“Give us this day our daily bread”

Will you go to bed hungry tonight not knowing if you will eat tomorrow? If so, you may be food insecure. At its most basic definition – food insecurity means struggling to put food on the table at any point during the year. Fortunately, many of us in Canada don't worry about our next meal – it will be there. Yet around the world, millions will go to bed hungry tonight with no idea or hope about food for tomorrow.

In 1996, at the World Food Summit of the Food and Agriculture Organization, world leaders pledged and committed their support to halve the number of chronically undernourished people by 2015, calculated on a 1990-92 baseline figure of undernourished people in the world – 842 million. In other words, by 2015, the number would read 424 million.

How have we done? After a decade of steady decline in the numbers, there has been a dramatic setback. In 2007, the number of hungry people was 923 million[1]. That was even before the crisis of 2008 when food prices soared. It is estimated that by the end of 2008, the number of people not meeting their nutritional needs would reach 1.13 billion[2]. That is 1/6th (1 in every 6) of the global population. It seems obvious that we are heading the wrong way toward the goal of hunger reduction.

There appears to be a discrepancy between what could (should) be done and what is actually being done for the millions suffering from hunger. How can Christians engage in becoming part of the large scale social change required to bring about the desired goal of alleviating hunger?

Let's be clear – the task is large and will take a sustained effort of the global community. Nevertheless , I would like to suggest a small act as a first step – the ancient spiritual practice of fasting. Fasting is more than not eating; it is time of focus, prayer and preparation for action. Eugene Peterson, in The Message writes about the temptation of Christ with these words. “Jesus was taken into the wild… for the Test. The devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting for 40 days and 40 nights."

Martin Luther King said that fasting is a way to be “spiritually strengthened for non-violent action”. The one fasting is directing action against an evil [chronic hunger] in the faith that justice will prevail. A person fasting is willing to accept some degree of suffering for the cause of change. In 1968, Cesar Chavez fasted as a means to curb escalating violence as farm workers struggled to form a union to gain better living and working conditions. Chavez was a religious man and his fast took on an aura of ‘penance'. He voluntarily gave up privileges in order to show sorrow (confess wrong-doing) with the intent to change behavior.

As Christians living in an interconnected world where extreme poverty and affluence live side-by-side, we want to acknowledge our complicity with the systems that widen the gaps. I also believe we yearn for a balancing of resources so that everyone, everywhere can receive when they pray “give us this day our daily bread.”

MCC BC's theme focus in 2009 is on food security. Several staff members are fasting as a response to the injustice of hunger. They invite you to participate in this journey. Fasts will be individual acts, but together make a collective statement. Throughout the year, jot down some of your experiences and thoughts and send them to us at peace@mccbc.com

Be creative, individual fasts will differ – for some it may be a longer sustained time of not eating, others may forego food for a day per week, others might skip one meal per week and others may choose not to eat meat for a month. Still others might not give up any food, rather chose to purchase fairly –traded products, or locally grown products, or try recipes from around the world (Extending the Table cookbook). One could even ‘take on' an activity rather than ‘give up' something. Volunteer at a local food bank or read labels on the food items you purchase and take time to pray for all those that were involved in getting the product into your hands.

For resources and additional ideas, visit

http://www.endhungerfast.com/resources.aspx

http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0291e/i0291e00.htm

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib754/aib754b.pdf

“Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and …not to turn away” (Isaiah 58:6-7)

Jon Nofziger

Peace and Development Education