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Urge your lawmakers to support Augusta Victoria Hospital!

Photo credit: LWF/Jerusalem

BACKGROUND

Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) is operated by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Jerusalem. It started in partnership with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in 1948 as a major medical facility in Jerusalem to care for Palestinian refugees. Today, most of the patients served by the hospital continue to be in social need and are seeking life-saving specialized care.

Augusta Victoria is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. On a daily basis, these and other specialty services touch countless lives, both young and old, from communities across the Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian Authority continued to refer patients to AVH in 2016 for cancer treatments and other treatments not available in Gaza or the West Bank. The hospital had serious cash-flow problems in 2016 as well as prior years due to delayed payments by the Palestinian Authority to cover the costs for the cancer patients it refers to the hospital. LWF, the hospital, and the hospital’s board, together with LWF member churches and related agencies, continued their advocacy work in 2016 addressing the cash-flow crisis.

The LWF Jerusalem Program is pleased to report that in early 2017 the United States released $25 million for Palestinian Authority debts to East Jerusalem hospitals, of which Augusta Victoria Hospital received more than $11 million, reducing by approximately 30 percent the amount of money owed to AVH by the Palestinian Authority for the treatment of Gaza and West Bank patients referred to AVH.

Many thanks to everyone who advocated in 2016 on behalf of the funding for Augusta Victoria Hospital and the East Jerusalem hospitals! Your efforts are much appreciated.  The bipartisan support for the release of the U.S. funds was important and will be helpful in 2017 when the problem will most likely come up again.

Despite the U.S. payment and another from the European Union, the debt of the Palestinian Authority for health care in East Jerusalem remains unacceptably high. Therefore, the LWF will continue to encourage advocacy by friends and partners.

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Contact the Peace Not Walls team for additional information: peacenotwalls@elca.org.

Take action by sending a letter to your members of Congress here.

 

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AHCA Update: What you accomplished and what’s next on health care

Today, the House of Representatives achieved passage of HR 1628, The American Health Care Act (AHCA) by a vote of 217-213, with no bi-partisan support and little debate.

How much will the AHCA cost? We don’t know. This is because House leadership didn’t wait for the Congressional Budget Office to provide a projection of the cost or impact to American taxpayers.

Who will be impacted most? People with disabilities, the elderly, and those facing poverty. HB 1628 would remove protections for pre-existing conditions, cut Medicaid by $800 billion, and end lifetime limits for coverage.

We know you care about affordable quality health care for all, and are grateful for your passionate calls, letters and emails to lawmakers. The narrow vote margin on the AHCA shows that representatives in Congress heard their constituents’ messages. Thank you for your advocacy and for making such a difference in this national issue.

Our work continues as this legislation now heads to the Senate. Both Republicans and Democrats are signaling the desire to work together to improve health care in the U.S.; not dismantle it. Our voices as Lutherans will be critical when we engage Senators on both sides of the aisle and urge them to guarantee access to health care for millions of Americans—especially for those who had limited access to affordable health insurance or were uninsured prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. Congress must continue to hear from constituents that dismantling health care for millions of vulnerable working families does not reflect our values as a nation or as a church.

Voices of faith can, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, be repairers of the breach. (Isaiah 58:12) Let us come together in this important moment to encourage our lawmakers to serve the common good through faithful and civil dialogue.

– ELCA Advocacy

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Gatherings: Life-Changing Events

– Sherry Ferne

After graduating  from Central High School in January, 1961, I worked at the State of Ohio Library. I was saving money for college at Capital University and also to attend the 1961 Luther League Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. I looked forward to both. The Convention would be a real adventure for someone who had only traveled to Michigan and West Virginia. I took a train to Washington, DC and then to Miami Beach, Florida; a whole train full of Lutheran teenagers! Yet “Colored” bathrooms and drinking fountains at the railroad stations in the south surprised and shocked me.

We stayed at the very upscale Fontainebleau Hotel. The sessions were terrific with all of the young people: the enthusiastic singing was inspiring.  The speakers were thought provoking.  Most impressive of all was a black pastor who spoke with such passion and authority, and with the certainty that he was doing what God was calling him to do.  I don’t exactly remember his words, but I do remember that his message was powerful.  He was so impressive. 

To this day, I wonder how the American Lutheran Church was able to convince Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to address this group of teenagers.  It certainly was a pivotal moment in my life as I carefully followed his few remaining years.

The convention in 1961 made me a huge proponent of our ELCA Youth Gatherings.  I heartily encourage every young person in the ELCA to attend as many Youth Gatherings as they can.  My 15 year old grandson attended his first gathering in Detroit and he looks forward to attending the Houston Gathering with his younger sister.  They are life changing events!

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A Glorious Weekend of Singing

 

Today’s post is from Ina Berkey in Williamsburg, VA. This weekend was made possible through a grant from the ELCA Reformation Anniversary Grant Program.

 

On Jan. 28-29, St. Stephen Lutheran Church, along with Saint Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg, VA sponsored a Hymn Festival celebrating the Week of Christian Unity and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The two-day event featured David Cherwien, noted Lutheran organist and composer and Susan Palo Cherwien, hymn text writer and poet.

The festival brought together 140 choir members from many denominations throughout the Tidewater (VA) area, which stretches from Richmond to Norfolk.  On Saturday the choir rehearsed in the morning and after a catered luncheon attended two workshops. Susan Cherwien presented one workshop about the power of words and poetry in creating text for hymns.  David Cherwien presented a workshop which explored creative hymn singing.

On Sunday afternoon the Festival Choir, under the direction of Dr. Cherwien, led a congregation of over 500 which was made up of members of various churches throughout the Tidewater area. Each hymn and its variations contributed to the theme, “The Spirit of Transformation,” and was preceded by a reflection written and spoken by Susan Cherwien.  The festival ended with prayers for unity and with singing the hymn, “Holy God We Praise Your Name”.

For those present, the entire weekend confirmed the statement by former Pope John XXIII that “The things that unite us are greater than those that divide us.”

 

 

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May 7, 2017–Following the Shepherd

Faith Lens

 

Warm-up Question

How does someone remembering your name after a brief introduction affect how you feel about them?  What assumptions do you make about someone simply because they remember your name?

Following the Shepherd

There is something about us which wants to test everything.  Take for example the question of whether sheep really do follow the shepherd’s voice.  The conventional wisdom (in part because of of this week’s gospel lesson) is that sheep know the difference between their shepherd and other folks calling out to them.  But is it true? A simple Google search of “sheep calling” quickly yields a series of videos offering some evidence that sheep do indeed respond to a particular person.  In one humorous video three persons call to an absolutely apathetic herd with no visible effect, but when the shepherd steps up, you can see the sheep’s ears perk up  far across a field.  Then a tentative walk becomes a stampede to the fence and the waiting shepherd.

Discussion Questions

  • What might account for the fact that sheep seem to respond to one particular person and ignore others?
  • Think about why you respond move favorably to some people than others.  How are you like the sheep?

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:42-47

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

(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 this week’s gospel lesson John offers us a cluster of images around the theme of sheep and sheep herding:  Jesus as a shepherd.  Jesus as a gate.  If we extended our reading we would see Jesus as shepherd in contrast to a hired hand and Jesus as the one who unites multiple folds into one flock.  One has the image of John taking all the note cards he has of sheep-related images and chaining them together, piling them up one after another in his gospel.  That makes for a rich passage, but it can also make things complicated if you are trying to connect them together into a coherent whole.

We can get into  trouble if we push a metaphor too far or in the wrong direction.  For example, shepherds shepherd for the ultimate purpose of shearing or slaughtering.  That is probably not where John intends to take the image–the shepherd as the one who cares for the sheep in order to use them for personal gain.  So what is John suggesting by this choice of image; what is he trying to tell us about Jesus?  Good images (and this is a great one) lend themselves to many interpretations, here are just a few:

  • At some deep level we belong to God and God is concerned about us.
  • There is something about Jesus to which we instinctively respond when he is  clearly made known to us.
  • Jesus knows us individually and cares deeply about each person.
  • Jesus shows us the way.  He does not simply send us out as disciples; he models what faithfulness looks like.
  • Jesus protects us from that which would destroy us.
  • Jesus desires to take us from barren, dead end lives to a place of abundance where we can thrive and find joy.

Discussion Questions

  • Which of the themes noted above feels the most like “good news” to you?
  • What other interpretations would you add to the images of shepherd and sheep gate?
  • This passage is one of a series of “I am” sayings of Jesus.  What is another image which would describe your understanding of Jesus and what he offers us?   Jesus is like…Why?

Activity Suggestion

Shepherd Me, O God (ELW 780) is a hymnic setting of Psalm 23, which accompanies John 10 in the lectionary this week.  It offers an active image of shepherding, of God taking us to an abundant place.  Read the hymn (sing it if you have the musical support) and then imagine what that abundant place would look like for you.  Using colored pencils or crayons draw what that place looks like and then share your picture with a partner or the whole group.

Closing Prayer

Lord, the truth is that I have never seen a shepherd in the flesh; that world seems far away from me.  But I know what it feels like to be vulnerable and lost.  I know how much I long to be more than a face in the crowd and valued in all my weird uniqueness.   I know how hungry I am for purpose and hope.  So be my shepherd and draw me near to you.  Open my ears to hear your call and respond in trust.  Amen.

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