From Winter to Spring at the County Political Convention

I saw my first robin Saturday morning, a sign of an early Spring. It’s been a short winter, and early spring.

Surely we could have been outside Saturday doing early yard work. Or, just have gone for a walk on the river front. But, no we had received a postcard with a reminder of the Dubuque, Iowa, County Convention of the political party to which we belong. The news media were all over those famous Iowa Caucuses in early January; Saturday, Mach 10, 130 delegates selected at the precincts arrived at Northeast Iowa Community College for a day of deliberation. No news media. Just us citizens.

We began with prayer by a pastor who was in the role of citizen delegate that day. The prayer was inclusive of all faiths. Then we said the pledge to the flag. Then, not unlike an ecclesial assembly, we were invited to look around and greet one another with handshakes. We heard words from county elected officials, words of encouragement and challenge. With redistricting, there will be challenges to fair representation. Our state senator’s words were kind and inspiring. Our state representative, who had been Speaker of the Iowa House until the 2010 election, spoke. He lives in a modest house in Dubuque and each year invites people to his home on St. Patrick’s day. At the county level, people know each other and are known. (I was surprised leaders knew my name.)

With voter suppression laws are a huge issue across the nation (see my earlier blog). Iowa has been able to hold back that initiative by Democrats retaining, by a small margin, control of the Senate. Still, helping people—all sorts of people—be able and empowered to vote this year is our task.

The day proceeded in what I thought was a wonderfully civil manner. Through proper procedure and careful listening to one another we chose 21 males and 21 females to represent Dubuque County at the District Convention in April and the State Convention in June. Some of the party leaders stepped back and put their names on the alternate list so that more “regular people” could be delegates.

After lunch, hard work of deliberation on the Platform began (15 pages, 763 lines). Surely the nice weather outside would entice people away. And would the work of these 130 delegates at a mere “county” convention matter in the large scheme of things? But the Platform Committee had done their work and now these delegates did theirs. I have been to many, many church conventions. Some are collaborative; some full of rancor. But this day at NE Iowa Community College, the delegates deliberated for three more hours, listening carefully to one another. Each section began with a “Mission Statement” which summarized our “commitments” to Agriculture; Climate and Environmental Integrity/Stewardship; Education; Energy; Environment; Government and Law; Health and Human Services; International Policy; Taxes; and Veterans.

A person took the microphone to say, that “Immigration” was emerging as a significant enough issue to be a separate section, not just part of “Government and Law.” It was agreed upon by consensus. Another person quickly noted that “Immigration” would then need a “Mission Statement” and that perhaps lines 465-467 from the section could be moved to serve that purpose. Agreed!

That was the tone of the afternoon! People paid attention—to the issues and to one another. A platform plank under “Environmental Integrity/Stewardship” on open leaf burning, composting and mulching, could not be resolved quickly, because of rural concerns of open country in this prairie/savanna context. “Could some of you work on that and we’ll come back to it?”

We proceeded with conversations about commerce and collective bargaining, about rebuilding the financial support for public education that has been cut in the past 15 months, about international trade policies and nuclear weapons. If someone wanted to amend the Platform with a substantive change, one had to submit it in writing with 20 signatures. During the course of the afternoon that happened a number of times.

One proposed an amendment related to the “under God” words that were added to the Pledge of Allegiance during the Cold War period a few decades ago. Dubuque County is highly Roman Catholic and very churched. Even so, there was good, clear conversation about why removing those words might be very good to say this is a pluralistic nation of many faiths, people who believe in other than a monotheistic god or in no god. It was decided that such an amendment, at this time, might not serve well.

Another proposed amendment related to contraceptives. Again, this is a highly Roman Catholic area. The amendment was not opposed because of religious reasons. In fact a man suggested changing the words “women” to “people,” saying that birth control is a responsibility of men and women. Conversation continued about words for “access” and “insurance” and these 130 people worked it all out by consensus: “We support birth control being accessible for all people through their health insurance with no co-pays.”

The afternoon was growing long. People monitored their time at the microphones, and so did the leaders. Still they gave fair time to individuals who had submitted written minority reports. It was clear to most, including the ones who proposed them, that they would not pass, but they were considered, seriously considered and through debate the assembly learned. Then, we returned to the issue of open leaf burning with the addition of “except for resource management.” And we ratified our deliberated Platform, now to be sent on to the District Convention. There our voices would be joined with many others, and likewise at the state and eventually the national conventions.

The day that began with my seeing of a robin, a sign of Spring, concluded with a strong sign that I had seen participatory democracy; I had witnessed intelligence, wisdom and pragmatism. These people had deliberated all afternoon…when surely they could had been outdoors on that amazingly warm Iowa March day. Did it matter? It does!

When we returned home we saw crocuses blooming in our yard where only a week before all the trees had been covered with snow.

Separation of Church and State offers Freedom to be Religious in the Public Arena

People laugh, but I wonder. If we aren’t really supposed to take Rick Santorum’s view about religion in the public world seriously, then why are there so many people cheering him on?

Whether or not he wins or loses in the various state primaries and caucuses, the issue of church and state and the place of various faith communities in a pluralistic culture remain.

I’ve blogged about these things before. After all, the name of this blog is “Conversations on the Church’s vocation in the Public World.” Now these issues are before us, and all twisted up. We need to get our history straight. If Rick Santorum feels like throwing up when he hears John F. Kennedy’s speech, then Santorum doesn’t know his history. In the fall of 1960 JFK needed to make clear that should he become president of the United States, the pope would not be dictating policy of this nation. There would be “absolute” separation.
Mr. Santorum, now saying he would take back his words that the speech made him want to throw up, has, however, gone even further by insinuating that only non-religious people can have a voice in the public square and that the voices of people of faith (e.g. conservative evangelical Christians) would be excluded by adhering to separation of church and state.

The words, “separation of church and state” indeed are not in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson wrote them in response to a letter of October 7, 1801, from the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association, in which they, “rejoicing” in his “election to office” said, “Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty: that Religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals; that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions,” and added, “But, sir, our constitution of government is not specific.”

Thomas Jefferson responded: “Gentlemen….believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God…I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature would ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” He concluded, “I reciprocate your kind prayers…and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.”

There are various kinds of separation: absolute, functional, institutional, transvaluative, equal. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in its constitution (4.03n) pledges to “work with civil authorities in areas of mutual endeavor, maintaining institutional separation of church and state in a relation of functional interaction.” That’s another way of saying that we hold to both the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First amendment; we also believe that all faith communities are called to work together for the common good, yes, carry out our various “vocations” in the public world.

Barack Obama, in a keynote address at the Call to Renewal’s Building a Covenant for a New American Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2006, told his own faith background story, of an adult working as a community organizer in Chicago. He saw Christians “who knew their book.” He said, “the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities....I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source. Of hope.”

Obama went on to say people “need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practices. …it wasn’t the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment. It was the persecuted minorities, it was the Baptists. …It was the forbearers of the evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religion….” His speech goes on at length concluding with “a hope that we can live with one another in a way that reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all.” A worthy goal!

Pluralism, Parenthood, Contraception and Roman Catholicism

Many issues in the past couple of weeks have accumulated faster than I have written about them. I hope not faster than you have had a time to think about them. That’s been hard, however, because of whose voices are chosen to not only express their views but to frame the issues in the media. Therefore the challenge: create places for conversation where people can think and talk and explore deeply the issues and to carry out ministry in this public, pluralistic society.

Planned Parenthood in the past few years has suffered growing attacks, countess false accusations that have hindered its ability to offer services to those who need them most: women with few if any other resources for women’s health care particularly reproductive care. With a target on its back, the public was beginning to believe, “Planned Parenthood is bad.” Then came the backlash to the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s pulling its funding. I am among those contributors to Planned Parenthood. I’ve seen and experienced its service, offering contraceptive advice and help for decades. It wasn’t a matter, as one news broadcast framed it, of “two titans battling it out.” Indeed “war” is the very last image women want to use. It’s about birth, not death. By the end of the week many women wanted to know that these two organizations could be ways women could be united in working for women’s health. There are issues that remain, of course, about board membership, etc., but more than that, I think questions remain for us to think about:

How can we as people of faith work together so that parenthood is a joint responsibility?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, already 20 years ago, in one of its earliest social statements deliberations, adopted by a 2/3 majority at its churchwide assembly in Orlando Florida in 1991 a Social Statement on Abortion. It begins with acknowledging our unity and our diversity within the church and goes on to state up front that the Church is in support of life. It says that the “church recognizes parenthood as a vocation that women and men share.”

If one is not in favor of abortions, why not fully support knowledge about, access to, and responsibility for contraception by both men and women?

The ELCA Social Statement on Abortion reads:
“Prevention of unintended pregnancies is crucial in lessening the number of abortions. In addition to efforts within church and home, this church supports appropriate forms of sex education in schools, community pregnancy prevention programs, and parenting preparation classes. We recognize the need for contraceptives to be available, for voluntary sterilization to be considered, and for research and development of new forms of contraception.”

How might we shape the conversation to include care for children after birth?

The ELCA Social Statement on Abortion goes on:
“Many women choose abortion in a desperate attempt to survive in a hostile social environment. In order to affirm the value of life and reduce the number of abortions, it is essential for us as a church to work to improve support for life in society.

"Greater social responsibility for the care, welfare, and education of children and families is needed through such measures as access to quality, affordable health care, child care, and housing. Sufficient income support for families needs to be provided by employers, or, in the case of the unemployed, through government assistance. As a society we need to provide increased support for education, nutrition, and services that protect children from abuse and neglect.
“Because parenthood is a vocation that women and men share, this church supports public and private initiatives to provide adequate maternity and paternity leaves, greater flexibility in the work place, and efforts to correct the disparity between the incomes of men and women.”

Why are prominent men still given the most voice in decision-making concerning women’s bodies? (As I write this blog, the news report that the Obama administration this afternoon might come to some accommodation with the Roman Catholic Church is headlined, “Will the Catholic bishops be satisfied?”)

The ELCA Social Statement of 20 years ago says: (And we ask, where are we today?)
"In the case of abortion, public policy has a double challenge. One is to be effective in protecting prenatal life. The other is to protect the dignity of women and their freedom to make responsible decisions in difficult situations. Pursuing those ends is particularly formidable because our society is so divided on this issue, and because women, people of color, and those of low income are so under-represented in legislative and judicial processes. In its advocacy regarding these issues, this church should exert every effort to see that the needs of those most directly affected, particularly the pregnant woman and the life in her womb, are seriously considered in the political process."

And there are more questions for our conversation about the church’s vocation in the public world:

What are our responsibilities in making sure that all people have access to affordable, quality health care?

How do we shape the questions and the conversations in ways that men and women are equally responsible for their sexuality and their sexual relationships?

Why don’t we see as many advertisements on TV for contraceptives as we do for Viagra?

How far have we come and what do we still need to do to make sure that women and their bodies are not kept captive in male-dominated power systems?

Since men are taking a more full role in male-female relationships in the public as well as private life, how do we support such men and hold these caring, life-sustaining, mutually accountable partnerships up as role-models in a world that still fears women in full partnership with men?

How do we uphold single people and people of differing sexual orientations as well as heterosexual married couples in their commitments to lives of faithful vocation?

How do we live together as people of many different faith traditions with different values and ethics, respecting one another’s beliefs without imposing ours on others?

I have been wanting to say something about what I think should be clear by now, but obviously is not: we live in a pluralistic society in which all of us in many ways are called upon to help fund things which we may not need, want, or might well be against. Diana Butler Bass has said it well her blog February 7, 2012. I quote parts of it here:

“….everyone knows that we now live in a fully pluralistic society—and that religious pluralism raises some serious questions about the Catholic Church’s plea to be exempted from providing access to birth control at institutions employing and serving the larger public. These questions go to the heart of what is means to be a faithful believer and a good citizen.

“There are millions of religious Americans who pay taxes or follow government regulations that support something to which they morally object. Quakers and Mennonites pay taxes for the military and often serve in non-combat settings during war. Jewish and Muslim taxes support subsidies for pork farmers and shrimp fisheries. Mainline Protestants provide public funds to faith-based groups who convert people away from liberal Protestant churches. Christian Scientist taxes go to Medicare and the National Institutes of Health. Fundamentalists support student loan programs for future ministers at Harvard Divinity School. Atheists fund military chaplains. LGBT Christians and Jews pay the salaries of judges who rule against their desire to marry. Is the government trampling upon the religious liberties of all these people, too? No. All these groups practice their faith in tension or tandem with ethical commitments without accusing others of bigotry.

“Catholics might think that they are being singled out having their money go to something that offends them. They are not. The success of American Catholicism means that Catholics are not special and they get to be treated like everyone else. We all pay for things we like; we all pay for things we don’t like. Everybody is offended by something, somewhere, by some program, somehow. The American ethical conscience often bends like a reed in a complicated, diverse society.

“Americans put up with the offense for a very good reason: The government is not a church. The government attempts to represent the interests and well-being of the whole public by providing military defense, helping farmers, assisting those who serve prisoners and the poor, caring for the elderly, fostering scientific research, supporting students, and giving soldiers someone to talk to or pray with on the battlefield. And yes, part of the public good is that women get to choose if and when they have babies. The government funds all this with a common pool of tax money and a mix of public and private services without theological tests available to all Americans—no matter what Quakers, Mennonites, Jews, Muslims, Methodists and Episcopalians and Lutherans, Christian Scientists, Southern Baptists, atheists, or even Roman Catholics think, teach, and proclaim in their traditions and congregations. Everybody participates. And everybody works out the tensions in creative, faithful, and theologically rich ways. Indeed, the tensions are the source of American religious vitality.

“It is easy to accuse the government of violating religious freedom. But what, exactly, is a secular government to do? Set up the Governmental Office of Theological Ethics to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whose taxes go for what programs, develop a strategy for exemptions, determine which institutions serve the public and which do not, adjudicate between conflicting moral and religious systems, punish those who step on another’s ethical prohibition? Do only the biggest religious groups get the government to assuage their ethical qualms? Or, should we bag secular government altogether and become a theocracy? Should government services be earmarked on a percentage basis toward the religious affiliation of taxpayers? Perhaps all religious groups should become sects and provide services for only those who share their theological views.

“Or maybe we should keep working at the restless and ever-evolving tension between being religious freedom and separation of church and state in our wildly diverse nation.

“This isn’t a war on religion. It is just America.”

And one more question of mine:
What difference has it made for us all,women and men,that in the ELCA we now have women bishops, women cleargy, men and women on every roster and laity fully participating in our framing of social statements?

Between Caucus Night and Epiphany

Between the Iowa Caucuses, January 3, and Epiphany, January 6

We gathered at the E. B. Lyons Interpretive Center. It was dark driving down the lane to the Nature Center at the south edge of Dubuque, Iowa. One could hardly find the way. But once there, arriving even before the announced 6:30 door-opening time, the parking lot was already full. And inside were our neighbors. I saw colleagues from Wartburg Seminary, where I'm a professor here in Dubuque, who waved us over to sit by them. There was Pat Murphy simply helping out, our State representative and former Speaker of the Iowa House. I spotted Carolyn Farrell coming in, a Roman Catholic nun from the next neighborhood over, who once served as Mayor of Dubuque.

But mostly they were the ordinary folk…no, I take that back, including Pat and Carolyn, we were all ordinary folk. Who meets at the Nature Center in the middle of winter? Well, the press wasn’t there. It was, after all, the “other” caucus night in Iowa. But people kept streaming in. At last count there were 150 and standing room only. Yes, many had come to hear the president (streaming video with some precincts in Iowa, not ours), but more significant, I believe, was these people had come to be part of a conversation in participatory democracy.

The Democrats, unlike the Republicans, each four years, do not take a secret ballot. We meet, listen, talk and then go to different parts of the room in preference groups and simply count the number of people there. Then, if some groups are too small to select one person to go on to the county caucus, people talk with each other some more, reconfigure and count again until there are viable groups.
So what was the big deal last night? I know, I know, the media was on the other side of town. I’m not sure they could have found us out in the dark woods anyway. (There were other precinct meetings in Dubuque; ours just happened to be south of town where there’s a growing population.) But I wish the media had been there, or at least some witnesses to this event at the Nature Center.

After hearing from Pat and the president and about the organizational structure of this form of participatory democracy, the question was asked if anyone there wanted to caucus for any other candidate than the president. That option was there, but no one did, so we did not divide into preference groups. Four years earlier, when the Precinct 2 Caucus was held at Wartburg Seminary, it was quite a different scene…and exciting night which ended in Barack Obama garnering about 50% of the precinct goers…but you know all about that.

Because a few precincts were gathering together last night, we then divided with half of us going downstairs to the science lab where we took small stools off tables and talked with our closer neighbors, those from down the street and the next streets over. We talked about issues and decided who would go on to represent us at the County Caucus coming up in March. We could send 7 delegates. We decided. And then one woman proposed that everyone else of us be listed as alternates. We could do that because anyone can go. Who would serve on the Platform Committee and who on the Credentials Committee? (The last is not a pro forma issue if you read my last blog.) We signed the petitions for our state and national candidates to represent us. It was easy to be involved. Oh, and yes, we passed the hat (an envelope actually) for funds to support our party’s work. Then we ratified our decisions. There was conversation, laughter, seriousness of purpose, and inclusive participation.

During Christmas…Epiphany won’t come until Friday…many of us have gathered in large churches and small, and yes in living rooms and kitchens. Two Christmas programs are memorable because of the people who participated and the message they sent. To be sure, I’m not comparing Caucus Night and Epiphany, only (because I write this day) in so far as the importance of gathering for inclusive participation. One program was on a Sunday morning in a tall sanctuary in Waterloo, Iowa, where my husband is interim pastor. No doubt in years past there were hundreds of children in the sanctuary, but this year, because the downtown congregation is smaller now, we heard the Christmas story from a rather small group of children, and, adults. Every child and youth, including the youngest who would hold the star, and the three young men who had been confirmed and, typically, no longer in attendance regularly, was included meaningfully. They knew why they were there and the importance of their participation.

The woman who wrote it told me afterwards that she had been a child she remembered not having a part and she now wanted everyone to be involved. Those robed to be the cast of Nativity figures, however, were adults, of all ages, from one holding a real baby, to a shepherd who needed help getting off his knees at the end. The children had prepared questions and the adults, in character answered them. All of us were moved by the thoughtful, real, answers, from the struggles of Joseph, to the dilemma of the in-keeper, to Herod, who confessed that sometimes people with power make bad decisions. We were there, all of us, and no one was insignificant as we pondered what we knew and what we had yet to learn from one another in this baby Jesus.

The second Christmas program I attended was here in Dubuque on a Sunday evening. The church was full; it was hard to find a seat. The script was well written and all knew their parts, challenging us to consider the story of the nativity amid our contemporary pressures. The evening ended with what might have been considered an “add-on,” but which I found to be a moving way that brought us all worshipfully together. Tina St. Aubin, a Wartburg Seminary student, doing her Educational Ministry field work at this congregation, had been teaching the children some liturgical movement in addition to their practice for the program. She had told me the adults had been standing at the edges of the practice session, joining in. And so, this Sunday evening, with the children in the nativity scene, the pre-school young ones filling the sanctuary, all the others gathered around, on the steps, up the aisle, surrounding us all. We all become participants as two women sang “Mary’s Song” (by Mark Lowry and Buddy Green):

Mary, did you know? Did you know that your baby boy would come to make you new? Did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that the child you delivered will soon deliver you? Did you know this sleeping child you’re holding is the great I Am?

Did you know?

Now, on a morning-after-Caucus Day of ever-ending interpretations of what an 8-vote margin means, that’s a question to ponder. Blessed Epiphany

The Most Important Issue Not Being Talked About

So many issues unfolding in front of us each day that they may overwhelm our ability to deeply consider them, much less to take action. And all are important, particularly as they intersect in the public world. But one I see so little about amongst all the "Your Voice, Your Vote" commentaries on political candidates, is all of those people who are daily losing their vote.

The Voting Rights bill of the 1960's finally permitted people of color who had been denied the vote since the inception of this nation, to vote. People worked so hard, organized, were beaten, went to jail and died so that all could vote. It never occurred to many of us that those rights might be legally taken back just a few decades later. This very year in dozens of states laws are being passed to insist on voter I.D. That all sounds innocent enough, perhaps even noble. I mean, who wouldn't want to prevent voter fraud? But the truth is that "voter fraud" is a bogeyman. One is more likely to be hit by lightning than to commit voter fraud. The Bush administration spent 5 years investigating voter fraud and convicted only 86 people among 196 million votes cast.

So why are all these states passing laws that will disenfranchise millions? Some estimate 5 million people who voted in 2008 will not be able to vote in 2012 and the number is climbing of those being disenfranchised. They are people who don't have a driver's license. That already targets the young, the old, the poor (who don't have a car), and those people living with disabilities.

Hear the story of the 90-some-year-old woman who has voted in every election except one when she was ill, since women were able to vote. More elections than almost any of the rest of us. She has been a faithful citizen, exercising her voice and vote in the public world. But in 2012 she will not be able to vote. She took all of her documentation including birth certificate, records of utility bills paid at her current address, etc. to the center where she was to go to obtain a new special I.D. card. But she didn't have her marriage license from decades ago which showed her change of name. No matter she has been a widow for years. She had a stellar voting record but now she was denied the right to vote next year.

Why would anyone want to deny this woman the vote? Why are people of color being denied I.D. cards for such technicalities at such great rate?(I'm not even commenting on the issue of the political party in power in various state legislatures.) It's my guess that it might be connected to what has been on the news since the 2010 census, that the "majority" whites population may someday become the minority. People fear the "other" and demographics are changing. The country feared what would happen if half the population, namely women, were "allowed" to vote. People feared "Negroes" being "given" the vote a hundred years after emancipation. In 2008 eligible Latino voters were 9.5% of the population (up from 8.2%); eligible African-American voters were ll.8% (up from ll.6%); eligible Asian-American voters were 3.4% (up from 3.3%); eligible White (non-Latino)voters were 73.4% (down from 75.2%) Looking at those figures, one should still ask, "What do white folks have to fear?" But fear has its own power.

There is nothing so fundamental to democracy than the right to vote. For citizens of voting age, voting is a right,not a privilege, not something a voter should need to prove again and again. If someone votes unlawfully, that is a crime which can be prosecuted. As a nation the price of freedom is leaving open the possibility some will break the law (but we have seen how small that number is) in order that we not deny millions their right to vote.

So, what can we, who have a driver's license and find voting easy, do? One, honor that right and use it. And, I might say, reflect on just how hard it might be for us to find all those "correct" documents, marriage license, etc, particularly when the list for some targeting people keeps changing and growing of what is needed.

Second, it means that as part of our vocation in the public world we need to aggressively scrutinize new laws or laws being proposed in our state legislatures that have the potential to disenfranchise people. If the laws are there, we can reach out to people within our faith communities and beyond..often the invisible ones...who may be disenfranchised without their even knowing it, or who have never had the means or transportation to register to vote. We can help them find documents, take them to register, advocate on their behalf.

Third, we can contact U.S. Attorney General Holder and say we want the Justice Department to be active on this issue. And we can...this may be most important...work in our own states to overturn such laws or stop them from being enacted.

Fourth, we can put pressure on the media to make this a story, NOW. It will be too late when come next November, the day after the election, the news media finally, "surpringly" say, "There were millions who tried to vote and couldn't"

And, yes there are other very important issues in the news, and in our lives. Perhaps some who are reading this are participating in the "Occupy Wall Street" and "The 99%" protests. How do we grow protests into a movement?

And, there is the PBS series "Women, War and Peace" with two more episodes. Extraordinary and terribly important. Why do we need women's voices? Here's why.

And, and, and.....

Connecting Communities for the Common Good

I was privileged yesterday to attend here in Dubuque, Iowa, at the Northeast Iowa Community College Town Clock Center "Connecting Communities for the Common Good" with representatives from President Obama's Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office. This was held in conjunction with Obama's Rural Economic Forum at NICC's Peosta campus just outside of Dubuque earlier in the day. What a privilege to be with these nine fine people in panel presentations and later for informal conversation at a reception at Loras College.

And what a change from the "Faith Based Initiatives" emphases of the Bush administration. J. David Kuo in the book, "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction," some years ago went to Washington wanting to use his Christian faith to end abortion, strengthen marriage and help the poor. Kuo said he reached the heights of political power. But after three years of being second in command in the President’s Office of Faith Based And Community Initiatives he found himself helping to manipulate religious faith for political gain. (J. David Kuo, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, New York: Simon and Shuster, 2006.)

Yesterday was entirely different. In this administration we have an invitation to real partnerships in a religiously plural nation. Perhaps 150 to 200 people representing many faith communities and non-profit organizations were present. Dallas Tonsager, Under Secretary, USDA's Office of Rural Development said, "Thank you for your expressions of your faith." The mayor of Dubuque, Roy Buol and the interim president of NICC, Dr. Liang Wee, told of how the city and the college have grown to be places where diversity and collaboration for the common good are welcomed and appreciated.

Alexia Kelley, Deputy Director, and John Kelly, Senior Policy Advisor, for the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships set the tone. I added my voice and was thanked by many in saying that there are millions of Christians that do not have the cross and the flag all tangled up. We need to work together to create a trustworthy place for us to be different together.

So, why is it that the narrative that receives all the press is the one where presidential candidates blatantly profess this is and should be a "Christian" nation where capitalism rules and the poor are left behind? Ray Suarez in his book "The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America" makes clear that Christianity is not an American religion and that the American state is not necessarily Christian. The appropriation of American symbols by the conservative Christian right is a dangerous trend internally and certainly externally. When people in the Middle East hear this kind of talk it's no wonder they assume democratization means Christianization(Ray Suarez, The Holy Vote:The Politics of Faith in America. New York: Harper, 2007)

At the reception we talked about the need for a new narrative. Due to its beginnings under the Bush administration, "Faith-Based" to many means efforts of convert to Christianity under the auspices of the government. Lutherans and many Christian denominations have a much more healthy view of the relationship of church and state. In a pluralistic society we need to have institutional separation and functional interaction. See John R. Stumme and Robert W. Tuttle, Church and State: Lutheran Perspectives. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. It’s religious pluralism that makes us strong.

So, how do we do that? How do we connect people in our communities for conversation and work together for the common good? I strongly encourage leaders of faith communities to explore the website www.whitehouse.gov/partnerships or phone 202-456-3394. There they will find connections to 13 centers. Faith-Based and Neighborhood representatives of some of these centers were with us yesterday: Max Finberg, Director, US Department of Agriculture Center; Mara Vanderslice Kelly, Acting Director, Department of Health and Human Services Center; Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, Director, Department of Education Center; Jerry Flavin, Director, Small Business Administration Center, Terry Monrad, Executive Office, Department of Homeland Security Center. Also prsent were Doug O'Brien, Deputy UnderSecretary, USDA's Office of Rural Development, and Terry Sullivan, Small Business Development Center for Dubuque.

How do we make sure children in our communities are well nourished? How can churches and the government work together so that when school is out in the summer children do not go hungry? How can churches and the Small Business Administration work together in a small town to help people without jobs start a new business? How can leaders of faith communities, government and non-profits coordinate efforts in times of natural disaster? All of these partnerships are welcome and needed. As people of many faiths we can and need to work together. And we need to tell these stories. We need a new public narrative of what people of faiths (plural!) in America are doing together. Who will tell this story?

The River Just Kept Running

The river just kept running all night through our back yard last Wednesday. It had begun simply enough. As I left the seminary about 5 o'clock, the seminary president and I exchanged common thoughts, "Do you think it will rain?" "I don't know. Perhaps."

And then it started about 7:00 p.m. There were the on-and-off-again tornado warnings...which we do heed! Down to our lower level inside hallway Burton and I would go. The warnings finally stopped but the thunder and lightning continued until past dawn. And the rain. Too soon the river of water started across Fremont Avenue to the East when the catch basin there overflowed, forcing all that neighborhood of water into ours. The stream became a river perhaps 40 feet wide. The force was too great for the city storm drain out back and soon the rush of water could have drowned small children. It rushed on over the drain, through the neighborhood and finally to the ravine and railroad tracks beyond. When it was over the 6 inch record for Dubuque had been shattered by l0 to 14 inches throughout the Dubuque area, with East Dubuque particularly hard hit.

Well, when a river runs through your yard all night one can expect that the waters will also come inside. Burton had been awakened and he stayed awake all night. Now, on this fourth day since, the carpets are finally drying out. I need not go into the details of books and papers drying out and all the rest of the clean-up work. All of this is nothing compared to Joplin...or to the droughts for that matter in Texas and Oklahoma we saw just two weeks ago. Yes, this spring meant our needing a new roof because of hail and now a flood. But still, even when the river just kept running, we were ok.

Not so with the more vulnerable. The national news focuses on the debt ceiling crisis. The "clock" just keeps running. How we view the coming deluge is important. How we hear the warning alarms. It is not simply the thunderous noise of politician voices. There is real danger here, for the most vulnerable. A debate is not just neutral when those with the power (money) can keep the vulnerable oppressed. The river that ran through our property simply followed a course to the sea. There are those with any power they can hold on to whose agenda it is to make sure wealth stays with the few, to have government that protects the weak fail and to see that a president that stands for justice is soon out of office.

Now if that sound harsh, consider the figures that came out this week: Whereas Blacks and Hispanics had been gaining in income and "wealth" in relation to Whites, the river of injustice just keeps running, seeking a new course that is devastating, right through people's homes and lives. Now "whites" have 20 times more wealth than Blacks. An article in the Jamaica Observer this Sunday, July 31 written by a woman in the Caribbean diaspora shows how the world sees the disparity. And the world is watching, not just the debate over the debt ceiling, but how the rivers of injustice just keep rolling through our land. Yes, it was a good thing that finally Blacks could share in the American Dream of home ownership, but when the housing crisis came it is now clear, at least to the minorities who suffer, that they were the ones most oversold with sub prime mortgages; they were the ones most likely forced to abandon their homes; and those who were renters lost the roofs over their head not because of hail but because their landlords could not pay the mortgages. Add to that the higher rate of job loss and long-term unemployment and we see the river of injustice just keep running.

Our waters have gone down. We will be fine. How can we carry on the conversation and work so that all will be?

Chairs at the Feet of God

We walked the lawn of the "Field of Empty Chairs" at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum this morning where on April 19, 1995, 168 people, including 19 children, were killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. The empty chairs, the reflecting pool, the "Survivor Tree" are beautiful. (I had been here once before, when there was just the wire fence with memorials surrounding the vacant space.) The scene that day was grusome. And terror, violence, rages on.

Therefore the statement of the memorial is profoundly important:
"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

Yesterday we heard stories of survivors and of the education and outreach offered so that people might find alternatives to violence, from bullying to bombing. More needs to be done, of course. I remember so well, the first reaction of this nation: the assumption that the terrorists were from outside the United States, not from within. How far have we yet to go in learning to understand one another? In respect? And yet, I could not but respect this community of Oklahoma City for coming together to have conversation in the public world through empty chairs. May we the living sit down together on chairs for conversations of compassion and compromise in our mutual search for peace and justice.

I use the plural "we" because I am attending DOTAC, Diakonia of the Americas and the Caribbean, which meets every four years, this year, here in Oklahoma City with the theme, "Chairs at the Feet of God." Each of the days we focus on: worshipping chairs, listening chairs, working chairs, resting chairs, and sending chairs.

There are fifteen members groups of deacons, deaconesses and diaconal ministers, including Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, and United Churches from Canada, the United States, Brazil and the Caribbean. This is the fifth such conference I have attended, seeing old friends and new. (Also every four years...therefore two years in between...Global Diakonia meets.) My husband Burton is as eager to attend as am I. Each time I am deepened in my commitment to servanthood ministry, strengthened by the stories of the services of my brother and sister diaconal ministers, and inspired for service to Christ. Diaconal ministry bridges church and world. Once again the conversations across the hemisphere draw us to the feet of God and sends us forth into the public world.

Conversations with my dentist and Jennaya

I’m a gagger! And my dentist of a number of decades knows that. Nevertheless he persists in caringly giving me the dental service I need. This morning, needing work done because of a broken tooth, while waiting for the gums to numb up after his injections, I told him I appreciated his care and that I trusted him, particularly because I gag. “I imagine there are some people who are afraid to come to you.” “Yes,” he said. We talked a bit about trust. And I commented that it’s that way in ministry, too. People need to trust you so that they can open up and tell you what’s really on their hearts so that you can serve them. “Yes, open up,” he said. We both caught the phrase that crossed over our diverse ministries in daily life. We need people to “open up” for us to do our work.

It was time for me to close (my mouth)again so he could proceed. But not before I had noted that pastors need to be careful not to make assumptions about what they will find “inside." People who may seem to “have it all together” may have deep wounds and those who come looking quite disturbed may not be so deeply distressed after all. He continued, both with his work with hands in my mouth, and with a continuing comment of his own: “I find, that, too. I may make pre-judgements about which people really care about taking care of their own health and which ones are too busy. And often I'm surprised.”

We carried on our conversations, across disciplines, his denstistry, mine theology, and found not only new meaning, new ways of conversing, but also new insights about each of our ministries.

My conversation with Jennaya took place across generations. For her 7th birthday, I for the first time put actual dollar bills in her birthday card...seven of them. The morning after the party we had a conversation about money. I don't think she's had much experience with "carrying-around" bills. She has been learning in first grade how to count, particularly dimes and quarters.

I asked her what she might do with her seven dollar? "I'm going to save it," she replied. "Good," I said. Then I went on to ask her what she knew about the things we use money for. To get started I said, "Such as for buying food...." She and I came up with quite a list, including "Paying for the house, their car," and yes, "giving to church." She knew that her offerings went to help people who needed help. And she had experienced her family giving her baby bed to a family that needed it.

But I was a bit surprised when she added to our list, "For work." I said, "For work? But, people pay us for the work we do." She quickly corrected me, "My teacher uses some of her money to buy things her students." She was right, of course. And then I began to think of how often people, including myself actually, do use money to spend on our work." Her own parents, also teachers do, and she has witnessed that. And, given the economy, we pay our own expenses that our institutions used to be able to pay for us.

What is money afterall? And what a privilege to be able to work, to serve, to minister in God's public world, as a seven-year-old and all of us, no matter what our generation. We learned together that morning, Jennaya and I, as we often do.

What Have You Been Talking About?

I was at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Summit, New Jersey, May 8, the week of the death of Osama Bin Laden. Summit lost many people on that September 11th day 2001. The text for the day was Luke 24:13-35. Here are my thoughts that I wove together with that text:

On that same day, that same first-day-of-the-week-day,
That same they-found-the-tomb-was-open day,
Two of them were walking along, going to their village, Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.

And they were talking,
As no doubt you were talking on this first-day-of-the week day,
As you were walking—well, probably most of you driving-- here.
As the two of us, my husband, Burton and I were talking as we drove here yesterday from Philadelphia, where, by your gracious gifts, I have been serving as the St. John’s Summit visiting professor at the Lutheran Seminary this spring semester.

So, what were you talking about?
It’s Mother’s day. Where are you having dinner? What’s been going on in your daily life this week? And, of course, what has been going on in the world? Osama Bin Laden was killed. And there are the terrible floods in the Midwest. And a child or grandchild was sick. What were you talking about?

That’s what Jesus asked, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”

Important question. “There’s a bench on the campus on the campus of St Michael’s College in Burlington, Vt. With the inscription of that question from this “Walk to Emmaus” passage. “What are you talking about as you walk along together?” during those college years.

The seven-mile walk was not too long for all the things those Emmaus disciples had witnessed. Two men. One a man. One a woman? We don’t know. We do hear that one, whose name was Cleopas, answered this stranger who came near. Our text says, “Their eyes were kept from recognizing.” “Why didn’t they see the Jesus who was right there, right there, beside them?” I think the key is in the first part of the sentence, “while they were talking and discussing.” They were so busy, so distracted, so overwhelmed, they didn’t see Jesus right there.

Even though they don’t see Jesus, Jesus enters their distractions, and asks. And so they tell him. I hear in Cleopas’ voice in my own, (Maybe you hear yours, too.) Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know that’s happened there these days? About Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.
WE HAD HOPED….. that he was the one to redeem Israel.
And, and, besides all this, it’s the third day since all this happened. And moreover, some women of our group simply astounded us. They went to the tomb early this morning and when they didn’t find his body there, they came back and told us they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And some of the rest of us went to the tomb and found it just as the women said, but they didn’t see him.

Can you imagine. Walk along side those disciples. Listen. Hear yourself in their hurried speech.
Think of some series of events in your own life. When my father died suddenly when I was 11. Or, when a collision turned your car or your life upside down. Or when those whom you thought to be your leaders did the unthinkable. Think about the global events of tornados, Tsunami. Yes September 11, 2001. We had hoped. It began as a sunny day. And then, and then… And now, and now that Osama Bin Laden is dead.....

What are you thinking about? What are you discussing? And then there are the less sudden events, the every-day-thousands die because in inequitable distribution of food, the displacement of people because of war, the reality that we in the U.S. have 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the those in prison. The injustices that continue, the complexities of global economies. The problems that just don’t seem to ever get fixed.

Do you, too, look around to see an empty tomb, but no Jesus?
A death, but where is the life? We had hoped…..

But then, right there beside them, right there beside us, not just here at the altar, not just sitting beside us here in the pew, right there beside you as you are walking along on Tuesday afternoon when you have a difficult decision to make, right there beside you on Thursday morning when your family or friend situation is so complicated, you are too worried to reach out. We had hoped it would have been different. Right there in the middle of the night, when you can’t sleep, mulling all these things over in your mind for the hundredth time, Jesus is there. Jesus the patient teacher: “He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures.” Jesus the constant companion, who walked every step of the way with them.

We need that of course, Because, in the midst of things we forget, Jesus called them foolish. Not fools, but, well, they had heard Jesus talk about possible death, but they didn’t realize it could actually happen. And we, too, we’ve heard it before, but we together, need to keep walking along together, discussing, seeing Jesus right beside us. We have the great gift that this teacher who sends us out to teach, is walking right beside us as we grieve all over again and try to make sense of our daily lives, both personal and communal life together in this community, in this nation, in this world. We, yes the priesthood of all believers, the laos in ministry, have the privilege of Jesus entering our discussion. See him. Recognize him. He wants to listen to you, speak to you in the languages of your daily lives about the real things that matter so that the “We had hoped” longings might be fulfilled in him.

You know the Gospel story: He kept walking with them, all the way to the village. And then, just as it seemed he might be going on beyond them, beyond their town their village, their lives, they urged him strongly, “Stay, stay.” What did he say? “No, just forget it…you had your chance.” He went in to stay with them. All they needed to do was ask. (You hear that, don’t you.)

And yes, we, you, who gather regularly for the Lord’s supper, remember “When he was at the table with them he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” Then, then they saw clearly. They recognized the one who walked beside them during their day’s journey.

And then the table time was over. But don’t focus on, “He vanished from their sight.” Then, then, they talked more to each other. Wasn’t that amazing? He was talking to us on the road and opening the Scriptures to us.

The discussion went on because they recognized the Christ in their midst. There’s so much we need to help each other comprehend so that we know what we are called to do in this world. Not just this past week, but the week before. Remember the tornadoes in the south? You saw the images on TV and the Internet, more stories than we can imagine, of people clinging to each other in Tuscaloosa Alabama. And the challenge in Cullman Alabama where every church in town was damaged or destroyed, to pick up, and clean up and rebuild where it seemed death had won and nothing but emptiness remained. But the students at the University of Alabama, classes cancelled, stayed on, to prepare and deliver thousands of meals.

In Christ, we are called to care for and can, care for one another.

President Obama visited Ft. Campbell, Kentucky Friday to say thank-you to the troops. Even closer here, he visited New York City Thursday. Low key visit, a prayer and a wreath at Ground Zero, and yes, a meal together with those first responders, in that fire house who had lost so many, eating the food prepared by the firemen themselves. They broke bread together.

And this very morning, the lower Mississippi continues to rise.

And, in your own village, household, a new baby, a mother honored, a mother remembering, a friend near death, an agonizing decision, a grievous loss. Possibilities realized, and hopes devastated. We had hoped.

What are you talking about with each other? Are you continuing to open the Scriptures with each other? Are you opening the book of faith? St. John’s, Summit, New Jersey, has a long history of connecting faith and life around the catechism in lifelong learning. Jesus is here, in you and you and you, as close as your brother and sister in Christ, ready to listen to those fears, and doubts and disappointments. And as you gather at the table, feeding together on Christ’s very own self, together the body of Christ is strengthened, together with the whole Christian church on earth.

That same hour those disciples, surprised that Christ opened their eyes at the table, got up and walked those seven miles back to Jerusalem and found their companions. Jesus opened their eyes. Jesus opens our eyes so that we can open our doors to the world, unafraid, bold, caring, courageous. What are you talking about as you have conversations about the Church's vocation in the public world? Where are you going? Christ is already out there. Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed.” “Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed”

Greater Works Than These

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

We say those words, and we believe them. In reflecting on John's Gospel, and specifically on 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 and John 14: 8-14, I've been pondering our calls to ministry in the public world, particularly when we move from place to place. I have been in Philadelphia this spring, teaching at the ELCA seminary here, which has given Burton and myself opportunities to get out and visit places on the Eastcoast. We've spent time with old friends, and walked around where we used to live.
So, here are some reflections on scriptural words and ministry.

“If in my name you ask me anything, I will do it.”
“Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”
(What we will not do: refuse to minister manipulatively or falsify God’s word. We will not proclaim ourselves. We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.)
“For it is the God who said: Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in face of Jesus Christ.”
“Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.” (James 2:18)
“We have heard with our ears, O God, our ancestors have told us what deeds you performed in their days”; “God knows the secrets of the heart.”; "Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.” (Psalm 44: l, 26)
So, what have you seen?

What have you heard with your ears? What have those who have labored before you told you of God’s steadfast love?
Where have you seen the light shine when there seemed utter darkness? When have you felt the light shine in your heart giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God? And given what you have seen and, and what God in Christ has done that you have not seen, what do you believe about the now risen Jesus Christ?

Philip(we, too? )wanted more, or thought maybe he was missing something. Maybe there was more that he hadn’t even thought to ask about. Jesus: look, look right here. Right here, where you’ve been.

Believe in me Thomas and Philip and……. We can go even further with Jesus. The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than these. Not that we presume to be greater than nor do greater works than Jesus, but than the works in the short time Jesus would have been ministering here on earth. But when I think about it, I cannot begin to comprehend the magnitude of the works Christ has and is and will do among and through the body of Christ throughout the globe all these centuries.

Jesus in the midst of the disciples, in the midst of us here at noonday says, “In my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” We do ask, or course. We pray for those dear who are sick, who grieve, for war-torn countries. We pray diligently.
But listen: “In my name you ask for anything, I will do it.

Psalm: Our ancestors have told us what deeds you performed in their days. What will be said when we are the ancestors? What deeds did God performe in those days? What deeds live on? What deeds will live on in the ministries we have not yet done but Christ says we will?

This is way beyond our comprehension, but not beyond Jesus’ vision. This was not merely a prediction of possibility, but a statement of belief, a commitment to how ministry was to continue through the disciples, through the church, in and through us. (Risk and promise and responsibility)

What have you seen? Heard? Touched? Been touched by?

I am touched by the scene from our apartment window looking out on Germantown Ave. I don’t know where all those people going, doing. How is God among them?

And an early weekend in April my husband Burton and I went back to New Haven, Ct. where we had lived, learned and ministered for nine years, in the l970’s. Decades ago. Visitors now. Return. What would we see? What God had done there? What still exists? Change? What about ministry there—here-- will it last? Grow? Jesus says to us, “I have been with you all this time.” And we still ask. “How did you, are you, will you do in and through us these works of ministry?”

What greater works have you seen? What works of ministry seem to have faded away? How might Christ still be at work?

In New Haven we walked up Ward Street. The church building where Burton served as pastor is still there, but the parsonage, the home where we lived with our family is gone.

We were not totally surprised because a year or so ago, when there had been a murder at one of the Yale NH hospital labs near our inner city Zion congregation, we, wondering which building, had taken a Google map walk up the street and wandered onto Ward street. We had known every the family on that block. Now they and their homes were gone. Where were they? Had they been replaced, in the name of progress, gentrification? But there was a new building here now. What was it? We had zoomed in through the Google lens. It looked like a school. Our and our neighbor’s children had attended an officially condemned school across the street. We researched further and found on this land now a new charter school. So, on this spring car trip, we literally walked in. An eighth grade student gave us a tour. Questions remain, would neighborhood children really be given preference now that a “good” school replaced their old one. The work for justice continues.

And then we walked to the end of the block. Christians Community Action is still here, a store front ministry begun in the 1960’s out of ecumenical living room dialogs. Our children from Zion used to take the weekly food contributions next door to CCA after each Sunday’s offerings. These movements often die young, but CCA, still a storefront, continues to feed and house, well now thousands after almost 50 years.

And on. Sunday we worshipped where we, now the ancestors, had worshipped, at the church, now named Resurrection. Again no surprise as we have continued as mission partners through the years. But doubts and wonders and questions, and fears, of disciples of all times and all places continue. “We don’t know where you are going, Jesus, how can we know the way?” “We don’t know where this ministry will go after we’re gone; how can we ever leave?” “Lord, show us, give a guarantee that this work is of God.”

And in a few weeks we will pack up our car and travel back to Iowa and to Wartburg Seminary (without blizzard we trust). And you? Some of you will remain where you are. Some don’t have any idea about which direction to turn your steering wheel. Questions, fears, doubts. I don’t need to name them, do I? But just a little guarantee, Jesus. Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?

And, of course there are no guarantees like that. We come to places of ministry unknown; we will be unknown again. We will never be alone, even when the works of ministry seem to have disappeared. We will never be alone when overwhelmed with the newness of it all, when doors are shut, locked up and no one has thought to leave us a key. And in the midst of things when buildings and ministries are demolished in fear or in danger, Jesus comes and stands among us, “Peace be with you.” Have you believed because you have seen me? Jesus says. I am the way, the truth and the life.”

We experienced that life, that real presence at Resurrection among the people. A small number but beautifully diverse. Absolutely not one of them was unnecessary, merely audience that day, as lessons came alive in participatory worship, intermingled with people’s real life. Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and beyond.

We worshipped that Sunday night at Yale Lutheran campus ministry, which through the years has grown and waned and grown again, now lead by a campus pastor who was student with us over 35 years ago. We are graced to journey along together as disciples, to be parts of each other’s lives. We worshipped Monday morning at Yale Divinity School chapel sacred worship space during my years there as student and teacher. No one there would remember us today. It was April 4, now 2011, 43 years since death of Martin Luther King Jr. Who remembers the dream today? Surely racism…that’s long gone. But new Gospel music rang through that light-filled chapel. Let light shine out of darkness in this world which continues to invent new ways to manipulate and falsify and keep people oppressed. Guest preacher Rev. James Forbes asked,”What does the Lord Require?” Let Justice Roll. Keep on marching.
And the ministries in which you have been, are and will be engaged. Christ said, “I will do whatever you ask in my name.” (Risk and promise and responsibility.)

Sometimes we can’t remember where the streets were, or can’t find the place anymore or won’t recognize the ministries or be recognized. Some will fade. And in the ones that have grown, flourished, do we see the Christ in the midst? Greater works than these, Christ is yet ready to do in that out of the way place, that I don’t-know-how-to-pronounce-the-name place to which we have not even been called yet. What doubts do you have in the present about what is real? The risen Christ is real.

“Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

Neighborhood Partners to End Gun Violence

I stood and said the name, “Tanya Frisby.” I did not know Tanya, but she can no longer stand and say her own name out loud because she is one of 64 people who were killed through gun violence in 2010 in NW Phildelphia.

Burton and I are living in Philadelphia for four months as I serve as the St. Johns Visiting Professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia where I am teaching three courses. We attended Christ Ascension Lutheran Church on Sunday and saw in the announcements in their worship folder an invitation to attend a Sunday evening “In Their Names: A Remembrance and Call to Action,” sponsored by “Neighborhood Partners to End Gun Violence,” an interfaith effort to prevent gun violence in the northwest neighborhoods and city.

This effort is part of a wider, “Heeding God’s Call” faith-based movement to prevent gun violence, (check out their website). One action is to meet with gun shop owners to convince them to curtail the sale of guns to straw purchases who illegally sell handguns to others, who in turn use them in crimes and disputes with deadly results. They urge gun shops to adopt a l0-point voluntary code of conduct created by Mayors from across the country.

As we gathered in the large, old First Presbyterian Church, warmed by the sites and sounds of current-day outreach ministries, this interfaith group prayed, heard poetry, were led by the young, and heard wisdom of the elders. We were challenged, inspired and called to action. And we stood, 64 of us, calling out the name of one person who had died from gun violence last year in this neighborhood.

Across this nation 85 people die each day from gun violence. There are more gun homicides in Philadelphia alone each year than in any other nation. We heard Rabbi Linda Holtzman draw us all back to the story of Cain and Abel. “Am I my brother, my sister’s keeper? When? How? What is a Keeper?” Bishop Dwayne Royster said “There’s a health care crisis in this city.” Due to tort reform, qualified physicians who can’t afford insurance have flocked out of the city. And then he told the story of a young man from the hood headed for Harvard on a full scholarship, committed to coming back to Philadelphia to be a doctor here who was gunned down and now lives in a vegetative state dependent upon medical services 24-hours a day rather than being able to serve.

We heard from Victoria Green, Chantay Love and children who had come to tell us movingly about groups they had formed out of their own need to help families of victims of gun violence, “Every Murder is Real” and the “We Live Project.” It’s all about support and education for the long term because every day new parents become “eligible” for their support group. “The bullet does not stop unless you stop it,” because families, suffer from the effects of gun violence long into the future. “Untreated trauma perpetuates violence.” The children and youth shared their commitment to simply live!... to grow up and grow old! They, and we, are committed to invest in the human spirit and teach resiliency as well as to stop gun violence.

Katie Day, professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, one of the leaders in “Neighborhood Partners to End Gun Violence” gave the call to action. She reminded us that 30,000 people in the United States are killed in gun related violence each year and that l20,000 to 130,000 more are injured…way, way beyond any other nation in the world. “We have accepted the unacceptable and felt powerless. We need to confess that powerlessness. Now is the time to move from lamentation and sadness and powerlessness to action.” Led by the youth we went into the fellowship hall to make signs and strengthen our partnership.