You’ve seen it at your local grocery store.  Putting milk in your cereal is weighing a little more heavily on your pocketbook these days, and eggs for your morning omelete are beginning to feel like luxury items.  So it makes you wonder – if I am noticing these subtle but significant food price increases, how are they affecting the 26 million Americans who use food stamps to put food on the table, who already use up almost all of those benefits by the 3rd week of the month?  And then you think about the people in developing countries who spend 80% of their disposable income on food.  With prices spiraling sharply upward, how are they to survive?

Each day brings more news of the plight of millions of hungry and malnourished people around the world, telling us that the global food crisis is just that – a crisis.  Especially in developing countries.  The World Food Programme (WFP) says this “silent tsunami” is becoming the greatest challenge it has ever faced and could drive 100 million more poor people into deeper poverty, threatening to stall or reverse progress we’ve already achieved toward the Millennium Development Goals.  From Senegal to Egypt to Uzbekistan, people are losing their livelihoods as prices continue to rise and food becomes scarce. 

In the face of such an emergency, what are we called to do?  Well, to be sheep, of course. 

Remember that passage in Matthew where Jesus talks about the final judgment and the separation of the sheep from the goats?  He tells the disciples that the sheep, the righteous ones, will inherit the Kingdom of God because they fed him and gave him drink, among other things.  And though they will not recall seeing Jesus hungry or thirsty, he explains that “when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matt. 25:40).

We are certainly called to pray and lift this crisis and these people to the Almighty God, who holds all things in control.  We are also called by this passage to live out our faith in the One who embodies love, compassion and justice.  This passage calls the righteous to take action and care for “the least of these” – to be sheep.  Here are a few ideas on how you and your church can be sheep:

1. Use your voice – Large scale interventions are needed to tackle this crisis.  Increases in food stamps and other such programs are needed here in the States, and the WFP needs $755 million to fund emergency food aid efforts.  You can begin to use your voice by calling or writing to your members of Congress, asking them to provide $600 million to meet global food needs.  Click here to see other ways Bread for the World can help you respond to this crisis.  And keep your eye on Bread’s website (www.bread.org) to join a weekly action campaign, beginning next week. 
2. Eat Dirt So They Don’t Have To – Join Bright Hope International’s Dirt Cookie Campaign to provide Haitians with immediate food supplies and micro loans to enable families to plant their own vegetable gardens.
3. Help Fill the Cup – Make a donation to the WFP here to provide food for hungry children.  Also, see why Doctors Without Borders is saying that food is not enough.
4. Don’t Plant Flowers, Plant Vegetables – Begin a community garden at your church where families in need in your own community can come to get fresh vegetables at little or no cost.

Those are just a few of the ways you and your church can be sheep.  Do you have other ideas on how to faithfully care for the least of these?  How might your church respond?