The ELCA World Hunger team welcomed three new colleagues to the team in the last few months!

Jenny Ackerman, Coordinator for Network Engagement

Hello! My name is Jenny Ackerman, and I am excited to be joining the ELCA World Hunger Team as Coordinator for Network Engagement. I was most recently Volunteer and Outreach Manager at Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley in Elgin, Ill., coordinating a variety of volunteers to participate in construction activities and beyond. My favorite construction activity is anything involving a circular saw!

Though I am a lifelong Lutheran, I also spent a few years at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago working in both the communications and development departments. I have lived in the Chicago area for the majority of my life and studied Organizational Communications at Elmhurst College here in the Chicago Suburbs.

I am looking forward to addressing the issue of hunger with a comprehensive approach. I love working with people who are passionate about making a difference, and I already know I am surrounded by some great thinkers and problem solvers – both on staff and within the network.

When I am not at the office, you might find me reading a book, playing my clarinet in a community band or cheering on the Chicago Cubs. I am always looking for my next travel adventure; there is a lot of the world to see, but Guatemala holds a special place in my heart. I am looking forward to being in partnership with all those working to a world where all are fed.

Juliana Glassco, Manager for Community Engagement and Granting

Hi! I’m Juliana Glassco, and I am thrilled to join the ELCA World Hunger team as Manager for Community Engagement and Granting. I come to the team straight from the ELCA’s Fund for Leaders, which is a scholarship program that supports students attending ELCA seminaries. Fresh off the challenge of transitioning the scholarship application process into a digital format, I’m energized to be involved with some of the exciting initiatives and partnerships that are in the works for ELCA World Hunger’s domestic programming.

My first exposure to the ELCA was as a participant in Lutheran Volunteer Corps, working with the interfaith environmental non-profit Faith in Place here in Chicago. My work there touched on the connections between justice, education and access to healthy food. I then moved back to Washington, DC, (my home turf) to work for the Lutheran Volunteer Corps national office and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where I participated in the work of building healthier communities on an international scale. Bitten by the international bug, I moved to Canada to complete a graduate program in heritage conservation, which culminated in nine months working with UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, France.

Living outside of the U.S. highlighted for me how deeply I care about the people and communities in this country, and the issues that we are facing together. I am grateful to be back in my beloved city of Chicago, working with all of you toward a just world where all are fed.

Mae Helen Jackson, Coordinator for Community Engagement and Granting

Hi! I’m Mae Helen Jackson, and I was born and raised and currently reside on the South Side of Chicago, Ill. I have served with ELCA World Hunger as Coordinator for Community Engagement and Granting on the Domestic Hunger Strategy team since November 2017. I have been active in the ELCA throughout my life. My first known experience was an ELCA Youth Gathering in utero. In 2014, I served as a Young Adult in Global Mission in their Southern Africa program with a placement in the KwaZulu Natal region. Today, in my current role with ELCA World Hunger, I am excited for the opportunity to grow professionally in both new and old ways.

After a lifetime of Sundays, worship can seem so rote, so mechanical. Sermon lessons blend together, and we can float through liturgy on autopilot. But as I was reminded this weekend, once in a while something as simple as a children’s sermon can catch us off-guard, grab us, and force us to pay closer attention.

This Transfiguration Sunday, in preparation for Lent, the congregation I was with watched as the pastor gathered the children in front of the altar. Posted on the railings were hand-written signs proclaiming “Alleluia.” The pastor clutched her guitar while talking with the children about the meaning of the word and asked them about when they had heard it before in worship. Then she explained what would happen this week, when “Alleluia” is excised from our sacred speech as we journey through Lent.

She presented them with a box and invited them to remove the signs and place them therein. Then, she rose and began strumming an “Alleluia” verse as the children placed the colorful signs in the monochrome chest, burying the “Alleluia” until Easter.

This wasn’t new or novel. Lutheran churches around the world will do the same this week. The children’s sermon and that final ritual was seasonally appropriate, liturgically relevant. Catechetically sound. And it was also one of the saddest sights I have seen on a Sunday morning. Each child carefully laid a handmade sign in the box, and on that Transfiguration Day, the signs became lifeless, the box like a tomb. In that moment, the death toward which we will accompany Jesus this season became real, and with it the many deaths that have come after Jesus’ own.

The simple act of youth during that children’s sermon was a powerful ritual, made all the more poignant by the lilting tune the pastor strummed and sang. It was as if the juxtaposition of the happy tune and the grave act encapsulated all the tension and paradox within Lutheran faith. It was profoundly solemn and somber, even as the pastor held out hope for the opening of the box on Easter. It was a sermon for the disciples in the shadow of the cross, who lose their innocence as their Messiah is tried and convicted. It was a sermon about the deep sorrow of Lent, and the deeper sorrow of God for a fallen world. It was a children’s sermon for people who can no longer be children.

It recalled to me the millions of children who must keep their own “Alleluias” buried all year round:

• In 2016 (the last year for which we have data), children in nearly 300,000 households across the United States didn’t know where their next meal would come from.
• On a single night in January 2017, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count found nearly 110,000 children living with families that were homeless. Another 4,800 children under age 18 were unaccompanied by any adult and homeless.
• The World Health Organization estimates that malnutrition was a factor in 45 percent of the 5.6 million deaths of children under the age of five in 2016.
• UNICEF estimates that 50 million children around the world are “on the move” – fleeing violence, disaster, and poverty as refugees or migrants.

As we bury the “Alleluia” in our congregations this week, as we journey through Lent with its sacrifice, repentance, and critical self-examination, our world longs for the “Alleluia” that will not remain buried. Seeing this ritual play out so vividly at the foot of the altar this Sunday, I was reminded why we do this – why we accompany our neighbors in need, why we strive for a world where all are fed, and why we refuse to believe that this is an impossible goal. We do this because we know we must know we cling in faith to that promise that the “Alleluia” must not, cannot, and shall not stay buried forever. That in life, there is death, and in death there is life. We do this because we know that, outside the rhythm of our liturgical season, the “Alleluia” has been released forever by the resurrection of Christ, so that no shout of joy ought to be stifled by hunger, silenced by injustice, or hidden by pain. We know that God’s intention is for our “Alleluia” to resound – forcefully, loudly, boldly – now, in this world, in this time.

As we reflect on the buried “Alleluia” this Lent, we also remember that grace continues to abound in our world through God’s continued work through our church and our neighbors:

• Through the Lutheran Church in Rwanda’s “Integrated Child Support and Welfare” project, more than 130 vulnerable children received the financial support they needed to continue their education in 2017;
• Last year, 25 beehives provided by the Lutheran Conference and Mission Home produced over 660 pounds of honey, which Roma families in Hungary used to earn stable income and provide for their children;
• In 2016, Boise Rescue Mission Ministries in Idaho served nearly 350,000 meals to people in need and helped 600 individuals transition from homelessness to independent living. This life-changing work will continue in 2018.

All of these ministries – and nearly 600 more – were supported last year by gifts to ELCA World Hunger. And all of them bear prophetic witness against the injustice and exclusion that can bury cries of joy beneath mounting need.

Even as we reflect on sin, death and our dependence on God in Lent – even as we ritually bury the “Alleluia” in our sanctuaries, we know that God’s work in the world continues. The work of ending hunger goes on with faith in a promised future where all will be fed. We share in God’s work with hope, joy and faith. And we do this work because we know by faith that when it comes to the seemingly insurmountable problems of hunger, poverty, and human need, God will have the final word. And that word will be “Alleluia!”

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

 

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)

This is probably going to sound odd coming from someone who works for an anti-hunger ministry, but I cringe nearly every time someone cites Matthew 25. It’s impossible to avoid, much as I try. It isn’t that I have anything against the author of the Gospel (though, really, isn’t Mark more exciting?) But the chapter is cited uncritically so often that it becomes tedious, like the cloying relative who corners you at every holiday, leaving you searching for distractions anywhere and everywhere. Yet, in the last month, I have heard not one but two presenters draw on this troublesome chapter and, through their words, force me to re-think my distaste for it.

Some of the problems with the passage are intrinsic to the words themselves. “The least of these”? Really? We should feed people who hunger, clothe people who are naked, give drink to those who thirst and fellowship to those ill or imprisoned because they are “the least”? The “least” what? The least deserving? The least important? The least powerful? No one in their right mind wants to be considered “the least of these.”

Then, there’s the whole problem of whom Jesus is talking about. Most often, modern uses of Matthew 25 seem to imply that “the least of these” includes anyone in need (or, anyone who might be considered “least” by any measurable standard, however idiosyncratic it might be.) But there are some reasons to believe that Jesus didn’t mean “anyone in need” here. Many biblical scholars point out similarities between Matthew 25 and Matthew 10, noting that Jesus may be referring here to how people are to treat his disciples. So, this passage might have more to do with how we are to treat followers of Jesus than it is about how we are to treat neighbors who are hungry, thirsty, naked or imprisoned. (Or, it might not. That’s how biblical interpretation rolls.)

Still, even these are not the things that trouble me the most when I hear Matthew 25, especially among Lutherans. The biggest problem I have is how quickly we turn from the gospel message of grace back to the law. Matthew 25 is too often set up as a legalistic charter for determining who gets saved and who doesn’t.

The passage itself seems to set this up – you’re either a sheep or a goat. And as the old children’s song goes, “I don’t wanna be a goat – nope…I just wanna be a sheep – baa.”

Matthew 25, a visual interpretation

The goats are destined for afterlife apart from God, while the sheep will enjoy eternal fellowship with the Savior and Creator. Which side we’re on will be determined, it seems, by how or whether we do the stuff Matthew’s Jesus tells us to. How quickly we slide from saying that the Christ event reveals God’s grace to us, who have been convicted by the Law and freed by gift, to saying that there still exists a litmus test of obedience that determines our salvation.

We don’t get to have it both ways. We don’t get to say we are saved by grace and then say that if we don’t act in a certain way, we won’t be saved. It doesn’t work like that.

But does that mean that none of the works listed in Matthew 25 matter? Of course not. Jesus is clear that as we encounter the neighbor in need, we are encountering the Christ. There is something here about how we see the face of God, how we serve God, how we participate in God’s being in the world. And that’s worth paying attention to, though maybe not in the ways we have paid attention to it in the past.

Being saved by grace, as Martin Luther made clear, doesn’t free us from works but from false ideas about works, namely the false idea that works can save us. Too often, we lose sight of this when it comes to Matthew 25, and we start tossing it around as a new law. But it isn’t a new law or to-do list for the anti-goat crowd. Matthew 25 is not a Carnegie seminar for getting into Heaven. It’s a treasure map for finding God. If we are to stay true to the message of the gospel, indeed, the message of all of Scripture, the key is that God is to be found in places of need and among people in need. Maybe “least” here means “least expected.”

“Well, I’ll be! God’s right there in that neighbor.”

Grace impels us to seek God in our midst. St. Augustine characterized love as the pursuit of the object of our love. We pursue what we love. The beloved draws the lover to it. Love of God means being drawn to God – and to all that God loves. We moderns then ask the question, “How can we love what we cannot see?” Matthew’s answer is rather straightforward: you can see God! You see God every time you see your neighbor, especially when you see your neighbor in need. In a strange parallel to the preteen Jesus, I imagine the resurrected Christ saying in exasperation, “Didn’t you know I would be out on my Father’s streets?”  Where else would we find the crucified God than among the “crucified people”?

Seen this way, the passage makes much more sense to me. It stops being about whether we’re sheep or goats, or whether we’re “least” or “more.” Those kinds of hierarchies make it difficult to envision ministry as mutual. It also makes it difficult to encourage authentic service of our neighbors that goes beyond begrudging obedience. But if we start with grace and then do our interpretation, there is so much more to be gained. (Ain’t that always the truth?) Grace changes our service from begrudging acceptance of a task to joyful embrace of a mission. It transforms the neighbor, too – from a tool for our own salvation to a complex reflection of Emmanuel (literally, “God with us.”)

If we read Matthew’s chapter through a lens of grace and allow it to shape ministry in such a way that we see our neighbors as visible manifestations of the living God, maybe there’s hope for this passage yet. And maybe there’s hope for us, as we learn ever-deeper ways to live out our faith in an increasingly needy world.

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

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just around the corner, and ELCA World Hunger is happy to announce that “God’s Good Creation,” our new Vacation Bible School program for 2018, is now available!

“God’s Good Creation” is a free resource available in both print and as a download. The curriculum invites children of all ages to explore the many gifts God has given our world – and the ways these gifts can help end hunger. Each day focuses on a different animal that is part of the more than 200 projects supported by ELCA World Hunger around the world, including chicks, goats and bees. Rooted in Lutheran theology, children will learn how God has called them to use their gifts to help their neighbors. In addition to daily plans for up to three hours, the program also includes sample schedules, tips for including children of all abilities and song suggestions.

Themes for Each Day:

• Day One – God created the world, and it is good (Genesis 1:31).
• Day Two – God can use you whatever size you are (Matthew 13:31-32).
• Day Three – God Made everyone different and important (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
• Day Four – Jesus uses us to bring miracles to life (Matthew 14:20).
• Day Five – Working together, we can change the world (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Each day begins with a large group opening, including a skit to introduce the daily theme and the animal of the day. This is followed by “family time” – small group sessions to dig deeper into the theme and bible verse for each day. Then, participants travel through five rotations: crafts, games, snacks, storytelling and a “simulation station” – a fun activity to learn more about hunger and how our faith calls us to respond. (Special shout-out to Lisa Cornwell of Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Bellingham, Wash., for this idea!) At the storytelling station, children will hear about some of the ways animals are helping our neighbors fight hunger in their communities through projects supported by gifts to ELCA World Hunger. Each day ends with a large group session to recap the theme and lessons.

The program is designed to be flexible and can be used in full or in part for three- or four-day VBS programs. The stories and activities are also perfect for Sunday School, family faith formation and children’s sermons throughout the year!

Free posters and downloadable certificates for participants will be available soon!

If you have any questions about “God’s Good Creation” or ELCA World Hunger’s educational resources, please contact Ryan Cumming, program director of hunger education, at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 From the halls of power to the fortress tower,

not a stone will be left on stone.

Let the king beware for your justice tears

every tyrant from his throne.

The hungry poor shall weep no more,

for the food they can never earn;

These are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,

for the world is about to turn.

      -Canticle of the Turning ELW 723

Mary’s Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke, paraphrased in Rory Cooney’s 1990 “Canticle of the Turning,” is a powerful testimony of the fulfillment of God’s promise to those for whom the current state of the world just isn’t working. It is a striking testimony to the depth and breadth of God’s love and the significance of God’s promise, a promise that includes not only eternal salvation but also justice here and now.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that there are nearly 815 million people who are undernourished worldwide. This is a tremendously positive change from the early 1990s, when more than a billion people lacked access to sufficient food.

Change is possible. But so much more work needs to be done.

For the first time in a decade, famine was declared this year, with more than 100,000 people in South Sudan caught in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. One million more people in South Sudan were at severe risk of famine. That’s not even to mention the other countries where the risk of famine is imminent: Yemen, Somalia and Kenya. Access to this most basic of needs – food – is rapidly eroding for many of our neighbors. At the same time, many others have been driven from their homes by violence, drought and fear, their arrival in refugee camps and on coastlines and borders challenging the depth of our commitment to hospitality for the stranger.

In Advent, we focus a lot on waiting, expectation and hope for the future. But for our neighbors who hunger, thirst and flee now, the church’s witness cannot just be about the future. And as Lutherans, we know it is not. The world is about to turn, certainly, but Advent is also a celebration that the world has turned, that the fulfillment of God’s promise has already begun.

Mary’s Magnificat is more than a song of anticipation. It is a song of invitation, inviting us to “magnify” the One who has “done great things…shown strength with God’s arm…scattered the proud…put down the mighty…exalted those of low degree…filled the hungry with good things [and] helped God’s servant Israel” (Luke 1:49-54). Mary’ song recalls Isaiah’s prophecy and points forward to Jesus’ declaration:

“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

The Christmas season that the end of Advent ushers in is just the beginning of the work of God through the church in the world.

In the first session in this study, we began at the end, and now, we end at the beginning. Mary’s song invites us to carry the promise of God forward, to take with utter seriousness the task ahead, with faith that the world has turned, is turning and will continue to turn as God’s promises unfold. It is an invitation to see Advent as preparation for both the bright dawn of Christmas and the work that lies ahead.

Theologian and poet Howard Thurman in his reflection on Christmas captures this sense of initiation in his poem, “The Work of Christmas.”

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among the people,

To make music in the heart.

We end at the beginning. Advent commemorates Mary’s preparation for a new life growing inside her, a life that represents the coming of a new era. This new life is a turning that brings hope to those who have lived in desperation – and brings anxiety to the powerful who have fostered injustice. Advent is also a story of God’s preparation of us, preparing our church to reveal the transformation of the world that again will offer hope to those who continue to live in desperation – and will again bring potent anxiety to those who continue to foster injustice.

Reflection questions

1. What does Mary’s Magnificat mean for us today?
2. Looking back on the past year, how has our congregation borne witness to God’s promise of hope for our world? For our local community?
3. How can or has our Advent journey prepared us for “the work of Christmas” year-round?
4. Reflect on each of the lines of the verse from “Canticle of the Turning” and Thurman’s poem quoted above. Which “works of Christmas” in Thurman’s poem highlight the church’s role in revealing the changes God is enacting in the song?

Prayer

Merciful God, you have filled the hungry with good things, remembered your people Israel in your mercy, and lifted up all those of low estate. Grant that we may be filled, remembered and lifted up this Advent. May the work of your promise within us inspire our work of Christmas within our world. Bless our efforts toward justice, peace and wholeness for all creation. In your holy name. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

Canticle of the Turning ELW 723

O Day of Peace ELW 711

Hark, the Glad Sound! ELW 239

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Witticisms about college students surviving on cheap noodles and coffee abound, but hunger on campus and off campus is no laughing matter. Just ask the student leaders at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

With support from an ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking grant, students at Augustana, an ELCA-affiliated institution, launched a new effort to address hunger on campus and in the surrounding community in 2016. The Augustana College Campus Kitchen is affiliated with The Campus Kitchens Project, a national nonprofit and partner of ELCA World Hunger. CKP facilitates student-led initiatives on campuses across the country to target food waste and hunger. Students provide a way for excess food from dining services and other on-campus sources to be distributed to people in need.

At Augustana, the Campus Kitchen student leadership team saw early on that hunger is not just a problem off-campus. Many students themselves face food insecurity and often find it difficult to access the nutritious food they need to get through school and work. In fact, a 2016 study by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness found 48 percent of respondents reported being food insecure in the 30 days prior to being surveyed.

The Augustana College Campus Kitchen began their work by hosting community meals for fellow students. But they didn’t stop there. Below is an update from Lauren Clapp, a member of the leadership team, detailing some of the great work they have been doing the past year. Lauren is a junior majoring in Art History and Communication Studies and is the Education Coordinator for the Augustana College Campus Kitchen. Next year, she will be President of the chapter. Lauren designed and launched the Sticker Program with the help of the leadership team and advisory board and the support of faculty and staff on campus.

Hello from the Augustana College Campus Kitchen!

Community Meals

The meals we offer have been a great success so far and have made a big impact on campus. We have heard from some students that these meals are one of the few times they have access to healthy, sufficient food. We have had two already this year and are amping up for a third very soon. During our second meal we served a record number of 233 meals to students on campus, bringing our total number of meals served to 888 meals since our launch November 2016. Of those 888 meals served, 830 pounds of the food was recovered from our campus dining center! This next meal we are looking forward to hopefully breaking our previous record of 233 meals!

Campus Cupboard

This past term the student leadership team at Augustana launched our Campus Cupboard in collaboration with another organization on campus. So far the Cupboard has received 3,611 of pounds in food donations and given out 2,290 pounds. The cupboard is open 4 hours a week and averages about 36 students per week. As the cupboard’s presence on campus continues to grow we are excited to see what the future will look like!

#starvethestigma

We also know that the stigma about hunger on campus is significant, so we launched a Sticker Program to help raise awareness and reduce stigma. The sticker program is a 45-minute training program for faculty and staff of Augustana College. The program addresses what food insecurity is, what it looks like in the community and on campus, how to address the issue among students, and how to be a resource for those seeking help. Upon completion of the program the faculty or staff member receives a sticker to put on the outside of their office space to let students know they have been through the training and are dedicated to addressing the issue of food insecurity on campus.

The Augustana Sticker Program helps train faculty and staff in hunger awareness.

This year, while studying abroad in England, I was able to take my Campus Kitchens Sticker Program sticker along and get some wonderful pictures in different locations that our team was able to use on social media and in advertising for the program.

Outside Buckingham Palace

The sticker program makes it to Amsterdam.

In terms of the future, the Augustana College Campus Kitchens will be presenting the Sticker Program two more times this year to educate our faculty and staff on what food insecurity is, what it looks like on our campus and how they can be resources for the students. We are also looking into attending CKP’s Food Waste and Hunger Summit again this year in March and are hoping to send more than one of our leadership team members. After attending last year with ELCA World Hunger, I returned with enough enthusiasm and information that our entire leadership team is hoping to go and experience the fun!

Thanks to Lauren for sharing this update with us, and to the team at Augustana for their hard work in ending hunger! Check back for more updates to follow their work. 

Follow the Augustana College Campus Kitchen on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/CampusKitchenatAugustana/

Have you ever thought of the “movers and shakers” in your community? This is one collective term we often use to describe the people we think of as powerful, important or effective in their leadership. Perhaps they have enough money to buy whatever they want or need. Perhaps they have a seat at important tables where decisions are made. Perhaps they have friends in high places or are in positions of influence.

These are the people who “keep the world turning.” At least, that’s what most of us think.

The Gospel reading this week describes John the Baptist encountering people sent by the Pharisees as a sort of screening committee, checking his references and reviewing his qualifications for ministry. “Are you Elijah?” they ask. “Are you the prophet?” (John 1:21). John the Baptist replies in the negative. He is simply a camel-hair wearing, locust-eating “voice of one crying out in the wilderness” (John 1:23). Yet, this “voice” is one of the most important the people can hear at that moment. The questioners go away dissatisfied; clearly, this crazed man does not have the pedigree it takes to be baptizing and preaching.

Pharisees often get a bad rap in Christian Scripture and history, though they were devout Jews, who believed sincerely in God’s law and God’s promises. Until the middle of the first century, they were known for their ministry among the people in what might have been called the working class of Palestine. Like John the Baptist and other Jews, they knew what Isaiah has prophesied about “good news to the oppressed” (61:1) and “the year of the Lord’s favor” (61:2).

The problem wasn’t that they didn’t believe, or worse, that they didn’t want release for those held captive. The problem was that they didn’t believe God would choose to announce this through a person who wasn’t a “mover or shaker” in the Jewish world.

Yet, the people God chooses to work through in Scripture are often not the people we see as successful, powerful and important. They are tax collectors, shepherds, fishermen, women, craftspeople and even former criminals who would barely merit a second glance in the temple – unless of course, the temple authorities wanted to throw them out.

Yet God lifts them up as disciples, prophets, rulers and priests.

So often, our attention is focused in the wrong places, and we miss what God is working on in our midst. Our eyes are on people with wealth, power and influence – at least, the kind of wealth, power and influence our culture deems worthwhile – and we can fail to see the transformation God is enacting in the overlooked spots in our communities. While the Pharisees were looking for salvation in other places, a poor young woman from an unimportant town was carrying a child that would announce the Advent of Isaiah’s promise.

As many of us look to the traditional centers of power for signs that the world is turning, the world is already turning in our communities. In Minneapolis, youth participating in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church’s Young Leaders Program are taking part in the transformation of their community through art, gardening and entrepreneurship. The word “youth” often implies negative stereotypes – too young, too unruly, too childish. But at St. Paul’s, the community knows that “youth” often means creative, intelligent and motivated leadership – the kind of leadership that can change a community for the better.

Their world is turning because God is working through youth and adults who know that real power is not always found in the places we expect. Their work is supported in part by ELCA World Hunger.

While Advent is a season of waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises, the Gospel of John, the prophecy of Isaiah and the song of Mary (Luke 1:46b-55) invite us to recognize that God is already at work, “moving and shaking,” in communities our stereotypes about power might make us overlook.

Reflection questions

1. What does it mean to have power? Who has power in your community?
2. How have we acted as “screening committees,” denying the worth of the people God might work through in our community or church? How can we remain open to God at work among and through everyone we meet?
3. What are some ways that our congregation can be part (or is part!) of the transformation God is enacting in our community?

Prayer

God of all our hopes, we wait with expectation for the coming of your son into the world. Forgive us for the ways in which we have been blinded to your presence by worldly wealth and success. As we long for Christmas Day, keep our eyes open to your presence in our midst – in one another, in our neighbors, in the people at our doors. Open our hearts to receive the promise you reveal to us through each other and all creation. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

Unexpected and Mysterious ELW 258

All Earth is Hopeful ELW 266

My Soul Does Magnify the Lord ELW 882

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”

(Isaiah 40:3-4)

A voice cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”

What does baptism look like in your congregation? How is it celebrated? What rites are practiced? Without consulting an official survey, it’s probably a safe bet that most baptisms don’t involve camelhair vestments, locusts during the after-service meal, or much crying out (except, perhaps, for an infant who just got doused).

Perhaps this wasn’t even what most folks reading Isaiah envisioned when they first encountered John the Baptist, the strange messenger assembling a following from “the whole Judean countryside” (Mark 1:5). But the Gospel makes clear the link between John and the one prophesied in Isaiah, the one who would announce the coming of God’s salvation in the form of the Messiah.

The voice crying out, the one Mark identifies as John the Baptist, “calls for a radical transformation of earthly topography in prelude to a mind-blowing revelation of the glory of the Lord to all people.”

The very natural landscape of the earth will be changed by the arrival of the One who is to come. The author of 2 Peter keeps up this theme, proclaiming that “the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed” on the day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:10).

The world is about to turn, mightily, and that transformation is coming.

Mark’s brief but powerful introduction to John the Baptist is a prelude to Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his ministry. Voices crying out, the transformation of the earth proclaimed, and release to captive Jerusalem is announced (Isaiah 40:1). It is quite the scene!

So, again, the question – what does baptism look like in your congregation?

In baptism, we are made children of God, “sealed by the cross of Christ forever.” In the covenant of baptism, Lutherans believe we are claimed by the power of grace, gathered into community with one another, and send by God’s grace into the world. When we affirm our baptism, we affirm our identity as part of the body of Christ with a solemn vocation to:

• live among God’s faithful people;
• hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper;
• proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;
• serve all people, following the example of Jesus; and
• strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

In baptism, we are baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection, but we are also baptized into the transformation of the world that God is enacting, a transformation that heralds “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13) in which “God’s glory may dwell in our land” (Psalm 85:9).

John’s pronouncement, drawing on Isaiah’s prophecy, is “comfort” to the people who wait with eager longing for redemption and a word of warning to their oppressors: the world is about to turn, make straight the paths.

Change is coming, and that right soon.

We, the people of God, are called to be part of that chance. In baptism, we are commissioned to increasingly live, hear, proclaim, serve and strive for the transformation of the world. As it was in Jesus’ time, the baptismal announcement today should be joyous news to those anxiously awaiting transformation and terrible news for those who would perpetuate an oppressive and unjust status quo.

What would it look like for the pronouncement of Isaiah and John the Baptist to shape our own practices of baptism, to see the sacrament as the sacred calling, gathering and sending of one who will be part of the very transformation of the world? “I introduce you to the newest member of the body of Christ!” would be words that would shake the foundations of community, for they would announce the re-birth of a person into the work of God “who is turning the world around!”

Reflection questions

1. How can our celebration of baptism better reflect the commissioning of new Christians to be part of God’s transformation of the world? How does our celebration of baptism already do this?
2. What voices do we hear “crying out” today, declaring the need for the transformation of the world? What “voices crying out” today do we hear proclaiming the transformation of the world?
3. Re-read the baptismal covenant quoted above. What do each of these commitments mean to you? How do you live them out in your life?

Prayer

Gracious God, in baptism, you welcome us to fellowship with you and claim us as your own. Give us strength and courage to live our baptismal vocation as a sign of hope to all who await the fullness of your reign. Open our eyes and hearts to see your hands at work in our world, reconciling all creation to you. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, into whose death and resurrection we are baptized. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

There’s a Voice in the Wilderness ELW 255

Prepare the Royal Highway ELW 264

I’m Going on a Journey ELW446

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Advent is a season of hope and expectation. It is a season in which we “prepare the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3). Advent candles, wreaths and calendars are joined with as-yet unfinished nativity scenes to mark our preparations for the birth of Jesus Christ. This year, ELCA World Hunger’s Advent Study celebrates this season with reflections focused on the preparation of the people of God for the work of the new year – the work of feeding, clothing, accompanying and advocating with our neighbors for a just world in which all are fed.

The four sessions of this Advent Study and the accompanying Advent calendar are based on the Scripture readings for each week of Advent. Each week includes a meditation on the theme, reflection questions, a prayer and hymn suggestions.

May you, your family and your community be blessed this season to see the important role the people of God are called to play in God’s transformation of the world – as individuals, as families and as the church together.

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning. What an odd way to go through Advent! We enter this season of expectation of Jesus’ birth and the advent of his ministry, only to start by hearing the words of Jesus describing the end of days. In a few weeks, we will celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ incarnate life among us.

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning.

The heavy thumb of Roman rule, high taxes and widespread vulnerability to poverty were all part of everyday life in first century Palestine. The people among whom Jesus would be born were eager for the Messiah who would deliver them. And there was no shortage of “false messiahs” (Mark 13:22) claiming to offer salvation. Some promised military victory over the Romans. Others claimed gifts of magical power and prophesied re-taking the temple.

And yet, here, in the Gospel of Mark, the true Messiah comes offering a very different story. The people of God will not ride triumphantly into Jerusalem – they will “flee to the mountains” (13:14). They will not re-take Jerusalem and its temple – “all will be thrown down” (13:2b).

But “after that suffering” (13:24)…

In the end…

Of all the Gospels, Mark is perhaps the most honest about suffering. Facing persecution at the hands of Rome, early Christians needed a message that was honest about suffering. More than that, they needed to know that God was honest about their suffering. In Mark, Jesus does not hold back in naming that suffering. The Messiah is born into suffering. The people will face suffering. He himself will suffer.

This wasn’t a newsflash to first century Jews any more than it is to the millions of people today for whom suffering is a mournful part of life – those who know the pangs of food insecurity, those who long for clean water, those who grieve the loss of their homes or their jobs. The idea that suffering is a part of life is sadly nothing new to so many of us. But Jesus makes clear two things that transform how we understand suffering. First, God knows our suffering. And, second – God rejects it.

The “great buildings” (13:2) in Jerusalem, which occasioned the beginning of Jesus’ long speech in Mark 13, were not merely beautiful examples of architecture. They were symbols of the powers and principalities that maintained systems of oppression and marginalization and would eventually carry Jesus to the cross. They seem imperishable, unshakable, overwhelming.

But the world is about to turn. And those walls are coming down.

Advent is a season of hope and expectation, but with Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 13:33 (“Beware, keep alert”), we move from “Advent as anticipation” to “Advent as active alert.” As we await the birth of the Messiah, let Advent be a season not of patience but impatience, not of passivity but activity, seeking out those places where God is already at work undoing systems of suffering and living in the daring confidence founded on faith in the promised end of suffering, sin and death.

Reflection questions

1. How has God been present with you in your suffering?
2. Where do you see suffering in the world today? How are people of faith actively working to end it?
3. As people of faith who believe God rejects suffering, how are we called to respond to suffering in the world?
4. What is the difference between patient anticipation and being on “active alert” during Advent?

Prayer

Loving God, in your incarnation, you took on to yourself our humanity and our suffering. Be present with us today as we face the pain of hunger, thirst, war, disease and neglect. Keep fresh in our hearts your promise of an end to suffering and an eternity of well-being with you. Send us out among our neighbors, that we may share with them your promise and share with you in the transformation of our world. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

Canticle of the Turning ELW 723

The People Walk (Un pueblo que camina) ELW 706

Each Winter as the Year Grows Older ELW 252

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, an important time to learn, advocate, and pray. It is a time to celebrate how far we have come in the fight against HIV and AIDS – and how far we have yet to go.

This September, six ELCA Young Adult delegates, supported by ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Campus Ministries, attended the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) in Washington, DC. The USCA is a key event for activists, medical professionals, non-profits organizations and others to learn about the latest challenges and opportunities in the fight against HIV and AIDS. ELCA delegates heard from leaders in a variety of fields and engaged in conversations around connections with their faith. Below, Yen Tran and Richard Adkins, attendees at this year’s conference, share their reflections on the event.

ELCA staff and delegates at the United States Conference on AIDS

Richard Adkins – “The stigma is real”

Richard Adkins has over 10 years experience involved in HIV and AIDS. He has led numerous workshops around stigma reduction. He has been a member of the ELCA’s Young Adult cohort, an ambassador for ELCA World Hunger, and a youth delegate for the 2014 International Aids Conference.  

One of the most dangerous obstacles in the fight against HIV and AIDS is stigma.  Yes stigma. The medical treatment of the disease has come a long way and HIV is no longer the death sentence it was in the early 1980s. In fact, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently agreed with the science from the U = U campaign, that if a person is on treatment and virally suppressed, they cannot transmit the virus. The medical community has provided the knowledge and treatment to keep people alive and reduce the spread of HIV.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) preserves the health of people living with HIV…When ART results in viral suppression…it prevents sexual HIV transmission. CDC, 2017

Despite these medical advances, the rate of annual infections only decreased 10% in 2014.  What is the reason? Stigma.

Stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or persons. The stigma surrounding HIV is unique in that part of it comes from the history. In the early 1980s and 1990s, people were dying, little could be done, and little information was known about the disease. The stigma also comes from how it’s transmitted, through injection drug use and through bodily fluids exchange through sex, both highly taboo subjects. The population that HIV disproportionally affects are gay males and people of color, so HIV is further stigmatized through homophobia and racism. There is an intersectionality of stigma experienced that can be made worse by race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or other factors.

The cycle of stigma is a vicious one that can reinforce negative beliefs and behavior. HIV stigma leads to discrimination, which can affect the ability of people living with HIV to find work or housing, which in turns contribute to a lower self-esteem. This can even cause a person to avoid doctor’s appointments, which leads to poorer health outcomes and more stigma. The stigma is then reinforced through negative or false beliefs or even stigma from enacted laws. The end result of stigma is that fewer people get tested, and those living with the virus live in secrecy and silence.

If stigma feeds on shame and isolation, the key to overcoming stigma, is community and understanding.  It starts with information, knowing how the virus is transmitted and how it is not. The next step is acknowledging HIV. The United States currently ranks 9th for most people living with HIV at 1.1 million people. These are people in our communities, in the same neighborhoods, attending our faith communities, the same schools. They are often in the shadows for fear of not being accepted and of facing discrimination. Ending stigma means seeing people for more than their status, and creating a safe and welcoming environment for all.

Yen Tran – “We Are Family”

Yen Tran is a Public Health Professional. She implements sustainable practices and promotes healthy living environments for the St. Paul Public Housing Agency in Minnesota. She enjoys collaborating with diverse populations, who have a common mission to flourishing equitable communities. Yen resides in Wisconsin with her partner, who is an ELCA Pastor for North Beaver Creek Church.

This upbeat, make-you-want-to-groove song by Sister Sledge, was played continually throughout the U.S. Conference on AIDS. Community members from across the country have united for more than two decades now at these important events. The annual frequency has transformed the gathering into something like a “family reunion.” A time to catch up with familiar faces, welcome new arrivals, to share and listen to numerous stories of triumphs, challenges, and hopes, and to be re-energized in the mission to end to this HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Reunions of any sorts always stir a spectrum of emotions. Whether it’s feeling excited to reconnect with distant friends or feeling dreadful to encounter new faces or re-encounter a particular person who drove you to the edge. During the reunion, I experienced both ends of the spectrum. I felt nervous, excited, amazed, saddened, disappointed, hopeful, empowered, and many times, hangry when I didn’t get a snack in between the workshops. However, at the end of this particular reunion, I felt overwhelmed with love and filled with inspiration.

As a Midwestern, first-generation, Asian-American, Catholic, cisgender, ‘negative-status’ person, I was welcomed open-armed into this diverse family. I felt privileged to be trusted and to hear personal struggles of how the social, environmental, and political systems have hurt or failed to protect the most vulnerable populations. I saw how various determinants of health, such as education, economic stability, society, access to health care, and the physical environment, have tremendously impacted a persons’ mental and physical well-being. Though there were many lessons I learned from the stories shared, but these three facts have blown me away:

1. There has been immense progress in medicine (like PrEP[1]) to help a positive-status person prevent the transmission to their partner(s), and innovative technology has improved access to health centers and resources.

2. Social stigma has been one of the primary culprits in hindering the end to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

3. There are unjust laws that have incarcerated many populations based on their health status. Policies need to be re-evaluated, adapted, and implemented to prevent and address inequities.

Overall, the conference created a sanctuary, an environment that was inclusive and encouraged all voices to be heard. A community where I felt so at home. It would be wishful thinking that all communities – schools, workplaces, spiritual centers, healthcare clinics, public centers, etc. – can be just as inviting and supportive. I know not every community (and not every families) may have similar priorities, support systems, resources, values, and policies that may promote such environments.

However, we are equipped to learn open-mindedly, to love unconditionally and to listen humbly to diverse perspectives. We can set aside our differences or claimed identities and realize that we are not perfect human beings. We do wish to do good, to be valued and for our voices to be heard. Most importantly, we have the ability to unite as a family and to uplift each other.

The missions to end epidemics, stigmas, and inequities are attainable:

Here’s what we call our golden rule

Have faith in you and the things you do

You won’t go wrong, oh no,

This is our family jewel….

WE ARE FAMILY!

Yen and Richard at USCA

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html