LWF General Secretary Says Quest for Daily Bread Is Also a Spiritual Issue

"What Is Enough? Perspectives on Food Security and Sovereignty"

The General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has urged Lutherans around the world to challenge systems that keep nearly one billion people hungry. "The quest for 'daily bread' is not only a deep ethical, moral and theological question but also an existential and spiritual challenge for our worldwide family of Lutheran churches," says Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko (pictured left).

Noko's remarks are in the foreword of an LWF publication focusing on the moral and practical concerns of the global food security crisis and the challenge it offers Lutheran ministries around the world, especially in view of the organization’s upcoming assembly. "What is Enough?

Perspectives on Food Security and Sovereignty"is the title of a special edition of Lutheran World Information (LWI No. 05/2009) published to support reflections on the LWF Eleventh Assembly theme, "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread." The assembly, the organization's highest decision-making body, will be held from 20 to 27 July 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Contributions to the LWI edition portray the need for just food systems around the world and illustrate how Lutherans are resisting unfair systems while assisting those in need. In the 24-page publication, authors from different world regions, including countries in which the LWF is represented,offer perspectives on food security, education, climate change,land rights and advocacy.

The publication includes LWF Sunday 2009 liturgical material as well as biblical and theological reflections on what it means to gather around the table and celebrate God's abundance. This material can be adapted for LWF Sunday, marked annually on or around Reformation Sunday, to celebrate the diversity of LWF's membership worldwide.

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