Derick Dailey: We Must Pray and Act, and Pursue Food Justice Locally

Derick Dailey, my good friend and colleague on the Bread for the World board of directors, penned a great piece the Fall issue of Reflections, a magazine of theological and ethical inquiry. The magazine is published quarterly by the Yale School of Divinity.

Derick, a graduate of the Yale School of Divinity and currently a student at the Hostra School of Law, wrote an article for this issue entitled "Divine Possibility: Ending Hunger by 2030."  

The theme of the Fall 2014 issue is At Risk: Our Food, Our Water, Ourselves. There are many great articles, including a piece by Sara Miles entitled Give Us Bread.  The other authors are not familiar to me, but the topics are very interesting: The Feeding of the 12 billion,Toward a Divine Diet,  Ancient Voices Speak to an Ecological Future and much more.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Derick's piece:

What can people of faith do? Ending hunger will not happen without a move of God. For the Old Testament prophets, food was, in effect, a basic human right. They remind us to seek justice for everyone, especially the orphan and the widow, so that everyone has enough to eat. There is no shortage of biblical support for food justice and God’s continued grace. So we must pray and act. Pursue food justice locally. Urge policymakers to embrace poverty-reduction strategies. Leverage your voices and your votes. 

Another sign of hope: Social justice is a larger priority for faith institutions and theological education. Congregations are embracing strands of political theology to fight poverty and hunger. Involvement looks different for each community. Some groups run local soup kitchens and food giveaways. Others ask Congress to support strong poverty-reduction policies. Others directly invest in building schools and libraries in underdeveloped countries. Another trend is the collective mobilization of their church, typically the national body, to divest from companies that do not support their vision of justice. Thanks to progressive theological education, new generations of faith leaders are demanding that social justice be central to a prophetic gospel in ecclesial bodies, businesses, and global corporations.   Read full article