Disciple: The Gospel Call

A Harvest for Hospitality campaign update

By Ayliffe Mumford and Summerlee Walter

A story, told by the Rev. Lisa Fischbeck to diocesan delegates at the 131st Annual Convention of the Diocese of East Carolina in February 2014:

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my teachers determined that it would be a good idea for our school to host a Halloween party for migrant farmworker kids. I don’t know how the arrangements were made, but I do remember being excited as my friends and I decorated the lunchroom and neatly arranged cookies and candy on plates and trays.

I am the descendant, you see, of German immigrant farmers. So when I heard “migrant farmworker kids,” I imagined a busload of little blond-haired, blue-eyed children, poor, but dressed in dirndls and speaking German.

Well, the bus pulled up, and the kids streamed out. Like my forbearers, they were poor. But they were not blond-haired, blue-eyed children, dressed in dirndls and speaking German.

In the 1970s, most migrant farmworker kids were African- American.

I was embarrassed at my own ignorance, even though I did not confess it. Until now.

That experience got me to this place.

Because my embarrassment prompted me to learn more, to understand more fully, just who migrant farmworkers were, and to get involved in something more useful, perhaps, than providing their kids with Halloween candy and cookies.

As we learned in our recent experience of Go Speak! Sharing our Faith, Fischbeck’s story holds a glimpse of God’s hand at work – eventually guiding her through many twists and turns to become a co-chair of Harvest for Hospitality, the campaign to support the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry (EFwM). The campaign, introduced at the 198th Annual Convention last November and continuing through June 2015, aims to support the transformation of EFwM so it can continue to serve the physical and spiritual needs of farmworkers by recognizing and engaging with their changing 21st-century circumstances.

Undergirding the entire campaign is a theology of welcome, love and support for our neighbors the farmworkers, whether or not they look like us or meet our expectations of who farmworkers are supposed to be. In his pastoral address to the 198th Annual Convention, Bishop Curry reminded us of the central teachings to which we as Christians hold, regardless of our political or social views:

I am aware that faithful followers of Jesus may have differing views about which public policies embody the best way to live out the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus, who taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:31) Jesus, who taught us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Luke 6:31) Jesus, who taught us that God’s standard of social and personal morality is summed up in these words: “As you did it to the least of these who are members  of my family, you have done it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

The gospel message could not be more clear: where we see hunger, illness, suffering, loneliness, isolation and fear, we are called to act. We are called to love, to welcome, to see the face of Jesus in the faces of those whom society ignores and to treat them as we would the incarnate Word. For anyone who has visited a migrant labor camp or worked a 14-hour day harvesting sweet potatoes while bent over in the hot North Carolina sun, there can be no doubt that farmworkers are among “the least of these” whom Jesus calls us to serve in his name.

Their place of origin makes no difference. Both the Old and New Testaments encourage hospitality to the stranger, the alien, the foreigner. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it,” we are warned in Hebrews, while Moses in Deuteronomy said it this way: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Hebrews 13:2, Deut. 10:19). While the debate over immigration is a complicated and divisive one, we can all agree on the biblical mandate to respect the dignity of all human beings. Protecting and upholding that human dignity by providing welcome and hospitality is the work of the EFwM.

The EFwM’s mission also parallels the broader movement within The Episcopal Church calling for fair treatment of immigrants and migrant farmworkers. As far back as 1992, the Executive Council established policies for advocacy on behalf of these groups. More recently, the 75th General Convention in 2006 passed a resolution calling on the Church to “undertake a campaign to educate Episcopalians on the plight of refugees, immigrants and migrants.” While advocacy is not the EFwM’s purpose – humanitarian aid and sacramental ministry are instead – the ministry’s work helps to accomplish the ultimate goal of advocacy for migrant workers: to ensure that all farmworkers, regardless of origin, are able to live and work with dignity.

Fischbeck encapsulates The Episcopal Church’s – and the Diocese’s – concern for farmworkers with her thoughts on the Baptismal Covenant:

In our Baptismal Covenant we say that, with God’s help, we will “respect the dignity of every human being.” It is far easier to respect the dignity of others if we know something about them – where they came from, their joys, their sorrows, the humanity we share. The Harvest for Hospitality campaign gives us an opportunity to learn more about the farmworkers, who are “the stranger at our door,” our new neighbors.

The Harvest for Hospitality campaign aims to model this spirit of learning, understanding and loving.

- Reported by Ayliffe Mumford and Summerlee Walter

LOOKING FORWARD

The Harvest for Hospitality campaign aims to raise $400,000, or $50 per household in the Diocese. Funds will be used to transform the ministry in three ways:

An initial portion of the funding will be used to conduct an assessment of the ministry in order to determine how it can be structured to be more effective in its current work and to become more sustainable from year to year.

Another portion of the funds raised will be used to hire someone to develop and implement a strategy to engage with farmworkers of every kind – migrant and resident, manager and owner – and to engage the people of our state, too.

A third portion of the funds raised will be used toward a yet-to-be-determined project that emerges from our engagement. So far, we have imagined a few possibilities: providing more affordable and dignified housing for everyone, working in education or with health care, or some other project toward which the Holy Spirit moves us.

The Diocese of East Carolina began fundraising across the diocese with a “50 in 50” drive. People were encouraged to donate $1 per day during the great 50 days of Easter. Each household received a box for their contributions, which were gathered in on Pentecost. Our diocese plans to offer the same campaign next Eastertide.

In the meantime, the campaign website has resources and ideas for fundraising that any group can explore now. Feel free to contact Patti Trainor for more information. She is also available for presentations.