Lenten Meditations

Meditation for Friday, March 19, 2010

Isaiah 2:4

Compassionate God,

you have fed us with the bread of heaven.

Sustain us in our Lenten pilgrimage:

may our fasting be hunger for justice;

our alms, a making of peace;

and our prayer, the song of grateful hearts,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more.  ~ Isaiah 2:4

As a guest in a small village in rural Haiti, I was served chicken drumsticks that had been quick frozen in the USA and shipped to Haiti.  I was totally shocked.   It was cheaper for Haitians to buy this imported chicken than to buy chicken from the local farmer.  Why?  US citizens prefer boneless, skinless chicken breast.  The glut of extra dark meat finds it market in places like Haiti where chicken farmers consequently have lost their market.  Who would think that to buy a whole chicken could contribute to peace in a world where others have the opportunity to earn their own living!

My alms, which by dictionary definition is to give freely to relieve the poor, takes on a different look in this scenario.   A meal given to a hungry person is important because it relieves momentary hunger.    Hunger stirs unrest in us so that we will seek food to eat.  But if there is nothing to eat, hunger still stirs actions to get food.  A world with hungry people will not be a peaceful world.    Skip a meal and there is a good chance you will be an owly, growly person because of hunger.

We are participants in God’s vision for our world.  May the way we give, which has the power of a  sword, be transformed by God’s creative Spirit into giving that makes for peace.

Gracious God, your generosity flows freely that your people may flourish.  Open our eyes to the ways our actions can unwittingly pinch off the flow of that which others need for their daily life.  May your generous grace free us to release our grip on our own security that others may also know security.  We pray in Jesus name' and in the power of your Spirit.  Amen.

Written by Ginger Anderson-Larson, Coordinator for Contextual Education, Wartburg Theological Seminary

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