On Faith, State Budgets, and Advocacy

A righteous person knows the rights of the poor.   Proverbs 29:7

The writer of the quotation above offers some pretty direct advice to the people of God: we know what our responsibilities are when it comes to serving our neighbors who are hungry, disabled, homeless, in prison, sick, unable to work, or otherwise unemployed . . . or any combination of the full list. This call to serve those around us when they need help appears in every section of our Bibles, from the beginning of the covenant relationship through the time when Jesus was here with us.

So if we have been faithful in reading God’s Word and applying our faith to our actions, we know what is needed and that we need to respond. What we actually do can vary quite a bit, depending on our own context or resources, but that we are called to do something to make things better for others who are suffering is not ambiguous.

While gifts to private charities and non-profit organizations are usually highlighted in our churches, as individual members and as communities we can also get involved in the process of setting budget priorities for local and state governments. We can call elected officials, email them, or step up to the microphone at a public meeting to advocate for budgets that place a priority on public funds for the people who need help with groceries or rent or utilities or medical care. We can raise our voices in protest when elected leaders make helping the wealthy and powerful a higher priority than the needs of the most vulnerable.

If you agree that participating in public meetings and speaking up during budget debates and discussions is a good use of your time and energy, right now is an ideal time to invest in advocacy, at least here in Wisconsin. The biennial budgeting process for the State of Wisconsin is at the midpoint, with the Governor’s office working on what they will present to the citizens and the legislature on February 12^th.

The listening sessions the governor’s office organized have ended, but there is still time to contact the governor to advocate for a budget that is just and serves all the people of this state. After the 12^th, action on the budget moves to the legislature, starting with the Joint Finance Committee. That group will be holding meetings and hearings on the budget before sending it on to the Assembly and Senate. At each stage of the budgeting process, your voice as a non-partisan advocate for spending and policies that help poor and hungry people can make a difference.

And you can get some training on how to best do that kind of non-partisan advocacy with your own representatives and senators, the Governor, members of the Joint Finance Committee, and other legislative leaders a couple of different ways:

WISDOM, a statewide organizing network, is offering some advocacy training webinars that are open to any and all who are interested in learning more about the budgeting process or in getting involved in direct advocacy. The next two are focused on how to communicate effectively with legislators, on Saturday, January 23, from 9 am to noon and Tuesday, February 9 from 5 to 6 pm. You will find registration information for those opportunities as well as information about others at https://wisdomwisconsin.org/sign-up-for-wisdoms-school-of-democracy/. I encourage you to register for one or more of these webinars or send this information on to people you know.

The Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin [LOPPW] will also be reaching out with resources and information about advocacy during the state budgeting process in the next few weeks. Please sign up for their regular emails and look for updates on their website [https://www.loppw.org/]. LOPPW’s advocacy priorities for 2021 can be found at https://www.loppw.org/about-us/current-priorities/.

I encourage you to take the step into non-partisan advocacy this year, if you haven’t done so in the past, and take advantage of any and all resources available to help you feel more confident in talking to our elected leaders.

Breathe deep. Seek peace and justice. Pray every day.

Deacon David Rask Behling he/him [Why are pronouns important?]

Hunger and Justice Advocate,

NW Synod of Wisconsin [ELCA]

URL: http://nwswi.org/social-justice-advocacy

On Faith, Hunger, and the Public Good

It would therefore be fitting if the coat of arms of every upright prince were emblazoned with a loaf of bread instead of a lion.                   Dr. Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Book of Concord

As you read the words that follow, and as you make your choices about giving, about voting, about what to talk about with people in your churches and your community, please remember what Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, the one intended to teach pastors and other community leaders about how we are supposed to live and lead as the people of God. Luther believed in acting to help people when there were needs in the community, like making sure people had a enough food, not in blaming poor people for their poverty or hunger. Luther understood that the Christian life included doing God’s work with our hands, and that it wasn’t enough to just sit or stand in a church and pray.

When Covid-19 began to spread throughout our world at the beginning of 2020, many things happened as a result. Hundreds of thousands died because of COVID 19. Hundreds of thousands more were hospitalized, if there were any hospital beds available, or isolated at home if the hospitals were full.

Along with the medical consequences, there were political, economic, social, and emotional consequences in every community. Too many government leaders in our country and around the world didn’t take the virus seriously or used the virus to claim even more power for their authoritarian governments. People saw their incomes reduced, were furloughed, or were laid off when businesses closed and factories shut down. If people were able to work at home, the lack of good broadband access in many urban and rural communities made that very difficult.

People were stuck at home, if they hadn’t already been evicted, and many people were stuck in dangerous living situations. Students from kindergarten to graduate school were learning primarily via online platforms, which only made the weak broadband infrastructure in our country even more obvious. Families and friends kept their distance from each other, if they didn’t live together, and the need for mental health support, which is often unavailable in rural areas. 

Throughout this international crisis the need for help for the poor and marginalized in our communities has grown. Direct aid from the states and federal governments helped the most, but so did people of faith. Inspired by Jesus or Martin Luther or some other religious figure, there were many people living out their faith by serving their neighbors.

It seems likely that the depth and breadth of economic need arising from this pandemic will mean we will be dealing with all of those consequences for quite some time. And so the people of God are going to continue being called upon to serve our neighbors in new and challenging ways throughout the coming year. Hopefully, food pantries and meal sites in your facilities and in your communities have been able to create ways to help families experiencing hunger during this time of physical distancing.

We can, of course, do more than just donate more money to pantries, food banks, and meal sites. As citizens of this state and this country, we can talk to state and federal legislators, the governor, and even the White House to let our elected leaders know we expect them to work together for the public good. As budgeting meetings and decisions are made this spring at the state and federal level, we can call them, email them, or even talk to them via Zoom or in person [while observing a safe physical distance] if they visit our communities. We can become advocates for poor and marginalized people in our communities.

As the budgeting process gets underway here in Wisconsin, please watch for additional messages from me and subscribe to the action alerts and weekly updates from the Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin [www.loppw.org] about how to best advocate for the people experiencing hunger in Wisconsin.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to PRAY every day for all the people involved in food ministry – the agencies, food banks, staff, and volunteers who help bring food to those who need it. We need to pray for those who need help with food. And remember to pray for yourself as I am praying for you, for God to sustain you in this work, and to bring courage, resilience, and patience in equal measure.

If you have any questions, or want to let me (or other synod staff) know about something specific that is happening in your community or congregation, please feel free to email me [hungerandjustice@nwswi.org] or contact the synod office at 715-859-6810.

Be safe. Be well. Be assured that we are all in God’s hands.

Deacon David Rask Behling

Hunger and Justice Advocate, Northwest Synod of Wisconsin

hungerandjustice@nwswi.org