Editorial: The perfect time to combat world hunger

What a splendidly spirited, delightfully divine calendar collusion: This year, the Lord’s Day following Thanksgiving is a fifth Sunday and also the beginning of Advent.

So, on Sunday, Nov. 30, as our hearts bask in the afterglow of counting our blessings during Thanksgiving and begin to beat a little faster in anticipation of Christmas, they can open up to the needs of people Jesus called “the least.”

Editor Marv KnoxOn fifth Sundays—the dates when calendars contain a fifth Sunday in a given month—churches across the state collect funds for the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering. And in 2014, the fifth Sunday of November happens to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the first Sunday of Advent.

This time of year, we pause to consider our blessings and thank God for divine bounty infused into our lives. The most tangible, gracious and effective way to express our thanks is by sharing our blessings with others.

That’s really the Jesus way, isn’t it? In his first sermon, Jesus told the folks from his hometown the Spirit of the Lord had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). And what better way to make good news feel real to poor people than by bringing lunch? At least twice, when Jesus spent a long day healing multitudes of people, the Scriptures say he felt compassion for the crowds and fed them (Matthew 15:29-39; John 14:13-21).

Jesus also taught that when we see the hungry and feed them and see the thirsty and give them something to drink, we’re actually feeding and providing water to him (Matthew 25:31-46).

The plight of the hungry

Jesus clearly took seriously the plight of the hungry. If we dare to take his name and call ourselves Christians—literally, “little Christs”—then we’re bound to follow his example. Feeding the hungry is part of what being a Christian means.

The Texas Baptist Hunger Offering provides all of us with a straightforward opportunity to do just that. Through the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its myriad partners, the offering supports 66 hunger-related ministries throughout Texas, seven across the United States and 70 around the world. That means you can improve the lives of the poor, neglected and hurting through a total of 143 projects encircling the planet.

Help plant community gardens in Texas. Provide chickens for orphans in Congo. Improve soil fertility in Indonesia. Supply seeds and farm tools in Peru. Help poor people start family-supporting businesses in Morocco, India, Sri Lanka and Uganda. Distribute food in at least 46 Texas communities, pockets of poverty across the nation and in Bangladesh, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. Underwrite poverty-busting training in 10 Texas cities, as well as the Dominican Republic, Jerusalem, Puerto Rico and Sierra Leone.

Can you express your gratitude?

And those are just some of the opportunities. We’re facing a world of hurt. How bountiful is your gratitude for God’s goodness? How can you express it?

After you count your blessings, be sure to contribute to the hunger offering at church next Sunday. Even if your congregation doesn’t take up the offering, you can go online and contribute by clicking here. And if you don’t want to donate online, you can either write a check payable to your church and designated for Texas Baptist Hunger Offering or mail a check payable to Texas Baptist Hunger Offering to BGCT Christian Life Commission, 333 North Washington, Dallas 75246.