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.

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.

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.

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.