“Had everyone been fed?” is inscribed on the communion table at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. It is a powerful question for sharing the Lord’s Supper and making sure all have been offered communion! Also, it is a question that became even more powerful and poignant when the congregation became a hub for aid distribution, emergency food and community meals after Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina a year ago. Many people lost homes as well as ways to store, keep, cook or access food.
Climate change-induced natural disasters are creating increased hunger and a lack of adequate housing all around the world, and Christians are called to serve both in areas of immediate need and in long-term solutions. Having a home and having enough food are core human needs. In all times and places, in our own communities and around the world, people need a safe space to rest. All people need nourishment and nutrition.
We believe that food and adequate housing are ethical and biblical mandates for society, and yet we are so far from these essential elements of existence being met. From violent wars and conflicts creating conditions of famine right now in Sudan and Gaza to our own communities where homelessness is a desperate problem, we have work to do.
We draw inspiration from the many Presbyterian congregations rehabbing their facilities and grounds to provide affordable housing and/or wrap-around services to those who are unhoused. We can be motivated to join the movement of Congregation-Based Community Organizing groups across the country that are working to protect tenant rights and to create Affordable Housing Trust Funds in their cities. We join hands with global partners working to address hunger and famine and the root causes of poverty. Together, may we answer Christ’s call and make sure that all people everywhere have a place to call home and that all have been fed.
Rev. Rebecca Barnes, Manager, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Interim Unified Agency, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff:
Emily Hord, Assistant General Counsel, Legal & Risk Management, Administrative Services Group
Demetria Hurnton , Administrator, Benefits, The Board of Pensions
Let us pray:
Dear God, we find our home in you and our hunger satiated in you. Help us never be satisfied while others are unhoused or hungry. Thank you for all the models of people and communities working for change and empower us O God to use our gifts and skills and networks and hearts to collectively build your kingdom come, here on earth. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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