Scott Moore, Erfurt, Germany

Warm-up Question

How can good come from evil?   Can you give an example?

Heavenly Mansions

Mackenzie Scott, novelist and former wife to Jeff Bezos, both of Amazon fame, is increasing her reputation for generosity with a significant donation to the California Community Foundation. This week she donated two mansions in Beverly Hills estimated at worth around $55 million. The foundation announced that 90% of the proceeds will go toward providing grants for affordable housing. The remaining 10% is slated to be used for programs for integration of immigrants. 

At the end of 2020, Scott’s net worth was estimated at around $62 billion. In the past couple of years, she has donated billions of dollars to a variety of causes concerned with racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, democracy, and climate change. Her gifts also include millions to Historic Black Colleges and Universities, tribal colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions. 

Hundreds of charities have benefited from her generosity. In May 2019, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a charitable-giving campaign in which she undertook to give away most of her wealth to charity over her lifetime or in her will.  Despite its name, the pledge is not legally binding. 

Critics say Amazon and many large companies create wealth by underpaying their workforces around the world. Ms. Scott’s positive use of that wealth certainly goes a long way to making more friends than enemies. 

Discussion Questions

• What charities would you want to support, if you had $10 or $100 million? 
• How do you think your lifestyle would change if you suddenly came into a lot of money?  What extravagant items might you want to purchase?
• To what charities, or kinds of charities, have you (or your parents) donated?

 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Amos 8:4-7

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Luke 16:1-13

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

Gospel Reflection

Money, money, money. It is one of Jesus’ favorite topics in the gospels. Rightly so! What we do with money says a lot about our values; with it we can do both great and horrible things. 

Jesus’ parable in today’s gospel text shows the shrewd financial dealings of a manager charged with being the caretaker of someone else’s wealth. He gets wind of the accusations that he has squandered his master’s wealth. Instead of trying to argue his case, he apparently does more of the same and cuts a deal with those people who owed him. The master, in turn, praises him for being so shrewd. 

Wait. What? That’s not how this is supposed to go. The person who mismanaged the wealth gives a break to those in debt—and gets praised for his actions. Jesus takes the master’s appreciation of the manager and draws our attention to another dynamic: social currency. He praises the manager for creating good will among the debtors and thus profiting from the grace he shows. 

Jesus explains this parable with words that are a little hard to swallow. In verse 9, he says, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” 

Yikes! This passage has the potential of becoming a stumbling block. Is Jesus condoning dishonesty? Let’s pause a bit and look a bit closer at what’s going on. The word “dishonest”here is not wrong but it is only one possible translation of the Greek word used in this passage. The word used is bigger than just “shifty”, “shady”, “dishonest”, or somehow “illegal”. It is a word that means “not righteous”. “Righteous” are things that have to do with God.

So “unrighteous” things aren’t godly. Jesus encourages his hearers to make friends with unrighteous wealth. The friends benefit and you establish a relationship. And, this becomes important because Jesus next words are rather prophetic, “so that when the wealth is gone, they may welcome you into homes that last forever.”

Jesus praises gracious and good deeds done for others even with wealth that is not righteous. Good deeds are much better than holding onto money. Even the manager in this difficult parable saw the opportunity to do some good. Was it totally selfless? No, not at all. Did it still use wealth or relief of debt to make the lives of others better? Yes. There is hope in relationships that can last. There is hope when positive things happen…even with wealth that is not a righteous as we might prefer. 

This is the underlying motivation behind actions such as churches using their resources to provide reparations for communities that suffered due to racism. Many philanthropists, such as Mackenzie Scott, do incredible good with their  wealth, even if some or much of it was gained through not so honorable means. The one doesn’t excuse the other. But moving toward grace and healing, restoring relationships, and making reparations for past sins is a goal we might consider. It is Jesus’ example and Jesus’ encouragement. 

Discussion Questions

• What ideas do you have about a justice system that fines guilty parties high amounts of damages for various crimes? 
• What do you think about your church body/denomination paying reparations to individuals who suffered because of institutional slavery and racism?
• What kind of price would you put a price on the worst thing someone has done to you?
• What kind of charitable work does your congregation do? Perhaps, someone from your parish/congregation could present something to your class.

Activity Suggestions

Reparations and compensation for groups who have suffered systemic harm are in the news a great deal these days.  Colleges debate renaming buildings or paying the descendants of the slaves who built those buildings.  An article in The Atlantic made the case for returning some National Parks to the Native American tribes whose land was stolen to create those parks.  Make two lists:  one noting all the reasons that some sort of reparations should be made to groups who have suffered systemic and government sanctioned harm, the other giving the reasons why such a plan is not feasible….Now, discuss how persons holding very different convictions might come together to address past wrongs and move toward a better future.

Closing Prayer 

Ever-merciful God, we have often missed opportunities to support others and make their lives even a little bit easier. You continue to watch over them and us, providing us with all that we need. Help us to see the need around us and find ways to respond with your grace and love. Give us the courage to risk in faith, using the wealth you have entrusted to us for the healing of the world. We ask this in the name of the One, who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

by

by: Rev. Dr. David deFreese, Vice President of Church Relations and International Programming, Mosaic

 

“Embracing God’s call, Mosaic relentlessly pursues opportunities that empower people.”

Mosaic’s mission statement encapsulates the ministry of this serving arm of the Church.

Born out of the Church, Mosaic’s two legacy organizations–Bethphage Mission, founded in 1913, and Martin Luther Homes, founded in 1925–came together in 2003 with the purpose of greater impact for those who are often excluded and marginalized by society.

Lifting up the values of belonging, connection, faithfulness, and grit, Mosaic is relentless in our pursuit of opportunities that enrich the lives of people with diverse needs. Entering our second century, we are reinventing whole-person health care with our person-centered approach. Mosaic is mission-driven and values-led.

Our purpose may sound easy–“to love and serve”–but it is a conscientious and consistent effort to help those who have often not been heard have a say in their own lives. Mosaic listens to the wants and needs of the people we support and custom builds programs to make those things a reality.  We tune in to what truly matters to people and honor individual choice. Our person-centered planning approach brings together family members, trusted friends, professionals, funders and, most importantly, the person served to figure out which combination of services will be the right fit.

Mosaic provides services in 13 states for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental and behavioral health needs, autism and other diverse needs wherever they are in their personal journey. Our direct support professionals and in-house team of board-certified behavior analysts find inventive ways to empower people to live the life they choose. Mosaic partners with families, schools, and other providers to collaboratively build support plans that promote positive outcomes. Mosaic also helps aging adults maintain independence through programs in Arizona and Wisconsin, and our Mosaic International outreach currently partners with the Northern Diocese of Tanzania, where we’ve created the “Building a Caring Community” program to serve children with disabilities and their families.

Providing a wide range of truly personalized home- and community-based services, we enable people to push past real and perceived barriers to achieve their goals. Three objectives direct our efforts in serving more than 4,800 people: that each person supported by Mosaic 1) lives in a caring community, 2) experiences meaningful days and 3) is given a voice.

Believing that no church body is whole unless everyone is welcome and included, we seek to bring Mosaic’s mission to life every day by working with churches and pastors to help all people meet their spiritual needs and desires. While faith communities and leaders often are called upon to help others, Mosaic asks, “How can we help you, the Church?” Endeavoring to create inclusive churches, we offer support in a variety of ways:

 Rejoicing Spirits celebrates and values every person’s talents and gifts, offering people of all abilities an opportunity to lead and serve in their faith community. This ministry provides congregations a model of worship that has a hallmark rule of “no shushing.” People with disabilities can be themselves and this has enabled many families to worship together.

Seminary partnerships provide educational courses to help faith leaders-in-training create welcoming, affirming places for people of all abilities and their families. This is done through hands-on immersion experiences and seminars exploring theological and pastoral insights of disability.

Behavioral education and curriculum adaptation are gifts Mosaic offers to the Church. Expertise around mental and behavioral health and autism is used to enhance congregational programs as well as adapt educational curriculums so people with disabilities can continue to explore their spirituality.

Socialization and friendships are fostered between congregants and people served by Mosaic in an effort to inspire meaningful connections for all involved.

Disability awareness and social justice efforts awaken others to the realities of living with disabilities and the attitudinal barriers that can confine people from living a full life. We offer many educational and inspirational opportunities for people to gain a deeper perspective of living in community. Advocacy in giving a voice and helping families navigate a harsh society are important to Mosaic’s ministry.

The priority of Mosaic, a ministry of the Church and an affiliate of the ELCA, has been and continues to be, meeting the needs and desires of the people Mosaic supports.

Heather Hansen, San Antonio, TX

Warm-up Question

Have you ever been lost?  What was the situation and how were you “found”?

Be Still, Be Found

A common human experience human is to lose something.  Losing something can be very frustrating and produce a lot of stress, especially when you’re in a hurry or it’s a really important item.  There are many reasons for why this happens; more often than not, we find the things we’ve lost when least expect it.

But did you also know that it is common for people to “freak out”  when they are the thing that is lost?  In an article written by Michael Bond in May 2020, Bond details the sad story of a surveyor finding the remains of a female hiker who was reported missing two years earlier.  She left the Appalachian trail to find a private spot just a few yards from the path.  When she was ready to return, she became completely disoriented.  This is a very common occurrence in the forest, where there are frequently no distinguishing landmarks or focal points to use for direction.

Bond writes:

“Lost is a cognitive state.  Your internal map has become detached from the external world, and nothing in your spatial memory matches what you see.   But at its core, it is an emotional state…90 percent of people make things a lot worse for themselves when they realize they are lost – by running, for instance.  Because they are afraid, they can’t solve problems or figure out what to do.”

Bond also writes that finding a lost person is just as much a psychological puzzle as it is a geographical hunt. Research and interviews with found persons reveal that running when lost is not only common, but a strong compulsion.  The urge to run is one reason we teach young children to “stay in one place” when they find they are lost.  Usually, you aren’t far from where you need to be and it’s much easier to find you if you stay in one spot.

Discussion Questions

• Would you rather lose something important or be lost?  Why?
• What are the different ways we can become lost?  How would you feel in the different scenarios?  What would do in these situations?

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Exodus 32:7-14

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

Gospel Reflection

This week’s readings share a thread.  All refer to people who are lost and are brought back into the fold by God’s forgiveness.  In the Exodus reading, God tells Moses he is going to destroy the people because they have quickly forgotten how God freed them from slavery.  In the midst of desert wandering and challenge, the people’s faith in God’s guidance wavers and they become lost.  (How does this relate to the phenomenon of running when you are lost?). Moses intercedes for the people and God forgives and restores them.  

Similarly, Paul refers to his former sinful, persecuting self and relates that, with God’s grace and mercy through faith in Christ Jesus, he has been forgiven and is no longer lost.

Finally, in response to the grumblings of the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus tells two parables about lost things.  They are unhappy because Jesus has been eating with sinners and tax collectors.  Jesus teaches them that God’s love leaves no person, even one considered the most lost, behind.  The lost are valuable enough to search for, even if they are just one of a hundred.  In the second story, Jesus says that the smallest thing is still significant to God and worth tearing everything apart to find.  Once the lost are found, there is great rejoicing.

I often wonder where most people see themselves in the parables.  Is it easier to think of ourselves as one of the ninety-nine?  Or is it the woman searching for the coin?  Can we even imagine being so lost that someone has to search for us?

The good news of the gospel is that God values us so much that they will search for us until we are found.  Then God celebrates that we are recovered  and brings us back into the fold.  We have a God that searches for us.  Just think on that for a moment.  While we often think of ourselves as people seeking God, what does it mean to be sought out by God?  Why do we often feel like we need to seek God, rather than allow God to come to us?  

Perhaps in the times when we feel lost, we would be better to sit still, take a moment to breathe, and allow God to find us.  

Discussion Questions

• Like the instinct we have to run when we are lost in the woods, why do you think we are inclined to seek God rather than be still and allow God to find us?
• How does it make you feel to know that you are so valuable, the shepherd would leave the rest of the flock to find you and bring you back?
• Why do you think God rejoices over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine that need no repentance?
• How does God measure value?  In God’s eyes, what makes a person valuable enough to seek out?

Activity Suggestion

Play the game Blindfold Maze Embers.

• How does this game relate to being lost and our tendencies to act when we are lost?
• How is asking for help more like sitting still and allowing God to “find” us rather than us seeking for the way out?
• Why is it hard to let others, including God, help us when we feel lost?

Closing Prayer

Holy God, It’s frightening to feel lost.  We panic and we fight for control over our situations.  Help us to know that when we are lost you are right there looking for us…we only need to stop and breathe, and you will bring us back.  Give us the courage to trust that you seek us out and forgive us when we go astray, and help us to rejoice when others are found and forgiven too.  Amen.

 

As Russian forces advanced on his town in Ukraine’s heavily contested Donbass region, a group of friends helped to save Igor Gusev’s life.

Born with cerebral palsy, Igor has lived independently with some limited support and the companionship of a beloved black cat. His community shunned him, but for the efforts of his few friends.

As bombing and violence approached his home, Igor’s friends packed him and just a bit of luggage into a car and headed west.

While Igor sadly had to leave his pet behind, he found new friends – and support – in the L’Arche community in Poznan, Poland. The Polish L’Arche communities have rapidly transformed themselves into a network of emergency care for people living with disabilities and their caregivers.

Igor’s disability is physical, but he appreciates the care he receives for the soul, too. “In L’Arche I met sincere love, peace…and respect,” Igor said.

For most of his life, he has moved independently by crawling on his four limbs. His fully functioning left hand allows him to dress himself or hold a cup of coffee. Escaping a war, however, proved far more difficult to achieve independently. L’Arche’s nearly six decades of experience indicate that people like Igor have a greater challenge fleeing disasters like war, and finding access to services.

A volunteer organization in Poland came across Igor and, once understanding his needs, asked if L’Arche could help. L’Arche was able to find a place for Igor even as L’Arche Poland’s communities filled with refugees. He likes to live as independently as possible, but he reluctantly asked his new L’Arche friends for help moving around a house not fully adapted for someone in a wheelchair. L’Arche is making sure Igor and many others get needed care.

L’Arche’s two communities in Ukraine have also been helping people fleeing war have a safe space to land and, in many cases, to continue to nearby countries hosting refugees. In Lithuania and Poland, the communities have also opened their doors, with even staff and volunteers hosting guests from Ukraine in their homes.

L’Arche communities in Poland have joined other local organizations to craft a tapestry of services aimed at supporting people with disabilities and their caregivers.

“In [the] Wroclaw community we have created a day-care place where every mother who needs at least a few hours of respite will be able to safely leave her child and take care of other urgent matters for her own and their good,” L’Arche Poland National Leader Agnieszka Karolak said.

You can find out more about the work of L’Arche around the world on their website.

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Your gifts to Eastern Europe Crisis Response are supporting partners like L’Arche in eight countries, including Ukraine. Thank you!

Hello!

The time to receive grant proposals is on the way! Thank you to those who have reached out recently to ask this very question. 🙂 My answer, in short, is soon– right at about the end of September.

After some more work with the Grants Management team we will send out details regarding the kind/number of proposals we will consider, and the time frame in which we will be accepting and approving them.

You can come here for those details, and please know that other communication will be sent out as well. For now, you may direct questions to me at lisa.heffernan@elca.org or disability.ministry@elca.org.

Have a great week, and be thinking about how your ministry may benefit from this grant opportunity.

 

In Christ,

Rev. Lisa Heffernan, coordinator, ELCA Disability Ministries

Registration closes August 31

 

The Strasbourg Ecumenical Institute offers advanced training in ecumenical theology for Lutheran pastors. The next study course will be held online from October 10-14, 2022.

The course will be held in English and is designed for pastors with parish experience or for students with advanced knowledge of Lutheran theology. It will cover an overview of the most important ecumenical agreements between Lutherans and other Christian communions over the past half century. In addition, students will examine the ways churches on the different continents are putting those agreements into practice in their local contexts and how leaders and local communities learn from the ecumenical experiences of those in other parts of the globe.

The goal of the week-long course is to equip participants with knowledge of the principle ecumenical agreements between the Lutheran World Federation and its dialogue partners, mainly in the Catholic, Mennonite, Orthodox and Pentecostal churches. Students will also be asked to discuss relations with other Christians in their respective countries with the aim of developing pathways for further rapprochement at local and national level.

Another objective of the course (open only to a maximum of 20 participants) is to allow students from a wide variety of cultural and religious contexts to engage in “intense transcultural dialogue about ecumenical theology and practice.” Organizers hope that these in-depth conversations will serve to strengthen and build relations between churches within the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).

LWF’s Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations and acting director of the Strasbourg Institute, Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, said: “The LWF has committed itself to the ecumenical way towards ecclesial communion. To move forward on that journey, encouraging local ecumenical initiatives and strengthening connections between these initiatives and global dialogues, is critical. This course is an incredible opportunity to enter more profoundly into this dynamic.”

Learn more at the course’s landing page: Study-Course-October22.pdf (ecumenical-institute.org)

Apply today: application_form-studyingecumenism2022.pdf (lutheranworld.org)

Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices (sppos) in the ELCA Advocacy Network this month. Full list and map of sppos available.

U.N. | Colorado | Delaware | Washington

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U.N.

Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc

Dennis Frado, Director

 

The 24th International AIDS Conference took place from 29 July to 2 August 2022. The theme of AIDS 2022 was Re-engage and follow the science. It was the first time the conference was hosted in person in Montreal, Canada, as well as virtually. The conference featured the latest HIV science, explored indigenous responses to HIV, surveillance ethics, health innovation, quality healthcare, HIV cure and vaccine research and much more. The new UNAIDS report, In Danger, released at the conference, highlights the devastating consequences if urgent action is not taken to tackle the inequalities which drive the pandemic. It further shows how the AIDS response has been “blown off course”, making action urgent.

 

Pre-conferences began on 27 July. The Interfaith Pre-Conference was held 27-28 July under the theme “Taking Action to Overcome HIV Stigma & Discrimination Comprehensive, Compassionate Care for All.” The pre-conference was organized by the Interfaith Health Platform (IHP), in collaboration with UNAIDS and PEPFAR. IHP advocacy initiatives include the 12 MILLION CAMPAIGN that engages faith leaders, individuals and communities to promote access to health services to the now 10 million children, women and men living with HIV who are not yet on antiretroviral treatment.

 

There was some uplifting news. According to UNAIDS, the new research presented at the conference showed that “injectable PrEP [pre-exposure prophylaxis] is among the most effective tools for preventing HIV available and that it works well in multiple populations.”. The World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines and drugmaker ViiV announced licenses for generic manufacturing of the drug, cabotegravir long-acting (LA), for HIV PrEPin 90 countries.

Other commitments were made by African leaders and by international partners who joined in a new Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children.

 

The Interfaith pre-conference delegates, the International AIDS Society, UNAIDS and civil society organizations all expressed concern and were saddened by the high number of denied and pending visas for the purpose of attending the events by Canadian authorities. These included researchers, officials, and people living with HIV from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There was global outcry to ensure that the next host of the conference must guarantee that the most affected by HIV can be present at this important world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS.

 

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Colorado

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Colorado (LAM-CO) – lam-co.org

Peter Severson, Director

 

Healthy School Meals for All campaign kicks off: The Healthy School Meals for All ballot measure will appear before Colorado voters on their November ballot. As a member of a diverse statewide coalition, we’re excited to announce the official kick-off series for our “Yes” campaign! The Denver kick-off will took place at Edgewater Elementary on August 11. Colorado Springs’ kick-off was at Food to Power on August 15, followed by the Western Slope.

The ballot measure will soon have a name, but we already have a website: https://www.healthyschoolmealsforallco.org. Also check us out on social media at Facebook.com/SchoolsMealsforCO and on Twitter @SchoolMeals4CO.

 

Register now for Thirsting for Water: Lutheran Advocacy is collaborating with the Rocky Mountain Synod (RMS) World Hunger Team and the RMS Creation Care Team to host “Thirsting for Water: At the Intersection of Climate, Water and Hunger” on Saturday, September 17. Join us at Bethany Lutheran Church, Denver, or on Zoom for a day for holy conversation & community-building with faithful people from the Rocky Mountain Synod and beyond. We’ll learn the facts about the drought affecting our region, engage in theological reflection and story-telling, hear stories of the impact on agriculture, consider policy and advocacy, and contemplate how we can respond to the crisis together.

More information & registration can be found at https://www.rmselca.org/events/thirstingforwater.

 

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Delaware

Lutheran Office for Public Policy – Delaware – demdsynod.org/delaware-public-policy-office

The Rev. Gordon Simmons, Director

 

Director for the Lutheran Office for Public Policy – Delaware, Gordon Simmons was able to be in all 12 ELCA churches this year, to preach and to lead a forum on issues.

Among issues was support of a bill that would have required training before purchasing a firearm, which did not pass. However, in the aftermath of the shootings earlier this year in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, two bills were quickly passed and signed by the governor: one which outlaws assault weapons (HB 450) and another which raises the age to purchase a firearm to 21 (HB 451).

 

LOPP-Delaware worked a lot with a clean energy coalition. A bill was introduced in the last month of the session which would have raised the state’s goals for reduction of greenhouse gases, which are currently at 40% reduction by 2035, and would have given the state much more extensive regulatory power. At the last minute the Governor pulled his support, and while the bill passed the Senate, it failed to get out of the House committee with a 5-6 vote. We’ll be back next year.

 

Delaware codified at the state level the healthcare protections which were found in Roe v Wade several years ago. After the Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs v Jackson case, the Legislature passed bills HB 455 and HB 460. These bills give certain physician assistants and registered nurse’s the authority to perform abortions and to prescribe medication to include abortions, and also protects those seeking abortions who travel from out of state from lawsuits.  

 

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Washington

Faith Action Network (FAN) – fanwa.org

Elise DeGooyer, Director

 

Our work this summer has included bills in Congress that will impact communities across our state. In July, we were present at a Congressional hearing on the Farm Bill, held locally in Carnation, Wash. It was such a great day for food security in Washington, as Congresswoman Kim Schrier and House Agriculture Committee members listened to advocates, farmers, and food bank providers about shared priorities for Farm Bill reauthorization to end hunger. FAN Policy Engagement Director Kristin Ang spoke to the power of SNAP benefits for our neighbors who are struggling, and while faith communities are on the front lines in response to hunger, they can’t do it without equitable public policy. We will continue to work with our colleagues at the Washington State Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition (pictured at right with Rep. Schrier, 2nd from right) and our ELCA partners.

 

In advance of Washington state primary elections, FAN co-sponsored some candidate forums with our colleagues at the Coalition of Immigrants, Refugees, and Communities of Color (CIRCC) and the Seattle-King County NAACP. Following our four summits across the state this spring, our legislative agenda for 2023 will continue to take shape in collaboration with the newly-formed FAN Policy Committee, our governing board, and our 25+ coalition partners.

 

The FAN governing board and staff enjoyed a rare opportunity to meet in person and online in July in a statewide planning retreat, hosted by the Sikh community’s Khalsa Gurmat School in Federal Way. We listened to each other’s perspectives, identified some of the most critical challenges to our communities during this difficult time, and considered some multi-faith approaches to help us adapt to meet these challenges. It was a chance for new board members and new staff members (including our new part-time organizers in central Washington) to become acquainted; after two years of online meetings, we felt the tangible impact of planning together in person. We are energized to work together to best address the needs ahead.

By Christine Moffett, Federal Policy Intern, ELCA Witness in Society

After many months of deliberation, Congress has passed and President Biden has signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a federal spending bill that was heralded as a crucial step towards finding solutions to the climate crisis by making the largest federal investment ever in clean energy technologies. This investment comes as movement toward the United States fulfilling its pledge, under the Paris Climate Agreement, of 50% reduction in emissions by 2030. By fulfilling this pledge, the United States will prioritize our environment in need of care and aim for a better quality of life today without shortchanging future generations.

Our faith community acted on our convictions, adopting during the very recent 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly a memorial on Greenhouse Gas Reduction. This memorial reaffirms our commitment to engage in creation care and act in support of 50% reduction in 2005 U.S levels of greenhouse gas pollution by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, including having the churchwide organization meet these goals. With all of this in our minds and in our hearts, it is not without discernment that we can celebrate the recent passage of the largest federal clean energy investment in U.S. history.

 

Elements of the Act

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 most notably invests $369 billion in energy security and climate change programs over the next ten years. This is the largest investment by the United States in climate and clean energy to date. This bill contains crucial investments in solar, wind, electric vehicles and environmental justice, along with new penalties on methane pollution that will make a significant dent in our carbon pollution.

The climate investments from the Inflation Reduction Act will put our nation on the path to cut climate pollution emissions 37-41% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels, according to Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, a non-partisan energy and climate policy think tank. Additionally, this bill is projected to create 1.5 million new jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 also pledges to invest $40 billion in agriculture, forestry and rural communities. This investment would put a priority on climate-smart agriculture, rural power and clean energy, and wildfire protections and climate-smart forestry.

In addition to climate provisions, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will make health care more accessible for more people by continuing the Affordable Care Act subsidies and allowing the government to negotiate prices for prescription drugs in the Medicare program. It also makes changes to current tax credits that impact some homeowners and car buyers as well as shifts some longtime tax policy, particularly for some large corporations, provisions which also aim to address inflation.

 

Compelled to Act on Climate Change by Faith Foundation

As Lutherans, we understand our human role to serve creation as God has modeled for us. As people of God, we must carry out our calling to care for creation through principles of vision, hope and justice as described in the ELCA social statement on Caring for Creation. It is through our sin and captivity that we have contributed to the urgent crisis of the world: climate change.

Our changing climate only continues to intensify our world’s tribulations including floods, wildfires, droughts and intensified storms, driving global migration and civil conflicts while intensifying hunger, poverty and natural disasters. These climate burdens, while felt by all, are not equal. Some of us who have contributed the least are feeling the most intense effects of climate change. As God’s people, we are compelled to act on climate with and on behalf of our neighbor and for the wholeness of Creation. It is our vision to embody a “flourishing creation” that is not burdened by the issues of climate change. It is our hope, that as people of God, we can imitate God’s care for creation by demanding a legislative response to human-induced climate change. Finally, it is justice that shall guide us in decisions made about our environment in the interest of all creation.

 

A Step in the Right Direction

While the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is by no means perfect, we can celebrate this historic achievement to address climate change. It did not include poverty-cutting provisions that we had advocated for like enhancing the Child Tax Credit and paid family leave. Yet it is the beginning of a new, less carbon-reliant nation. It is a hope for a new kind of world that better honors the integrity of creation and prioritizes an acceptable quality of life for present generations without compromising that of future generations. It is a testament to the work of those who have spent tireless hours advocating for creation, including many who’ve taken actions through the ELCA Action Center, and those lawmakers who received our cries for change. It is a step in the right direction.

 

Our garden at home has finally started yielding its bounty, which means we have more tomatoes than we know what to do with and are engaged in constant battle with rabbits to preserve our harvest. Now is the season when we get to enjoy the fruits of our time spent planting and preparing the soil, with fresh bites from the garden in every meal. It’s a reminder of the growing season and of nature’s wonders.

The fresh veggies making their way from my yard to my plate has had me thinking more about community gardens recently, especially with the rising costs of food making harvests more important for many of us. Interestingly, though, it was not my own garden or food prices that made me look into the history of gardens in the United States. It was, of all things, a comic book.

Most people who know me know that I am obsessed with comics, especially propaganda comics from World War II and early 1950s horror comics that drew the ire of parents and the federal government alike. I recently picked up a copy of this little gem from 1943:

World’s Finest Comics is pretty unremarkable, except for its run of war-themed covers in the early 1940s. Issue #11 here features Superman, Batman and Robin working away in a “victory garden.” (Oh, how nice it would be to have the super-speed of Superman or the ingenuity of Batman to take care of weeding and tilling, right?) Victory gardens, as they were called, were home gardens that the US government encouraged people to start during the war, ostensibly to increase food production at home when so much produce had to be sent to troops overseas, though their significance went far deeper, as we will learn below.

Many people trace community gardens today back to these victory gardens. But the community gardening movement actually started much further back, and the government was not as “super”-supportive of victory gardens as Superman and Batman were – at least early on.

The 1890s – Community Gardens Begin

According to Smithsonian Gardens, part of the Smithsonian Institution, community gardens trace their roots back to Detroit, Michigan, in the 1890s. The economic depression of 1893 hit the city hard, particularly affecting its largely immigrant population. Worried about food shortages and high unemployment, Detroit’s progressive Mayor Hazen Pingree started a public works program for jobs and then encouraged the city to use vacant lots to grow vegetables for the coming winter. “Pingree’s Potato Patches,” as they were called were called, were effective and popular.

Mayor Pingree had another motive besides providing food. The depression had increased economic inequality in the city, and the response of Detroit’s wealthy citizens was to provide charity to address the deep challenges faced by the workers most impacted. Rather than addressing the problems, charity drives fostered a system of patronage, leaving low-income Detroiters dependent on small amounts of help from rich benefactors. Pingree’s gardens were steps toward a more equitable solution, providing spaces for Detroiters facing hunger and poverty to exercise agency. It was a movement for both food security and economic justice. As the Detroit Free Press wrote in 1935, “Pingree’s potato patches broke the back of hunger. They were nationally acclaimed and copied. They revealed a city of boundless energy and industry unwilling to live on doles (the meager charity of the wealthy).”

 

Turn of the Century and World War I

Pingree’s model was copied in many major cities. As the depression eased, schools turned to gardens both to supplement nutrition and to help an increasingly urban population of children connect back to nature and learn responsibility and the value of work. Perhaps the most famous advocate for the school garden movement was Fannie Griscom Parsons, a tireless leader whose work led to the creation of gardens and farms for children throughout New York City in the first two decades of the 20^th Century. Parsons famously wrote,

I did not start a garden simply to grow a few vegetables and flowers. The garden was used as a means to teach [children] in their work some necessary civic virtues; private care of public property, economy, honesty, application, concentration, self-government, civic pride, justice, the dignity of labor, and the love of nature by opening to their minds the little we know of her mysteries, more wonderful than any fairy tale.

With World War I, the gardening movement gained a lot of ground and new support, this time from the US War Gardening Commission. With this fervor, the Commission reported that by 1917, there were more than 3.5 million war gardens across the country, helping supply needed fruits and vegetables during the lean years of the war.

As should be clear by now, though, the gardens were about more than just food. The war gardens of World War I became a symbol of community agency and renewal, especially for African American residents, whose urban neighborhoods were neglected by governments after the war. Drawing on their horticultural skills and passion for beautifying their communities, African American gardeners in Detroit, Philadelphia and other cities scaled up their post-war efforts, even holding contests for residents with the best gardens. These gardens became an important lifeline during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

World War II – Victory Gardens

The World War I gardens planted the seed (ahem) for the victory gardens of World War II. By this point in agricultural history in the US, the government was more reluctant to support gardens. As the Smithsonian notes, most officials thought that large-scale agriculture was more effective. What ultimately convinced the government to promote victory gardens, though, wasn’t a compelling argument about production. Rather, it was the awareness after decades of use that gardens play a powerful role in bringing communities together, improving relationships between neighbors and strengthening morale.

The gardens ended up proving effective in both areas, though. They strengthened communities and they provided an abundance of food – as much as 40 percent of vegetables grown in the US by 1944.

Hidden Depths

The brightly-colored produce, however, hid some gnarled roots, and Superman, Batman and Robin’s smiling faces on the cover of World’s Finest Comics #11 belied deep injustices when it came to gardens and farms in the United States in the 1940s.

As World War II began, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal and internment of Japanese Americans. While in public press, the order was motivated by fear of spies (a belief that had no basis in reality), the internment campaign had more sinister roots. Japanese Americans, especially in California, had drawn on their deep agricultural knowledge to build successful farming businesses upon their arrival in the US. It was these farms, and the valuable land that Japanese Americans owned, that drove some to call for internment.

Indeed, one of the first documented lobbying efforts to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast came from none other than the Salinas Valley Vegetable Grower-Shipper Association, which sent a lobbyist to Washington, DC, to argue for forced removal of Japanese American farmers.

By 1942, with Japanese Americans interned and their land under government supervision, white farmers began seizing control of their farms, and the managing secretary of the Western Growers Protective Association reported “considerable profits were realized” by member growers “because of the Japanese removal.”

While incarcerated at the internment camps, many Japanese Americans continued using their skills, however, and developed camp gardens. Despite the desolate landscape of many of the camps, internees used their wisdom, creativity and tenacity to start thousands of thriving gardens. These gardens helped to supplement their diet, but perhaps more importantly, the gardens served as a symbol of resistance against internment, an attempt to hold on to community and traditions and to refuse the dehumanization of internment.

Gardens that had once been indicators of successful business and wealth for immigrant families now, through acts of protest against the injustice of internment, were revealed as symbols of courage, strength and resilience.

Sowing and Reaping

Still today, community gardens carry these multiple layers of meaning. On the one hand, they provide fresh, healthy food. But on a much deeper level, as researchers Rina Ghose and Margaret Pettygrove report, community gardens are spaces where community is formed and citizenship is fostered. They are a protest against powers that control food, land and jobs. And they can be spaces that bear witness to new kinds of communities, new kinds of relationships and new understandings of the economy.

Martin Luther once wrote that farming is an act that imitates God’s creation of the world. By digging into the soil, planting and nurturing crops, we are imitating God’s hands-on approach to making the world. But the long history of gardens in the United States – from immigrants tending “Pingree’s Potato Patches” to investments in gardens for under-served urban children to beautification of segregated neighborhoods and the witness of camp gardens – points to an expanded understanding of how this work imitates God’s creative endeavors.

Yes, we are gifted with the opportunity to witness the Creator God in action as crops take root, but on a deeper level, the community that is nurtured and grown at the garden testifies to the ongoing work of God as the redeemer of the world, reconciling us to one another and building a just world where all are fed.

We aren’t superheroes, but we don’t need to be. The world does not need superheroes as much as it needs neighbors willing to work together, to participate in the restoration of just relationships and communities, asserting together that our neighborhoods are worth investing in and that each and every one of us can play a part. As we’ve learned time and again, gardens can be sacred spaces where neighbors build relationships with one another, assert their pride and dignity, and create a bountiful harvest for the community to enjoy. The hard work of tilling, planting, weeding and watering yields far more than vegetables. It can nourish the growth of communities in profound, life-giving ways.

As we harvest from gardens this season and get ready for planting next spring, this history begs the questions: what are we really sowing? And what new wonders might neighbors working together for the transformation of the landscape and the community reap?

 

If you are interested in starting your own community garden, or finding new ways to expand the garden your community has, check out ELCA World Hunger’s Community Gardens How-To Guide, available in English and Spanish! You can order hard copies from the ELCA World Hunger resources page too!

 

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is the program director of hunger education for ELCA World Hunger.

Today’s blog post comes from Josiah Benedict, the Program Coordinator for Total Inclusion: 

Total Inclusion was launched in 2020 after some lead up work by the ELCA and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries (LOM). An ELCA program with a deep partnership with LOM, Total Inclusion is completely funded by a grant from the Margaret A Cargill Philanthropy (MACP) organization. The goal of Total Inclusion is to enrich the lives of youth from traditionally marginalized groups by creating a welcoming and safe experience for them at ELCA affiliated camps.

Total Inclusion identified three main groups to focus on: People who identify as LGBTQIA+, People of Color, and People with Disabilities. Total Inclusion has furthered these goals by creating materials to educate and prepare camp staff, hosting symposiums aimed at camp leadership to affect camp programming and culture from the top down, and giving out over a half million dollars in sub grants to camps so that they have the resources to move forward with their goals. To make sure that this program is properly guided, we have included representation from all of our target groups in our advisory committee, speakers/presenters, and in the future will include a diverse team looking over our grant awards.

Total Inclusion has enjoyed a strong partnership with the Disability Ministry advisory team, using members and recommendations from the team as speakers and committee members throughout the life of the program. Our symposiums for camp leadership and board presidents included a workshop lead by members of, or people recommended by, the Disability Ministry team, and brought a voice and perspective to the table that can sometimes be missed. Topics and grant ideas included many suggestions and changes to the physical space of camps, as well as adaptive equipment, sensory aids, and a broader look at the attitude and approach that camps have when including people with diverse abilities and needs.

Even despite the pandemic, many camps have moved forward with Total Inclusion related changes. Around a dozen camps in the LOM system have made adaptations or changes to their camps to make them more accessible for people with mobility challenges. This has included more accessible ramps, bathrooms, and updates to medical centers. Total Inclusion has been thrilled to hear about projects such as Camp Lutherlyn’s Universal Access Trail, a boardwalk style trail that allows more people to experience a larger part of the camp.

As Total Inclusion moves forward with its program we will continue to work on making camp accessible and welcoming for all people, with a key focus on programming and accessibility that allows all campers to be included, rather than separated out.