Restore SNAP

"Feed the hungry" is one of the clearest calls to people of faith in scripture. It is also the basis of one of St. Martin's three major community engagement priorities. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) plays a vital role in feeding America's children.

Below is an article we have shared on social media that outlines new proposals that could seriously affect how families qualify for food assistance, and how children specifically are affected in regards to free and reduced school breakfast and lunch costs. 

We are lucky here in the Philadelphia Public School District that ALL students currently receive free breakfast & lunch- however, this proposal could also affect how schools qualify based on the needs of their population.

The USDA has reopened the public comment period for this proposal until NOVEMBER 1st, 2019 (that's next Friday). We have a short time to make our concerns known. Please read through this article & consider your position. If you feel moved to do so, please leave a comment with the USDA.

Read the PBS news article on this subject:

PBS article

Visit the USDA comment page to leave your comment electronically.

USDA Comment page

Below is a form letter that you can use or adjust as you see fit, to send along to the USDA either on the comment page above, or by mail, before the end of their comment period on November 1, 2019. We have copies of this letter at St. Martin's in the Parish House lobby that you can sign and send on Sunday morning as well.

Mr. Stephen L. Censky

Deputy Secretary USDA

Office of Policy Support

Food and Nutrition Service USDA

3101 Park Center Dr.

Alexandria, VA 22302

Dear Mr. Censky,

As a person of faith, I am writing to oppose the proposed rule change to SNAP that will take benefits away from hundreds of thousands of citizens and cause suffering to children in under-resourced schools. The proposed rule (ID: FNS-2018-0037-16542) will gut broad-based categorical eligibility, take away free school lunches from hundreds of thousands of children, and create a benefit cliff for families already struggling with poverty-level incomes.  

I am asking for the USDA to retain the current categorical eligibility standards for broad-based eligibility in the SNAP program. SNAP is the most effective program we have for combating hunger and supplementing income for marginal households while supporting neighborhood groceries and American agriculture.  

Food security is a basic human right and our faith traditions teach that care for the hungry is a primary obligation for any just society. Please reject this rule change for the good of our most vulnerable citizens and take a stand for the moral decency of our republic.

Sincerely,

(Name) 

(Address)

Here's How You Can Help Minors at the Border

Our baptismal call is to stand up for human rights and dignity for all.

As news reports continue to uncover the inhumane conditions migrant children are facing in U.S. detention facilities, the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields shares in the national outrage and dismay at federal immigration policy. Many parishioners have asked what we can do to respond to an issue that has local, state, and federal implications.


Here are some ways to keep the call for justice for migrants and refugees before us in the coming weeks, and to commit to the ongoing work of securing their dignity and protection.

Learn and Advocate.

The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations provides several information guides and action alerts on migrant issues on its Migration, Immigrants, and Refugees page, including its most recent, “Ten Things you can do to Accompany Undocumented Immigrants.” You can also send advocacy emails directly from the site.

Information and resources can also be found on the site of Episcopal Migration Ministries.

Raise Your Voice.

Share your concerns about the mistreatment of migrants in federal detention with your elected local, state, and federal officials. Because ICE raids and detention facilities are implemented on every level, from local to federal, we can ask our officials on every level where they stand and what they plan to do.

Commoncause.org provides a search engine to help locate all your officials from local to federal.

Gather and Strengthen.

We cannot do this work alone. Plan to attend the local Lights for Liberty Vigil to End Human Detention Camps at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 12 at Lovett Park in Mt. Airy, 6945 Germantown Ave. The nation-wide vigil will bring thousands of Americans to detention camps across the country, into the streets, and into their own front yards, to protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees. More information can be found on the local event’s Facebook Page.
You can also share the resources you have discovered - from places to donate or to organize your own response with fellow parishioners - on our Facebook page.

Pray.

Both in your private prayer and in communal worship, bring the needs of our undocumented sisters and brothers before God, and pray too for the ongoing ability to take action for their dignity and safety.

Listen to Rev. Anne Thatcher’s moving June 23 sermon on how the Gospel calls us to respond.

The Right Use of Moral Vision and Power

"The church is called to be engaged — to lend voice, moral authority, resources, and organized effort — to resist evil and to reorder our common life in ways that protect the most vulnerable and enhance human dignity for all people."  

- The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel from his blog post on gerrymandering

That is what I believe. What do you believe? Bring that belief to forum this Sunday as we explore the ways our church could be or should be involved in advocacy in the public square.

As a church we have a moral vision. As a church we have power. Most people agree immediately with the first statement and then become hesitant when it comes to the second. As an organized body we have people power, financial power, and spiritual power. Ideally, all three work together to shape our life together into the Body of Christ, and our surrounding community into a place of justice, peace, and flourishing approximating the vision of God for God’s world.

Peter Singer - professor of moral philosophy at Princeton University - uses “the drowning man test” to make us reflect on our power and responsibility. If you are hiking along a lake and you come across a man drowning in the water and you have the ability to swim or at least use your cell phone and yet you do nothing to help him, we would all agree that you are morally blameworthy if he is injured or dies. To observe distress and danger and to do nothing, even when you have the capability - i.e. the power - is to sin by omission, and to incur guilt.

As a church, we have power, a moral vision, and accountability before our God. Learning to exercise our voice and vision in faithful, appropriate action is certainly a learning curve. I would rather risk it than to not have an answer for God when I am asked why my brothers and sisters suffered and I did nothing.

Blessings,

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Rector

Parish Forum on Sunday, March 31:

Clarifying St. Martin’s Community Engagement Causes - Part 2

Led by the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel and the Community Engagement committee
This week the Rev. Kerbel resumes his discussion on the work done by the community engagement committee and the parish to clarify our causes. Jarrett will review the causes named but this time we’ll dig a little deeper. This week we will gauge the range of comfort levels the congregation has to advocate for these causes. What do you think the church should advocate for? Should we limit ourselves to church discussions and/or participate with others? Are you willing to write a letter, lobby an elected official, run for office, march for the cause, get arrested, or like or share a Facebook post? These are a few sample questions that we’ll act on and discuss at this forum. Wear comfy shoes as we walk around the parish hall to find out how willing we are to move for our causes.

Getting Clear

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Over the past several Sundays we have collected your responses to our survey about how to clarify our call to engage within the three causes named below. We collected a total of 44 responses. At our next two forums we'll continue to explore these suggestions.

1. hunger
2. education
3. climate change

Under hunger there were several mentions of participating and increasing food access and distribution, childhood hunger - both during and outside of the school year, continuing SUPPER, and gardening. Where will these and other responses guide our hunger focus?

Under education people spoke of advocating for equitable and fair funding, literacy, and acknowledging racial disparities. How should we narrow our education focus?

Under climate change people named a variety of actions from the individual to the corporate, and from advocacy to education. Several just wanted to know where to begin with awareness and education. With so many options, what can we do well and faithfully together in our climate change focus?

For new focuses people named immigration and refugee services, voting rights, racial justice, the opioid crisis, and prison reform, among others. Which of these calls on our hearts is great enough to address as a community?

This Sunday, at parish forum, we begin to refine your suggestions. We'll continue the discussion at the March 31st parish forum, specifically looking at the role of advocacy and social justice in our work. We have active, fun, and creative programs designed for both days. 

These two forums will help us create a path into our future. This is your chance to be a part of that discussion, to feel and name the call of God on this parish. Please join us.

Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector

Links:
Progress Report: 5 Years of Community Engagement

The Empty Wagon is the Noisiest

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Nothing rattles quite so loudly as an empty wagon. That folk wisdom came to me through the song “Little America” by REM, my favorite band from 1983 to the present. Much to my frustration, the Christianity I love and depend on for my sanity, sobriety, and hope is too often misrepresented by the loudest, most clamorous and hateful voices today. As a church striving to be faithful to the steadfast way of Jesus Christ, it is appalling that one of our greatest afflictions is the chorus of all those who misrepresent him loudly.

Why is it difficult to pass the faith on to our children? One reason, among others, it that the amplified voice of right-wing Christianity has them convinced that all christians hate LGBTQ people, want women to be subservient, deny climate change, blame the poor for their suffering, and support white supremacy. If your daily media diet is flooded by bullying voices and their often stridently simplistic opponents, then why would you risk the company of Christians in the first place?

So how do we stand up to the playground bullies of Christianity?

The Bible is a good place to start. “If I do not have love I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” (1 Cor. 13:2) Apply the love test. Is it love or is it aggression? Is it love or is it the noise of a rear-guard fight against cultural change and the loss of privilege? Yes, some Christian traditions are being discarded and for some that feels like a fearful loss of power and position. For me, I see us discarding oppression and returning our faith to its roots in liberating love. As a white, upper-middle class, cisgender man I find this disconcerting and disorienting. But as a man of faith, I embrace the loss as the way Christ proscribes for me, “You must lose your life to find it.”

The danger of the moment is increased by noisy gongs and clanging cymbals on the liberal Christian side too. It seems to me at times that liberal Christians are so zealous in skepticism and deconstruction of the tradition that they leave us no place to stand and resist. If we destroy our moral source and framework entirely, who are we to challenge any other (supposedly) equally valid point of view? You will never hear me describe myself as “liberal” Christian for this very reason. Our tradition and scripture deconstruct me more than I them.

I certainly do not want to live in a world without the faithful, long-suffering, and steadfast church of Jesus Christ. At our best we are the moral ballast that reins in our worst collective impulses toward greed, revenge, and domination. At our best we propose an alternative world order that resists the amoral gyrations of unrestrained free markets, even when we are not sure how to completely replace capitalism with something more just.

“If it is not about love it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” says our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry. Filling our wagons with love is how we end the clanging and rattling and begin to ground our moral positions in their true and trustworthy source, Jesus Christ. What if we spoke about the love that drew us to a position of advocacy before we start to shout?

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector

Clarify Our Community Engagement Causes!

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Five years ago, the congregation engaged a process called “Nominate Your Causes” to discover what our community engagement priorities should be at St. Martin’s. Through a process of polling the congregation and conversations at Parish Forum, we landed squarely on three top priorities which would direct our community engagement efforts:

1. hunger
2. education
3. climate change

Read more about our progress on each of these causes in our Progress Report: 5 Years of Community Engagement. 

For the next four Sundays, the Community Engagement Committee is asking you to help us Clarify our Causes. The committee is committed to grounding our work in priorities set by the parish community.
 
What specific areas under these broad umbrella priorities would you like us to address with programming, organizing, action, and funding? For example under climate change, you could specify “gas mileage standards,” or “eliminate fracking” or “alternative energy sources.”


On Sunday, March 3 and Sunday, March 10 we will distribute a quick survey in the worship bulletin for you to use to make your suggestions. This survey is also available online. We will collect your suggestions and bring them back to the parish for further discussion and refinement at the March 24 Parish Forum. The March 31st Parish Forum will continue our parish discussion about the role of advocacy and social justice in our work. We have active, fun, and creative programs designed for both days.


Please join us and be a part of visioning the future of community engagement at St. Martin’s.


Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector



Links:
Progress Report: 5 Years of Community Engagement
Clarify our Causes survey

Action on MLK Day

I have spent my whole life working in soup kitchens and food pantries, building houses for Habitat for Humanity, running tutoring programs, and volunteering at homeless shelters. There is no question that Jesus asks us to care for the most vulnerable among us and so I respond. Even as I do the work, however, I always pray for the day when charity will end. Charity will end when - as an American people - we finally choose to take responsibility for the poor, the sick, and mentally ill in ways that accord full respect to the basic needs and human dignity of all people.
On Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day - January 21 - I want to encourage you to resist the pleas to do charitable service and take up the banner of action instead. King was not an advocate for more feeding programs. He worked tirelessly for changes to our laws that would create a more just order where feeding programs would not be so necessary. He worked to created the conditions where all people could exercise self-determination and self-sufficiency, for themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods.

This is why St. Martin’s is inviting our members to participate in actions on King Day that look forward to a future of economic justice. You will see the invitation below. I encourage you to begin with worship at the Unitarian Society of Germantown. Worshipping together with people from across the Northwest is an action that speaks of solidarity and equality. Recently I worshipped on Christmas morning with my wife’s congregation which is from all over the world - Africa, Asia, Latin America, India, Europe, and North America. I was inspired to see the real complexion of Christ’s diverse body and reminded of the poverty of worshipping only in a homogenous group.

Next you will have a chance to join me at the McDonald’s near Chelten and Germantown Avenue to advocate for a living wage in the state of Pennsylvania. Structurally, our economy will never reach full employment, and left to itself it will not produce enough living-wage jobs. We must intervene as citizens for a more equal distribution of wages.
Finally, you are invited to a People’s Assembly with POWER to discuss and vote on an agenda for social justice for our region. We will gather as citizens and people of faith to advance a vision of a more just order in education, environment, economic dignity, and racial justice. Our Beloved Community work calls us to cross racial divides, shed our white privilege, and engage with our neighbors on an equal footing. POWER assemblies provide the rare place of that engagement. I encourage you to attend.

Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector

MONDAY, JANUARY 21- MLK DAY OF ACTION

Partnering with POWER Philadelphia

We encourage you to choose one or all of these events to attend.

9 a.m. - Sermon by the Rev. Greg Holston
Germantown Unitarian Society, 6511 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia
This is a non-denominational worship service focusing on Rev. Dr. King’s life and accomplishments led by the Rev. Kent Matthies with preaching by the Rev. Greg Holston, Executive Director of POWER. The service will be held at Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Drive. The parking lot GPS address is 359 W Johnson Street Coffee and bagels will be served beginning at 8:00. They expect a crowd, so get there early to get a seat.

11:30 a.m. - Raise the Wage rally
Outside of McDonald’s located at 29 E. Chelten Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19144
Last year a rally was held in front of CVS on MLK Day. This was one of the actions that led CVS to increase wages to $11 an hour in April 2018. St. Martin’s Deacon, Carol Duncan is particularly interested in this action. Fast food workers are often vulnerable to poor working conditions. Their hard work is often unrecognized and little rewarded. The rally is organized by Economic Dignity team of POWER with Sen. Art Haywood and Rev. Kent Matthies. It’s really POWER’s Northwest community’s MLK Day expression. You will hear that PA has the lowest possible minimum wage, and that ALL surrounding states have a higher wage. This is an action to respect the dignity of the workers and show them their neighbors support their efforts to improve their lives.Learn more, get updates, and share.

1:00 p.m. - MLK Day Teach-In & Rally
Bible Way Baptist Church, 1323 N. 52nd St., Philadelphia, PA
This is the main POWER event of the day, the People’s Platform event. Attenders will contribute to an electoral platform that will build a better Philadelphia and hold our elected officials accountable. Get directions. Learn more, get updates, and share.

Associate Rector's Note: Sustained Advocacy Training

On Saturday October 13^th, we are sponsoring a Sustained Advocacy Training day here at St. Martin’s. Spearheaded by the Climate Action Team in partnership with Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light, this is an opportunity to learn how to become active in advocating for social justice issues. While this session is dedicated to climate change, the tips and teachings can be utilized for any issue that you feel strongly about but aren’t sure how to become involved in making a difference.

When we care about something deeply but feel unable to act, we can become despondent or depressed. Many people find that even small actions help them engage with the world in a more positive manner because they are acting rather than sitting by silently (or not so silently).

The last few weeks, our lectionary reading cycle has taken us on a journey through the book of James. As I reread the book, this verse stood out to me, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works,” (2:22). James is referencing the story of Abraham obeying God’s command to take his son Isaac up the mountain and sacrifice him.

What is the relationship between faith and works that James is referencing? The apostle Paul also addressed faith and works, but he did so in the context of obeying Jewish law. James is focusing on everyday interactions rather than the legal requirements of religious tradition.

If we go back to the verse above, I begin to wonder, does this mean that faith can only be complete when works happen? The integration of our faith with our actions is an essential step in our journey of faith. In the education world we would call this praxis. No matter how much time we spend talking, writing, thinking, about our faith, praxis is the key to truly learning. There is a Chinese proverb that I used to reference when I was working the in the experiential education field: “I hear, and I forget/I see, and I remember/I do, and I understand.” Maybe James would modify it to be, “I hear and I forget, I see, and I remember, I do and my faith is complete.”

The question I ask is: what does it take for us to act on our faith? What is the catalyst? For each and every one of us, it will be different. Perhaps it is day-to-day interactions that are the focal point, or perhaps there is a Chinook wind that sweeps in one day, pushing us forward into a new way of being. Regardless of what the catalyst may be James is teaching us that we must be intentional about living out our faith through our actions.

God calls us to create God’s kingdom here on this earth, in the here and the now. In what way do you see yourself advocating for this kingdom? Perhaps it is climate change or refugee resettlement or food access or education. 

This advocacy training is a wonderful opportunity to learn the tools to put your faith in action. I’ll be there on October 13^th. Join me!

Blessings,
The Rev. Anne Thatcher