 from
the Minister & President
Vote to End Hunger and
Poverty
In Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts
there is an exhibition of Japanese silk screens. One large
screen depicts a Japanese holy man sitting rather awkwardly,
the wrong-way-round on a donkey. The donkey is carrying the
holy man into the center of the empire, to which the Emperor
has recalled him. But the holy man is not looking toward the
empire. Instead, his gaze rests upon the mountain on which
he has lived and where he has encountered the divine. Now,
although he travels into the urban center of the empire, that
mountain remains his polestar, his guiding principle, his
heart, and his home. Although a secular citizen of a secular
empire, the holy man is guided by what he has experienced
of the sacred and the divine.
| What
You Can Do
This year the MACUCC has a unique opportunity to send
a call for presidential leadership to end family homelessness
in the United States. With the Democratic National Conven-tion
in its own backyard, more people are becoming aware
of these issues and the importance of voting for candidates
who will address the crisis of hunger and poverty.
MACUCC congregations have several options to participate
constructively in the political process:
•holding a voter registration drive (regional
training on voter registration and turnout is available
– see www.ucc.org)
•volunteering
for a phone bank
•driving
people to the polls on election day •canvassing
neighborhoods and distributing educational materials
•learning
more about the Section 8 housing voucher program and
sending a message to the presidential candidate urging
their leadership on this issue
•holding Bible studies, forums or prayer vigils
in the church and the community so people can meet and
discuss how their values speak to the issues in the
upcoming local, state and national elections •Donate
to the UCC’s “Our Faith Our Vote Campaign”
|
This
strikes me as a provocative image for Christians in an election
season. Whether you have a preference for a donkey, or whether
you are more comfortable astride an elephant, the principle
is the same. Although we are deeply ensconced in the empire,
we share the holy man’s determination to be guided by
what we know of our God.
What, then, do we know of God? Certainly, one place to start
is with the story of Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke
4.) Jesus is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads
that God has sent him to proclaim good news to the poor and
to set at liberty those who are oppressed. It is with these
words that Jesus begins his public ministry. He opens a window
and allows us to glimpse the size and quality of God’s
heart and the measure of God’s justice. Here, then,
is our polestar, our guiding principle, our heart and home.
Anyone who keeps up with the news is keenly and painfully
aware that there are two Americas: the America of the haves
and have mores, and a second America: an increasingly desperate
America – inhabited by those who do not even have enough.
In the words of one scholar, we are the poorest rich nation
in the world.
All of that is true and bad enough. But then there is this:
to fail to side with the poor, to fail to take up their cause,
is by default to side with the rich against the poor. It is
for this
reason that the Massachusetts Conference and Old South Church
in Boston entered into partnership with the National Council
of Churches, Bread for the World, the Center for Community
Change, the Alliance to End Hunger, Dunk the Vote, and numerous
other faith-based and community organizations to focus our
nation’s political attention on hunger and poverty.
Our Let Justice Roll service and rally, in conjunction with
voter registration efforts (see
article), is part of a nationwide non-partisan effort to lift
our voices and leverage our power on behalf of those to whom
Jesus came to bring good news. I hope you and your church
will join us. For information on the United Church of Christ
voter registration program visit www.ourfaithourvote.org.
As we approach Election Day – whether astride an elephant
or a donkey – let’s try sitting the wrong-way-round
with our eyes and ears, our hearts and souls, trained on what
we know of the size and quality of God’s heart and the
measure of God’s justice.
Then, by the grace and power of God, may "justice roll
down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." (Amos 5:24)
For
more information on this political effort to help restore
hope and retire hunger, visit these websites:
www.ucc.org
National Council of Churches
www.ncccusa.org
One Family, Inc.
www.onefamilyinc.org
Alliance to End Hunger
www.alliancetoendhunger.org
Center for Community Change
www.communitychange.org
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