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Both/And in Walking Together

This is a re-post of an article by Rev. Taryn Montgomery, originally published in the Northeast Minnesota Synod Enews, covering the October 12th “Walking Together” celebration of ELCA World Hunger’s 50th anniversary. Note: this article was written on October 29th, before the November 5th election, which Rev. Montgomery references in the piece as an upcoming event.


“For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” -Matthew 26:11

“Pastor Taryn, why are we gathering again?” asked the 13 year-old usher, as we prepared for worship at the Walking Together event earlier this month.

“Because we’re marking the 50th anniversary of world hunger and how we as a church have been able to help those who experience food scarcity,” I responded.

“Um, I’m pretty sure world hunger has been around longer than 50 years,” she said deadpan.

Rev. Taryn Montgomery welcoming the participants to opening worship.

Touché.

I left out the ELCA part of World Hunger when responding to Lila that morning, but she is right. Jesus was right. People have been hungry for centuries upon centuries. The poor have been among us from the very beginning. And let’s be clear, “the poor” is not a “them”. It can be our neighbor, our family, even ourselves.

It’s in this spirit that we gathered on Saturday, October 12th at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa to straddle the line between celebrating a ministry milestone and being inspired to “keep on” in our work of ending hunger. Both/and.

And it was a great event! We gathered in worship, confronting a scripture that both challenged and stirred us. We experienced a poverty simulation, walking through a month in the life of a family trying to make ends meet. We learned how hunger interacts with issues of climate change, racism, and conflicts in the Middle East. We wore party hats and blew noise makers, and we gathered in silence for the people of Gaza. We enjoyed a delicious Caribbean lunch, and we remembered those who went without a meal. We made art together, bid on baskets together, and rallied around a common mission together – to give thanks for the past 50 years and to keep working long into the future.

Participants talking part in a hunger simulation.

One week from today our polls will open. Some of you have already filled out your ballot. As a nation we will cast our vote, a kind of faith statement. A statement of what we believe, what we value, what we hope for. We won’t all vote the same way and that’s okay. But may we vote in the spirit of reaching across the table, of extending the table. In the spirit of invitation for the hungry, the poor, and those on the margins – those we will always have with us. May we cast our vote recognizing the both/and experience of our faith.

Lila was right, world hunger has been around far longer than 50 years, and it doesn’t have to be that way in the future. It might be – history has shown that to be true. But it doesn’t have to be. Because we are people of faith, followers of Jesus. And, if there’s one thing we’re really good at, it’s hoping for things as yet unseen.

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Regenerating Life: Watch and Meet the Filmmaker

Event information image. All information below on page.

Lutherans Restoring Creation and ELCA World Hunger are eager to share a resource faith communities can use to start discussions and inspire community-based-solutions to grow climate justice, as part of the One Home, One Future collaborative.

Regenerating Life: How to Cool the Planet, Feed the World, and Live Happily Ever After offers attainable solutions to the climate crisis through an ecological approach that unpacks the social and environmental crises confronting us.

Join us Tuesday Feb 27th at 8:00 pm ET/7:00 CT/6:00 MT/5:00 PT/4:00AK for film highlights & discussion with the filmmaker, John Feldman. You can view the trailer here.

Register now (click here) to gain free temporary access to this three-part documentary film, to watch at your convenience before we spend an hour meeting with the filmmaker and considering how best to share this multifaceted resource within our communities. You are also encouraged to start planning a screening for a larger group gathering in your own context to imagine together what your community’s next most faithful step can be. There is a curriculum in development to help us grow into answering the call from this remarkable collection of voices across the globe.

Once you register for this event, look for a follow-up email with your private link to stream the film. Please be sure to join the online discussion, even if you don’t get a chance to watch it in entirety before we meet.  We will be watching a few minutes of highlights together for a shared experience before starting the conversation with the filmmaker.

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Reflecting on the United Nations High-Level Political Forum

 

In July 2023, four leaders from across the United States joined ELCA World Hunger and the Lutheran Office for World Community in New York City as delegates of the Lutheran World Federation at the 2023 United Nations High-Level Political Forum. The forum was an opportunity for UN member states, agencies and organizations to share updates on progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. As our delegation learned, progress against the goals has been slow and, in some cases, has reversed. The delegation, representing the 149 member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, including the ELCA, was able to hear from leaders around the world, meet other advocates, connect with staff from the ELCA’s advocacy office in Washington, DC, listen to stories of changes and challenges, and consider together how each of us can be part of the work toward the Sustainable Development Goals in our communities.

Below is a reflection from one of the participants, Pastor Brianna Lloyd. Rev. Lloyd currently serves as pastor of Ka Hana O Ke Akua church (UCC) on the leeward side of Oʻahu and an alum of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary’s Center for Climate Justice and Faith, which is supported in part by ELCA World Hunger. Click here to read a reflection from Kitty Opplliger, who joined Rev. Lloyd as part of the delegation to the UN.

I didnʻt know it at the time, but as we began our week at the UN High Level Political Forum, a boat from Japan, advocating for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, had docked in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.  The Peace Boat, a Japan-based NGO with a U.S. presence at the United Nations, ended its 114th voyage in Honolulu with a “Pledge to Our Keiki”—a commitment to the children of Hawaiʻi for a future of sustainable tourism.  The “Pledge to Our Keiki” signing ceremony was organized in partnership with the nonprofits Kanu Hawaii and Blue Planet Alliance, along with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Oahu Visitors Bureau, Alaska Airlines and other groups. These groups were and are bringing some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to life in the particular context and community that is Hawaiʻi.

Rev. Lloyd and Kitty Oppliger await the start of a session at the UN

As our group in New York listened to the many discussions in the conference rooms of the UN, we had to bridge the gap between discussions of pressing global issues, with broad, sweeping language, and our own contexts. The week was a practice of translation, and the practice continues in the days and weeks following the event.  For example, what does Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” mean in my context of Hawaiʻi?

My own journey to the UN began with some advocacy work related to the Navy’s fuel spills on Oʻahu at Kapūkakī (Red Hill), affecting thousands of military and civilian families.  Over the course of this past year, as the Navy flushed the fuel from the groundwater, they or their contractors used nearly five billion gallons of water, while those of us living on Oʻahu were asked to limit our own use of water. The Oʻahu Water Protectors and community leaders, such as Wayne Tanaka of the Hawaiʻi Sierra Club and Native Hawaiian community leader Healani Sonoda-Pale, continue to fight to protect the sacred water reserves of Oʻahu and to hold the Navy accountable to its mission of service and protection. I believe their work addresses Goal 6. There are many other organizations, groups, and events around Hawaiʻi—like Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi and the Pledge to Our Keiki—that are working at a similar goal.

Lutheran delegates learn about South Sudan from Presbyterian leaders

As we follow up from our week attending the HLPF, I understand anew that translation and communication from the ground here in Hawaiʻi and other local communities to larger bodies like ELCA World Hunger and the Lutheran World Federation, and vice-versa, are essential threads to galvanize the work. One of the most well-known quotes from Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi before the Kingdom was illegally overthrown by American businessman, goes, in part, like this:  “You must remember never to cease to act because you fear you may fail.”

There is much being done everywhere. Perhaps we might draw hope from one another.

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