NW Synod Assembly Resolution 5: Support for ELCA World Hunger

I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.                                                                                      Matthew: 25:35

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.                                    Martin Luther in the Large Catechism, Book of Concord

Jesus and Dr. Martin Luther were both into feeding people who were hungry. When Jesus spread the good news about the Blessed Community and God’s great love for humanity, he made sure people had enough to eat, and he did that more than once. Luther made feeding people a big part of his teaching about loving and serving our neighbors, including the quotation above from the Large Catechism. Jesus and Luther helped people when they needed help without blaming them for being in need. Jesus and Luther modeled the ministry of feeding people food for physical bodies along with spiritual food for minds and hearts.

The NW Synod of Wisconsin 2021 Assembly takes place in a few weeks, and one of the decisions Voting Members will be making is about challenging the member congregations of the synod to increase their financial support for ELCA World Hunger. The reasons for this challenge relate to how many people in our world are either hungry or face ongoing food insecurity.

The resolution includes a lot of data about hunger. From the United Nations and the World Bank we learn that more than 821 million people, or almost 11% of the people in our world, are hungry and that 17.5 % of all the children in the world live in poverty. We also learn that, even though there had been a dramatic drop in the percentage of people experiencing hunger and food insecurity since 2014, the number of people experiencing hunger and food insecurity in the world has been on the rise since 2018.

The thing is, when we are dealing with hunger and food insecurity, we aren’t just dealing with issues about food. The people who are supported through programs funded by ELCA World Hunger are more vulnerable to natural disasters, human conflicts, homelessness, disease, shortened life spans, and a host of other disadvantages. With our financial support, our church can respond to hunger and poverty in the United States and throughout the world comprehensively, with direct relief, education, advocacy, sustainable development, and community organizing and networking. Our church does this work so that people have the resources they need to not just survive, but thrive.

When the Voting Members gather online for this year’s assembly, they will have the opportunity to make visible our love for our neighbors who face food insecurity, from those who live right here in Wisconsin to those living in places like Guatemala or Malawi. The resolution asks all congregations in the NW Synod to take time on a regular basis throughout the year to call people’s awareness to the problem of hunger and, if they are not already doing this, to set aside at least one Sunday each year to hear about the work of ELCA World Hunger and collect an offering to support that work.

The resolution is also about financial support. For each of the past several years, member congregations and individuals in the NW Synod have contributed approximately $300,000 to ELCA World Hunger. This is giving above and beyond what congregations and individuals also donate to local food pantries and regional food banks like Second Harvest Northern Lakes or Feed My People. The 2021 resolution challenges congregations and individuals to collectively increase the total giving each year and meet the goal of $1,000,000 by April 2024. It’s a modest increase, which makes it doable if everyone is willing to give a little bit more than in the past.

Whether you are a Voting Member of the 2021 Synod Assembly or not, please take the time to learn more about the resolution and the needs of the hungry before the resolution comes up for a vote on Thursday, April 15. There are Forums on April 8, 11, 12, & 13 scheduled where Voting Members in particular can learn more as well as get some orientation to the Zoom platform for the meeting [URL: http://nwswi.org/home/calendar-of-events]. And along with praying for the people who don't have enough food, please do whatever you can to make a difference in the lives of people who are hungry throughout our world.

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

On Faith and Politics

 Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare.     Jeremiah 29:7

Jesus said: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Mark 12:17

Politics. It’s complicated. It’s controversial. It’s empowering. It’s frustrating. It’s also very human. At the most basic level, politics [Greek root “polis” means “city”] is about how we organize our lives together in communities of any size. Even when we are isolated families or small tribes migrating from place to place, the way we live with each other is political. Even when we make decisions and interact in our churches, we are acting politically.

Politics for the people of God has been all of the things I listed above, and it’s been that way since the very beginning. The stories of the Tower of Babel and the destruction of the world through water are rooted in politics – how people treat each other – as much as they are faith. The Ten Commandments are rules for living that are “political” in nature because seven of them are about how we live with each other.

And when we feel that talking about anything political in our country right now has become scary or dangerous, we aren’t really experiencing anything new. The prophets of Israel and Judah were not popular; on the contrary, they were taking huge risks and more than one was killed for speaking God’s truth to the powerful in those two countries. Jesus himself was killed by the government in support of religious leaders who wielded political power in the community, not just religious.

This is a history that we have mostly forgotten, of course. When we read the words of the prophets in worship services or preach about them in sermons today, we usually focus on the prophets as forerunners of Jesus, as teaching people nearly exclusively about the messiah. And so when things get political, even in a reading from scripture during worship, many Lutherans become anxious or angry. We either don’t want to be reminded that our political ideology doesn’t line up with what the Bible teaches, or we don’t want the ugliness of our dysfunctional political system to show up in church.

 Why is this true? Why are we so determined to block political discussion from our fellowship halls, pews, and pulpits? Well, one reason is that, starting in the 1950s, mainline protestant churches in North America, including Lutherans, entered into an informal arrangement with the governing authorities. Churches would be responsible for promoting individual morality, private spirituality, and religious practices inside their buildings. The government and political parties would be responsible for what happened outside the walls of our churches, like the cold war against communism. With the support of many churches combined with the silence of others, the governing authorities were able to build up the system of segregation we call “Jim Crow” laws and policies, keep women from full participation in the workforce, and treat homosexuality as a crime.

Because we in the white church put up a wall between things we considered “political” and things we considered spiritual or religious contributed to the emergence of black churches and denominations. Our silent or vocal support of “law and order” in the struggle for civil rights made the political practices of a racist America a higher good than working together with other believers to build up the body of Christ.

Given that complicated history and the legacy it has left in our communities, what will be the political response of the congregations in the NW Synod of Wisconsin? What kind of impact are we Lutherans having on what happens to all of the people living in our communities, in our state, and in our country? For those who insist we in the church remain silent, what will be the impact of that silence when so many of our elected leaders are either bullies or allies of bullies, people who only care about themselves and their own power? When we don’t take what the Bible and the church teaches us about loving and serving both God AND our neighbors, what is the result? When the only religious voices that many elected leaders hear are voices speaking about power, judgement, and domination, what will be the consequences? As those conservative, white, Christian voices advocate for imposing their idea of political “Christianity” on the United States, can anything good come from this?

The people of God in this country have the role of Caesar right now. We came close on January 6^th, but we have so far escaped the fate of many stuck living in countries with authoritarian governments. As both citizens and Christians we DO have a role to play in what happens in our communities. Remember that our silence is just as political as our speaking. Silence in the face of lies by bullies and hatred of our neighbors communicates our consent, it tells everyone in the community that we believe those lies, that we are okay with what’s happening to our neighbors.

So . . . are we?

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

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

Hunger and Justice Advocate,

NW Synod of Wisconsin [ELCA]

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