I started reading a book tonight called, “Ending Hunger Now” Well…its now 3am in the morning (which…a book has to be pretty good for me to stay up this late) and I just finished it. I really recommend this.
The book is filled with a lot of statistics and facts. Hard facts about hunger that I did not realize. I was going to flip through the pages I earmarked and highlighted so I could post some quotes, but there are just too many good things to chose from. I think that the authors are definitely stretching it with some of their ideas and conclusions, but the concept is great…that it is very possible to cut world hunger in half within the next decade.
I am so tempted to type out a bunch of horrific statistics right now…but we have heard them before. At some point in the book, one of the authors quoted an African woman who says, “Statistic are numbers without tears.”
Hunger is becoming a buzzword in our Christian culture. Caring about famine and disease in Africa, China, and India is becoming very popular. We quote the statistics and discuss global justice. Phrases like “human rights” and “global justice” are being tossed around in our vocabulary. However, ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, I wonder if there will be change? I wonder if our hearts and minds are really grasping this tragic world-crisis and if we are willing to meet this great need.
This book was written for churches to go through as a study and discussion guide. The title sums up the main idea of the book…there is enough food in the world to end hunger now. Accepting that fact really means a life-change for many Americans. If that is the truth, then something drastic has to change for the middle-class and wealthy American. We can’t blame it on God for allowing drought and famine and natural disasters. Famine only accounts for 3% of reasons why people are starving. We can only blame it our disobedience to God. On our sin.
I really want to resist the concept of caring about the poor for popularity and trend sake and really be moved with compassion and move in action toward helping the poor out of a deep obedience to God and a deep understanding of his heart and motives. I am so glad that human rights and global justice is something that the younger generations seem to be talking a lot about, but talk is not going to put food in the stomachs of the hungry. Only action and obedience to what God has commanded us to do will begin to reduce the population of the 850 million people who are going to bed with very empty stomachs.
One of the frustrations I had with this book is that it focuses mainly on policy change and little on how the church can really make a dent in reducing the number of the hungry. I would have liked to have read more practical ideas as to what the church can do as a body to reduce the large number of hungry, but at least it is a short/quick read that can get the community talking…I just hope the result of the talking leads to some sort of creative ideas and action.
What are your thoughts? Please comment… :)
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5 comments:
It's really strange thinking about how much food is probably in one square-mile here in our neighborhood. It's so hard for me to understand being hungry, and not being capable of satisfying myself. The concept is completely foreign to me; it's hard to grasp.
Dennae...
As always, a very thoughtful post, and one to get us all thinking. I think one of the problems the "Church" has had of late is that is has increasingly taken on the socio-political mindset of the "Conservative Right" and actually began to believe that it is the poor, starving peoples fault that they are poor and starving. I have actually heard people say, Christians say, that it is their own fault that they are poor and starving, because they don't hold their government's accountable, or because they are lazy. These American Christians actually quote the Bible and say..."well if you don't work, you don't eat!" I think that is problem number one, our mindset.
Problem number two, is our hearts are not set on the things God thinks are important.I am now reading "Waking the Dead" by John Eldridge. And he begins his book by saying that because of our day to day busyness and life, we lose our spiritual eyes. We lose sight of the fact that while we are here on Earth, we are in a War. He states that the reason Jesus came to Earth was to mount "THE" offensive of this spiritual war...and that satan realizes this, and he is so happy that we as the church blame humans for their plight and not him...once we as the Church wake up and see this fact, how can we let satan take to hell 100's of 1000's if not millions of souls that die from starvation, malaria, aids, contaminated water, ect and continue to say..."It's their own fault"...or "If you don't work, you don't eat?" I am sure thankful and truely humbled and grateful that God didn't say that in the Garden of Eden..."It's their own fault...didn't I tell them not to eat of that fruit? Why didn't Adam hold that woman accountable for what she did?"...Isn't this hauntingly like what we say about the world's poor? God didn't say these things, but as it says in Philippians 2:5-8...made Himself a servant. Is that our heart? Are we servants to the poor and starving of the world, as God made himself a servant for us?
Problem number three is our priorities. If our priorities were God's priorities, would we get all bothered when our pastor's tell us to tithe? It's a fact, if everyone who considers themselves "Chistian" actually gave 10% of their income (gross income since God gives it all to you, not the government) then the Church would have enough income to meet the needs of the worlds poor and starving. But where are our priorities? Are they in "Building Programs" or "Television Ministry" or "Childrens and Youth Ministries" or "Worship Team" and the list goes on and on...And I have heard all the excuses..."We need this multi-million dollar facility so we can effectively reach the community"...or how about this one, "We have to fund this television ministry so that the widows and housebound saints can ge the Word of God, and feel a part of the Body of Christ"...or this excuse I have personally voiced, "Without a vibrant childrens and youth ministry, the youth and children will walk away when they turn 18"...or how about this, "Without a professional sounding worship team with nall the sound equipment, how will we compete with what the "world" has to offer?" Lord forgive me for even thinking these things, let alone letting them come across my lips! I am thinking now that the Christ didn't have any of these so called "Ministries" and He and 12 other mere men changed the world...How did they do it you ask? They got up off their padded pews, and left their air conditioned 'temples' and actually went to where the needs were...and met them! Speaking words of life, and admonished the Saints to do the work of the ministry (meeting the needs of the orphans and widows as James 1:29 states) Why are we doing anything different now? Again Lord forgive me for not meeting the need as You enable me to...
I know it was long, but thanks for listening..;-)
Uncle Brent.
originally i was just gonna say hi... but when i read on i realized i had to comment on this statement alone....
“Statistic are numbers without tears.”
Its so true! How can you put a face to those numbers? How can you see the tears and the pain behind 80% or whatever numerical value you choose? We need to try a least a little harder to make a differance in the lives of the people we desire to impact. And maybe just maybe if we do that then we will see changes made. We need to realize that people are not only not just another number but they are as well not just another face to feed, set of tears to dry and wounds to help heal. Each one though sometimes similar are different and just as important as the next no matter how many more there are.
Well.. those are my thoughts... oh and this...
I LOVE AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!
A great man (Brad Pitt) once said in a great movie (fight club) that our great war is a spiritual one and our great depression is ourselves.
I'm not just trying to saound hip and yuppy... there is a very deep point behind what that whole monologue was about.
I think as a people (church, community, society, culture etc...) we try and push everything out of our reach. As if we cant change anything and life is just happening to us. The trth us we're happening to life and we push everything out of reach by lack of passion, desire, compassion and selflessness amongst many other human characteristics.
We choose our fate, our happiness our relationships and how active we are or aren't in a starving, broken world. The sooner we realize that we are our own great depression... our own worst enemy, and the war is not something outsde of us, then the sooner we might get up off our asses and do something for the rest of the world.
oh yeah, touche dennae, tou-freaking-che.
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