Women of the ELCA

“I guess if everyone did everything they should do… the right thing…we wouldn’t think this story was such a big deal,” an Illinois man said recently after turning over to police $150,000 he found in his vegetable garden.

The media swarmed this guy for a few days, and he, like me, was puzzled that he got so much attention for doing the good and right thing. (Granted, finding $150,000 in a vegetable garden is definitely a story, but the man was praised lavishly for turning it in.)

If I found $150,000 in my vegetable garden or on the street or in my office building, I would turn it in. Wouldn’t you? Sure, I’d want to keep the money, but I know that morally I should try to find its rightful owner.  If I receive too much change from a cashier, I give it back. Don’t you?

When I see “Reward for Lost Dog” signs, I think, “Now who would take money for returning someone’s lost dog?” The reward would be in the owner’s eyes when she saw her prodigal dog, home again and safe.

A recent New York Times columnist reported on a study that found young people claim moral choices are a matter of individual tastes. (If they believed in the “finders–keepers” tenet, then the $150,000 would be theirs and turning it in would not even be on the moral agenda.) The columnist wondered if young people have not “been given the resources — by schools, institutions and families — to cultivate their moral intuitions, to think more broadly about moral obligations, to check behaviors that may be degrading.”

The columnist claimed, “The study says more about adult America than youthful America.”

What does the study say about the work of the church? Have we failed in our obligations as Christians to model good and right behavior?  Have we failed to convey the Golden Rule?

Terri Lackey is managing editor of Gather magazine.

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In the last couple of weeks the U.S Census Bureau released some very grim statistics. The poverty rate in this country rose to 15.1 percent in 2010. “There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 — the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published,” reported the Census Bureau.

On Wednesday September 14, the Census Bureau reported that the number of households that had “doubled up” had increased by more than 10 percent since 2007. The bureau said that much of the increase was the result of adult children who either moved back home during the recession or never left. Among adults between the ages of 25 and 34, some 5.9 million were living with their parents this spring, up from 4.7 million before the recession hit in 2007.

What also seems apparent—even to extremely wealthy business leaders like Warren Buffett—is that there’s a growing inequality in this country. The income gap is widening. Something like the the top 10th of 1 percent takes home about 24 percent of all American wealth.

Even the middle class is feeling squeezed: in the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1997. To quote The New York Times online: “It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard. ‘This is truly a lost decade,’ Mr. Katz said. ‘We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.’”

I’m embarrassed and saddened that in this country, with all its resources and promise, we can allow some 46 million people to live in poverty. And I’m afraid for all those people who are on the edge—the elderly, disabled, and the vulnerable; the unemployed, the working poor, and those slipping out of the middle class because of job loss and housing values; and the young people who are saddled with crushing student loans and no prospects for good jobs. I pray about these things and I wring my hands. It’s hard to see much hope for the future, especially since the political discourse in this nation has become so brittle and angry. How can we continue to feel hope?

What do you think? What was your response to the recent reports about poverty from the Census Bureau? What gives you hope?

Kate Elliott is editor of Gather magazine.

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We’re all about acting boldly on our faith in Jesus Christ. Who’s a better example of that than our Liberian sister, Leymah Gbowee? Leymah and other Lutheran women in Liberia, joined first by other Christian women and then by Muslim women, set out to bring peace to their war-torn country. The staff of Women of the ELCA is excited to be hosting Leymah today for a brown bag lunch here in Chicago. Leymah will be signing copies of her new memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers.

If you’re not able to connect with Leymah during her book tour, I encourage you to read her book. Better yet, get a group of women together for a discussion of the book. You might even begin the discussion by viewing the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell which tells the story of the Liberian women’s peace movement.

Leymah Gbowee (r.) and today's blogger, Linda Post Bushkofsky

You’ll also want to tune in to the Women, War and Peace series set to air next month on PBS stations around the country. The five-part series will feature Pray the Devil Back to Hell along with four original films telling the story of women peacemakers in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Colombia and Liberia. You can build community action around peacemaking by pulling together a group to watch each film and engage in discussion afterwards. If you sign up to host such a group, you can get a discussion guide in return.

Join the women and peacemaking conversation. I’m already talking about it. Will you share the news with others you know?

Web: www.womenwarandpeace.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/WomenWarPeace

Twitter: @WomenWarPeace

Linda Post Bushkofsky, the executive director of Women of the ELCA, began her work in this organization as a peace with justice coordinator back in 1990.

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“She’s growing up so fast.” “She is a lovely young lady.” “She is so mature.” These are just a few comments friends and family have made about our daughter Victoria.

We recently celebrated Victoria’s Quinceañera, a Latin American tradition celebrating the 15^th birthday of a young woman. The day started with a Mass of Thanksgiving in which we gave thanks to God for the many blessings in our lives and for the joy in our hearts because we have seen this child of God grow into a mature young woman.

“Young Woman?!” I must admit this is hard for me to say. It feels like just yesterday we were cradling this baby in our arms. Where has the time gone? We can still remember her playing with her toys or helping her tie her shoes or just her coming to us when she was afraid of a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. How we miss that.

But looking back and seeing her now, we realize what many around us have seen all along, but we did not want to admit. She is not a baby anymore, nor is she a child. She is a young woman. As hard as that may seem to accept, it is true.

We realize that as she grows, we need to grow along with her. We are learning to let go (a little at a time), and we pray that God continues to bless her with the grace she needs to live a faithful adult life.

Gabriela Contreras is the director for meeting planning for Women of the ELCA.

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Once Labor Day happens, I have always felt it was the start of new beginnings. It is the start of children and adults going back to school. Women have planned for programs and activities for the fall season. It is also the beginning of the next triennium for Women of the ELCA.

I was inspired to hear Leymah Gbowee, a plenary speaker at the Triennial Gathering, speak to her sisters of the ELCA to say “It’s time to rise up” and “reclaim your space!” There is much to do and Women of the ELCA has the ministry tools to help you reach out to your community and support you on your faith journey.

Are you connected with Women of the ELCA in its mission and purpose? In our mission statement—Mobilizing women to act boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ—we are here supporting you with program resources, promoting women’s complete health with our health initiative, advocating for women and children, awarding grants and providing scholarships. We have Café, an award-winning e-zine for young women and it’s also available in an audio podcast. Our 6 Models for Mission can help you reorganize your unit. By receiving Daily Grace through your iPhone you can be inspired daily. Working together we can carry out our purpose with the framework of our mission.

To learn more about how we accomplish our mission and purpose, visit us at womenoftheelca.org and then consider joining us. Consider this a new beginning for you to take action. Be inspired to reclaim your space!

Eva James Yeo is director for membership.

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I was singing along with Annie the other day.

The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun! Just thinkin’ about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow, til there’s none!

By the time she approaches the last stanza singing to the top of her lungs… the words are starting to sink in.

The sun’ll come out tomorrow. So you gotta hang on til tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya tomorrow! You’re only a day away!

Well, Annie I wouldn’t want to burst your bubble but, the real truth is tomorrow never comes (no, really it doesn’t). We can go to bed thinking about tomorrow but when we wake it is today. We only have today. We cannot return to yesterday nor can we step into the future of tomorrow. All we have is today.

Just thinkin’ about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow, til there’s none!

Tomorrow may be able to afford promises of no sorrows, but today comes with sorrows, joys, tornadoes, hurricanes, graduations, homelessness, new inventions, depression, laughter, recessions and lunch with friends. So, what happens to the right now–24 hours, 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds of today–if we focus on tomorrow? Tomorrow! Tomorrow! leaves us no time to make a difference. We can change tomorrow only by participating in today. What a gift!

I guess tomorrow gazing could be a safe and comfortable if we like watching life or if we are okay with life just happening to us.

So you gotta hang on til tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya tomorrow! You’re always a day away!

But, from now on I’ll end this little ditty with…tomorrow! You’ll always bring today!

Valora K Starr is director for discipleship.

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Let me introduce myself to you. I am a mother, grandmother, employee, neighbor, friend and significant other. These are only a few of the roles that I hold.

If you hold any of the roles that I mentioned above, then you’ll understand why Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”) is the verse that I hold unswervingly to and want to encourage you to do the same.

Have you ever had a day when every role that you play in life calls you to answer? Let me take you through a day in my life. I’m sure as you read, you’ll relate.

I wake up to a phone call from my daughter at 5:30 a.m. because her newborn is awake wanting to play “let’s make faces.” Now keep in mind I don’t actually have to awaken for at least another hour to get ready for work. I, of course, try to go back to sleep, but that’s literally impossible, so I get ready for work and head out the door. I arrive at my wonderful job bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, only to find out that everyone needs everything at the same time. I don’t complain, I just start hustling to get things done.

Around lunchtime I get a picture on my cell phone of my grandson. He’s doing something so adorably cute that I make plans with my daughter to visit him. My grandson greets me wanting to play the “up” game, which means ‘pick me up grandma, I’m 30 lbs of joy and I love you.’ I can’t resist of course but later on that night I will suffer with such wonderful back pain.

On my way home, a friend will call who needs to talk about something, so I listen and that call gets me home. (Oh and yes I have a blue tooth, so don’t worry, I’m not breaking the law.) I arrive home around 7:30 p.m. and run into a neighbor who wants to ask me some questions about the “special assessment” and how I feel about it. As a good neighbor I let him know where I’m at with things. I bid him ado and head to my unit. When I arrive I start preparing for my evening—maybe dinner and a movie—nothing too rigorous, but always fun. Needless to say I’m dog tired and ready to hit the pillow. I am exhausted and loving it!

This day I met several of my demanding roles head on! I am so proud of myself and looking forward to the next day like this. Make no mistake, I’m exhausted, but lovin’ every minute of it and grateful for the “strength” that God gives me. Every single role that I hold means the world to me and I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

I hope you embrace all of your roles and exist in them as I do. I say to all of the exhausted mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, significant others or spouses, neighbors and friends out there, may you have a restful Labor Day.

Vanessa Davis is the administrative assistant for Women of the ELCA.

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My wallet fell out of my car last Friday afternoon and I didn’t even know it happened.  I made the mistake of putting my wallet in the side pocket of my door and in the chaos that comes with parenting two kids, I never even saw it fall out.  And it wasn’t until several hours later that I realized what had happened.  So, hours after it went missing, I started calling my bank, credit cards, etc. to cancel my cards. Even though it was a pain to have to go through that, I was relieved to find out none of them had been used!

So, was my wallet still sitting in a street somewhere?  Or did someone find it, look for cash (they would have been disappointed, I think I had two dollars) and then toss the wallet?  Or, was it possible it was found by a kind stranger and would be returned to me by a good, honest citizen of Evanston?

I’m happy to report that Friday evening there was a package sitting on my front steps with my wallet inside.  With my wallet was a handwritten note  on lovely stationary with a cross on the front.  It was written by a woman named Nancy and she wrote, “Dear Emily, I am so thankful I found your wallet.  It was laying in the street on the corner of Reese and Hartzell in Evanston.  May God Bless You.”

I don’t know who Nancy is, but she did leave her address on the package. I was so relieved and grateful to have benefited from the good deed of a complete stranger.  When have you experienced the kindness of a stranger?

By the way, I’m going to send Nancy a thank-you note….and I think enclose a copy of our newest issue of Gather.

Emily Hansen is the director for stewardship and development for Women of the ELCA.

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