Soggy Dollars
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...
God’s work. Our hands.
Congregation Connections Thought Prelude: November 30, 2008 (p. 3) God’s work. Our hands. (1 Corinthians 1:3-9) We plant. We water. God gives the growth. We are “God’s servants working together.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has claimed the phrase...
I Wish I Had Such Eloquence
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...
Let justice roll down like water
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...
Are You Mocking Me?
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...
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,...
Go and Do Likewise
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...
What Moves You?
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...
Biodiversity in Crops
I think I can fairly say that the loss of biodiversity in the world is something the media reports regularly. We hear about polar bears and how many other animals face extinction. We hear about how much rain forest is...
Frightening Math
I’ve heard the statistic several times before: about 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger related diseases. I knew that translated into about one death every 3.6 seconds, or about the time it takes an adult to take...