One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing is one of those church wide offerings that we will receive at the Church of Peace this Sunday, March 22. This is one of those big offerings that benefit things like clean water and food, education and health care, micro credit loans, emergency relief, resettlement for refugees world wide. This program was established just after WWII in 1949 along with a number of other Christian Denominations. Last year the UCC collected about $2.9 million for this effort. The logo above is the one used in the UCC.



Just after WWII there was a great appreciation of what many people could accomplish if they worked together cooperatively. The second logo is one used by the Presbyterian Church as they too collect monies for OGHS.



This third piece of art is one used by the United Methodist Church as they too participate in the OGHS appeal.

I know that I should be thinking about the needs of people around the world for agricultural assistance, basic education and the like. But I find the spirit of ecumenical and international cooperation still excites me. I believe that God calls us to work together, and when we do we please God.

Dubuque Missions Conference

I spent two days this week at a missions conference at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. One of the speakers, Hunter Farrell, was very good. He is the missions executive for the Presbyterian Church.

He talked at length about a Dallas Consultation on world mission that took place in January 2008. This group decided to embrace some of the diversity that exists in mission that is taking place with some twentysix groups affiliated with the Presbyterians in one way or another. And instead of asking who is doing the mission, they were trying to shift to what principles does the mission employ.

Farrell passed out copies of the Dallas Declaration which can be found at http://www.pcusa.org/calltomission/about.htm This link describes the event, participants and provides a copy of the document produced.

In one of the plenary sessions Farrell presented an synopsis, that he called What does Christ's Way of Mission Look Like?

• It is sensitive to the local language, culture, and religious traditions (Incarnation)


• It is a mission to the whole person (body, mind and spirit)


• It is a sustainable mission with continued impact over time. (relational)


• It is a mission of partnership -- including the gifts and abilities of the local partners.

On the one hand, all this looks pretty basic. But on the other hand to get in one place at one time several groups who have been critical of one another, and then to have these representatives come up with a set of common principles, does indeed seem to be evidence of the Holy Spirit at work.

This is only the second year that Dubuque has sponsored a missions conference. It was worthwhile, local and inexpensive. Doesn't get much better than that.

Ideas for Lent

40 Things You Can Do to Get Closer to God During Lent
Written by the Junior/Senior High Sunday School Class with Michael and Nancy

1. Attend worship services.
2. Attend Wednesday Lenten Study.
3. Attend Thursday Lenten Prayer Services.
4. Remember your baptism.
5. Pray more.
6. Help others.
7. Fast.
8. Take communion.
9. Be respectful of others.
10. Find ways to help others.
11. Read a religious book.
12. Read one of the gospels from beginning to end.
13. Keep a book of prayer near your bed.
14. Keep your distance from bad influences.
15. Get to know more people.
16. Make your own list of how to get closer to God.
17. Don’t cheat.
18. Concentrate on and obey the 10 Commandments.
19. Participate more.
20. Remember the good things in your life.
21. Write your thoughts about God in a journal.
22. Watch a religious movie.
23. Attend a worship service of another denomination.
24. Bring food for the food pantry.
25. Volunteer at the food pantry – or somewhere else in the community.
26. Pray for immigrants during Lent.
27. Take a walk every day for 40 days.
28. Give some books to the Book Nook.
29. Read to a child.
30. Lead a fuller life.
31. Recycle.
32. Make good choices.
33. Don’t eat as much meat.
34. Listen to religious music.
35. Go one night per week without television.
36. Contact your Congress member about Health Care for the poor.
37. Give money to your church and other favorite charity.
38. Go one day a week without your cell phone or the Internet.
39. Clean out a closet and give the excess to the Goodwill.
40. Smile at others when you are out and about.

Visit to Postville

On December 2, 2008 I was one of about 15 ministers and lay people from Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota who participated in a delegation to Postville, Iowa. Many of us had experienced delegations to Guatemala, Chiapas and to the US/Mexico border area to listen to people testify to the concrete experience of oppression. The delegation to Postville, Iowa, allowed us to listen to people speak directly about their experience of the ICE raid of May 12, 2008.


That raid was focused on the workers at AgriProcessors, a large Kosher slaughter and meatpacking facility in Postville. It rounded up hundreds of workers. If you Google "postville raid" there is a lot of information about the specific numbers and details of the raid. ( The Washington Post story ) What was even more interesting to our faith based group was to do a sort of "pastoral visit" where by our willingness to come to those affected, hear their stories and to pray with them we were assuring them that they are not forgotten, and that they are loved by God. We were doing the same sorts of things that we do when we visit one of the members of our respective parishes when they are in the hospital or have suffered some sort of family tragedy. In this case it was a tragedy inflicted by employees of our government.





We met with Fr. Paul Ouderkirk and Paul Rael at St. Bridgets Church in Postville. We were also able to meet with a group of Guatemalan persons who were studying for their GED in the parish hall. With the aid of skilled, bilingual members of our delegation we were able to hear the accounts of these women and to express our concern. (Here is a message from Fr Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whdEcBToMBs )



We had lunch with Rev. Gary Catterson, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Postville. Gary had a group of Guatemalan Evangelicals who met at his church on a regular basis on Sunday afternoons until the raid removed the leadership of the church. The Evangelical group had up to seventy-five participants and had gathered for the last several years.















In the afternoon we drove over to Decorah, Iowa, where we learned from Rev. Matthew Perkins of Community United Church of Christ of Decorah about how the Decorah Area Faith Coalition have stepped up to aid individuals and churches in Postville who have suffered the consequences of the raid. The most poignant interviews of the day were with men who were first imprisoned, and then have been released with ankle bracelets with global positioning transmitters which they must wear.

This last photo is of our delegation, taken at Community UCC in Decorah.