Big thanks to all who attended our anti-trafficking event this week!

If you were there, I'd love to hear from you: What did you think of the film? What did you learn from the guest speaker? What questions were left unanswered? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The event is over, but of course the work of abolishing slavery continues. So the question is, what's next? (Not in the President Bartlet, that's-over-so-let's-move-on kind of way, but rather the how-do-we-keep-this-going kind of way.)

Or, as Call + Response writer, director and producer, Justin Dillon, asks in the film's climax:

This is an open source movement. The platform is written, everybody simply needs to write their code on top. What are you good at? What do you care about? Has this issue touched you? What is your response going to be?

What is our Response going to be?

Even if you weren't able to be at Wednesday's event, you can sill be part of the Response to modern-day slavery - both globally and locally.

You can:
-Fund Care for Local Trafficking Victims: Here is an order form for gift cards to be given to Anne's House. Giving gift cards provides needed food and clothes for girls rescued from sex slavery - girls now receiving vital care in the Chicago area. Orders due next Sunday, Feb. 26. (Order forms also available in the Narthex.)

-Chose an Action: The Call + Response website offers ways to be an abolitionist, including telling companies you want them to produce their products without using slave labor. ("Be the Response" cards with 10 action ideas also available in the Narthex.)

-Learn More: Learn about the PROMISE program in general and Anne's House in particular. (Brochures about both programs also available in the Narthex.)

Those response options aren't moving you? Check out my updated Abolitionist blogroll for all kinds of other options.

While I would of course love to have you support the efforts I highlighted here, there are plenty of avenues you can take. Just as long as you take one.

Be the response. Be an abolitionist.

We conclude our Friends series.

Last week we asked the people to finish the sentence "Friends are..." We read their responses along with biblical examples of friendship, with Mark 2 (the 4 friends who lower a paralyzed man before Jesus) as our focus. In that text, it is the faith of the friends that Jesus responds to.

This week is "Deconstructing Our Enemies."

Mirroring last week, we'll ask people to write on the wall again. This time it's, "My enemies are..."

We'll read John 15:12-14 (Jesus says we are his friends if we do as he commands us.)

And what does he command? To love our enemies (Matt. 5:43-47).

Are there biblical examples of this? How about Peter & Cornelius (the Jew and the Roman Centurion in Acts 10)?

Food for thought:
How do you know who your enemies are?
What emotions do enemies provoke? 
Any examples from our lives when an enemy became a friend?

Hope to see you in Fellowship Hall at 5pm this Sunday. All are welcome! Plus, all are welcome to join us at Buffalo Wild Wings (7 Bridges location) after worship as the conversation continues.

Why BWW? Because our Youth Ministries' fundraiser is there.

Did you see this? The story about our Call+Response film screening was the featured story on TribLocal! It looks like this:

Did you know there are as many as 27 million slaves in the world right now?

 

Woodridge United Methodist Church is trying to change that. Will you join us?

The statistics are shocking. There are more slaves in bondage today than ever before. In 2007, slave traders made more money than the combined profits of corporate giants Google, Nike and Starbucks. CALL+RESPONSE is a critically acclaimed, theatrically released, feature rockumentary that shines the spotlight on slavery in the 21st century.

Actors and activists Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd, Daryl Hannah along with prominent luminaries Dr. Cornel West, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, New York Times’ journalist Nicholas Kristof and many others offer first hand accounts of the modern day slave trade. Throughout the documentary, these cultural figures share the frightening facts about slavery today.

Lending their voices and songs to the cause are award-winning musicians such as Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Five For Fighting, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Emmanuel Jal, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, members of Nickel Creek and Rocco DeLuca, whose musical performances are perfectly in sync with the film’s important message. Dr. West makes the connection between music and slavery, noting that during slavery in America, the only two things a slave had were their bodies and voices.

First time filmmaker/musician Justin Dillon learned about modern day slavery while touring in Russia. His translator, a young girl, told him about an exciting job opportunity in the west. The job offer sounded a “little too good to be true,” and Dillon decided to investigate the offer on his own, discovering the job was indeed an attempt to trick the young girl into a form of slavery. Upon his return to the United States, Dillon decided to act, “I was infuriated that here in the 21st century, there are people living as slaves, with no hope, no options and no future. I knew in my heart that it was up to me to make a difference, to take a stand and actually do something to put an end to this abominable business.” Dillon reached out to politicians and advocates along with musicians, he put out the call and they responded.

Join Woodridge United Methodist Church on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00pm for a screening event of CALL+RESPONSE. After the screening, the Director of The Salvation Army PROMISE program and Founder of Anne’s House, will present ways modern-day slavery is being fought in the Chicago area. The screening is free and childcare is offered.
Be part of a film experience that has enlisted over 350,000 activists around the world to demand change.

For more information about CALL+RESPONSE, please visit www.callandresponse.com.

For more information about the CALL+RESPONSE screening, please visit www.woodridgeumc.org/learn/call–response

So. Will you join us? Come on Wednesday. Watch the film. Listen to the speaker. Be moved. Be inspired. Let your heart be broken by injustice that breaks God's heart. Ask questions. Take action. Bring a friend. Be an abolitionist.

8-year-old me: "Dad, why is there a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but no Kid's day?"

My Dad: "Because every day is Kid's day."

That response is an old joke, and it's just true enough to be a little funny. It can never be more than a little funny though, because, for the estimated 13-15 million kids trapped in slavery (at this very moment!), no day is Kid's day.

Forgive me the somewhat mawkish intro there. I was thinking about that long-ago exchange with my dad because it is now February. Meaning National Human Trafficking Prevention Month is over. But, of course, (say it with me now) every day needs to be Human Trafficking Prevention Day. To that end...

The CNN Freedom Project has excellent coverage of child labor slavery in the chocolate industry. There's even some good news: The Hersey company is finally addressing the issue:

The Hershey company, one of the United States' leading chocolate producers, says it's pledged $10 million over the next five years to educate West African cocoa farmers on improving their trade and combating child labor.

The company said in a press release that chocolate consumers will later this year be able to purchase a new version of Hershey's Bliss brand, which will be 100% made from Rain Forest Alliance-certified farms mostly in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

"It's a start," said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum. "We see this as a welcome first step toward accountability."

End Demand IL reports another victory: a conviction!

Sex trafficking is a local problem, and today Alex Campbell was convicted in a federal trial for selling women and girls out of a massage parlor in the Chicago suburb of Mt. Prospect. The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation applauds this victory and urges the community to hold purchasers (johns) accountable for buying sex and fueling the sex trade. Campbell recruited and prostituted women using force, fraud and coercion and had his name tattooed on their bodies to claim his ownership.

Sojourner's offers a rundown of their anti-trafficking work in 2011:

When, as is true today, the richest 10 percent own 85 percent of the world’s wealth and the poorest 50 percent live off the crumbs of 1 percent of the total global wealth, you’ve created a market where slavery will thrive.

What will it take to shut down "Satan's marketplace," the global slave trade? Every weapon in the arsenal of nonviolence.

Texas churches rescuing sex slaves, according to Associated Baptist Press:

Faith-based and other organizations are using a variety of methods to discover and "rescue" trafficking victims. By using a private investigator, Traffick911 recently rescued two girls from traffickers, including one who was sold as "Thanksgiving dessert." Groups like Traffick911 and TraffickStop are training individuals to recognize signs that indicate a person is being trafficked.

Next, groups like Refuge of Light and Traffick911 are attempting to build safe houses where rescued individuals can recover, a costly process that requires a safe environment. Safe houses are rare across the country. For a group like Traffick911 that discovers trafficking victims each month, that must change.

And, of course, right here at Woodridge UMC, we will host a screening of Call + Response on Feb. 15 with discussion and action opportunities to follow. BREAKING NEWS: GUEST SPEAKER ADDED! The Director of the Salvation Army's PROMISE program, who is also the Founder of Anne's House, will be on hand to share insight and stories from their local anti-trafficking work!

Along with the film’s creators, we believe "the end of modern-day slavery will come from individuals who gather together to push on businesses, media, and governments to support their existing values for human rights. We believe that this is a bottom-up movement that needs dynamic information, sustained inspiration, and most importantly, tactile activation."

Share your abolitionist activities in the comments so we can learn from each other.

I’m not seeing a lot of cases where there’s not coercion," she added. "The average age where a girl is forced into prostitution is 12 to 14. And most of these 16- or 17 year-olds are being run by pretty vicious pimps."

National Human Trafficking Prevention Month is winding down, but the actual work of preventing human trafficking continues. Two terrific posts yesterday - one national, one local - demonstrate the need for action and offer ways to meet that need.

Abolitionist and New York Times columnist, Nick Kristof, calls out Backpage.com for helping pimps trafficking girls. That's not a euphemism, I mean girls. As the quote above from Lauren Hersh, "the ace prosecutor in Brooklyn who leads the sex-trafficking unit there," demonstrates.

Kristof tells the story of a 13 year-old, whom he calls Babyface, who managed to escape from her pimp (read: trafficker). But not before "she was bleeding vaginally...her pimp had recently kicked her down a stairwell for trying to flee."

Why does Backpage need to shut down its adult services section?

Babyface had run away from home in September. Kendale Judge [the man who became her pimp] allegedly found her on the street, bought food for her and told her that she was beautiful. Within a few days, he had posted her photo on Backpage and was selling her five to nine times a day, prosecutors say. When she didn’t earn enough money, he beat her with a belt, they add. (emphasis added)

Further Kristof writes, Backpage "is a godsend to pimps, allowing customers to order a girl online as if she were a pizza."

It was that line that caught Kristin Claes' attention over at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE):

That's not the first time we've heard that comparison, and [Kristof's] sadly very right: When Rachel Durchslag, CAASE's executive director, interviewed 113 johns in Chicago, one purchaser said: "I usually call for a girl, you know, like a pizza.” There are so many disturbing things happening there--a girl being a commodity, available to order--it's important to know that johns are a driving force as much as pimps are.

I know it's easier to avert our eyes from this sort of atrocity. But we must not. Girls like Babyface aren't just in New York or Mumbai. They are here too. Fortunately, the news isn't all bad:

we [in the Chicago area] are fortunate locally that Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and Sheriff Tom Dart are embracing the End Demand approach. We’ve seen signs of progress in Illinois, with local stings that led to the arrests of more than 10 traffickers and 27 johns.

Please read Kristof's and Claes' full posts. Then pick an action they suggest and take it.

Want a different option? Come to church on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00pm as we screen and discuss the anti-trafficking documentary Call + Response. The event is free, we have plenty of parking, we'll provide some snacks, and child care is available.

Whatever else you do, be a modern-day abolitionist.

Jonah is the Colbert Report of the bible - whip smart, wickedly funny, and overwhelmingly satirical.

Jonah tries to flee from God’s presence and finds that’s not possible. God doesn’t just reside in Israel. Or America.

Jonah wants to limit God’s mercy - after all, the Ninevites were vicious, awful, sinful people. They were the enemy. But Jonah suspects, and then finds out, that’s not possible either.

There is no limit to God’s grace.

... If you'd like to listen to and/or read the whole sermon, you can do so here.

“...Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

We read those inspiring, challenging words from the prophet Amos this past Sunday.
It certainly is a beautiful image - justice, as strong as the tide rolling in yet as refreshing as a cool stream, coming for those in need.

But for we who would worship and serve God, those words also culminate some stark proclamations. To paraphrase Amos, God says that no matter how eloquent are our prayers, no matter how big are our offering checks, no matter how pitch-perfect and heartfelt are our songs, God will not listen, will not accept, will not hear  them...unless and until we are also actively engaged in bringing justice for the hungry, the poor, and the oppressed.

Like I said, challenging words.

This week, a group of our youth (with some leaders, of course) did their best to live up to that challenge. In lieu of our regular Wednesday night activities, we spent two hours serving at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora. In those two hours the 20 of us, along with about 50 other volunteers, packed enough meals to fill 82 boxes.

That means we packed 17,712 meals, enough to fed 49 kids for a year.

The boxes we packed are scheduled to go to Haiti next week. It’s been two years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, but tremendous need still exists.

We are humbled and thrilled to provide a small piece of relief, to help bring to life God’s dreams of justice for hungry children.

In what works of justice are you participating?

There are as many as 27-30 million slaves in the world today. Yes, today.

Yesterday, January 11, 2012, was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. But just one day is truly not enough. And, honestly, "merely" raising awareness is just not enough. Fortunately, this year President Obama declared all of January as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

It seems to me that the vast problem of modern-day slavery/human trafficking has become much more visible in mainstream media. It's certainly all over Twitter. (Just search #NHTAD.)

Heck, there's even an anti-human trafficking opera now!

There are no so many organizations fighting trafficking, so many people engaged in this struggle to end oppression. Largely through Twitter, I've met all kinds of excellent people and groups I've who are also abolitionists.

Just yesterday I watched Call + Response for the first time. It is an excellent film, mainly for raising awareness - but also for inspiration to, well, respond. Modern-day slavery is (it should almost go without saying) a blatant, disgusting, soul-numbing, mind-blowing, body-paralyzing evil. This film reminds us of that. But it manages not to get stuck in the funk. In fact, it uses the funk to inspire hope! (Trust me on this. Or, better yet, see the film yourself! We're hosting a screening here at church on Feb. 15. More details soon.)

My hope and prayer is that, wherever you are on the abolitionist journey, you will keep learning, sharing and acting to end slavery in our time.

A few ways to respond today, this month, always:

Learn some basics.

Watch videos from Not for Sale's Global Forum on Human Trafficking.

Read teen author, Zach Hunter's ideas to end slavery.

Check out retreat resources from United Methodist Women.

Read about The United Methodist Committee on Relief's efforts in Armenia.

See how educators like Holly Boardman are inspiring - and being inspired by - their students to end slavery.

In the words of Justin Dillon, writer, director and producer of Call + Response:

This is an open source movement. The platform is written, everybody simply needs to write their code on top. What are you good at? What do you care about? Has this issue touched you? What is your response going to be?

I promise I will continue to challenge the people of Woodridge UMC to fight slavery locally and globally. God dreams of a slave-free world. We long to bring that dream to life.

What is your response going to be?

We all know that music is powerful.

Music moves us, motivates us, inspires us. (Even to the point of boosting our athletic performance!)

Music helps us express emotions and helps us tell stories.

That's why music is such a vital and integral part of just about every worship experience everywhere.

But it's also deeply personal. Which is great when you're filling your idevice with music for you to enjoy. But presents a challenge when attempting to craft a meaningful gathering for a multitude of ages, races and personality types.

It's really hard for any of us - myself chief among them - to step outside of our own personal preferences in music when considering, planning, or experiencing worship.

Perhaps something to think about this Sunday at 9:00 am, 10:30 am and 5:00pm...

Anyway, if you're interested, here are my thoughts on the year in music for 2011.

My wife, Joann, and I are proud members of Bread for the World.

Why? Because, for example: "Is not this the fast that I choose? To loose the bonds of injustice...to break every yoke? ...It is not to share your bread with the hungry?" (Isaiah 58:6-7)

The biblical call for justice compels us to raise our voice on behalf of poor and hungry people here in the U.S. and around the globe.

What good does that do? In the words of Bread's President, Rev. David Beckmann:

In November, Congress approved the fiscal year 2012 agriculture budget, which provided funds for international food aid. And just last weekend, Congress approved the rest of fiscal year 2012 funding, which will help save lives:

• No drastic cuts were made to funding for poverty-focused development assistance. Funding for FY12 will be $21.3 billion, compared to $21.4 billion in 2011.
• No drastic cuts were made to international food aid. Food aid cuts proposed earlier in the year would have thrown 14 million of the world’s most desperate people off food aid rations.
• No drastic cuts were made to WIC. The proposed WIC cut would have deprived 300,000 children and mothers of nutrition assistance this year.

These victories are a testament to the impact Bread members had in calling for a circle of protection around poverty-focused development assistance.

We're Bread members because Bread is doing all it can to bring God's dream for a world without hunger and poverty to life.

For the first time in quite a while, we didn't do an Offering of Letters (OL) in 2011. Rest assured, we will raise our voice through an offering of letters in 2012. Bread is updating their procedures, making them more flexible, better able to respond to a current need.

I also plan to hold 2 or 3 learning opportunities prior to our OL so we can really explore the issues we're addressing, including why writting letters matters. Plus, this way we won't be trying to cram so much information into such a short time. It will also allow us time for questions and responses. None of this has been scheduled yet, but I'm excited just thinking about it!

Are you a Bread member? If not, what are you doing beyond our congregation to fight hunger and poverty?