a Blessing" 100 dollar bill to Bozeman Community Café.

Many of you who gave have volunteered at the café before. Half of you who gave are new volunteers.

Your gift of money plus volunteer hours will help Christ the King stand in partnership with the Gallatin Valley Food Bank in addressing hunger here in the Gallatin Valley.

A new way to address hunger

On Sunday, May 6th a group of volunteers from Christ the King served dinner to sixty-one people at Bozeman Community Café, a cooperative hunger program run by Gallatin Valley Food Bank and area churches. The café is located in the old Frontier Pies Restaurant on North 7th in Bozeman. Customers are greeted at the door by a host. Once seated they are greeted by a server, who takes their beverage order and informs them of the meal choices available that evening. On Sunday, May 6th you could choose from beef stew, chicken pasta primavera, and hot dog with baked beans. Once the order was taken by the server, the “scoopers” promptly plated the meal requested. As one customer said, “Hey, this is faster than fast food!” Christ the King has been active in collecting canned and non perishable food items for the food bank. Every first Sunday of the month we collect a special offering to benefit the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. Community Cafe is a new opportunity to help us address hunger here in the Gallatin Valley. It puts a face on hunger. I invite you to visit the Community Cafe any evening of the week from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. to experience the ministry that is happening in our midst. Hungery people are being fed. Caring Christians and members of the community are responding to the overwhelming need in our area with gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Christ the King is scheduled to serve at Bozeman Community Café on Sunday, June 3rd from 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. If you are interested in volunteering, please see Pastor Grant

Cereal drive update

Our stack keeps growing and growing

As of September 20th we have 139 boxes/bags of cereal collected.
Our goal by the end of the month is to have 300 boxes/bags of cereal collected for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.

Thank you for the on going support of this effort to help hungry people in Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley.

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.

Hungry people are fed

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.
Psalm 107:1-9

Ron Hanson, our master gardener here at Christ the King informed me this morning that he had harvested giant peas and string beans for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.
If you are interested in helping Ron with the garden, please contact him. I know he would appreciate the help, especially now that produce is ready for harvest.
Praise the Lord! For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.

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.”

Bring Soup to Worship on Sunday!

This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, but it's also the SOUPER BOWL OF CARING! The Family & Youth ministry of CtK encourages EVERYONE to bring a can of soup (or several!) with them to worship this week - the goal is to collect 300 cans of soup and $300 in the "soup pot offering" for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank!
Middle School and High School youth will be participating in a lock-in and famine from Friday-Saturday, going 30 hours without food to learn about what it's like to go hungry. There will be games, guest speakers, Bible study, worship, hunger awareness activities and lots of water for drinking! The event concludes with a potluck feast to break the fast at 6pm on Saturday. All are welcome to join in for dinner - just bring a dish to share.
And please be sure to pray for the youth and adults participating in the famine - ask them about their experience on Sunday!

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.

Souper Bowl of Caring

This weekend is the Super Bowl. It's also time for the Souper Bowl of Caring. Here at CtK we'll be collecting a special offering - not just the usual offering for World Hunger in fast food cups, but a Souper Bowl offering collected in soup pots. The money will be used by the youth of the congregation to purchase food for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.
So empty your piggy bank and let's make some noise!


We'll also make a Super Tower of Soup! So bring a can (or three) of your favorite soup for the food bank!