Worship for the churches week of action on food

At the Ecumenical Centre this morning colleagues from the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance had prepared worship for the beginning of the Churches week of action on food. Lusmarina Campos Garcia led the service and provided a powerful mime and dance on hunger and the longing for food which reflected both the liturgy and the call to hope that change for food justice is possible. John Baxter Brown and Fulata Mbana Moyo led a reflection on Isaiah 65 and the promise of a new heaven and a new earth.

Hungry God,
hungry for justice,
hungry for a world spending on hungry children as it spends on football games,
hungry that your promise of blessing the hungry be fulfilled,
draw us into your hunger
so we discover the life you offer when we give ourselves away,
and others do not have their lives taken away by the greedy and corrupt.
Give us the courage to risk a new hunger to do your will through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Find the full liturgy here and here.

We also signed the petition to the FAO to ask them to take action against land grabbing which is affecting the ability of many of the poorest people in Africa to grow their own food.

For someone who has just returned from a holiday of feasting on wonderful local food in the south of France this was a sobering service and a timely one.