Session 2 Toolkit
Session 2:
Download this week's toolkit [PDF]
Focus: God and Justice
The God of Justice is active:
- To hear what our traditions say about Yahweh, Allah, God, and Justice.
- To know that God is passionate about Justice and Mercy.
- To remember that the care of the most vulnerable in society is deeply rooted in God’s Law and Wisdom.
HUNGER IS PROPHETIC PRESENCE TO SOMETHING SERIOUSLY OUT OF BALANCE IN OUR COMMUNITY/ SOCIETY. GOD’S CREATIVE POWER TO UNSETTLE, MOVE, UNITE AND RESTORE IS ACTIVE. A PROPHET IS IN OUR MIDST. (See ‘The Facts on Hunger’ tab)
Wondering what YOU can DO about hunger in our region?
- Read Harriet’s story
- Increase your walking every day… count those steps, and ready your sneakers.
- As a community, make and share a soup meal (see recipes tab). Set aside what you’ve saved in making this meal to donate to the hunger relief organization of your choice. Count your blessings AND your savings! (see recipe section: Week 2)
Point of Reflection
Bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator, Jim Wallis, suggests that there are two present hungers in our world.
• A hope and a hunger for Spirituality
• A hope and hunger for Social Justice
These two hopes/hungers fuel our learning and thus our actions regarding our City’s current hunger crisis.There is no concept in Holy Scriptures so central to all relationships of human life as that of Justice. What does your faith tradition say about Social Justice as it relates to hunger and the conditions that foster it? Do you know what other traditions say?
The Message of the Prophets: Share Your Bread with the Hungry
Adapted from Bread for the World’s Biblical Justice statement, a Christian perspective
Amos 5:21-24. Amos was one of the strongest prophets in calling the people back to the way of justice. Israel was at the height of her economic and political power when God sent the poor shepherd Amos to call the people of Israel to repentance. When there is not justice, life is barren and worship of God is a sham.
This is brought to attention in the Quran, Sura 107.
Sura-107 Charity Al-Ma’un/Small Kindnesses/Neighborly Needs
- Have you considered him who calls the judgment a lie?
- That is the one who treats the orphan with harshness,
- And does not urge (others) to feed the poor.
- So woe to the praying ones,
- Who are unmindful of their prayers,
- Who do (good) to be seen,
- And withhold the necessities of life.
What does Yahweh/Allah require of us?
Micah 6:8 (Hebrew Scriptures)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you? But to:
Do Justice
Love kindness and
Walk humbly with your God
Do Justice… Love kindness and walk humbly with your God. God writes over and over again in our hearts and in our minds that we are to Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with God, and with each other.
The Holy Scriptures does not give us a 10-point plan for how to solve this problem of hunger. Rather, the scriptures give us the vision: Shalom/Peace. Peace and Justice in community.
Holy texts give us the inspiration to get about the creative work of repair
In relationship
with kindness
through Faith
Meditations before Soup Supper
5th Mindfulness Training
By Thich Nhat Hahn "The 14 Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing"
Aware that true happiness is rooted in peace, solidarity, freedom and compassion, and not in wealth and fame, we are determined not to take as the aim of our life, profit, wealth or sensual pleasure, not to accumulate wealth while millions are hungry and dying. We are committed to living simply, and sharing our time, energy, and material resources with those in need. We will practice mindful consuming, not using alcohol, drugs, or any other products that bring toxins into our own and the collective body and consciousness.
From Martin Luther King, Jr.
“When our days become dreary
with low-hovering clouds of despair,
and when our nights become darker
than a thousand midnights, let us remember
that there is a creative force in this universe,
working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil,
a power that is able to make a way out of no way
and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long
but it bends toward justice.”
Gracious God, Help us to love these three things… Justice, Kindness and You.
Justice, Kindness and You. Justice, Kindness and You. Help us to see and know
these things, and to do them as best we can. Amen.
Suggested Recipe