The SNAP Rule will Cause More Hunger Than We Can Handle. This was the headline in a New York Times opinion piece written this week by the president of the New York City Food Bank. In the article, she writes about the government’s announcement earlier this week that it would implement new rules that will cut food assistance to roughly 700,000 people next year. “I run a food bank, and I know no amount of charity will make up for this cruel policy…directed at Americans living in poverty,” she began the article.
Another expert explained how the new work requirements would simply perpetuate the vicious cycle of poverty, making it harder for people who are out of work to find a job because instead of looking for work, they now have to focus on looking for food to sustain themselves and their families.
To make matters worse, experts are warning that these deep cuts to food assistance programs would likely impact the free lunch program for children across the nation—a program that millions of children rely on every year. In a country where 1 out of every 10 households is food-insecure, and 1 in 5 children experiences hunger, we have decided to make deep cuts that will perpetuate the cycle of poverty for countless families.
This advent season, we have been following Howard Thurman’s poem “The work of Christmas.” And, in light of the events of this past week, perhaps it is fitting that I am tasked with discussing Thurman’s charge to us this morning…to feed the hungry.
As you may remember, Dr. Thurman was a theologian, a key architect of the modern civil rights movement, a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He played a leading role in the social justice movement of the 20th century. Dr. Thurman popularized the idea of non-violence and embraced the practice of passive resistance. Ultimately, Thurman longed for a society where injustice and oppression no longer existed. Dr. Thurman understood that there was a link between oppression and the power imbalances in our society. He wrote often about the violence perpetrated by those with power against the most vulnerable in society.
Thurman wrote, “The ever-present fear that besets the vast poor, the economically and socially insecure, is a fear of a different breed. It is a climate closing in; it is like fog in San Francisco or London. It is nowhere in particular yet everywhere…It has its roots deep in the heart of the relations between the weak and the strong, between the controllers of environment and those who are controlled by it.”
Thurman understood that in order to achieve justice for [what he called] the weak and oppressed, it would take those with power to be moved to action because our consciences demand it—that we would use our positions of power and privilege to speak out and fight against injustice in our world.
This is precisely the work of Christmas that Thurman has laid out for us. And this is precisely the work we are called to do at Royal Lane. Through our Missions programs, we stock the pantries at North Dallas Shared Ministries and provided donated goods to Hope Supply Company. [PLUG FOOD DRIVE].
Just this past week, a group from our congregation joined dozens of other Dallas partners at a Just Housing Workshop. The members of our Social Justice Team have taken on the work of confronting racial inequality, unfair housing practices, and poverty in our city—using their voices to speak out for those who can’t speak for themselves. They are using their power and privilege to fight the injustices faced by the most vulnerable members of our city.
The people of Royal Lane are literally feeding the hungry, making shelter available for the unhoused, and fighting against poverty and injustice. In the midst of a difficult news week, it is the people of Royal Lane who give me hope. You make me proud when you do this work—the work of Christmas. May we continue to lift up our voices for the oppressed and use our hands and feet to serve the marginalized. May we continue to do the work of Christmas.
Amen.