A couple of posts back, I brought up Lucian of Samasota’s mocking critique of Christians. The great generosity of Christians, Lucian demonstrated, left them vulnerable to swindlers. Apparently, some Christians were aware of this potential problem. The Didache, also known as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” offers a remedy. Writing in the late-1st century, the Didachist instructs Christians, “Let your gift sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give it.” This beautiful word-picture (well, maybe not so beautiful, but vivid nonetheless!) offers helpful advice: before you give, make sure you know that your gift will be well used.

The problem is that too often I just let the gift sweat and sweat. I know where the money would be put to good use (ELCA World Hunger, for one!), but I hesitate. I rationalize. I end up with a fistful of soggy dollars. What about you? In these turbulent financial times, maybe it’s time to air that gift out. There is an ever growing number of people without means, maybe you have in your hand the perfect gift for a person in dire need.

David Creech

Congregation Connections

I’ve been meaning to share this with you for a few weeks. My wife, Jessica, opened her MDG fundraiser with the following comments:

“We could choose to despair over the problems of the world. We could choose to be silent about the injustices we see. We could choose to close eyes to the pain of others and become more isolated and insular as the threats of the economy loom.

“Or we could choose to hope. We could choose to speak. We could choose to see the brokenness—remembering that wounds are also doors for opportunity, for transformation, reconciliation and healing. We could choose to take the chaos that lies before us, and use it to be creative, to reshape a world in which people are more valuable than money.”

Words of wisdom, I think!

On Sunday, November 9, lectors across the Church will read from Amos, chapter 5: But let justice roll down like waters.
Take a moment to review the related pieces in the Pentecost 2008 edition of Congregation Connections (page 9). Maybe there’s still time to include the “Thought Prelude” or the Water Facts in this Sunday’s bulletin or share it with in a Sunday forum or class. Remember to share the new ELCA World Hunger Life-Giving Water bulletin with your congregation, too.

Chris Carpenter and I have recently returned from World Hunger project visits in South Africa and Malawi. Water and justice issues streamed through our visits. I am busy getting photos captioned and posted on imageevent.com/elcahunger (South Africa and Malawi).

Advocacy, or “voicing out” streamed its way throughout the trip, too. The development service arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi (ELDS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa (ELCSA-DS) are associate programs of the Lutheran World Federation. ELDS and ELCSA-DS staff shared how they accompany communities through relief, to rehabilitation, to development, and on to the power of advocating for rights. “We build capacity so the community can find its voice. You can’t speak out when you have nothing. We move communities from a focus on needs to a focus on rights.”

It’s not always easy or neat. “Sometimes, when you speak out in Africa, you can be mistaken as an enemy.”

It’s election day in the United States. May our votes be voices for justice.
Sue Edison-Swift

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting texts that provide a window into the early Church’s attitude towards hunger and poverty. Today, I offer the perspective of a non-Christian critic.

The late 2nd century satirist Lucian of Samasota mercilessly mocked Christians for their gullibility. Railing against their generous giving, and seemingly naïve trust in the goodness of those in need, Lucian tells the tale of a man named Peregrinus who joined the fledgling movement to swindle cash from unsuspecting “orphans and widows.” After Peregrinus was arrested for being a Christian (but make no mistake, Lucian felt Peregrinus deserved every bit of it, being the charlatan that he was), Lucian describes how “from the very break of day aged widows and orphan children could be seen waiting near the prison,” as if these were shorthand for Christian believers. Lucian was not the only ancient Greco-Roman author to comment on the generosity of Christians, it appears to have been one of the marks of the nascent movement, and Christians were nearly universally mocked for this trait.

Which brings me to today. When I think of the various idiosyncrasies of the Christian Church, those things for which Christians are (sometimes rightfully) mocked, unfettered generosity does not immediately come to mind. To be sure, there have been significant changes in Western culture in the last 2,000 years, and generosity in general is much more accepted (even expected?) today. That said, in these turbulent financial times, when many of us are hunkering down for the long haul and working to protect our assets, wouldn’t it be great if the Church reclaimed the piece of its heritage that gives generously, even to a fault? It starts with you and me. Let’s do something mock-worthy.

-David Creech