By: Ali Brauner

Associate director, Cathedral in the Night

The reality of affordable housing in America today is far less positive than most of us would like to believe. Agencies are understaffed and case managers are overworked. Underfunded and overstretched, the programs designed to help people get back on their feet and achieve self-sufficiency have far too many gaps through which a person might fall, with virtually no built-in safety nets to catch those who do. There are mountains of paperwork, tedious, long hours in crowded waiting rooms filled with small children who can’t receive the attention they need from their stressed, anxious parents. I know this because I was there myself.

In truth, I cannot write from the point of view of the stressed parent, nor as the child fussing over the long hours sitting still under the florescent lights. I was there as an advocate, at once empowered and helpless. The mother of two young children sat next me to in the unflattering light of yet another waiting room, with its peeling paint and stained, warped floorboard. Stacy and I were the first to arrive at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), but by noon the room was filled with people.

It is Stacy’s story that I want to share today, with her permission. Her name has been changed to protect her privacy, but all other details are true.

Stacy is strong and powerful, well spoken and incredibly well organized. While other mothers in the room barked at their toddlers to sit still, keep quiet and behave, tasks impossible for a person who is only 2, Stacy calmly responded to her child’s request for attention with patience and affection. She came prepared with snacks and distractions, books and crayons, coloring books and Legos. He stayed happily on the floor by her feet, indigo and violet swirls covering Mickey Mouse’s smiling face.

I accompanied Stacy to the DTA office because she was facing eviction. Her story is remarkable. A physical disability makes movement and travel hard on her body, leaving her in a fair amount of pain. Once homeless, she lived in a motel for a short time before being placed in an apartment with her young child. At the time, a state-funded program paid the portion of Stacy’s rent that she was unable to afford, allowing her to scrape by with her minimal income. Her disability has left her currently unable to work.

In addition to the physical pain, years of hardship and traumatic experiences have left emotional scars on Stacy’s spirit, which she is strong enough to acknowledge, but she doesn’t let them slow her down. She explained that the process of finding housing, getting swept off the street and into supportive programs required countless hours of paperwork. At an unstable time in her life, she is unclear what paperwork was signed, what information was given, who she even spoke with. The fog of trauma combined with the near impossible task of filling out the required paperwork for things like housing, health care, day care vouchers, food stamps, etc., leaves a person feeling exhausted, drained and even punished. It’s exhausting to be poor.

For a few years, the program in which Stacy was enrolled kept her safely housed, but over time, the budget for the program was slashed and a time-limit was placed on the assistance. Her housing voucher expired on Jan. 31. Without intervention, she would be homeless by the end of March.

I met Stacy at Cathedral in the Night, an outdoor church in Massachusetts. In December, she came to us, anticipating the end of her voucher and the chaos that would follow. When she asked us for help, she surprised us. Her hope was not so much for a resolution to her own housing crisis. What she really wanted was to help those like her, to tell her story to people in positions of power so that the system might be changed for the better. I continue to be impressed and inspired by Stacy’s spirit.

I was able to set up a meeting quite quickly between Stacy and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, her representative in Congress. In the weeks prior, we helped Stacy write out her story in detail, shaping it into a clear, powerful narrative of struggle and survival, one that moved the congressman during our meeting. Not surprisingly, Stacy spoke in a clear, calm voice as she told her story to him, advocating for herself in a way she had been unable to do before. Her young son sat on my lap as Stacy spoke, crayons strewn across the table, and McGovern seemed perfectly at peace in the chaos.

We expected him to respond like most politicians might, with promises to work harder to make the country better, but then he looked at his staffer, sitting behind him at the table, and said, “Now, who do we need to call?” We continue to be pleasantly surprised by his commitment to not just his community as a whole but to the individuals within it. A few days after our meeting, he had written Stacy a letter of support and had called the directors of several housing organizations trying to find a solution to her crisis.

On the day of the DTA meeting, I was able to give Stacy a ride to the office, sitting with her in her meetings and keeping her child occupied. By car, the journey takes 30 minutes. By bus, it would have taken more than two hours, each way. Being poor is a terrible waste of time. After a phone call from McGovern’s office, armed with a letter signed by him, we still waited more than two hours before being seen, only to be told there was nothing the agency could do.

In spite of this, Stacy told me on the way home that my presence in the room made her feel supported and visible. She said that she had never been treated so well by a housing agency. I was there only as an advocate, helping to keep tones of voices low, asking clarifying questions, and taking good notes. When the young child got antsy, I would walk with him in the halls, allowing Stacy to focus on the meeting.

Even though we didn’t walk away that day with a solution to her housing problem, it did feel like a win. For me, I felt like the reality of the housing world had hit me in the face and opened my eyes wide. For Stacy, she felt visible and seen, supported and cared for by her church.

Eventually, Stacy was able to find an organization to help her stay afloat until a Section 8 voucher becomes available for her. Having a place to live is so important for her and her two children.

Cathedral in the Night is proud to have walked with Stacy and her family through this difficult journey, never speaking for but simply keeping watch and bearing witness to the hardship of poverty and disability. We are so grateful to McGovern for all his work on behalf of this family and look forward to new ways that members of Cathedral in the Night will be involved in advocacy.

By the Rev. Cindy Crane
Director, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin

A photo of birds perching on telephone lines fills the front cover of the book, “Mobbing,” by Maureen Duffy and Len Sperry. The small creatures look as innocuous as notes resting on lines of music. However, the birds get center attention because of their tendency to join together to overtake larger animals. Recent studies show that if two particular birds have bonded to mob their prey once, the likelihood of their banding together in the future to gain advantage over another target grows exponentially. But the book isn’t about birds. It’s about human beings.

Mobbing is bullying that involves more than one person and has institutional buy-in. At least that’s one definition. When an entire agency, school, condo association, workplace, club, place of worship, government, or a political leader with followers condones abuse, validity is added to actions we would normally find abhorrent. There is something seductive about getting in line with a crowd even when it is moving in a questionable direction.

We stay alert to public policies that could add or diminish lawful layers of discrimination or violent behavior in general. Lessons from history add urgency to our advocacy when we notice disturbing trends repeating themselves. How will we engage?

Some mobbing is almost invisible, but the harm can have devastating consequences for the target, at times even leading to suicide. Duffy and Sperry refer to mobbing as a legal way to commit murder. Survivors often suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome and are left with a changed worldview; it becomes harder to trust, have hope in transformation, and to not see life through a lens of cynicism. The treads in a brain of someone recently bullied or mobbed are most similar to those of someone who was just raped. Whether we have witnessed mobbing or have only read about overt forms of it in the news, the story on Good Friday seems familiar. We don’t talk about it, but people sometimes mob. It happened to Jesus.

A band of soldiers, police and religious leaders swooped in to overpower the Messiah. As the abuse intensified, Jesus didn’t struggle with his worldview or faith. Instead, we hear about Pilate having no power over him and of Scripture being fulfilled. At this point, it’s easy to think about this story being about the glorification of suffering, of Jesus dying because he wanted to die. These interpretations have fostered misunderstandings that victims of abuse or oppressed groups should acquiesce to oppressors just like Jesus did, missing Jesus’ resistance to injustice that led him to the cross. His profound love and forgiveness went hand in hand with his challenging parts of society that were legally designed to ostracize certain people. And his defiance of the distorted messages hurled at him up to his death was entrenched in God’s love.

Knowing what mobbing does to a person, Jesus’ air of resistance is remarkable. If there is a context in which to say, “I’m not like Jesus,” this is it. The vision that St. John lets us in on is of the Jesus who was in complete control. He wasn’t a warrior, but he didn’t act like prey either. Facing the soldiers, he exuded calm and told them to leave his disciples alone, protecting and loving them even though he knew most would desert him. He was unwavering with Pilate, one of the most powerful people in Israel. He carried his own cross. And in this gospel from the cross, Jesus didn’t express a sense of abandonment.

The Jesus whom John experienced was steady while the people around him displayed a whole array of responses. Judas betrayed him. Peter denied his discipleship. Pilate was agitated by the injustice the mob demanded but in the end went with the crowd. His mother, aunt, Mary Magdalene, and the beloved disciple stayed close to the cross.

How do we respond to Jesus? By grace, the gospel gives us courage to have a public voice when facing powerful systems that frame our society. And we discern between organizing out of love and ganging up on others to exert abusive power. This lesson teaches us that God in Jesus walks with those who are mobbed; they/we never have to journey alone. The story reminds us of Christ’s love, even when we falter and move against justice.

People sometimes mob, but that is not what defines the drama in John’s lesson. God incarnate in Jesus, Jesus’ authority and love shape the story of Good Friday. The story shapes us. For now, for this part of Holy Week, that is the hope revealed.

You can learn more about the work of Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin by visiting their website at loppw.org/.

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we near the end of this Lenten season, 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.

By the Rev. Paul Benz, Director, Faith Action Network

On Palm Sunday (the Passion of our Lord Sunday) it is very common across denominations to have a processional in order to remind us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem – the political and religious “capital” of Israel. The people were enthralled and excited about this as Jesus walked in procession into Jerusalem, riding on the crest of his popularity as a miracle worker, truth teller and son of God.

When we read the texts recounting what Jesus did after his triumphant procession, we learn about how he spoke “truth to power” and how he touched and transformed lives. Jesus’ mission was to not only cleanse the temple but to “cleanse” people’s lives and all of creation through the ultimate sacrifice of giving his life on the cross. As advocates, we can use the mission of Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem as a guide for actions that we can take as part of our own “procession” toward justice and peace.

One such action might be to exercise our public voice by speaking to those in power about the necessary reforms we need in order to help our brothers and sisters who face hunger and poverty. The most effective way to affect this policy change in the long-term is to first build relationships with our own community members that are affected by the public policies enacted by our government and then create platforms with them so that they are able to speak their truth directly to these decision-makers.

Today in this country we are in the midst of a moment where competing popular public figures promise to improve people’s lives and move America in a positive direction. Our nation and we the people have many key decisions before us this year, and our faith tradition compels us to be engaged. Another action that can help us walk in procession toward justice is to engage in our electoral process and ensure that all citizens are provided the opportunity to participate. (You can join fellow Lutherans as we pray and act together this year by joining our #ELCAVotes initiative!)

As we continue through Holy Week, the Easter season, and the rest of this year, may we remember our baptismal calling and vocation as it directs us to walk in procession into the halls of power AND into our neighborhoods using our voices to speak out (and our ears to listen), empowering our neighbors, and using our hands to touch and transform.

You can learn more about the work of Faith Action Network by visiting their website at http://fanwa.org/.

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we near the end of this Lenten season, 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. 

By the Rev. Sara Lilja
Director, Lutheran Episcopal Advocacy Ministry of New Jersey

This line from the Gospel of John, “you always have the poor with you,” has been often misquoted. I hear this text cited as justification for inadequate public policy efforts to eradicate poverty. But it is a misread of the text.

Lazarus hosted a dinner six days before Passover. After the meal, Judas criticized Mary for having spent nearly a year’s wages to purchase beautifully perfumed oil to anoint Jesus’ feet.  Jesus defended Mary’s actions; he reminded the gathered disciples that he would not be with them much longer (knowing that his arrest was near). So Mary’s anointing was appropriate. Continuing, Jesus added that there would be many more opportunities to address the needs of the poor in Bethany.

The narrator of this story, John, comments that Judas was mad because he kept the “common purse,” which was money to be used to care for the poor. John asserts that Judas had been stealing money from this purse. Judas would have liked Mary to make a large donation into the purse rather than spending it on oil, so that he could skim more for himself.

Jesus never teaches that God intends or is pleased with an economically stratified society where some are wealthy and some poor. Jesus’ acknowledgment of the needs of the poor should never be understood that he condoned poverty. No, over and over again we learn of Jesus’ intention to close the wealth gap by paying workers a fair wage, forgiving debt, and welcoming the disenfranchised into community.

The conversation that might appropriately grow from this text is: What are the opportunities to serve the poor in Bethany and within my neighborhood so that all people might be economically self-sufficient? A pastor friend of mine recently wrote to his senator, “I’m hoping to work my way out of the food pantry business. Not because I don’t care, but because I believe finding a solution for hungry families is not to continue sharing food, but to help all people buy their own. Equity, love and unbiased fairness are essential to ending the gap between those [who] eat and those [who] don’t. We are committed to feeding families, but we are also committed to advocating for policies and legislation that work for the good of the whole.”

A prayer for people:

For people in poverty, who live in a state of illiteracy and frustration.

For men whose labor is less valued and exploited because they are unskilled.

For boys who have migrated to cities, other countries and continents in search of  jobs to improve the economic conditions of their families, but they are landed in the most strenuous, the dirtiest and lowest paid jobs.

For women who suffer at the hands of their in-laws, because of her dowry and other cultural and family traditions.

For children who are suffering in pain and misery because of illness and malnutrition due to poverty.

For couples who are deprived of mutual love and close bonds of fellowship because of separation and divorce.

For the differently abled who struggle for dignity, equality and for meaningful work.

For public officials who are working in affairs of policy and decision making.

For all people who endeavor to eradicate poverty.

Amen.

Based on Beulah Shakir’s prayer, who lives in Pakistan

Our ELCA Advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. As we near the end of this Lenten season, 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. 

Earlier this month, the Rev. Nelson Bock, co-director of Wartburg West,  testified at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hearing in Colorado. At the hearing, Pastor Bock voiced the faith community’s concern for God’s Creation, and his support for a proposed rule that would reduce Methane Emissions on Public and Tribal Lands. You can learn more about the BLM proposed rule at the Dept. of Interior by clicking here. 

Lakewood,  CO  March 1, 2016

I am a Lutheran minister, and I teach on the subject of religion and the environment for a Lutheran college. I am also a GreenFaith fellow, having graduated from the GreenFaith program for religious environmental leadership in 2008. And I am a member of the Board of Directors of Colorado Interfaith Power and Light, one of 40 IPL state affiliates working with communities of faith to lessen the impacts of climate change through education, through taking action to reduce their own carbon footprints, and through advocacy for more environmentally responsible policies at every level of government. We do this out of our conviction that we human beings have a divine calling and responsibility as caretakers of the creation– the beautiful, intricate, interdependent web of life and natural resources upon which all life, including our own, depends.

We cannot pretend that our activity on the earth has no impacts and no consequences. Indeed, our own well-being as a human community is dependent on the well-being of the ecosphere of which we are a part.

In addition to what we know about the emission of carbon dioxide by the burning of fossil fuels, including natural gas, and its affect on the climate, we also know that methane is itself a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more potent than CO2, and that the increasing leakage of methane into the atmosphere in connection with drilling and fracking activities has become a growing problem as we seek ways to limit emission of greenhouse gases. We must have strong regulations by which we can enforce the need for such limits.

I also have personal testimony on the topic of methane leakage. My wife and I own property in the North Fork Valley on the western slope of Colorado. Last year, as we were driving through the national forest on Stevens Gulch Road south from County Road 265, we turned off on a Forest Service Road. As we drove along, we began noticing a strong smell of fumes. We rolled down the windows, but the smell was coming into the car from outside, so we rolled the windows back up.Soon we came to a place where the road was blocked and a man who was not wearing a Forest Service uniform told us the road was closed and we had to turn around. When we asked why the road was closed, he told us they were drilling a mile or so down the road. So we turned around and drove back to 265. The strong smell persisted, and we began experiencing headaches and nausea. As we continued to drive away, about 15 minutes later both the smell and the symptoms of illness were gone. Our suspicion was and is that they were caused by hydrocarbons leaking from that well, and we will do whatever we need to in order to prevent further drilling for oil and natural gas without those stringent safeguards.

Thank you.

The Rev. Nelson Bock

Interested in hearing more faith perspectives on the BLM Methane Rule? Read more, including thoughts from Lutheran Pastor David Nichols, by clicking here! 

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Pennsylvania – Tracey DePasquale, Interim-Director

www.lutheranadvocacypa.org

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Virginia – Kim Bobo, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Neill Caldwell, Communications Director

http://www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org/ 

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and the Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare co-sponsored a press conference on Feb. 17 at the General Assembly Building in Richmond, featuring several faith leaders who had signed a letter to the legislators asking them to close the Medicaid coverage gap. They were only a representation of the nearly 300 religious leaders who signed the letter. “How is it that living in this great and blessed commonwealth of ours, Virginia, that in the midst of all of this greatness, we are giving consensus to allowing more and more of our citizens to fall into vulnerability?” said Imad Damaj, founder of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.

An estimated 400,000 Virginians fell into an insurance coverage gap created when the state did not expand Medicaid as the Affordable Care Act intended. A 2012 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion optional for states. Advocates say the lack of Medicaid expansion has left some of the most vulnerable people out of luck when it comes to health insurance coverage, as they are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and they don’t earn enough to qualify for subsidies to buy insurance on the health insurance exchanges. Virginia’s Republican-controlled House and Senate have rebuffed attempts by Gov. Terry McAuliffe to expand Medicaid. The House of Delegates instead has offered additional funding to free clinics around the state. “Funding for more clinics is a woefully inadequate response” to the crisis, Kim Bobo, the new executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, said in response.

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Washington – Paul Benz, Faith Action Network

www.fanwa.org

Our Legislature’s 60-day session began on Jan. 11 and will be over soon; the last day is March 10. Three weeks ago, Faith Action Network (FAN) gathered 270 advocates together from 39 of our 49 legislative districts for Interfaith Advocacy Day, during which advocates attended 108 meetings with legislators or their staff.

Some of FAN’s key bills that are still alive include:

• Breakfast After the Bell, which increases access to breakfast for kids from economically disadvantaged households.
• The Voting Rights Act, which will address disenfranchisement within communities of color caused by broken election systems and will allow jurisdictions to find solutions that work for that community.
• The Use of Deadly Force Task Force will bring recommendations for better police-community standards.
• School vouchers for homeless youth.

FAN coordinated a meeting of religious leaders with the governor, where a main topic was about the divisiveness between parties in the Legislature. Afterward, the group issued a statement on the need for civility in the political process.

After the legislative session, FAN staff look forward to denominational spring assemblies and beginning our issue work groups (economic justice, the environment, and health care, etc.) at our four regional summits in Spokane, Seattle, Vancouver, and Yakima.

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Wisconsin – Cindy Crane, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin

www.loppw.org

February was a significant month in the Wisconsin Legislature.

PROTECTING CHILDREN: The Assembly and Senate passed a significant anti-trafficking bill LOPPW supported. AB 737 has about two-thirds of the Safe Harbor bill, including sex trafficking added to the definition of child abuse, a mandate that law enforcement report suspected child abuse by non-caregivers to the state Department of Children and Families, and additional funding to support victims of sex trafficking. LOPPW was present for the governor’s signing of SB 308, which will help fill gaps in child protection related to the appointment of a successor guardian for a child in need of protection or services.

FOOD SECURITY: We opposed AB 222 that would require recipients of FoodShare to use a photo ID. It passed the Assembly several months ago but recently stopped in the Senate (for now).

PRISON REFORM: We supported SB 280, which would return first-time, nonviolent 17-year-old offenders to the original juvenile justice system. An amendment was added in February, but the bill is still on hold. We supported SB 322, which would increase compensation for those wrongfully imprisoned and provide assistance for them after their release. The bill recently passed in the Assembly but has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance.

WATER: We spoke against SB 432, which would streamline corporations’ ability to privatize public utilities and diminish our public voice in the process. We had concerns about costs, especially for people in poverty, and water safety. The bill died in the Senate.

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Contact us at washingtonoffice@elca.org ​​

By: Peter Severson, Director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Synod

Few of Jesus’ parables are as familiar or artistically resonant as the parable of the prodigal son. Rembrandt immortalized it on canvas. Benjamin Britten set it to lyrics and music. Henri Nouwen wrote a spiritual autobiography around it. Of the multitude of literary and linguistic artifacts that the Bible has deposited into Western culture, the idea of the “prodigal son” is among the most well-known and well-trod.

All of which sometimes makes it hard to hear the parable with fresh ears. Those who grew up in the church will know the beats by heart. The son asks for his inheritance early. He travels to a distant land, squanders it all, and ends up destitute. He comes to his senses (or as the King James and NRSV say, “he came to himself,” Luke 5:17) and realizes that even his father’s servants have enough to eat, so he beats a quick retreat back to the old homestead and begs his father’s forgiveness. Whether the son’s plea is sincere or not, the father welcomes him back joyfully and promptly throws a huge party, fatted calf and all. The brother returns from the fields, sees the party in progress, and is more than mildly piqued at the excess of it all. Jesus wraps it up with the heart of the parable: The father has forgiven this son, who was dead and now has come back to life.

It’s a model of reconciliation and forgiveness, an almost staggering display of generosity of heart that is hard to imagine playing out in modern Western culture. In our culture, those who would presume to ask for an inheritance early would be looked on with suspicion and probably scorn. Anyone who would squander their resources in profligate depravity certainly deserves to live in destitution. And a son who would come home after all that and beg forgiveness, well … certainly no one is obligated to forgive him, even his own parents. These are the messages we’d most likely hear in the contemporary cultural moment.

As an advocate, I find myself hearing something new in the parable this time, and it comes from the juxtaposition of those culturally defined reactions with the beats of the story. Typically, this is read as a story that is principally about forgiveness and reconciliation. I still read it that way. But what if we read it also as a story about generosity and solidarity? A story where a person who has reached the depths of destitution is treated as still human, still worthy of welcome, still worthy of “caritas,” still worthy of grace?

Many advocates who work with and on behalf of people living in poverty will tell you that familiar tropes arise time and again among opponents who don’t want to change the system. Many people are comfortable with our economic status quo, and many believe in the ideology that our position in life is determined almost exclusively by our relative merit and skill in society. The poor, the argument continues, are largely in that condition by their own fault, and so a social program to assist them is predicated on a false assumption that they don’t actually deserve their destitution. This is the “bootstraps” mentality, which is especially prevalent here in the American West.

As I read this parable, however, I encounter something amazing: Here is a person who actually does create his own economic reality, and actually does squander all his resources and land himself in poverty – a far cry from the circumstances of virtually any impoverished family in the United States today, but with the same endgame of penury. And yet this son, who by all rights deserved to be mucking about in the sty with pigs, who deserved no “helping hand” up, is welcomed back with joy anyway. It doesn’t matter that he “brought it on himself” – grace and welcome and “caritas” are given freely. The older brother’s rage then becomes newly familiar, perhaps, as we see him frustrated that someone so reckless would be given help to be restored and made whole. Doesn’t he deserve to get left behind and trampled underfoot? How dare he be welcomed back? When we read with this lens, the parable becomes an even more deeply and radically counter-cultural message. It does everything that our modern competitive capitalist economy tells us not to do.

How rich in compassion is the father for his prodigal, profligate son. And how rich are we called to be with our impoverished neighbors, whose circumstances deeply resemble that of the son and yet did not arise by “squandering [their] property in dissolute living”? (Luke 5:13) Rather than viewing our neighbors as competition to be defeated, as discardable, as somehow less-than-human beings, what if we chose the way of Jesus? He asks us instead to be reconciled through him to all our neighbors, to be restored to right relationship. He asks us instead to be vessels of grace and mercy. May it be, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

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.