Dear friend,
Each year brings a fresh challenge to connect the themes of Lent to the real lives of the faithful who gather in our churches. The season calls for fresh examination of the forces in our lives that defy God’s intentions for creation, that separate us from the beloved community to which we are called, and that lead us to deny the One to whom we have promised our allegiance. In these very difficult times, when economic upheaval causes many to suffer hunger, poverty, and homelessness, our preaching can help clarify what God’s intentions really are and what faithful discipleship – and faithful citizenship -- requires. We offer these lectionary reflections and resources with the prayer that they will be a blessing to you as you take on that awesome responsibility.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Gary R. Cook
Director of Church Relations
Lectionary Reflections
Reflecting on the lectionary texts, Michelle Tooley finds many connections between the church’s Lenten journey and God’s concern for poor and hungry people. Following Jesus, she shows, requires us to pay attention to the biblical guidelines for God’s economy.
From Hunger for the Word, Year B
March 1, First Sunday in Lent
Clarence Jordan suggests that “God’s movement” is a better contemporary translation than “the reign of God.” Through his parables and sermons about God’s reign, Jesus calls us to participate in building a world that embodies God’s justice, as the Lord’s Prayer says, on earth and in heaven. In his first words in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is near. Read more »
March 8, Second Sunday in Lent
Good news seems sweetest to those who suffer, who are in the midst of what St. John of the Cross calls “the dark night of the soul.” In Psalm 22, David, like many who suffer, feels that God has rejected and abandoned him. Physical signs accompany his misery: he is so emaciated that he can count his bones, so thirsty that he has a dry mouth, so destitute that others are dividing his clothes, so weak that evildoers may destroy him. The millions of people who live daily in hunger and poverty often experience David’s physical symptoms of misery. Read more »
March 15, Third Sunday in Lent
Two of today’s texts address our economic priorities, what we do with the “things” of our lives (including our money) and where our primary allegiance lies. The gospel reading offers a negative example: what not to do with a place of worship and what not to participate in, while several of the Ten Commandments have economic relevance. Read more »
March 22, Fourth Sunday in Lent
The Bible offers guidelines for God’s economy, with special concern for poor and vulnerable members of society. Those guidelines make provision for poor people through gleaning laws and special treatment for widows, orphans, and strangers, while the Jubilee tradition provides rest for people, land, and animals and fresh beginnings for slaves and debtors. Read more »
March 29, Fifth Sunday in Lent
[Archbishop Oscar] Romero was transformed by the impoverished people in his beloved El Salvador and spent his brief remaining ministry speaking out boldly on behalf of oppressed people in a war-torn land. Like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Romero acknowledged the Gospel’s historical demands and the sin of staying silent and uninvolved. For him, this meant denouncing an economic systemic that enriched the few and impoverished the majority. Read more »
Youth Corner
Helping Hungry People is a five-week curriculum that helps elementary-age students learn about the Christian call to help people in need.
This curriculum, designed to help the students prepare for the church's Offering of Letters, takes students on "trips" to a local soup kitchen, Haiti, Zambia, and India.
They learn about people living in poverty as they study the teachings of Jesus. There are a variety of ways that children can help people who are hungry: through prayer, providing food for a food pantry, collecting money to give to an organization fighting poverty, and writing letters to their members of Congress.
You can download the curriculum at www.offeringofletters.org
Be sure to also check out the “Children’s Time” section at the conclusion of each Lectionary Reflection to help you prepare time with your community’s children.
Praying Together
Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on those who seek thy mercy; give grace to the needy; make us so to live, that we may be found worthy to the fruition of your grace, and that we may attain to eternal life.
Bulletin Insert
A Lenten bulletin insert, based on Matthew 16:24 and focusing on following Jesus, is now available.
Other Resources and Opportunities
Lenten Prayers for Hungry People, a 6 x 9 inch table tent, will help individuals and families use Lent as a time to make a difference in God’s world. A scripture reading, prayer, and action are presented for each of the five weeks of Lent and Holy Week. Order free copies for your church, or download the resource. 
Bread for the World’s 2009 Offering of Letters focuses on reworking U.S. foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing hunger and poverty. Find out more about the campaign by visiting www.offeringofletters.org Bread for the World regional organizers are leading Offering of Letter workshops throughout the country this month. Click the map on the website to check for a location near you.
Bread for the World partners with JustFaith Ministries to offer an in-depth 30-week small group process that empowers participants to develop a passion and thirst for justice, and prepares them for the work of social ministry. Visit www.justfaith.org to find out more about the program and learn about upcoming JustFaith workshops in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, and Connecticut.
