Bread for the Journey

Follow the link to watch a short story told at Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25th, 2011 as part of the Bread for the Journey dialogue series in worship.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling: Families in Texas are Struggling

(Note: reposted from Bread Blog)

My grandfather used to say, “It’s never as easy as it looks,” prompting me to rethink a problem or look at the big picture. This is good advice for families trying to make ends meet, and surely it is good advice for Congress as well. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is serving as co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or Super Committee) to look at ways to reduce our nation’s deficit. The Super Committee has much latitude and can make recommendations on anything. They could raise additional taxes; make more spending cuts; cut defense spending; let tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire; or make changes to anything else in the federal budget.

Ferrell Foster of Eustace, TX, who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas as associate director of Texas Baptists’ Advocacy/Care Center recently told me that, "the United States is not going to balance its budget by cutting the aid it provides for overseas hunger relief and poverty alleviation. These dollars are small potatoes for the U.S. budget, but they are vitally important to these international efforts. Many of these funds also have a positive impact back home in the American economy because they are often used to purchase American commodities and services.”

He also said, "Many of us are fiscal conservatives who believe that a government should live within its financial means. That conservatism, however, is mixed with a compassion for those who need help in lifting themselves out of poverty. George W. Bush called it ‘compassionate conservatism.’”

It would be easy to just make across-the-board cuts evenly across the budget so that all programs take the same size hit, but the budget is not only our blueprint for spending—it is a moral document that says who we are by what we pay for. Right now, 17.6 percent of households in Texas’s 5th congressional district struggled to put food on the table in 2010 (compared to 14.6 percent nation-wide). Also, more than one in seven people in the 5th district, including nearly one in four children (or almost 25 percent) live below the poverty line, which is $22,113 for a family of four.

We have a moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us. Join me in asking Rep. Hensarling to form a circle of protection around programs that help hungry and poor people in our district, throughout the country and around the world. Call Rep. Hensarling at 1-800-826-3688 .

Marco Grimaldo is a Bread for the World regional organizer who serves Texas.

Official photo of Rep. Jeb Hensarling.

Remembering César Chávez

“I undertook the fast because my heart was filled with grief and pain for the sufferings of farm workers. The fast was first for me and then for all of us in the union. It was a fast for nonviolence and a call to sacrifice.”—César Chávez, March 10, 1968

César Chávez was the president and founder of the United Farm Workers Union and persists as the iconic hero of Latinos in the United States. I knew him when I was a boy and later as a college student. He was already a legend and my hero when I served as his driver/companion for a week in 1988.

César fasted several times in his life—not just to call attention to suffering, but also to do penance and atone for his own failings and to show trust in God. I fasted for one day in 1988 when other students at Texas State took turns fasting to be in solidarity with César.

Today, I am fasting (day four) as a way to live out my faith and show my trust in God, whom I believe can and will end hunger in the world. Like César, I believe God will cure my heart and touch the hearts of others so that together we can call our nation to care for hungry and poor people.

Today is César Chávez Day in communities throughout the United States, and I am proud to pay homage to my hero by continuing my fast along with thousands of Bread for the World members and others. (visit Bread’s website to learn more).

Long before President Obama made these words popular, César taught us to proclaim, Sí se puede—yes, we can. And so I say to you, Sí se puede—with God’s help, we can end hunger.

A very special birthday...

I confess to being far too fond of the History Channel and sitting home with the flu makes the T.V. all the more my friend. All week the History Channel has reminded me that Feb. 6th would be the 100th birthday of Ronald Regan. This is something that I would just as soon not give a second thought to, but for the lives of two important people that so shaped who I am today. My father, Pedro Grimaldo and my great aunt Amanda Villanueva Hernandez, both of who passed away some years ago and also shared Feb. 6th as their birthday.

Amanda and her sister Timotea, along with my grandmother Isabel were my caretakers throughout my childhood while my parents worked. However poor we were, I certainly didn't know it. I had every thing I ever wanted just for the asking - fresh pealed fruit, Mexican pastries, tortillas (corn and flour) made daily. Amanda was the youngest of three and in some ways, possibly the strongest. I always knew that in a jam, even in trouble with my parents, I could count on her to save me and stand between me and anything bad. As I grew older I realized that she was not especially nice to others, maybe even unyielding and sometimes mean. When my grandmother married into the family Amanda was jealous of her older brother and made things difficult for them but as I learned of this, I realized that I knew why. For Amanda it was all about loyalty and no one would stand between her and whomever she loved. I thank God that my grandmother Isabel was perhaps stronger still than Amanda because that left me with a legacy of strong, powerfully loyal women to guide my life. I can't imagine a more firm foundation.

My father would be 70 this year and I miss him very much. He was fun and often silly when he was with family. Now I try to be silly enough for my nephews and nieces so that they will know a little of Grandpa Pete.

As a kid, I always wished dad were home more. He had directed a United Methodist Community Center and at one point a large community action agency in south Texas. As I grew older I spent more time with dad at his job and saw what he was doing and why it mattered so much to him. Once I was on my own, he would occasionally try to rope me into one initiative or another or to get my help with a grant proposal he was preparing. He saw things in me that I didn't see in myself.

Dad was shaped powerfully by his grandfather and he made sure that I had the same experience with my grandparents. I can never thank him enough for this. He wanted me to learn from my mom's dad (also named Pedro)about hard work and protecting family at all costs. My father's parents were divorced and he was raised by his aunt and uncle Guadalupe and Jose Angel Hernandez, a Presbyterian minister. Dad was always somewhat undisciplined but he wanted me to learn from his parents what he lacked and so my sister and I spent more time that we might have chosen for ourselves, with our grandparents in Austin. On the other hand, I am still a Presbyterian and although it has been years since I was ordained to serve as an elder, I still try to honor my vows and serve God as best I can.

Service to others, loyalty, strength in the face of poverty and difficulties, love, honor and respect are among the things that I learned from my father, Pedro Grimaldo and my aunt, Amanda Villanueva Hernandez. May God bless them both.

We Are Marching...

This Sunday thousands of us - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer people will once again march on Washington and Queer people of faith will meet, worship and rally together - all in support of justice and equality,

I won't be able to join them because I will be preaching two Sunday morning services at an Episcopal church in Maryland where the pastor and congregation are committed to doing more for hungry people. I consider myself lucky that this small church called on a Queer Latino to deliver their message and that in some small way my service will stand as testimony to the day-to-day witness of queer Christians like myself who make it a priority to follow the Gospel mandate of service to others.

I shared some of these thoughts with a close colleague and friend who smiled and reminded me how great it is that we get paid to do this work of being our true selves in service to Jesus the Christ. Yes, this is the point where you the reader decide if I am just too sappy for words. If instead you see things as I do, then I urge you to do as I do. Take a stand on Sunday and be wholly your Holy-self. Be the wonderful, blessed person that God created you to be and be of Good Service to the world.

Peace be with you,

Marco A. Grimaldo

LOGOS: Anuncio de Prensa - Pan para el Mundo

LOGOS: Anuncio de Prensa - Pan para el Mundo

Anuncio de Prensa - Pan para el Mundo

Pan para el Mundo exhorta a legisladores hispanos

a apoyar la nueva Ley de Asistencia Internacional

Washington, DC, Julio 23, 2009– El día de hoy, Pan para el Mundo pidió a Congresistas Latinos su apoyo para aprobar la Ley “Iniciando la Reforma de Asistencia Internacional 2009” (H.R. 2139). Hasta ahora, la iniciativa de ley tiene 83 patrocinadores, incluyendo algunos miembros del Caucus Hispano del Congreso.

“Los miembros del Caucus Hispano del Congreso pueden hacer una gran diferencia en el mundo apoyando un enfoque mas inteligente en torno a la asistencia internacional,” dijo el Reverendo Lee de León, miembro de la junta directiva de Pan para el Mundo y presidente de la corporación de desarrollo comunitario Templo Calvario, en California. “Latinos desde Los Ángeles hasta Miami están exhortando a nuestros Congresistas a que tomen un primer paso y endorsen la iniciativa de ley H.R. 2139.”

El presidente del comité de Asuntos Internacionales de la Cámara de Representantes, Howard Berman (D-CA) y el Representante Mark Kirk (R-IL) introdujeron en Abril el proyecto de ley con apoyo bipartidista H.R. 2139. La iniciativa le pide al Presidente Barack Obama que desarrolle e implemente una estrategia integral para estimular el desarrollo global, mejorar la evaluación de programas de desarrollo, e incrementar la transparencia de la asistencia internacional que provee Estados Unidos a países en desarrollo.

Los programas de desarrollo mundial de los Estados Unidos están diseñados para reducir la pobreza y el hambre en países pobres, por ejemplo en Nicaragua permite que Acción Medica Cristiana entrene a pequeños agricultores sobre mejores técnicas agrícolas. A pesar de que tales programas representan únicamente la mitad del 1 por ciento del presupuesto anual, Estados Unidos sigue siendo el principal contribuyente económico de la asistencia para el desarrollo en países pobres.

Actualmente, las políticas y programas de desarrollo global se encuentran diseminadas entre 12 gabinetes ministeriales, 25 agencias y 60 oficinas gubernamentales. La asistencia internacional de Estados Unidos se mantiene regida por una ley aprobada en 1961, durante la presidencia de John F. Kennedy.

“La comunidad Latina comprende lo que significa ayudar a nuestros vecinos, sin importar si viven en la casa de a lado, en otro estado, o en otro continente,” aseveró el Reverendo de León. “Nuestros ojos y corazones están abiertos a los cientos de millones de personas que se van dormir con hambre todas las noches. Nosotros tenemos que usar nuestra inteligencia y nuestras voces para brindarle a la gente trabajadora la oportunidad de alimentar a su familia, y de encontrar el camino para salir de la pobreza.”

###

Pan para el Mundo (www.bread.org) es una voz cristiana que colectivamente pide a los líderes de nuestra nación que eliminen el hambre en este país y alrededor del mundo.

Crass...tasteless...reprehensible

How dare they take in vain the names and images of individuals who were killed in the tragedy of 9/11. Tonight's Republican Convention featured a video of the Twin Towers on fire and falling, photos and fliers of people missing or lost, and tearful rescuers and families. I lived through 9/11 in Washington, DC while the man I loved was in New York City. Like so many others, we were cut off without phone service and I had no way of contacting him as he made his way to lend a hand a ground zero. Thank God that he was safe but along with so many New Yorkers, he will never forget that day and neither will I. How dare Republicans use these tragic images to gain hollow support for their candidate.

I want to be kept safe too. I dare say that there is no American that wants to see the kind of devastation happened on September 11, 2001. But I want to hear substance, a plan, not tearful remembrances. Not a year goes by that I don't say a prayer for those who lost their lives and their families on 9/11. This year will be no different, but the next President of the United States will have to show me more if he expects my vote.

Theologians prepare for E.T.

Square peg, round hole...

It is in the nature of journalists to dig for the story behind the obvious (read the article) and in the case of religion, they seem to like pitting religion against all of the great unknown quantities in the universe - literally. In recent months, there has been a focus on religion and politics, and not long ago it was religion and science concerning evolution. Now it seems religion is to go toe-to-toe with E.T.

It seems to me that what many journalists miss about Christianity is that it is more than just a rationalization for things we cannot understand. It is a fundamental framework for understanding and when unable to understand, appreciation of creation.

Pastor John Robinson around 1620 wrote, "That which is commonly called schism ariseth from the conceit of faith or want of love." "We seek enlightenment from others who see further into the matter, for we are always prepared to give way modestly to those who teach better things." (Admonitio ad Lectorem, preface to Robert Parker, De Politeia). Funny that he should have the answers to such curious questions of the future, so long ago.

Robison's sermon to pilgrims leaving for the new world is the inspiration for the hymn entitled We Limit Not the Truth of God by George Rawson (1807-1889).

We limit not the truth of God to our poor reach of mind --
By notions of our day and sect -- crude partial and confined
No, let a new and better hope within our hearts be stirred
For God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.

Who dares to bind to one's own sense the oracles of heaven
For all the nations, tongues, and climes and all the ages given?
That universe, how much unknown! that ocean unexplored
For God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.

Eternal God, Incarnate Word, Spirit of flame and dove,
enlarge expand all living souls to comprehend your love;
and help us all to seek your will with wiser powers conferred
O God, grant yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.

************

Christian Theologians Prepare for Extraterrestrial Life

By Brandon Keim 10 hours ago

Little green men might shock the secular public. But the Catholic Church would welcome them as brothers.

(http://www.wired.com/print/science/space/news/2008/06/alien_religion#)

That's what Vatican chief astronomer and papal science adviser Gabriel Funes explained in a recent article in L'Osservatore Romano, the newsletter of the Vatican Observatory (translated here). His conclusion might surprise nonbelievers. After all, isn't this the same church that imprisoned Galileo for saying that the Earth revolves around the sun? Doesn't the Bible say that God created man -- not little green men -- in his image?

Indeed, many observers assert that aliens would be bad for believers. Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research, once wrote that finding intelligent other-worldly life "will be inconsistent with the existence of God or at least organized religions." But such predictions tend to come from outside Christianity. From within, theologians have debated the implications of alien contact for centuries. And if one already believes in angels, no great leap of faith is required to accept the possibility of other extraterrestrial intelligences.

Since God created the universe, theologians say, he would have created aliens, too. And far from being weakened by contact, Christianity would adapt. Its doctrines would be interpreted anew, the aliens greeted with open -- and not necessarily Bible-bearing -- arms.

"The main question is, 'Would religion survive this contact?'" said NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, author of The Biological Universe. "Religion hasn't gone away after Copernican theory, after Darwin. They've found ways to adapt, and they'll find a way if this happens, too," Dick says.

The central conundrum posed to Christianity by alien contact would involve the Incarnation -- the arrival of Jesus Christ as God's representative on Earth, his crucifixion and the absolution of humanity's sins through his forgiveness.

"It would still be true -- but if there are other races and intelligences, then what is the meaning of this visit to our race at that time?" asked Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno, who in 2005 penned the booklet Intelligent Life in the Universe?

Some propose that the Earthly incarnation of Jesus some 2,000 years ago redeemed all intelligent creatures, in all places and -- since a space-faring race is likely older than us -- in all times. Others have suggested that Jesus could take multiple forms.

"Just as Jesus is human like you and I, you would find an alien-specific Jesus," said Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary professor Ted Peters.

But Peters and others also say that aliens may not have fallen into sin, instead existing in a state of grace, neither having nor needing Jesus. In that case, missionaries would have no call to convert them.

"Would sin be the same on another planet as we conceive of it here? Would there even be sin, or would God be present to that species in a completely different way?" says Richard Randolph, a Kansas City University ethicist.

All this, however, assumes that humanity not only encounters new forms of life but also understands them. Other intelligences may be incomprehensible to us, thus intensifying another doctrinal question: What does it mean to be made, as the Bible proclaims, in God's image?

Many astrotheologians argue that God's image refers to our spiritual nature, with our physical forms being irrelevant. Not everyone, however, agrees.

"If there are aliens, the Bible specifically does not say that they were created in his image," said Mark Conn, pastor of the Noble Hill Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri. "God created many other intelligent beings on this planet, and they were not created in His image."

Conn's church recently met to discuss the issues posed by extraterrestrial contact, ultimately deciding that "if they're there, they're there. It doesn't change a whole lot."

Unlike Peters, Conn suggested that missionary work may be required, something the aliens may not welcome -- especially if, as many postulate, they are technologically superior to humanity and do not have religions of their own.

"Maybe they'll say that they used to need religion but have outgrown it. Some people say that would be a great blow to religion, because if an advanced civilization doesn't need it, why do we?" said Douglas Vakoch, director of interstellar message composition at SETI.

"I don't buy it, though. I think religion meets very human needs, and unless extraterrestrials can provide a replacement for it, I don't think religion is going to go away," he continued. "And if there are incredibly advanced civilizations with a belief in God, I don't think Richard Dawkins will start believing."

Of Duty and Integrity

Daily Kos reports that Congressman Dennis Kucinich yesterday offered a resolution to impeach George W. Bush. It was an important effort to document the many charges and concerns that Americans have about the integrity of President George W. Bush. While the resolution itself is unlikely to have much affect on the conduct of the President, it will remain as a record of the legitimate concerns, some under investigation by other means, that warrant attention from Congress and the American people.

Moments like these should be recorded and remembered for their value to future generations of citizens. It is instructive to recall the words and actions of Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez, who in 1991 introduced H520-21, a resolution Impeaching George Herbert Walker Bush, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Representative Gonzalez considered the introduction of this resolution to be nothing less than his sacred duty to the people of the United States and in support of his oath of office wherein he swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. Gonzalez charged that the President violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution by committing a military force, disproportionately comprised of “poor white, black, and Mexican-American or Hispanic-American” people to war."

Article II charged that the President bribed, intimidated and threatened member states of the U. N. Security Council to support war against Iraq and cited payments, loans, debt forgiveness and threats to withhold aid, as examples of U.S. manipulation of a United Nations process.

Article III charged that the President conspired to war against Iraq employing the use of weapons of mass destruction that would take the lives of tens of thousands of civilians.

Article IV states that the President “embarked on a course of action that systematically eliminated every option for peaceful resolution of the Persian Gulf crisis.”

Finally, Article V charged that the President (George H.W. Bush) “conspired to commit crimes against the peace by leading the United States into aggressive war against Iraq, in violation of article 24 of the U.N. Charter, the Nuremberg Charter, other international instruments and treaties, and the Constitution of the United States.”

Congressman Gonzalez concluded his remarks that day, calling for an opportunity to argue the case before the appropriate committee and in an appropriate manner for the members to decide in their own judgment. He argued that day, as Congressman Kucinich did yesterday, for the rule of law and the preservation of the Constitution of the United States. He argued not out of vanity or for want of power, but for the sake of duty and integrity.