In these final days of 2012, Congress faces important fiscal decisions. The actions our leaders take — or don’t take — will critically impact people who struggle with hunger and live in poverty.

As members of the ELCA, we serve our vulnerable neighbors in our communities and around the world every day, and out of this experience, we encourage our public officials to advance the common good by protecting programs that help our neighbors rise out of poverty.

Your action is needed now: the House of Representatives is slated to vote tonight on two bills that would undermine crucial supports for people living in poverty. 

Tell your representative, as he or she votes this evening, to prioritize the needs of families and children living in poverty, and remind your senators that you care deeply about how decisions made in the current fiscal debate impact vulnerable people.

Click here to call your members of Congress now.  Look for the talking points to help guide your conversation.  (This information can be found on the ELCA Advocacy website by clicking elca.org/Advocacy.

In the days, weeks and months ahead, our nation should work to reduce our federal deficits in ways that do not increase poverty or inequality. Tell your senators and representative to work together, devising a balanced approach that defends programs and policies that aid low-income people and help hurting families attain economic security.

Members of Congress need to hear from people of faith — click here to call to your senators and representative now.   This information can be found on the ELCA Advocacy website by clicking elca.org/advocacy.

 

As the debate over deficit reduction, tax policy and federal spending continues, ELCA members and other people of faith are forming a “Circle of Protection” around programs that aid hungry and poor people.

Peace,
Pastor Doug

Connecticut Shooting - A pastoral letter

“O come, O Dayspring, come and cheer;

O Sun of justice, now draw near

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice, Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel”

 

                ~ Evangelical Lutheran Worship #257

 

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

 

The word “rejoice” seems so inappropriate right now, almost to the point of being vulgar.  How in the world can we possibly rejoice in the face of last week’s terror attack on six and seven year olds in a Connecticut elementary school?  On the human level, our hearts break for those in that school whose last moments must have been filled with unspeakable fear.  As parents who entrust our children to schools every day, the thought of one of our own children never coming home from school again: never being in the safe embrace of our arms again: never having the opportunity to blossom into adulthood, fills what’s left of our aching hearts with unfathomable fear. 

In our heads, we ask the questions, “Would banning military grade assault weapons or improving our mental health system or taking on an entertainment industry addicted to R-rated violence have prevented what happened in Newtown last week?”   Maybe:  Maybe not.  We’ll never know.

In our hearts, we cry out to God the torturous and unanswerable questions.  How could this happen to those whom Jesus takes into his arms and promises the deed to the Kingdom of Heaven?  Why did something like this happen?  When will this kind of violence go away?  When will my heart stop breaking and the tears stop flowing?

 

“Rejoice, Rejoice

Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel”

 

Perhaps this season of Advent has something audacious to tell us when faced with the juxtaposition of the word “rejoice” with what happened last week.  Though the world around us defines joy as a happy feeling brought about by favorable conditions, as Christians we know better.  We know that joy runs deeper and wider than that.  Though at times joy can feel like happiness, there is another side to joy:  A defiant side:  A defiant side that has its origins in the presence of God or as John describes it, “the light of the world, the light no darkness [or bullets] can overcome.”

 And yet rage and tears remain despite the good news of light overcoming darkness.  But maybe that’s okay.  Anger and tears reveal that you have a heart:  Having a heart means it can break.  And if a heart breaks, it does so because it loves.  And love is the ultimate act of defiance which in turn gives birth to joy.  In the midst of tears, love openly rebels against hatred and vengeance.  Love resists the world non-violently.  Love embraces those who ache.  Love kills not with bullets but with kindness.  Love embodies forgiveness and brings about healing.

 We don’t know when healing will come or what it will look like.  We have no idea when the tears will stop flowing.  But in just a few short days we will hear how God has drawn near in the flesh and blood of a newborn baby and how in the birth of that child, love is born anew and death’s dark shadows are put to flight.

 So maybe the defiant words of the psalmist say it best after all.  “Weeping may lodge for the night, but shouts of joy will come in the morning”.

 Peace and love in this season of pain and joy,

 

Pastors Doug and Joanne