In the passage that I just read, Philip Cousineau beautifully captures the way in which food links us both to nature and to our global community. As the author enjoys freshly baked bread while walking through a field of sunflowers, he describes traveling a "carousel of memory". His description sent me on a "carousel of memory" of my own. The taste, texture and recollections associated with certain types of bread swirl in my mind.

Cardamom bread from the Brewster General Store. When I was a teenager, I worked summers at the big old-fashioned store on historic 6A on Cape Cod. The store is complete with jars of penny candy, general merchandise and regulars who sit out on the front benches reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. Once a week, Carol, a lovely lady with Swedish heritage, a soft voice, and strawberry blond hair piled into a bun on the top of her head would arrive with her much-anticipated delivery, six trays of freshly baked Cardamom bread. The dough was braided into thick loaves and generously sprinkled with sugar. Good enough for desert but usually gobbled down for a snack with a cold glass of iced tea.

Wheat bread in college. My family never made bread so baking was something I learned from my college housemate, Rebecca. Somehow up until that time, bread had always seemed mysterious and difficult to me. I can still remember the sheer joy of baking bread with Rebecca. We laughed and talked as we combined the simple ingredients. I loved the yeast smell as the dough rose. She showed me how to knead and shape the dough as someone in her family had taught her. Those loaves of wheat bread never produced the neat slices of the store-bought variety but the flavor and satisfaction could not be matched.

Portuguese sweet bread from my maternal heritage. Big round loaves warm from the Sunshine Bakery in New Bedford. The fluffy slices spread with margarine, perfect for breakfast, the sweet taste melting in my mouth. I remember one Easter when I was still living in California my mother sent me the traditional bread with four hard-cooked eggs tucked inside the loaf their round shells peeking out from the cross-pattern on top. The smell and flavor of that Easter sweet bread tasted of home. I peeled back the dough to exhume the eggs, ancient symbol of rebirth and the arrival of spring.

Matzoh from my paternal Jewish heritage. The unleavened bread used during the Passover Seder symbolizing the flight of the Hebrews from the land of Egypt. As it is told, the Hebrews departed so quickly that there was no time for the bread to rise. As we eat the traditional Passover foods, we retell the story of the liberation from the bonds of slavery and the hope that someday all humanity will know freedom. Matzoh by itself is about as dry and plain as a bread could be. During the Passover Seder, matzoh is eaten both with charoset, a sweet apple and nut mixture, and horseradish. The bread serves as a platform for both the bitter and the sweet making tangible and immediate the bittersweet nature of life.

A poignant memory was breaking the bread of Project Harvest Hope. As many of you are aware, our Unitarian roots go back four hundred years in Transylvania, an Eastern European country that is now a part of Romania. I went on a pilgrimage there in August of 2001 to visit Unitarian villages. Our Transylvanian Unitarian brothers and sisters live very modest lives as a religious and ethnic minority in an impoverished country. The village of Okland is partnered with the UU church in Oakland, CA. This partnership has been a remarkable one. Through the vision of the minister, Levente Keleman, and the support of the Oakland congregation, they have been able to build a mill to grind grain into flour, a bakery that bakes bread, and have just completed a dairy barn.

During Ceaucescu's regime, villagers were forced to construct buildings for collectivization projects. Once the Revolution took place in 1989, many villagers in their sense of release and rage destroyed these buildings that were symbols of their oppression. In Okland, these buildings are being transformed due in great part to donations from American Unitarian Universalists. This partnership has been so successful that they have created a non-profit organization called Project Harvest Hope. It is also deeply meaningful that they are able to bake and sell their own bread for under communism, the bread was rationed and was often stale. I had heard of this project's success but it was a touching experience to actually hold a loaf of white bread baked in that bakery, tear off a piece and pass it to my colleague.

Bread is often referred to as the staff of life. The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures often make reference to bread both as a source of sustenance, means of fellowship and for its spiritual connection to the Divine. Bread is an important religious symbol both in the Passover seder and in Communion. Setting aside the carbohydrate-free diet that seems to becoming increasingly popular, bread holds a special place in our lives. The food connects us to our ethnic heritage, the cultural traditions of the places in which have lived, and the people who entered our lives either momentarily or enduringly who have shared their traditions with us.

I invite you for a moment to take a ride on your own "carousel of memory".
Think back to your earliest memory of someone baking bread. Recall their hands as they worked with the dough, the living yeast rising. Perhaps you yourself have had some experience of baking a traditional family recipe. How have you carried on your family traditions and shared them with the next generation? Bring to mind all the kinds of breads you have enjoyed over the years: the variety of shapes, sizes, flavors from sweet to savory. When has that experience brought with it a sense of connection to the earth? When have you truly tasted awe and gratitude for the miracle of life?

The reason that I am stirring up these warm memories is that in our busy lives it is easy to become removed from food as a deeper source of meaning and sustenance. In the United States, grocery stores are filled with a variety of choices so many choices that they are called "supermarkets". Fast food restaurants and microwaves allow us to prepare meals more quickly but also allows us to eat more rapidly without really appreciating what a blessing it is to have food and be able to refuel and nourish our bodies.

Given the importance of food for physical, cultural, and spiritual well-being, it is important for us as people of conscience to digest the following facts about this world in which we live:

• 1.3 billion people, 20% of the human family, live in absolute poverty with incomes of less than a dollar a day. World Bank
• 828 million people are hungry-more than the population of the Western Hemisphere. FAO
• Children are most vulnerable. Of the 31,000 children under five who die each day in developing nations, half perish from hunger-related causes. That's one child dying for every breath we take. Grace at the Table
• Seven million people die from hunger-related causes annually. Famines account for only three percent of these deaths. The vast majority are caused by chronic under-nutrition. Bread for the World
• 36 million people, 13% of the US population, fall below the official poverty line. US Census
• The rate of child poverty in the US is triple the average for other industrial nations.
• Rising housing costs and a weak economy in Rhode Island are leading to increasing requests for emergency food assistance and shelter.
• Here in Newport, faith communities offer a Soup Kitchen with a hot meal every day.

As Barbara shared with us this morning, using the children to illustrate her point, world resources are not distributed fairly. One of the myths about hunger is that there is not enough food to go around. Food First, an Institute for Food and Development Policy posts the following:

"Abundance, not scarcity, best describes the world's supply. Enough wheat, rice and other grains are produced to provide every human being with 3,500 calories a day. That doesn't even count many other commonly eaten foods-vegetables, beans, nuts, root crops, fruits, grass-fed meats, and fish. Enough food is available to provide at least 4.3 pounds of food per person a day worldwide: two and a half pounds of grain, beans and nuts, about a pound of fruits and vegetables, and nearly another pound of meat, milk and eggs- enough to make most people fat! The problem is that many people are too poor to buy readily available food. Even most 'hungry countries' have enough food for their people right now."

The good news is that together we are making a difference! The reason that I chose to preach about hunger today is to share with you my enthusiasm for the upcoming Crop Walk right here in Newport on Saturday, April 26th. Barbara Richter is serving as the Crop Walk coordinator for our church again this year. You'll find an insert in your order of service with more information and you can call the church office or contact Barbara if you would like to participate.
There are two thousand locally organized Crop Walks each year and more than a quarter million Cropwalkers. The Newport Crop Walk is organized by the Rev. David Hackmann and Anne Sherman of St. Peter's Lutheran Church. 25% of the funds raised go to the Martin Luther King Center and the United Baptist Church to support the local Soup Kitchen, food pantry and breakfast program. The rest of the donations are contributed to fifteen international agencies, which address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness in 80 countries by supporting sustainable self-help development. Individual donors also have the option of designating their gifts to other approved hunger-fighting agencies.

St. Peter's sends out a tally sheet with the number of walkers and donations. In 2000, no one from Channing Memorial Church was involved in the Crop Walk. In 2001, three members of our church joined with people from fourteen local congregations raising $215. Last year, I stood here lifting up the possibility of our congregation walking in greater numbers and raising more than $215. Well, in 2002, twenty-five members of our church walked! Lee Tolman, a member of our congregation gave an inspirational contribution of over $1000 and our church members raised one-third of the record $10,000 raised! For our significant contribution, we won the golden sneaker award!

We may not be able to eradicate hunger overnight, but here is a simple and satisfying way of putting our values into action. You can volunteer to walk for three or ten miles and even without financial sponsorship, join in an interfaith movement in our community. You can ask friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers to sponsor you and even a small donation will be a meaningful contribution. All money received by April 26th will be eligible for a grant from the Feinstein Foundation. If you are unable or unavailable to walk, you can make a contribution of any amount by contacting Barbara Richter.

As privileged people, it is possible to be weighed down with shame and despair over the growing disparity between those who have and those who have not. Instead, let the experience of eating freshly baked bread feed your hunger for justice. Bread is the staff of life nourishing our bodies, minds, and spirits. Contribute to the RI Food Bank- they need your support as food donations tend to be sporadic and unpredictable. Volunteer to help at the monthly Soup Kitchen here at Channing Church. Prepare a nourishing meal and take the time to really enjoy it. Find ways to fully experience that sustenance by inviting people to break bread with you. May the tastes and nutrients fuel and sustain you to take one more step toward making this an ever more just and loving world.