HERE is a really funny video featuring Kristin Bell as Mary Poppins that will forever change how you say supercalifra…. (alert for those of you who aren’t used to farm talk: it ends in BS) and how you think about minimum wage.  However, Mary, even a $3 increase does NOT equal a living wage–at least not in most of the US.

…and he wants other bosses to get it too.  Dan Price was concerned about the growing income inequality in America and decided to make a difference.  He raised the minimum wage at his company, Gravity Payments, to $70,000 per year!  Thirty of his employees saw their pay double overnight!  How did he do it?  He cut his own salary to $70,000 a year (from $1 million).

Watch Dan talk about his decision on NBC’S Today Show.

The New York Times covered the story as well.

Tomorrow, at 4 pm, thousands of low-wage workers (and people who support them) will take their message to the streets.  The message: “No one can live on minimum wage!”  For those in Logan Square, Chicago, transportation is available from Humboldt Park United Methodist Church, 2020 N. Mozart, and Nuestra Señora De Las Americas, Logan Blvd and Francisco.

On April 15, low-wage workers and their supporters in over 200 cities across the nation will rally to demand higher wages.  In Chicago, the event will begin at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) at 4:00 pm.  This is a great opportunity to put what we’ve learned from our Fast Food Fast throughout Lent into ACTION.  To find a rally in your area, go to www.april15.org

The 2015 Lenten Compact, “Fast Food Fast for Worker Justice” has ended.  You can go back to your Big Macs and your Whoppers, your Frosties and your fries, your Lattes and your Big Gulps.  Or can you?

How have you been challenged and changed by your participation in this year’s Compact?  How has your view of workers in low-wage jobs shifted?  How do you feel about the struggles faced by those who experience wage theft or slavery?  How will you live differently beyond Lent and into Easter and God’s new day?

Share your experience so we can all grow in our discipleship.

Romans 16:1-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Reading a list of names is not the most exciting way to end the 2015 Lenten Compact Fast Food Fast for Worker Justice! However, take a moment to list all the people who are commended for their hard work or for being Paul’s co-workers. What, if anything, surprises you about the list? What do you think their “hard work” entailed?

Think of the people who work hard around you. How will you acknowledge them and honor them today?

Four years ago today, Aminul Islam disappeared.  Two days later, his tortured body was found.  Mr. Islam was a labor organizer in Bangladesh, the home to thousands of sweatshops making clothing for GAP, American Eagle and other global brands.

On April 4, he was advocating for worker justice.  On April 4, he died.  No one knows who killed him.  However, the New York Times reported, “Mr. Islam’s work often made him a target. In 2010, after angry wage protests shook the country, the authorities charged Mr. Islam and two of his bosses with “antistate” activities. Harassment by police and intelligence agents became so intense that Mr. Islam’s bosses sought a truce: a secret meeting was held between Mr. Islam and the director of the main domestic spying agency, the National Security Intelligence Agency, or N.S.I.”

The shadow of the cross continues to be seen and felt.

Read the entire story of Aminul Islam’s murder HERE.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18; Revelation 21:1-5

As we prepare for and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, we must remember that Easter Sunday is God’s starting point for making all things new. We live in the “now and not yet” of God’s new creation.   We are a new creation in Christ. The old ways are done. Through us, God is ministering reconciliation to the world—a ministry that will culminate fully in a new heaven and new earth.

How can you be a minister of reconciliation among those who are oppressed? Among those who are enslaved? Among the working poor? What hope does the resurrection bring to people who are suffering injustice in their workplace? To people who are chronically unemployed?

How has God transformed you during this Lenten Fast Food Fast? How will you pursue justice for those who work—and especially low-wage workers?

On This Day….  Worker Justice during Holy Week

The cross is a symbol of state violence used against those who are considered threats to the power of the state.  In Jesus’ day, the cross was reserved for people accused (and convicted) of sedition and treason against the Roman Empire.  In our day, the spirit of the cross can be seen in the harassment, threats and even execution of those who stand up for worker justice.  Forty-seven years ago today, Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Memphis, TN, to support striking sanitation workers and delivered his “I’ve Been To the Mountaintop” speech.  On April 4, he was killed while standing on his motel room balcony.   Questions remain about the roll of the FBI in King’s assassination.  For years, the FBI had kept King under constant surveillance, secretly tapping his phone lines and following his every move.  FBI Deputy Director at the time, William C. Sullivan, acknowledged in a memo that King was, “the target of an intensive campaign by the FBI to neutralize him as an effective civil rights leader.”

Read his final speech HERE.

Exodus 13:3-10

Today is the beginning of Passover, the annual festival that celebrates the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Special foods will be eaten that will remind the people of the bitterness of slavery (bitter herbs), the harshness of life under oppression (hard boiled eggs dipped in salt water), and the joy of release (unleavened bread and wine). Every aspect of the festival reminds the people that God is their liberator and the One who is victorious over the oppressor.

Today is also Good Friday, the day Jesus died as our Passover Lamb.   Through Christ, we have the promise of release from oppression and victory over the Oppressor.

Today, think of those who are still experiencing the bitterness of slavery and the harshness of life under oppression; think of those who are being sacrificed to the idol of greed and who are nailed to the cross of profit; and pray that they will find hope and joy as they await release through the mighty hand and outstretched arm of Almighty God.

On This Day….  Worker Justice during Holy Week