{"id":8574,"date":"2026-02-18T08:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=8574"},"modified":"2026-02-18T08:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:27:31","slug":"devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Muther [About the author]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Person<\/a>My familiarity with this devotional\u2019s biblical passage and its connection to advocacy began in college, as Matthew 5:13-16 was our theme for the Spirit-led social justice student organization that I helped lead, the Social Action Leadership Team (SALT). Being a part of SALT helped me to find where the light of truth was leading me and allowed me to start shining that light through running the World Relief Campaign<\/a>. It helped me to find a community of advocacy-minded friends where I developed the skills I carry with me today.<\/p>\n

\"Text<\/a>For me, the light of Christ led me to become an ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellow. In my work as a fellow, I am preparing to help other California Lutherans advocate in the halls of power at their state legislators\u2019 offices. As advocates, we do God\u2019s work when we play a role in shining the light of truth upon the wrongs and injustices in our state, nation and global community. Although it is one of the things the Lutheran Office of Public Policy-California does, shining our light can be done in more ways than just a Lutheran Lobby Day<\/a> at our state capitol.<\/p>\n

\"Text<\/a>Sometimes the flame of justice burning within us may not look like a light. It may look like a whistle blowing to alert neighbors of the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in their streets. It can look like bringing groceries to immigrant and migrant neighbors. It can look like attending a vigil to honor immigrant communities. When two or three are gathered in community to advocate on behalf of their neighbor, Christ is there.<\/p>\n

This world so often feels full of darkness; may God help us find a way to turn on the light of truth in the world.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/h5>\n

Laura Muther is the Hunger Advocacy fellow for the Lutheran Office of Public Policy \u2013 California<\/a>. Muther is an alumna of Valparaiso University, where she served as Chair of the Social Action Leadership Team (SALT), after serving as donor relations co-leader and faith and reflections coordinator. Following her time at Valparaiso University, Muther served a year with the Episcopal Service Corps in Seattle as a Vendor Program Intern with Real Change news, working with members of Seattle\u2019s unhoused and low-income population. She is from the St. Louis area and enjoys photography and hiking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Muther [About the author] My familiarity with this devotional\u2019s biblical passage and its connection to advocacy began in college, as Matthew 5:13-16 was our theme for the Spirit-led social justice student organization that I helped lead, the Social Action Leadership Team (SALT). Being a part of SALT helped me to find where the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDevotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Laura Muther [About the author] My familiarity with this devotional\u2019s biblical passage and its connection to advocacy began in college, as Matthew 5:13-16 was our theme for the Spirit-led social justice student organization that I helped lead, the Social Action Leadership Team (SALT). Being a part of SALT helped me to find where the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ELCA Advocacy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b\"},\"headline\":\"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/\",\"name\":\"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/\",\"name\":\"ELCA Advocacy\",\"description\":\"Advocacy ministries of the ELCA want to share stories and your voices about public policies and relevant advocacy issues that are of interest to you.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b\",\"name\":\"ELCA Advocacy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ELCA Advocacy\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/advocacy\\\/author\\\/karenkrueger\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy","og_description":"By Laura Muther [About the author] My familiarity with this devotional\u2019s biblical passage and its connection to advocacy began in college, as Matthew 5:13-16 was our theme for the Spirit-led social justice student organization that I helped lead, the Social Action Leadership Team (SALT). Being a part of SALT helped me to find where the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/","og_site_name":"ELCA Advocacy","article_published_time":"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"ELCA Advocacy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ELCA Advocacy","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/"},"author":{"name":"ELCA Advocacy","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/#\/schema\/person\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b"},"headline":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community","datePublished":"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/"},"wordCount":407,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png","articleSection":["Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/","name":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community - ELCA Advocacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png","datePublished":"2026-02-18T14:27:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/#\/schema\/person\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2026\/02\/260218HAFdevo-authorLM-200x300.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/devotional-flame-burning-within-us-brightens-with-community\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Devotional: Flame Burning Within Us Brightens with Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/","name":"ELCA Advocacy","description":"Advocacy ministries of the ELCA want to share stories and your voices about public policies and relevant advocacy issues that are of interest to you.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/#\/schema\/person\/a1b9b3949dd5294070662c034020573b","name":"ELCA Advocacy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d61870bff986c8b9ceba505ba8a8d768f14f335dd973008481ad046025dbbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ELCA Advocacy"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/author\/karenkrueger\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8574"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8586,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574\/revisions\/8586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}