Today’s post is from Jim Honig, Pastor at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin.

The quirks of our family schedule meant that we were often on vacation in the middle of June. So, after a day of hiking or canoeing or biking, we’d be sitting around the table enjoying some grilled hamburgers and one of our sons would say, “Oh, Dad! By the way, Happy Father’s Day!” It was more a sign of busy fun than a lack of care.

For many families, and I suspect many congregations, Father’s Day carries a different feel and different expectations than Mother’s Day. Still, congregational leaders may feel the pressure to put this cultural holiday front and center. And that pressure may be accompanied by expectations to hold up some sentimental image of fatherly perfection.

If that’s the image you want to project, then stay away from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures where the icons of fatherhood are a bit tarnished. Abraham was at the altar with a knife over his head about to engage in child sacrifice. The young boy on the altar became the old man Isaac who was duped by the younger of his twin sons into giving away the family inheritance. Or how about Eli, the high priest who is depicted as unable to control his unruly sons who were reported to “lay with the women who served at the tent of the meeting.” What to do with the fact that Jesus’ own father is hardly mentioned after the infancy and childhood stories.

Add to this the fact that for far too long in the church, “Father” has been nearly the only way we refer to God. It’s language that is carved in the stone of the three ecumenical creeds. Is this what has led us to the popular view of God as an elderly man in a white robe with a long beard who sits on a cloud benignly watching over things?

So, if the biblical record and church history give us a mixed record of what to celebrate on Father’s Day, what shall we do?

For one thing, Father’s Day ought not to be first, front, or center, which is a general rule for any cultural holiday that we decide needs at least to be mentioned in worship. Let the lessons for the day govern the theme and the proclamation of the gospel for the day.

Then, let whatever mention there is of Father’s Day have the ring of truth and honesty about fathers. In fact, the imperfections of the fathers in our biblical stories remind us that all fathers bring their simul justus et peccator brokenness and baptismal new life to the fatherly vocation. We give thanks for the gift of those who have fathered well, whether they happen to be our biological fathers or not. We acknowledge the hurt of those who have not been fathered well. And we all confess our sin and brokenness. Such both/and acknowledgment might be made in the Confession and Forgiveness or in the Prayers of Intercession.

Maybe a hymn during distribution can give a nod to the fatherly vocation. Consider singing the hymn,“Our Father by Whose Name” (ELW #640, text by F. Bland Tucker). This short 3 stanza hymn offers a sung prayer for fathers, mothers, and children, and points us to the work of the Spirit who binds us together in bonds that are stronger than flesh and blood.

And maybe that’s most important gift to which Father’s Day points. Our relationships in the body of Christ and the mission to which we have been called together are front and center for the entire ordinary season; they are the gifts that we will celebrate and reflect on not for just one day, but for as long as we are church together.

By Alaide Vilchis Ibarra, Program Director for Migration Policy

“Because we understand each person to be made in God’s image — without distinction based on race, ethnicity, gender, economic class or country of origin — and have heard God’s call to serve the needs of our neighbor wherever she or he may be, we recognize ourselves to be in mission and ministry together for the benefit of all God’s people.”

-ELCA Social Statement, ‘‘Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture,’’ 1993

In the past few weeks, the Trump Administration announced they will begin separating all children from their families at the border, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) disclosed that it lost track of over 1,000 children that made the journey alone to the U.S. and the American Civil Liberties Union reported cases of abuse of children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during the Obama Administration.

The criminalization of children and families seeking protection in the U.S. is, unfortunately, nothing new. To respond to this crisis, the ELCA passed the AMMPARO Strategy in 2016 to accompany these vulnerable populations in their countries of origin, in transit and in the U.S. As this Administration continues to harshly target people who are seeking safety, here are four things you need to know and two ways to get involved.

• Central American children and families arriving in the U.S. are fleeing violence, impunity, lack of opportunities, environmental degradation and poverty. While policy makers and news organizations often refer to this population as undocumented, many children and families are lawfully seeking protection through our asylum system – a system formalized after World War II allowing people to seek protection in another country. Asylum applications from the northern part of Central America increased 58% globally from 2016 to 2017 as a result of political violence and oppression and continued high rates of murders, violence against young people and extortion. While ripping children from the arms of their parents at the border is being used as a “deterrence” mechanism for people to stop coming to the U.S., the Administration’s policy is hurting children who have already escaped terrible situations and are seeking safe heaven.

• Under current law, children from most countries who arrive in the U.S. alone or are separated from their parents are screened by an expert to ensure that they are not victims of trafficking or other crimes. This critical step to protect children from trafficking and abuse passed in 2008 with bipartisan support in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Many legislators today refer to provisions in this act as “loopholes” and are actively trying to strip protections for these children in order to detain and deport them as soon as possible. For example, the Securing America’s Future Act(H.R. 4760) and the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act in the House of Representatives would make it easier to deport children without proper screening for child trafficking or abuse if passed. ELCA Advocacy has repeatedly stood against efforts to take away such protections for these children.

• After arriving at the border,most unaccompanied children are put in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and may eventually be released to the care of a sponsor in the community while awaiting their immigration process. On April 26, 2018 an ORR official testified that between October and December 2017 the U.S. Government had reached out to 7,600 sponsors and could not determine the location of 1,475 children during the period in which the calls were made. These children were not lost in U.S. Government custody but rather ORR was unable to reach them by phone when the calls were placed. Unlike the Department of Homeland Security, ORR has the child welfare expertise to properly evaluate children. ORR must be provided the resources needed to follow up with all cases.

• Despite being the largest law enforcement agency in the country, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lacks the requisite accountability and measures for transparency. In Fiscal Year 2018, Congress allocated $16.357 billion to CBP, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. CBP’s consistent increase in federal funding, however, does not come with a corresponding increase in oversight when the agency engages in abuse or excessive use of force. As the ACLU report on the abuse of children in CBP custody and the killing of Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales, who was shot and killed by a CBP officer, highlight, accountability and transparency are key in ensuring the safety and humane treatment, not only of migrants but of border communities. Congress and the Administration must provide for oversight of CBP to ensure accountability and transparency.

As policies continue to target vulnerable children and families, people of faith of have been leading the charge in providing services and advocating alongside these communities. Here are two ways in which you can help children and families facing these policies.

• Join a Network that accompanies these children and families. The ELCA has the AMMPARO strategy in which congregations can form part of a welcoming congregations network around the country. These congregations commit to accompany children in their community, pray and advocate for migrant children and families. Lutherans can also learn more about these issues from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
• Advocate. Advocate. Advocate. Whether in the budget process or through stand-alone bills, Congress can provide much-needed oversight and regulation to policies that are hurting children and families. They must hear your voice. Join our Action Network and check our Facebook page and twitter to stay current on these policies.

By Ruth Ivory Moore, ELCA Advocacy Program Director for Environment and Energy.

“He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 10:27, NRSV

The intersessional meetings for COP24  held in Bonn, Germany from April 1 – May 10^th were supposed to produce a strong foundation for development of a robust rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement, but this was not the outcome of the intersessional. The parties were not able to achieve sufficient progress to be assured of the upcoming COP24 success.

Therefore, a second intersessional meeting must be held pre-COP24. The intersessional will be held in Bangkok in September to resume technical discussions. Key issues lacking sufficient progress include: climate finance matters; the mechanism for raising the commitment of parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (NDCs); and transparency issues that cover all aspects of the Agreement. These issues are critical to developing a strong rulebook coming out of COP24. The parties also need to determine how to deliver negotiation/legal text for the rulebook in Bangkok. Consideration may be given to having expert and informal workshops to help resolve points that are barriers ahead of the meeting in Bangkok. They also need to determine how to operationalize the technical discussions of the Talanoa Dialogue into political principles for facilitating rulebook development.

While the level of progress made during the intersessional was a disappointment, determination and resolve replace concerns when one understands just who we are working on behalf of in this process.Created in the image of God and as stewards of all of creation, we are working on behalf of:

Those whose lives are impacted by flood waters;

Our children;

Those working to reduce emissions;

All of humanity;

And Animals and plants.

We are working on behalf of our neighbors and all of creation. “Such caring, serving, keeping, loving, and living by wisdom sum up what is meant by acting as God’s stewards of the earth. God’s gift of responsibility for the earth dignifies humanity without debasing the rest of creation. We depend upon God, who places us in a web of life with one another and with all creation.” (ELCA social statement: “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice,” 1993) We are reminded that:

“The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these…”

Mark 12:31, NRSV

Don’t panic!  Faith Lens is only on a hiatus during the summer.  The next Faith Lens will be posted on August 28 for Sunday, September 2.

By Ruth Ivory Moore, Program Director for Environment and Energy

“Nations should seek their own common good in the context of the global common good. International bodies should work for the welfare of all nations.”

                                                                                           ELCA social statement: “For Peace in God’s World” (1995)

Implemented by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the first time this Spring, the Talanoa Dialogue exemplifies the message of seeking the common good and welfare for all nations presented in the 1995 ELCA social statement: “For Peace in God’s World.”

The Talanoa Dialogue grew out of a larger process related to the Paris Agreement (PA) on climate change. In December 2015, countries around the world reached a landmark agreement to address the impacts of climate change via the Paris Agreement as part of the UNFCCC meeting. The aim of the PA “is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The PA “brings all nations into a common framework to undertake efforts to combat climate change, adapt to its effects, and support developing countries in their effort.”

Since the adoption of the PA in 2015, 197 countries have signed on and are now embarking upon a to develop a rulebook for its implementation. The process includes a meeting of the parties of UNFCCC at the Conference of the Parties (COP) annually in November or December, with each led by a different president. The most recent COP (COP23) was held in 2017 with Fiji (represented by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama) serving as the president. At this meeting, Prime Minister Bainimarama instituted a new means of negotiations to replace the facilitative dialogue process that had been in use: the Talanoa Dialogue process.

Talanoa “is a traditional word used in Fiji and across the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue. The process of Talanoa involves the sharing of ideas,skills and experiences through storytelling. During the process, participants build trust and advance knowledge through empathy and understanding. Blaming others and making critical observations are inconsistent with building mutual trust and respect, and therefore inconsistent with the Talanoa concept. Talanoa fosters stability and inclusiveness in dialogue by creating a safe space that embraces mutual respect for a platform for decision making for a greater good.”

Leading up to the annual COP meetings, the UNFCCC hosts at least one meeting typically held in the spring of the year in Bonn, Germany where the parties’ current mandate is to negotiate terms of the rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement. This pre-COP meeting is known as an intersessional meeting. The intersessional meeting for COP24 was held from April 30 through May 10, 2018.  The  Talanoa Dialogue process was used for the first time at this intersessional meeting session.

The Talanoa Dialogue closing plenary was held on May 9th, and featured opportunities for parties and non-parties to offer interventions. A few common themes resonated: appreciation to the Fiji COP23 presidency for implementing this form of discussion; asks for continuation of these types of dialogues through COP24 and beyond; clarification on how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on 1.5^o to be released in October of this year will be used in these discussions; and further discussion on how  these technical discussions will be operationalized into a political path forward to shape ambition for addressing climate change. It was universally agreed that the Talanoa Dialogue provided a comfortable space for parties and non-parties to build trust and to share knowledge and experiences in a storytelling manner.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama ended the plenary with his story. He stated that he took this job to make a difference because he was heavily influenced by Fiji’s experience of being hit with two cyclones this year in the span of 8 days. He made two pleas to those in the plenary on behalf of the people he had just visited a week earlier: (1) a call to action; and (2) to get the Paris rulebook done on time.

It is truly a time to act on the environmental degradation caused by the warming planet as our calling to protect all of God’s creation. As the ELCA social statement “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice” (1993) states, “Christian concern for the environment is shaped by the Word of God spoken in creation, the Love of God hanging on a cross, the Breath of God daily renewing the face of the earth.” (A Social Statement on: Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice) The Talanoa Dialogue is one tool that allows us to carry out our work as stewards of God’s creation.

¹  In June 2017, the United States gave notification of its intention to withdraw from the PA unless more favorable conditions can be negotiated. However, the PA process dictates that withdrawal will take at least three years.

Words Matter.

If there anything I learned in my last 5 years in Lutheran academia is that confessions are central. Words matter. They shape realities and transform both perception and perspective. Words are powerful.

Even if they sound made up –or effectively are- words have the power to reclaim identities and shape worlds. For example: Latinamerican. You may read this and think that someone let a typo slip, repeatedly, throughout this blog post. But I chose to use Latinamerican, rather than Latin American, or Latin-American for a reason. Other than Peruvian, latinoamericano –a person from Latinoamerica- is one of the labels I would use “back home” –back home meaning back in a Spanish speaking country- and in Spanish, this word has a unifying sense to it. We may be from different countries but we are one Latinamerica. Latinoamerica unida.

Latin-American, or Latin American on the other hands is defined by Merriam-Webster as: based in or relating to the American countries south of the U.S. where people speak Spanish and Portuguese. You can see how this definition centralizes the United States to define a group of people.

I’m not here for the colonizing narrative, so I hope you can see why I would reject Latin American/Latin American as stubbornly as I do. Every label, every name, every hat, and every mask we pick and accept for ourselves shapes us. That is the power words have in our everyday life.

To be in the United States, to be an immigrant in the United States, to be a Latinamerican immigrant in the United States, to be a queer Latinamerican immigrant in the United States, to be a queer Latinamerican immigrant man in the United States, is quite a thing. As one embodying all these experiences I learned this: words matter. Words can have an almost magical character; they evoke, invoke, revoke and reframe realities into our experiences, be it personal or communal. Words are powerful.

As I first learned to literally speak new words, I learned and relearned how words hold power -power to acquire, power to release, power to create, and power to destroy. Of course this sounds esoteric when framed like this. Instead, I could have just said that I learned enough English to buy food at a supermarket, words to bless and be a witness to God’s power, to make a phone call or send a letter, enough to have a conversation and make new friends, but also enough language to tell people to stay away, to not harm me or my family, to denounce racism or queerphobia.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new code to communicate, you know how empowering and transforming these landmark moments are.

I remember my first word, the first time I truly spoke from my heart in the English language. It happened while hanging out with my friend Donna a good 17 years ago, were instead of calling her by her name to get her attention, I just said “YO!”

Yo.

YO.

It startled me, it surprised me, as this was the first word I spoke without translating, without overthinking which way to say what. Sadly I don’t think I’ve used “yo!” since then –at least not quite like that first time- but I fondly remember it as my first step in a journey to reclaim my voice.

When speaking about, well, *speaking*, sometimes we can see this as something passive, but for people who have lost their voice, for those who have ever been considered “less than”, for the other, for the margins, speaking is not only active but intentional, its sacred, because none of us had the privilege to use our voice as a given. We had to reclaim it. Word by word, space by space, claiming that those words, and their power, are important enough to risk ridicule, violence, or indifference. Every time words are put forward, we assert our place, we claim our seat at the table, not as a guest, but as a host, as someone who will be heard.

So when being all of these things, when one has all of these words, names, masks, hats, applied to them, when one has words to say, it is expected that something will happen. You see, people are afraid of this. This magic, this power to reveal what is preferred to be kept hidden, unnamed and unknown.

I have been created in the image of God, I am not just creation, and I have been lovingly, carefully, and powerfully crafted in the image of my creator for a purpose in this journey. Why is this important to say? Because words matter, words hold magic, they hold power. Words are the difference between “You’re wonderfully created” and “You’re wonderfully created in the image of God” where one confesses that I am part of creation, and the other, that I’m not only creation, but also co-creator in Christ, your equal, your sibling in Christ, created in the image of God.

Words, as elements that hold power, can be weaponized, and meanings can, and will surreptitiously be used to hold power over one another. Every day we see how #BlackLivesMatter is turned to #AllLivesMatter, how queer is used both as an identifier with rich meaning, and as a slur, how immigrant is used both to disenfranchise people of color and to elevate Europeans who came and keep coming to the United States.

Words matter, they hold power, and they also withhold power when we neglect to say them. When we withhold the blessing of community to others, when we neglect to name others as our equals, as image of God, as co-creators in Christ, we are unable to confess our sins for what they are.

As a person who holds all these names, all these words, all this power, I have to remind myself constantly that even though the church means well, I have the power to change it into something else. I hold the power to create a church where I’m not just an asset, or a blessing, or a resource, but the Church, where I am a child of God created in the image of God, co-creator in Christ. I hold this power to call the church into a revival, and hold it accountable for constantly calling me brave, fierce, or beautiful, but not claiming me as sibling, child of God, or one of their own.

I know the Church is constantly transforming, reforming, and becoming this community, where the power of creation is spoken into reality through all of us. To all my kin, to all my people, to all people of color, immigrants, to all my queer folk, to all my people who are still figuring out their place in the Church, from parishes to synods to seminaries -you have power in every word you speak, you hold magic within you, you, as co-creator in Christ can speak this church into reality, into power, into home.

You are beautifully, wonderfully created in the image of God, co-creator in Christ and bringer of realities, not only into the church but into this world. Words matter. Speak them, slowly, with an accent, mispronounced even, but with the confidence that your words hold power, and in speaking them, you are speaking God’s kingdom into reality. Words matter. Hold your place. You are the Church.

Bio

Cesar Abel Arroyo Traverso -prefers to go by Abel- is a candidate for ordination in the Grand Canyon Synod, originally from Lima, Peru. He lives in Phoenix Arizona with his husband Jeff, where he misses the ocean and keeps learning what “dry heat” actually means. Abel is a graduate from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where he got his M.Div and emphases on both African American and Latinx studies.

Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA

Warm-up Question

• When it comes to your faith, who have been some of the most important people in your life?
• What about them has made such a difference?

How Do You Know?

In 1651 a London tailor named John Reeve, claiming to have received a special message from God, started a small Protestant sect along with his cousin and group spokesman, Lodowicke Muggleton.  They were known as the Muggletonians, and a recent online article from National Geographic outlines how this staunchly anti-scientific group mapped the cosmos.

Against all evidence to the contrary, the Muggletonians insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe around which the sun, moon, planets and stars revolve. They based their views on a literal reading of the Bible, and yet now, thanks to the knowledge we have gained through scientific inquiry and space-age technology, we have a vastly different, more accurate picture of the universe.  Among other things, this story highlights what remains a lively debate between faith and science, especially when it comes to the question, how do we “know” what is real and true.

Discussion Questions

• How does science help us to know about our world?  What sorts of questions do you think are best answered by a scientific approach?
• What kinds of questions are best answered by faith and Scripture?
• Do you think one of these approaches is more true than the other? Why or why not?
• How do we come to really know another person? Is the “data” about them (height, weight, eye color, ethnic background, etc.) enough?
• How, do you think, we really come to know who God is?

The Holy Trinity/First Sunday After Pentecost

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

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

Gospel Reflection

Sometimes it is easy to forget that there is more to the third chapter of John than verse 16.  Few verses are as well known or have such wide appeal, and that can make it difficult to really “hear” the rest of this reading, because, like gravity, John 3:16 pulls us forward.  Yet, this week is Holy Trinity Sunday, so what might this passage say to us about who God is?

For starters, it is helpful to begin “in the beginning” with the Prologue to John’s gospel account.  Just as John 3:16 is a summary of the “good news,” the first 18 verses in chapter 1 are John’s summary of what is about to unfold.  Here it is, for instance, that we hear of the living Word who existed with God before even time.  “All things came into being through him,” John says.  This Word then “became flesh and lived among us” in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He is, as John tells us, “God the only Son” who is close to the Father’s heart, and who makes the Father known.

Having the Prologue in view, we are ready to listen to Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.  Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, comes to Jesus secretly one night seeking greater understanding of who Jesus is and what he is about.  “Rabbi,” he says, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”  The great irony here is that Jesus has indeed “come from God,” but in a way that transcends what Nicodemus has in mind.

Likewise, Jesus’ response to Nicodemus goes beyond his expectations.  What emerges is a glimpse of the role of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in the double-sided new birth of baptism.  For baptism both brings us into the visible community of Jesus’ followers and is the means through which we receive the new life of the Spirit welling.  As Jesus explains to Nicodemus, without being born from above (or born anew), one cannot even see God’s kingdom, let alone get into it.

What’s more, it isn’t simply that this gift of new birth is being poured out upon one group of people – it isn’t just for the children of Israel, for example.  “The wind (or the Spirit) blows where it chooses,” Jesus says in verse 8. You cannot lock the Holy Spirit up.  As last week’s celebration of Pentecost, and indeed the whole book of Acts, demonstrates, no one human family, tribe, organization, or nation can contain the Holy Spirit; the Spirit moves and works faith where and when the Spirit wills.

Finally, to Nicodemus’ continued puzzlement, Jesus returns to the question of who he truly is and how he knows these things he is talking about.  Here again, John 1:1-2 and 1:18 are in the background.  Pointing Nicodemus back to the story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:1-9, Jesus then points him forward to the cross.  The cross, an instrument of torture and death, will become both the greatest display of the Father’s love for the world, and the means by which the Son will bring the world, and us, salvation and new life.

It is important to remember that, historically, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity did not take shape as the result of logical deductions about an esoteric, abstract truth.  Rather, our faith in a triune God is rooted in the concrete experience of a God who loves and heals us in a triune way. Christians come to “know” God as Trinity in the relational experience of how God is for us.  This week we get a glimpse of this as the work of the whole Trinity is displayed in John 3:  God the Father, Creator of all, sends the Son into the world. Jesus, the Son of God and Redeemer, is lifted up on the cross for the sake of the world. The Spirit of God, the Sanctifier, blows through our lives bringing new life.

Discussion Questions

• When you hear “the Holy Trinity,” what do you think of? How would you explain the Trinity to a friend? How has the Trinity been explained to you?
• When it comes to trying to understand the Trinity, do you think “mystery” is a helpful idea? Mystery as in, “The Trinity is something we cannot fully understand and we are okay with that.” Are you comfortable with mystery? Why or why not?
• Look over Martin Luther’s explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in the Small Catechism. Make a list of the ways in which God is “for us” as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. How does this help us to know the Triune God better?

Activity Suggestion

Watch the short video, “St. Patrick’s Bad Analogies.” You can find it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw     Do any of the analogies that you’ve heard before appear in this clip?  How can making God “understandable” through seemingly helpful images and analogies sometimes lead to unintended consequences?  As the clip makes clear, every analogy has limits, is the definition which Patrick gives at the end of the clip better?  Why or why not?

Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving Trinity, through water and the Holy Spirit, you name us and claim us and make us your own.  Thank you for the gift of new life and for the invitation to experience that life in the community of your church.  In your love, call deeply to our hearts.  Guide our thoughts and our understanding that we may come to know and love you as you reveal yourself to be, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  Amen.

By Pastor Betty Landis, member of Grace Lutheran Church, Evanston, IL

“The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)

My excitement has caused me to wake up before dawn on a Monday morning. After months of meetings, training sessions, phone calls, rallies, social media posts and paperwork, I soon will board a bus from Evanston to Springfield, Illinois. It is the second week of an intensive six weeks leading up to the launch of the revived, reignited Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Last week, the 40 Days of Nonviolent Moral Fusion Direct Action began with a rallies and demonstrations in 39 states and the District of Columbia focused on Somebody’s Hurting Our People: Child Poverty, Women and People with Disabilities. National campaign co-chairs the Revs. William J. Barber II and Liz Theoharis were among hundreds arrested nationwide in the most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in U.S. history, kicking off six weeks of direct action demanding new programs to fight systemic poverty and racism, immediate attention to ecological devastation and measures to curb militarism and the war economy.

Today, our focus is on the connection between Systemic Racism, Poverty and Voter Suppression. We will visit our legislators to demand an end to racist gerrymandering and a reversal of state laws that prevent municipalities from raising minimum wages. Just days after our President referred to undocumented immigrants as “animals” who “aren’t people,” our protest will also demand a clear and just immigration system that strengthens our democracy and provides a timely citizenship process that guarantees the right to vote. We have been asked to accompany and be witnesses for the Illinois Fight for 15 coalition – the leaders of today’s nonviolent moral fusion direct action. One of our principles is always to follow the lead of those who are most affected. Another covenant reminds us that our political, economic and moral movement is not from above, but from below – building up the power of people and state-based movements.

Two years ago, I was invited by my colleague, now my pastor, Rev. Daniel Ruen, to participate in the Moral Mondays protests focused upon changing Illinois’ unjust tax structure in order to allow for a people- and planet-first state budget. After two arrests, multiple Kingian nonviolence training sessions, and significant faith-based community organizing efforts, I am more convinced that ever that this is a critical time for people of faith to put their bodies on the line for their neighbors in need. The PPC is a natural progression made even more necessary by the increasing incidents in racism, homophobia, xenophobia, gun violence/militarism, ecological destruction, wage disparities and white nationalism – often promoted by religious extremists.

It has been an honor to support Rev. Ruen’s leadership, my fellow Grace Lutheran members and Evanston’s interfaith community members in preparing trained, passionate and creative folks to join this movement in whatever way they are called by the Holy Spirit. I am grateful to be able to continue in the covenant God made with me in Holy Baptism which includes discipleship that “strive[s] for justice and peace in all the earth.” Like the on-going nature of discipleship, this is not just a finite moment. The PPC is a long-term, creative, non-partisan, nonviolent movement of faithful people intentionally opening themselves to God’s will done on earth as in heaven. Won’t you join us? It is my prayer that you will gladly share with your children and your grandchildren that you did!

Today’s post comes from Rev. Christopher Laughlin, chaplain at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

I was an Army Reserve chaplain and a parish pastor; I served a small, rural parish in Michigan. I currently serve as a basic training battalion chaplain at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; I’m one of three chaplains who lead worship at the “Liturgical Protestant Service.”

Attendance at this service fluctuates between 50 and 200, and it’s the youngest, most diverse congregation I can imagine; it is truly representative of “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). While there are a few soldiers and families who are permanently assigned to Fort Leonard Wood in attendance, most are trainees who will attend our service for less than 22 weeks (many for only 9) while they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT) and/or Advanced Individual Training (AIT). They hail from every state and nearly every continent.

Some attend because this service is the most comfortable for them, coming from a liturgical or sacramental background (this was why I attended a similar service while in BCT and AIT). Others attend because they prefer hymns over praise music. Still others attend because of the relationship that they form with their chaplain, or because they are exploring different Christian traditions of worship. The singing fluctuates wildly in quality, as trainees are often hoarse from “being motivated” (yelling) all week.

Then there are those trainees who attend because congregations and individuals from all over the North/West Lower Michigan Synod send me cookies for the fellowship time which follows worship each week. This has been a real gift to the trainees – those cookies are a taste of home and comfort in what is, for many of them, the most difficult and trying time in their lives.

My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of the 2^ndBattalion, 48^thInfantry Regiment, the 3^rdChemical Brigade, the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, the Training and Doctrine Command, the Chaplain Corps, or the United States Army.

The Farm Bill is an omnibus legislation that helps to fund our national and global food programs. Reauthorized every five years, the Farm Bill is among legislation that Congress needs to pass this year. To learn more, check out the Farm Bill Resource and ELCA Advocacy’s Farm Bill recommendations here. 

The House Agriculture Committee passed H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Farm Bill reauthorization bill) on April 25, 2018 by a vote of 26-20. This marks one of the first times that a Farm Bill passed out of committee on a party line vote. The Farm Bill is usually one of the most bi-partisan bills in Congress with the last vote being a 68 in favor, 32 in opposition result in the Senate, and a 251 in favor and 161 in opposition in the House of Representative. ELCA Advocacy opposes the House bill in its current form for several reasons detailed below.

Nutrition

The House bill includes new work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps). These requirements put many people at greater risk of hunger as they divert funding away from direct food assistance to pay for ineffective work mandates. There are already work requirements under current law and creating additional requirements will lead to unnecessary and complicated burdens, which come in the form of added bureaucracy and verification that ultimately reduce the effectiveness of SNAP. Mandating additional work requirements, education and job training will create more barriers for low income people who are already struggling to free themselves of the cycle of poverty. We urge Lutherans to advocate to their representatives for protection of SNAP programs without hidden cuts to benefits, to ensure our neighbors have access to food.

Environmental

The House Farm Bill appears to be a mixed bag: it creates positive changes to help farmers, but there are uncertainties that linger over some of the benefits of some changes. The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is expected to be eliminated and some funding will instead be diverted to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). These programs help improve farming practices through reducing fertilizer use, better management of manure and building fences to manage livestock movement so as to keep them away from streams.

Additionally, the bill redesigns the structural funding of programs, and switches many of them from permanent to temporary or a one-time funding. These programs include the Conservation Stewardship Program which is rolled into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program; the Rural Energy for America Program; the Biomass Crop Assistance Program; and the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical & Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance.  Some of the benefits for the Farm Bill includes the way it boosts other items such as agricultural trade, crop insurance and creation of a national vaccine bank to fight foot-and-mouth disease.

The forest management provisions would be changed to allow for bigger and faster forest-thinning projects under the current exclusion from certain reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with the purpose being to reduce wildfire risk or address disease and insect infestation. This revision also includes the elimination of the requirement for a consultation under the Endangered Species Act as long as the listed species are deemed not to be harmed. It is too early to fully determine the impact of the changes. We must proceed cautiously, to provide the protections needed for our farmers and farms while doing these in an environmentally safe manner.

International Food Aid Programs

The House bill makes some important reforms to the international food programs, including authorizing the Food for Peace program to purchase food commodities from local and regional farmers, something we have advocated for a long time. Additionally, the bill removes the 15% requirement for monetization of food commodities, which will allow implementing organizations to utilize the appropriate range of tools and interventions depending on what’s needed and the context, such as food vouchers and cash transfers. These changes will increase efficiencies in international food aid programs. Unfortunately, the bill does not make any changes to the cargo preference requirement (a regulation that requires at least 50 percent of the nation’s overseas-bound food aid to be transported by U.S.-flag ships), something that we would like Congress to address in order to save on the cost of shipping and enable more food to reach the people who need it most.

What’s Next

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to release a bi-partisan Farm Bill later this month that will build on the successes of the bill enacted in 2014. It is expected that this will be an improvement over its House companion. The House is expected to vote on their Farm Bill during the second week of May. We ask you to urge your members of Congress to write a bipartisan Farm Bill that will pass in both chambers.

Lutheran Presence

Christ taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for our daily bread. Martin Luther’s expansive understanding of daily bread includes not only what nourishes our bodies, but also the natural resources, labor and the economy, including the food supply chain. Advocacy for good policies in the Farm Bill responds to God’s love for us through active love for neighbor by shaping policy that will provide daily bread for people, care for creation and contribute to a just world where all are fed.