One wheel with many spokes is how the Community Empowerment Project in Burundi acts – one project that supports many communities or “collines” as community members make their hope for the future a reality in the present. With support from ELCA World Hunger through its implementing partner, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), each colline focuses on a set of key issues related to the well-being of community members. As the people take part in the activities, they develop the skills they will need to ensure long-term sustainability for themselves, their families and their neighbors. These collines are “growing and growing” says Adela from the Musha colline the elected leader of the Musha colline’s self-help group. Her participation has helped her develop her own skills as she helps her fellow colline members. “As leader of the group, I have become more self-confident.” As a result of the program, Adela has seen an increase in food security and productivity. People in her town are now able to have meals three times a day instead of one, and they have extra funds for medical expenses and school.
Regina, a grandmother left homeless after the recent civil war in Burundi, is also a witness to the benefits of the project in Musha. With support from LWF, she received help she needed to build a new home and reclaim the swamp for agriculture. “I am able to get enough money to pay the school fees. I grow produce in the swamp – rice, bean and sweet potato,” she says.
Amina is from the Cendajura Commune and was a refugee during the later years of the civil war. In 2000, she left for Tanzania, traveling without food or water with her child until she got to a refugee camp. During the mobilization to return to Burundi, Amina moved from camp to camp, fearful of returning to a war-torn area. Amina is part of the Muslim community, but she thankful for the interreligious aid she is receiving in the form of a new house, “I am a Muslim, but I feel very well that it is Christians who help me.” She is slowly but surely gaining hope for her future as she is in conversation with LWF about a house for her family.
War, homelessness, and food production are not the only issues Burundians face, as community members in Mwiruzi well know. In this region, contaminated water has created a crisis. As Oscar, a worker at the project site says, “For us, when there is a water shortage, we don’t have life. So we are fighting for life .” As with the activities at other collines, this project is community-initiated, and LWF is providing materials to aid in the building of wells and improved water systems.
Emile Nihende is a LWF facilitator, and is responsible for a colline where there are activities assisted by LWF. He spends only one weekend a month with his family and lives alongside the community he is helping. “I am here because I had the chance to be educated. Because I have been supported, now I want to share the fruits of this education with the community.” This perspective is key to the Community Empowerment Project’s sustainability. As neighbors build their own skills and meet their needs together, the entire community can look toward long-term sustainable change together.
Advent Reflection: Come Emmanuel
Nicholas Jaech, Lutheran Office for World Community
“O come, O come, Emmanuel / And ransom captive Israel / That mourns in lonely exile here / Until the Son of God appear / Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel / Shall come to thee, O Israel.”
“O come, O come, Emmanuel” has always been my favorite Advent hymn. I don’t really know why, but its mystic and almost mysterious melody, along with the tradition of singing a new verse of the hymn every progressing Sunday toward Christmas has made it a favorite since my childhood. But it wasn’t until this Advent season that I really began to think critically about the scriptural text the song offers.
“And ransom captive Israel” – what exactly does this mean? This lyric reminds us of the captivity, enslavement, and occupation of the Jewish people by Egypt and Babylon in the Old Testament. The enslavement by Egypt of course precedes the story of Moses and the exodus of the Jews to Canaan.
It has occurred to me that “captive Israel” is a not just a reference to scripture and of times passed, but of times present as well. How many people in our world today are “captive Israel?”
I’ve had the privilege of working for the Lutheran Office for World Community at the United Nations in New York for almost four months now. I’ve learned so much about the domestic and global advocacy of the ELCA, as well as the global programs of the Lutheran World Federation. But inevitable to working in this center of global politics and decision-making, I’ve also had the stark opportunity to broaden my awareness of the pain and suffering that is occurring in the world.
Especially during the holiday season in the United States, the juxtaposition of the elegantly and brightly decorated stores and houses and the grim realities of hate, greed, and marginalization are distressing.
Systematic violence in Syria has led to 4.3 million refugees fleeing for their lives on land and sea. Sudden acts of violence in the Central African Republic have led to an unraveling of previous gains in peace and reconciliation. And in the United States, gun violence continues to ravage communities. Hate speech at local and national levels continues to divide and marginalize many. And members of the LGBTQ community, especially transgender women, continue to experience deadly violent attacks.
“Lonely exile” is truly a lived reality of so many in our world right now.
But this mystic hymn reminds us more than just the painful realities of life. It also brings the promise of Advent – the promise of something beautiful coming in the future; something to re-instill our hope. We are promised that “Emmanuel” – God among us – will come to us, especially those living the realities of lonely exile.
I am brought emotional relief and a renewed sense of hope when global efforts of change, such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals or the Paris Agreement (on Climate Change), are adopted and made a priority. While these are imperfect human-made solutions, they attempt to serve and help those living in this “lonely exile.” We need more systemic and humanitarian innovation like this, both in the United States and internationally. We also need a strong effort to undermine the foundations of “captive Israel” and “lonely exile” – poverty, exclusion, fear, greed, among others.
But for now, in this moment, I look to these new multilateral agreements as steps to a beautiful future; I keep on humming “O come, O come, Emmanuel” to myself; and I continue to hold onto the hope promised to us during the Advent season.
Three Ways “The Poor” and Communities of Faith Are Leading the Way on Climate Change
(A version of this post previously appeared on the Huffington Post Impact blog – http://goo.gl/L3MtiH.)
The impact is a “two-way street.” Climate change makes it harder for farmers to grow crops, on the one hand, and some farming practices, on the other hand, damage soil, pollute water supplies, and create harmful emissions. But change is happening in small farming communities around the world, especially in communities of faith. Here are three ways poor communities around the globe are adapting to climate change with the support of ELCA World Hunger.
“Bondhu chula,” a more efficient cookstove, was developed to combat some of these problems. But many Bangladeshis have been reluctant to use them, mostly because they don’t know how. Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh has stepped in by working with over 250 women to help them get familiar with the cookstoves and the positive impact they can have. For Bangladeshis like Ramoni and Nor, efficient cooking in the home means better health and more money for themselves and a path away from deforestation for their rural community.
In this picture, a man holds biomass pellets similar to those that will be used in the project in Padhar.
Cleaner cooking also makes good economic sense for families in Padhar, India. To address some of the problems older cookstoves create, Padhar Hospital is helping households get access to smokeless stoves that use biomass pellets. The program will not only train the people to use the stoves but will also help them turn their biomass into profit by providing it to a processing plant. Since no such plant currently exists in Padhar, one will be built. Thus the program will provide cleaner stoves, help residents earn income, and create jobs for people in Padhar, all while protecting the environment.
“Green-er” Coffee
Farmers in the Rachuonyo District of Homa Bay County in western Kenya know the daily realities of climate change. They see it in the shortened periods of rainfall, prolonged dry seasons, and increased flooding that washes away valuable crops and seeds.
Most of the farmers in this region focus their attention and limited investment on subsistence farming, trying to grow enough food to feed their families but often not producing crops that they can use for income. This leaves them with little savings to weather the kind of volatility that comes with climate change. One bad season can mean a year of hunger for a smallholder farmer.
One group is working to change that. Members of the smallholder famers’ collective group, APOKO, partnered with Lutheran World Relief (LWR) in 2014 to launch the Kinda Coffee project. Farmers in the project learn how to maintain the nutrient levels in soil, prevent erosion and increase water retention at model demonstration plots. This will not only help them increase their resilience to the droughts and flooding but will also help them protect the environment while earning a sustainable income. Support for this project from ELCA World Hunger will continue into 2016 and will improve the quality of life for hundreds of households.
Smarter Farming
Thanks to the collective efforts of the last decade, over 90 percent of the world now has access to clean water. Unfortunately, climate change threatens to undermine much of that progress. Longer, more intense droughts for farmers affect everything from what kinds of crops or animals they can raise to the yield they get from their fields. When families are already teetering on the edge of poverty, these are serious risks.
But communities in Nicaragua and Bangladesh aren’t just waiting around for something to change. They are adapting to the changes already sweeping their regions and doing what they can to steward their resources sustainably.
In Bangladesh, air pollution and deforestation aren’t the only problems. The country faces huge disparities in access to safe water, and more work is needed to provide irrigation to the agriculture industry that employs nearly half of the labor force. RDRS, a locally-run associate program of the Lutheran World Federation, is helping train farmers in Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), a technique that can reduce by up to 30% the amount of water needed to grow rice. As a result, they are able to preserve groundwater and reduce risk of contaminating their crops with unsafe water. And some studies indicate that AWD can actually increase the yields from rice fields, so the process is a win-win.
With an abundance of water on the ground and under the ground, Nicaragua seems like a place where there is enough to go around. But a 2014 drought – the worst in the country in 40 years – reduced crop yields by more than 70%. In the area of Somotillo, most of the wells ran dry, and the people worry about another drought down the road. “In this place,” Pastor Gerzan Alvarez of the Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope (ILFE) in Nicaragua says, “we’re only able to survive.”
With support from LWF and ELCA World Hunger, ILFE is taking steps to manage the crisis. Since the drought, the community has improved wells in the area, led trainings in proper water usage and management, set up irrigation systems, and planted yard gardens. Pastor Emperatriz Velasques of ILFE says now, “Each day we’re learning about nature’s behavior, and we need to keep on working and teaching so we can grow our crops with the little water we have and keep home gardens with water from our wells. This way, we can provide food for the households.”
Policy changes that reduce emissions and change the way we relate to the environment are necessary, long-range solutions to a changing climate, and the recent agreements about climate change and hunger give some hope. But there is also a lot we can learn from those on the margins, in local communities throughout the world. In Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and Nicaragua, families are doing what they can to protect their environment and make themselves less vulnerable to the changes that are still to come.
Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is program director of Hunger Education with ELCA World Hunger. He can be reached at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.
In one minute, how many examples can you list of underdogs beating the odds in sports or politics or entertainment? In the next minute, list unlikely heroes and contributors to the common good: people you know or have heard about who were thought to be ordinary, but then did something extraordinary, showing great generosity, talent, compassion, or courage. End by naming people you know who have “hidden talents,” people who have the ability to do something extraordinary, but are not yet recognized.
God’s Odd Choices
Today, the forces of evil (e.g. illness and death, cruelty, war, violence, hatred, and fear) seem to have the upper hand in our world, in our country, and in too many neighborhoods and homes. Those who contribute to the common good and give us hope that good will prevail, often emerge from obscurity, beat the odds with courage and tenacity, and surprise the world with their success. They are God’s odd choices.
Personally, I waver between pessimism and optimism that good will ever overcome evil. Keeping up with current events pushes me toward pessimism. The media is saturated with news of epidemics, poverty, hatred, and violence. Plus, everyone I know knows several others who are hurting emotionally or physically or are afflicted with life-shattering mental illness or addiction: problems that afflict the wealthy and the poor, strong families and broken families, children, youth, and adults.
My work pushes me in the other direction: toward optimism. I am blessed to be in contact with people and organizations that I firmly believe are God’s allies, inspired by the Holy Spirit (who, in my world-view, inspires Christians and non-Christians alike) to address the root causes of violence, overcome hatred with respect, and relieve suffering with acts of compassion. Knowing them makes me optimistic that the world will not spiral down into irretrievable chaos.
If pessimism is on one end of the spectrum and optimism is on the other, I am near the middle. I’m not wildly optimistic because the power of evil seems so great; but I locate myself slightly off center, toward the optimistic side, because I see so many people of good will helping others, doing their best to make flawed institutions better, and creating a better life for themselves.
Discussion Questions
Do you agree that God’s spirit “inspires Christians and non-Christians alike”?
Do you believe people from diverse races, cultures, religions, and socio-economic circumstances share the values necessary to work together for a common good?
What are the chances good will win out over evil? What personal experiences have contributed to your optimism or pessimism?
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:2-5a
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45 [46-55]
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings
For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.
Gospel Reflection
Today we are considering God’s choice of Mary to be the mother of Jesus, and whether you and I might also be chosen to be God’s allies, to partner with God in saving the world. Mary was “perplexed” when the angel announced to her she was God’s choice to bear his child. She couldn’t understand how this could happen or how someone as young and insignificant as she was could do anything really important.
Luke reports that a few days after Mary “was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18), she went with haste to visit her relative, Elizabeth. The Lutheran Study Bible suggests that she went “with haste” because she was (probably) thirteen years old and (certainly) afraid she would be severely punished, even stoned to death, for becoming pregnant before she was married. She had to get out of town, and fast!
After Elizabeth greets her, Mary responds with the “Magnificat” (Latin for “magnifies”): “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
This is an extraordinary song because it was sung
2,000+ years ago;
in the boonies (a “town in the hill country”)
“of Judea” (a tiny territory at the far eastern edge of the Roman Empire)
by one of the oppressed citizens in that occupied territory;
who was a pregnant thirteen year old,
running away from home.
In her song, Mary proclaims that, though she has no worldly status, (see bullet points above), God has “looked with favor” on her and “done great things” for her. She feels privileged and sings these words in spite of the fact that God’s odd choice of her to be the mother of the Messiah has brought shame to her family, alienated her fiancé (Matthew 1:18-19), and put her life in danger. We also know the rest of the story: God’s “favor” will cause Mary tremendous sorrow and suffering some thirty years later. Her beloved child will become a wanted man, a tortured man, a man dying a cruel death in front of her eyes. Life would have been easier for Mary and for many others called by God, if God had just left them alone. We learn from Mary’s experience that God’s favor does not shield us from suffering and pain.
Mary ends her song in Luke 1 verse 55 by stating her conviction that all God’s saving actions, including asking her to be the mother of the Messiah, are meant to fulfill “the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (God’s promises to Abraham are found in Genesis 12:1-2, and 28:13-15).
Mary thinks she will be remembered in the company of Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, David, Bathsheba, and Jeremiah. She believes that, just as God enabled each of them to rise above their situations in life to do something extraordinary, so she will be enabled to take on the challenges God sets before her.
Mary understood that if she did her part, did what God called her to do, God would find a way to make her contribution fit with the contributions of others, all working together to bring God’s mercy and justice to the world. Somehow, God would enable her to have a part in bringing down the haughty and the proud: those who have riches and power but lack humility and compassion. God would enable her to have a part in lifting up the suffering and oppressed. Somehow she would be involved in blessing the lowly both spiritually and materially, bringing them hope, freedom, healing, prosperity, and peace.
Discussion Questions
Are you one of God’s odd choices? If not, what makes you less qualified than Mary was? If so, do you believe, as Mary did, that if you do your part, God will enable you to make an important contribution to God’s work in the world?
What opportunities is God giving you (right now) to participate in bringing down the haughty and / or lifting up the suffering and oppressed?
More than 40 years ago, Frederick Buechner wrote about “vocation”: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” (Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, p. 95) Ten years from now, what can you imagine you could be doing that would place you where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet?
Activity Suggestions
Read the other texts assigned for this day (Micah 5:2–5a; Psalm 80:1–7; and Hebrews 10:5–10). Working in pairs, note which verses in these three texts make a point similar to a teaching in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 1: 39-55). Then, pair the pairs so you are now in a group of four, and compare your notes. Explain why you think these texts teach similar lessons (or why not).
Write your own “magnificat,” (individually or as a group). Compose a song, poem, or prayer of praise and thanksgiving for God’s role in your own life. Include examples of how you have experienced “God’s favor” in spite of your “lowliness.” Include examples of the “great things God has done for you” or that you know God has done for others, recently and in the past.
Closing Prayer
A prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
We are not a voice for the voiceless
Ali Brauner, Building Bridges and Cathedral in the Night Coordinator, Massachusetts
This past September, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. to take part in the 2015 ELCA Advocacy Convening. After a day of training, I was able to visit several legislators in their D.C offices to talk about the needs of people experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts, including homeless veterans. I am blessed to work with two amazing ministries in Northampton, Massachusetts, which draw their passion for social justice from a vantage point of Christian faith. These ministries are the Building Bridges Veterans Initiative, the veterans ministry program of the Episcopal Diocese of Western MA, and Cathedral in the Night, an ecumenical outdoor church in Northampton in the radical tradition of Jesus. I had no idea that these legislative meetings would have such long-lasting effects.
Brauner and ELCA World Hunger Director, Mikka McCracken, meeting with Congressman Joseph Kennedy III (MA-4)
Cathedral in the Night and Building Bridges have become involved in legislative advocacy in the short months since the conference in September. The ELCA Advocacy office provided an opportunity in Washington which began relationships with legislators which we have continued to foster and grow, and these budding relationships are enhancing our ministries in incredible ways!
Too often, people who have experienced poverty of homelessness feel disempowered and voiceless. Our goal is not be a voice for the voiceless, but rather to empower people to speak on their own behalf. Since returning home from the Advocacy Convening, we have begun helping veterans, marginalized people, and those experiencing homelessness to tell their own stories, inviting them to local meetings with legislators to help inform policymakers about the very real way that laws and decision affect people across the country.
Recently, we have even been able to invite local legislators to our weekly lunches that we put on for veterans in Western MA. We have also invited state legislators to Cathedral in the Night’s Sunday service to participate and engage with our community. None of this would have been possible without the help of the ELCA’s Advocacy Office, and it has been such a blessing to see all the unexpected ways that these opportunities have popped up and augmented this important work.
I also hope you’ll consider contributing to Building Bridges this Holiday Season. The work of Building Bridges continues through the creation of intentional communities of veterans, often around food at our free meals! Visit this link below for more information! http://www.buildingbridgeswma.com/
Thinking About Hunger in Lent
Looking for Lenten activities for the home and the church? This is just one sample from 40 Days of Giving, a devotional flip calendar that features leaders in the ELCA reflecting on what it means to be Church in a hungry world. Accompanying this devotional is a six-week study guide that your congregation can use to dig deeper during this season of reflection, repentance and hope. Sign up at www.ELCA.org/40days. You can download the weekly sessions and other resources at http://www.ELCA.org/Resources/Campaign-for-the-ELCA.
Advent Reflection: A Christmas wish for mothers and children
Patricia Kisare, Director for International Policy Advocacy
As I reflect on the birth of Jesus during this Advent season, one area of the nativity story I have increasingly become curious about is the health needs of Mary and baby Jesus. From our perspective today, we know that maternal health is intrinsically linked to the well-being of mother and child from pregnancy to birth and all the way to second birthday. It is one of the biggest worries for many expecting parents. As I think about what must have been an exciting but also frightening experience for Mary, I can’t help but wonder whether Mary had these same worries when she was pregnant with baby Jesus. Did she have care—traditional or otherwise—available to her? My assumption is that even Mary, who was carrying and would give birth to God, must have worried about the health of her baby and that of herself.
As Christians, we all know that the annunciation and birth of Jesus Christ was a miracle. Despite her circumstances, this young and poor mother was able to deliver her baby safely. Perhaps Mary didn’t necessarily need maternal health care the way most of us would. After all, she was to deliver the Messiah. But for many women around the world, lack of maternal health care can mean death to them and/or their child.
On one hand, giving birth to a child is a miraculous, wholesome, life-giving occasion. On the other hand, 300,000 women continue to die every year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Furthermore, more than 5 million children die each year from preventable causes. Nearly all of these deaths occur in developing countries.
In my work as policy director for international issues, I work with other faith-based partners to bring to Congress’ attention some of these challenges and advocate for policy changes as called for by the wider church. Improving child and maternal health care is one of the issues on which we continue to work—particularly as we reflect on the birth of Jesus. While policy change alone is not a panacea, we can help mend areas and systems throughout the world that we know have hindered progress. It is my prayer and hope this Advent season that soon we will be able to solve the tragedy of maternal and newborn deaths.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits –
who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
(Psalm 103: 2-5)
Patricia serves as Director for International Policy Advocacy in Washington, D.C.
LWF Christmas Message 2015 from Bishop Younan
“The message of Christmas challenges us to seek justice, to bring hope to the hopeless,”
Read here the Lutheran World Federation Christmas 2015 message from Bishop Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, President of the Lutheran World Federation.
Photo caption: This Christmas, LWF President Bishop Younan draws attention to the plight of millions of refugees across the world, who like baby Amera and her mother in northern Iraq, are seeking refuge from persecution. Photo: LWF/Seivan Salim
December 13, 2105, Fire and the Seeds to Bear Fruit
Bryan Jaster, Winchester, VA
Warm-up Question
What’s the largest fire you’ve ever seen? Did anything bad or good result?
Fire the Seeds to Bear Fruit
By now most of us get it, or have at least heard it: fires are good for the forest. But what does that mean? University of Minnesota forest ecologist Lee Frelich can help. He explains what the Boundary Waters Canoe Area would look like if fire were somehow completely controlled for the last century. The short answer: a sea of half-dead Christmas trees.
“You would get essentially a sea of Balsam Fir, then the budworm would come, and it goes out and kind of kills half the trees,” Frelich explains. “So you’d have this kind of crappy, half-dead forest which is full of brush and branches and which is not very attractive for people or wildlife.”
But that is really just explaining why an absence of fire can be bad. One fascinating and little known piece of the fire ecology puzzle are the species of trees that actually fire dependent. The Jack Pine has closed cones that only open to release their seeds when waxes on the cone melt in the heat of a fire.
“Camping in the Boundary Waters,” Frelich says, “I’ve taken twigs with cones on them from the forest floor and put them next to the campfire. They are exposed to the heat and they wait 10 or 20 minutes, then they pop open. The next morning you can shake that twig and the seeds will fall out. They are kind of programmed to wait a little bit, you know, because if the seeds fall directly into the fire, they’ll be consumed.
“The seeds fall over the next few days, so they’re likely to land on a forest floor that is no longer on fire. In the case of the jack pine, the seeds germinate much better if the leaf litter has been burned away. Jack Pine, in fact, has drier foliage than other species of trees which makes it easier for a fire to run through Jack Pine. It is almost as if they purposely promote fire.”
There is a whole system in the BWCA, Frelich says, that is adapted to fire. Another wonder of fire ecology: Bicknell’s Geranium. Its seeds will only germinate in sunlight. Buried under leaf litter, the seeds just wait for it to be burned away. After the 2006 Cavity Lake Fire in the BWCA, which burned 32,000 acres, the wild geraniums were everywhere. “That site had last burned in 1801,” Frelich says. “Those were 200-year-old seeds germinating.”
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings
For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.
Gospel Reflection
Ok John the Baptist – is this really good news?
People come to John to be baptized, which sounds like a pretty normal thing to do, and John calls them a “brood of vipers (snakes)”. Imagine if you or someone else asked to be baptized and your pastor said “You are a bunch of snakes!” Crazy talk.
In this story the crowds – aka the outsiders – are attracted to something John is saying. Rather than bolt when John describes the need to bear fruit worthy of repentance and warns that trees not bearing good fruit will be thrown into the fire, they stay and ask an important question: “What should we do?”
When forests get overgrown and stagnant they need fire for seeds to sprout and new trees to grow People need God’s judgement to burn and turn us away from self-centered lives into lives that bear fruit and love like Jesus in the world.
So, John’s response after pronouncing Fire is to call the crowds to go and bear Fruit.
To the crowds – Share a coat and food.
To the tax collectors – Collect no more than you need.
To the soldiers – Don’t extort, be fair.
Do these things because Jesus is coming and he is even more powerful than I am, John says. He is able after the fire has done its work to remove the chaff – the leftover yuck – and gather the wheat, the new fruit. This is good news.
Discussion Questions
Would you have stayed to continue to listen to John if you were part of the crowd he called “brood of vipers?” Is there someone in your life you would rather not listen to?
Is it difficult to think of God’s judgment as something “good”? Doesn’t Jesus say “don’t judge”? When have you or someone you know had something bad or a bit of judgment come that ultimately was good?
What is something in your life that needs to be removed or “burned” away? What is something in our world that needs to be judged by God?
Activity Suggestions
Grab markers, paint, crayons and big poster sheets.
Make a big poster Advent wish list. Draw or make lists of as many items you could give away or share like food, clothes, time with someone, possessions and anything you can think of.
Each person pick one item they will do this week. Next week come back and tell the story of what you did to respond.
Closing Prayer
God Fire and Fruit, Help us to listen to you when you have words that seem harsh to us. Give us the gift of judgment and the call to respond as we prepare for Jesus to come. Thank you for people like John who tell and show good news in the world. Give us courage to do the things we have promised this week and to bear fruit today. Amen!
ELCA Advocacy at the Paris Climate Summit
Mary Minette
Mary Minette, Interim Director of Advocacy, traveled to Paris as world leaders met to discuss a global agreement to address climate change. She served as part of a delegation representing ACT Alliance, of which the ELCA is a member. Follow our Advocacy Blog as she shares her daily reflections and the status of the negotiations.
UPDATE: On Saturday, December 12, leaders from 195 nations concluded the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris by approving a global agreement to address climate change. This agreement includes a commitment to keep global warming well below 2 degrees.
A global climate agreement is adopted!
After years of negotiations, the Paris Accord was approved on Saturday, December 12
12/12/2015
On Saturday, December 12, leaders from 195 nations concluded the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris by approving a global agreement to address climate change. This agreement includes a commitment to keep global warming well below 2 degrees.
We stand at a critical moment, when the world has come together to decide the framework for our shared future.
People of faith showed up in unprecedented numbers for the climate talks in Paris because we believe that this moment includes a moral obligation to our most vulnerable neighbors, to future generations, and to all of God’s creation to act on climate change.
The Paris agreement sets the world on a pathway to stewardship, justice and sustainability. All countries have, for the first time, agreed to take concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to review and increase their commitments over time.
The Paris agreement includes financial pledges to help developing countries adopt clean energy technologies and adapt to already-occurring impacts of climate change. It also includes provisions that will help the most vulnerable countries avoid the worst of human suffering from irreversible climate damage in the future, and it sets the world on a more sustainable, low carbon, development pathway.
The outcome of the Paris talks reflects momentum brought by a growing global movement of people and communities around the world, including communities of faith, who are leading the way in pushing for a better future.
As we leave Paris and return to our own communities, we must continue to act in solidarity with those who are most vulnerable to climate change, with those yet to come, and with all of God’s creation.”
Along with membership in ACT Alliance, the ELCA is also a member of theLutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches. Together these organizations had a delegation of over 100 in Paris for the summit. You can read ACT Alliance’s response to the Paris Accordhere.
Paris reflection: Day 5
COP21 End Game
12/11/2015
Today is the last official day of the Paris Climate meeting, and this morning in Le Bourget things are quiet. The calm in the halls is deceptive—many of the country delegates and much of civil society spent the night here, dissecting and discussing the latest draft produced at 10 p.m. last night by the French presidency of the COP. Early this morning, COP President Laurent Fabius closed the all-night session, telling delegates that they should spend the day working through their differences and that there will be a new “final” text Saturday morning and a target adjournment for the COP of 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
As expected, some big issues are still to be resolved on this last day. Although the current text now mentions a global temperature goal of less than two degrees Celsius, with an aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees, there are still disagreements about when and how national emissions reduction contributions will be presented, evaluated, and potentially increased in ambition.
The issue of “differentiation”—how the agreement will treat countries that are less responsible for climate emissions and less able to reduce their emissions because they lack the means to do so and are still working to bring significant parts of their populations out of poverty—is reflected in the current draft in a number of different ways, but the language is not consistent and few parties are satisfied. As I noted earlier in the week, to reach the aspirational 1.5 degrees goal, all countries must reduce their emissions and adopt low carbon energy sources, but not all countries can reach those goals easily. Because of this, the differences in their capabilities must be reflected if the agreement is to succeed.
How these vulnerable countries can be helped to both adopt low carbon energy pathways and adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change is also still murky. The parties seem to be in agreement that wealthy countries will work to mobilize at least $10 billion in assistance annually by 2020 and beyond, but how that funding will be increased as needed is still to be agreed upon.
Regular review of goals and a transparent process that allows for evaluation and comparison between countries is critical to ensuring that these goals are increased over time. As I noted yesterday, current INDCs will only allow us to stay below three degrees Celsius, so increased ambition, and this review process, are key to success. Some countries are still fighting to prevent strong and transparent review. Perhaps they have something to hide?
And finally, the issue of loss and damage (how the agreement will deal with irreversible, and in many cases, catastrophic impacts of climate change) is still under discussion, although a number of proposals to bridge gaps between different positions are on the table.
Paris reflection: Day 4
Aspirations vs. Reality: How to Evaluate the Outcome of Paris?
12/10/2015
Yesterday in COP21, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech to a packed room of reporters. He outlined the current official U.S. view of where things are with the negotiations for a new global climate agreement. Overall, his tone was optimistic and upbeat. He talked about the transition to a new, clean energy future by pledging to double the amount of grants that the U.S. makes to climate adaptation efforts in developing countries by 2020 (the year the agreement will take effect), and for the first time, pledging U.S. support for a worldwide goal of keeping global average temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
In the past two days, a group of more than 100 countries, including the U.S., came forward to push for a more ambitious climate agreement. Calling themselves the “high ambition coalition,” they have collectively agreed to support an “ambitious, durable and legally binding” deal that includes the below-1.5 temperature goal, a clear pathway for a low-carbon future, strong updates of nationally-determined goals every five years, and a strong commitment from developed countries to support vulnerable countries with at least $100 billion annually.
This is a hopeful sign that the agreement reached at the end of this week will be strong. However, many are pointing to the reality that the existing national commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions submitted by more than 180 countries before the start of the COP, sets the world on a pathway to a global temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius.
With that kind of gap between vision and reality, how will we be able to evaluate the outcome of these talks?
If the agreement does include a five-year process to re-evaluate those national commitments with enough transparency that the commitments can be verified and compared, the hope is that the political will to make the changes required to bring the world to a 1.5 degree pathway will come over time. As countries realize that more significant reductions are possible and even economically beneficial, they will come forward with more significant cuts at the five-year reviews.
A new draft text was released yesterday afternoon, and many issues are still in dispute, including the review process and the global temperature goal. Parties met late into the night.
Stay tuned!
U.S. Climate Action Network Press Conference
On Wednesday, Dec. 9, Mary spoke as part of a panel of experts from the U.S. Climate Action Network in response to Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech at the Paris Climate Talks. Here is the statement she gave:
“Loss and damage is of paramount concern to people of faith following these talks because we know that the most challenging and irreversible impacts of climate change—sea level rise, long term drought, massive storms and other natural disasters—are already falling hardest on our most vulnerable neighbors.”
“The faith community is highly supportive of the announcement Secretary Kerry made today, indicating that the US will double its commitment to adaptation focused development assistance by 2020. This money is sorely needed, and we hope that this is only the beginning of a process to increase funding for adaptation post-2020. We in the faith community stand ready to help make that happen, just as we stood with the Administration when it made its commitment to the Green Climate Fund.”
Advent Reflection: In Paris, waiting for light (with hope)
12/9/2015
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:3-5).
In Advent, Christians wait for the light of Christ, lighting candles and speaking of hope.
This Advent, light has multiple layers of meaning for me as I sit in Paris watching, hoping and working for a new global agreement to address climate change.
Paris is frequently referred to as the City of Light, but this December it’s a city emerging from the darkness of the recent terrorist attacks that left more than 100 people dead. In the last few days I’ve seen Parisians going about their daily business—shopping, sitting in cafes, walking their children to school in the morning, hurrying home at the end of the day with baguettes and groceries. There are a lot of armed police and security guards—standing on street corners, in the metro stations, in big department stores filled with Christmas shoppers—but people seem determined to go on with their ordinary lives and their preparations for the holidays.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.
In the vast complex in the Paris suburbs that houses the climate talks, signs of hope and light are faint but present: countries may disagree, but they are talking. Every few days a new draft text comes out and there are fewer “brackets” (which are placed around disputed phrases) and greater consensus. I came into the meeting with many questions. Will leaders only agree to keep temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius or can they agree to a more ambitious and safer 1.5 degrees? Is their goal of raising $100 million per year in financial assistance for developing countries even possible? How often will countries review their national emissions reduction commitments? All of these issues were still up in the air after more than a year of negotiations.
But talks seem to be coalescing around common points of agreement, and hope is growing that an agreement that will move us toward a cleaner shared future is possible.
Last week, African heads of state gathered here to announce the African Renewable Energy Initiative to develop at least 10 gigawatts of new renewable energy generation capacity by 2020, and at least 300 gigawatts by 2030, potentially making the continent, which is now one of the most energy impoverished regions, the cleanest in the world. The African Development Bank and other financial institutions, including the World Bank, pledged an initial $5 billion to support the initiative. On Monday, the group of seven advanced economies (G7) and the European Union pledged an additional $10 billion in grants and loans to support this plan.
“The light shines in the darkness .…”
At the beginning of the talks, the list of remaining issues was long. As the days pass, those issues are beginning to find solutions. An agreement from Paris will not solve every problem faced by God’s creation, but it moves us closer to a more hope-filled future. Today we expect a new, more streamlined draft from the French leaders of the Conference of the Parties. I am hopeful that this momentum will continue and that the negotiations will end with a strong agreement to tackle the challenge of climate change.
“… and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Paris reflection: Day 2
It’s “Loss and Damage” Day
12/8/2015
Today the focus is on one of more difficult issues that negotiators are grappling with at this two-week-long meeting—how will the global community manage the impacts of climate change that are becoming more inevitable the longer we wait to reduce carbon emissions? “Loss and damage” refers to the long term and slow onset impacts that are difficult, and in some cases impossible, for people and communities to manage. This includes sea level rise that consumes coastal lands (or entire low-lying island nations), rising ocean temperatures that decimate fish populations and the livelihoods of fishing communities, and long term drought that drives small farmers from their land.
Wealthy industrialized countries, which are responsible for the majority of the emissions that are causing climate change, have long resisted action to address loss and damage out of fear that doing so would create significant financial liability. However, in 2013, countries agreed to create the “Warsaw Mechanism on Loss and Damage” to study the issue and develop strategies and resources to manage.
The Warsaw Mechanism is due to finish its initial work in 2016, so now leaders look to answer the question: what will happen after that first work period is over. Vulnerable countries argue that the new climate agreement must meaningfully address loss and damage, and should result in developing ways to support them as they face a difficult future.
Unfortunately, much of the media coverage of loss and damage this week is focused on money and liability, even though many of the irreversible impacts of climate change will not be easily quantified but will still challenge the international community in unprecedented ways. For example, people who are forced to leave their communities due to climate impacts, such as sea level rise or long-term drought, are not considered refugees under international law and are therefore not eligible for humanitarian assistance. In a more extreme example, if a small island nation disappears due to rising sea levels, there are no means currently available to address its loss of territory and sovereignty, or to help its citizens who have lost their country.
The longer countries wait to reduce emissions, the more urgent this debate will become. At this point, it seems that the Warsaw Mechanism will be included in the new agreement and will be given an ongoing mandate to develop solutions to build more resilient communities, to work with other UN agencies to address climate migration, and to find and encourage innovative ways to manage risk. But today at COP21, there is an opportunity to make sure that the Paris agreement provides assurances to vulnerable people, communities and nations that they can face the future with hope.
Paris reflection: Day 1
To avoid catastrophic climate change, who must act?
12/7/2015
Today is my first day in the Paris climate meeting, but the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) have already been meeting for a week, with the goal of completing a new global agreement on climate change by the end of this week.
So how does it look?
A new draft agreement was completed on Friday. A number of subgroups continue to work on specific issues, including the all-important question of money, and something called “differentiation” in the agreement. Differentiation is essentially the idea that while all parties are responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help combat climate change; different parties have different responsibilities based on their abilities and on their share of climate emissions. Here is the big question and the reason this addition is controversial: How are countries’ responsibilities measured or determined? If responsibility is determined by historic emissions, the United States and the European Union are the parties who should do the most. If it is determined by current emissions, emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil will need to accept more responsibility for their increasing emissions.
For the world to avoid catastrophic warming and remain well below an increase of 2 degrees Celsius, all countries will need to act, and all will need to accept and assume responsibility. Some countries may need help—financial and technical—to comply and to ensure that economic development that lifts people out of poverty is sustainable and low carbon producing. Others, including some emerging economies, may need flexibility to address ongoing development needs and still-significant levels of poverty.
This issue of differentiation may hold the key to a strong and durable agreement here in Paris, but it remains to be seen whether new economic powers will accept new levels of responsibility for their emissions. Equally important is whether wealthy countries will pledge sufficient funds to help the most vulnerable countries adopt sustainable, low carbon development pathways and adapt to current and ongoing impacts of climate change.
Wealthy industrialized countries, which are responsible for the majority of the emissions that are causing climate change, have long resisted action to address loss and damage out of fear that doing so would create significant financial liability. However, in 2013, countries agreed to create the “Warsaw Mechanism on Loss and Damage” to study the issue and develop strategies and resources to manage.
So how does it look?