Free Exodus From Hunger by David Beckmann Page B

working for social change in the name of the Lord and making it clear that we see strides against poverty as one aspect of God’s gracious presence in the world. Bono, the Irish rock star, says he reconnected with his Christian faith because he was inspired by Christian activists who were working for the cancellation of the debts of poor countries.
    Many people who have a hard time making sense of traditional theology understand that the escape of millions of people from extreme poverty is something wonderful, even sacred. Some of the Hebrew people who took part in the original exodus were probably not religiously observant either. But they had an extraordinary experience of the saving God that marked them and their descendants for many generations.

Jesus and His Love
     
    Jesus Christ is my connection point to God. Jesus suffered and died forgiving the people who crucified him. Jesus was God incarnate, so his forgiveness extends to all people. God raised Jesus from the dead, and I experience the Spirit of the living Jesus within me and within the community of Christian believers. I also experience this Spirit in many people who are not Christians and in nature as well.
    Many Christians use different language than I do, but all Christianity is grounded in Jesus and his love. Christians experience God’s love for them, and we then share God’s love with others.
    As Paul’s letters argue, God in Christ forgives our sins and accepts us as we are—even if we aren’t very committed or don’t have much faith—and this divine embrace moves us to share the love we receive. The Spirit of Christ within us nudges us to be more generous than we would be on our own.
    I experience God’s grace as a spring of living water gushing up within me. It is the best thing in my life.
    I have not given away all my worldly goods to help people in need. Yet in Jesus Christ I know that God accepts me and uses me anyway. My faith could be stronger, too. But Jesus said that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can move mountains, and that is my experience.
    Some people end up doing very little for people in need because they know they don’t have the commitment of a Mother Teresa. Awareness of God’s forgiveness allows us to reflect God’s goodness in our own halting ways, and God uses even modest acts of faith and compassion to make big changes in the world. God invites us all—gently, patiently—to be part of the great exodus of our time.
    It was not obvious that the young Martin Luther King Jr. would be an exceptional religious and political leader. When he decided to go to seminary, ministry was one of the most likely ways an African American man could make a good living. He was serving his first church in Birmingham when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus. According to historian Taylor Branch, King arrived late to a community meeting that night. When the group decided on a bus boycott, this young Baptist pastor was elected to lead it because the group was sharply divided between two more obvious candidates.
    Leading the boycott put huge pressures on King. His telephone rang all day and all night—calls from fellow organizers, calls from cleaning ladies who needed a ride to work so they wouldn’t lose their jobs during the bus boycott, and anonymous calls that threatened violence against King and his family.
    In the middle of one sleepless night, he had a conversion experience:
    King buried his face in his hands at the kitchen table. He admitted to himself that he was afraid, that he had nothing left, that the people would falter if they looked to him for strength. Then he said as much out loud. He spoke the name of no deity, but his doubts spilled out as a prayer, ending, “I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.” As he spoke these words, the fears suddenly began to melt away. He became intensely aware of what he called an “inner voice” telling him to do what he thought was right. It was for King