As I watch the continued news of the bombings in Gaza the rocket fire into Israel these words have been a helpful focus for prayers. If you're interested in other ways of advocating for an end to the violence, click here.

A prayer for peace during a time of war

God whose voice spoke, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3) –
Let your overcoming light scatter the violence that darkens Gaza and Israel;
Let your guiding light give wisdom to leaders who seek for peace;
Let your healing light envelop the wounds of war and restore wholeness to body and mind and spirit.

God whose voice is powerful and full of majesty (Ps. 29:4) –
Open our ears to hear your Word;
Open our eyes to see your glory;
Open our hearts to humbly walk in your way of justice and peace.

God whose voice spoke, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11) –
Make us secure in knowing that we are your dearly loved children;
Make us confident in our calling as your ambassadors of reconciliation;
Make us steadfast in loving others as you have loved us.

God whose Spirit empowers us to speak words of truth (Acts 19:6) –
Give courage to our timid spirits;
Fill us with fresh passion for peace;
Make us bold to stand up for what is just and right and true.

God who separated the light from the darkness, God who called the light good (Gen. 1:4), make us to walk in your light. Be well pleased with all your children. Amen

Prayer by Cynthia and J. Daryl Byler, MCC representatives for Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. They live in Amman, Jordan, and frequently travel throughout the region. They wrote this prayer for Mennonite Church USA’s weekly “Prayers for Peace.”

Today the Judiciary Committee of the Pennsylvania House Legislature are voting on several bills that could help dry-up the flow of illegal handguns that contribute to record homicide rates in many Pennsylvania cities. Read more.

In early October, a group of 38 Anabaptists gathered in Philadelphia to talk about the issue of handgun violence. The seminar focused on prayer, education and action in response to the reality of increased gun violence in our society. Participants shared stories of how gun violence impacted their lives and also how churches were responding and building peace. One session looked at the way legal handgun sales in Pennsylvania enter illegal markets, increasing the deadliness of violence, and also ways the flow of handguns can be interrupted. The day concluded with an opportunity to strategize how the church could take action, a prayerful commissioning to action and letter writing to political and church leaders encouraging them to support efforts to reduce handgun violence.

If you'd like a PDF copy of the report on this gathering, send me an e-mail (click on the envelope icon at the top of this post).

The two bills being voted on today are:
• HB 22 – One Handgun A Month – would limit a person who is not a licensed collector or law-enforcement officer to the purchase of one handgun per 30 day period.
• HB 29 – Lost or Stolen – would require the legal owner of a handgun to report it lost or stolen within 24 hours of discovering its loss or theft.

Pennsylvania is known as a state where the National Rifle Association maintains a strong lobby. The NRA opposes both of these bills (read their statement here) despite the fact that polls show a majority of Pennsylvanians and gun owners support measures like these.

During the gathering in October, one speaker noted how important it was for persons interested in reducing handgun violence and illegal trafficking in handguns to raise their voices.

If you need to look up your legislator, go here.

If you're interested in information about national gun violence realities, visit the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV)

That may depend on whether Christians raise their voices over the next 24 hours. (Advocacy tools from MCC and Bread for the World.)

Today the U.S. Senate takes up debate on the once-every-five-years Farm Bill. Impacted by the mammoth $288 billion legislation are programs ranging from commodity farmer subsidies to food stamp programs. For a range of articles on the bill, see the following: LA Times Editorial, Sioux Falls Argus Leader article, San Jose Mercury News.

As Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” writes in a NY Times Op Ed this past weekend, the Farm Bill has long been a cake divided between the big commodity agribusiness interests (corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and cotton). However the equation has recently shifted, both because of record high prices for some of those commodities like corn, and because increasing numbers of concerned citizens (including Christians) are linking the Farm Bill to questions about health policy and poverty reduction initiatives.

When was the last time you ate something that didn’t contain corn syrup?

The U.S. has long subsidized the five big commodities listed above in the interest of protecting farmers from price fluctuations and in maintaining international dominance when it comes to trade in these commodities.

The result of these policies, where farmers are guaranteed a floor price for their product, encourages overproduction, driving down the price of the commodity in the market. The result is that foods that utilize high amounts of corn products like corn syrup can be produced more cheaply. In a competitive market, the end result is that cheaper calories come in the form of junk food.

Meanwhile, produce farmers (fresh vegetables) benefit very little from the public funding in the farm bill, if at all. This makes healthier foods (the ones our parents and our doctors are trying to get us to eat more of) relatively more expensive. For people on tight grocery budgets it becomes harder to get a balanced and healthy diet. Eating lots of high sugar, high fat foods is one reason why the biggest killer in the U.S. is heart disease and why millions struggle with diabetes and other health complications.

There are many things that could increase people’s ability to get healthier food on tight budgets and a number are contained in several amendments that will be suggested to the farm bill. Some would make it easier to make school lunches healthier. Others would increase funding for local farmers markets. Individually these are baby steps – collectively they are improvement.

To find out more about these amendments and get contact information for your senators, please check out Bread for the World’s website here.

The current system makes it harder for small farmers in the U.S. and around the world.

While improving the farm bill is important, it’s also important to remember the flaws in the whole system itself. U.S. crop subsidies, which given the current political reality will probably remain part of any Farm Bill that passes in 2007, are one of the largest distortions in the world market. (We have company in this dubious category from Europe, which also maintains large subsidies that need to be addressed).

Many of our farm subsidies have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. In many cases they make it impossible for small farmers in developing countries to compete (U.S. cotton farmers in 2005 received $5 billion in subsidies for growing a crop that would have brought only $4 billion on the market – see Oxfam article here.)

Again, some of the amendments being proposed to the current farm bill would curb some of the worst parts of the subsidy program (one proposal would cap the largest payment to an individual farmer at $250,000 – directing more support to small farmers and less to large agribusiness). But the long-term goal needs to be, at a minimum, leveling the playing field between U.S. commodity farmers and farmers in the developing world.

To learn more about perspectives from MCC friends and partners, click here.

To learn more about the 2007 Farm Bill, see Oxfam's site.

Many people ponder "What would Jesus do?"  A couple years back I heard of the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign (the organizers suggested that SUV's would not be Christ's first choice).  

But in this age of growing awareness about global warming, and for those of us living in or near any urban area with public transit, should we also ask whether our faith leads us to get on the bus?

Here at MCC we've been riding the bus a lot more lately.  Partly this is out of concern for cutting carbon emissions.  But, as MCC staffer Susan Wenger shared in a brown bag lunch yesterday, concern for the environment is only the tip of the iceberg. 

It's a social justice issue.

Susan noted that many of the people who ride the bus depend on it to get to work. She noted one study that estimates to own a car, pay insurance, maintenance, gas and taxes a person needs to make $10 an hour (current minimum wage is $5.15 and scheduled to rise to $7.25 in the next two years).  In this country where many, including myself, grew up thinking of a driver's license as a right of passage for 16 year-olds and regular access to a car as perfectly normal, this challenges us to new awareness. 

Likewise, persons with vision difficulties or physical limitations that prevent driving also depend on public transportation for mobility and independence.

Susan shared that in the Lancaster area, due to recent federal funding cuts, bus service is in great danger of being cut by as much as 30%.  As a result, it endangers people's ability to work and get to medical care.

It's a People Thing

We often hear pastors talk about how Jesus carried out his ministry among the people whereever they were.  Susan noted that riding the bus often means you meet people you wouldn't otherwise meet.  From my own experiences riding local buses and a lot of Greyhound, I can say that I have a much greater awareness of the society that we live in than I otherwise would - the gift of numerous stories given and conversations overheard (we live in the era of cellphones) that provided windows into parts of our society where I have not lived. 

Walking into the crowd waiting at bus station this morning and knowing that this was likely the most ethnically, economically and ability diverse group I would be part of that day, I wondered whether the bus station was a closer image of what Jesus would want the church to be than the picture we often encounter on Sunday mornings (the most segregated time in our society.)  If we, as Christians, are to be little Christs, then riding the bus may well be a step in the right direction.

It's Good for You Too

From a self-care perspective, riding the bus also has a lot of positives.  Susan noted the following benefits, to which I'll add my own two cents:

• More Exercise/Fresh Air:  Even if you sit while you ride, you get to walk to the bus stop.  As someone who sits at a desk most of the day, even these few minutes of movement and being outside, rain or shine, are energizing.
• More time for prayer, reading, journaling:  I know my own rhythm of reading about the world, journaling about my life and conversing with God about both is much healthier when I'm riding public transit on a regular basis.
• Less stress:  Growing up outside a small town in Virginia, I used to think I would never live in a city.  Every time I visited one after I started driving I was always on edge.  Luckily, I realized it wasn't the city that set me on edge but the stop and go traffic, and the collective stress of people all wanting to be somewhere else.  Now, after living in a number of big cities, I've revised my promise to myself - I'll never live in the exurbs and have to drive to work every day in an urban area.
• Valuable Life Skill:  Big city mass transit systems can be daunting if you're not used the rhythm of the whole thing.  The more experience you have, even on smaller urban systems, the more second nature it is for you.  Especially if you're younger, mass transit can increase your independence and your adaptability to new places. 
• Costs less:  Since we usually think of the cost of driving as being the cost of gas, this one may not be immediately apparent.  But Susan pointed out that if you calculate not only gas, but insurance and wear and tear, the 24 mile round-trip from Lancaster to Akron would cost $11.52, compared to about $4 for the bus.

So, if it's an option where you live, try taking the bus.  The more people that ride, the less bus service will depend on funding decisions made in Washington or the state capital.  And that's good for everyone, especially those who depend on the bus to get them to work, school or medical appointments. 

Resources

Check out the following if you want to:

• Get involved with other MCC Care for Creation Initiatives or other Social Justice Advocacy opportunities
• Learn more about mass transit options in your area through this clickable map.  You can also learn more general facts about the benefits of public transit.
• Learn more about the Lancaster County transit system (for those of you that live nearby) and the ongoing Share the Ride Challenge that promotes bus riding and carpooling.

Last week, as quiet snow fell outside, I spoke at Wednesday morning chapel for Christopher Dock High School in Kulpsville, PA.  I shared with them about the reality of immigration in our country today – between 10-12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States, many of them fearful of discovery.  I also shared that Christ, in teaching us how we are called to love our neighbor (Luke 10:25-29) often defines neighbor in a way that stands our usual definition on it’s head.  For Christ, loving our neighbor meant loving our enemy (Matthew 5:43-45) and loving the stranger in our midst (Leviticus 19:33-34). 

As disciples of Christ, and as citizens of the United States, recent events should be encouraging lively discussions among us on how we are called to love our neighbor, the recent immigrant.  In the past seven days, national news stories included:

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids last week that detained suspected undocumented parents at workplaces in Massachusetts and stranded their children at daycare facilities or with neighbors.  As is often the case, many of the children are U.S. Citizens, now facing the choice between separation from their parents and separation from the land of their birth.
• President Bush promising Mexican President Felipe Calderon that he would push for passage of immigration reform through Congress.  President Bush also noted that positive relations with Latin American neighbors hinge on immigration reform.  
• The start of a civil trial in Scranton, PA over whether the town of Hazleton, PA can enact it’s own laws to prevent undocumented immigrants from living or working in the town.  

As we witness each of these events unfold, we need to ask ourselves how God calls us to witness to the power of loving our neighbor as ourselves.  

One method of witness is to talk and pray about it in our congregations – a recently published MCC resource “Loving Strangers As Ourselves” provides biblical reflections and discussion questions to get such conversations started.  If getting a conversation started seems controversial, looking at the Safe Space Dialogue suggestions from the MCC Washington Office may give ideas of how to structure a “deepening dialogue” rather than a “divisive debate.”

Another method is to learn more about the connection of immigration to globalization.  There are also numerous resources available through the MCC US immigration desk.

Some may feel called to raise their voice or act for just immigration reform at a national and local level.  The most recent immigration action alert from the MCC Washington Office notes that reform should

1) allow immigrants to legally choose between temporary work and permanent residence in the U.S.,

2) ensure immigrants receive fair compensation and equal benefits and

3) enable immigrants to reunite with their families.

Likewise, at a local level, congregations can provide necessary support to families if raids occur in the area and can be a powerful voice in town council halls for welcoming rather than alienating the “stranger” among us [read the recent “welcoming” statement by the Lancaster, PA city council – scroll down two thirds of the document ]. 

Finally, for those of us who are long-term immigrants (our ancestors arrived several generations ago) it is important to remember, as Leviticus says, we were once strangers ourselves.

Like snow falling softly, years and generations passing can make it easy for us to forget this part of our history.  Understanding how our own ancestors arrival took place under much more open laws (until 1862 there was no federal regulation of immigration) and also how our arrival impacted those already here (particularly Native Americans) are important steps in discerning our call in this time and in this place to love the stranger among us.