We know that ending hunger will take more than food. Addressing climate change is a critical step in this work. That’s why ELCA World Hunger is excited to share a new opportunity from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary’s Center for Climate Justice and Faith. The Center’s work focuses on helping leaders learn about sustainability, caring for creation and working for justice so that all can enjoy the abundance of God’s creation.

This Center’s new Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith offers a cohort-based, online trans-continental curriculum which empowers participants to cultivate moral, spiritual, and practical power for leadership in the work of climate justice in communities of faith and in collaboration with others.  Topics covered include theology, ethics, and spirituality; climate change knowledge; and social change practices that connect ecological well-being with racial, economic, and gender justice.

Lay and rostered leaders throughout the Lutheran World Federation communion and from other faith traditions are invited to complete an interest form if you are curious to know more about this inaugural, non-degree learning program scheduled for September 2021 – May 2022.  Long-term collaboration and networking are expected to endure well beyond certificate completion date.

Applications are now open and will be accepted until June 15, 2021. To apply or to learn more, visit https://www.plts.edu/programs/certificates/certificate-in-climate-justice-and-faith.html.

 

 

 

by guest blogger Thomas Cunniff, ELCA General Counsel

Legislative moment

Congress is currently considering two competing bills which would codify civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals in the United States, the Equality Act (H.R. 5) and the Fairness for All Act (H.R. 5331). The Equality Act has passed the House of Representatives and is now being considered by the Senate. One of the most significant points of dispute is how the two bills would treat religious objections. The Fairness for All Act would provide robust protection for religious objections, at the potential expense of weakening the civil rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. In contrast, the Equality Act would reduce protection for religious objections by exempting the Equality Act from the provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The debate between these bills has set up a false choice between equal rights and religious freedom.

 

ELCA Priorities

The ELCA supports equal rights for our LGBTQ+ siblings. The ELCA’s social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust (2009) states that the “dignity of the human being reflects God’s deep love and stands against all forms of violence, discrimination, and injustice” [page 5]. As a result, the ELCA “opposes all forms of verbal or physical harassment and assault based on sexual orientation. It supports legislation and policies to protect civil rights and to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment, and public services” [page 19].

At the same time, the ELCA supports the religious freedom and independence acknowledged in both the free exercise clause and the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These clauses work together, not at cross-purposes, to protect the freedom of believers and non-believers alike from oppression and forced indoctrination. As stated in the ELCA social message on “Human Rights” (2017), the ELCA will “advocate for the U.S. government to protect and promote the equal rights of all people, as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” [page 12]. When the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect the rights of Indigenous citizens to use peyote sacramentally, the ELCA joined with its full communion partners and many others across the political spectrum to support the adoption of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). RFRA requires that federal laws which substantially burden religious freedom be narrowly tailored to a compelling governmental interest.

Equal rights and religious freedom must coexist. Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust both expressly endorsed the extension of civil rights laws to our LGBTQ+ siblings [page 19] and recognized that people could disagree about Scripture and come to one of four different conclusions regarding same-gender marriage with conviction and integrity [pages 19-21]. Accordingly, it encouraged “all people to live out their faith in the local and global community of the baptized with profound respect for the conscience-bound belief of the neighbor” [page 21].

 

Ongoing commitment to a fair solution

We urge the adoption of legislation that ensures the full rights of LGBTQ+ persons without infringing on religious liberty or permitting improper government interference in the ecclesiastical activities of religious organizations. Blanket exemptions for anyone claiming a religious motive are too broad and would eviscerate necessary civil rights protections for historically marginalized groups. Not providing space in which dissenting religious groups can practice their beliefs free from government interference, however, would gravely damage freedom of conscience. Moreover, fully exempting statutes from RFRA sets a dangerous precedent of permitting the government to forcibly impose the views of the majority on minority religions, a precedent which could easily be weaponized by a future Congress and President. For these reasons, the ELCA is committed to continue working with others, including full communion partners, to find a solution that fully protects the civil rights of our LGBTQ+ siblings while at the same time protecting the free exercise and conscience rights of religious objectors.

Bob Chell, Sioux Falls, SD

Warm-up Questions

• Do you believe in demons? ghosts?
• Have you seen or experienced an encounter with a demon or a ghost?
• Is there a world we cannot see?

Seeing the Other

First, some of their names:  John Williams, Michael Brown, Elijah McClain, Robert Long, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Dylann Roof, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Hyun Jung Grant, Darren Wilson.  They were police officers and emergency room techs, artists and business owners, hard working and hardly working. Though DNA would almost certainly reveal all as multiracial they identified as African American, White, Native American and Asian American. Shooters and victims.  Law breakers and law enforcement. Their stories unique, yet eerily similar.

We are weary of their stories, their sameness, their sadness. We want to celebrate Easter but looking for Jesus in our broken world seems futile. The gospel challenges us to look harder.

Discussion Questions

• Each time a person of color is shot by a police officer, it’s a unique, one time situation, yet they are weirdly similar, and happen again and again. Why?
• Who or what is responsible for shootings which seem unjustified?  The officer who shoots?  Systematic racism?  Irrational  fear?  Poor judgement?  Lack of  training for those charged with a very difficult job?   What other possible causes can you come up with?
• Is the underlying cause unique or part of a troubling pattern?

Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 3:12-19

1 John 3:1-7

Luke 24:36b-48

(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

The disciples think they are seeing a ghost, a supernatural being of some kind. To ease their anxiety Jesus asks for food so that, seeing him eat, they will see him as  their friend and not an apparition.

“The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon.” Those were the words of Darren Wilson, the police officer in Ferguson, Missouri who shot a young African American man, Michael Brown. “It looked like a demon,. So, Wilson said, “I shoot a series of shots. I don’t know how many I shot, I just know I shot it.”   Not “him”, not “Michael”, not “a man”, a “person”, a “teen”, Darren, the man.  Wilson said he shot “it.”

Set aside the question of guilt and innocence, right and wrong for a moment to consider the nature of what transpired.  For some reason—denial, racism, PTSD, training, or lack of training— police officer Darren Wilson did not see Michael Brown. He did not a person, but a demon, not Michael, but an “it.”

I spent the last four years of my career as a pastor working with ghosts, some would say demons. Like Michael Brown, they are each “other” or “it,”something unlike you and I. Some were called monsters or demons.  They were all inmate, prisoner, or con. Ghosts in khaki who walked the tiers of the South Dakota State Penitentiary.  They were stripped of their humanity by the system which knew them only by their inmate number or their crime. In becoming inmates they ceased to be men and became “other.” Other than human, like Michael Brown, they became other than like me.

The disciples  are“startled and terrified”, “disbelieving and …wondering.”  They watch as ghost becomes man, becomes human, becomes Jesus, the friend and brother  they lost only days before.

________________

It’s a mystery. I watched every Thursday night for four years as 12-15 visitors joined 100 inmates in the chapel of the penitentiary.  It is jarring and anxiety producing to enter a prison, to be asked over and over again about cell phones and pocket knifes, tobacco and watches, chewing gum and shooting guns. Then the door to the sally port opens so you can enter. As the electronic gate slides shut behind you, you know what a sally port is without being told, a gate closed behind you, another closed in front of you. Then the same questions.

The gate before you slides open…through the lobby…up two flights of steps…another gate…more stairs and doors…and finally into the upper room, the chapel.  You enter a world unlike that which you just transversed. The smiling men, some bearded or tattooed, some your own age or younger. Others are your dad’s age, or your grandfather’s. You remember, some came to this place at age 14. Which ones?

The men join in the opening hymn, “I saw the light.” They are all singing, not only singing but singing the way you do in a car on the way to the lake with friends, full volume and deep feeling. 

The service is much the same as in your congregation, other than that singing, of course. At least until the Passing of the Peace. Then it’s pandemonium, everyone on their feet, moving around the room and greeting visitors and inmates alike.  You realize, at some point, you have forgotten to be scared and are having fun, as the inmates greet you and thank you for remembering them. 

Why do they thank you for remember them?  “It’s because most are not remembered,” the pastor tells you. Most of the men won’t have a conversation with someone from outside the walls who isn’t paid to be there until next week’s worship. It is a different world.  Prisons are full of ghosts, ghosts in khaki …until they walk through the door to the chapel.   Then 34816 is transformed into Robert who you saw baptized. 74869 is David, a beloved child of God. 28482 is John, he’s in the choir.

One of the miracles and mysteries of St. Dysmas* (The ELCA congregations located behind the walls  of the South Dakota State Penitentiary) is a first time visitor’s realization, “they’re just like us!”  They ARE us. We are ‘us.’ There is only one us, one kind of people, lots of variety but we are all alike when it’s all said and done. None of us is defined by the worst thing we’ve ever done.  Everyone who comes through the sally port the first time, inmates and officers, visitors and pastors, imagine they are different from them. Whoever they imagine the them to be.

________________

In the seven Sundays of Easter Jesus repeatedly appears to disciples who fail to recognize him, who are filled with fear and confusion, with joy and disbelieving.  What can you glean from Jesus’ appearance to his disciples? 

You are not a ghost, a child of a broken home, an irritant to your family, or a hopeless case. You are a beloved child of God.   God has had an eye on you from before the beginning.  God loves you and will never stop loving you—even if you dress in khaki one day.

God knows and God loves you, period.  You may not feel lovable,  and the truth is that sometimes we aren’t very loving to each other, or even to ourselves.  But God sees through all that. God knows us and God  loves us.

Jesus came to forgive. Jesus came to heal. Jesus came to raise us up from the deadness of our battered and broken lives, to breathe life into our despair.  Just as Jesus gathered broken people to become his disciples, God calls to you and speaks the same blessing, “Peace be with you.”

Discussion Questions

• When have you been seen as “other.” How did it feel? Has anyone first seen you as other and come to know you as a person? 
• Have you heard or seen people acting or implying as if other people we somehow “less than” or “other?” Did you say or do anything? Why or why not? Do you wish you had responded differently?

Activity Suggestions

This week watch for times of “othering”—in your home, at school, in church and with your friends.  How Does Jesus appearance to his disciples encourage you to respond?

Closing Prayer 

Jesus, help us to recognize those unlike ourselves as sisters and brothers. Break down our hesitancy and awkwardness in unfamiliar situations.  Inspire us to make connections and build bridges when your people are divided. Amen. 

In the Easter season our “Alleluias” are bold. Many of the hymns and songs chosen for Easter have a majestic and joyful quality to them. Bells, brass, and drums often enhance organ, piano, or guitar. Yet we know that even though we are a resurrection people, we can’t always shout our praise or exude joy. “Christ has risen while earth slumbers,” a new hymn in All Creation Sings, announces the promise of resurrection while acknowledging the complexity of human experience. In the words of stanza three: 

Christ has risen to companion former friends who fear the night,
sensing loss and limitation where their faith had once burned bright.
They bemoan what is no longer, they expect no hopeful sign
till Christ ends their conversation, breaking bread and sharing wine. (ACS #938)

Drawing on imagery from the Emmaus story in Luke’s gospel, Christ comes among us as he did to those confused, fearful, and grieving disciples. This hymn’s author, John Bell of the Iona Community, is a Scottish Presbyterian pastor who writes and leads songs that often challenge our understanding and experience. He has written several books and articles about why and how we sing in community and how song shapes our witness in the world. You might enjoy listening to this 2019 interview with Bell in which he talks about some other songs of his in both ELW and ACS as well as core beliefs that shape his ministry. 

Bell’s text written in the late 1980s is paired in All Creation Sings with the tune ST.HELENA. The tune by Calvin Hampton (1938–1984) was published in 1977 without a text. It was first associated with “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” (ELW #587). The Advent hymn “Unexpected and mysterious” was written by Jeannette Lindholm especially for this tune (ELW #258). Like both of those texts, the editors of ACS sensed that the melodic spaciousness of ST.HELENA paired well with the sense of breadth and transformation in Bell’s text. 

In the 2019 interview noted above, John Bell remarked: “The church at its best has a pastoral song which relates the pain of people as well as the joy of people.” “Christ has risen” includes the words “Christ has risen and forever lives to challenge and to change all whose lives are messed or mangled, all who find religion strange” (st. 4). Perhaps this is the only hymn we’ll encounter with the word “mangled,” but it is an honest, direct descriptor of so much of what we experience. 

Into both our joy and our pain, into our messes and challenges, Christ’s new life flows. Especially in this Easter when the pain, grief, and isolation of this year are ever palpable, this new hymn can renew our trust in the One whose Spirit dwells among us always. 

Christ is risen, Christ is present making us what he has been:
evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen. (st. 4) 

To learn more about All Creation sings, visit www.augsburgfortress.org/AllCreationSings.

Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers
Text: John L. Bell, b. 1949
Music: Calvin Hampton, 1938–1984
Text © 1988 WGRG, Iona Community, admin. GIA Publications, Inc.
Music © 1977 GIA Publications, Inc.
Permission required for further use. 

Image: Sundays and Seasons

CeCee Mills, Greensboro, NC

Warm-up Questions

• What is your greatest motivation?
• What gets you going in the morning or through a challenge?
• What gives you the greatest energy?

Finding Hope

A year ago, we were all adjusting to an interruption. We expected that things would soon go back to normal. None of us imagined the loss of so many big milestones in the lives of students across the country. In-person school went away. Spring break went away. Proms went away. Graduations went away. Sports went away. So much that was a part of everyday life just went away.

The pandemic hit us so fast and so hard, we were initially just waiting for it to go away. But it did not go away. It still has not gone away.

The way we will get through the rest of the pandemic is by looking for the glimpses of hope. I search for evidence of God’s resilience and love. It helps me. Hearing about acts of kindness, seeing God’s creation, noticing small miracles, and marking progress of any kind are beacons of hope and light for me. Sometimes it is a random picture of a puppy or a powerful scripture.  Maybe it’s an inspiring quote or the voice of a friend. I thank God for these daily reminders of God’s wonderful abiding presence.

Discussion Questions

• What new habits have you or your friends began to help deal with life in a pandemic?
• How can you create new habits to help you see God’s presence every day?

Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35

1 John 1:1—2:2

John 20:19-31

(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 Gospel reading, we see the new reality the disciples face with Jesus’ absence. They are afraid and in hiding. The life that took them to strange lands with a teacher who performed miracles and spoke with true authority is over. Like us in this pandemic, they hope this scary time will end. The disciples hope that those who killed Jesus are not looking for them anymore. They want to stop feeling anxious everyday and worried about dying. They want their Rabbi back.

Then Jesus comes into their midst and lets them explore his wounds. Jesus relates to his disciples through the evidence of his suffering – it is their confirmation that he is the risen Christ. He breathes on them and gives them a new dose of hope. They do not return to the life they had with Jesus or the life they had before following him – they enter a new season. It is a post-resurrection season where they continue God’s mission without Jesus’ physical presence.

They have to let go of the yearning to go backwards and look at what lies ahead. It must have been amazingly hard to let go. It must have been amazingly wonderful to see Jesus again and witness the signs. It must have felt like confirmation of their call to be disciples. Jesus gives them the hope they need to complete their journey.

Jesus still does that for us. He fully recognizes the likelihood that we will hide our faith if we think it will offend or attract unwanted attention. He knows this and allows us seasons like Lent to focus on the wounds of Christ, so that we understand the cost. Yet that season is followed by the resurrection joy of Easter, which reminds us that by those stripes we were healed for a new day. We journey into the future, fully aware of the shadows, but expecting the illuminating light. We know God knows our questions and doubts. 

Jesus acknowledges the disciples fears as he accommodates Thomas’ need to touch the wound. And God knows your questions and doubts. They do not surprise God because God knows the full story. God knows the hope you need to keep you on your journey.

Discussion Questions

• How does God confirm who God is with you? Is it a song? Or a feeling? Is it by words or images?
• Once you get that confirmation, how can you share that experience with others?
• How can you help others to see how God provides confirmation for them?

Activity Suggestion

Pay attention to how you experience, witness, or feel hope during this pandemic in the next week. Share that hope with two people who are close to you and one who is not so close. Begin to imagine why God keeps you hopeful. How do you see God using you at this time to share the hope of Christ? Create a tangible object or picture that can be a reminder of the hope God provides. Put it in a place that is most helpful for you to see it and be reminded.

Closing Prayer

Dear God, you are so patient with us, even when we have lost patience ourselves. Thank you for abiding with us at all times and giving us hope in you. Help us be aware of the ways you reveal yourself and the ways you are present with us. Help us to share that with others. Amen

 

An increase in unaccompanied children and asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico has given rise to claims of a crisis. Individuals, families and children seeking protection are no crisis — the crisis is the circumstances they are fleeing and the moral challenge of safe welcome. To offer hope and hospitality to the sojourner in this season of Easter is to bear witness to the suffering that affects the lives of so many. Through acts of love and service, the ELCA, with its strategy of Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO), continues to support migrants and advocate for just and compassionate solutions.

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE BORDER?

In recent weeks, growing insecurity has driven more families and children to the border. Not that long ago, Central America was hit with back-to-back hurricanes that caused widespread destruction and massive internal displacement. The World Food Programme estimates that nearly 8 million people in Central America are chronically hungry because of climate-driven events compounded by the pandemic. Targeted violence and crime, gender-based violence, corruption and state repression are additional factors forcing people to leave their homes. Unless these deeper issues are addressed, people will continue to migrate.

 

To put the situation in context: border encounters have been rising for months despite punitive measures put in place to discourage migration at the start of the pandemic. Between April and December 2020, total apprehension of single adults increased, as did those of family units and unaccompanied children, although by smaller margins. It’s still the case that the majority of people are expelled — most under Title 42, a rule invoked by the Trump administration to expel virtually all border arrivals. This policy has disproportionately impacted Black migrants from African and Caribbean countries. Migration also ebbs and flows — shifts that are based on the time of year and season. It is true that the release of unaccompanied children and a portion of families encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border have increased, but the emergency here stems from the practical challenge of moving migrants quickly through an infrastructure that has been decimated over the years and made even worse now by capacity issues due to the pandemic. The Biden administration policy is to accept unaccompanied children under age 18, which is how so many children have entered the care of the government while they wait to be reunited with their parents or a sponsor. Shelters have struggled to keep up with the new arrivals.

 

No event or escalation of need warrants calling migrants a crisis. Neither is scapegoating migrants an acceptable message. No significant rise in the spread of COVID-19 has been attributed to recent arrivals.

 

HOW CAN THE SITUATION IMPROVE?

The United States can protect people seeking safety and also safeguard public health. Rebuilding capacity to humanely welcome and process asylum-seekers and unaccompanied children will take time. With time and resources, the pressure should gradually improve, but long-lasting solutions are also needed to address the root causes of migration as well as the impractical aspects of the U.S. immigration system that hamper family reunification and access to asylum. More unaccompanied children arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in February 2020 than in any other February on record. (The highest number ever recorded was in May 2019). In the last few years, and especially during the pandemic, the systems of protection available to vulnerable migrants such as children have eroded badly. Any moral path forward must envision a system that humanely welcomes and processes asylum-seekers and unaccompanied children.

 

HOW IS THE ELCA RESPONDING?

Our congregations and companions are already responding to the needs of families and children after they have crossed the Mexican border into the United States and been released by border authorities. Churches and synods participating in the ELCA’s AMMPARO strategy work to address the critical needs of recently arrived children and families alongside direct-service providers, immigrant organizations and other secular and interfaith partners. This is a whole-church, whole-society mobilization of resources, compassion and expertise to ensure that migrants are treated humanely and granted amparo — refuge.

 

This witness is complemented by ELCA advocacy efforts that center on protecting the right to seek asylum and apply for refugee status in the face of unprecedented global need. Dubious policies enacted to restrict immigration to the United States conflict with its domestic and international obligations. Any obstacle to a person lawfully seeking protection must be reconsidered. The ELCA advocates for laws that vigorously protect unaccompanied children and families, asylum-seekers and refugees.

 

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

This toolkit from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) summarizes recent actions and events that people of faith can learn about and join to help respond to the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. You can stay informed by visiting the AMMPARO Facebook page, where developments at the border are closely monitored by AMMPARO. Building awareness of the plight of migrants, especially those who are Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, disabled, women or unaccompanied children, can counter the stigmatization and discrimination that permeate the public consciousness.

 

The ELCA social statement For Peace in God’s World (1995) states: “Faith in the crucified and risen Lord strengthens us to persist even when God seems absent in a violent and unjust world, and when weariness and hopelessness threaten to overwhelm us.” We pray that God’s grace and everlasting love will wash over the weary migrant and give us the guidance and wisdom to restore hope at the border.

Email address

Email address

Steve Peterson, Moorhead, MN

Warm-up Question

Have you ever been so fired up about something you were doing that you lost all track of time.  You lost any sense of being self-conscious about how you were being seen by others, just getting lost in doing something you believed in, found joy in doing?  Can you describe what you were doing and what that experience was like for you?

Living Your Passion

Who do we think of as influential people, people who make a difference in the world, communities, or among family and friends? What qualities do we think of when we think of influential people?  TIME  magazine in early March of this year published a double issue featuring brief articles about those chosen as the 100 next most influential people.  Many of the articles were written by previous Time 100 alumni. 

For example, Greta Thunberg, TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year, writes about Vanessa Nakate, a 24-year-old climate justice champion from Uganda.  Her African country is one the regions of the world most exposed  to the adverse effects of the climate crisis. Nakate is making a difference through her Rise Up movement.  She started the Green Schools Project to transition schools in Uganda to solar energy and champions education and empowerment for girls and youth women. She is a powerful example of what one young woman with passion for something she believes in can do.

The rest of the TIME’s 100 Next list includes, “doctors and scientists fighting COVID-19, advocates pushing for equality and justice, journalists standing up for truth, and artists sharing their visions of present and future.”   Altogether, TIME describes these Next 100 Influential people as being characterized by, in the words of composer, lyricist and actor Manuel Mirander, “clear-eyed hope.”

Discussion Questions

• What do you think motivates people who have a great positive influence on the world, their communities, and their friends and families?
• What do you think either blocks or encourages people from “reaching for the stars” in terms of following their beliefs and passions and using their gifts in influencing positive change in the world?

Resurrection of Our Lord

Acts 10:34-43

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Mark 16:1-8

John 20:1-18

(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

Of the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) Mark’s resurrection story might seem the least fun and satisfying.   Beyond a few common details, it feels like there is more going on in the other gospel’s.  More conversation, more angel intrigue, more dramatic action.  We get the sense in the other gospels that we can linger a bit in satisfaction and delight.  We feel a little more like celebrating after reading the other gospel accounts of the resurrection.  

In Mark, it’s just the facts:  He’s not dead anymore, he has been raised, tell the disciples, you can see him  back home in Galilee, he’s not here. That seems to be the point in Mark; he is risen, get going and meet him in Galilee!  So, they flee in terror and amazement, afraid to tell anyone.  Full stop.  What is this all going to mean for them?

They knew what he was like before rising from the dead… stirring up all kinds of good trouble, holy trouble.  Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, breaking down barriers between people which some powerful people don’t want broken down.  He brought hope to the broken-hearted and release to all kinds of people, including some people not everyone wanted freed.  He brought the Kingdom of God that he talked about.  If that was what Jesus was like before, they must have wondered, what kind of good trouble will he get into now that he had risen from the dead?  And they are supposed to meet him back in the neighborhood! Maybe that’s part of their terror and amazement, wondering what more might happen!

Maybe this gospel’s resurrection story is pretty exciting after all!  Like the disciples, we are told to meet Jesus in our neighborhoods!  Jesus has risen! He is meeting us in our neighborhoods, calling us to live his resurrection life with him. We are not alone.  He is meeting us there; giving us the passion and gifts to make a difference in the world—feeding the hungry, healing the sick, telling the truth, tearing down walls between people by proclaiming and living Jesus’ love for all people, and giving “clear-eyed hope.” Jesus is risen, and he is calling us to live his resurrection hope and be an influence for his hope in our world today.

Discussion Questions

• How might Jesus be present now in your neighborhood, school, community, and church?
• Where might you meet Jesus in your neighborhood?  What are some examples of what that might look like, how that might happen?  
• How might Jesus use your gifts, talents, and passions  to be his presence in your neighborhood and in the world today?

Activity Suggestions

Ask an adult where they see Jesus in your neighborhood and what they think Jesus is doing or would like to do in the neighborhood.  Take a walk or bike ride around your neighborhood.  Where do you see Jesus?  Where do you imagine Jesus’ resurrected presence might  offer someone “clear-eyed hope” and love?  Imagine other neighborhoods you have seen or heard of, anywhere in the world…imagine Jesus in those places…

Closing Prayer

Risen Jesus, thank you for showing us your power over death and all that brings death, sadness, hurt and suffering in the world.  Make us instruments of your resurrection love and power in the world.  Help us to live your resurrection hope in our neighborhoods. Amen

 

 

“Water represents an integral link in a world view where water is sacred and extremely important in preserving precious balance. Water is the origin of and essential for the survival of all life.”

–Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians

 

Water is crucial to our survival. But water can also be destructive. During a multi-day warm-up in February 2020, melting snow and heavy rains caused the Umatilla River and its tributaries to overflow their banks. They damaged homes and buildings in the Blue Mountain region of Oregon and Washington, which includes Columbia and Walla Walla counties in Washington and Umatilla County and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon.

On both sides of the Umatilla river – Oregon and Washington – multiagency relief centers (MARCs) assembled in the days after the flood. At these locations, residents received immediate, relief  assistance and registered for long-term recovery support from various relief organizations. The state of Oregon declared an emergency and sent funding to each of the affected communities. FEMA offered both public and individual assistance in the days after the flooding. As the Washington side was less affected, they didn’t qualify for any FEMA assistance. In total, 579 homes were damaged, according to Charlene Larsen, a longtime volunteer and associate of the Lutheran Disaster Response network in Oregon and a leader in the Oregon Synod Disaster Preparedness and Response network.

Community

Damage was great and so was the need for a long-term recovery group (LTRG), a common structure in the disaster response community that allows for a holistic response. Representatives from both sides of the river, as well as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, came together to form the Blue Mountain LTRG. It’s a coalition of community organizations, with the local Lions Club, United Way of the Blue Mountains, Community Action Program of East Central Oregon, and the Blue Mountain Action Council involved. The LTRG also includes ecumenical partners and has disaster services from Lutherans, Methodists, Mennonites, Presbyterians, and Seventh-day Adventists represented.

One of the members of the Blue Mountain LTRG is Pastor Joel Ley of Christ Lutheran Church in Walla Walla, Washington, representing the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the ELCA. About the assortment of organizations in the group, he says “We’ve got all these people represented at the table and it’s pretty impressive because that doesn’t always happen. People dig in and do the work and that’s really nice to see.”

By joining forces, the group could do things that one organization on its own could not. Larsen told one story about how members of the Blue Mountain LTRG worked together to get a couple a new pair of recliners. A couple living in a mobile home lost their set of matching recliner chairs and didn’t have the funds to replace them, so a disaster case manager brought the situation to the unmet needs committee. An unmet needs committee focuses on helping people address needs not covered by insurance or FEMA money. One of the members of the committee found an identical set of recliners in Washington and another representative from the committee offered to pick them up. At the home of the couple, yet another member was there to help unload them. The community spirit was present, now on an even bigger scale.

Assistance

2020 was also an unprecedented year for wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. While the fires didn’t affect the same area impacted by the February floods, the Blue Mountain LTRG was in a position to assist other groups in the state. They shared “all the documents we put in place for bylaws and recovery efforts, talking about different committees that need to be in place,” said Larsen, speaking about the process for forming a long-term recovery group. Last February, the Blue Mountain LTRG formed with assistance from another disaster recovery group in Oregon and the wildfires gave them the opportunity to pay it forward and share their knowledge with newly formed disaster groups.

As with all disasters this past year, COVID-19 has affected the recovery process. Doing one-on-one in-person case management interviews became impossible. Rebuilding and repairing homes is more challenging than normal because volunteers are discouraged, and contractors are difficult to find. When it is possible to safely bring in volunteers, they will be busy doing small repairs, especially on fences, wells, septic tanks, and irrigation systems on agricultural land.

Support

People in the area are independent – when in trouble, they believe that their family and neighbors will take care of them. Early in the recovery process, there was a lack of trust by residents for organizations that came to support them, said Larsen. But over time, that trust grew. Out of the original 579 cases, over 300 have been closed. However, many remain open, and for that reason, the Oregon Synod recently received a grant from LDR to continue case management for survivors. The grant will help fund an AmeriCorps position. The staff member  will serve as a case manager and assist with the formation of a Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) for the Blue Mountain region. The COAD is an extension of the existing Blue Mountain LTRG. By building upon the relationships formed during the relief and recovery phases of the flooding, the COAD is preparing to respond to the next disaster right away and in so doing, contributing towards the community’s disaster resilience.

Catalyst

Catalyst. That’s the world Larsen used to describe the role of Lutheran Disaster Response in the Umatilla flood response and recovery efforts. An LDR-supported Oregon Synod Disaster Preparedness and Response network has been working to spread awareness about the importance of being ready for a disaster. At the time of its formation, its main concern was the Cascadia earthquake expected to hit the region at some point. But preparedness quickly turned into response, first with the Umatilla floods, then COVID-19 and wildfires. While there was still much to do to respond to the flooding, the Oregon Synod had a slight head start.

“LDR  is the catalyst in getting that going and now others are supporting with their funds. So, it takes one catalyst to get it started and, in this case, it was LDR,” said Larsen.

The importance of disaster preparedness was one of the biggest takeaways by both Larsen and Ley. In the Blue Mountain region, there was no preparation for flooding, or any other disaster, except for the early stages of the Oregon Synod Disaster Preparedness and Response network. The Blue Mountain LTRG had to form in the midst of the disaster. Ley said that it would be easier if relationships between the organizations were built beforehand. They both realize how unprepared the region was for disasters last February. A year later, with organizations coming together to form the Blue Mountain LTRG and COAD, they are confident in their readiness for the next disaster.

Transformation

Water can give life and take away life. But water can also transform life. The waters of the Umatilla River transformed the Blue Mountain region. They brought different communities and organizations together to help everyone. They led to the establishment of an LTRG and COAD, which formed new relationships and strengthened old ones. The waters led to a transformation of how the region thought about disasters, preparedness, and the importance of long-term recovery.

“LDR has always billed itself as being in for the long haul and I had taken that message in, but I didn’t realize how important that was,” said Ley. “You do the initial work, but there’s a lot of stuff that hangs out there for a long time and without long-term commitment from LDR and other partners, there would just be a lot of issues that wouldn’t be addressed.”

In all responses, LDR strives to transform lives. From immediate relief to long-term recovery, LDR is present to support survivors and communities as they rebuild their homes and lives. Around the United States and around the world, communities impacted by disasters are transforming and becoming more resilient, ready for the next disaster.

Leslie Weber, Chesapeake, VA

Warm-up Questions

Have participants talk about what their experience of Holy Week has been in the past.  Possible conversation starter questions include:

• Does the congregation you attend “celebrate” Palm Sunday on its own or combine it with Passion Sunday?
• What ritual actions are meaningful to you on Palm/Passion Sunday? (waving palms, being part of procession, having a real live donkey, hearing the whole passion story, etc.)
• Have you ever attended a Maundy Thursday worship service? What do you remember?
• Have you ever attended a Good Friday worship service? What do you remember?
• Have you ever attended an Easter Vigil worship service? What do you remember?
• If you haven’t ever attended a worship service during Holy Week (Maundy Thursday/Good Friday/Easter Vigil), why not?

Provocative Palms

Recently, the Miami Beach City Commission approved an urban forestry master plan.  The goal of the plan is to reduce the proportion of the city’s canopy made up of palm trees to 25% by 2050.  By increasing the number and percentage of other trees that provide more shade in the city, they hope to extra comfort for residents and visitors, while also helping to “reduce urban warming, improve air quality, and absorb more carbon and rainwater.”

The master plan was passed unanimously, but now one city commissioner is speaking out against how the plan is being implemented.  He and his staff are encouraging residents to oppose removal of palm trees as part of construction projects around the city.  He is worried that as the prominence of palm trees diminishes in the city’s overall canopy, the city’s “historic, cultural, and economic brand” will suffer.  The city commissioner’s aide commented “if this plan goes forward, they might as well remove the palm from our City’s official logo.”

The city’s environmental and sustainability director is speaking out in opposition to the city commissioner’s concerns, saying that the “city is not going around chopping down palm trees” and that at 25% of the total canopy, “palms will continue to be a focal point along the city’s roads, greenspaces, and parks,” even while shade trees are planted as a faster rate in order to “maximize the environmental, social, and economic benefits of trees.”

Full article: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article249432995.html

Discussion Questions

• What are the pros/cons of Miami Beach’s plan to reduce the percentage of palm trees in the city’s canopy over the coming decades?  (This is a great chance to practice considering all sides of an argument.)
• List all the ways that you benefit from trees.
• What are you, your household, your congregation, and your local government doing in response to or in an effort to slow climate change?

Sunday of the Passion/ Palm Sunday

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Philippians 2:5-11

Mark 14:1—15:47

Mark 15:1-39 [40-47] (alternate)

(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

Even if you don’t read any of the optional parts (Mark 14 and 15:40-47),  this Sunday’s gospel reading is long.  You may be familiar with the basic story, but the details vary across the four Gospel accounts.  It is easy to overlook some parts during Holy Week.  This is why it is helpful to hear the story as a whole on Palm/Passion Sunday, and then break it up into shorter texts.  During Holy Week we hear short parts of the story, paired with ritual actions (Palm/Passion Sunday—procession with palms; Maundy Thursday—foot washing, Holy Communion, stripping of the altar; Good Friday—procession and adoration of the cross).

It is undeniable that this story is full of people and groups who have different expectations, hopes, and either a readiness or reluctance to change. Just in Mark 15:1-39, we get a glimpse of various people’s values/priorities:

• The Jewish Leadership (chief priests, scribes, elders, whole council) is in search of a way to get rid of Jesus and keep their position as the religious authority (Mark 14:1).
• Pilate is amazed by Jesus’ answers (and lack thereof) to the charges brought against him (Mark 15:5) but also wants to keep the crowd calm (Mark 5:15).
• Jesus Is committed to in-breaking the kin-dom of God. Although he would prefer an easier way, he is committed to doing what needs to be done (Mark 14:36).
• Barabbas and rebels are willing to kill in order to change the status quo (Mark 15:7).
• The Centurion sees and confesses that Jesus is “God’s Son,” despite his position and background.

Throughout Jesus’ life, we see God working to turn the world upside down, to reorient people’s priorities, to make our world and lives look a bit more like God’s original intention for a creation where no one lacks anything.

God was never confined to the temple in Jerusalem.  We confess that Jesus is God incarnate, in-fleshed, but the tearing of the temple curtain at the moment of Jesus’ death is a sign.  It wasn’t torn from bottom to top (as it would have been if torn by human hands), but “was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38), as if today God has left the building.  Today God  moves among and through each of us to enact all that for which Jesus preached, worked, and ultimately died and was raised.

Discussion Questions

• Read the text. What parts of the story jumped out to you as you listened this time?
• Were there any parts that you did not remember or remembered differently?  (Having a synopsis or parallel edition of the four Gospels would aid in comparing the details between the accounts.)
• With which character in the story do you most identify and why? How do their values/priorities compare to your values/priorities?
• How do you feel about change?  Is there is something in your life, congregation, community that might need to end/die in order for something new/better to be established and flourish?

Activity Suggestions

• Find a creative way to hear and experience the whole Holy Week story.  Examples: there are YouTube videos of the Stations of the Cross, you can a buy or make a set of “resurrection eggs,” or (if it safe to gather and weather permits) walk around the church property or neighborhood, reading a different part of the story in a different location.
• Make space for everyone to reflect on the story of Jesus’ Passion.  Provide art supplies for doodling, offer paper and pencils for journaling, set up a prayer labyrinth, or any other means of personal or group reflection that your group would find helpful.
• Palms
  • If you congregation is supplying palms this year, learn about your congregation’s palms:
    • From what company do you order them?
    • Where are they grown?
    • Are they sustainably raised? (think about the environment and labor practices)
  • If your congregation isn’t supplying palms this year, use construction paper (or other craft supplies) to make your own palms to use during the service.  You can search the internet for ideas about how to do this, but an easy one is to trace your hand on green paper, cuts out 5 or so “copies” and then glue them onto a popsicle stick.

Closing Prayer 

Redeeming God, thank you for all that you have given us, especially the gift of eternal, abundant life.  Help us to know and work for your intentions in our lives and our world.  Amen.