Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.
Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (General Fund) will be used where they are most needed.
Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:
By guest blogger Katie Thiesen, Deaconess Community of the ELCA candidate from the ELCA New England Synod
The Deaconess Community of the ELCA is using prophetic diakonia – or service that leads to social change that restores, reforms and transforms – to do the work of justice with the Poor Peoples Campaign (PPC). This movement encourages us to be grounded in the thousands of scripture verses that call God’s people to the work of justice.
We claim as Lutherans that we are loved. We also know that being personally loved is only part of the story. Being unconditionally and radically loved is not an end. We more fully realize that radical love when we see the sacredness and love for ALL.
“Every stranger I meet is a part of me I don’t yet know – and I a part of them. Together, strangers, inextricably connected, we live into God’s reign on earth.” – Sister Davia Evans
After hearing the scriptural call to radical love, I have struggled with what it means to do the work of charity. If I see you hungry and feed you one meal, knowing that you will again be hungry later, where does that leave my relationship with you and with God? Matthew 25 connects us to Jesus in the encounter – “when you saw me hungry.” One meal begs many questions, including: Did not God create this world in abundance for all?
I am learning I must never stop with acts of charity. We all need to have daily needs met now, so we need charity now. Yet charity is only needed because we do not have justice and will only be needed until we have justice! Matthew 25:31-46 and James 2:15-22 call us out when we leave one another without needs met. Micah 6:8 calls us to justice.
Hear in this two minute video names and reasons including Emmett Till to Sean Reed “and the too many murdered just because they were black” that compel this deaconess to participate in the PPC: “The Poor Peoples Campaign is a vision and a movement for right now. That’s why I am going.” – Sister Ramona Daily
At a small PPC gathering in 2018, organizers called us together in a circle, asking us to stand next to people we didn’t know. We were then asked to turn to our left and then turn to our right and say, “Hello Image of God!” Even typing this brings me to my knees two years later.
This immediately consecrated everyone in the room! No one was more the image of God than another, and no one less. I felt a surge of the Holy Spirit moving about that space, affirming we all belonged, we all were loved and able to love in return, and we all wanted to be part of each person’s complete wellbeing.
We are not all the same, as 1 Corinthians 12:26 shares, but in all of our beauty and diverse gifts, we are ONE. I do not have all the answers of how to do and be this moral fusion work, but it grounds me and crosses every line of division.
The Deaconess Community of the ELCA endorsed the Poor People’s Campaign in 2019. “For over 130 years our Community has been acting on our call to prophetic diakonia – we can do this better with the Poor People’s Campaign, A National Call for Moral Revival fusion movement,” said Sister Noreen Stevens, Directing Deaconess, of work carried forward with the movement begun by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020 will be a digital gathering of poor, dispossessed and impacted people, faith leaders, and people of conscience, marshalling collective voices to demonstrate the power of our communities, and you can register from this link.
“The PPC is a moral call to take care of all of God’s people in an equitable way. The prophets called out injustice, and Jesus stood with the most vulnerable. It is our mandate to follow the command to Love your neighbor. This campaign addresses the root causes of injustice, and we are called through our baptisms to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” – Sister Dottie Almoney, Chair, Board of Directors of the Deaconess Community
You already have a place of belonging in this movement as we are all doing the work of being the one body we were created to be.
Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices.
U.N. | Arizona | California | Colorado | Minnesota | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Texas | Washington | Wisconsin
UN75 – 2020 AND BEYOND: The United Nations (UN) is marking its 75th anniversary this year. At the beginning of January 2020, it launched global conversations to listen to people’s experiences, fears, hopes as well as share the proposals and ideas that will shape the future for all. Everyone is asked to help in #ShapingOurFuture by joining the online dialogues. On May 14 -15, 2020, a virtual UN75 “People’s Forum for the UN We Need” was held. It brought together civil society and other stakeholders. The highlight of the forum was the handing over of the UN75 People’s Declaration and Plan for Global Action to the 74th President of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. Check out the UN75 2020 and beyond and UN2020 websites to see how you can participate.
CONGREGATIONAL OUTREACH: LAMA’s policy team continues to reach out to each of our 85 Arizona congregations to learn how we might serve their needs. One church at a time, we are learning what each is passionate about, what community ministries each supports, and where there might be an advocacy call to action. We are learning a lot and are encouraged by the responses we receive.
COVID-19: As Arizona logged it’s highest single-day rise in coronavirus cases on June 3, we pray for all Arizonans, knowing the numbers are on the rise. In particular we pray for the Navajo Nation, which has seen 5,479 cases and 248 deaths among its 175,000 people, reporting the highest infection rate in the U.S. We thank God that 1,920 people have recovered from COVID-19, with more reports still pending .
This month, three of our team made videos for a Washington Interfaith Staff Community (WISC) campaign to move the Senate to act on a COVID-19 response, and we participated in a call with House Speaker Pelosi on coronavirus, housing and homelessness, and a call with U.S. Reps. Raul Grijalva and Tom O’Halleran on coronavirus crisis funding and recovery.
We continue to be blessed by God in so many ways! While our beloved nation is exhausted and in mourning, we know that God is in our midst at every turn, showing us a way forward.
RACIAL JUSTICE: As our state reels from countless incidents of police violence and brutality against Black people and the legacy of white supremacy in this nation, we mourn, grieve, and advocate. We are supporting a bill to end racial discrimination in jury selection, and, along with coalition partners Green CA and Building the California Dream Alliance, pushing forward a larger list of bills related to racial equity and criminal justice reform. We lift up bail funds around the nation to support the voices, rights, and prophetic work of protesters. The Virginia Interfaith Center – one of our fellow state public policy offices – offers this list of resources for faith communities to fight racism.
BUDGET ADVOCACY—CALEITC EXANSION: The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) is an essential piece of anti-poverty policy for Californians, but one group has been consistently excluded: undocumented tax filers. Immigrant tax filers contribute $3.2 billion to state and local taxes every year, yet they are ineligible to receive aspects of the safety net proving so essential in the midst of COVID-19. Along with coalition partners, including interfaith organizations, we have been pushing over the last months and years to expand the CalEITC. The governor’s recent budget proposals lacked this expansion, but in the Legislature’s version the expansion is included for undocumented tax filers with children under the age of six. There is still much work to be done to see this through. We thank all of our advocates fighting with us!
FOOD AND FARMING: Our priority bills are moving through the committee process, with some wins! Two of these support expanded and simplified access to CalFresh for seniors, people with disabilities, and people exiting the criminal justice system. We are partnering with Bread for the World in sponsoring one of these bills. We are also following a bill affecting farmworker communities in conjunction with frontline farmworker and immigrant rights organizations. Our CalEITC advocacy and our work with ELCA AMMPARO also intersect with our food and farming work.
FEDERAL HEROES ADVOCACY: We mobilized our network to advocate for more coronavirus relief for people who have lost their jobs or who are already living on the edge. HEROES, which originated in the US House of Representatives, was thought to be dead on arrival at the US Senate. But concerted efforts of advocacy groups and citizens across the nation have moved the Senate to take up the bill, which would provide relief to state and local governments (of particular importance to California’s State Budget) and increase SNAP benefits as well as other food access programs.
END CHILD POVERTY CAMPAIGN: Several members of Lutheran churches throughout California joined virtual district meetings with federal lawmakers in May, urging strong support of policy recommendations shown to reduce childhood poverty. We were encouraged by the efforts and support of Congressmembers Adam Schiff, Ted Lieu, Anna Eshoo, Rosa DeLauro, Jimmy Gomez, and others.
ADVOCACY IN QUARANTINE: We continue to host our weekly Wednesdays at Noon briefing on state and federal legislation and call to action. This month, we have supported racial justice priorities, CalEITC expansion, CalFresh access, the HEROES Act, and rental assistance.
GOD’S WORK, OUR HANDS, OUR VOICES: Our Lobby Day was postponed until September due to the special nature of the current legislative session. Look forward to an advocacy component to God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday!
LEGISLATURE RETURNS: The Colorado General Assembly is back at the Capitol. Their focus in the limited two- to three-week window will be the state budget. All bills with new spending that were pending in March have been killed, leaving only the budget and items with no cost attached.
Several bills that we were waiting for have been killed, including:
However, we are still supporting several bills that are under consideration, including:
RECOVER COLORADO: We’re part of a coalition called Recover Colorado, advocating that the legislature use state budget reserves appropriately, that Congress provide federal aid to supplement the state budget and that the legislature pass a temporary tax measure to raise substantial revenue.
Work continues on LA-MN policy priorities, as well as responses to COVID-19 and racial justice issues. Director Tammy Walhof shared a Modern-Day Psalm of Lament on Facebook on May 31, then added that since writing it the community had seen: “thousands of people into the streets to help with clean-up. It’s brought piles of donations, and an outpouring of concern for the neighborhoods and businesses that have been decimated. Sunday, thousands and thousands of peaceful protesters are marching in various groups throughout the Metro Twin Cities, honoring the memory of George Floyd and calling for the hard work of reconciliation. These first steps are the work of the Holy Spirit! (Unfortunately, some violence continues). Moving forward, may we all strive to live God’s justice, peace, and love with one another.”
FIGHTING RACISM: Lutherans across Ohio mourn with the family of George Floyd and have participated in a series of non-violent protests, vigils, and marches in late May. We will continue to do the hard work of not only avoiding racism, but actively train ourselves to be anti-racists and address the systemic barriers to forming a beloved community. If you would like to get involved in anti-racism work, please contact us.
BALANCED APPROACH TO BUDGETING: Ohio’s governor has already cut $775 million from our state budget due to falling revenues. Advocates continue to push for a balanced approach to budgeting by using our state rainy day fund and seeking new revenue to help our schools, communities and essential public services through this.
Advocates are pleased that families struggling with hunger will have a few extra dollars this summer to use in grocery stores through expanded SNAP benefits for many Ohio households.
Stopgap Budget Sees Increase For Hunger Funding: Gov. Wolf signed a five-month stopgap spending plan, flat-funding programs from general revenues as the COVID-19 impact was anticipated to create a $5 billion shortfall in anticipated state revenue. The plan increases expenditures for hunger, housing and a host of other relief and recovery programs through federal CARES Act funding. At $50 million, the package more than doubles funding for anti-hunger efforts through the State Food Purchase Program and the Pa. Agricultural Surplus System. Extra funding to help struggling dairy farmers can direct another $5 million into the charitable food system. LAMPa advocates were vocal in calling for this much-needed support.
Emergency Feeding: LAMPa advocates successfully urged policymakers to allow Pennsylvania to pilot a program to allow recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to purchase groceries online as a safer alternative for especially vulnerable individuals and households. That pilot has begun. In addition, hunger leaders effectively encouraged 13 of their 18 members of Congress to sign on to a “Dear Colleague” letter, urging extension of waivers of in-person visits for the Women, Infants and Children and The Emergency Food Assistance Program. LAMPa invited synods and hunger leaders to contact us about any service ministries disrupted by civil unrest.
Child Nutrition: Lutheran hunger leaders reached out to members of Congress to urge the USDA to extend waivers to allow schools and other providers to continue serving meals throughout the summer in non-congregate settings. The waiver was approved. LAMPa’s network also shared information encouraging families who lost income to sign up for free and reduced-price school meals so that their children might be eligible for additional pandemic-related nutrition support.
Collaboration: Director Tracey DePasquale addressed the role of faith-based advocacy as stewardship of citizenship in a virtual gathering for Lutherans Restoring Creation. She also collaborated with Lutheran Disaster Response in NEPA and SEPA synods on a webinar for those engaged in ministries with vulnerable populations in the time of COVID-19.
Hearing on Draft Social Message: Although we were unable to gather in person for our annual Lutheran Day in the Capitol, our keynote, the Rev. Dr. Roger Willer, led a virtual hearing on “Government and Civic Engagement: Discipleship in a Democracy.”
COVID-19 RESPONSE: In May, Texas Impact began resourcing local congregations to share best practices on responding to the COVID-19 crisis and equipping members to advocate for solutions to unmet needs. We ended the month compiling sermons and statements opposing systemic racism and making plans for a legislative package to respond.
Texas Impact is adapting our Treasure Hunt pilot program to equip two congregations to study the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, identify emergency resources, and determine next steps for advocacy. Legislative Engagement Group leaders were trained in May to begin monthly meetings in their legislative district (by Zoom for now) as a group and with their state house district office. The initial meetings focus on how congregations can partner with legislators to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The weekly e-news has continued to highlight denominational leaders, including all three Texas ELCA Bishops, who continue to recommend congregations listen to the advice of public health officials. Texas ELCA bishops have been leaders throughout the COVID-19 crisis, helping to resource other denominational leaders throughout the state.
WEEKLY WITNESS PODCAST: This month Texas Impact continued the Weekly Witness podcast series featuring speakers from the Washington Interfaith Staff Community (WISC), which will include an appearance by John Johnson in June.
“TEXAS FAITH VOTES”: Texas Impact launched a “Texas Faith Votes” campaign, organizing Texans of faith to pledge to vote based on four priorities (health, climate, immigration and non-discrimination) and organizing congregations to promote vote by mail options for eligible voters.
The news can be discouraging, but we find hope in the leadership of Texas faith leaders and the level of engagement of Texans of faith.
STATEMENT AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR: Faith Action Network joins with many across this nation in deploring the latest murders of Black Americans by police and in calling out for justice. We speak the names of the victims of this recent racist violence and we grieve for their families, their communities, and our nation. We mourn with our communities around the state as peaceful protests are met with riot gear, and we stand in solidarity with nonviolent efforts for justice. See our full statement here.
“PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE” – FAN’S 9th ANNIVERSARY: We are celebrating our 9th anniversary as an organization on June 11, with the theme “Protect What You Love.” In tumultuous times with the concurrent viruses of racism and COVID-19, it is vital that we protect the communities and institutions that we love. COVID-19 exposed the fragile support systems that fail to guarantee our neighbors the right to economic stability, housing, food, safety, and healthcare. As our state considers its upcoming budget and the federal government considers new relief packages, we “Protect What We Love” by strengthening programs like SNAP, creating new programs like the Undocumented Worker Relief Fund, and advocating more funding for vulnerable communities, NOT cuts to social services. FAN is raising funds to support this ongoing work which will be matched up to $8500 through June 11.
YAKIMA FARMWORKER STRIKE: FAN supports the efforts of farm workers in Yakima who have been on strike for weeks for protections against COVID-19. Yakima is the county most affected by COVID-19 on the west coast, and the health of our food laborers is vital to the health of all. Volunteers have been delivering homemade masks and forming caravans to join the protestors this month. After a significant advocacy effort by many groups, the governor is requiring all food packing employers to provide PPE and sanitizing stations in all parts of the workplace.
REGIONAL SPRING SUMMITS: Each Spring, FAN hosts four regional summits in Puget Sound, Southwest WA, Eastern WA, and Central WA. This year we have moved those meetings online but continue to host our familiar structure of legislative and congressional updates with a focus on justice issues our advocates would like to work on in the coming year, local advocacy efforts, breakout groups by issue topic, plus discussions on COVID-19 and the 2020 Census this year.
NEW INTERN: LOPPW welcomes Evan Sadlon, who will be entering his senior year at UW-Madison. He is majoring in religion and history with a minor in political science. He is an ELCA member doing his internship remotely from home in Illinois. He is also preparing for the LSAT this summer. Evan’s focus will be on care for God’s creation.
ELCA: Rev. Dr. Roger Willer moderated an excellent discussion on the draft of “Government and Civic Engagement: Discipleship in a Democracy” for Wisconsin and the UP via LOPPW.
WEDNESDAY NOON LIVE: LOPPW interviewed Nurse Elizabeth “Buffy” Riley, who lives in Hayward, WI. Recently, Buffy chose to help at a hospital in New York City. We also welcomed UpNorthNews Journalist Julian Emerson, who followed Buffy’s story.
SAFER AT HOME: The Director assisted the six bishops to organize a letter made up of their input on the WI Supreme Court’s decision to lift the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Safer at Home Order, and made the letter known. LOPPW also participated in the Lt. Governor’s conference calls and one call with the DHS.
HUNGER: LOPPW had a meeting with a food pantry coordinator in Eau Claire and then interviewed her about how to start a food pantry on FB live the following week. We also participated in a conference call with hunger leaders around the state and wrote an action alert about the new stimulus bill.
CONTINUING EDUCATION: Pr. Crane also attended the Festival of Homiletics in between meetings and other work.
By Kathryn Mary Lohre
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?
Jeremiah 8:22
On May 24, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA hosted a memorial service for lives lost to COVID-19. In a time of physical distancing, the church ecumenical gathered online for “A Time to Mourn,” drawing thousands together to remember and lament. Grounded in our hope in the resurrection, the Rev. Elizabeth A Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, declared, “The body of Christ is COVID-positive.”
The very next day, a black man named George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Onlookers to his arrest quickly became protestors to his death, filming it for all the world to see. The footage of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man on the street until he became lifeless went viral. In their public statement, “Lynching Justice in America,” the officers of The United Church of Christ, asked “Is this how white supremacy prays? The original pandemic of our nation – structural racism and white supremacy – has reasserted once again itself as the deadliest virus among us.
Thus, as the country passed the grim marker of more than 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19 last week, the death of one man became the focus of our national attention. George Floyd’s last words, “Please, I can’t breathe,” are a stark reminder that a severe respiratory virus is not the only illness plaguing us. But we need to be clear in our diagnosis. This it is not about two unrelated ailments: COVID-19 and racism. Rather it is about how the coronavirus, as an acute disease, is aggravating many of our society’s underlying conditions in these, and other ways:
None of these conditions are new since the onset of COVID-19. They are more severe. We, the people of the United States, are very ill. We, the ecumenical family in the United States are very ill. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (I Corinthians 12:26). Whether we are experiencing the symptoms, or contributing to them, none of us are well. You know that, you have seen it, and you have reached out in love and solidarity with us. For this, we give thanks to God for the continued accompaniment of the ecumenical family on the pilgrimage of justice and peace.
Every day since George Floyd’s death, protestors have taken to the streets in cities across the country. Risking arrest and violence, and COVID-19, they are demanding justice – undeterred by those with evil, ulterior motives. Like they prophet Jeremiah, they are crying out, “Black lives matter!” Our churches – our clergy and lay people – are amongst them, and also supporting them with service, care, and sanctuary in our communities. The protestors are enraged by the death of George Floyd, yes, but their rage is also pointing to the 401 years of anti-black structural racism and white supremacy undergirding it, and creating barriers justice. We are at a tipping point as a nation. We feel this whether we are watching and working from self-quarantine, or seeing and joining in with our bodies in the streets.
The status quo has been weakened by COVID-19, and it is susceptible. The question we are wrestling with is, what role will the churches have in treating the underlying conditions – of making lasting change for building racial justice and dismantling white supremacy? The African Methodist Episcopal Church, for one, has been clear: “White supremacist business as usual, is no longer acceptable.” This is work we must engage within our churches, but also together, ecumenically. The Act Now to End Racism initiative of the National Council of Churches will be vital in these next steps, including its recently adopted work focused on white supremacy.
United in Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must undertake a comprehensive and aggressive treatment plan against structural racism and white supremacy, even and especially while we flatten the curve and seek treatment for COVID-19. Our life together in Christ depends on it because if you can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.
Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.
Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (General Fund) will be used where they are most needed.
Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:
On June 17, 2015, a white man named Dylann Roof entered a historic Black church in Charleston during a prayer meeting and opened fire, killing 9 people and wounding 3 more. Roof did not leave his motive in this shooting to our imaginations. He overtly and explictly espoused white supremacist beliefs and targeted the people of Mother Emanuel Church because of their race and commitment to civil rights.
He drew pictures of a white Jesus in his journal in prison.
I felt my stomach sink when I found out that Roof was raised in an ELCA church.
I imagine that the church Roof grew up in was full of good and faithful people. From what I know, many people there are horrified about what Roof did. Our church may not have taught him white supremacy directly, but like many of our churches and beloved institutions, it did not do enough to teach him to resist it. His formation within the ELCA was not enough to teach him to recognize the image of God in the people who would become his victims. As a board member for the Euro Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice(EDLARJ), I have had the opportunity to witness the stories of our siblings of color in the ELCA through our partnerships with the many ethnic specific and multi-cultural ministries within our church. Many of the stories of people of color within the ELCA include painful interactions with white church members. As much as we want to hope that racism is something relegated to the past, the truth is that it is widespread and ongoing.
Many of us who are white grew up with the idea that talking about race is impolite or “too political.” We prefer to focus on things we consider “spiritual” in church and ignore the daily lived realities of our siblings of color. Talking about racism is uncomfortable. It is easy to feel defensive as a white person when we are asked to examine our own biases or be honest about the racism our country was built on. But our lack of courage in confronting these issues and our refusal to dismantle racism has real consequences. White supremacy has a body count. Even though we did not pull the trigger on June 17, our complacency as white people has made us complicit, and we have blood on our hands. The Emmanuel Nine is a part of that.
The ELCA has called for June 17 to be a day of Commemoration for the Mother Emanuel Nine, recognizing Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel L. Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson as martyrs. This commemoration is one step in a process of unlearning our own biases and tearing down corrupt, racist systems. On June 17 we are to remember these victims and to be in prayer, as the Emmanuel 9 were when they were slaughtered.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel who organized alongside Dr. MLK during the Civil Rights Movement has been quoted as saying that when he marched, he felt like his legs and feet were praying. Prayer begins with reflection but true prayerfulness leads to action. Our prayers should lead us into accountability, reparations, and reconciliation. This might look like attending an anti-racism training, getting involved in an issue campaign affecting people of color, or giving financial support to the memorial set up to be built in remembrance of the Emanuel 9.
God asks that we love our neighbor, and love requires justice. Because white supremacy was created for and benefits white people, it is the responsibility of white people to take on the work of unlearning the racism we have internalized as part of our socialization in a racist society. We must actively pursue racial justice, and as white people we have a particular role; to remember, to repair, to right wrongs. Let June 17 be a day we recommit ourselves to this struggle and to loving our Black siblings and in word and deed.
God of All, it is your will for people to be whole and free. We give you thanks for the life and witness of the Emmanuel 9. Grant that their faithfulness may be an example for all of us as we work towards an end to racism in our churches and communities. Remove the barriers that stand in the way of our collective liberation. Put an end to white supremacy and other systems of oppression. Connect us with one another and empower us to build a world where all people are safe and loved. In the name of your Child, Jesus Christ, who lives and liberates with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Bio:
Elle Dowd (she/her/hers) is a bi-furious recent graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at 
Chicago, an intern at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Logan Square, and a candidate for ordained ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Elle has pieces of her heart in Sierra Leone, where her two children were born, and in St. Louis where she learned from the radical, queer, Black leadership during the Ferguson Uprising.
She was formerly a co-conspirator with the movement to #decolonizeLutheranism and currently works as a community organizer with the Faith and Justice Collective and SOUL, writes regularly for the Disrupt Worship Project, and facilitates workshops on gender and sexuality and the Church in both secular conferences and Christian spaces. Elle is a board member of the Euro Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice, an organization that partners with ethnic-specific and multi-cultural ministries in the ELCA.
By Rabbi Yehiel Poupko
Today, we, the Jewish People, have finished counting and fulfilling seven weeks of seven days, forty-nine days since Pesakh and the liberation from slavery in Egypt-Mitzrayim. As the Torah records, we were freed from slavery in the sight of all the world.
In Your love You lead the people You redeemed; In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode. The peoples hear, they tremble; Agony grips the dwellers in Philistia. Now are the clans of Edom dismayed; The tribes of Moab — trembling grips them; All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast. Terror and dread descend upon them; Through the might of Your arm they are still as stone — Till Your people cross over, O LORD, Till Your people cross whom You have ransomed. (Shemot-Ex. 15:13-16)
This evening we celebrate Shavuot-Pentecost. We will arrive at Mt. Sinai, where we will be given the Torah, where we will receive the Torah, and where God will reveal God’s self to us, as recorded in Exodus-Shemot 19 and 20. No one else was present at this revelation and at the giving of the Torah. The liberation from slavery is a universal experience witnessed by all the world. The giving of the Torah at Sinai is absolutely particular and parochial. Only the Jewish People were given the Torah. God and Israel were alone at Sinai, the Rabbis teach, like a bride and groom at their wedding. In order to achieve this absolutely particular, parochial, and private experience God gave the Torah to us in the desert. We were all alone with God. No one was there. No one else was given the Torah.
And then imagine the shock. No sooner than we at Sinai are all alone with the One God, in order to give the Torah to Israel, God begins to read the Torah out loud in the hearing of all Israel so that Moses-Moshe can write it down. What are amongst the very first words that Israel, in absolute intimacy with the One God hears read?
When in the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth…and God said, “Let us make the Adam (the human) in our image, after our likeness…” And God created the Adam in God’s image. In the image of God did God create the Adam. Male and female God created them.”
In a moment of absolute parochialism, an experience shared with no one, God declared to Israel, every person is created in the image of the One God. In this pristine moment of intimacy God declares the absolute universal principle. Every human is created in the Image.
We have a custom, a tradition, to stay up all night tonight, Shavuot, and to read, study, and learn the whole Torah from the beginning of Genesis-Bereshit to the end of Deuteronomy-Devarim. Like all Israel standing at Sinai, what will we experience? So, tonight in our moment of absolute privacy with the One God we will note, on this anniversary of our honeymoon with God at Mt. Sinai as we begin to read the whole Torah from the beginning of Genesis-Bereshit, that just two or three days ago one person created in the image of the One God, an African American, an American citizen, a resident of Minnesota, George Floyd, cried out, “Please, I can’t breathe!” At the same time, another person created in the image of God, for approximately ten minutes with his knee on George Floyd’s neck did not hear him speak these four words, “Please, I can’t breathe.” And tonight, we will also come to that verse in the Torah, and God artistically fashioned the human, dust from the earth, and breathed into the human’s nostrils the breath of life, and the human being became a breathing articulate being. So, tonight on Shavuot, in commemoration of our most particular of experiences, we will, like our parents long ago at Sinai, listen to the words of the Torah declare the most absolute universal of all realities. Every human being is created in the Tselem Elokhim, the Image of God. And into every human being has God breathed the breath of life. As we remember the last words of George Floyd, “Please, I can’t breathe!”
All good to each and every one of you,
Yehiel Poupko
YP/cm
Rabbi Yehiel Poupko is Rabbinic Scholar at the Jewish United Fund/ Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, ELCA congregations are encouraged to reaffirm their commitment to repenting for the sins of racism and white supremacy, which continue to plague this church. As part of the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, voting members adopted a resolution designating June 17 as a commemoration of the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine. Each year this day will be set aside as a time of penitence for ELCA members through study and prayer. An online ELCA prayer service, including leaders from across the church and Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton as preacher, is being planned for June 17, 2020, to mark this fifth anniversary. Below you will find a collection of resources that will assist you and your congregations during this time of prayerful reflection, remembrance, and recommitment. More is available at elca.org/emanuelnine.
The Emanuel Nine
On June 17, 2015, Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson – the Emanuel Nine – were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina. Our relationship to the shooter as well as two of the slain reminds us of both our complicity and our calling. Together we confess that we are in bondage to the sins of racism and white supremacy and, at the same time, we rejoice in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus who “has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14). May God continue to guide us as we seek repentance and renewal, and racial justice and reconciliation among God’s precious children.
Worship resources
The resources referenced below are provided to help congregations navigate this commemoration and day of repentance. Many of these materials were recently produced for this first year of marking the commemoration; among the others are helpful ELCA websites and documents as well as resources from our ecumenical partners.
In this time of pandemic, many of the resources will need to be adapted for virtual worship, online conversation, or individual reflection and devotion. You are invited to use them in whatever ways are most helpful for your local context.
Ecumenical partnership
For many decades, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the African Methodist Episcopal Church have been ecumenical partners through coalitions such as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). In the 1990s, our two churches entered into theological dialogue seeking full communion and co-published a congregational resource. Our churches have also engaged in various forms of cooperation and public witness together and with other ecumenical partners. We have participated together in the cross-racial dialogue of the Conference of National Black Churches since 2015 and in the NCC’s A.C.T. Now to End Racism initiative since 2018. As the Office of the Presiding Bishop tends to church-to-church relations nationally, vital relations have been cultivated across the church by bishops, rostered ministers and lay leaders, with key leadership from Lutherans of African descent. We continue to seek ways to deepen and expand our ecumenical partnership across various ministry contexts and communities as part of our ecumenical commitments and churchwide resolutions. You can access an overview of ecumenical relations between the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America here.
You can learn more about the ELCA’s Emanuel Nine commemoration and day of repentance along with accessing additional resources by visiting elca.org/emanuelnine.
