The weekend of November 23 - 25 was the first ever ONE Sabbath weekend, in the pilot of year of what we hope will become a major expression of the impact of people and communities of faith in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.

ONE members across the country downloaded materials from our faith resource page ONE.org/faith and organized services and group activities in their houses of worship. A recap of St. John’s Lutheran Church’s ONE Sabbath in Belle Plaine, Minnesota is below.

On Sunday November 25th, members of the congregation were greeted by the St John’s Social Justice Team and presented with a reverse offering.

Pictured: Social Justice Team member Amy S. greets members with a reverse offering.

Half of the congregation received a baggie of rice and represented half the world’s population of earning 2 dollars or less.

The second group was presented with a baggie or rice and beans and represented 35% of the world’s population who earned just enough to get by and afford life’s basic necessities.

The next group represented all people living in wealthy nations such as the United States, regardless of income brackets. These 15% received gold chocolate coins (purchased through Global Exchange Fair Trade). Within this group, half received two coins and were representative of those who share their time and wealth with the poor.

Lastly, one person from each service received a gift certificate to a local restaurant as a representative of the world’s richest one percent.

During a brief temple talk at the onset of the service, the reverse offering was dramatized to provide a real world experience and members of the congregation were invited to stand up when their “food” group was identified. This activity was a great success and there were many positive comments after both services on having brought about awareness and contemplation on what extreme poverty is. I think this example really hit home and actually shocked many as they realized how little the majority of the world has, while we, living in a wealthy nation and regardless of income brackets are the minortiy and that we are blessed with what we have.

During each service, members also had the opportunity to join the ONE Campaign by signing their “tear off” sheet on their bulletin insert and add it to the offering plate as it went around…

For Christ The King Sunday, the sermon of Luke 23:42 (Jesus Remember Me when you Come Into Your Kingdom), led by Pastor Mark Lepper, was great! He spoke of how Jesus was an advocate for the poor, the hungry, the criminal, and the least of these. What stood out during his sermon was (paraphrased statement) that the powerless and the undesirable would become the welcomed and valued in “paradise” and those that are powerful and blessed with eartlhy riches are not gauranteed such a welcome because what is important to us now is not important in his kingdom. He continued to say that the things and issues that we brush off as being unimportant and undeserving of our time and effort is the very thing which is important within his kingdom and that we should spend our time and money helping the poor and the hungry. At the end of the service, Pastor Mark directed his prayers on the world’s poorest and those that do not have power and representation as well as guidance for our leaders.

Between services, a viewing of Nooma’s “RICH” launched a discussion on our own blessings and carried us into a special ONE Sabbath Lutheran presentation led by a ONE volunteer. With a focus on ONE and the MDGS, the presentation also provided faith based resources and reflections on why congregations and individuals should help our “distant neighbors” and “what can believers do to help keep the focus and national priority on extreme poverty and global hunger?”

• Key solutions discussed by those who attended included:
• Support faith campaigns already in place within our church ( ELCA’s World Hunger Campaign, Food For the Poor, and Heifer are all strongly supported by our congregation)
• Stand in solidarity (youth fasting for 30 hours already in place)
• Prayer - (”Prayer does not change God, it changes Me” which tied into the service that highlighted the author C.S. Lewis and aids in keeping the cause in the front of believer’s hearts and minds)
• Volunteer - mobilize others
• Sign the campaign (all of which in attendance did so and received a white band recognizing extreme poverty)
• Perform the email and call in actions when prompted (success example given of the recent IMF/Liberia debt cancellation)
• Write letters to elected leaders (all in attendance between services signed a letter written jointly to Senator Coleman and Senator Klobuchar)

-Rochelle Gibbs

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