John Wertz, Blacksburg, VA

Warm-up Question

If you could only have one beverage to drink for the next month, what would it be and why?

What’s in the Pipes

The last time you turned on the water to brush your teeth or wash your hands or get something to drink, were you worried about the quality of your water? Thankfully, most water systems in the United States are regularly tested and are fairly safe, but unfortunately for the residents of Flint, Michigan a series of governmental decisions and cost-cutting measures combined to create a water system with ” abnormally high levels of e. coli, trihamlomethanes, lead, and copper,” which caused severe health problems for many local residents.

  For years, Flint enjoyed excellent water pumped from Lake Huron. But under pressure from rising water costs, a shrinking tax-base, and an overwhelming debt, leaders in Michigan and Flint made the decision to begin pumping water from the Flint River. In April 2014, Flint made the switch and residents began to notice a bad taste in the water and a nasty smell. Initial tests revealed there were dangerous levels of bacteria and other compounds present. Flint issued boil orders and increased the amount of chlorine in their water to try and address the issues, but those measures didn’t resolve all the problems. While some local officials attempted to raise the alarm, the process of addressing the issues with Flint’s water was extremely slow.

As concern about the water quality grew among residents, local officials assured residents that the problem was under control, but a local mother, Lee Anne Walters, and others continued to ask questions about the quality of the water and to push for increased water testing. The initial results from the local testing agencies seemed to indicate that the level of lead in Flint’s water was acceptable, but Ms. Walters and others doubted the results of the local tests and continued to push for more and better testing. Determined to discover the truth about her water, Ms. Walters contacted an independent researcher from Virginia Tech University, Marc Edwards, who quickly discovered that Flint’s water contained extremely unsafe levels of lead. Ms. Walters and Professor Edwards contacted state and local officials and media outlets to make it clear that the danger was real. Thanks to the persistence of Ms. Walters, the research of Professor Edwards, the work of other researchers, and the pressure from the media, the water problems in Flint have finally been properly identified and the process of bringing safe drinking water back to the residents of Flint is now underway. An extensive timeline detailing all the events in the Flint, Michigan water crisis can be found here.

Discussion Questions

• The residents of Flint make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the population of the United States, so why do you think the water crisis in Flint became a major national news story?
• God calls us to be good stewards of all our gifts. What can you do to care for the gift of water?
• Ms. Walters was determined to find out the truth and would not stop asking questions until she got answers. Why do you think she was so persistent in her pursuit of the truth?

Second Sunday in Lent

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings
For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

The Pharisees come to Jesus with a warning – “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” (Lk 13:31). While you or I might be worried or intimidated by these words, Jesus seems entirely unconcerned by the threat. There is ministry to be done. There are people to heal. There are demons to be cast out. Jesus won’t be rushed. Jesus won’t be sidetracked by the threat of death. He knows that his death will not be caused by Herod’s anger. Jesus knows what awaits him in Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus says, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Lk 13:34). Jesus knows how his story will end and he accepts his impending death because he trusts that his crucifixion and resurrection will be the final step in accomplishing his mission to love, bless, and save God’s people.

Trusting in God’s power, Jesus lives without fear. He is focused on who he is called to be and what he is called to do. As powerful as Herod is, God’s power is far, far stronger. Nothing, not even mighty Herod, will prevent Jesus from helping the afflicted, teaching God’s Word and completing is ministry of salvation.

It’s easy sometimes for us to get sidetracked when we feel pressure from those in power, from our peers or from the world around us. It’s easy to doubt ourselves or the goal we are trying to accomplish, but just like Jesus, we too know how our story will end. As children of God, united to Jesus’ death and resurrection by the waters of baptism, we know the promise of hope and salvation for all God’s people. You and I may not be casting out demons or healing people in the same way that Jesus was doing, but just like Jesus, we too can live without fear and focus on our calling to be God’s heart and hands and voices in the world. Using our gifts to take part in Jesus’ mission to love and bless the world.

Discussion Questions

• How do you think the Pharisees expected Jesus to respond when they told him about Herod’s threat? How do you think the Pharisees responded when Jesus basically ignored their warning?
• Fear is a powerful emotion. Name a resource (scripture verse, friend, mentor, music, book, blog, twitter feed, etc) that helps you know that God is with you when you are afraid?
• What is one way that you can participate in God’s mission to love and bless the world?

Activity Suggestion

Use some of the activities in the ELCA World Hunger: Water and Hunger toolkit to learn more about water we use on a daily basis without realizing it and to raise awareness of the gift of water.

http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Water_and_Hunger.pdf?_ga=1.26250941.1043638550.1454503920

Closing Prayer

O God, you are a source of help and strength in times of trouble. Comfort us with your Spirit in our times of fear and trouble. Inspire us by Jesus’ example and by your powerful love to care for creation, to love our neighbor and to be your hearts and hands and voices in the world. Amen.

Few experiences produce anxiety much like washing your hands in water that you know can poison you.  I’m watching a natural resource come natural hazard spill over my hands from a tap in Salem Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Flint, Michigan.  Like many other buildings and homes, the church has lead in its water — water it has used for drinking, cooking and baptizing infants.  Before my meeting with Pastor Monica Villarreal of Salem, I had stopped by a downtown coffeeshop for an iced tea, something I do far too often in my own city without batting an eye.  But here in Flint, even this simple act carries with it pit-of-the-gut worry.  It’s one thing to trust that your barista has put enough milk in your latte.  It’s quite another to trust her when she tells you the water is safe.

Flint bears all the marks of any number of Midwestern towns abandoned by manufacturing firms in search of cheap labor.  Liquor stores dot barren blocks.  Once-proud homes loom in disrepair from untended lots. Violent crime is a regular experience. And a river runs through it.  A river filled with bacteria and, now, so corrosive it can damage pipes and car parts.

In politics as in war, the first casualty is truth.  Finding reliable information on the water crisis is difficult, even from reputable news sources.  What we do know is this: people in power gambled with the lives of people in poverty and lost.  When residents complained about the water, state officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality responded with “aggressive dismissal, belittlement and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved,” insisting that the water was safe.

The first “strategic goal” of the MDEQ is to “protect public health.” They failed. Miserably.  But no apology  from state officials, no number of resignations will be enough.  Those officials get to go home and drink clean, cheap water from their taps.  The people of Flint are stuck paying for poison in their homes.  The state leadership in Michigan was as corrosive as the Flint River, eroding trust and sowing fear as quickly as the water they provided corroded pipes and spread lead.  This water was given to babies, infants, and children because people in power said it was safe.

My work with ELCA World Hunger has carried me to places of rural poverty in Iowa, drought-stricken neighborhoods in Central California, and the corrugated metal-covered homes of displaced people in Colombia in search of answers to the same two questions: Where is God? and Where is the Church?

As I sit in Pastor Villarreal’s office holding a bottle of murky brown water drawn from the taps at Salem Lutheran, she tells me about the deep pain resonating throughout her neighborhood.  She describes the guilt of parents who gave their children lead-filled water to drink, of the frustratingly slow state response, of the opportunistic lawyers and media now spilling into Flint.

But she also shows me a list of the congregations and individuals that have reached out to her with donations of time, money, water, and filters.  She describes a young girl who was so moved by what she learned about access to water at the ELCA Youth Gathering in 2015 that when she heard about Flint, she felt called to help.  I hear about churches working together to prepare truckloads of water to ship to Flint, plumbers and pipe-fitters offering their services pro bono.

Pastor Villarreal describes interfaith groups and ecumenical groups coming together to support the community, of Muslims, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, and others in conversation and in partnership. Last week, ELCA World Hunger joined that list, by providing $5,000 to the Southeast Michigan Synod for Salem Lutheran Church.  This support will help Salem purchase bottled water to distribute to people in need.  It will also provide support to Salem’s food pantry, so that they can purchase food that meets the nutritional needs of people affected by lead.

And I have my answer.  We may not be eating bread and wine at an altar or singing hymns, but here, in this office, this is Church in its most basic form — a site of relief for those in need, a safe space to share dangerous stories of guilt and pain, and a place to unite to hold our leaders accountable when they fail to protect the well-being of all citizens.

Here, too, we are surrounded by weighty symbols — the brown water and corroded pipes that symbolize injustice, and the donated water from across the state and letters of support from all over the nation that symbolize a community committed to not let that injustice stand. The icons here represent a community of neighbors that transcend boundaries to accompany one another.

It is impossible to miss the sacramental volatility of water, that medium that gives life and takes life. It encapsulates the irony of living in the Great Lake State without clean water to drink. It symbolizes both the life-giving grace of the created world and the death-dealing abuses of power that come when we silence and marginalize our neighbors.  It is the touchpoint that knits together people across the spectrum of faiths and no-faith. It has become a rallying point for a community to come together.

Long after the media has left, Flint will still be dealing with this catastrophe.  The lead will still be in the pipes, and the chemicals and bacteria will still be in the river.  But people of faith and people of goodwill will still be here, too, to accompany one another and to hold government accountable.  ELCA World Hunger will continue to be present, too, and to accompany our brothers and sisters in the area with prayer, conversation and financial support.  As we learn more about the shape that this accompaniment will take, we will provide updates both here on the ELCA World Hunger blog and on social media.

What can you do to support Flint?

Pray – Include the people of Flint in your personal prayers and during worship with your congregation this Lenten season.

Advocate – This is a federal issue, and ELCA Advocacy recently released an advocacy alert related to the crisis.

Give – ELCA World Hunger will continue to support the community of Flint and Salem Lutheran Church through the long-term work that will be needed to find a “new normal” after this catatstrophe.  Prayerfully consider supporting this long-term work by making a gift to ELCA World Hunger.

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is the program director of hunger education for ELCA World Hunger.  He can be reached at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.