Dear friends in Christ,
A blessed Holy Week to you!
This week, perhaps more than any week in the church calendar, brings us into the paradox at the heart of our faith — even as we mourn, we celebrate. We are caught here, in this week, in the space between the cross and the empty tomb, the intersection of deep pain and profound hope.
Those of us engaged in hunger ministries know this paradox well. To respond to hunger is to confront the mournful realities behind hunger and be honest about the trauma and grief we find. Yet, as so many of us have found, to respond to hunger is also to walk in joy and hope with one another, celebrating stories of courage, resilience and transformation.
This Easter season we remember that paradox. Tragically, rates of hunger and poverty continue to climb around the world because of famine, inflation and conflict. We expect food insecurity in the United States to increase as the COVID-19 expansion of public benefits expires and as food, energy and housing prices continue to climb.
We lament those truths. And yet, we celebrate the resilient hope of our partners and forge ahead in hope to the future God has promised us.
I hope this issue of “Go & Do News” inspires your courage to live into that Holy Week tension —between the cross and the empty tomb, between the banquet table and the empty plate. Know we are there together, companions journeying toward a time when we will hunger and thirst no more, a time that even now is being revealed in the work of our partners, our companion churches and you.
In Christ,
Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D.
Interim Director, Education and Networks
Building Resilient Communities
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