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Are you hungry? For what are you hungry? Breakfast? Lunch? Or something completely different?
In our gospel text this week (from Mark 10), at least three different kinds of hunger are on display: hunger for understanding, hunger for recognition, and hunger for healing.
Perhaps you hunger for those as well? Or perhaps you hunger for liberation or justice or reconciliation or wholeness?
Then again, maybe you are just plain ol’ hungry. Maybe you don’t have enough to eat. Tragically, not having enough to eat is the reality for millions of people in the United States and around the globe.
Here in the USA, for instance, nearly 22 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch at school — including almost 50% of the children in Woodridge’s District 68! However, nationally, only 3.7 million of those children receive food assistance in the summer. Meaning more than 18 million children are even more hungry during the summer.
Worldwide, almost half of all child deaths are caused by malnutrition. Yet, malnourished children who do survive remain at high risk of irreversible stunting, affecting their physical, mental, and emotional growth and development.
We know that hungry children are not what God wants for the world. How might we go about making things better? This Lenten season we here at Woodridge UMC are striving to more directly connect our worship to our calling to transform the world. We call this effort: Hands on Lent and Beyond.
Each week during Lent (and for some weeks after Lent) we’ll offer a tangible way to make the world better for hungry and hurting neighbors. For the next two weeks, Hands on Lent and Beyond will be an Offering of Letters.
Offering of Letters is using our voice by asking our Congress Persons to fund proven programs that feed hungry children. This Sunday, March 8th focuses on the global crises of malnourished children. Time, space, and resources for writing letters will be provided. But if you want to work ahead, see below for the sample letters. If you are unsure who your U.S. Representative is, please check here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/IL#representatives
Remember, handwritten letters make the most impact!
Pastor Dave will get all this started this Sunday with his sermon, “Hungry for More.” Then, as a continuation of our worship, we can all participate in affecting positive change in the world through Hands on Lent and Beyond.
All are welcome!
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