| Presbytery of Western New York |
When Linda Valentine, Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, took part in the SNAP challenge several weeks ago (full story below), her participation brought many reactions from people she discussed it with. The comment that elicited the strongest response from Valentine in her journal is when she was asked "Do you think people who get food stamps really need them?" While this comment is an unfortunate denial of the reality of hunger in this country, it can't be ignored - because clearly there are many who agree, including many members of Congress who have recently supported reducing food stamp benefits. Comments such as this demonstrate the strong prejudice toward the most vulnerable in our society.
As disciples of Christ, who teaches us to feed the hungry, how can we overcome the prejudice in this country toward those who need help meeting their most basic needs? |
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Not a SNAP
Linda Valentine chronicles her week's 'Food Stamp Challenge'
Presbyterian News Service
Jerry L. Van Marter
Linda Valentine, executive director, Presbyterian Mission Agency
During the week of Nov. 17-23, more than 300 Presbyterians nationwide registered for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s SNAP Food Stamp Challenge.
The challenge was to eat on a food budget of $4.39 per person per day-the average Food Stamp allotment in the U.S. The goal of the challenge was to draw attention to the gross injustice of poverty and hunger in the U.S. and to open new opportunities for education, understanding, compassion and solidarity.
According to the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge "is not only a call to hunger and poverty awareness, but also a call to action. We are called by God to be in the world and to seek to make it a better place. Changing hearts and minds are the starting point of building a movement and improving policy."
One of those who "accepted" the challenge was Linda Valentine, executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Valentine kept a journal of her experience through the week and agreed to a request from Presbyterian News Service to publish it.
Click here to read Valentine's journal, unedited. |
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Presbytery Group Health Insurance plan for 2014
The Presbytery has a group health Insurance plan with Blue Cross / Blue Shield of WNY for 2014. The plan is open to churches with non-ordained staff members working at least 20 hours a week. Please contact Dale Harten at the Presbytery office for more information. Open enrollment is through January 2014.
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Minute for Mission: Christ the King/Reign of Christ
Note: This 'Minute for Mission' appeared in the Mission Yearbook on Sunday, November 24. The author, Emily Hope Morgan, was an intern hosted by the Presbytery.
"What can you do?" muttered the grief-stricken teenage son of a heart-attack victim during the dark morning hours at a community hospital. Having only been a hospital chaplain for a few weeks, I had no answer for him. Instead, I offered what I could: "I could pray with you or call your spiritual leader?" He shook his head and turned back into the dim room where his mother and siblings were.
I sat down at the nurse's station, feeling completely helpless. I was only a student chaplain, there to fulfill a requirement for ordination. Yet somehow here I was: the chaplain to a grieving family; helpless.
It is easy to keep those who sit in darkness at arm's length, whether they are grieving the loss of a loved one, drowning in debt, or dealing with abusive relationships. We can sit next to them and have no idea how dark their shadows are. That night I could no longer keep those sitting in darkness at arm's length, and I saw with new clarity how that person was me. I and this family sat in death's shadow that night-the death of a loved one and the death of the self-reliant me.
The reign of Christ is no longer an abstract concept for me. In Luke 1:78-79, we are reminded that even in the midst of the deepest darkness God will bring the dawn and somehow guide our lives and world into the way of peace. Christ's reign can be embodied in us each time we act on the prayer "Thy will be done." It is not our helplessness that makes us weak but our unwillingness to be the body of Christ for the world.
I was not helpless that night, but I had made a mistake. My mistake was thinking that what the family needed was me.
-Emily Hope Morgan, student at Princeton Theological Seminary and author of the blog Fight the Bees!
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NY Council of Churches Youth Trip to UN
The New York State Council of Churches is sponsoring a leadership forum for high school youth!
Once again this year, the NY State Council of Churches will sponsor a trip for senior high youth to the United Nations. We will travel to NYC on Presidents Day, Monday, February 17 and return home Wednesday, February 19, 2014.
This year, we will study Gender Justice at the United Methodist Seminar Office and tour the UN. The seminar is designed to equip youth to be advocates for change from home.
The cost of $350 covers lodging, travel by chartered bus, lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday and breakfast Tuesday. Students will need to bring money for dinner Monday and Tuesday, and for breakfast on Wednesday.
Please see a flyer, an application form and an overview of how we will spend our time in NYC by clicking the links below. The deadline for applications is December 29th.
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Job Opportunity:
Congo Leadership Initiative CEO
The mission of the Congo Leadership Initiative is to develop the next generation of leaders to be catalysts for peace and prosperity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This young nonprofit organization has a rockin' board who is looking for a new CEO in waiting to succeed the present Founder & CEO as Nate Houghton is poised to begin Harvard Business School this fall. Nate Houghton is a young adult member of the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church and he founded this organization while at Cornell. If you know of any movers and shakers and way outside the box thinkers then pass along this link to them which contains the details of this PAID position!
http://bit.ly/1aokycX
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| Please send your newsletter submissions to newsletter@pbywny.org in PDF or Microsoft Word format by Thursday to ensure inclusion in the following Tuesday's newsletter.
- Brad Hahn, Presbytery Webmaster & Newsletter Editor
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| Clergy Celebrations This Week
Happy Birthday!
Lewis Bigler - 12/4
Gordon Foster - 12/6
John McClester - 12/7
Ordination Anniversary:
David Crapnell - 12/4/2005
Carol Marychild - 12/8/1978
Happy Anniversary!
Mark & Joan Woodward - 12/5/1992
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Today in the Mission Yearbook:
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Around the Presbytery
December 5 & 6:
December 6:
December 7:
December 7 & 8:
December 8:
December 16:
December 19:
December 22:
June 30-July 10, 2014:
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Presbytery of Western New York
2060 Union Road
West Seneca, NY 14224
(716) 668-1995
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