ELCA Blogs

Erin Haugen, Legislative Intern

I grew up in a quiet, safe, suburban neighborhood in Minnesota. I was fortunate enough to live in a place where crime and exploitation seemed like things that happened far away, to other people. To paint you a picture, some of the most common ‘crimes’ that were committed in my community were bored high-school kids throwing toilet paper on their friends’ front lawns or loitering in the McDonald’s parking lot past the city-mandated curfew. Needless to say, incarceration and exploitation were things that I rarely thought about, because I was privileged enough to not have to do so.

Part of understanding privilege is recognizing that while some, like me, have the ability to go through their day-to-day routines without worrying about the realities of incarceration or exploitation, others can’t go a day without being affected by them in some way. The NAACP reports that 1 out of every 31 adults in the United States are under some form of correctional control– whether it be prison, jail, or probation.

At a criminal justice reform briefing in January, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) noted that 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated people are in the United States, while we make up only 5 percent of the world’s population. He commented that it is a “great global shame” that this is the case. But incarceration (imprisonment) and exploitation (treating someone poorly in order to reap benefits) aren’t only present here in the United States. The Department of State estimates that there areover 20 million victims of human trafficking across the world, and factors like international trade agreements, environmental degradation, predatory behaviors toward the poor, and labor violence also contribute to exploitation around the world.

At the same briefing that Senator Booker spoke at, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for Christians to take a stance on criminal justice reform, declaring, “if you believe that every person is endowed by their creator, that endowment doesn’t stop at sentencing.” This faithful conviction is echoed in the ELCA’s social statement “The Church and Criminal Justice: Hearing the Cries.” As Lutherans, we recognize that we have yet to respond adequately to the cries of our brothers and sisters facing the criminal justice system.

On Friday, April 17 hundreds of Christians will arrive in Washington, DC to take part in discussion and advocacy surrounding mass incarceration and exploitation during Ecumenical Advocacy Days. Participating in events like EAD provide the Christian community an opportunity to confess this failure together as well as a broader opportunity to hear from those who have been impacted by the system, to learn about the ways that society continues to oppress incarcerated and exploited individuals, and to work together to address these challenges.

While I may have grown up without the worry of crime or exploitation affecting my life, the reality is that too many of my brothers and sisters in Christ experience the exact opposite. I am excited to engage with the Christian community next weekend for worship, education, and advocacy. I am excited for the chance to examine the ways that my upbringing affected my interactions with the justice system. I am excited to learn about ways to create positive changes in the lives of incarcerated and exploited persons. Above all, I am excited to be part of an active Christian community living out God’s call to care for all who cry out.

Will you be at EAD? Reach out to me on Twitter: @erinmhaugen or tweet @elcaadvocacy with your pictures and reflections!

ELCA Advocacy

Lutherans are taking action across the country! Below you will find our monthy State Advocacy Newsletter. Share with your friends!

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Washington, D.C.

Advocacy Director, Stacy Martin

www.elca.org/advocacy

Congressional budget resolution: This year, the U.S. Congress is working to pass a full budget

– an achievement that has not been accomplished for more than five years. As each chamber of Congress looks to combine their budget resolutions this month, ELCA Advocacy will be pursuing ways to enact faithful budget priorities to promote: holistic values that help raise families out of poverty, policies that protect our humanitarian efforts at our borders and abroad, and efforts to strengthen our national commitment to protecting God’s creation. Please join us in this effort as we hold our elected officials accountable. Visit our Action Center today!

U.S. releases climate change pledge: ELCA Advocacy applauds the recent announcement of the United States’ pledge to set new goals addressing the issue of climate change. This pledge includes a commitment to protecting public health by reducing pollution and promoting investment in abundant clean energy sources. The U.S. pledge is an important step toward the upcoming international agreement in Paris that will include similar commitments to addressing climate change. Sign our interfaith climate petition calling on the U.S. government to fulfill its commitment to addressing climate change at the upcoming United Nations climate negotiations.

Children’s Health Insurance Program: Last month, the ELCA Advocacy Network took action to help renew health care access for low-income children through the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Concerns for the program were flagged after its funding was threatened in ongoing budget resolution negotiations. After receiving waves of messages and calls from Lutheran advocates and members of the faith community, the funding successfully passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming bipartisan margin (392-37).

Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reintroduced the Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act in Congress, which would appoint needed legal counsel in immigration courts for unaccompanied children and people with developmental issues. Lack of access to counsel has resulted in children, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants having to represent themselves in court. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an ELCA partner, has strongly supported the legislation since it was first introduced last summer. As a church that recognizes the dignity of all God’s children, the ELCA supports the bill and its efforts to give vulnerable migrants the right to tell their stories in front of a judge.

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New York, NY

Advocacy Director, Dennis Frado

U.N. Commission on the Status of Women: Last month, the 59^th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women took place in New York March 9-20 with a focus on achievements and remaining challenges since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action in 1995. LOWC hosted 30 Lutheran delegates (six international Lutheran World Federation and 24 ELCA members) and organized or collaborated in events including:

•”Faith, Justice, & Culture” meet-up, led by ELCA Young Adults;

•”Silent No More: How Can Faith Communities Address Sexism and Gender Based Violence,” led by the ELCA Young Adult cohort;

•”Three Lives of Women 20 years after Beijing,” in collaboration with the World Council of Churches with reflections from Lutheran women from Palestine, Kenya and the United States;

•”Local People, Global Impact: The role of community-based organizations in the fight against the Ebola virus” (in West Africa), in collaboration with Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee’s foundation, with testimonies of the impact of the Ebola virus on communities – especially in Liberia – and what local women are doing about it; and

•Stocktaking event: “The role of faith in realizing the promise of Beijing” (toward gender equality) in collaboration with the ACT Alliance and the World Council of Churches.

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California

Mark Carlson, Lutheran Office of Public Policy- CA 

www.loppca.org

The Policy Council of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California met at the Southwest California Synod Office in Glendale with excellent attendance. Discussed was priority legislation related to child poverty (the bill repealing the CalWORKS/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families “Maximum Family Grant” limit for new babies passed its first committee) and care for creation (a new climate change law expanding the renewable energy portfolio, reducing fossil energy in transportation, and improving building energy efficiency faces its first committee April 7). There was moral deliberation on proposed assisted-dying legislation and alarm over the latest bizarre manifestation of direct democracy: initiative language submitted, but unlikely to qualify, that calls for shooting sodomites – recalling for some the murder of a gay couple in Redding in 1999, after which the killer asserted in a TV news interview that “It is not a crime to shoot a sodomite.”

Early childhood policy: The annual “Watercooler Conference” included an award presented to ELCA member Carol Larson, CEO of the Packard Foundation. Nobel economics laureate James Heckman of the University of Chicago stressed that compassion and economic efficiency converge in investments in early childhood.

Upcoming:

• Participation in a showing of ELCA World Hunger-supported “Thirsty for Justice,” on the human right to water, to San Francisco Friends School 8th graders visiting CalEPA

• Helping with the pre-Detroit Sierra Pacific Synod youth gathering (with Ryan Cumming of ELCA World Hunger)

• Organizing events for the Rev. Joe and Joyce Ellwanger, civil rights/justice leaders (“Strength for the Struggle”) in Northern California, including Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

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Colorado

Peter Severson, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry – Colorado

www.lam-co.org

Minimum wage: The Colorado General Assembly recently considered legislation to raise the state minimum wage from the current $8.23/hour. House Concurrent Resolution 1001 would have put a measure before Colorado voters in 2016 to approve an incremental increase up to $12.50/hour by 2020. The resolution failed to achieve the required two-thirds yes vote, but citizen petitioners have vowed to gather signatures to put the measure on the 2016 ballot anyway.

Other legislation: Director Peter Severson recently testified at a hearing in support of House Bill 1258, which would establish a family and medical leave insurance program in Colorado. Currently, only 12 percent of Colorado workers have access to paid leave to care for new babies, seriously ill family members, or themselves. Lutheran Advocacy Ministry–Colorado continues to support other bills related to child-support payment benefits for low-income families, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and increasing the cap on appropriations for school lunches.

In the news: Labor activists held a press conference on the Capitol steps in support of raising the Colorado minimum wage (see photo). A House committee also recently killed a broadly-worded “religious freedom” bill similar to the one in Indiana after a press conference in which many political, business and religious leaders spoke out against it, including the Rev. Brian Rossbert, interim associate pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints Lutheran Church.

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Illinois

Jennifer DeLeon, Lutheran Advocacy – Illinois www.lutheranadvocacy.org

Budgeting: The proposed Illinois budget for fiscal year 2016 includes drastic cuts to human services programs that would affect people at-risk, including those served by our partner member Lutheran Social Services of Illinois.

Last year Lutheran Social Services of Illinois served more than 73,000 people through 190 programs at 85 sites across Illinois. The demographics of the clients served generally reflect those of Illinois’ population, with one important exception – more than 80 percent of clients report an annual household income under $15,000, compared to just 12 percent of all Illinois households. The organization provides critical programs for the state’s most vulnerable residents, including foster care, adoption, mental health services, alcohol and drug treatment, affordable senior housing, residential programs for people with developmental disabilities, and programs that help formerly incarcerated individuals integrate back into society.

Lutheran Day 2015: On April 14 join Lutherans from across the state in Springfield to study, pray and take action for greater justice and compassion in Illinois.

For details and registration, visit www.LutheranDay.org.

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New Jersey

Sara Lilja, New Jersey Synod

logm@njsynod.org

State budget: Here in New Jersey, we are working on the proposed 2016 state budget. We are in a fiscal crisis. There is little money to support programs that assist the poor and other vulnerable populations. New Jersey has awarded more than $4 billion in tax subsidies and credits to businesses over the past six years in an attempt to spur economic activity and boost the state’s recovery from the Great Recession. The unprecedented growth in subsidies, however, has so far done little to significantly improve the state’s economy. New Jersey’s economic recovery remains far behind our neighboring states. Just 40 percent of the jobs New Jersey lost in the recession have been recovered; the state has the highest share of workers who have been unemployed for more than six months, and the state continues to lead the nation in the percentage of homeowners (1 in 12) who are in foreclosure. All this is shocking when you understand that New Jersey is also the fourth most affluent state in the nation!

We at LOGM are asking that policymakers take concrete actions to slow the subsidy surge and bring more transparency and accountability to the use of these tax breaks by placing meaningful caps on spending, requiring more information from companies receiving subsidies, including an automatic sunset provision, eliminating subsidies for existing jobs, and developing more stringent standards for these awards.

Care for communities: We are urging the state to include in the 2016 budget the following assistance for families in economic distress: restoring the Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding preschool, and expanding health care coverage. It comes as no surprise that food insecurity is also on the rise! We are supporting the expansion of the Breakfast After the Bell program, expanding state funding for SNAP, and increasing the staffing levels at county welfare agencies to deliver assistance in a timely manner to all those who are in need.

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New Mexico

Ruth Hoffman, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry – New Mexico

www.lutheranadvocacynm.org

2015 legislative session: The regular session of the New Mexico Legislature came to an end at noon on March 21. This was a difficult 60 days with the Senate controlled by one party and the House by the other. LAM-NM worked on behalf of legislation that reflected our focus on issues that can affect the lives of the many people living in poverty and hunger in our state.

We worked in coalitions to successfully stop the passage of several major initiatives, including so-called “right to work” legislation and the elimination of drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants. We also worked with the Fair Lending Coalition to block passage of harmful predatory lending bills, while also proposing a 36 percent cap on storefront loans.

LAM-NM worked on a successful effort to increase the TANF monthly cash assistance amount by 5 percent and to add an additional clothing allowance for TANF children. We helped to secure funding for the SNAP Double Up program, which doubles the amount of SNAP benefits families can use at local farmers’ markets. A bill requiring that eligible inmates be covered under the Medicaid program immediately upon release from incarceration passed both houses of the Legislature and heads to the governor’s desk for consideration.

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Ohio

Nick Bates, The Faith Coalition for the Common Good nick@oneohionow.org

Ohio budget: The Ohio Legislature continues to focus its time on Ohio’s two–year budget (HB 64). This budget accepts a new normal of higher poverty and fewer resources. The biggest component of the budget is another tax shift increasing taxes on many while cutting the income tax to benefit the wealthiest Ohioans.

The Faith Coalition for the Common Good is an ecumenical coalition formed to advocate through the budget process for increased state funding for food security and affordable housing (and other services to help low-income Ohioans), and expanded resources for education. All of these things are possible if Ohio foregoes the proposed $5.6 billion in tax cuts.

The coalition organized a panel on March 18 in front of the Finance Health and Human Services Sub-Committee. The Rev. Gregory Kenderick (United Methodist Church) facilitated the panel of individuals who have experienced poverty. About 60 people from the faith community showed up to support this panel’s testimony. The testimony focused on the importance of public investments that help people transition out of poverty. The Ohio House Finance Committee is currently receiving amendments to the budget. We also submitted testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee opposing the proposed income tax cut.

The budget bill will move to the Senate in late April and to the governor’s desk by June 30.

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Pennsylvania

Amy Reumann, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania

Tracey DePasquale, Associate Director

www.lutheranadvocacypa.org

Education: Tracey testified and brought presenters before the Basic Education Funding Commission to bring the discussion of trauma (poverty, homelessness, violence) as a possible weighting factor in funding. Watch the hearing. We also continue to meet with lawmakers regarding a basic education funding formula proposed by the Campaign for Fair Education Funding. Analysis of recent federal data shows Pennsylvania is the most inequitable state in funding public schools.

Immigration: Tracey led an advocacy workshop for Dreamers at the first statewide Immigrant and Refugee Rights Convening. As an outcome, LAMPa’s Immigration Leadership Circle is assisting Dreamers in organizing a statewide caravan to tell their stories. In other immigration-related work, we applied to LIRS and the York County Prison Board for funding for the immigration detainee visitation program Walking Together/Caminandos Juntos.

Hunger: Amy met with John Hanger, secretary of Planning and Policy, to present recommendations developed by the statewide food security coalition.

Environment: LAMPa’s Creation Care Leadership Team held a conference call on water issues with Jennifer Quinn, outreach coordinator for PennFuture. Outcomes include agreement to work statewide on storm water issues and to facilitate education and action on water issues with youth connected to the ELCA Youth Gathering and Walk for Water.

Youth: Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod youth leaders invited LAMPa to discuss advocacy issues involving youth and how they might engage in service-related advocacy after returning from Detroit. We continue to work on final details for Lutheran Day at the Capitol, this year part of Gettysburg Seminary’s Spring Academy.

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Virginia

Marco Grimaldo, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org

Hunger: Since the conclusion of the Virginia General Assembly session, advocates have begun to regroup and focus more of our attention on government commissions and agencies. On March 25, Bishop Jim Mauney convened the Virginia Synod’s Child Hunger Task Group with the aim of coordinating the work of Lutheran churches and their partners in the community to feed more hungry kids and their families. Together we reviewed which schools participate in backpack programs, which churches and communities need more summer meals locations, and what schools should do to expand school breakfast and breakfast in the classroom. We also invited the governor’s staff to help us coordinate with state agencies. What we learn through task group efforts will also inform our advocacy efforts.

Payday Lending: We also worked to organize public testimony for the Richmond public hearing on payday lending held by the federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. The event included hundreds of people from all parts of Virginia and a strong representation of the faith community at the hearing. We also helped moderate the roundtable community conversation with the bureau’s administrator, Richard Cordray.

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Washington

Paul Benz, Faith Action Network

www.fanwa.org

Only Three weeks left to go – so it’s budget time here! Of course, there are bills that are still alive and going through the legislative process, such as reforming our LFO (legal financial obligations) system, an anti-human trafficking bill, and a transportation bill providing more apprenticeships for communities of color and women. Both the House and Senate have approved their budgets, and these will now go to the budget leadership teams for negotiations to form a final budget to be sent to the governor – hopefully by the last day of session, April 26 – but we may need to go in to a special session during May. The House budget has new revenue in it, but the Senate budget does not – that is the main difference in terms of what gets funded and what doesn’t.

Washington budget: The budget programs that FAN is working on include:

• Emergency Food Assistance (food banks)

• State Food Assistance (additional assistance targeted to our Pacific Islander community who were brought here in the 1950s due to U.S. nuclear testing on their islands)

• WIC/Farmers Market Nutrition Program (supports local growers and low-income households)

• Breakfast After the Bell (expands time and location offerings for serving breakfast at public schools)

• Housing & Essential Needs/Aged, Blind, & Disabled (monthly cash assistance for the most vulnerable and those waiting for their SSI application to be processed)

• Pesticide Drift Proviso to assess needs for a neighborhood notification system

• Post-secondary education for inmates

Our primary budget issue is keeping revenue in the final budget – that is the BIG budget battle. FAN is doing its part by collecting signatures on a petition that will be delivered to budget leadership before the session ends.

Faith-based organizing: FAN is preparing for our four regional summits (Spokane May 17, Vancouver May 31, Seattle June 7, and Yakima June 14), where we gather by political districts for conversation on the key issues for our communities. We continue to grow our statewide network of advocating faith communities in terms of number (now at 97) and in terms of depth of relationships by keeping our liaisons engaged.

Spring denominational assemblies (FAN will be present with a staff person and display):

• ELCA in Pasco and Everett (April and May)

• United Church of Christ in Spokane (April)

• United Methodist Church (Pasco in June)

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Wisconsin

Cindy Crane, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin

www.loppw.org

Joint Finance Committee public hearing: LOPPW’s director gave a statement about the governor’s proposed budget. Read the statement by clicking here.

Advocacy Day on April 29: LOPPW is part of the People of Faith United for Justice to organize a biennial advocacy day. Our focus will include threats to our safety net programs and legislation related to voter IDs. The LOPPW director is working with three additional groups to address specific safety net concerns.

Safe harbor: LOPPW and Cherish All Children held a rally to WI2

support legislation to help young victims of sex trafficking. The director attended a round table at the Department of Children and Family Services and another at the Department of Justice. She also met with the director of Wisconsin Women’s Council to discuss possible partnerships. June Kjome (see photo at right), age 94, traveled from La Crosse to speak at the rally. When seeking justice “it’s good to be the headlights instead of the tail lights,” she said.

Megan Brandsrud

The Romani, or Roma, population has an extensive history in Europe, dating back to the 13^th century. Today, with more than 10 million people, the Roma population is recognized as one of the European Union’s largest minority groups. Roma people often face discrimination and poverty, and Roma settlements typically lack important infrastructures such as healthcare, education and transportation.

Today, April 8, is International Roma Day. It is a day to celebrate the rich culture of the Roma people, to raise awareness about the difficulties facing Roma people and to fight for justice.

Lutheran Disaster Response, in partnership with Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization (EHO), has been working hand-in-hand with Roma people since May 2014, when a cyclone hit Serbia and many Roma villages were severely affected by landslides and flooding. We initially helped provide immediate relief resources, and we are now working in the communities on home rehabilitation and livelihood development.

While several Roma settlements were impacted by the cyclone in 2014 in Serbia, Roma people are often marginalized and live in areas that are difficult to travel around, so they received little assistance. Lutheran Disaster Response is committed to working with people who are most vulnerable to disasters, and we are pleased to be working with Roma people in Serbia to rebuild villages and increase capacity and resiliency.

In honor of International Roma Day, here is a story from EHO of a family we have worked with following the 2014 cyclone and flooding in Serbia.

Husband and wife S.J. (60) and N.J. (59), both disabled, lived in an apartment without electricity for 10 years. After that, they were given accommodation in shelters composed of a single room and bathroom, but they now had electricity and so were happy with the move. The shelters were in the village of Veliki Crljeni, 12km from the town of Lazarevac, and functioned as accommodation for socially vulnerable families, provided by the town authorities and the Kolubara power company.

That May morning, when the waters began to advance, N.J. was woken by neighbours. Her husband S.J. is hard of hearing and she needs crutches to get around, so they barely had time to take a bag with their documents and medicines and get out. The water was already coming into the apartment. They managed to get out with the neighbours at the last minute and flee to a nearby hill in the direction of the school, where they were accommodated temporarily.

roma family

Pictured: S.J. and N.J. stand in front of their temporary shelter where they now live after flooding in May 2014 damaged their home.

After a couple of days, the police and fire service transferred them to the sports centre, and they lived in a sports hall for almost six months. Now they are in temporary accommodation again, in different shelters, awaiting a more permanent solution.

With Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization, we provided the family a stove so that they could cook and have means to warm their home while they stay in the temporary shelter. The cyclone and flooding in Serbia occurred almost one year ago, but there is still a lot of recovery and rebuilding that is needed. We will continue to work alongside the Roma population as they navigate this process.

We ask that you hold the Roma people in your prayers today and every day – pray that their culture is shared through stories and actions of reconciliation and justice.

Anne Williams, Ankeny, IA

Warm-up Questions

In a world with Instagram, selfie sticks and duck lips, how often do you take selfies? How often do you like someone else’s selfie?
Have you ever thought about why you take a selfie and post it on social media? Are there times when you should or should not post a selfie?

Do You Need to See it to Believe it?

At the end of March both Coachella and Lollapalooza announced that they were banning selfie sticks as reported by NME, the music news site. Both Coachella and Lollapalooza are big-deal music festivals. Coachella happens in California in April. Lollapalooza takes place in Chicago at the end of July into August.

shutterstock_238002061edit

These two events are just the latest in a growing list of places and events that ban selfie sticks (or as the Coachella website says: “selfie sticks/narcissists”). Buzzfeed reports that the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Coliseum in Rome, and the Palace of Versailles in France have all banned visitors from using selfie sticks (also called monopods, camera extension poles, narcisticks, and a number of other names). In England a number of music venues have also banned the use of selfie sticks.

While organizers acknowledge that taking pictures is a part of the live music experience, they want to discourage anything that would block others views, according to the NME article. The Coachella website lists selfie sticks as one the things which are not allowed, lumping them with fireworks, knives, chains, drones, laser pointers, Hula Hoops, and explosives.

People want to take pictures of the things they are doing. They want to share those pictures with their friends and followers on social media. Selfie sticks produce great pictures. On the flip side, you’ve got about three feet of possible hazard and traffic jam that makes getting around selfie-takers a pain.

Discussion Questions

Iis using a selfie stick a sign of a big ego – narcissism, or is it a way to get a great pic?
Do the pictures posted on social media tell us more about what our friends are doing than text posts?
Do you need to see it to believe it?

Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35

1 John 1:1-2:2

John 20:19-31

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

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

Gospel Reflection

The week after Easter, we meet Thomas, who didn’t witness the miraculous events of the Resurrection first hand. He got the message but told the messengers that he would have to literally touch Jesus before he believed that he had been raised from the dead. He would have to see it to believe it. Jesus calls him out for it too, asking “Have you believed because you have seen me?”

What would Thomas have said had he had the chance to respond to this question? “I wanted to believe so much, but I was just so afraid to hope!” Or “Look Jesus, you died. What was I supposed to believe?” We don’t know why Thomas didn’t believe.

We don’t know why Thomas had to see it to believe it. In some ways, it doesn’t really matter because Jesus doesn’t give Thomas a chance to respond and gives us a not-quite beatitude: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” For those of us who live as Christians two thousand years after Jesus’ life and ministry, this not-quite beatitude could be considered a great consolation. We don’t get to meet Jesus face to face, so our belief without sight should keep us close to him right? Could it be that we turn too quickly to rely on this not-quite beatitude.

Do we look hard enough to see Jesus in the people we meet? Do we search for Jesus in our world and in the troubles we encounter? Do we expect to find Jesus in new places and situations we find ourselves in? What if we were all a little more like Thomas? What if we were a little thirstier to see the face of Christ all around us, to touch Christ when we hug a friend in need or to feed Christ when we serve the hungry? Would we believe it more if we saw it more? Maybe a better question:, Would we see it more if we believed?

When it comes right down to it, if we say that Jesus is in those we serve and those we meet, like in Matthew 25, maybe being a little more like Thomas – a little more see it to believe it, would serve us well.

Discussion Questions

What would you guess Thomas was feeling in the aftermath of the terror of Good Friday and the miracle of the Resurrection?
Can you relate to Thomas? Do you need to see something to believe it or are you more willing to take someone’s word for it?
Have you ever seen the face of Jesus in the face of someone in need or someone you have served?
How can you learn to see the face of Jesus among your friends and family and the people you meet everyday?

Activity Suggestions

Prepare this one in advance: get a bunch of photos together where it’s hard to figure out what exactly is going on without a description (or if you have it, use something like Every Picture Tells a Story by Youth Specialties). Spread the photos out around your space and ask students to individually or in pairs come up with an explanation of what’s happening in each photo. Compare notes amongst the group. Ask questions like, “How did you arrive at your story or explanation for what’s happening?”
Have the group take selfies. Take a long look at them together as a group. Discuss the following questions: Can you tell where you are? Would people know you are at church? Among Christians? Why don’t selfies tell the whole story?

Closing Prayer

Loving and gracious God, you have given us eyes to see. Help us to see you in our families, in our friends, in those we serve. Help us to be models of seeing and doing and being is believing – of being able to find you at work in our world. Moving and Powerful God, help us to be those who are doing your work in the world so that others might see and come to believe, while always reminding us it’s about you and not us! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Dennis Frado, Director, Lutheran Office for World Community

The Gospel liberates from sin, death, and evil and motivates the Church to care for neighbor and the earth.

– “The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective”

Lent always refocuses me on the fact that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us through his death on the cross and his resurrection, which overcame death. The good news of God’s salvation is the gospel. The excerpt above and the one below from the ELCA’s social statement succinctly summarize why I am grateful to have the privilege of a job that calls for engaging every day in advocacy.

The witness of this church in society flows from its identity as a community that lives from and for the Gospel. Faith is active in love; love calls for justice in the relationships and structures of society. It is in grateful response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ that this church carries out its responsibility for the well-being of society and the environment.

Many days here at the United Nations we are confronted with the failures of humanity – war, refugees, seemingly intractable disputes, and horrible violations of human rights. But the loving call to do justice does not grow weary, and we should not either.

Fortunately, we are also able to get to know the work of the peacemakers, the aid workers, the negotiators, and the rights defenders, give thanks for their work and lift them up to others as among those pursuing the better path for the common good. These folks are the ones who thankfully undercut my pessimism and reinforce my hope for a better world. Many, but not all by any stretch, are Christians.

International structures, like all that are the work of humans, are prone to sin. But we are reminded:

God institutes governing authorities, for example, to serve the good of society. This church respects the God-given integrity and tasks of governing authorities and other worldly structures, while holding them accountable to God. …

This church must participate in social structures critically, for sin also is at work in the world. Social structures and processes combine life-giving and life-destroying dynamics in complex mixtures and in varying degrees. This church, therefore, must unite realism and vision, wisdom and courage, in its social responsibility. It needs constantly to discern when to support and when to confront society’s cultural patterns, values, and powers. – “The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective”

So, why again are we about this work?

Jesus frees Christians to serve others and to walk with people who are hungry, forgotten, oppressed, and despised. The example of Jesus invites Christians to see people near and far away, people of all races, classes and cultures, friends and strangers, allies and enemies as their “neighbor.” – “The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective”

In 2013, The Lutheran World Federation, working with other religious groups, made manifest this understanding by initiating a series of affirmations from the leaders of a wide variety of faith traditions titled “Welcoming the Stranger“:,

A core value of my faith is to welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced, the other. I shall treat him or her as I would like to be treated. I will challenge others, even leaders in my faith community, to do the same.

It is this kind of effort, this kind of statement of common values crossing many boundaries, where Lutherans have and can continue to make a contribution to that goal stated in the U.N. Charter: “…to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom …” and also offer tangible signs in a myriad of ways of: “… a faith that is active in love, a love that seeks justice, and an insight that strives to discern what is right, good, and fitting…” (The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective).

Ryan P. Cumminig

A new United Nations-supported report offers tragic insight into the effects of the conflict in Syria. Since the conflict broke out four years ago, rates of poverty and hunger have skyrocketed, life expectancy has fallen by nearly 20 years, and nearly 10 million people (more than half of the population) have fled their homes in search of safety. At the end of last year, 82.5% of people in Syria were living in poverty, an increase from 64.7% in 2013. Perhaps more startling, at the end of 2014, 30% of families and individuals were living in what the report calls “abject poverty,” meaning that they could not afford even their most basic food needs.

There are a lot of reasons for such deep and broad poverty in Syria:

Violence and the threat of violence have forced workers to flee their homes and jobs;
Destruction of land and irrigation systems has made farming very difficult;
Rising food prices have made it challenging for many people to afford their basic needs;
Crop production was hit hard by both the conflict and the long drought in Syria. Wheat and barley production, for example, was down 25% just from 2013 to 2014;
Even in places not affected as much by the drought, armed conflict has made it dangerous for farmers to return to their land or to take their products to markets.

We’ve known for a long time that war is a major cause of hunger and poverty. Threats to safety, the closing of markets, destruction of land and buildings – these sorts of things can have a long-lasting impact on the ability of people to feed themselves and their families. While we are not currently supporting projects in Syria, ELCA World Hunger is involved in other projects that help to reduce conflict and foster peacemaking.

One ongoing project is focused on equipping youth to be leaders for peace. With support from ELCA World Hunger, theWorld Student Christian Federation (WSCF) took twelve participants to Palestine in 2014, where they met with members of the Palestine Youth Ecumenical Movement to learn more about the realities of life in the midst of conflict there. At a larger meeting in Jordan with other members of WSCF, the group heard from youth from other countries in the Middle East and reflected on ways to promote justice and peace throughout the region. As one participant put it, the youth in attendance were “deeply transformed through the combination of friendship, solidarity, faith, and thinking together and are motivated to spread their voice and to take action.” In 2015, the group is gearing up for a General Assembly and is ready to “make a bigger impact for justice and peace in the world, motivated by God’s love.”

Sometimes, ending hunger means providing a community meal or helping people facing hunger get access to training and education. At other times, though, our work takes us to a different level, to a new root cause of hunger. Here, among the tangles of causes, the church’s call to end hunger intersects with other vocations of people of faith – to be peacemakers, to be reconciled and reconciling, and to be passionate seekers of justice. With faith and with each other, we, too, can “make a bigger impact” for justice, peace, and a world in which all are fed.

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is Program Director of Hunger Education for ELCA World Hunger. He can be reached atRyan.Cumming@elca.org.

Jay McDivitt, Waukesha, WI

Warm-up Question

When has fear kept you from saying or doing something you know you should say or do?

Prove it!

Every year, right around Easter, someone somewhere “discovers” something “new” about Jesus – his life, his wife, his death, his resurrection, his friends, his existence… etc. It’s at least as predictable and timely as the Easter Bunny.

Not long ago, someone found an ankle bone with a nail in it, in a tomb that dates to the time of Christ. This was, apparently, a big deal. (Except, of course, for the fact that a resurrected Jesus wouldn’t leave bones behind… because…resurrection….)

2000 years later, many people are desperate to “prove” that Jesus lived, died, and was raised from the dead. At least as many other people are just as desperate to “prove” the opposite.

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The truth of the resurrection cannot be “proven” one way or the other. The very concept defies all expectations, logic, and science. It’s something that is received by faith – and experienced in daily life.

This doesn’t keep us from trying to “prove” it’s true – or prove it’s not, depending on your persuasion. But one does wonder, for those of us who want to believe the resurrection matters; couldn’t we find something else to do with our time and energy other than search for “proof”? More important, what if the “proof” is found in living the resurrection – living lives that make it clear (to others and to ourselves) that Christ is Risen?

Discussion Questions

What difference does it make to you whether the resurrection can be “proven” or not?
What would it look like to “live” the resurrection, rather than just “believe it” or “talk about it”?

Resurrection of our Lord/Easter Day

Acts 10:34-43

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Mark 16:1-8

John 20:1-18

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

Gospel Reflection

“…and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

These are the last words in the Gospel of Mark. (Yes, there are some more words in your Bible, but nearly every scholar in the world believes they were added much later by people who didn’t like how Mark ended his gospel.)

Let me say that again: These are the last words in the Gospel of Mark. “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” No wonder later Christians added to the story. This is a most alarming ending.

Jesus has been raised from the dead. All the torture and terror of Holy Week is in the past. The One Mary, Mary, and Salome thought was dead is no longer in the tomb. You’d think that would be a story worth telling. But no: “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Why? Because “they were afraid.” Afraid of what? Afraid no one would believe them? Afraid it wasn’t really true? (After all – they didn’t see his body…) Afraid that the Romans who tried to kill Jesus would kill them, too, if they came out telling people he had survived?

All this – and more. Jesus told them this would happen (the resurrection). And the young man in white at the tomb told them to “go, tell…” But “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

And you know what: Me too. I’m afraid of what Jesus would say if he saw my life for what it really is. I’m afraid of what Jesus would ask me to do if I let go of all my assumptions and plans and other priorities and let Jesus “take the wheel.” I’m afraid of offending people. I’m afraid of sounding silly – talking about resurrection (seriously?!? Dead men stay dead…). I’m afraid of putting my time and energy into something that may not actually be real. I’m afraid of spiders, too… but that’s another story.

Maybe you’re afraid, too.

But here’s the deal: Mark is the oldest Gospel we have. It’s the first canonical story of Jesus written and preserved. And it ends with “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

And yet… someone told someone. Obviously – otherwise, there would be no Gospel of Mark. Or any other Gospel, for that matter – because the other Gospel writers used Mark as their source.

Somehow, the Word got out. Somehow, the Word of Resurrection Life escaped the fear of the women and the other disciples and got out. Somehow, God found a way to make sure that the whole world would know that Jesus had conquered death.

Somehow, this story grew and grew until it came to unlikely losers like me and you. Somehow, their fear and our fear were no match for God’s Word of Life.

This gift cannot be proven. God got rid of the evidence. No body, no bones. Probably because God knew that even the most air-tight, scientific, logical case would still be hard for some folks to believe.

But this gift is told and shared and lived – Every. Single. Day. By people who are afraid, but still open to the idea that God might do something new. By people who thought they had given up hope, but God showed up and made a way out of no-way. By people who dare to whisper or shout about the good things God has done. This story is being told and lived and experienced – and has been for nearly 2000 years. Despite fear’s best attempts at keeping it all under wraps.

And thanks be to God for that.

Discussion Questions

Why do you think the women “said nothing to anyone”? What were they afraid of?
Tell a story of a time when you were afraid to say something important. Did you overcome your fear – or not? How did it feel? How did others react?
If someone asked you to tell a “resurrection story” from your own life (or from something you’ve read or heard), what story would you tell?

Activity Suggestions

Prepare a poster board (or other large piece of paper/foam board/etc.) with a rough sketch of an empty tomb (make sure there is lots of room inside the tomb). Using markers/pens/[colored] pencils/crayons and/or magazines/newspapers/scissors/glue, invite the youth to fill in the empty space in the tomb with pictures, words, stories of “resurrection.” Signs of hope and life – especially when it is surprising or unexpected. Help them find words and images to illustrate the gift of an empty tomb and a story to share. Write (or collage with letters) “Alleluia!” all around the edges.

Closing Prayer

Dear Jesus: You died and rose again so that we might always know that nothing will ever separate us from you and your love. Help us to be confident and bold in telling the story of your undying love and life. When we are afraid, strengthen us, for you know more than we do about everything. Help us trust you. Amen.

Megan Brandsrud

The sky turns green, then black. Heavy rains subside and there is calm before the sudden shift in wind. The severe weather sirens start sounding as an approaching tornado is spotted. People quickly move to their basements or windowless rooms as they wait for the tornado to pass.

This scene is not out of the ordinary for people living in Tornado Alley, a term coined in 1952 that is used to describe the region of the U.S. where tornadoes are most frequent. However, sometimes basements and windowless rooms do not provide the peace of mind and safety desired against tornadoes, especially those ranking high on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale.

In an effort to provide the security that people who live in Tornado Alley need, Lutheran Disaster Response has partnered with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) and our affiliate, Lutheran Social Services of the South (LSS/S), to provide storm shelters for people in the Oklahoma City area.

Safe room 2

Pictured: A storm shelter is installed on a slab in a family’s backyard.

One community that knows the effects of tornadoes too well is Moore, Okla. On May 20, 2013, an EF5 tornado hit Moore, killing 24 people and injuring more than 300. The storm caused severe damage, and clean-up and rebuilding are still continuing today. Over the years, the area around Oklahoma City, including Moore, has been hit with numerous tornadoes. The emotional toll tornadoes have on people in this area leave many fearful this time of year.

To date, 145 storm shelters have been installed in the Lutheran Disaster Response and FLASH joint-Pilot Program. Coordinators in the region have been working with long-term recovery groups in the Oklahoma City area to connect with the most vulnerable families who need a storm shelter.

The storm shelters are installed on families’ properties so they can have peace of mind and safety from tornadoes right at home. For the pilot program, the selected storm shelters have either been made of concrete or steel and have been installed in garages, under garage floors with an access panel, outside in the yard, or as fixtures in new homes that are currently being constructed.

There are many factors that come into play when families select which storm shelter is right for them. Tim Smail, senior vice president of engineering and technical programs for FLASH, explains that a flowchart is used to help families choose their storm shelter. The flowchart includes considerations such as the number of people the storm shelter will need to hold, if the storm shelter has to be handicap accessible and what kind of space is available in potential install locations.

Lutheran Disaster Response and FLASH have partnered with the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) to make certain that the safe rooms being installed in the pilot program are of the highest quality and have passed standard testing.

“The association works hand-in-hand with our point of contacts on the ground to ensure client needs are met and that the shelters are installed properly,” Smail says.

While people who live in tornado-prone areas know the importance of having a safe place to go in times of severe weather, knowing who to work with and having the resources to install a storm shelter can be daunting. The average cost to install a safe room is approximately $4,700, but can range from $4,000 to $10,000, depending on the size and accommodations needed for the family.

“Whatever the situation, most of the people we have worked with are not in a position to afford a storm shelter,” says Grant Gatschet, program director with LSS/S for the Storm Shelter Pilot Program. “Across the board, they have all expressed sincere thanks for the program for helping them feel safe and secure in their homes.”

As the pilot program wraps up, Lutheran Disaster Response and FLASH are working to make storm shelter installation an embedded part of tornado disaster recovery. With guaranteed safety and peace of mind, storm shelters are life-saving and life-changing.

Stacy Martin, Director for Advocacy

“They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.”

Mark 6:42-44 (NRSV)

Like Thomas Jefferson, I’ve never seemed to have much patience for the Bible’s miracle stories. They’re difficult to deal with. To my modern mind, it’s hard to imagine that seas can part, food can appear from nowhere and that the dead can be raised.

stacy headshot It’s so tempting for me, in my very modern way, to domesticate miracles – like reducing the feeding of the 5,000 miracle to an idyllic picnic or desert potluck. Not that thousands of human beings sharing isn’t miraculous. It is. In the four Gospels, there are six accounts of this miracle. Six! It must be too important a story for it to be about people sharing their lunches. Miracles are tricky that way.

In the Gospel of John account of the miracle of feeding the crowd, the disciples estimate that the crowd is so large that not even six months’ worth of paychecks would be enough money to feed the mass of people assembled. By expressing the amount in such stark terms, what I think the disciples are really saying is, “We don’t have enough money to feed all these people.” And Jesus is saying, “Exactly. Isn’t that great?”
Isn’t that just like Jesus?

One disciple retorts with what I hear as screaming sarcasm. “There’s a boy with five loaves and two fish,” he says. Imagine! Five thousand hungry people on the side of a mountain, and only five loaves and two fish in sight to feed them with. But it seems that this is exactly what Jesus wanted. The funny thing about God is that we are called to be God’s hands in the world at precisely those times when there’s a whole lot of nothing to work with; which is to say, God calls us all of the time.God even sets God’s communion table so that we come with nothing. It seems that God likes it best that way.

God also likes to turn things on their heads. Jesus’ disciples, who expected to be the ones to provide what was needed, found themselves surprisingly dependent upon the generosity of a small child. The Gospels’ accounts of this miracle indicate that the boy gave over his lunch with the kind of abandon and generosity that we only associate with God. It is just the kind of juxtaposition that God seems to enjoy best. Jesus’ faith is placed in a little child to stave off what might become a riot if the crowd is not fed. This is the same kind of juxtaposition we find ourselves in as church when we advocate in the halls of power in Washington, D.C.

This story about feeding 5,000 with so little is, among other things, a story about perspective. The disciples’ main mistake in this story, I think, is that they have no idea what it is that they have. Namely, they have a God who can feed many on nothing. A God who created the universe out of nothing. A God who put flesh on the nothingness of dry bones. “Nothing” is God’s favorite material to work with. Perhaps God looks upon that which we dismiss as “nothing,” “insignificant,” “worthless,” and says, “HA! Now THAT is something I can work with!”

It is our poverty that we are asked to bring to God, not our treasure, because whether we think we have it all or we think we have nothing, we are all of us beggars fed at the table of God’s mercy. What do we have? Five loaves, a couple of fish? Not much. We believe that even when we want to make a difference in the world, we have to arrive fully prepared, fully equipped and fully funded.

I hear often from church folk and non-church folk alike that Lutherans, any faith community for that matter, can make no real difference in Washington. “Why bother?” I’m asked. Compared to big lobbying firms and corporations, they have a point. By comparison, we don’t have money, or connections, or power, or, often, technical expertise. What do we have? Five loves, a couple of fish? Only a smidge shy of nothing even on our most prosperous days.

It’s on the darkest of days when even bishops suggest that all is hopeless in the halls of power, when I’m dismissed by a member of Congress because I don’t come with deep pockets, when I’m ridiculed by a think tank because I attend to this work from a place of faith and not a place of “real” expertise, when I’ve received the tenth angry letter from a fellow Lutheran who is frustrated with me for even considering advocacy as a legitimate vocation, when I feel that we as the church simply don’t have enough power to change things for the better. It’s on those darkest days that I re-read this miracle story.

This tricky little miracle story – the one told six times over in the Bible – says otherwise to the “why bothers” of the world. In this story we glimpse God’s inverted economy of free bread and fish paid for by, you guessed it, nothing. This is part of the juxtaposition I mentioned earlier. It is out of nothing that God will create something, even something as big as justice and peace. It is a tricky little miracle for sure.

In the last days before Easter, as we await the biggest miracle of them all – the bringing forth of life from the vast nothingness of death – may we remember that our nothingness is all that God asks or needs.

Como muchos de ustedes saben, la llegada a los Estados Unidos no hace que la vida de los inmigrantes se vuelva fácil de repente. Se necesita valor para dejar atrás todo lo conocido, y se necesita valentía para navegar por nuestro sistema tan complicado. El Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) [Servicio Luterano para Inmigrantes y Refugiados] ha elaborado una guía para ayudar a los inmigrantes, y a los que caminan junto a ellos, a navegar por esos complicados sistemas. La guía titulada en inglés “First Steps: A LIRS Guide for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Migrants Released from Detention” [Primeros pasos: Guía de LIRS para refugiados, buscadores de asilo, y migrantes liberados de detención], ofrece información vital para que los inmigrantes puedan rehacer con éxito su vida. Este recurso será de utilidad especial para aquellos pastores que tienen nuevos norteamericanos en sus congregaciones o un ministerio de visitación.

Suplementos específicos para estatus separados ofrecen detalles para buscadores de asilo y residentes permanentes legales. Posteriormente en 2015 habrá suplementos adicionales. Visite lirs.org/FirstSteps para descargar “First Steps” [Primeros pasos] en inglés o en español. Para hacer pedidos de copias impresas de la guía, escriba a firststeps@lirs.org.

Video para discutir acerca de los niños inmigrantes no acompañados

Las cámaras de los medios noticiosos pueden haber desviado su enfoque de los niños centroamericanos en su largo recorrido por varios países y a través del desierto en busca de seguridad, pero esto no significa que los niños han dejado de seguir huyendo. Nuestro nuevo video “El viaje” explora los motivos por los que estos niños han huido de sus hogares, las esperanzas de ellos para el futuro, y cómo la gente de fe puede protegerlos y fortalecerlos como hijos de Dios.

Vea “El viaje“ con los miembros de su congregación para educarlos sobre este tema y mostrarles cómo los luteranos a lo largo del país están dando la bienvenida a estos niños. El video incluye sugerencias de cómo las congregaciones pueden hacer algo para crear un cambio perdurable en la vida de nuevos norteamericanos. Estas sugerencias incluyen: apoyo activo a través del Centro de Acción del Servicio Luterano para Inmigrantes y Refugiados, el inicio de un ministerio de visitación a los detenidos de inmigración, y oración durante el Domingo del Refugiado. Visite lirs.org/TheJourney para ver “El viaje” y descargar nuestra guía de discusión. Todos los materiales están disponibles en inglés y en español.

Domingo del Refugiado 2015

El Servicio de Inmigración para Inmigrantes y Refugiados se enorgullece en celebrar durante del Domingo del Refugiado las habilidades y dones que los nuevos norteamericanos traen a los Estados Unidos. Después del Domingo del Refugiado del año pasado, un pastor nos dijo: “Los recursos fueron perfectos, pero quisiera que hubiéramos podido celebrar el Domingo del Refugiado cualquier domingo”. De modo que, este año, cualquier domingo es Domingo del Refugiado. Elija el domingo que mejor le convenga a su congregación para celebrar este día.

Hay a su disposición paquetes de recursos, incluyendo el afiche y el folleto en el boletín para que el culto sea interactivo y educacional. Los paquetes también incluyen una petición al Presidente Obama para que permita que más refugiados sirios puedan rehacer su vida en los Estados Unidos. Hoy más que nunca los luteranos deben ayudar a la gente desarraigada. Vaya a lirs.org/RefugeeSunday para recibir un paquete y comience a planear su Domingo del Refugiado. Si tiene preguntas, comuníquese por correo electrónico con Matt Herzberg, Director de Alcance Congregacional de LIRS, a mherzberg@lirs.org.

Learning about God’s call to care for all who cry out

ELCA Advocacy Update – April 2015

International Roma Day 2015

April 12, 2015 Do You Need to See it to Believe it?

Lenten reflection: The loving call to do justice

Fight Hunger, Work for Peace

April 5, 2015, Prove it!

Storm Shelter Pilot Project: Providing physical and emotional security in Tornado Alley

Lenten Reflection: Creating something from nothing

Tres formas de ahondar en los asuntos de inmigración