Jake Bourma, West Des Moines, IA

Warm-up Question

Are there any actions you consider unforgivable?

Surely There’s a Limit–Isn’t There?

The word infamous was made for a person like Martin Shkreli. In September of 2015, Shkreli went from being the founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals to national front-page villain when news broke that his company had recently acquired the rights to a life-saving drug and then raised its price from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. Among other uses, the drug (called Daraprim) is prescribed to treat AIDS and cancer patients, and the new 5,555% price increase would prohibit a great many patients from affording the new cost of treatment, which would now be in the range of hundreds of thousand dollars per year.

Soon after it broke, news of the price hike spread on social media like an infectious disease. On Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere people were not shy about heaping scorn upon Shkreli. And while most incendiary current events are chewed up and spit out by the Internet Outrage Machine within a day or two, contempt for Shkreli has managed to endure. And just when it didn’t seem like his situation could sink any lower, Shkreli was arrested by the FBI and charged with federal securities fraud for unrelated activities at his previous companies—after which he resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Most recently, he was subpoenaed to appear before congress to answer questions about the price increase of Daraprim. Shkreli exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during his testimony and then—as if inviting disdain upon himself—sent out a tweet that read, “Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.”

It’s safe to say that Martin Shkreli hasn’t had the best run in the past few months.

Discussion Questions

• Have you heard about Martin Shkreli or Turing Pharmaceuticals before? If so, what have you heard?
• During his appearance in front of congress, lawmakers referred to Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals as “disgusting” and “disgraceful.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
• Have you ever made a decision that made lots of people upset? How did it make you feel?

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Joshua 5:9-12

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
(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

 C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Real belief in [the forgiveness of sins] is the sort of thing that very easily slips away if we don’t keep on polishing it up.” With the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus gives us just the sort of story that helps us polish up our belief in God’s extravagant forgiveness.

Jesus tells this particular parable in response to a group of scribes and Pharisees, who are criticizing Jesus for befriending the tax collectors and sinners. Like the older brother in the text, the scribes and Pharisees are both self-centered and self-righteous—they only have eyes for the apparent injustice of the situation, so much so that they’re blinded to the beauty and expanse of God’s love in Jesus. As the reader, we are invited in this story to identify with both the older brother and the younger brother. In the older brother’s incredulity at the father’s response upon the younger brother’s return we see ourselves full of disbelief at who God chooses to forgive. And in the younger brother’s disastrous exile and homecoming we see ourselves for the paradoxical sinners and saints that we truly are.

The father forgives the younger brother without blinking an eye, even sprinting out to greet him with a hug and a kiss. Does this counterintuitive understanding of forgiveness mean anything goes? That we can throw our understanding of right and wrong out the window? Absolutely not! It’s true that Martin Luther said “Sin boldly”—and the younger brother certainly did just that—but Luther didn’t just leave it at that. “Be a sinner and sin boldly,” he wrote, “but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.” In other words, God’s grace cannot me outmatched. And in fact the “biggest” sins serve to reveal just how big God’s grace really is, so big that when we feel our most unworthy, God prepares for us a feast. So big that when we feel another is unworthy, God adorns them in God’s most elegant robe. This is the forgiveness we proclaim when we confess “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

In this story we are reminded that God’s grace is as wide as it is deep. It is for those whose offenses fill us with outrage—even Martin Shkreli—as much as it is for us. It is a grace that reminds us, as famed theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you.”

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think this parable is one of the more well-known that Jesus told?
• Are there any sins you think God considers unforgivable?
• Have you ever been jealous of a sibling or family member? What did that feel like?
• Who do you identify with more in this story? The older brother or younger brother? Why?

Activity Suggestions

Do a Google Image search for “sinner/saint” to find different ambigrams of those two words (an ambigram is a word that can be read both right-side-up and upside-down). Print the image and using another piece of blank paper, trace it and color it in to hang on a wall in your church or home. If you are extra ambitious, project the ambigram onto a piece of butcher paper taped to the wall and trace an extra-large version. Let the sinner/saint image be a reminder of the story of the prodigal son.

Closing Prayer

Good and gracious God, we thank you for your boundless grace. We thank you for always welcoming us home even after we wallow in sin. Help our hearts would grow in their capacity for mercy and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name, amen.

By: Nick Bates, ELCA Advocacy State Network, Southern Ohio Synod

Sammie sees things a little bit differently than much of the world. Sammie is a kindergartner, and one morning a friend stole his after-school snack from his book bag. This friend was caught by the teacher and reprimanded. Sammie was understandably upset at first but then realized that some kids in his class just don’t have food at home. His compassion and empathy pushed his anger away. A few weeks ago, Sammie said he wants our next president to make sure every kid has good food to eat.

What a beautiful idea, but it’s not new. Isaiah trumpeted a similar vision to Israel:

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1).

The beauty of this vision painted by Isaiah is exemplified through song in order to highlight the beauty that God has for our world today. Through our baptism, we are called to ask new questions and to think differently about our world.

Much of the world says we should just accept and ignore the reality of poverty and hunger. This means we should ignore the more than 15 million children – about 1 in 5 – in our country who are food insecure. We should sacrifice clean water and air because questions remain about how to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We should blame those struggling to get by. We should fear families fleeing extreme violence and poverty as refugees.

Not only does God offer up a promise to the people to come to the waters, but God is also calling us to a new way of thinking.

But while we are called to invite all those who are hungry to come to the waters to eat without money, we also worry:

If everyone received free food, how would the farmers, truck drivers, grocers and others get paid? If people received free food, would they refuse to work hard? If everyone else received free food, would there be enough left for me and my family? If …

And just like that, questions of fear and scarcity get stuck in our heads.

Our news media likes dichotomies – left vs. right, establishment vs. non-establishment, old vs. young, men vs. women, insider vs. outsider. But as Christians, we know this way of thinking does not fit with God’s way of thinking, creating or being. We have liberals and conservatives praying together for hungry children. We have young and old volunteering together to serve meals to those in need. When we think differently about one another, we also begin to think differently about the world in which we live.

Faith-based advocacy helps bring a new way of thinking to our state legislatures and Congress on a daily basis. Your stories are extremely valuable in helping our elected officials think differently.

Our stories of God’s love for those who are hungry can shift the conversation from who has the largest tax cut plan to who can cut hunger the most. Our stories about God’s beautiful creation can shift the conversation from profitability to sustainability. Our stories about God’s freedom for those held in bondage can shift the conversation from turning a blind eye to envisioning a just economic system.

Regardless of who we are, God is calling us to come to the waters and see a glorious world where all have access to food that will satisfy. From those waters of baptism, we are sent into the world – a messy, complicated world – to draw people toward God’s way of thinking, creating and being.

– Nick Bates, Diaconal Minister Southern Ohio Synod, ELCA

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we enter the season of Lent, register yourself or your congregation for ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving! to ensure that we can continue to work for systemic change that truly supports our brothers and sisters facing poverty and hunger.

(This post originally appeared as “Living Earth Reflection: When Water Becomes No Longer Safe” on the ELCA Advocacy blog. It was written by Rev. Jack Eggleston, Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop for the Southeast Michigan Synod of the ELCA.  Flint, Michigan, is in the Southeast Michigan synod.)

People around me know that I drink a lot of water. Many years ago, Carl, a member of the congregation I served, told me of the health benefits of

drinking water. I drink at least 80 ounces of water a day. When I am tired, a glass of water refreshes my body and renews my energy. Nothing renews like the life-giving water Jesus offers (John 4), but safe water is one of our most basic needs.

Last fall, when refilling my water bottle at Salem Lutheran Church in Flint, Mich., numerous people told me they had concerns about the water and that I should use bottled water. I filled my water bottle from the faucet, but along the road found it discolored and did not taste right. Only later did I learn how dangerous the water is. Flint’s water is unsafe, toxic and a danger to health.

Water pipes are corroded throughout the city, and lead contamination in many homes and at Salem Lutheran Church far exceed safe limits. Lead harms the blood and can damage the brain. After extended exposure, it builds up in organs and bones, remaining years after exposure. All of this contamination could have been prevented. When people complained and physicians reported unsafe levels of lead, the concerns were dismissed. After 18 months, the water is still unsafe for consumption, cooking or even doing the dishes.

Flint is one of the more impoverished cities in America. Local General Motors employment fell from a high of 80,000 in 1978 to under 8,000 in 2010. More than 40 percent of the people of Flint live below the poverty line. The population has declined from a high of 196,000 in 1960 to just under 100,000 today. The city, under an emergency manager, decided to switch water sources and failed to adequately treat the water. The state of Michigan houses nearly one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. It is hard to comprehend unsafe water with such great water supplies nearby.

The long unheard cries of people in Flint remind me of the Israelites refusing to drink the water at Marah because it was bitter (Exodus 15). They complained to Moses, and he cried out to the Lord. The Lord and Moses made the water sweet. Every day, the water crisis in Flint touches me more deeply and reminds me that there are many water concerns throughout the world. Global warming is drying up lakes. The Aral Sea, once one of the world’s largest inland seas is mostly desert now, having receded by more than 75 percent in recent decades. Lake Chad in Africa has diminished by nearly 80 percent over the last 30 years due to global warming, reduced rain and water extraction.

Sharing God’s gifts and life-giving water with people in Flint

After visiting Salem Lutheran Church in Flint, Bishop Donald P. Kreiss and Robin McCants, assistant to the bishop for advocacy and urban ministry, both of the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod, shared the expanding depths of the crisis with the synod and the ELCA. With some government support

and generous response from the synod, ELCA World Hunger, and people around the ELCA, Salem is now one of the largest distributors of fresh bottled water in the city. Claimed in baptism, refreshed by life-giving water from Jesus that gushes up to eternal life, members of the ELCA are sharing God’s gifts and life-giving water with people in Flint.

Flint will need water for a long time to come. Find out how you can help by visiting the Southeast Michigan Synod website at www.semisynod.com.

Congress is currently considering funding for resources to make the water in Flint safe to drink again. Find out more and take action by visiting the ELCA Advocacy Action Center.

This Sunday when I preach at Salem, I will bring cases of water and two of my own large drinking water bottles. When I return home I will refill them from my faucet and remember the people in Flint. I will be more attentive to ELCA blogs and advocacy requests. Jesus, who gives life-giving water, compels me to do this and to act.

Paul Baglyos, St. Paul, MN

Warm-up Question

What is the Good News when there isn’t any big news?

How Do You Know?

photo: a katz / Shutterstock.com

On February 5th a construction crane collapsed in New York City, killing one person and injuring three others. The name of the person killed in the collapse was David Wichs, 38 years old.  He was sitting in a parked car at the time.  According to news stories Wichs was a brilliant mathematician who lived a life of giving.”  He had no connection to the construction site and was on his way to work at the time.

Discussion Questions

• Besides all the accidents that might befall any of us on any given day, against which we might take some preventative precautions, what sorts of freak occurrences are theoretically possible but so unlikely that we never give them the slightest thought or concern?
• What kinds of things do you suppose people might say to David Wichs’ widow in the face of her grief and loss? What would you say to her if you had the opportunity?
• If you were David Wichs’ widow, what might people say to you that you would find helpful? What might people say that you would not find helpful?

Third Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 55:1-9

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9
(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

In another gospel passage (Matthew 16:13-15), Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” and then, more pointedly, “Who do you say that I am?” Presumably, everyone together at the right time and the right place shared the same information about Jesus. They could all see him and the things he was doing; they could all hear him and the things he was saying. But very different interpretations of Jesus abounded. Was Jesus perhaps John the Baptist somehow come back from the dead? Was he Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets in a new appearance? People interpreted the information about Jesus in many different ways. Finally Peter said, to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Religious skeptics claim that faith in God is a distortion of reality, an example of confirmation bias, which is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories. Confirmation bias impairs judgment and critical thinking. People of faith often make the same claims about skeptics, thereby participating in a tired and pointless argument that only manages to perpetuate itself endlessly. People of faith might ask, for example, “How can anyone look upon the grandeur of nature and not see the existence of God?’ while skeptics might ask, “How can anyone look upon the extent of suffering and not see the absence of God?” Each side engages in its own form of confirmation bias to support its claims and to denounce its detractors.

Confirmation bias, however, does not always or necessarily produce a distortion of truth and reality. The fact that our perceptions are shaped by our beliefs does not necessarily mean that our perceptions are false and unreliable. The Gospel of John deals with this matter extensively with regard to faith in Jesus. Everywhere in John (with the exception of the story about Thomas in chapter 20!) believing precedes seeing and is necessary to it. “You will see me,” Jesus promises those who believe in him.

But if belief leads to seeing, what leads to belief? Jesus answers that question in our gospel text when he talks about “keeping my commandments.” Here we have to do with the behaviors and practices that pertain to the Christian community, the church. The church is called to do as Jesus does, to do as Jesus says, to do as Jesus teaches. Such doing incubates belief, and belief incubates seeing.

Discussion Questions

• Which Christian practices and behaviors have you found to be most supportive of your faith in Jesus?
• When have you had an experience of seeing Jesus? Describe the context of that experience.
• What is your greatest challenge or obstacle to faith? How might you best meet and seek to overcome that challenge or obstacle?
• How do you help others to see Jesus? How do or how might others see Jesus in you?

Activity Suggestions

As a group, describe ways that you have seen Jesus in each person of the group or ways that each person helps others to see Jesus. What, for each person in the group, is the most surprising about what others have said?

Closing Prayer

Pray together the prayer for “Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit” on page 86 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

By: The Rev. Jack Eggleston, South East Michigan Synod

People around me know that I drink a lot of water. Many years ago, Carl, a member of the congregation I served, told me of the health benefits of drinking water. I drink at least 80 ounces of water a day. When I am tired, a glass of water refreshes my body and renews my energy. Nothing renews like the life-giving water Jesus offers (John 4), but safe water is one of our most basic needs.

Last fall, when refilling my water bottle at Salem Lutheran Church in Flint, Mich., numerous people told me they had concerns about the water and that I should use bottled water. I filled my water bottle from the faucet, but along the road found it discolored and did not taste right. Only later did I learn how dangerous the water is. Flint’s water is unsafe, toxic and a danger to health.

Water pipes are corroded throughout the city, and lead contamination in many homes and at Salem Lutheran Church far exceed safe limits. Lead harms the blood and can damage the brain. After extended exposure, it builds up in organs and bones, remaining years after exposure. All of this contamination could have been prevented. When people complained and physicians reported unsafe levels of lead, the concerns were dismissed. After 18 months, the water is still unsafe for consumption, cooking or even doing the dishes.

Flint is one of the more impoverished cities in America. Local General Motors employment fell from a high of 80,000 in 1978 to under 8,000 in 2010. More than 40 percent of the people of Flint live below the poverty line. The population has declined from a high of 196,000 in 1960 to just under 100,000 today. The city, under an emergency manager, decided to switch water sources and failed to adequately treat the water. The state of Michigan houses nearly one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. It is hard to comprehend unsafe water with such great water supplies nearby.

The long unheard cries of people in Flint remind me of the Israelites refusing to drink the water at Marah because it was bitter (Exodus 15). They complained to Moses, and he cried out to the Lord. The Lord and Moses made the water sweet. Every day, the water crisis in Flint touches me more deeply and reminds me that there are many water concerns throughout the world. Global warming is drying up lakes. The Aral Sea, once one of the world’s largest inland seas is mostly desert now, having receded by more than 75 percent in recent decades. Lake Chad in Africa has diminished by nearly 80 percent over the last 30 years due to global warming, reduced rain and water extraction.

Sharing God’s gifts and life-giving water with people in Flint

After visiting Salem Lutheran Church in Flint, Bishop Donald P. Kreiss and Robin McCants, assistant to the bishop for advocacy and urban ministry, both of the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod, shared the expanding depths of the crisis with the synod and the ELCA. With some government support and generous response from the synod, ELCA World Hunger, and people around the ELCA, Salem is now one of the largest distributors of fresh bottled water in the city. Claimed in baptism, refreshed by life-giving water from Jesus that gushes up to eternal life, members of the ELCA are sharing God’s gifts and life-giving water with people in Flint.

Flint will need water for a long time to come. Find out how you can help by visiting the Southeast Michigan Synod website at www.semisynod.com.

Congress is currently considering funding for resources to make the water in Flint safe to drink again. Find out more and take action by visiting the ELCA Advocacy Action Center.

This Sunday when I preach at Salem, I will bring cases of water and two of my own large drinking water bottles. When I return home I will refill them from my faucet and remember the people in Flint. I will be more attentive to ELCA blogs and advocacy requests. Jesus, who gives life-giving water, compels me to do this and to act.

ELCA World Hunger is providing support to address the immediate need for water and food through the Southeast Michigan Synod. Click here to show your support for the welfare of Flint and to ensure that we can continue to work for systemic change that truly supports our brothers and sisters facing poverty and hunger. 

By: John B. Johnson IV, ELCA Advocacy Program Director, Domestic Policy

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:12-13

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! – Luke 13:34

Last Sunday we heard Paul’s letter to the Romans proclaiming that there is “no Jew and Greek … under one Lord of all” and the story of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. And this Sunday Paul invites his readers to remember that “our citizenship is in heaven” while Luke’s Gospel is the lament over Jerusalem. When I tune into the latest news about this year’s elections, I can’t help but think about the timing of this Lent’s readings and wonder, is God trying to tell us something?

What if we as Christians didn’t fall into the temptation to believe that my God is not your God? I wonder what would happen if we tried to change the conversation by rewriting the Scripture from Romans this way: For there is no distinction between Democrat and Republican; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. What if candidates began their stump speeches with recognition of the humanity and dignity of their opponent(s) and then began pitching their ideas for the future of our country?

Ok … I know. This isn’t the way we do politics, and I don’t want to be Pollyannaish, but when the rancor gets as bad as it is, I think we are called as a church to speak up. More importantly, we are called to model the notion that we are all the children of one God; that God loves us each individually and has given us each gifts and skills to be in the world. Could we simply agree on this and model it in the world in the way we each exist in the world and to everyone around us?

I had an opportunity to visit the ELCA Southeastern Synod recently for an advocacy event in Atlanta titled: “Your Voice Makes a Difference.” What struck me about this meeting is the work they had done to form an advocacy network in their synod. Rather than concentrating on what divides us, they are seeking to give voice to issues they have found agreement on. In deciding their priority advocacy issues, the leaders asked, “Where do we agree?” This is what they came up with:

~ No one should go hungry.

~ No one should be a victim of slavery.

~ We incarcerate entirely too many people.

~ All children deserve equal access to education.

~ Our current immigration system is broken.

~ All people are of equal value.

I bet if we tried, we could add to that list in some simple and meaningful ways. But these six powerful concepts for that growing network brought unity that is turning into advocacy that will turn into meaningful change.

One of the reasons Lutherans make such an impact on public policy, especially policies that affect our communities, is that we have found a common call to God through Jesus Christ. Our agreement on that makes possible more than we could ever imagine in a divided, broken, rancor-filled world.

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we enter the season of Lent, register yourself or your congregation for ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving! to ensure that we can continue to work for systemic change that truly supports our brothers and sisters facing poverty and hunger.

John Wertz, Blacksburg, VA

Warm-up Question

If you could only have one beverage to drink for the next month, what would it be and why?

What’s in the Pipes

The last time you turned on the water to brush your teeth or wash your hands or get something to drink, were you worried about the quality of your water? Thankfully, most water systems in the United States are regularly tested and are fairly safe, but unfortunately for the residents of Flint, Michigan a series of governmental decisions and cost-cutting measures combined to create a water system with ” abnormally high levels of e. coli, trihamlomethanes, lead, and copper,” which caused severe health problems for many local residents.

  For years, Flint enjoyed excellent water pumped from Lake Huron. But under pressure from rising water costs, a shrinking tax-base, and an overwhelming debt, leaders in Michigan and Flint made the decision to begin pumping water from the Flint River. In April 2014, Flint made the switch and residents began to notice a bad taste in the water and a nasty smell. Initial tests revealed there were dangerous levels of bacteria and other compounds present. Flint issued boil orders and increased the amount of chlorine in their water to try and address the issues, but those measures didn’t resolve all the problems. While some local officials attempted to raise the alarm, the process of addressing the issues with Flint’s water was extremely slow.

As concern about the water quality grew among residents, local officials assured residents that the problem was under control, but a local mother, Lee Anne Walters, and others continued to ask questions about the quality of the water and to push for increased water testing. The initial results from the local testing agencies seemed to indicate that the level of lead in Flint’s water was acceptable, but Ms. Walters and others doubted the results of the local tests and continued to push for more and better testing. Determined to discover the truth about her water, Ms. Walters contacted an independent researcher from Virginia Tech University, Marc Edwards, who quickly discovered that Flint’s water contained extremely unsafe levels of lead. Ms. Walters and Professor Edwards contacted state and local officials and media outlets to make it clear that the danger was real. Thanks to the persistence of Ms. Walters, the research of Professor Edwards, the work of other researchers, and the pressure from the media, the water problems in Flint have finally been properly identified and the process of bringing safe drinking water back to the residents of Flint is now underway. An extensive timeline detailing all the events in the Flint, Michigan water crisis can be found here.

Discussion Questions

• The residents of Flint make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the population of the United States, so why do you think the water crisis in Flint became a major national news story?
• God calls us to be good stewards of all our gifts. What can you do to care for the gift of water?
• Ms. Walters was determined to find out the truth and would not stop asking questions until she got answers. Why do you think she was so persistent in her pursuit of the truth?

Second Sunday in Lent

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35
(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

The Pharisees come to Jesus with a warning – “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” (Lk 13:31). While you or I might be worried or intimidated by these words, Jesus seems entirely unconcerned by the threat. There is ministry to be done. There are people to heal. There are demons to be cast out. Jesus won’t be rushed. Jesus won’t be sidetracked by the threat of death. He knows that his death will not be caused by Herod’s anger. Jesus knows what awaits him in Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus says, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Lk 13:34). Jesus knows how his story will end and he accepts his impending death because he trusts that his crucifixion and resurrection will be the final step in accomplishing his mission to love, bless, and save God’s people.

Trusting in God’s power, Jesus lives without fear. He is focused on who he is called to be and what he is called to do. As powerful as Herod is, God’s power is far, far stronger. Nothing, not even mighty Herod, will prevent Jesus from helping the afflicted, teaching God’s Word and completing is ministry of salvation.

It’s easy sometimes for us to get sidetracked when we feel pressure from those in power, from our peers or from the world around us. It’s easy to doubt ourselves or the goal we are trying to accomplish, but just like Jesus, we too know how our story will end. As children of God, united to Jesus’ death and resurrection by the waters of baptism, we know the promise of hope and salvation for all God’s people. You and I may not be casting out demons or healing people in the same way that Jesus was doing, but just like Jesus, we too can live without fear and focus on our calling to be God’s heart and hands and voices in the world. Using our gifts to take part in Jesus’ mission to love and bless the world.

Discussion Questions

• How do you think the Pharisees expected Jesus to respond when they told him about Herod’s threat? How do you think the Pharisees responded when Jesus basically ignored their warning?
• Fear is a powerful emotion. Name a resource (scripture verse, friend, mentor, music, book, blog, twitter feed, etc) that helps you know that God is with you when you are afraid?
• What is one way that you can participate in God’s mission to love and bless the world?

Activity Suggestion

Use some of the activities in the ELCA World Hunger: Water and Hunger toolkit to learn more about water we use on a daily basis without realizing it and to raise awareness of the gift of water.

http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Water_and_Hunger.pdf?_ga=1.26250941.1043638550.1454503920

Closing Prayer

O God, you are a source of help and strength in times of trouble. Comfort us with your Spirit in our times of fear and trouble. Inspire us by Jesus’ example and by your powerful love to care for creation, to love our neighbor and to be your hearts and hands and voices in the world. Amen.

Few experiences produce anxiety much like washing your hands in water that you know can poison you.  I’m watching a natural resource come natural hazard spill over my hands from a tap in Salem Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Flint, Michigan.  Like many other buildings and homes, the church has lead in its water — water it has used for drinking, cooking and baptizing infants.  Before my meeting with Pastor Monica Villarreal of Salem, I had stopped by a downtown coffeeshop for an iced tea, something I do far too often in my own city without batting an eye.  But here in Flint, even this simple act carries with it pit-of-the-gut worry.  It’s one thing to trust that your barista has put enough milk in your latte.  It’s quite another to trust her when she tells you the water is safe.

Flint bears all the marks of any number of Midwestern towns abandoned by manufacturing firms in search of cheap labor.  Liquor stores dot barren blocks.  Once-proud homes loom in disrepair from untended lots. Violent crime is a regular experience. And a river runs through it.  A river filled with bacteria and, now, so corrosive it can damage pipes and car parts.

In politics as in war, the first casualty is truth.  Finding reliable information on the water crisis is difficult, even from reputable news sources.  What we do know is this: people in power gambled with the lives of people in poverty and lost.  When residents complained about the water, state officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality responded with “aggressive dismissal, belittlement and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved,” insisting that the water was safe.

The first “strategic goal” of the MDEQ is to “protect public health.” They failed. Miserably.  But no apology  from state officials, no number of resignations will be enough.  Those officials get to go home and drink clean, cheap water from their taps.  The people of Flint are stuck paying for poison in their homes.  The state leadership in Michigan was as corrosive as the Flint River, eroding trust and sowing fear as quickly as the water they provided corroded pipes and spread lead.  This water was given to babies, infants, and children because people in power said it was safe.

My work with ELCA World Hunger has carried me to places of rural poverty in Iowa, drought-stricken neighborhoods in Central California, and the corrugated metal-covered homes of displaced people in Colombia in search of answers to the same two questions: Where is God? and Where is the Church?

As I sit in Pastor Villarreal’s office holding a bottle of murky brown water drawn from the taps at Salem Lutheran, she tells me about the deep pain resonating throughout her neighborhood.  She describes the guilt of parents who gave their children lead-filled water to drink, of the frustratingly slow state response, of the opportunistic lawyers and media now spilling into Flint.

But she also shows me a list of the congregations and individuals that have reached out to her with donations of time, money, water, and filters.  She describes a young girl who was so moved by what she learned about access to water at the ELCA Youth Gathering in 2015 that when she heard about Flint, she felt called to help.  I hear about churches working together to prepare truckloads of water to ship to Flint, plumbers and pipe-fitters offering their services pro bono.

Pastor Villarreal describes interfaith groups and ecumenical groups coming together to support the community, of Muslims, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, and others in conversation and in partnership. Last week, ELCA World Hunger joined that list, by providing $5,000 to the Southeast Michigan Synod for Salem Lutheran Church.  This support will help Salem purchase bottled water to distribute to people in need.  It will also provide support to Salem’s food pantry, so that they can purchase food that meets the nutritional needs of people affected by lead.

And I have my answer.  We may not be eating bread and wine at an altar or singing hymns, but here, in this office, this is Church in its most basic form — a site of relief for those in need, a safe space to share dangerous stories of guilt and pain, and a place to unite to hold our leaders accountable when they fail to protect the well-being of all citizens.

Here, too, we are surrounded by weighty symbols — the brown water and corroded pipes that symbolize injustice, and the donated water from across the state and letters of support from all over the nation that symbolize a community committed to not let that injustice stand. The icons here represent a community of neighbors that transcend boundaries to accompany one another.

It is impossible to miss the sacramental volatility of water, that medium that gives life and takes life. It encapsulates the irony of living in the Great Lake State without clean water to drink. It symbolizes both the life-giving grace of the created world and the death-dealing abuses of power that come when we silence and marginalize our neighbors.  It is the touchpoint that knits together people across the spectrum of faiths and no-faith. It has become a rallying point for a community to come together.

Long after the media has left, Flint will still be dealing with this catastrophe.  The lead will still be in the pipes, and the chemicals and bacteria will still be in the river.  But people of faith and people of goodwill will still be here, too, to accompany one another and to hold government accountable.  ELCA World Hunger will continue to be present, too, and to accompany our brothers and sisters in the area with prayer, conversation and financial support.  As we learn more about the shape that this accompaniment will take, we will provide updates both here on the ELCA World Hunger blog and on social media.

What can you do to support Flint?

Pray – Include the people of Flint in your personal prayers and during worship with your congregation this Lenten season.

Advocate – This is a federal issue, and ELCA Advocacy recently released an advocacy alert related to the crisis.

Give – ELCA World Hunger will continue to support the community of Flint and Salem Lutheran Church through the long-term work that will be needed to find a “new normal” after this catatstrophe.  Prayerfully consider supporting this long-term work by making a gift to ELCA World Hunger.

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is the program director of hunger education for ELCA World Hunger.  He can be reached at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

Brass for Peace make music at the ELCJHL School of Hope, Ramallah. Photo: ELCJHL

Living and working together as people of different faith in the community is increasingly important in today’s global contexts where extremists are bent on using religion to create violence and division, says Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).

Reflecting on the annual World Interfaith Harmony Week observed during the first week of February, Younan said religious leaders play a critical role of educating people to see “the image of God in the other. This will help us to live in a better world—a world of acceptance.”

World Interfaith Harmony Week seeks to tell people that religions, including the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, are about loving the good and the neighbor, Younan said.

King Abdullah II of Jordan initiated the week, with support from political and religious leaders in the country. During the period, Muslim and Christian leaders address public gatherings on what it means to live together as people of different faiths. As the ELCJHL runs schools and other institutions that enroll Christians and Muslims as part of its diaconal outreach, the interfaith week is an occasion to affirm that “we can live side by side,” Younan adds.

Text and photo from LWF news release. Click here for full text.

By: The Rev. Amy Reumann, Director, Advocacy

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven (Matthew 6:1).

Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are the traditional disciplines of Lent. In the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, Jesus addresses these three acts of piety already well known in rabbinic teaching. Two thousand years later they continue to top the list of Lenten disciplines: refraining from certain food or drink, being more prayerful or making an extra donation to charity.

Jesus is never content to let tradition be. Just when you think you’ve got prayer, fasting and donating down, he puts his own spin on things. Fasting? Don’t complain, but put on a happy face. More prayer? Yes, please, but shut the door so no one sees you at it. Almsgiving? By all means, just don’t let anybody know. When you put your faith into action, Jesus asks you to keep it a secret. Shhhhh. Don’t let anyone know!

His “tell no one” instructions run into immediate obstacles. If this was a tall order in his day, it’s even more challenging in an age when we post, tweet and selfie our every moment. Increasingly, it seems that anything worth doing (and many things that are not) is made public on social media immediately. It follows then that if no one sees it, then why DO it?

Another implication of this text troubles me. Jesus’ admonition to act out piety in secret has helped reinforce the unfortunate belief that acts of faith belong in the private sphere of life.  Prayer, fasting, charity and anything else that has to do with living our faith gets defined as a personal matter between me and God, to the point where a public faith may be denounced as going against Jesus’ own instructions.

Applied too broadly, this interpretation can implant a spirit of timidity that makes Lutherans reticent to speak their faith in public. It dampens our efforts to offer public testimony in the two ways that matter most: the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbor and by witness to Christ through advocacy that lifts up a faithful voice with and on behalf of our neighbor’s needs.

But what if we are not the center of what’s going on in Matthew 6?  What if the word on Ash Wednesday, before it is a warning against being spiritual show-offs, is a theological statement about the God who “sees in secret”? This is the God who sees the best and the worst that we have to offer and still showers us with grace and mercy. This God offers us a promise: Our most holy actions won’t save us but neither will our most cowardly or selfish condemn us. God knows our secrets, including that we are often afraid to speak out as witnesses to Christ, but calls us nonetheless and promises to give us the words when we need them.

Martin Luther famously said, “God doesn’t want our good works. But our neighbor does.” He didn’t keep silent in the face of injustice but wrote hundreds of letters advocating for compassionate policies and structural change. He taught that faith is not a secret but a mystery about a God who sees, loves, forgives, heals our sin sick souls, and as a consequence, we are called to do the same, particularly on behalf of the people and the places that are broken and hurting.

Of course, inner disciplines nurture and ground our outward witness. We need both. But if Lent, more than any other time of the Christian calendar, asks us to tend to and focus on our own sin, confession and renewal, how much more could it become a time for nurturing the same practices in public?

What if this Lent we fasted from inwardly focused piety to outwardly motivated action, from prayer in private to public lament and truth-telling, from almsgiving that that goes beyond charity to raising of voices and action for greater justice?

It’s strange that we kick off Lent marked by ashes as an external sign of faith, but can spend the season focused only on internal attitudes. How about living Lent out loud this year? The leaders of your ELCA advocacy ministries will accompany you through the next weeks with blog posts and alerts to point to the places where we can and are moving as church together from private to public, from self-regard to neighbor-love, from focus on individual sin to calling out societal transgressions, from secret faith to public proclamation of the hope that comes at Easter. I wish you a blessed and holy Lent.

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we enter the season of Lent, register yourself or your congregation for ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving! to ensure that we can continue to work for systemic change that truly supports our brothers and sisters facing poverty and hunger.