By Ruth Ivory Moore, ELCA Advocacy Program Director for Environment and Energy.

“He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 10:27, NRSV

The intersessional meetings for COP24  held in Bonn, Germany from April 1 – May 10^th were supposed to produce a strong foundation for development of a robust rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement, but this was not the outcome of the intersessional. The parties were not able to achieve sufficient progress to be assured of the upcoming COP24 success.

Therefore, a second intersessional meeting must be held pre-COP24. The intersessional will be held in Bangkok in September to resume technical discussions. Key issues lacking sufficient progress include: climate finance matters; the mechanism for raising the commitment of parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (NDCs); and transparency issues that cover all aspects of the Agreement. These issues are critical to developing a strong rulebook coming out of COP24. The parties also need to determine how to deliver negotiation/legal text for the rulebook in Bangkok. Consideration may be given to having expert and informal workshops to help resolve points that are barriers ahead of the meeting in Bangkok. They also need to determine how to operationalize the technical discussions of the Talanoa Dialogue into political principles for facilitating rulebook development.

While the level of progress made during the intersessional was a disappointment, determination and resolve replace concerns when one understands just who we are working on behalf of in this process.Created in the image of God and as stewards of all of creation, we are working on behalf of:

Those whose lives are impacted by flood waters;

Our children;

Those working to reduce emissions;

All of humanity;

And Animals and plants.

We are working on behalf of our neighbors and all of creation. “Such caring, serving, keeping, loving, and living by wisdom sum up what is meant by acting as God’s stewards of the earth. God’s gift of responsibility for the earth dignifies humanity without debasing the rest of creation. We depend upon God, who places us in a web of life with one another and with all creation.” (ELCA social statement: “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice,” 1993) We are reminded that:

“The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these…”

Mark 12:31, NRSV

Don’t panic!  Faith Lens is only on a hiatus during the summer.  The next Faith Lens will be posted on August 28 for Sunday, September 2.

By Ruth Ivory Moore, Program Director for Environment and Energy

“Nations should seek their own common good in the context of the global common good. International bodies should work for the welfare of all nations.”

                                                                                           ELCA social statement: “For Peace in God’s World” (1995)

Implemented by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the first time this Spring, the Talanoa Dialogue exemplifies the message of seeking the common good and welfare for all nations presented in the 1995 ELCA social statement: “For Peace in God’s World.”

The Talanoa Dialogue grew out of a larger process related to the Paris Agreement (PA) on climate change. In December 2015, countries around the world reached a landmark agreement to address the impacts of climate change via the Paris Agreement as part of the UNFCCC meeting. The aim of the PA “is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The PA “brings all nations into a common framework to undertake efforts to combat climate change, adapt to its effects, and support developing countries in their effort.”

Since the adoption of the PA in 2015, 197 countries have signed on and are now embarking upon a to develop a rulebook for its implementation. The process includes a meeting of the parties of UNFCCC at the Conference of the Parties (COP) annually in November or December, with each led by a different president. The most recent COP (COP23) was held in 2017 with Fiji (represented by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama) serving as the president. At this meeting, Prime Minister Bainimarama instituted a new means of negotiations to replace the facilitative dialogue process that had been in use: the Talanoa Dialogue process.

Talanoa “is a traditional word used in Fiji and across the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue. The process of Talanoa involves the sharing of ideas,skills and experiences through storytelling. During the process, participants build trust and advance knowledge through empathy and understanding. Blaming others and making critical observations are inconsistent with building mutual trust and respect, and therefore inconsistent with the Talanoa concept. Talanoa fosters stability and inclusiveness in dialogue by creating a safe space that embraces mutual respect for a platform for decision making for a greater good.”

Leading up to the annual COP meetings, the UNFCCC hosts at least one meeting typically held in the spring of the year in Bonn, Germany where the parties’ current mandate is to negotiate terms of the rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement. This pre-COP meeting is known as an intersessional meeting. The intersessional meeting for COP24 was held from April 30 through May 10, 2018.  The  Talanoa Dialogue process was used for the first time at this intersessional meeting session.

The Talanoa Dialogue closing plenary was held on May 9th, and featured opportunities for parties and non-parties to offer interventions. A few common themes resonated: appreciation to the Fiji COP23 presidency for implementing this form of discussion; asks for continuation of these types of dialogues through COP24 and beyond; clarification on how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on 1.5^o to be released in October of this year will be used in these discussions; and further discussion on how  these technical discussions will be operationalized into a political path forward to shape ambition for addressing climate change. It was universally agreed that the Talanoa Dialogue provided a comfortable space for parties and non-parties to build trust and to share knowledge and experiences in a storytelling manner.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama ended the plenary with his story. He stated that he took this job to make a difference because he was heavily influenced by Fiji’s experience of being hit with two cyclones this year in the span of 8 days. He made two pleas to those in the plenary on behalf of the people he had just visited a week earlier: (1) a call to action; and (2) to get the Paris rulebook done on time.

It is truly a time to act on the environmental degradation caused by the warming planet as our calling to protect all of God’s creation. As the ELCA social statement “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice” (1993) states, “Christian concern for the environment is shaped by the Word of God spoken in creation, the Love of God hanging on a cross, the Breath of God daily renewing the face of the earth.” (A Social Statement on: Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice) The Talanoa Dialogue is one tool that allows us to carry out our work as stewards of God’s creation.

¹  In June 2017, the United States gave notification of its intention to withdraw from the PA unless more favorable conditions can be negotiated. However, the PA process dictates that withdrawal will take at least three years.

Words Matter.

If there anything I learned in my last 5 years in Lutheran academia is that confessions are central. Words matter. They shape realities and transform both perception and perspective. Words are powerful.

Even if they sound made up –or effectively are- words have the power to reclaim identities and shape worlds. For example: Latinamerican. You may read this and think that someone let a typo slip, repeatedly, throughout this blog post. But I chose to use Latinamerican, rather than Latin American, or Latin-American for a reason. Other than Peruvian, latinoamericano –a person from Latinoamerica- is one of the labels I would use “back home” –back home meaning back in a Spanish speaking country- and in Spanish, this word has a unifying sense to it. We may be from different countries but we are one Latinamerica. Latinoamerica unida.

Latin-American, or Latin American on the other hands is defined by Merriam-Webster as: based in or relating to the American countries south of the U.S. where people speak Spanish and Portuguese. You can see how this definition centralizes the United States to define a group of people.

I’m not here for the colonizing narrative, so I hope you can see why I would reject Latin American/Latin American as stubbornly as I do. Every label, every name, every hat, and every mask we pick and accept for ourselves shapes us. That is the power words have in our everyday life.

To be in the United States, to be an immigrant in the United States, to be a Latinamerican immigrant in the United States, to be a queer Latinamerican immigrant in the United States, to be a queer Latinamerican immigrant man in the United States, is quite a thing. As one embodying all these experiences I learned this: words matter. Words can have an almost magical character; they evoke, invoke, revoke and reframe realities into our experiences, be it personal or communal. Words are powerful.

As I first learned to literally speak new words, I learned and relearned how words hold power -power to acquire, power to release, power to create, and power to destroy. Of course this sounds esoteric when framed like this. Instead, I could have just said that I learned enough English to buy food at a supermarket, words to bless and be a witness to God’s power, to make a phone call or send a letter, enough to have a conversation and make new friends, but also enough language to tell people to stay away, to not harm me or my family, to denounce racism or queerphobia.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new code to communicate, you know how empowering and transforming these landmark moments are.

I remember my first word, the first time I truly spoke from my heart in the English language. It happened while hanging out with my friend Donna a good 17 years ago, were instead of calling her by her name to get her attention, I just said “YO!”

Yo.

YO.

It startled me, it surprised me, as this was the first word I spoke without translating, without overthinking which way to say what. Sadly I don’t think I’ve used “yo!” since then –at least not quite like that first time- but I fondly remember it as my first step in a journey to reclaim my voice.

When speaking about, well, *speaking*, sometimes we can see this as something passive, but for people who have lost their voice, for those who have ever been considered “less than”, for the other, for the margins, speaking is not only active but intentional, its sacred, because none of us had the privilege to use our voice as a given. We had to reclaim it. Word by word, space by space, claiming that those words, and their power, are important enough to risk ridicule, violence, or indifference. Every time words are put forward, we assert our place, we claim our seat at the table, not as a guest, but as a host, as someone who will be heard.

So when being all of these things, when one has all of these words, names, masks, hats, applied to them, when one has words to say, it is expected that something will happen. You see, people are afraid of this. This magic, this power to reveal what is preferred to be kept hidden, unnamed and unknown.

I have been created in the image of God, I am not just creation, and I have been lovingly, carefully, and powerfully crafted in the image of my creator for a purpose in this journey. Why is this important to say? Because words matter, words hold magic, they hold power. Words are the difference between “You’re wonderfully created” and “You’re wonderfully created in the image of God” where one confesses that I am part of creation, and the other, that I’m not only creation, but also co-creator in Christ, your equal, your sibling in Christ, created in the image of God.

Words, as elements that hold power, can be weaponized, and meanings can, and will surreptitiously be used to hold power over one another. Every day we see how #BlackLivesMatter is turned to #AllLivesMatter, how queer is used both as an identifier with rich meaning, and as a slur, how immigrant is used both to disenfranchise people of color and to elevate Europeans who came and keep coming to the United States.

Words matter, they hold power, and they also withhold power when we neglect to say them. When we withhold the blessing of community to others, when we neglect to name others as our equals, as image of God, as co-creators in Christ, we are unable to confess our sins for what they are.

As a person who holds all these names, all these words, all this power, I have to remind myself constantly that even though the church means well, I have the power to change it into something else. I hold the power to create a church where I’m not just an asset, or a blessing, or a resource, but the Church, where I am a child of God created in the image of God, co-creator in Christ. I hold this power to call the church into a revival, and hold it accountable for constantly calling me brave, fierce, or beautiful, but not claiming me as sibling, child of God, or one of their own.

I know the Church is constantly transforming, reforming, and becoming this community, where the power of creation is spoken into reality through all of us. To all my kin, to all my people, to all people of color, immigrants, to all my queer folk, to all my people who are still figuring out their place in the Church, from parishes to synods to seminaries -you have power in every word you speak, you hold magic within you, you, as co-creator in Christ can speak this church into reality, into power, into home.

You are beautifully, wonderfully created in the image of God, co-creator in Christ and bringer of realities, not only into the church but into this world. Words matter. Speak them, slowly, with an accent, mispronounced even, but with the confidence that your words hold power, and in speaking them, you are speaking God’s kingdom into reality. Words matter. Hold your place. You are the Church.

Bio

Cesar Abel Arroyo Traverso -prefers to go by Abel- is a candidate for ordination in the Grand Canyon Synod, originally from Lima, Peru. He lives in Phoenix Arizona with his husband Jeff, where he misses the ocean and keeps learning what “dry heat” actually means. Abel is a graduate from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where he got his M.Div and emphases on both African American and Latinx studies.

Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA

Warm-up Question

• When it comes to your faith, who have been some of the most important people in your life?
• What about them has made such a difference?

How Do You Know?

In 1651 a London tailor named John Reeve, claiming to have received a special message from God, started a small Protestant sect along with his cousin and group spokesman, Lodowicke Muggleton.  They were known as the Muggletonians, and a recent online article from National Geographic outlines how this staunchly anti-scientific group mapped the cosmos.

Against all evidence to the contrary, the Muggletonians insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe around which the sun, moon, planets and stars revolve. They based their views on a literal reading of the Bible, and yet now, thanks to the knowledge we have gained through scientific inquiry and space-age technology, we have a vastly different, more accurate picture of the universe.  Among other things, this story highlights what remains a lively debate between faith and science, especially when it comes to the question, how do we “know” what is real and true.

Discussion Questions

• How does science help us to know about our world?  What sorts of questions do you think are best answered by a scientific approach?
• What kinds of questions are best answered by faith and Scripture?
• Do you think one of these approaches is more true than the other? Why or why not?
• How do we come to really know another person? Is the “data” about them (height, weight, eye color, ethnic background, etc.) enough?
• How, do you think, we really come to know who God is?

The Holy Trinity/First Sunday After Pentecost

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Sometimes it is easy to forget that there is more to the third chapter of John than verse 16.  Few verses are as well known or have such wide appeal, and that can make it difficult to really “hear” the rest of this reading, because, like gravity, John 3:16 pulls us forward.  Yet, this week is Holy Trinity Sunday, so what might this passage say to us about who God is?

For starters, it is helpful to begin “in the beginning” with the Prologue to John’s gospel account.  Just as John 3:16 is a summary of the “good news,” the first 18 verses in chapter 1 are John’s summary of what is about to unfold.  Here it is, for instance, that we hear of the living Word who existed with God before even time.  “All things came into being through him,” John says.  This Word then “became flesh and lived among us” in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He is, as John tells us, “God the only Son” who is close to the Father’s heart, and who makes the Father known.

Having the Prologue in view, we are ready to listen to Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.  Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, comes to Jesus secretly one night seeking greater understanding of who Jesus is and what he is about.  “Rabbi,” he says, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”  The great irony here is that Jesus has indeed “come from God,” but in a way that transcends what Nicodemus has in mind.

Likewise, Jesus’ response to Nicodemus goes beyond his expectations.  What emerges is a glimpse of the role of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in the double-sided new birth of baptism.  For baptism both brings us into the visible community of Jesus’ followers and is the means through which we receive the new life of the Spirit welling.  As Jesus explains to Nicodemus, without being born from above (or born anew), one cannot even see God’s kingdom, let alone get into it.

What’s more, it isn’t simply that this gift of new birth is being poured out upon one group of people – it isn’t just for the children of Israel, for example.  “The wind (or the Spirit) blows where it chooses,” Jesus says in verse 8. You cannot lock the Holy Spirit up.  As last week’s celebration of Pentecost, and indeed the whole book of Acts, demonstrates, no one human family, tribe, organization, or nation can contain the Holy Spirit; the Spirit moves and works faith where and when the Spirit wills.

Finally, to Nicodemus’ continued puzzlement, Jesus returns to the question of who he truly is and how he knows these things he is talking about.  Here again, John 1:1-2 and 1:18 are in the background.  Pointing Nicodemus back to the story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:1-9, Jesus then points him forward to the cross.  The cross, an instrument of torture and death, will become both the greatest display of the Father’s love for the world, and the means by which the Son will bring the world, and us, salvation and new life.

It is important to remember that, historically, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity did not take shape as the result of logical deductions about an esoteric, abstract truth.  Rather, our faith in a triune God is rooted in the concrete experience of a God who loves and heals us in a triune way. Christians come to “know” God as Trinity in the relational experience of how God is for us.  This week we get a glimpse of this as the work of the whole Trinity is displayed in John 3:  God the Father, Creator of all, sends the Son into the world. Jesus, the Son of God and Redeemer, is lifted up on the cross for the sake of the world. The Spirit of God, the Sanctifier, blows through our lives bringing new life.

Discussion Questions

• When you hear “the Holy Trinity,” what do you think of? How would you explain the Trinity to a friend? How has the Trinity been explained to you?
• When it comes to trying to understand the Trinity, do you think “mystery” is a helpful idea? Mystery as in, “The Trinity is something we cannot fully understand and we are okay with that.” Are you comfortable with mystery? Why or why not?
• Look over Martin Luther’s explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in the Small Catechism. Make a list of the ways in which God is “for us” as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. How does this help us to know the Triune God better?

Activity Suggestion

Watch the short video, “St. Patrick’s Bad Analogies.” You can find it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw     Do any of the analogies that you’ve heard before appear in this clip?  How can making God “understandable” through seemingly helpful images and analogies sometimes lead to unintended consequences?  As the clip makes clear, every analogy has limits, is the definition which Patrick gives at the end of the clip better?  Why or why not?

Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving Trinity, through water and the Holy Spirit, you name us and claim us and make us your own.  Thank you for the gift of new life and for the invitation to experience that life in the community of your church.  In your love, call deeply to our hearts.  Guide our thoughts and our understanding that we may come to know and love you as you reveal yourself to be, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  Amen.

By Pastor Betty Landis, member of Grace Lutheran Church, Evanston, IL

“The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)

My excitement has caused me to wake up before dawn on a Monday morning. After months of meetings, training sessions, phone calls, rallies, social media posts and paperwork, I soon will board a bus from Evanston to Springfield, Illinois. It is the second week of an intensive six weeks leading up to the launch of the revived, reignited Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Last week, the 40 Days of Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action began with a rallies and demonstrations in 39 states and the District of Columbia focused on Somebody’s Hurting Our People: Child Poverty, Women and People with Disabilities. National campaign co-chairs the Revs. William J. Barber II and Liz Theoharis were among hundreds arrested nationwide in the most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in U.S. history, kicking off six weeks of direct action demanding new programs to fight systemic poverty and racism, immediate attention to ecological devastation and measures to curb militarism and the war economy.

Today, our focus is on the connection between Systemic Racism, Poverty and Voter Suppression. We will visit our legislators to demand an end to racist gerrymandering and a reversal of state laws that prevent municipalities from raising minimum wages. Just days after our President referred to undocumented immigrants as “animals” who “aren’t people,” our protest will also demand a clear and just immigration system that strengthens our democracy and provides a timely citizenship process that guarantees the right to vote. We have been asked to accompany and be witnesses for the Illinois Fight for 15 coalition – the leaders of today’s nonviolent moral fusion direct action. One of our principles is always to follow the lead of those who are most affected. Another covenant reminds us that our political, economic and moral movement is not from above, but from below – building up the power of people and state-based movements.

Two years ago, I was invited by my colleague, now my pastor, Rev. Daniel Ruen, to participate in the Moral Mondays protests focused upon changing Illinois’ unjust tax structure in order to allow for a people- and planet-first state budget. After two arrests, multiple Kingian nonviolence training sessions, and significant faith-based community organizing efforts, I am more convinced that ever that this is a critical time for people of faith to put their bodies on the line for their neighbors in need. The PPC is a natural progression made even more necessary by the increasing incidents in racism, homophobia, xenophobia, gun violence/militarism, ecological destruction, wage disparities and white nationalism – often promoted by religious extremists.

It has been an honor to support Rev. Ruen’s leadership, my fellow Grace Lutheran members and Evanston’s interfaith community members in preparing trained, passionate and creative folks to join this movement in whatever way they are called by the Holy Spirit. I am grateful to be able to continue in the covenant God made with me in Holy Baptism which includes discipleship that “strive[s] for justice and peace in all the earth.” Like the on-going nature of discipleship, this is not just a finite moment. The PPC is a long-term, creative, non-partisan, nonviolent movement of faithful people intentionally opening themselves to God’s will done on earth as in heaven. Won’t you join us? It is my prayer that you will gladly share with your children and your grandchildren that you did!

Today’s post comes from Rev. Christopher Laughlin, chaplain at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

I was an Army Reserve chaplain and a parish pastor; I served a small, rural parish in Michigan. I currently serve as a basic training battalion chaplain at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; I’m one of three chaplains who lead worship at the “Liturgical Protestant Service.”

Attendance at this service fluctuates between 50 and 200, and it’s the youngest, most diverse congregation I can imagine; it is truly representative of “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). While there are a few soldiers and families who are permanently assigned to Fort Leonard Wood in attendance, most are trainees who will attend our service for less than 22 weeks (many for only 9) while they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT) and/or Advanced Individual Training (AIT). They hail from every state and nearly every continent.

Some attend because this service is the most comfortable for them, coming from a liturgical or sacramental background (this was why I attended a similar service while in BCT and AIT). Others attend because they prefer hymns over praise music. Still others attend because of the relationship that they form with their chaplain, or because they are exploring different Christian traditions of worship. The singing fluctuates wildly in quality, as trainees are often hoarse from “being motivated” (yelling) all week.

Then there are those trainees who attend because congregations and individuals from all over the North/West Lower Michigan Synod send me cookies for the fellowship time which follows worship each week. This has been a real gift to the trainees – those cookies are a taste of home and comfort in what is, for many of them, the most difficult and trying time in their lives.

My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of the 2^ndBattalion, 48^thInfantry Regiment, the 3^rdChemical Brigade, the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, the Training and Doctrine Command, the Chaplain Corps, or the United States Army.

The Farm Bill is an omnibus legislation that helps to fund our national and global food programs. Reauthorized every five years, the Farm Bill is among legislation that Congress needs to pass this year. To learn more, check out the Farm Bill Resource and ELCA Advocacy’s Farm Bill recommendations here. 

The House Agriculture Committee passed H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Farm Bill reauthorization bill) on April 25, 2018 by a vote of 26-20. This marks one of the first times that a Farm Bill passed out of committee on a party line vote. The Farm Bill is usually one of the most bi-partisan bills in Congress with the last vote being a 68 in favor, 32 in opposition result in the Senate, and a 251 in favor and 161 in opposition in the House of Representative. ELCA Advocacy opposes the House bill in its current form for several reasons detailed below.

Nutrition

The House bill includes new work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps). These requirements put many people at greater risk of hunger as they divert funding away from direct food assistance to pay for ineffective work mandates. There are already work requirements under current law and creating additional requirements will lead to unnecessary and complicated burdens, which come in the form of added bureaucracy and verification that ultimately reduce the effectiveness of SNAP. Mandating additional work requirements, education and job training will create more barriers for low income people who are already struggling to free themselves of the cycle of poverty. We urge Lutherans to advocate to their representatives for protection of SNAP programs without hidden cuts to benefits, to ensure our neighbors have access to food.

Environmental

The House Farm Bill appears to be a mixed bag: it creates positive changes to help farmers, but there are uncertainties that linger over some of the benefits of some changes. The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is expected to be eliminated and some funding will instead be diverted to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). These programs help improve farming practices through reducing fertilizer use, better management of manure and building fences to manage livestock movement so as to keep them away from streams.

Additionally, the bill redesigns the structural funding of programs, and switches many of them from permanent to temporary or a one-time funding. These programs include the Conservation Stewardship Program which is rolled into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program; the Rural Energy for America Program; the Biomass Crop Assistance Program; and the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical & Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance.  Some of the benefits for the Farm Bill includes the way it boosts other items such as agricultural trade, crop insurance and creation of a national vaccine bank to fight foot-and-mouth disease.

The forest management provisions would be changed to allow for bigger and faster forest-thinning projects under the current exclusion from certain reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with the purpose being to reduce wildfire risk or address disease and insect infestation. This revision also includes the elimination of the requirement for a consultation under the Endangered Species Act as long as the listed species are deemed not to be harmed. It is too early to fully determine the impact of the changes. We must proceed cautiously, to provide the protections needed for our farmers and farms while doing these in an environmentally safe manner.

International Food Aid Programs

The House bill makes some important reforms to the international food programs, including authorizing the Food for Peace program to purchase food commodities from local and regional farmers, something we have advocated for a long time. Additionally, the bill removes the 15% requirement for monetization of food commodities, which will allow implementing organizations to utilize the appropriate range of tools and interventions depending on what’s needed and the context, such as food vouchers and cash transfers. These changes will increase efficiencies in international food aid programs. Unfortunately, the bill does not make any changes to the cargo preference requirement (a regulation that requires at least 50 percent of the nation’s overseas-bound food aid to be transported by U.S.-flag ships), something that we would like Congress to address in order to save on the cost of shipping and enable more food to reach the people who need it most.

What’s Next

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to release a bi-partisan Farm Bill later this month that will build on the successes of the bill enacted in 2014. It is expected that this will be an improvement over its House companion. The House is expected to vote on their Farm Bill during the second week of May. We ask you to urge your members of Congress to write a bipartisan Farm Bill that will pass in both chambers.

Lutheran Presence

Christ taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for our daily bread. Martin Luther’s expansive understanding of daily bread includes not only what nourishes our bodies, but also the natural resources, labor and the economy, including the food supply chain. Advocacy for good policies in the Farm Bill responds to God’s love for us through active love for neighbor by shaping policy that will provide daily bread for people, care for creation and contribute to a just world where all are fed.

Dennis Sepper, Burnsville, MN

Warm-up Question

How can you tell if someone is telling you the truth?

Spirit of Truth

Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair with his project on Dihydrogen Monoxide.  Nathan urged 50 of his peers to sign a petition demanding strict control or the total elimination of the chemical Dihydrogen Monoxide because:

• It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting.
• It is a major component of acid rain.
• It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state.
• Accidental inhalation can kill you.
• It contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
• It decreases the effectiveness of automobile brakes.

43 of his peers said yes and signed the petition.  6 were undecided.  And one knew that the so-called dangerous chemical is…water!

It turns out what Nathan was really testing was how gullible we all can be to what we call today “fake news”.  86% of Nathan’s classmates just accepted what Nathan was saying and believed that “water” was a threat to humankind.  Following a report on Nathan’s project, an enterprising person set up a “Ban DHMO” website and was evening selling T-shirts for the cause (the website still exists @ DHMO.org)

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever believed something to be true but later found out it wasn’t?  How did you find out?  How did it make you feel?
• Going back to the warm-up question, how do you know if something you read or hear is true?  What resources can you use to find out the truth of something?
• Is there more to truth than “the cold, hard facts”?  Can a story be “true” in regard to what it says about human nature or even God?

Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (alternate)

Romans 8:22-27

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

On this Pentecost Sunday we remember and celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, as promised by Jesus.  In this section of John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit is called the “Advocate” and the “Spirit of truth” (see John 15:26 and John 16:13).  Jesus makes the promise that the Spirit of truth will guide us into the way of truth.  However, as we explored above, we might ask the question “what is truth?”

In the Gospel, John gives us some answers to that question.  First, John says that Jesus is the truth (Jesus is full of grace and truth, John 1:14 and Jesus states “I am the way, the truth and the life,” John 14:6.)  John also say that the Gospel Jesus proclaims is the truth (John 8:31-32).

What that means for us today is that in baptism we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This is the same Spirit of truth that Jesus speaks of in this week’s gospel text.  We take Jesus at his word that the Holy Spirit will guide us in the way of truth.

Martin Luther had another way of saying this in his Small Catechism explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed when he wrote, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in true faith”

Then Luther goes on to say how the Holy Spirit also calls and gathers the community of faith…the Church.  The Spirit of truth is not just present in us as individuals but as a community, as the Church.  So while we have the ability to consider the truth of something compared to Jesus and to what Jesus proclaimed and taught, so the community of faith has that ability too.

One final point about this issue of truth…in the Gospel of John, and in the whole New Testament really, truth demands action.  The truth of Jesus calls us to be witnesses to Jesus and to the Gospel in the world.  Or to put it another way, we do not just know the truth, but the truth sets us free to action, witness, advocacy and service in the world (See John 8:32).

Discussion Questions

• What are some of the gospel truths you hold dear in your faith journey?  How does that truth set you free?
• What truths have your congregation or community of faith claimed as the reason for their ministry and mission; evangelism, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, working with prisons (and there are many more)?  How did your congregation come to that decision?

Activity Suggestions

There is an old activity that would work well this week.  It is called “Two Truths and a Lie” and it goes like this:  each person states two truths and one non-truth about their life and the others in the group must guess which statement is the false one.  The purpose of the activity, not unlike Nathan Zohner’s experiment, is to show us how hard it is sometimes to figure out truth from falsehoods.

Closing Prayer

Spirit of Truth, on this occasion of Jesus giving you as a gift to us and the Church, we ask that you remind us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  By your power let us clearly hear the truth of the Gospel and Jesus’ teaching.  Move us to action as witnesses, disciples, and advocates in our own day.  We ask this in name of Jesus, our Savior.  Amen

This post originally appeared on the ELCA Advocacy blog. You can subscribe to the ELCA Advocacy blog by following the link.

On Monday, May 14, 2018, people of faith and low-wage workers gathered in Washington, D.C. and more than 30 statehouses across the country to kick off the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. This initiative seeks to move poverty to the top of our national consciousness through energized grassroots organizing that will expose, confront and take aim at forces that keep people in poverty. At this moment of rising income inequality, this campaign brings together the moral power of organized people of faith, the voices of those living in poverty and the urgency of addressing our national priorities.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. planned the original Poor People’s Campaign of 1967-68 to build on the momentum and strategies of the civil rights movement to address the denial of human rights and dignity to Americans trapped in poverty. Moved by the struggles of people and communities he encountered in his journeys, he sought to bring together low-wage workers, faith leaders and activists to highlight inequities and demand our nation prioritize programs that support workers and jobs, access to housing and a war on poverty. The initiative lost momentum after the assassination of Dr. King.

Fifty years later, in 2018, a new Poor People’s Campaign is growing up from the seeds that Dr. King planted. The campaign will address the roles that systemic racism, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism play in perpetuating generational poverty in the U.S. As a faith community initiative, it is bringing together religious leaders who will engage in mobilization, advocacy and civil disobedience to make their voices heard. Read more about the 2018 Poor People’s Campaign.

The Rev Dr. William Barber and the Rev Dr. Liz Theoharris, the campaign leaders, are at the fore of a multiracial and interreligious coalition that launched 40 days of protests and direct action on May 14. Over the course of these 40 days, causes, concerns and solutions to persistent and generational poverty will be highlighted through marches, worship events and nonviolent direct action. The initiative seeks to change the moral narrative in our nation, from blaming poor people for their own poverty to involving them in solutions to it. The campaign highlights the role that entrenched systemic racism plays in perpetuating poverty and the result of a national budget that prioritizes military spending at the cost of anti-poverty programs. The renewed campaign also takes on environmental degradation and promotes sentencing reform as areas where our collective moral voice must break through for change.

The 2018 Poor People’s Campaign is bringing together Lutherans who are concerned about the increase in income inequality in our nation, the intersections of poverty, race and environment and the toll of cuts to anti-poverty programs on their communities and church members. As a new, faith-led grassroots movement by which to advocate on the local, state and federal level, it offers congregations a new way to act to address hunger and poverty. It highlights the urgency of this moment for action with and on behalf of our neighbor.

The ELCA Social Statement on Economic Life reminds us that God calls us to seek sufficiency and sustainability for all. “For all” refers to the whole household of God—all people and creation throughout the world. Therefore, our economic analysis cannot stop with our own well-being, but must assess how economic activities affect “all,” especially people living in poverty. Scripture gives voice to the circumstances that keep people poor, whether social status, oppression or because of the greed and injustice of the powerful. The statement urges this church to “address creatively and courageously the complex causes of poverty.” The Poor People’s Campaign is a vehicle to help us do that in our day.

Too often, advocacy is speaking for others who are perfectly able to speak for themselves. As the ELCA, we prioritize advocacy that supports people with lived experience of poverty or oppression to tell their own stories, using voices that are often the most powerful in creating change. The Poor People’s Campaign offers an opportunity to accompany others in solidarity and urgency, in advocacy as the church for the world.

ELCA Advocacy will be highlighting the reflections and experiences of Lutherans involved in the next 40 days of action. Look for coming blog posts, or send us your experience. How is your faith a catalyst for your participation? What outcomes do you hope for? Who are your partners and what are you learning? Please send to washingtonoffice@elca.org.