Tuhina Rasche, San Carlos, CA

Warm-up Question

• What are some of the things you love? Food, music, movies, books? Why do you love them?
• What are your favorite songs or stories about love? Why are they your favorites? What do these songs or stories say about love?

What Do You Mean By “Love”?

I’m going to date myself, but I love power ballads from the 1980s. I really love these songs.  Not just  because of the cool electric guitars, but also because a lot of these songs explore the concept of love. Some of these songs:

• Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
• Whitesnake’s “Is This Love?” 
• Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is?”  
• Huey Lewis and the News’ “Do You Believe in Love?” 

These songs (and many current songs) talk a lot about love. They wonder about the relationships between people we call “love.” Some talk about a love that’s unrecognized and unnoticed by another person. Some talk about just how amazing love is. Throughout  human history we’ve talked about love, not just in songs, but also in stories, movies, poetry, and other mediums. But there’s something about these songs which leaves me wondering about the definition of love. Because truly, what is love?

What confuses me is how the word “love” can refer to both deep and meaningful relationships and to things I merely like. How I can use the same word to talk about my feeling for my parents and my affinity for tacos? I love my parents. I love tacos. But are these loves the same thing? I’m confused about how to use the word “love”… especially when I really mean it. 

Discussion Questions

• Why is it be so hard to define what seems like a simple term?
• If humans have talked about love for the entirety of recorded human history, why is it sometimes so hard to embody and live out?

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 11:1-18

Revelation 21:1-6

John 13:31-35

(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

In this gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should love one another.” This is a commandment that calls us into a relationship, with both God and one another. It calls us into a relationship of love.  This is more than extreme like; in love one person pours out themselves for another, as God has poured out love for us. If this is a new commandment, this is serious. Jesus calls us to love others as he loves us. This means that we’re called to love our neighbor in need, created in God’s image. 

Yet that short, elusive, and mysterious word “love” is complicated. Jesus sends us out, not just to be his hands and feet in the world, but also to embody the love that God shows us in the person of Jesus. What is hard about this new commandment is that we cannot pick and choose whom we love. Jesus calls us to love and serve our neighbor, to be in solidarity with the oppressed.  But we are also called to love those we don’t even like—to love everyone. 

Yipes. What seemed so simple before is now a big challenge. It takes a lot of deep breaths, faith, trust, and risk-taking. Love isn’t just a vague four letter word or a feeling. Love is action; it is a verb.  We live in relationship with one another. Christ’s commandment seems so simple,  so glaringly obvious,“Love as I have loved you.”  Yet it is one of the hardest things Jesus asks us to do. Thanks be to God that we’ve been shown that love in Jesus Christ.  In our baptism and at the communion table we remember just how much we are loved. 

Discussion Questions

• How do you define God’s love? How does that love differ from any other type of love?
• Why is it sometimes hard to love people who are not like you?
• Who are some of the people who have loved you to life? Who are some of the people you love to life?  (If that phrase, “loved you to life” is new to you, think about what it might mean; how does being loved make you more alive?)

Activity Suggestions

• Think about the loving relationships in your life and what makes these relationships rooted in love. Take time to list the relationships where love plays an important role. Share lists with one another (if you’re comfortable doing do). What are the similarities and differences?
• Take sticky notes and cut them into a heart shape. Have everyone in your group write the name of someone they love on a sticky note and place it on the wall. Study the wall of love. Take a sticky note that isn’t yours and pray for that person throughout the week. 
• Conversation hearts are a popular candy to give out on Valentine’s Day. What would God write on a conversation heart to you? Write that message on a sticky note and place it on the wall. What are God’s messages of love? 

Closing Prayer

Holy God, in the person of Jesus Christ you have shown us the enormity of your love for each of us. Help and guide us to live out this new commandment given to us by Jesus, to love one another as you love us. May those in the world know God’s love through us. Amen.

 

By Hannah Peterson, 2021-22 Hunger Advocacy Fellow [about the author]

I am not a practicing Lutheran. Although many of my relatives and ancestors are, I grew up in a secular family, attending church only for Christmas Eve services and the occasional baptism or funeral. As you might imagine, it was an unusual path that led me to this year of being an ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellow, of learning to navigate through new communities, new opportunities and new insights.

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).

Last spring, emerging from a difficult and confusing year of confinement and isolation as I completed a graduate program in a foreign country during a global pandemic, I was feeling particularly lost in the wilderness of my life. Like many, my plans had been derailed, and the way forward seemed especially unclear. I had spent the past several years buried in my books, in an academic life of writing and contemplation that no longer seemed meaningful to me in the same way.

It was during this time that my “new thing” sprung forth—that my part-time job doing editing work for a small non-profit organization became the opportunity that I have devoted my time to for the past many months. When I took the job of an Hunger Advocacy Fellow, I thought of myself as an editor only: my interest and experience were in rhetoric, language and communication, not so much in the content of what was being written. But what began as a way for me to use the academic skills I had honed through my education had been slowly changing over the months as I learned more about the organization of my placement (Lutherans Engaging in Advocacy Ministry New Jersey).

I began to learn about the intricacies of New Jersey politics and the particular struggles its residents face. I began to learn about the ELCA and the relationship between faith and advocacy. I attended Hour of Advocacy meetings, engaging with others who valued both contemplative discussion and practical action. I learned about Lutheranism and the ELCA’s approach to advocacy with the other Hunger Advocacy Fellows. I read the ELCA’s social statements and messages, and learned again how reflection on spiritual questions could inform the concrete, grounded activism that I was beginning to involve myself in.

First, we learn. I had that part down. But next, we must do.

The opportunity that sprung forth for me was not only a chance to work in advocacy or among people of faith, but an opportunity to connect my contemplative self to practical, meaningful work in the world. I feel a connection to Philippians 4:9, which begins: “As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them…” For me (and you, I hope!) advocacy is a way to take what we have learned and do.

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hannah Peterson is an ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellow placed with Lutherans Engaging in Advocacy Ministry New Jersey (LEAMNJ), a state public policy office in the ELCA advocacy network. She recently graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree in History and Literature, following her undergraduate degree from St. John’s College. Peterson’s internships at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of American History inspired her passion for identifying stories that have not yet been told and lifting up the voices of those in need. She hopes to continue her work building connections between people of different faiths, traditions and backgrounds.

Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA

Warm-up Question

If you could share a meal with any famous person – real or fictional / living or dead – who would it be and why?

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

Recently, the board of Twitter agreed to an offer from Elon Musk to buy the social media company for around $44 billion.  When the deal is completed, it will put the world’s richest person in charge of an incredibly influential platform.  With nearly 400 million users, Twitter has helped to transform not only the news business but how influencers like celebrities and politicians reach their audiences.

In a statement announcing the deal, Mr. Musk said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”  Yet along with the positive aspects of social media, there are aspects that are not so positive.  

In the case of Twitter, for example, some have expressed concern about the potential impact of having such a powerful social media company privately owned and controlled by a single person.  Like other platforms, Twitter’s algorithms and systems tend to amplify the most incendiary voices, hateful speech, and disinformation. And there is a growing body of evidence that overuse of social media can lead to increased levels of anxiety and depression, particularly in students.

Discussion Questions

• What social media platforms (if any) do you use?  What do you enjoy most about these platforms?
• Name are some of the positive things about social media?
• What are some of the negative aspects?
• How would you rate the impact of social media on how you feel about things? 
  • When I think about the future, social media makes me feel a) more confident  b) less confident  c) no impact.  Why?
  • When it comes to who I am – my own sense of self – social media makes me feel a) more confident  b) less confident  c) no impact.  Why?
• What limits, if any, should we place on what is posted on social media platforms?

Fourth Sunday or Easter

Acts 9:36-43

Revelation 7:9-17

John 10:22-30

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. 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

“Hindsight is 20/20,” the old saying goes, meaning that it is easier to see the meaning of things when you are looking back.  Perhaps that is why today’s gospel reading is a flashback to John 10, a time well before Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It is as if to say, now that we have encountered the Risen Jesus, we are finally ready to make sense of what he was saying.

The setting is the Festival of the Dedication – a holiday more familiar to most of us as Hanukkah.  Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem following a successful revolt against the rule of Antiochus IV by a group of Jewish resistance fighters, led by Judas Maccabaeus.  Through this remarkable achievement the Jewish people not only enjoyed a fully independent kingdom for many decades, but Judas and his family were made kings.  

This history helps us understand the question put to Jesus as he walks near the Temple. “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”  Given that, in Jesus’ day, the Romans were in charge, many hoped that God’s “messiah” would do something similar to the Maccabean revolt. That is, they were looking for someone to defeat the Romans and reestablish their nation as an independent kingdom.  Adding to their anticipation were Jesus’ own words.  Earlier in John 10 he talked about being the “good shepherd.” In the scriptures  “shepherd” was frequently used as a symbol for the Davidic king.

So then, is Jesus the Messiah, Israel’s true king?  He does not come out and say it in so many words because, as the cross and resurrection show us, being “messiah” and “king” means something different to Jesus than what people are expecting.  Nevertheless, Jesus indicates that both his words and his actions should lead people to the correct conclusion about his identity. If not, then it is because they do not belong to Jesus’ sheep.  “My sheep hear my voice,” Jesus says.  “I know them, and they follow me.”  

And here, you see, is where it becomes vitally important that, of all the voices one might choose to listen to, we listen for the voice of Jesus.  For, as Jesus goes on to explain, those who hear his voice and recognize it as the voice of their Shepherd will be safe forever. Because of Jesus’ union with God, nothing will be able to separate his “sheep” from him and his love.  Indeed, nothing will ultimately be able to harm them, not even death.

Discussion Questions

• When it comes to social media, how do you decide who to follow?
• How about when it comes to how you live your life – who or what are your most important influences?
• What do you think it means to “hear Jesus’ voice”?  In what ways are we able to “listen” to Jesus?  
• Do you think Jesus ever listens to us?  Why or why not?
• How can Jesus’ resurrection help us to have confidence about his promise, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish”?  When it comes to your own life and future, how does this promise make you feel?

Activity Suggestions

• “Listening to the Shepherd”  Set up sort of a “minefield” of small obstacles.  Things like small pillows, tennis balls, bean bags, shoes, etc. all work great.  Invite participants to get into pairs, with one of them being the “shepherd” and the other one being the “sheep.” The sheep is blindfolded and stands on the opposite side of the obstacle course from the shepherd. The object is for the sheep to navigate the course without stepping on the any of the obstacles by listening to directions from the shepherd.  Variations might include having all the pairs of participants run the course at the same time (thus resulting in lots of different voices shouting different directions) or of having one pair try to successfully navigate the course while all the other participants are shouting contradictory instructions.  Reflect on the experience:  What was it like to have to rely only on the voice of the shepherd to make it safely through the obstacles?  What helped you to focus on the shepherd’s voice when all the other voices around you were telling you different things?  How do you think this activity relates to following Jesus?

• “Encouraging Words”  Invite participants to share with one another verses or passages of Scripture that they find particularly helpful or encouraging.  Perhaps collect them in a list that can be shared with everyone later.  Here are a few possibilities from John’s gospel to get you started: John 1:1- 5; 3:16 – 17; 6:35; 8:12; 10:11; 11:25 – 26; 14:1 – 3; 14:27. 

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus our shepherd, you know your sheep by name and lead us to safely, even through the valleys of death. Guide us by your voice and help us to follow you into all that makes for an abundant life.  Continue to reveal your love and grace to us this Easter season and open our eyes to your living presence among us.  Amen.

 

Bob Chell–Sioux Falls, SD

Warm-up Question

Where do your encounter Jesus in your life?

Glimpse of the Kingdom

TV stations like to run feel good stories.  Sometimes it is about neighbors who harvest the crops of a sick or disabled farmer.  It may celebrate a high school athlete with developmental or health challenges who scores a touchdown.  Maybe it highlights a basketball game when opposing coaches and players conspire to allow a student with special needs  to score.  Often  a raucous celebration follows with fans and athletes of both sides celebrating the special moment.

We cherish such stories because they remind us that kindness and compassion are precious virtues.  Too often we act as though, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” is a philosophy worth embracing, instead of a morally bankrupt attitude which produces a combative, harsh society in which no one wants to live. These feel good stories help us  see persons who are often forgotten or regarded as unimportant.  They remind us of our better selves, what we can do when we go beyond selfishness to make our world better.  These stories emphasize what is most important in our lives together.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever been a part of one of these celebrations? How did it make you feel? Why?
• Do you have a friend or family member who is overlooked or invisible, or even bullied because they are different?
• Is there a student in your school whose name, when mentioned, brings laughter, eye rolls or scoffing?
• Have you ever befriended someone left out? Did this diminish or elevate you in the eyes of others?

Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 9:1-6 [7-20]

Revelation 5:11-14

John 21:1-19

(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

The Easter season is seven weeks long. Nearly every week the gospel lesson includes disciples encountering Jesus and failing to recognize him. This week’s gospel encounter is crammed with significance. There is a miracle and allusions to Peter’s failure to stand firm during the horrible events of Holy Week, as Jesus asks him repeatedly, “Do you love me.” Both are important and theologically significant, yet by focusing on them we may miss what is most significant. Namely, Jesus is in the world today if we have eyes to see.

Only in John’s gospel does Jesus appear to witnesses on Easter morning.  In the original ending of Mark’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t appear to the disciples. But the young man at the tomb tells the women to seek Jesus because he is going ahead of them.  From the beginning, Mark suggests, that the proper response to Easter’s good news is to seek Jesus in the world. 

In confirmation we learn that we encounter Christ in the sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, where God’s promise is attached to an earthly sign of water, bread, or wine.  As Martin Luther says, “This is most certainly true.” 

Yet the Holy Spirit is not shackled to the font and altar but free in the world. Jesus said, “…where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matt. 18:20) Later, he speaks of a time when people will ask, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” The answer comes, “…just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

This story from Matthew has been used to scare or shame those who fail to care for others. It is, I believe, a misinterpretation. Jesus’ promise to meet us in our day to day lives is neither test nor threat, but an opportunity to share in the Kingdom of God.

Those neighbors in those feel good stories, sweaty and dirty from the harvest, cannot hide their joy. Those athletes and fans, cheer leaders and officials, all wear beaming smiles because there– for a moment—they caught a glimpse of the kingdom.

Discussion Questions

• When and where have you encountered a glimpse of the Kingdom of God?
• Do people hope they can feel good about themselves? Does this matter? Why or why not?
• Feel good  news stories are one time events yet sickness and disability often persist. Who do you know who is there for others when the cameras are off and no one is looking?

Activity Suggestions

This week watch for an opportunity to speak a kind word, offer hope or encouragement to someone who needs it.  Watch and notice those who befriend and those who belittle others. Are they hurting themselves, trying to fit in, or oblivious to the feelings of others?

Closing Prayer

I first heard this prayer prayed by theologian and bishop, Krister Stendahl, . I don’t know if he wrote it but it captures perfectly the wrestling in my heart.

O God, you call us to follow you. 

O thou eternal Wisdom, whom we partly know, and partly do not know;

O thou eternal Justice, whom we partly acknowledge, but never wholly obey;

O thou eternal Love, whom we love a little but fear to love to much:

Open our minds that we may understand;

Work in our wills, that we may obey;

Kindle our hearts, that we may love thee.

 

from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C.
– the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director, ELCA Witness in Society

Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: April 2022

CRITICAL HOUSING INCREASES IN BUDGET  |  CLIMATE AWARENESS IN BUDGET AND BEYOND  |  RESPONSE TO MYANMAR (BURMA)  |  END IN SIGHT FOR TITLE 42  |  FAIR HOUSING MONTH

 

CRITICAL HOUSING INCREASES IN BUDGET:  Since original overdue deadline of the budget passed last October, hundreds of Lutherans contacted their members to end the inaction and include increases in critical needs such as housing aid and homeless assistance. In the final version, advocates succeeded in obtaining increases in several low-income spending accounts, including a boost of more than $4 billion in housing assistance.

This comes at a critical time as inflation costs and the shortage of available housing are meeting historic highs. In the coming days and weeks, as congressional committees prepare a bill for the current fiscal cycle, ELCA advocacy will be amplifying opportunities to take action on core priorities and principles in the federal budget.

 

CLIMATE AWARENESS IN BUDGET AND BEYOND:  President Biden released his Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) budget that includes funding to address climate change domestically and internationally with substantial increase in funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

The ELCA, working with Non-Government Organizations and other faith-based organizations, began advocacy campaigns with Congressional appropriations committee members to emphasize the importance of finalizing FY23 budget by the end of September with the monies proposed in the president’s budget. The urgency of taking climate action, especially as it relates to women’s human rights, was highlighted by over 80 Lutheran delegates who took part in the sixty-sixth Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the U.N. This CSW brought together the gender and climate justice work that Lutherans have led over many years, including youth-led climate justice action around the world, by amplifying the leadership and voices of young people. ELCA and Lutheran World Federation delegates showcased the vital role that faith actors play in promoting women’s empowerment and combating violence and discrimination to achieve greater gender equality at local, national and international levels.

 

RESPONSE TO MYANMAR (BURMA):  The U.S. government has officially declared it has determined that the Myanmar army carried out actions that amount to genocide against the Rohingya people.

While the United States has already imposed many sanctions since 2016, the Secretary of State did announce that the United States will contribute an additional $1 million to the Genocide Convention for Myanmar, which was established in 2018 by the U.N. Human Rights Council. The State Department will also share their findings to support the ongoing genocide case against Myanmar military at the International Court of Justice which was brought forward by the government of Gambia.

 

END IN SIGHT FOR TITLE 42:  On April 1, President Biden announced that Title 42, a policy that has been used to categorically deny asylum seekers the opportunity to ask for protection, will be ending on May 23. The Department of Homeland Security has made many preparations for the change, including updating how asylum will be processed.

Hours after the White House’s Title 42 announcement, multiple lawmakers signaled they would support delaying critical COVID-19 supplementing funding for domestic and international needs over Title 42. A vote on this would be devastating for people who have waited for their chance to ask for refuge on the other side of the border. ELCA advocacy staff have urged lawmakers to reconsider any potential vote to delay restoring access to asylum. The court-reinstated Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), or “Remain in Mexico,” is headed to the Supreme Court (oral argument to be held in April) with far-reaching consequences for immigrant detention and pushbacks. Through AMMPARO, the ELCA is coordinating on what the impact of Title 42 will be as migrant ministries activate for the potential arrival of newcomers.

 

FAIR HOUSING MONTH:  April is Fair Housing Month, an opportunity to highlight the critical need of housing for people and to recommit support for inclusion and justice in housing – matters many Lutherans and Lutheran ministries uphold.

Over the past few years, Lutherans have submitted public comments to proposed rules and to HUD officials. – advocating for them to enforce long neglected elements of the Fair Housing Act and to address injustices in housing disparities. This comes as homeownership rate disparities and the wealth gap in housing equity has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. HUD’s current series promoting Fair Housing month, including a webinar and other resources, can be found here.

 

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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 | New Mexico | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Washington | Wisconsin

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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 sixty-sixth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) took place from 14 to 25 March 2022. The Priority Theme was achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs; and the Review Theme was women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.

Despite taking place in a hybrid format, CSW66 had high-level participation from Member States, including two Heads of State and Government, three vice-presidents, and 111 ministers. In addition, 213 virtual side events were organized by Member States and UN entities, many in collaboration with civil society. Also, more than 800 virtual non-governmental organizations (NGO) parallel events organized by civil society took place.

The Lutheran World Federation and the ELCA participated virtually in the two-week event with a delegation of over 80 members from different parts of the world, facilitated by the Lutheran Office for World Community. Delegates highlighted the urgency of taking action against the climate crisis, especially as it relates to women’s human rights and their ability to participate as equals in climate action. In addition, they showcased the vital role that faith actors play in promoting women’s empowerment, and in combating violence and discrimination to achieve greater gender equality at local, national, and international levels. This CSW66 brought together the gender and climate justice work that Lutherans have led over many years including youth-led climate justice action around the world by amplifying the leadership and voices of young people.

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Colorado

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

Peter Severson, Director

 

On April 9, volunteers from Urban Servant Corps, a one-year full time Lutheran volunteer program in Denver, joined LAM-CO Director Peter Severson for a visit to the Colorado State Capitol Building. 

LEGISLATIVE SESSION IN CRUNCH TIME: As the Colorado General Assembly moves into the final quarter of its 2022 session, LAM-CO is actively working on a host of bills related to our 2022 Advocacy Agenda. Among our top priorities this session:

• HB 1259, Modifications to Colorado Works Program (Duran/Jodeh). This bill will offer badly-needed updates to our state’s Basic Cash Assistance program, which is funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. It will remove some key barriers to eligibility and increase baseline assistance.
• SB 087, Healthy Meals for All Public School Students (Pettersen/Fields). The bill continues a program initiated through Colorado’s federal COVID relief funds, covering the cost of school meals for all children in schools participating in the National School Lunch Program.
• SB 099, Sealing Criminal Records (Hisey/Rodriguez). Also known as “Clean Slate,” the bill automates the record-sealing process for certain non-violent offenses, for which over one million Coloradans are already eligible.

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New Mexico

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry New Mexico (LAM-NM) – lutheranadvocacynm.org

Kurt Rager, Director

 

It’s like farming Redwood trees…  

Ruth Hoffman, the long-time director of LAM-NM now retired, would describe the work of legislative advocacy as, “farming redwood trees.” In other words, positive policy change can take years of cultivation and work to achieve. The 2022 New Mexico legislature passed several bills during the legislative session that would exemplify this. We at LAM-NM are particularly proud of our role in the success of HB-132.  

HB-132 cut interest rates on short-term loans, offered by nearly 900 store-front lenders across New Mexico, from 175% to 36%. (Twenty years ago, such loans were offered at well over 400%.) These loans target New Mexico’s most financially vulnerable and 65% of lenders are located within 10 miles of Indigenous lands. Even more devastating, these loans are typically rolled over several times.  What may have started as an emergency loan for a few hundred turns into several thousand dollars owed.  More than 15 years ago a concerted effort to reduce interest rates began.  

LAM-NM, working alongside partner organizations that together make up the NM Fair Lending Coalition, cultivated this effort over numerous sessions while confronting formidable opposition. n 2022, to amplify the voice of faith communities, a letter from denominational leaders of the NM Conference of Churches was initiated.  Individuals in congregations were invited to sign-on as well, and in just over two weeks almost 500 advocacy partners in 40 congregations added their names to the letter to legislators in support of the 36% interest rate cap. Indeed, the impact of the letter was clear as it was referenced during the House floor debate.

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Ohio

Hunger Network Ohio (HNO) – hungernetwork.org

Deacon Nick Bates, Director

 

Ohio continues to struggle to adopt fair maps in the state. It appears that Ohio’s congressional maps will move forward for at least the 2022 election cycle while state maps remain in legal limbo. We encourage you to follow our colleagues at Common Cause Ohio to stay up-to-date.

In March, we were excited to host our second webinar on the intersection of hunger and other issues. This time we focused on the environment and discussed policy issues in Ohio related to clean water and energy production. For too long, Ohio has under-invested in clean water infrastructure including mapping and replacing lead pipes, wastewater, and stormwater management. We also spent a half hour discussing local congregational efforts including those in Southwest Ohio at Christ the King Lutheran Church with their efforts to not only move toward sustainability but toward restoration. You can watch our webinar here!

Our next webinar will focus on criminal justice but has not yet been scheduled. Follow our Facebook page to see when future events are scheduled! 

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Pennsylvania

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry – Pennsylvania (LAMPa) lutheranadvocacypa.org

Tracey DePasquale, Director

 

Budget advocacy accelerated this month as LAMPa met with coalition partners to organize around priorities and sought input from our ministries. LAMPa Director Tracey DePasquale made legislative visits to seek support for increases in the State Food Purchase Program and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System in the face of rising food prices. The state’s two major anti-hunger programs support lower purchase prices for Pennsylvania’s charitable food network that includes many congregational pantries. LAMPa also worked to identify champions for a proposed state-supported increase in minimum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for seniors and persons with disabilities.

LAMPa and coalition partners made progress on securing bipartisan support for legislation dealing with prescription drug pricing and funding for the state housing trust fund. LAMPa advocates have worked for years on the program, and it will be the focus of a presentation at United Lutheran Seminary on April 28. The presentation, which will include conversation with housing agency officials and advocates who themselves have experienced homelessness, will conclude the seminary’s spring convocation.

DePasquale met with Lutheran Disaster Response, Pa. Council of Churches, and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster regarding increases in state funding for disaster and plans to educate the next administration about disaster response.

Staff offered advocacy presentations to Allegheny Synod deans and congregations in Lower Susquehanna Synod, hosted a webinar on energy choice and community solar advocacy, met with Lutheran advocates monitoring elections legislation and continued work with partners seeking independent investigations of police use of lethal force.

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Washington

Faith Action Network (FAN) – fanwa.org

Elise DeGooyer, Director

 

We are celebrating some wonderful successes from the 2022 Legislative Session that ended on March 10. This was one of the most productive short sessions in recent memory, with transformational investments across the safety net—food, school meals, housing, and cash assistance—as well as transportation and education. By the end of session, the largest supplemental budget in history passed with $64.1 billion that will make a tangible difference for our communities, along with a 16-year, $17 billion transportation package called “Move Ahead Washington” that will reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. We were frustrated that our criminal justice and police reform bills did not move and recommit ourselves to continue working in coalition to move forward a ban on solitary confinement and other essential reforms. Other notable achievements of this session included bipartisan support for the nation’s first alert system for missing and endangered Indigenous persons, momentous victories for gun responsibility, and additional funding to support refugees arriving in our state. You can review the full list of successes and read Policy Engagement Director Kristin Ang’s recap at fanwa.org/advocacy/legislative-agenda.

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Wisconsin

Lutheran Office for Public Policy – Wisconsin (LOPPW) loppw.org

The Rev. Cindy Crane, Director

 

Care for God’s Creation – Message from Governor Evers’ Office: “The Governor will today sign AB 727/SB 677, which Lutheran Office for Public Policy Wisconsin supported, related to creating a commercial nitrogen optimization pilot program, providing crop insurance rebates for cover crops, creating a hydrogeologist position, extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. We wanted to make sure you knew before it came out publicly. Thank you so much for your advocacy.” signed by Camille Crary, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Governor Tony Evers

Human Trafficking: LOPPW’s director the Rev. Cindy Crane was one of the presenters at UW-Madison Law School’s Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender Society Symposium, at the recommendation of a La Crosse legislator. LOPPW presented on recent anti-sex trafficking bills.

Wednesday Noon Live: Interview with Secretary of State Doug La Follette. How some leaders tried to overthrow the 2020 election results in Wisconsin: What is at stake in the Secretary of State’s position? Click here to watch the interview.

Youth Advocacy: We held our first listening session for youth, who showed interest in climate justice, equity and racism, anti-bullying, equity and LGBTQ+ issues, and hunger and class. There is interest in holding a second session.

Raise the Age: Our coalition had its first online informational session, which included testimonies from two people with experience being sent to adult prison as youth. You can watch the video here.

In his Daily Meditation of February 6 on 1 Corinthians 12, Rev. Richard Rohr writes “Humanity consistently has to face the problem of unity and diversity. We’re not very good at understanding it. We habitually choose our smaller groups, because we don’t know how to belong to a larger group. That demands too much letting go.”

He notes that Paul’s doctrine of the Body of Christ “isn’t easy for Westerners to understand, because we are deeply trained in cultural individualism. So much so, we don’t even recognize our lack.” It seems impossible that anyone with eyes and ears open could fail to recognize the pervasive individualism in our country. For many, the synonym of “it’s a free country” is “you can’t tell me what to do.”

One advantage of belonging to a large group with internal diversity like the ELCA is that we can see varied cultures within a group whose defining culture we share. During Arab American Heritage Month, I would like to discuss an element of Arab-Middle Eastern culture that might help elucidate a different way of being in a group, a way of “letting go.”

For most of my life, the common translation of the Transfiguration story in Mark included a voice saying, “This is my beloved Son.” In more recent translations, we hear, “This is my Son, the Beloved.” These two versions may sound pretty much the same, but they are not. In the first, “beloved” is an adjective describing the son; in the second “beloved” is a name for the Son, an identification by relationship.

Almost anyone who has grown up in an Arabic-speaking family – even a person who didn’t master Arabic – knows the Arabic (and Aramaic) word for “beloved.”  It is a word we have heard dozens of times a day as parents and grandparents call to us and our siblings: habibi/ habibti. “Ya habibi, tha,” they might say. “Oh, my Beloved, come here.” While it sounds stilted in translation, it sounds quite appropriate in context. Importantly, it constitutes the replacement of a name by a relationship.

For many of us represented by the groups of color in the Church, our personal cultures insist that one’s identity is, at least in part, other-oriented. We shape identities based on our family and our community. In the case of those of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage, there is a sense that we are nothing without a family and community to help define us.

The internal relationships of Arab families reflect this cultural reality. Imagine, for example, a young Arab man named Ibrahim and his wife Mariam who have their first child, a son, whom they name Yusuf. From Yusuf’s birth he will be called Ibn Ibrahim, “the son of Ibrahim,” but his parents will also take on new names. They will be from that point on called Abu Yusuf, “father of Yusuf,” Um Yusuf, mother of Yusuf” by friends and family.

I have heard non-Arabs denigrate this custom: “Why should I give up my identity just because I became a parent?” But that is really the crux. This approach is not giving up one’s identity but expanding it in terms of relationships. In Arab culture, one is not defined in isolation but in connection, in relations. And that is a lesson those of Arab-American heritage can share with the Church: we cannot be fully who we are meant to be if we remain isolated individuals.

In his prayer at the Last Supper in John 17, Jesus describes how he views the ideal relationship with us: “that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us … that they may be one even as we are one.” Here, I believe, is the core of Jesus’ prayer and its most complex and mysterious part. When Jesus suggests that his followers can be one as he and his Father are one, he takes us directly to the mystery of the Trinity. In distinction from the other Western monotheistic religions, Christianity alone posits the person of God as built on relationship, a unity without uniformity. In praying that we be one as Jesus and his Father are one, he is envisioning a future in which his followers will take their identity in part from their relationships with others, unified but not uniform.

 

Dr. Ryan A. LaHurd is a spouse, father of two, and grandfather of five. He served as president of Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, N.C., an ELCA higher education institution, from 1994-2022. Dr. LaHurd, an Arab-American of Lebanese ancestry, has served as a teacher, administrator, author, and leader in many capacities, including with the ELCA Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage. He and his spouse Dr. Carol Schersten LaHurd are members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago.

 

Jason Fisher, Champaign, IL

Warm-up Question

• Name some reasons someone might lock themselves in their room?
• What would it be like to live your whole life without leaving that room? What would you miss?

Opening Doors and Hearts

Kristen Berthiaume and her family live in Alabama.  They wanted to promote racial justice in their community. Seeing that  nationwide protests and demands for justice were often met with open racism and ignorance, the family decided to create an Anti-racist Little Library in front of their home. Kristen noticed that books about racial justice were high on bestseller lists.  So, she stocked their library with them, hoping they might educate their community and allow kids to see themselves in a wider variety of books.

Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley Jones was filled with hope when she found her book, Reparations Now!,” tucked inside the Antiracist Little Library. Jones is not only the first person of color, but also the youngest person, to be Poet Laureate of Alabama. 

In an interview, Jones shared, “As a Black woman in America, racism is absolutely inescapable. It shows up in all the little places and all the big places and all the places you don’t expect. Sometimes it’s in a textbook. Sometimes it’s in a purse grabbed as I walk by, sometimes it’s in a question about my hair, my skin. If anyone believes we have even come close to solving issues of racism and discrimination, they’re mistaken. If I’m afraid to go for a run, go buy a snack, go to sleep in my own bed behind my own locked door, we aren’t finished working yet.”

Discussion Questions

• What is the last book you have read by an author of a different race, culture, or religion?
• In what ways do books about other people’s experiences open doors to better relationships with them?

Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 5:27-32

Revelation 1:4-8

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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

Gospel Reflection

In this post-resurrection account we find the disciples hiding in fear behind locked doors, in a self-imposed prison. There is no life there, only the fear of death. They’ve spent years watching and participating in the life-giving ministry of Jesus.  Now they hide and cling to what can hardly be called life. Then, right in the midst of their fear, Jesus brings peace and proof, life from death–not locks and doors. After Jesus breaths the Holy Spirit on them the disciples can no longer stay in locked rooms; they go out and share with others what they have seen and heard.

A whole week goes by and they are again in the same house. BUT this time the doors are not locked. They are shut, but not locked. So, we could say they are making progress. Again, Jesus brings proof and peace, but this time it is for Thomas. Instead of rejecting him for not believing the other disciples, Jesus invites Thomas to touch his wounds.  And Thomas believes. 

John says Jesus did many other signs in front of the disciples which are not recorded.  Then he adds,  “…but  these are written in this book so that YOU may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have  in his name.” The very words of this Gospel are written directly to YOU that you might be set free and have life in Jesus’ name. Jesus frees us from fear. He frees us from feeling like we missed out. Jesus makes us look around and figure out who is not in the room with us so that we can invite them in.

Discussion Questions

• Where have you experienced peace this week?
• Whose experiences are missing from your life, and how might you reach out to touch (and learn from) them?
• What do you need God to prove to you right now?

Activity Suggestions

Read a book, memorize a poem, listen to a speaker, or watch a movie created by someone who is a minority voice in your culture. Then ask yourself, “What are their wounds? Are there things to which I’ve had access that are denied to them?” Share what you have learned from that person with your friends and family.  Begin recommending resources that will challenge them as well. 

Closing Prayer

Think of something you are afraid of right now. Find a door that has a lock on it. Begin a prayer by holding onto the doorknob. 

Pray; “Lord right now I am afraid of….” (As you lift up your fear to God, lock the door.)

Pray; “Jesus give me your peace.” (as you ask for peace, unlock the door.)

Pray; “Spirit send me.” (as you finish the prayer, open the door and walk through.)

 

By Professor Mark Swanson

On March 31^st, the ELCA Church Council adopted “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Muslim Community,” uplifting our commitment to friendship and solidarity with our Muslim neighbors.

The idea that the ELCA should develop “A Declaration to the Muslim Community” has been around for some time, especially since the Reformation commemorations of 2017, when there was renewed focus in a variety of forums on Luther’s attitudes toward the religious Other. After the adoption at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly of “A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” the Lutheran-Muslim Consultative Panel began in earnest to discuss the need and possibility of such a document.

At the Panel’s last in-person meeting on February 22, 2020, we decided that the time was right: Muslim friends were asking for such a statement; the LWF Assembly in 2017 had committed itself to working towards a statement on Lutheran-Muslim relations, but had encouraged the ELCA to develop its own and to offer it to the LWF as a contribution; and, of course, acts of discrimination against Muslims (e.g., the so-called “Muslim ban”) and violence (think of the Christchurch mosque shootings of 2019) were heavy on our hearts and minds. Even then, we were wondering what the 2022 US election season might bring (remembering the ”Ground Zero Mosque” and Qur’an burning controversies of 2010, and the “Muslim ban” of 2016).

Work on a preliminary draft of a statement continued into the pandemic but stalled for a time. But last October (2021) we made a fresh start, asking Panel members and a few Muslim friends and colleagues to name just two or three things that should be included in a possible Declaration. The collected responses provided a remarkably coherent roadmap, and a series of focused Panel meetings led to the statement that you now have before you.

I would like to make a few comments about this Declaration:

• We tried to keep it short and simple, resisting the natural inclinations of the scholars in the group to write excurses and lengthy footnotes.
• We decided to keep the focus on North America and our relationships as ELCA members with our friends, neighbors, and inter-religious partners here. In just one paragraph do we broaden out (partly at the request of LWF and Muslim colleagues), to speak of projects of the LWF and of major inter-religious initiatives by Muslim leaders and scholars.
• We were challenged to speak a word about how we view Muslims, and not just how we think or theologize about them – and the language that seemed right was that of love, respect, esteem, and friendship (and certainly nothing that could be read as simply toleration).
• In speaking about Luther we walked a tightrope, or several at once: acknowledging his painful rhetoric while not going into unnecessary detail about it; avoiding making an apologetic for Luther while at the same time honoring the one from whom our denomination takes its name.
• We build on earlier Declarations of the ELCA, especially the “Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment” and also “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community.”
• And we conclude the Declaration with two remarkable quotations from bishops of this church, from Bishop Eaton and from Bishop Hanson, which point to the “journey” or the “pilgrimage” that ELCA members and our Muslim friends and neighbors are on, together.

The final draft of the document was reviewed by several of our Muslim partners, by Bishop Eaton, and by the Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Committee of the Conference of Bishops and by other key partners within the ELCA.

Over the coming month, during the holy season of Ramadan, we will be sharing this declaration with our Muslim partners and neighbors, and invite you to join us in this effort.

I want to close by acknowledging the members of the ELCA’s Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Muslim relations, which was entrusted with the development of this Declaration: panel members Prof. Jonathan Brockopp; Dr. Carol LaHurd; Prof. Paul Rajashekar; and Prof. Nelly van Doorn-Harder; ecumenical representative Dr. Peter Makari; and churchwide staff: Dr. Kathryn Lohre, along with the Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos and Ms. Kristen Opalinski. It’s been an amazing team: intellectually stimulating, passionate, unafraid of disagreement, every one with extraordinary experience and contacts among Muslims and others.

 

Professor Mark Swanson is chair of the ELCA Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Muslim Relations. He serves at the Lutheran School of Theology as the Harold S. Vogelaar Professor of Christian-Muslim Studies and Interfaith Relations and  Associate Director of A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice.

 

by guest blogger Judith E.B. Roberts [about the author]

I share this blog from my personal perspective as a Black woman in America and what the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson means to me.

Last week, history was made when the U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. She will serve as the first Black woman justice in the 232-year history of the Supreme Court. It is not the only, nor likely the last “historic first” for the highest court in the United States. In 1967, Justice Thurgood Marshall broke through the racial color line by becoming the first African American Supreme Court justice. In 1981, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor shattered the gender glass ceiling, becoming the first female Supreme Court justice. Justice Sonia Sotomayor became the first woman of color and the first Latina to be appointed in 2009. In terms of racial and gender identity, today’s nine Supreme Court justices certainly reflect greater diversity than the first justices of 1790.

When we consider diversity, we consider that we are all complex individuals with differing lived experiences and social identities, such as our race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, religion and socio-economic status. These aspects of our identities are inextricably linked and shape the ways we view the world. Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw first coined the term intersectionality to help explain the oppression experienced by Black women. Crenshaw explains: “Recognizing that we all carry many identities that come with varying levels of power and privilege is called intersectionality.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson represents more than just her accomplishments in the legal realm. Her melanin-rich complexion and natural textured locks speak volumes. This is relevant because historical, deeply rooted racist and sexist views about Black women—views that began with the enslavement of African people—still persist today. Attitudes about the behavior of Black women continue to be represented in media and entertainment by negative caricatures, such as the subservient mammy, the sassy sapphire, the seductress jezebel and the welfare queen. White European beauty standards of fair skin, sharp facial features, straight hair and slender body frames are still culturally and globally dominant. Black women and girls experience microaggressions, judgement, unconscious biases and physical attacks upon our bodies due to our natural hair texture, melanin-rich complexions, body shapes and physical features.

Given all these realities, representation matters. When people from historically marginalized groups see leaders who resemble them in key positions, it builds self-esteem, especially for younger people. Representation fosters greater trust within systems and institutions. It also adds a greater diversity of voices, perspectives and lived experiences to the processes that impact decisions, policies, practices and programs. This is true for businesses, faith communities, non-profits and governments alike.

While Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is neither the first person of color nor the first woman of color to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, she is the first Black woman. As a Black woman in America, she bears the lived experience of the intersectionality of race and gender from a very particular historical perspective. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson represents, in the words of Dr. Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise (1978), “the dream and the hope of the slave.” As the daughter of parents who fought against Jim Crow segregation, and as the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson represents the best ideals of American democracy and the values of equity, inclusion and diversity. She carries the historical knowledge of laws, policies and practices that held Black Americans in the position of second-class citizenship. Now she will serve from the very bench that overturned racially unjust laws in this nation, from Jim Crow segregation to voter disenfranchisement and school segregation.

For many, this is a hopeful and overdue moment of inclusion, visibility and representation. We rejoice in it! And God calls us to do more. We are not yet a nation that fully reflects and represents all the gifts of diversity. We must not waiver from the commitment of forming a more perfect union. As the ELCA, we too cannot waiver in our quest to increase diversity within congregations, synods and the churchwide organization.

We can notice the people, voices and experiences that are missing from our programs and our leadership. We can support a culture and climate where all people are free to bring their most authentic selves to work. We can expand and share power and voice in decision-making authority by listening to and following the lead of historically marginalized groups. To counter the narratives of negative stereotypes, we can engage in unconscious bias and other Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) trainings both internally and externally. We can intentionally recruit, retain and support leaders that represent historically marginalized groups. We can each champion justice by putting the values of diversity, equity and inclusion into our daily practice because representation matters.

 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judith E.B. Roberts is Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with the ELCA