From time to time I like to peek ahead at the coming Sunday’s Gospel to gauge how stressful the week’s sermon prep will be for the preacher (I know, I get pleasure out of the most twisted pastimes). This week’s passage, Matt 25:31-46, is a doozy. It’s not that the thrust of the passage is hard to understand, but the message sure is difficult. In the passage, Jesus describes the end of time, when God will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep join God in eternal bliss, the goats are banished to the eternal fire. The fate of one’s soul is determined by fairly objective criteria–feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting those in prison.

The question of the afterlife aside (I’m really quite uncomfortable with the concept of hell), what I find most fascinating (and difficult) about this text is that the people of God are defined not by creed or association, but by concrete action on behalf of poor and oppressed persons. For whatever reasons, many Christians today choose instead to debate the authority of scripture or decry the morality of one’s sexual orientation or anathematize whoever supports a pro-choice candidate, while 900 million plus live in hunger. Now these are all thorny issues, but according to Matthew 25, any ideological or theological debates pale in comparison to actually serving those in need. I suggest we spend less time putting our theological ducks in a row and more time acting like the Church.

David Creech

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Winter 2008-2009 ELCA World Hunger Resource Packet now available November 14, 2008
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service

To equip the 4.7 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to help end hunger in the world, an ELCA World Hunger Resource Packet is now available. The packet contains a variety of resources to help Lutherans learn more about the causes of world hunger and work together to end it.

Available twice a year, the packet illustrates how ELCA World Hunger is a connected, comprehensive and compassionate program that helps individuals and communities rise above poverty into self-sufficiency, said Sue Edison-Swift, communication director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal. “The program is connected because because it’s relationship-driven. It’s comprehensive because there are many causes to hunger, so solutions need to be equally diverse, and it’s also compassionate because it focuses on meeting the needs of the most vulnerable,” she said.

New resources in the packet include a congregational bulletin about water; Taking Root — a hunger education curriculum for children and youth; and 1-2-3 Contact! — a sign-up form to receive the resource packet and/or LifeLines by mail. The packet also includes the 2007-2009 ELCA Good Gifts giving catalog; reproducible stories for bulletins and newsletters that show how gifts to the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal make a difference in the lives of people; and “God’s Math 40-day calendar” designed to raise awareness, commitment and funds for the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal and Stand With Africa. It also carries copies of Congregation Connections and ELCA World Hunger Top 40 Resource Catalog, two popular resources updated every year.

A couple of posts back, I brought up Lucian of Samasota’s mocking critique of Christians. The great generosity of Christians, Lucian demonstrated, left them vulnerable to swindlers. Apparently, some Christians were aware of this potential problem. The Didache, also known as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” offers a remedy. Writing in the late-1st century, the Didachist instructs Christians, “Let your gift sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give it.” This beautiful word-picture (well, maybe not so beautiful, but vivid nonetheless!) offers helpful advice: before you give, make sure you know that your gift will be well used.

The problem is that too often I just let the gift sweat and sweat. I know where the money would be put to good use (ELCA World Hunger, for one!), but I hesitate. I rationalize. I end up with a fistful of soggy dollars. What about you? In these turbulent financial times, maybe it’s time to air that gift out. There is an ever growing number of people without means, maybe you have in your hand the perfect gift for a person in dire need.

David Creech

Congregation Connections

I’ve been meaning to share this with you for a few weeks. My wife, Jessica, opened her MDG fundraiser with the following comments:

“We could choose to despair over the problems of the world. We could choose to be silent about the injustices we see. We could choose to close eyes to the pain of others and become more isolated and insular as the threats of the economy loom.

“Or we could choose to hope. We could choose to speak. We could choose to see the brokenness—remembering that wounds are also doors for opportunity, for transformation, reconciliation and healing. We could choose to take the chaos that lies before us, and use it to be creative, to reshape a world in which people are more valuable than money.”

Words of wisdom, I think!

On Sunday, November 9, lectors across the Church will read from Amos, chapter 5: But let justice roll down like waters.
Take a moment to review the related pieces in the Pentecost 2008 edition of Congregation Connections (page 9). Maybe there’s still time to include the “Thought Prelude” or the Water Facts in this Sunday’s bulletin or share it with in a Sunday forum or class. Remember to share the new ELCA World Hunger Life-Giving Water bulletin with your congregation, too.

Chris Carpenter and I have recently returned from World Hunger project visits in South Africa and Malawi. Water and justice issues streamed through our visits. I am busy getting photos captioned and posted on imageevent.com/elcahunger (South Africa and Malawi).

Advocacy, or “voicing out” streamed its way throughout the trip, too. The development service arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi (ELDS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa (ELCSA-DS) are associate programs of the Lutheran World Federation. ELDS and ELCSA-DS staff shared how they accompany communities through relief, to rehabilitation, to development, and on to the power of advocating for rights. “We build capacity so the community can find its voice. You can’t speak out when you have nothing. We move communities from a focus on needs to a focus on rights.”

It’s not always easy or neat. “Sometimes, when you speak out in Africa, you can be mistaken as an enemy.”

It’s election day in the United States. May our votes be voices for justice.
Sue Edison-Swift

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting texts that provide a window into the early Church’s attitude towards hunger and poverty. Today, I offer the perspective of a non-Christian critic.

The late 2nd century satirist Lucian of Samasota mercilessly mocked Christians for their gullibility. Railing against their generous giving, and seemingly naïve trust in the goodness of those in need, Lucian tells the tale of a man named Peregrinus who joined the fledgling movement to swindle cash from unsuspecting “orphans and widows.” After Peregrinus was arrested for being a Christian (but make no mistake, Lucian felt Peregrinus deserved every bit of it, being the charlatan that he was), Lucian describes how “from the very break of day aged widows and orphan children could be seen waiting near the prison,” as if these were shorthand for Christian believers. Lucian was not the only ancient Greco-Roman author to comment on the generosity of Christians, it appears to have been one of the marks of the nascent movement, and Christians were nearly universally mocked for this trait.

Which brings me to today. When I think of the various idiosyncrasies of the Christian Church, those things for which Christians are (sometimes rightfully) mocked, unfettered generosity does not immediately come to mind. To be sure, there have been significant changes in Western culture in the last 2,000 years, and generosity in general is much more accepted (even expected?) today. That said, in these turbulent financial times, when many of us are hunkering down for the long haul and working to protect our assets, wouldn’t it be great if the Church reclaimed the piece of its heritage that gives generously, even to a fault? It starts with you and me. Let’s do something mock-worthy.

-David Creech

When I first started working with the ELCA World Hunger program, I couldn’t eat when I was at work.  Not because I didn’t have food, or because I wasn’t hungry.  After reading, thinking and talking about world hunger at work, I just felt terrible that I had food in the refrigerator, and so many others did not.  Granted, I was not working full time here, so for me it was merely a once-a-week reminder of what an empty stomach felt like.  But really, when was the last time you were actually hungry?  For many of us, the clock dictates when we eat rather than our stomachs.  And the array of food choices we have are amazing.  It’s not a question of IF, but WHAT we will eat.

I was reflecting this last week on Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. The parable is a beautiful and surprising call to act on behalf of those who are in need, irrespective of race or creed. What I especially like about the parable is that when the expert in the law asks, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus completely changes the frame of reference. Rather than answering who, Jesus tells the expert how. The Samaritan exemplifies love of neighbor in his unfettered and extravagant care for a person in need. He transcends historic prejudices to bring healing, at no small expense to himself.

Augustine offers a curious interpretation of this parable. He allegorizes nearly every detail in the story—the man is Adam, the three robbers are the devil and the devil’s angels, the man is left dead in sin, the Samaritan is Christ, the inn is the Church (and Paul is the innkeeper!) and so on. I’ve always felt that Augustine’s elaborate interpretation revealed more about his brilliant mind than the intent of the parable. In fact, I wonder if his theological bent actually mitigates the force of the story—instead of hearing the call to “go and do likewise,” our attention is drawn to the activity of God. While reflecting on the goodness of God is not a bad thing, I worry that an interpretation like that of Augustine could lull us into complacency and inactivity.

But perhaps Augustine’s interpretation is not so sinister. The reality is that it is difficult to truly love and serve even people that we like, let alone those for whom we don’t have a natural affinity. Augustine reminds us of the grace of God revealed in the Christ event, that transformative power that enables us to live out the call to love our neighbors, both near and far, in the same way that we love ourselves.

David Creech

Tomorrow night my wife is hosting (and participating in) a benefit concert for the Millenium Development Goals (if you live in the Chicago area and are interested in joining us, check out the website here). As we were talking about her event over coffee, she asked me how I would talk about the MDGs. I think my top two talking points are raising awareness of the enormity of hunger and poverty and stressing the Christian call to respond. She did not like either idea. The statistics are too depressing and bringing faith into the discussion may turn some people off, she reasoned. So this got me thinking. We all have different backgrounds and experiences, and respond differently pressing issues. I know what motivates me to action, what motivates you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.