By Lynn S. Fry, Program Director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa)

Sometimes it’s difficult to find things to rejoice in. We listen to the news; we see the hungry; we walk alongside those who are oppressed; we sit with the lonely in heart and spirit; we advocate for those whose voices are lost in bureaucratic minutia; and yet we move forward in hope as witnesses to the light of Christ. Though the night often seems interminably long, the promised light comes in the morning. That same light that John the Baptist lifts in the Gospel of John. We, like John, as covenanted in our baptism, testify to the true light, the light of Christ. Even in the darkness, the light of Christ dwells within us.

During this season of preparation, I invite you to reflect on the road of Mary, a young teenager who embraces her prophetic place. Her world was turned upside down with the unexpected visit of Gabriel; yet she accepts her role and “magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… “Luke 1:46-47. In her song of praise, also known as the Magnificat found in the Gospel of Luke, Mary acknowledges God will put down the powerful, feed the hungry and send away the rich empty handed.

Mary’s life is not easy. She travels pregnant, by donkey, 80 miles to Bethlehem with her betrothed to be registered in accordance with the decree sent out from Emperor Augustus. She’s a pregnant teenager in a foreign land ready to give birth, and still she rejoices! Mary was our neighbor. As we continue to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, may we be more mindful of our neighbors locally and globally.

We ask for your guidance, Lord, to be more open-minded with our neighbors. Help us to look inward and identify our passions in serving our neighbors. Stir our hearts, O Lord, to assist one another tangibly throughout the year sharing your light and witness through our lives.

We rejoice in the never-ending love and omniscient presence of God in this broken world as we strive to be Christ’s hands and feet loving our neighbors as ourselves. God for whom we wait, stir up our hearts, to witness to your light and love to all the world.

Help us find our true passion in assisting neighbors locally and globally. Comfort the broken hearted and oppressed. May your Holy Spirit guide us in helping to fix broken systems.

We rejoice in your abiding presence with us and with all the saints. May we continue to prepare the way of the Lord.

Amen.

I invite you to reflect on an uplifting Youtube video of The Magnificat presented by Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Worcester, MA .

In response to God’s love in Jesus Christ, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa) advocate for wise and just public policies in Pennsylvania that promote the common good. Learn more about their work at LutheranAdvocacyPA.org.

Art: “The Canticle of Mary” by Jen Norton

Read more ELCA Advocacy Advent Reflections by visiting blogs.ELCA.org/Advocacy.

Sermon delivered to the Lutheran Center, Chicago, IL December 13, 2017

Text: Mark 1:1-8; Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Pet 3:8-14. 2nd Week of Advent

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and form our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

I love to tell the story of unseen things above, Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.

This is one of my favorite traditional church songs. I wouldn’t do it at a church service full of young people.

The Spanish translation doesn’t have the same emphasis. It says:

Grato es contar historia del celestial favor,

de Cristo y de su gloria, de Cristo y de su amor.

Me agrada repetirla, pues se que es la verdad;

y nada satisface cual ella mi ansiedad.

It’s like saying, “it is nice to tell the story.” I love its emphasis in English. I love to tell the story

There is a person in this very building who firmly believes that “ministry is about relationships” so he starts almost every public speech with the following statement:

“Relationships, relationships, relationships.

Ministry is about relationships.

Relationship with God, relationship with one another, and relationship with the community.”

And I agree with him, not only because relationships are in the heart of ministry, but also because it’s very true when it comes to our Global Mission work.

Oct the 2^nd was my very first day in this position. So RMP (Rafael Malpica Padilla, E.D. of Global Mission for the ELCA) took me out to lunch; We all know who RMP is, don’t we? Sorry Rafael, I’m piking on you. My friends, in this building, we have a reputation about the use of acronyms. After two and a half months, I’m still working on them.

Anyway, Rafael took me out to lunch, and at the end of our conversation he told me: “At the end of the day, the work of Global Mission (GM) is not about what we can teach or the financial resources we can share, but it is about the relationships we develop with our companion churches.”

I do believe in the importance of relationships. In Fact, as we, people of GM, are having this week our “2017 In-House Week” we went out yesterday to bowling, not only as an opportunity to have some fun and relaxation but most importantly as a chance to develop relationships among us. Jesus’ ministry is based on the development of relationships with those people he would encounter.

However, I also believe in the importance of telling the story as we do ministry. That’s why I love the song I love to tell the story. In this sense, ministry is about relationships, but also about telling the story.

During this time of Advent, John the Baptist with all his prophetic and messianic identity came to tell the story. He came to tell the story of one who was coming after him to baptize with the Holy Spirit, the one who came down to show us God’s love and mercy.

During this season everyone and everything tell the story: from the Christmas tree, the lights and poinsettias to nature, music, food, business, and of course churches. Even the traditional Mexican posadas and the rosca de reyes (circular bread).

Mexican and many other Latina American countries celebrated yesterday the Virgin of Guadalupe Day on December, 12, “Today is the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of the most important religious holidays in Mexico. The story of her appearance to the indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, is the story of God’s love for the poor and oppressed. May she inspire us to that same kind of love today” (Facebook post from my friend Heidi).

Since everyone and everything tell the story of Jesus and his love; please allow me to tell you a little a story of conviction and commitment:

As a Salvadoran, I had the privilege of being baptized by Father Rutilio Grande, confirmed by Archbishop Oscar Romero, and ordained by Bishop Medardo Gomez. Those who are familiar with the Salvadoran history know what I’m talking about.

Oscar Romero was archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980. He was assassinated while celebrating the Eucharist in the chapel of the Divine Providence Hospital on March 24 of 1980. The day before his assassination he pronounced the following words, as a calling to the army in the middle of a cruel civil war:

“The law of God should prevail that says: you shall not kill. No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God…. We want the government to seriously consider that reforms mean nothing when they come bathed in so much blood. Therefore, in the name of God and in the name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you in the name of God: stop the repression!” (Mar 23, 1980).

So, the story we need to tell is the one that shows God love and mercy, on one hand, but also that of God’s demand for peace and justice.

It is the story of a God who “has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53).

It is the story of a God who does not tolerate rejection, marginalization, racism, violence and bigotry.

John the Baptist came to announce the coming of the Son of God, but also to call for repentance, conversion and transformation of all structures that promotes suffering and death.

So, my brothers and sisters, ministry is about relationships, it’s about telling the story, and finally, it’s about commitment.

We are a baptized people committed to following Jesus, committed to edify the reign of God and its justice. In the middle of a reality of political unrest in our country, we need to call for accountability and respect. In the midst of threats and drums of war, we need to call out for peace and justice.

And in our own house, as Christians who claim to be Lutherans and heirs of the reformation we need to honor the principle of being a reformed church always reforming.

Many things need to be reformed in our lives, our church, our country and in our world. As ML King said: “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

During this season of advent, I invite you to be intentional in developing relationships, in telling the story of Jesus and his love, and in reaffirming our commitment of working and fighting for a better world for our people, the people of God, and for generations to come. Amen.

Jaime Dubon is of Salvadoran origin. He has served in different capacities: as congregational pastor in El Salvador and within the ELCA, and as Assistant to the Bishop and Director for Evangelical Mission in the Florida-Bahamas Synod. Currently he serves as the ELCA’s Global Mission Area Desk Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

Today’s post is from Lydia Posselt, Pastor at Family of God in in Buckingham, PA. This is the second of two posts about how congregations will be worshipping this year when the fourth Sunday of Advent falls on Christmas Eve.

I’m coming to the end of my first year as pastor in my congregation, and Christmas is the last “first” of the list. This also happens to be the year when Advent 4 is Christmas Eve. Since the day is so full, I decided to concentrate on Christmas Eve and to adapt an “Advent Lessons and Carols” service from Sundays and Seasons for the morning service. The result is a relaxed service that recognizes Advent 4. Since I know that many of my members will likely come to both the morning service and also one of the two Christmas Eve services we offer (at 4 and 8p.m.), this is a way we can give attention to both celebrations.

This particular Sundays and Seasons template we’re using is called “Savior of the Nations Come” and highlights Advent hymns from around the world. For the most part I’m using the hymns S&S recommends, like “Come Now, O Prince of Peace” (ELW 247) and “He Came Down” (ELW 253), but I made a few small changes to the liturgy: I took out the opening dialogue so that we can still light the 4th candle on the Advent wreath and do our usual lighting liturgy, and I added where each of the hymns come from next to where they are listed in the bulletin. I also swapped out “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came” (ELW 265) for the “Canticle of the Turning” (ELW 723) which happens right after the annunciation reading from Luke 1:26-38. That way we hear the text of the annunciation and then we get to sing a version of the Magnificat “along with” Mary.

After I came back from a trip to Namibia in May to preach at the Lutheran World Federation Assembly, I have been introducing a few of the hymns I learned while there in our worship, and my congregation has enjoyed learning them. I think it’s important to highlight that Lutherans come from all over the world, as do great hymns. There are just too many good Advent hymns to include during any given Advent season, and I think this service is a great way to enjoy ones that might not otherwise make it into the rotation this year. Even though they may not be all that familiar to my congregation, they are catchy tunes that are easy to learn and very singable. If this goes over well, it will be something we can keep “in our back pocket” whenever the next time Advent 4 is also Christmas Eve… or really at any point during Advent we want to do something a little different!

Pictures are of members of Family of God painting the back glass wall of our sanctuary, which separates the sanctuary from the narthex (above) and the finished painting all ready for Advent (below).

Andrew Karrmann, Bellevue, NE

Warm-up Questions

Many people are afraid of the dark and have anxiety about the time between turning off the light and getting into bed. What do you do when you have to turn off a light switch and then walk across the room to the safety of your bed?
Where else have you experienced darkness in your own world?

A Light in the Darkness

Daniela Schiller is an Israeli Professor of Neuroscience who runs her own research lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York City.On June 3rd, 2010 she told a story about a darkness in her own life.

Daniela grew up in Israel with a father who survived the Holocaust in Germany

before settling in Israel to raise his family. Daniela visits her father once a year and often her visit coincides with Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day at 10 am, Israeli citizens hear a siren across the country which signals the time to stop everything you are doing and stand at attention for one minute of silent reflection on the horrors faced by Jewish people during World War II. But Daniela noticed that while this national moment of silence was happening, her father (who she thought would want to participate in this national moment more than anyone else) would remain seated at the table, sipping his coffee, and reading his newspaper as if nothing were going on. She always thought this was strange, but didn’t have the type of relationship with her father where she could ask him about his feelings.

Schiller was inspired by a movie called, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” in which the main character tries to remove the painful memory of his ex-girlfriend through a radical medical procedure. Schiller’s experience growing up with a father who couldn’t seem to acknowledge his most painful memories caused her to research a little bit more about the possibility of such a procedure. It turned out that the movie was based on actual science and there was a lab in New York City working on that specific idea. She immediately signed up and received a grant to study in the lab.

Schiller’s new colleagues had discovered that the simple act of recalling a memory left it vulnerable to influence while it was being loaded in the brain. They imagined allowing people to recall traumatic memories and while the memory was vulnerable, injecting a drug to block the memory from being formed once again, effectively erasing the memory permanently. This had been shown in mice, but now it was Schiller’s job to prove that it was possible in human beings.

Schiller began her experiments by using classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning to force her human subjects to associate seeing a blue square with receiving an electric shock. After a few trials, she was successful and she was able to measure a physiological response of fear in her subjects whenever they saw a blue square. Unfortunately, the US Government was far more lenient regarding the use of electric shocks on humans than with experimental drugs, so she had to come up with a new way to remove the association of fear with the blue square in her subjects.

While reviewing a similar study with mice, which seemed to fail, Daniela noticed that there was something different about this study. After implanting the negative memory in the mice, by mistake the mice were allowed to experience something pleasant in the subsequent iterations of the experiment. This seemed to alter the painful memory over time, and without the use of any drugs, the mice were cured of their irrational fear. So, Daniela began to try this in the people she was studying. By changing from an electric shock to the feeling of winning a prize, she was able to alleviate her subjects’ fear of blue squares.

The next year, while visiting her father, Daniela once again heard the sirens for Holocaust Memorial Day going off. As she looked over at her father, she began to understand what he was doing for the first time. The siren was his blue square and he was was doing something pleasant while his memory was vulnerable. So she poured herself a cup of coffee, borrowed a section of her dad’s newspaper, and sat down next to him.

Discussion Questions

What darkness do you think was being triggered in Daniela’s father’s mind when the sirens sounded on Holocaust Memorial Day?
What sorts of things trigger you to think about the darkness in your own world?
What did Daniela’s father do to shine a little light on his dark memories?
What can you do to shine light on your own dark memories?

Third Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28

(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

In the first couple of verses we find out who this John the Baptist character is. We are told very plainly that he is not the light (Christ is!), but that he is simply here to tell us all about the light so we can recognize it when it shows up.

This turns out to be very important because while John is going around telling people about Christ, there is clearly some confusion about who is doing what. The leaders of the Jewish community at the time have trouble keeping John and Jesus separate as they are hearing stories about the two of them. So, they bring John in to ask him a few questions. They want to know just who John thinks he is, causing all this confusion by baptizing people even though he claims not to be Christ, or Elijah, or a prophet. John let’s them know that he is just someone out in the world telling people what they already know: that they should follow the path of God just like Isaiah said and that they needn’t be worried about what he is doing because there is someone coming who even John wouldn’t be worthy of untying his shoe.

As we wait in the season of Advent, we often struggle with balancing “The Christmas Spirit” and the idea that we should be waiting for the light of Christ to shine in our world on Christmas Day. John is very careful to make a distinction between himself and the light. So, are we supposed to see ourselves as John, pointing to the light of Christ in the midst of a broken world? Or are we supposed to be the light ourselves, by being “little Christs” as Luther said in his Theology of the Cross? Is there room for both?

Advent is a season which reminds us that although we live in a world full of darkness and sadness, there is a light and that light comes every year on Christmas Day. Although we look forward to a day when Christ returns and fulfills his Kingdom, we must reconcile this idea with the fact that we live in a world unfulfilled. Can we still point to evidence of Christ in a broken world? Can we tell ourselves and others about the coming Kingdom, even if we can’t see it ourselves? Can we point to God’s light even in the darkest parts of our own lives? Can we take it a step further and be that light to others in their darkest moments?

As Lutheran Christians, we are daily forgiven and washed of our sins. This gives us the freedom to relive the darkest moments of our lives over and over without the fear that we might be forced to be stuck in the darkness. Each time we call on our own fearful and scared memories they are left vulnerable to God’s Word (which is Christ) saying, “I love you and forgive you not in spite of what you’ve done, but because of it.” Christ can keep shining that light through the actions of others (like friends, family, and church members), into our personal darkness. Eventually, this light shines so bright that others can see it in us, despite our own darkness and we become the little Christs that Luther talked about.

Discussion Questions

Can you point to evidence of Christ even in the broken world we live in today?
Can you see yourself as a little Christ even if you cannot be sinless like Christ?
How can you point to Christ in your own world like John the Baptist pointed to Christ in his?

Activity Suggestions

Make your own little Christ by drawing something that represents Christ to you. It could be a cross, a dove, a flame, a light bulb, a dude in a robe with a beard, or anything else you can think of. Then take your little Christ with you to a place where you see the light of Christ shining in our broken world. Take a selfie with you pointing to the little Christ and share it on social media with the hashtag #PointingToChrist. Try this more than once throughout your week and don’t forget to search your favorite social media platform for the hashtag to see how others have found the light of Christ in their lives.

Closing Prayer

Father, God, Lord,

Thank you for this chance to come together to learn more about you and your Word. Thanks, also for your willingness to enter into the darkest parts of our lives to shine your light and help us heal. Please walk with us in the weeks, months, and years ahead as we seek out the cracks in the darkness of our world where your light shines through. Allow us to point to that light so that others can see it as well. We lift up the darkness and light in our own lives and know that you hear our prayers, whether we shout them with joy from the mountaintops or hold them inside with sighs to deep for words. Thank you for listening. Amen.

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”

(Isaiah 40:3-4)

A voice cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”

What does baptism look like in your congregation? How is it celebrated? What rites are practiced? Without consulting an official survey, it’s probably a safe bet that most baptisms don’t involve camelhair vestments, locusts during the after-service meal, or much crying out (except, perhaps, for an infant who just got doused).

Perhaps this wasn’t even what most folks reading Isaiah envisioned when they first encountered John the Baptist, the strange messenger assembling a following from “the whole Judean countryside” (Mark 1:5). But the Gospel makes clear the link between John and the one prophesied in Isaiah, the one who would announce the coming of God’s salvation in the form of the Messiah.

The voice crying out, the one Mark identifies as John the Baptist, “calls for a radical transformation of earthly topography in prelude to a mind-blowing revelation of the glory of the Lord to all people.”

The very natural landscape of the earth will be changed by the arrival of the One who is to come. The author of 2 Peter keeps up this theme, proclaiming that “the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed” on the day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:10).

The world is about to turn, mightily, and that transformation is coming.

Mark’s brief but powerful introduction to John the Baptist is a prelude to Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his ministry. Voices crying out, the transformation of the earth proclaimed, and release to captive Jerusalem is announced (Isaiah 40:1). It is quite the scene!

So, again, the question – what does baptism look like in your congregation?

In baptism, we are made children of God, “sealed by the cross of Christ forever.” In the covenant of baptism, Lutherans believe we are claimed by the power of grace, gathered into community with one another, and send by God’s grace into the world. When we affirm our baptism, we affirm our identity as part of the body of Christ with a solemn vocation to:

live among God’s faithful people;
hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper;
proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;
serve all people, following the example of Jesus; and
strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

In baptism, we are baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection, but we are also baptized into the transformation of the world that God is enacting, a transformation that heralds “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13) in which “God’s glory may dwell in our land” (Psalm 85:9).

John’s pronouncement, drawing on Isaiah’s prophecy, is “comfort” to the people who wait with eager longing for redemption and a word of warning to their oppressors: the world is about to turn, make straight the paths.

Change is coming, and that right soon.

We, the people of God, are called to be part of that chance. In baptism, we are commissioned to increasingly live, hear, proclaim, serve and strive for the transformation of the world. As it was in Jesus’ time, the baptismal announcement today should be joyous news to those anxiously awaiting transformation and terrible news for those who would perpetuate an oppressive and unjust status quo.

What would it look like for the pronouncement of Isaiah and John the Baptist to shape our own practices of baptism, to see the sacrament as the sacred calling, gathering and sending of one who will be part of the very transformation of the world? “I introduce you to the newest member of the body of Christ!” would be words that would shake the foundations of community, for they would announce the re-birth of a person into the work of God “who is turning the world around!”

Reflection questions

How can our celebration of baptism better reflect the commissioning of new Christians to be part of God’s transformation of the world? How does our celebration of baptism already do this?
What voices do we hear “crying out” today, declaring the need for the transformation of the world? What “voices crying out” today do we hear proclaiming the transformation of the world?
Re-read the baptismal covenant quoted above. What do each of these commitments mean to you? How do you live them out in your life?

Prayer

Gracious God, in baptism, you welcome us to fellowship with you and claim us as your own. Give us strength and courage to live our baptismal vocation as a sign of hope to all who await the fullness of your reign. Open our eyes and hearts to see your hands at work in our world, reconciling all creation to you. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, into whose death and resurrection we are baptized. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

There’s a Voice in the Wilderness ELW 255

Prepare the Royal Highway ELW 264

I’m Going on a Journey ELW446

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

ELCA Advocacy Office, Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Amy Reumann, director

REFLECTING ON ADVENT: Visit blogs.elca.org/advocacy each Friday of Advent to read reflections from our ELCA Advocacy staff on this Holy Season.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: The December day to #PrayFastAct is Thursday, Dec. 21! This month, we focus on our commitment to supporting Sustainable Development Goals by engaging in prayer, fasting and advocacy for a just world. During this Advent season, we are directed to God’s steadfast resolve for peace and the signs of God’s reconciling love and restoration at work in our troubled world. As we await the arrival of the Prince of Peace, Lutherans and Episcopalians around the country, alongside churches’ leadership, are praying, fasting and committing to advocate together in support of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of our ecumenical “For Such a Time” campaign.

TAX BILL UPDATE: The Senate passed its version of HR 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, legislation that would cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals. This legislation now moves to a conference committee to merge the two versions and will be back in the House and Senate for another vote. The House version includes language, opposed by the ELCA, that would permit houses of worship to engage in electioneering. The Senate version does not include this language, known as “The Johnson Amendment.” ELCA Advocacy will work to prevent inclusion of the Johnson Amendment in a conference of the two versions.

WORLD AIDS DAY: ELCA Advocacy, together with ELCA HIV and AIDS ministries, shared an a ction alert Dec. 1 in support of public policies and programs that address the spread of HIV and AIDs worldwide. U.S. programs and strategies have been effective in reducing the spread of HIV nationally and across the world. As Congress considers a spending bill to keep the government open after Christmas, it is critical to voice support for programs under consideration for being cut, such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), prevention programs and housing for people with AIDS.

MIGRATION UPDATE: Advocates are urging Congress to pass the Dream Act, which provides a pathway to citizenship to young Americans without legal status (Dreamers), before the end of the year. The status of approximately 10,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients has already expired, and 1,000 lose their status every day that a bill is not passed. ELCA Advocacy has updated our action alert to reflect the important deadline and continue to advocate for a bill to pass.

In November, the administration announced that it would shut down the Central American Minors Program (CAM) for refugees, ending all operations by Jan. 31. It is unclear whether this arbitrary deadline will allow the review of all 3,000 pending CAM cases. The program allows children who had a legally present parent in the U.S. to apply for refugee status in their country. Children who arrive in the U.S. could avoid the dangers of traveling through Mexico to request asylum.

INTERNATIONAL GENDER JUSTICE AND HEALTH: The International Violence Against Women Act has finally been re-introduced in the Senate. This bill encompasses a few changes from the version introduced in the last Congress but keeps key pieces intact. Unlike the last time, the current version was re-introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, which increases likelihood of passage.

Another bill to improve maternal and child health outcomes in developing countries has been introduced in both chambers. The Reach Every Mother and Child Act’s goal is to ensure that the U.S. can continue its role of providing critical interventions in an efficient and strategic manner. Advocates can voice support for the bill and other international health goals at the ELCA Action Center.

ENVIRONMENT COP23: ELCA Advocacy attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn last month.  Significant outcomes of the conference included: 1) approval and adoption of the Gender Action Plan (GAP); 2) approval and adoption of the Indigenous Peoples Platform; and 3) moving forward with the Talanoa dialogue for implementation of the Paris Agreement. ELCA Advocacy, as a member of the UN Gender team, participated in workshops to help shape the Gender Action Plan, and, along with LWF, hosted a table at the Gender Market Place Event on Gender Day (November 14th) at COP 23.  Find out more at the ELCA Advocacy Blog.

Lutheran Office for World Community, United Nations, New York, N.Y.

Dennis Frado, director

THIRD COMMITTEE OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES ITS WORK FOR 72ND SESSION:

In late October and early November, the Third Committee of the United Nations discussed eliminating racial discrimination,xenophobia and related intolerance, and promoting self determination. Experts monitoring human rights treaties were especially concerned over increased violence, racist rhetoric and Nazism, calling for targeted efforts to address root causes of discrimination.

Sabelo Gumedze, chair of the working group of experts on peoples of African descent, reported on pervasive structural racism, with people of African descent facing extreme violence, racial bias and hate. He called for an honest debate about history and its connection to modern racism.

Gabor Rona, chair-rapporteur of the working group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human
rights, focused on the use of private security personnel, particularly in prisons and immigration-related detention
facilities. Abuses include violence, medical negligence and sexual abuse. He recommended that member states stop
outsourcing, and urged alternatives to detention for undocumented migrants.

On Nov. 21, the committee concluded its 72nd session, having debated and approved 63 draft resolutions,
including children’s rights, assistance to refugees, people with disabilities, human rights defenders, migrants, safe
drinking water, youth policies, glorification of Nazism, eliminating racism, strengthening elections, prison reform
and human trafficking.

UPDATE ON GLOBAL COMPACT ON MIGRATION STOCKTAKING PHASE: The United Nations is now in the stocktaking phase of a process to create a Global Compact for Migration. This compact, mandated by the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, is to be the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement designed to address all aspects of international migration. LOWC has been active in a subcommittee of the NGO Committee on Migration which has been focusing on the discussions during the recently completed consultation stage and will continue its activities in relation to the current stocktaking stage. These are steps on the way toward the compact being adopted by the U.N. The committee has provided input to the “Ten Acts for the Global Compact,” a document outlining the essentials for a meaningful compact. The Lutheran World Federation has endorsed it.

The stocktaking phase of the work plan to bring the compact to fruition will be followed by the negotiating and
finalization phase in early to mid-2018. Adoption of the global compact should occur in December 2018 at a special
conference to be convened in Morocco.

The special representative for the Global Compact on Migration, Louise Arbour, recently met with members of the Committee on Migration. She focused on her upcoming official report to the U.N. secretary general, which will set out criteria for safe, orderly, regular migration; look at how the United Nations can work on migration; offer recommendations and a review of the compact for the future.

California,Lutheran Office of Public Policy

Mark Carlson,Lutheran Office of Public Policy loppca.org

POLICY COUNCIL MEETS: The Policy Council for the Lutheran Office of Public Policy-California met at the Southwest California Synod office in Glendale. Following the meeting, several members went to Palo Verde Gardens, site of a permanent supportive housing community for formerly homeless people, operated by LA Family Housing, with a courtyard named after the late ELCA pastor, the Rev. John Simmons, an original founder of LA Family Housing. A $4 billion housing bond is an LOPP-CA priority for the November 2018 ballot.

CHILDREN’S ROUNDTABLE: The quarterly meeting of advocates, held at the California Endowment, focused on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and immigration, with briefings from the state attorney general’s office, advocates and legal experts, all acutely aware that about one-fourth of DACA recipients are in California.

GREEN CALIFORNIA: The Green California network, in which LOPP-CA participates, discussed differences in advocacy styles, internal power dynamics and communication among various organizations, and diverse approaches to social change, including “inside” and “outside” advocacy, transactional and transformational work, and the spectrum of engagement from a “culture of resistance” to “pragmatic problem-solving and compromise.” Some of those tensions were on global display at the Council of Parties meeting in Bonn. Green California is looking at ways to support efforts to change the permissive culture of sexual harassment and abuse in the Capitol community, a topic that will be on the agenda of the Feb. 28, 2018, Green California Summit. #WeSaidEnough. Gov. Jerry Brown’s Sept. 12-15, 2018, globalclimateactionsummit.org in San Francisco was also discussed.

Pennsylvania

Tracey DePasquale, Lutheran Advocacy–Pennsylvania Lutheranadvocacypa.org

In November, LAMPa accompanied the Rev. Jennifer Crist as she testified in support of Safe Harbor legislation that would redirect child sex trafficking victims away from the criminal justice system and toward appropriate services. Crist, a second-career pastor with a degree in neuroscience, spoke as a scientist, a mother and as a minister who works with child trauma survivors through her nonprofit orphanage in Guatemala. Read and watch her testimony here. Lutherans across Pennsylvania, particularly Women of the ELCA, continue to write and call lawmakers to move SB554 out of the House Judiciary Committee.

LAMPa staff delivered nearly 100 paper plates drawn by children of Trinity Lutheran Church in Camp Hill, Pa., to Gov. Tom Wolf as part of a thanksgiving offering of letters. The plates expressed gratitude to the Governor’s Food Security Partnership for progress toward making Pennsylvania hunger free. Members of Trinity spent three weeks before Thanksgiving learning about the faces of hunger and its roots, signing hundreds of letters to state and federal lawmakers in support policies that address hunger, children’s health insurance and protections of child sex-trafficking victims. Read more.

Lynn Fry dove into her new role as program director at LAMPa, taking on leadership on healthcare and immigration. Director Tracey DePasquale preached and taught at St. Bartholomew’s in Hanover on ingathering Sunday at the invitation of the congregation’s Women of the ELCA group. She also spent several days participating in the Appalachian Ministry Assembly gathered in West Virginia as the body discerned gifts and calling for public witness.

Wisconsin

Cindy Crane, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin

The director accompanied five bishops to visit staff of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson to encourage him to urge the administration to extend the temporary protective services for Hondurans and El Salvadorans, to ensure the administration reaches the 45,000 refugee goal set for 2018 and to encourage him and his staff to visit local resettlement facilities.

LOPPW and Madison Lutheran Campus Ministry held an overnight advocacy retreat that drew students from three campuses. We heard from special speakers and delved into the civil rights movement, ELCA advocacy, and the advocacy experiences and interests among the partipants, and next steps.

Governance, FoodShare, Water, Trafficking:

Discouraged a resolution to call for a U.S. constitutional convention but the resolution passed.
Supported a bill that would launch a pilot program to provide discounts to households that are eligible for FoodShare benefits with discounts on fresh produce and other healthy foods. The bill passed the Assembly.
Supported a bill that would make it easier for public utilities to assist people with low incomes to get lead out of their pipes. The bill passed the Assembly.
A bill formerly called Safe Harbor to decriminalize youth under 18 caught in prostitution was voted out of committee.

Federal legislation:

Addressed the Farm Bill at Our Savior’s in Oshkosh, where the director preached and led a workshop, and in a workshop at First Lutheran in Janesville.
Addressed how the tax bill would affect hunger and healthcare in an action alert.

By The Rev. Amy Reumann, Director, ELCA Advocacy

The Edward Hicks painting, The Peaceable Kingdom, depicts a scene from the 11th chapter of Isaiah. Lions cozy up to lambs, oxen lie down with bears and children cavort with them all. Predators put aside their natural appetites to pursue harmonious relationships with former prey. Goats and sheep swallow their understandable fear to rest beside carnivores. Each gives up something that they have needed for survival in order to create peace together.

Edward Hicks [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hicks, a Pennsylvania artist, also interjects a decidedly non-biblical moment into the scene, showing the Quaker, William Penn, signing a treaty with the indigenous people of the region. He brings together the prophet’s peaceable natural kingdom with an image of societal peace and reconciliation for humans who might otherwise be at war. God’s realm, he suggests, delivers many kinds of peace.

I was recently among faith leaders from multiple nations that possess a history of hostile words and actions toward one another. As we spoke about the religious causes of violence between Muslims, Jews and Christians, we named the ways that sacred texts and theological misunderstandings have sanctioned violence in the name of God and are twisted to support divisive political ends. We also named the deep wellsprings in the three faiths that place a religious obligation of active peacemaking on believers. We affirmed that religion has an essential role in ending violence, with faith leaders often creating the spaces for dialog and reconciliation that resolve hostilities in communities and between nations. We parted with commitments to continue the work of peacemaking in our own nations by challenging misconceptions about one another’s religion and continuing interfaith dialogues at home.

Hicks painted the Peaceable Kingdom scene over 100 times in his life. This says something about the endless task of making peace. We are never quite done. The aggression and fear that humans may think are necessary for survival repeatedly reassert themselves in communities and between nations. We are called to promote and seek peace over and over again as part of our vocation to love and serve God.

This holy season, with wars, and with rumors of war, we await the advent of the Prince of Peace who renews our hope for a Peaceable Kingdom. May these weeks bring about renewed and fervent prayers, action and advocacy for peace in our world.

Today’s post is by Gretchen Rode, Associate Pastor at House of Hope in New Hope, MN. This is the first of two posts on how congregations will be worshipping on the 4th Sunday of Advent/Christmas Eve.

This year, the 4^th Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve. At House of Hope in New Hope, Minnesota, we know that a morning worship service is important so that those who come home for the holidays or routinely come on Sunday morning have a place to be during this usual time. We also want to honor that it is a busy day for us as pastors/church staff and that most of our people will already be in the Christmas Eve mood. With this in mind, we hope to have a light-hearted time of gathering to mark this last day of Advent and begin to move into Christmas together as a community.

So, to bridge between Advent and Christmas, we have created a service that starts in Advent and ends in Christmas. Our service begins in the darkness of Advent with the lighting of the Advent wreath, singing Advent hymns “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and “Prepare the Royal Highway,” and reading the Gospel for the Day (Luke 1:26-38) which tells the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary. The Gospel is a perfect bridge to our well-known Christmas story. We will sing “The Angel Gabriel” after the Gospel (skipping the sermon time) and transition to the Christmas portion of our service. This second half of the service will include a statement of faith crafted from Psalm 98*, Christmas hymns “Joy to the World” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and, in a nod to the traditions of the season, we will bless Christmas ornaments* and gifts* and sing “Deck the Halls.” We hope that this shortened service will send our people out into the day, centered on Christ and ready to celebrate together this blessed time of Christmas!

We will be using liturgy from Sundays and Seasons for quite a few parts of this service. We love the “Call to Worship from Psalm 98” and will be using it as our statement of faith: “Justice for everyone, everything fair! Sing to God something brand new! For God has done wonderful things!” For the blessing of Christmas ornaments, we will invite congregation members to bring an ornament from home (and we will have some on hand to give out as well). This blessing will be a slightly altered “Blessing of the Christmas Tree,”* adding to the last line “May we who stand in its light eagerly welcome the true Light that never fades, and as we carry these ornaments home may we remember that your light goes with us wherever we go. All glory be yours now and forever. Amen.” We envision that everyone will hold their ornament as they sit in the pew and saying this blessing together. If there are many children at this service, I might invite them up during this time to help lead the blessing from the front. We intend to incorporate the Blessing of the Gifts Rite during the Benediction as a sending.

We hope that each part of the service will help our congregation to celebrate this joyful day and to connect rites that are done at home with the welcoming of God into the world that we celebrate at Christmas time in the Church.

*Liturgy for the Statement of Faith from Psalm 98, the Blessing of the Christmas Tree, and the Blessing of Gifts come from Sundays and Seasons in the Seasonal Rites for Christmas for Year B, 2018.

Advent is a season of hope and expectation. It is a season in which we “prepare the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3). Advent candles, wreaths and calendars are joined with as-yet unfinished nativity scenes to mark our preparations for the birth of Jesus Christ. This year, ELCA World Hunger’s Advent Study celebrates this season with reflections focused on the preparation of the people of God for the work of the new year – the work of feeding, clothing, accompanying and advocating with our neighbors for a just world in which all are fed.

The four sessions of this Advent Study and the accompanying Advent calendar are based on the Scripture readings for each week of Advent. Each week includes a meditation on the theme, reflection questions, a prayer and hymn suggestions.

May you, your family and your community be blessed this season to see the important role the people of God are called to play in God’s transformation of the world – as individuals, as families and as the church together.

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning. What an odd way to go through Advent! We enter this season of expectation of Jesus’ birth and the advent of his ministry, only to start by hearing the words of Jesus describing the end of days. In a few weeks, we will celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ incarnate life among us.

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning.

The heavy thumb of Roman rule, high taxes and widespread vulnerability to poverty were all part of everyday life in first century Palestine. The people among whom Jesus would be born were eager for the Messiah who would deliver them. And there was no shortage of “false messiahs” (Mark 13:22) claiming to offer salvation. Some promised military victory over the Romans. Others claimed gifts of magical power and prophesied re-taking the temple.

And yet, here, in the Gospel of Mark, the true Messiah comes offering a very different story. The people of God will not ride triumphantly into Jerusalem – they will “flee to the mountains” (13:14). They will not re-take Jerusalem and its temple – “all will be thrown down” (13:2b).

But “after that suffering” (13:24)…

In the end…

Of all the Gospels, Mark is perhaps the most honest about suffering. Facing persecution at the hands of Rome, early Christians needed a message that was honest about suffering. More than that, they needed to know that God was honest about their suffering. In Mark, Jesus does not hold back in naming that suffering. The Messiah is born into suffering. The people will face suffering. He himself will suffer.

This wasn’t a newsflash to first century Jews any more than it is to the millions of people today for whom suffering is a mournful part of life – those who know the pangs of food insecurity, those who long for clean water, those who grieve the loss of their homes or their jobs. The idea that suffering is a part of life is sadly nothing new to so many of us. But Jesus makes clear two things that transform how we understand suffering. First, God knows our suffering. And, second – God rejects it.

The “great buildings” (13:2) in Jerusalem, which occasioned the beginning of Jesus’ long speech in Mark 13, were not merely beautiful examples of architecture. They were symbols of the powers and principalities that maintained systems of oppression and marginalization and would eventually carry Jesus to the cross. They seem imperishable, unshakable, overwhelming.

But the world is about to turn. And those walls are coming down.

Advent is a season of hope and expectation, but with Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 13:33 (“Beware, keep alert”), we move from “Advent as anticipation” to “Advent as active alert.” As we await the birth of the Messiah, let Advent be a season not of patience but impatience, not of passivity but activity, seeking out those places where God is already at work undoing systems of suffering and living in the daring confidence founded on faith in the promised end of suffering, sin and death.