John's Blog - Lutheran World Relief

Devastation in El Salvador

2009-11-13T17:38:00.003-05:00

Heavy rains. Massive flooding. Devastating landslides. The people of El Salvador are reeling from the destructive weather that hit them this week. Rev. Duke Fries, associate pastor at Christ Lutheran Church (LWR's next door neighbor here in Baltimore) was there with a group from his congregation when the storms hit, and he will be sharing his first-hand experience with us in a guest post very soon.

In the meantime, please take a look at this CNN slide show of photos submitted by one of the members of his group. These images clearly illustrate the devastation and the long road ahead for recovery.

LWR is responding with desperately needed food, water and hygeine supplies. You can help. Thank you for your prayers and support for the people of El Salvador.

Paul Otto Manz (1919—2009)Esurientes implevit bonis

2009-10-30T10:26:00.001-05:00

“God has filled the hungry with good things…” Luke 1:53

When I was half my age, literally, a twenty three year-old student, a guest recitalist visited the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Being a chapel organist there (and not because I played poorly this virtuoso’s complexly notated works), I was recruited to be a driver for Dr. Paul O. Manz.

I recollect explicitly being frozen with fascination, in the presence of this dignitary, the dread of driving a legendary musician to his appointments. More than anything, I will never forget the dignity this gentleman showed to me, literally a poor seminarian. I know what it feels like to be judged unjustly or pre-judged. I felt not a scintilla of that from Dr. Manz. His faith lived out Martin Luther’s comment on this text from Luke; that we should “neither cling to the high and rich nor fly from the poor and lowly.” Too many people “judge according to outward appearance; therefore, they often err” (Luther’s Works, “The Magnificat” page 52).

I guess I did “cling,” so to speak, to Professor Manz—in admiration for what he taught us, his immense contribution to Lutheran spirituality and to the worship of the church catholic. A long-time favorite quote of mine comes from Manz’s take on our calling to pursue whatever things are excellent:

“We are as restless as we are ruthless in search of excellence.
We reserve excellence for our God. Only the best will do.
Only that which lifts us to the cross,
the heart of God exposed, is good enough.”

A master of improvisation, Maestro Manz exercised creative fidelity—though grounded in traditional hymnody, he yet pushed the edges of composition and performance. I imagine hearing Manz to be akin to hearing, in his day, that master of contrapuntal invention, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685—1750).

In Latin, from the Luke’s Magnificat, a phrase I have come to love is this: Esurientes implevit bonis—“God has filled the hungry with good things.” In Bach’s setting, Mary’s lilting soprano dances with flutes: we hear hungering ones filled with good things, searching ones delighting in a surfeit of satisfaction, aching ones finally finding comfort. Today, we might say, grieving ones being filled with Christ’s grace to bear through their loss.

Prior to the death of Paul’s Ruth, his wife of 65 years, in the summer of 2008, my dear colleague, Joanne Negstad and I were received into the Manzes’ cozy apartment by Mary Bode, their daughter. We laughed at very old stories, talked about very good and bad music and learned many new things that enchanted Minnesota afternoon. But years before I came to Lutheran World Relief, long before I met Dr. Manz, he and Ruth became donors and supporters of LWR. They who filled ears and hearts with songs from God also contributed to fill with food people living in physical hunger throughout the world.

For these hands that provided beauty for our souls as well as bread for the poor, now thank we all our God!

(Follow this link to listen to a 2001 public radio interview with Manz)

Philippines Bracing for More Flooding

2009-10-22T09:56:00.002-05:00

REUTERS/CHERYL RAVELO, courtesy www.alertnet.org

Yet another typhoon is headed toward the Philippines—the third typhoon in the last four weeks. When the storm hits, it will bring heavy rain to already flooded communities. Help us deliver aid quickly. People will need food, water, shelter, and sanitation. Please give today.

Craftswomen of Compassion—and a Few Men Too!

2009-10-20T10:08:00.002-05:00

St. John Lutheran Church in Darien, IL celebrated its 150th anniversary on Sunday, October 18, 2009. More than five years ago, prior to my joining Lutheran World Relief, St. John invited me to speak for this event. Bev Grimme, the anniversary chairwoman, must have a special prophetic gift to plan in advance this superbly—to have me, a speaker from an organization with a mission to end hunger, speaking in a congregation that undertakes dynamically so many mission projects that do the same.

One group within St. John that enacts this gracious compassion is the quilters. Taking scraps of fabric and strips of otherwise castaway material, they make beautiful and life-giving blankets. And such is the case in hundreds and hundreds of church basements and workrooms like this one all over the United States; craftswomen (and a few men, too!), from their hearts overflowing with Jesus’ love, work with their hands to create tangible symbols of hope.

LWR will deliver nearly half a million quilts this year to those in crisis or poverty to function as flooring, walls, blankets, baby bedding, or as a way to wrap earthly possessions when oppressed people are driven into refugee situations. There are many other uses as well. What remains remarkable to me is the amount of background work that goes on in advance of this quilt-making. Supplies must be secured. Material needs to be sorted, categorized and stored.

And check out how well-ordered is this quilting room at St. John, with two pastors’ wives standing alongside: Monique, my wife, and Gerry Kirst, the wife of the emeritus pastor of St. John, Donald Kirst.

A Call to Defend

2009-10-20T08:18:00.002-05:00

In the U.S., we are promised the right to freedom of speech, allowing us to speak out on issues that affect us and peacefully protest to bring about change.

For religious-leaders-turned-human-rights-activists in Colombia, the basic rights we enjoy are activities that can cost them their lives. In the increasingly violent tug-of-war between the Colombian military, guerillas, and paramilitary groups , the clergy are the thread that holds the social fabric of the people together. People who have been forced from their ancestral land. People caught in the crossfire of conflict. People who are afraid but look to their faith and pray for a better day to come.

The undertakings of these brave religious leaders and activists, of course, come with great personal risk. The Colombian government offers them little protection from paramilitary groups who seek to control the land and the people. Threats, intimidation, disappearances, false accusations and murder are all parts of their daily realities.

Not surprisingly, paramilitary groups who employ intimidation and violence to gain control have few scruples about where they carry out their violent work. Not even the walls of the church are safe. This year alone there are hundreds of reports of kidnappings, beatings, threats, and murders. In one particularly disturbing case, a pastor was murdered in his own church in front of his own congregation.

In this respect, God’s house is under attack. But we can help defend it.

Using our voices, we can urge our government to act to protect these brave church leaders and the work they do to bring peace to the people of Colombia. We can ask our elected officials to ensure that the money we send to Colombia is not used to support a military that has ties to paramilitary groups that terrorize its own people.

We can ask that funds instead be used to support development, protection programs, judicial reform and other activities that strengthen Colombia.

We can ask that our government use its leverage with Colombia to demand that the Colombian government investigate these cases of violence and that they make the protection of churches and their communities a priority.

Will you do it? Will you put out the call to protect people and houses of faith? Join LWR in urging our leaders to take action to protect the people of Colombia and the senseless deaths of its religious leaders.

Please join us in speaking out against this blatant violation of human dignity.

Celebrating Lutheran Community

2009-10-13T12:20:00.009-05:00

You may have heard the term “six degrees of separation” once or twice your life—it is the theory that every person in the world is connected to every other person in the world by no more than six human relationships.

Lutheran World Relief is connected to some surprising people by far fewer links. As building staff and guests gathered on October 2 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Lutheran Center at Christ Church here in Baltimore, it became apparent how, through the agencies in this building — LWR, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America and the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA — Lutherans are connected to people all over the world.

One of the reasons LWR and its sister organization LIRS moved to Baltimore from New York in 1999 was to be closer to Washington, closer to the legislators and government officials whose decisions affect so many with whom we work. One of those lawmakers, Congressman John Sarbanes’ (D - 3rd District) connection to the Lutheran Center was much deeper than that of an elected official to a building in his district. Sarbanes, who joined us for our 10th anniversary celebration, was once the lawyer for former Lutheran Center occupant Diakon Lutheran Services.

The association has clearly affected him. “With so much going on in the world,” the Congressman said, “it is easy to become despondent…to yield to despair. Organizations like the ones working in the Lutheran Center make you feel like you are making progress against all odds.”

As our keynote speaker, we were blessed to host the Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. Dr. Noko shared how, from his perspective, we are all connected through global service and mission and especially through the organization of the Lutheran World Federation.

And that organization is far reaching, connecting many different people from different backgrounds and often with differing views of the world. At one turn, Dr. Noko told us about communities in Mauritania that struggled to plant the trees needed to preserve the environment and at the next, Dr. Noko spoke of Muslim cancer patients in Jerusalem who receive life-saving care in an LWF hospital. These communities are also connected—by the umbrella of Christ’s love and compassion and professed in faith through your support of organizations like Lutheran World Federation, and the agencies here in the Lutheran Center in Baltimore.

We are more than Lutheran organizations—we are your organizations and we exist because of your faith and action.

Together we give thanks to God for the last 10 years of service and partnership and look forward to many more years ahead.

2009-10-12T12:11:00.022-05:00

Guest posting from Loretta Ishida, Technical Advisor for Emergency Monitoring and Evaluation with Catholic Relief Services. She served on the LWR board from 2000 to 2006.

"Here in Padang, the capitol of West Sumatra in Indonesia, I’m sitting with a mixed team of over 30 people from all over the world and around Indonesia who work for various Caritas entities from different countries (CRS is part of that international network of Catholic charities devoted to reducing poverty and campaigning for social justice). We are sitting in a hot cinder block building, which I understand is a Sunday School under normal circumstances. Off on one side, roasting spices make us cough as some women are constantly cooking to feed the crowd. The group meets every night at 9:30PM to review the day’s activities: traveling to distant villages to see how the earthquake affected them, receiving shipments of tarps, or distributing hygiene kits to affected villages. Most work past midnight, the begin again early the next day.

Since joining the CRS Emergency Operations team in January, I’m working on my third emergency, and working on the Indonesia earthquakes is the first time I’m in the midst of the early days where relief agencies are trying to respond while still trying to understand the full extent of the disaster.

While my friends are amazed at my visits to interesting places across the globe, I actually end up sitting in an office and don’t see much of the country. The field operations are left to national staff and partners and my role is to support them. But I have had the same impression every time – how proud I am of our staff and partners for the dedication and thoughtfulness they put into their work. I might reluctantly leave my husband and two small children for three weeks, but many of my colleagues are away from home for several months, working long days with very few breaks.

Having been on the side of being a helpless observer of a distant tragedy, I often felt that a small donation to organizations like LWR or CRS may be an insignificant contribution. Even as part of the response team, I don’t feel like I’m doing much. But I have seen all of the human resources that are mobilized to respond as quickly as possible, while being very thoughtful about reaching the most vulnerable with the best assistance. And I’m only part of the Catholic response! Other ACT member organizations (including LWR) and a host of other NGOs and government entities are also doing their part. It feels crazy and confusing to a novice like me, but there are many experienced hands and it’s amazing to work with them. We’re all a part of a greater effort and every little bit counts!"

LWR has a permanent team in West Sumatra, and thus, we were able to react quickly to the recent disasters in Asia. LWR is responding to these crises by working directly with partners on the ground and through our membership in the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International global aid alliance.

In the Philippines, LWR is working with partners to distribute food and supplies to 17,000 families in and around Manila. In Indonesia, we are working with local partners to deliver food and supplies and to provide psychological support to people who have been traumatized by the disasters.

For more information, please visit: lwr.org/news

Thank You!

2009-10-06T13:16:00.002-05:00

Today some colleagues and I had the great honor of visiting The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod International Center in St. Louis, to thank The LCMS for 64 years of partnership with LWR. Our relationship and partnership is like Peter's words: imperishable, indefiant, and unfading.

What a great day, from sharing worship together during morning chapel, to sharing some sweet fellowship over Fair Trade Divine Chocolate from the LWR Chocolate Project! In the photo, Matt Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, and Gerald Kieschnick, President of The LCMS, join me in front of the LWR display.

Thanks, LCMS, for your partnership over the years. We're looking forward to many more good years ahead.

A Disease of the Soul

2009-09-29T14:46:00.002-05:00

That’s what Wall Street Journal correspondent and author Roger Thurow saw when he looked into the eyes of starving people throughout his career reporting on issues of global hunger.

Last week, as he stood before an audience of LWR staff, board members, and guests, it was apparent that Thurow, co-author of Enough: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, has been deeply affected by this disease of the soul.

He has spent years reporting on global hunger, looking into the hollowed eyes of mothers and children dying from lack of food, and, most significantly, seeing with his own eyes how preventable those deaths are. As he and fellow Journal correspondent Scott Kilman prepared to write Enough, Thurow remembers remarking, “Our souls will not rest until we write this book.”

And his soul is still not at rest, which is why he visited the Lutheran Center, on the opening day of our board meeting, to share his experiences.

Thurow says he has always associated Lutherans with food. Raised in Illinois, Thurow grew up attending Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake where he attended his fair share of potluck dinners. Having traveled the world for many years, Illinois remained his home base—he and his family are members at Faith Lutheran in Lake Forest—his memories of those dinners still elicit a feeling of home and comfort.

But it is not that way for everyone. In his travels, Thurow saw that in the world’s poorest countries, especially in Africa, people were starving to death every day. Even worse, from what he learned through his reporting, he saw it didn’t have to be that way. As he describes it, global hunger is not only a man-made disaster; it is “a crime of neglect.”

According to Thurow, the goal of Enough is to “outrage and inspire” readers. Outrage because although the crash of a jumbo jet will be splashed across the pages of major newspapers, you will not see the faces of those who die of starvation—even though the number of people who die every day of starvation is equivalent to 60 jumbo jets crashing. Outrage, because there is enough food grown to feed every single person in the world, yet so many millions go hungry.

And he hopes to inspire us, as people of faith, to action. Because there is something that each and every one of us can do to play a part in ending the scourge of chronic hunger. Thurow put it best when he said, “Churches and faith-based organizations can seize this opportunity and drive this momentum.”

My soul was stirred as I thought about the timeliness of Thurow’s message as LWR works to bring relief to the people of East Africa, who are suffering through a crippling drought. The rains have not come for a long time for the people of Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, and Uganda. Food is not growing. Stomachs are going empty.

In Roger Thurow’s mind, Lutherans will always be inextricably tied to food and fellowship—with the loving hands and hearts that served him hot, nourishing food. I pray that your hearts will be moved to extend that same Lutheran compassion and love to the people of East Africa.

What Thurow says is true—nobody has to die of hunger. With your help, we can see that many fewer people do.

The Go FactorSt. Matthew

2009-09-21T12:19:00.004-05:00

Today, September 21st the church remembers and celebrates the life and witness of St. Matthew, an apostle and evangelist of Jesus. I checked out and listed some of the times we hear the call to go in the Bible’s book of Matthew:

Matthew 5:41
“If someone forces you to GO one mile, GO with him two miles.”

Matthew 9:13
“GO and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'”

Matthew 10:7
“As you GO, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'”

Matthew 11:4
Jesus replied, “GO back and report to John what you hear and see:”

Matthew 18:15
“If your sister or brother sins against you, GO and show them their fault, just between the two of you.”

Matthew 20:4
“You also GO and work in my vineyard”

Matthew 22:9
“GO to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.”

Matthew 28:7
“Then GO quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead.’”

Matthew 28:19
“GO and make disciples of all nations.”

Matthew’s Gospel (Good News) message is simply this, as God has been merciful to us by sending us Jesus, and sending us the Holy Spirit.

We now GO into the world to make a positive impact in God’s name. Think about a person, place, problem or possibility to which the Spirit is calling you to go. Know that going is never easy. It is work. But you can’t spell God or Gospel without the “G-O!”

Likewise, the historical writings to which Lutherans subscribe tell us that God’s people are called to go, not to retreat or run away from the world, but to be busy. By actively living out our faith everyone can “demonstrate in these works of life Christian love and true good works according to each person’s calling.” Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000): 49, 50:5.

Knowing the Place for the First Time

2009-09-18T08:46:00.001-05:00

T.S. Elliot once remarked:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Several years after my family moved to Canada from Jamaica, we finally landed in a family of faith. This congregation’s first face of holiness was in the form of hospitality. Pilgrim Lutheran in Hamilton, Ontario. Many immigrants, global pilgrims, came to Pilgrim Church from around the world: Latvians, Indians, Guyanans, former Yugoslavians, and Chinese. Grounded in the best of the rigorous LCMS tradition of biblical and confessional Lutheranism, this place was dynamic and welcoming, a home of creative fidelity.

On Labor Day weekend I visited there again, and preached, for only the second time in the 28 years since I moved away. My eyes have not improved in the ensuing time, but experience has helped me see better, some things anew, many things I didn’t see while growing up there in the 1970s. For example, the degree to which my appreciation for the wondrous diversity we so highly value at Lutheran World Relief was shaped by that place. Their commitment to evangelical diversity continues. Seeing the newest group of Canadians, these Sudanese pilgrims, being welcomed into this fellowship helped me to know the place where I first came to know and love the Lutheran faith …as if for the first time.

In memory of three faithful friends of LWR

2009-07-28T08:30:00.001-05:00

This summer we mourn the passing of three great friends of Lutheran World Relief—Walter Jensen, Ove Nielsen, and Milton Briggs. All three men lived lives of great service to God and neighbor and all believed profoundly in the work of Lutheran World Relief.

Walter Jensen faithfully served as treasurer for both Lutheran World Relief and its sister organization, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). LIRS president Ralston Deffenbaugh, Jr. had the privilege of serving within Walter’s tenure and shares the following words of appreciation about him.

“Walter was “Mr. Lutheran” in New York City. He was the chief financial and administration person for the Lutheran Council USA and for related agencies. At various points, he was the treasurer for LIRS and LWR and was on the board of many of the Lutheran organizations in New York.

What a wonderful man Walter was! Faithful servant, good common sense, sunny disposition, one of those who helped bring the Kingdom near. When St. Paul listed the gifts of the spirit and included administration, there was Walter.”

Ove Nielsen was also a blessing to Lutheran World Relief in many ways. He served LWR with distinction for 23 years—from 1957 to 1980—as Assistant Executive Director. As is the way with time, our memories of Ove range from the stories of those who knew and loved him, to the legends that lived on after his retirement. Staffers who missed working with Ove knew him by reputation. “In my early years at LWR,” Jeff Whisenant, LWR’s Executive Vice President recalls, “Ove’s name was sometimes used to invoke fear, or to inspire us to greater heights of parsimoniousness in the expenditure of LWR’s resources.”

Milton Briggs served Lutheran World Relief for 27 years working within the Africa program. Those who worked with Milton describe him as “a charming fellow” whose life’s passion was music—a gift he shared with those at LWR and within the former New York-based Lutheran Center during Christmas services and other chapel events. Long-time friend and former LWR staff member June Braun, shares, “I will miss Milton sorely. For many years, Milton has come to my house for holidays and we would eat, sing and have a great time. He was a good friend and a great servant.”

The entire Lutheran World Relief family joins me in extending our heartfelt condolences to the families of Walter Jensen, Ove Nielsen, and Milton Briggs. We give thanks to God for their lives and service, and we rejoice in God’s steadfast promise of life eternal.

Thanks in Three Languages

2009-07-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

In Sri Lanka, thousands remain displaced and living in overcrowded camps. So long as they are in need, LWR’s work to feed and care for them continues. Your gifts are providing food and water, education for children, and more.

Central to this tireless effort is our dedicated LWR Sri Lanka team, led by Country Program Manager K. Thampu (known as “Nalee”). Together with partners on the ground, Nalee and staff work day and night to help meet the physical and psychological needs within the camp. When thousands of people were moved to a new zone of the camp and needed food, Nalee and staff traveled in the darkness of night to deliver. We are blessed to have to Nalee and staff serving as vehicles of our love and caring for our global neighbors.

Below Nalee reflects on the impact of your gifts. As you read Nalee’s words, know that your contributions and prayers are desperately needed, well utilized, and much appreciated.

“ I pray every morning and every night. I thank God for those who have helped me during the day, for the help with my work. I try to think of each person who has made such an effort. But last night I thought this is not enough. How can I say thank you to U.S. Lutherans in a different way? The work we do with our partners in Sri Lanka is huge—it is difficult but amazing work. The gift of U.S. Lutherans is equally amazing to me.

When I go to Manik Camp and see how much our partners have helped, how tirelessly they serve food and water and offer psychological support, and when I read their reports saying LWR supports 24 community kitchens providing meals for almost 27,000 IDPs I think: HOW? How can I thank Lutherans in a different way? I hope I can someday find a way to express the gratitude I feel. I speak three Sri Lankan languages, so for now I guess my thanks can only be expressed to them through language. But I will do it three times; Thank you, Nantry (Tamil) Isthithy (Sinhala).”

If you want to take part in this life saving work, please give a gift to the Sri Lanka Crisis fund. Together we are saving lives and inspiring hope.

Freedom Now!

2009-07-04T16:38:00.001-05:00

In honor of Independence Day, some thoughts on freedom. Happy Fourth!

Freedom now! Not as a human demand, but as a divine declaration.
Freedom now! Not as a right based on race, but as a gift of God’s grace.
Freedom now! Not as a sweet by-and-by, pie-in-the-sky fancy, but as a yearning fulfilled, as a prayer answered, as a panting satisfied.
Freedom now! Because Christ came to earth, in the here-and-now, and now we have the “right now” promise that whomever the Son sets free is free indeed.
Freedom now! To speak as voices for the voiceless, especially persecuted believers.
Freedom now! To fight for what is right.
Freedom now! To turn relational war-zones into sacred shalom zones.
Freedom now! Liberated by Christ from the sandbox of selfishness.
Freedom now! Launching into a life of service.
Freedom now! Spreading forgiveness far and wide.
Freedom now! Soaring with wings like eagles.
Freedom now! Running without ever getting weary.
God is granting freedom now!

“Well Done is Better than Well Said” From Historic Trinity Lutheran Church—DetroitSunday, 21 June 2009

2009-06-24T06:44:00.004-05:00

Beauty for the soul is as much a gift as is bread for the poor. My sermon on Sunday, encouraging Christians to love actively in responding to global hunger, was preached in one of the nation’s most astounding masterpieces of church architecture. God’s gifts lie astride any false divides of aestheticism and activism. What’s common is that love takes on tangible expression within the world—for the sake of the life of the world.

Here’s a summary of my remarks:

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

I believe the message for us here revolves around the writer’s observation that the highest truth is not found in documents or statements, because too often it’s the case that after all is said and done, more is said than is done.

Tomoji Tanabe died this past Friday in Japan. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he was the world’s oldest man at 113 years. His secret was seafood in case you’re wondering. I don’t know if you plan or even desire to live that long, but try this with me: in your mind, calculate your age. Got it? Now, if you’re older than 42 years old, you don’t have to raise your hand, because in numerous places where LWR works, you’re already dead, you have lived longer than the average person.

We have no idea how fortunate we are, even here in southeastern Michigan, the U.S. epicenter of the global financial crisis. The Spirit moves us through the words of today’s reading from 1 John. We are called and compelled to do something, to move beyond talking about the problem to taking action.

God’s love is not an abstract, pie-in-the-sky, feel-good emotion. No, it’s much more dramatic than that, much more concrete. Picture the most grotesque human suffering imaginable. This love doesn’t run or retreat from it, but gets involved. “What wondrous love is this” that takes down-to-earth action for my sake, for your sake and for the sake of all who suffer.

This love in action can be documented: Love, born in a barn in backwater Bethlehem. Love, breathing for us our poisoned air and drinking for us our deep despair (cf. Martin Franzmann). Love, bleeding for us on a cross of sacrifice so that others might live. Love, buried, but bursting to life again so that we might dare to get involved in places of high mortality; the love of Jesus gives more than 113 years of life. It is a living statement of abundant, full, humane, just, overflowing, everlasting life.

John and the Rev. Dr. David Eberhard,
Pastor of the Cathedral Ministries of Historic Trinity

The Long Road Ahead for Sri Lankans

2009-06-22T08:39:00.003-05:00

Displaced Sri Lankan women make nutrition patties
for children in an LWR-supported community kitchen.

News reports proclaim that the fighting between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has ended. But for thousands of Sri Lankans who remain displaced—far away from home and family—the story does not end there.

They are still in dire need of our help. Many continue to live in overcrowded camps where there is not enough food or water. Children remain separated from their parents. People are weary and sick and wondering when this nightmare will end.

Our Sri Lanka Country Program Manager, K. Thampu, works with our partners on the ground to provide for the needs of people who must, for now, call a displacement camp their home. I pray you’ll read her words and let your hearts be moved to help.

Dear John,

After visiting the camps, I write to urge our supporters to continue helping the displaced people in Sri Lanka.

With the gifts we’ve received so far we’ve been able to feed thousands of people in the camps. We try to reach as many people as possible, providing food and water to newly arrived people and through community kitchens where many come to eat. But our supply of food is running low. If we do not act soon, our supplies will run out and people will begin to starve.

People desperately need water, for drinking and for washing. Lack of water has led to sanitation problems, causing the rapid spread of diseases like diarrhea and hepatitis. We are seeing more cases of these diseases and people are beginning to die from them.

I met one set of parents in particular whose story deeply touched my heart. Their daughter was very sick, so they took her to the small medical center at the camp. But the staff at the center did not speak Tamil, so the family could not understand the prescriptions or the treatment instructions and their child continued to worsen. The next closest medical facility was about 5 kilometers away. They managed to get on a bus going toward the hospital but unfortunately their daughter died just after arriving there.

My heart aches for this family, and for the many children in the camps who don’t have families to look after them. They are hungry and there is no one to feed them. They are ill and there is no one to care for them.

There is so much our supporters can do to help. Working with partners on the ground we can care for the people in the camps. We can ease the suffering of many. We can save lives.

I pray that many are moved to help the people of Sri Lanka during this difficult time and I give thanks for those who already contributed. Your kindness shows tremendous respect for the dignity of your brothers and sisters.

In thanks,

K. Thampu
LWR Country Program Manager
Sri Lanka

I urge you to make a contribution to the Sri Lanka Crisis fund. Your gift will save lives.

Thank you for your support of Lutheran World Relief and for the people of Sri Lanka.

Never Content

2009-06-07T20:12:00.001-05:00

It’s that season, the season of caps and gowns and graduates eagerly anticipating the next phase of their lives. I’ve been honored to speak at more than one graduation ceremony this year, and each one is moving in its own unique way. I thank God for the blessing of sharing such an important moment, the beginning of a new journey, with these students and their families. When I spoke with the graduates of Concordia University Texas a few weeks ago, on May 9, I shared a few words of discontent:

“Never Content”

On this Mother’s Day weekend we take sober and somber note that nearly 10 million children under 5 die each year from causes related to poverty, like measles, diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria; diseases which are fully beatable and treatable; diseases which we can prevent; diseases which do indeed prevent the hopes of proud mothers from becoming reality; diseases which prevent families from ever seeing fabulous graduations like we are experiencing today; young lives, over before they really begin. That's 27,000 a day—in Texas, that would mean a high school football stadium full of young children dying every day, 38 a minute, on average, nearly 500 now dead while I’m talking this morning.
On the way over here this morning, my hospitable driver, your president, Dr. Tom Cedel, a man with an unceasing discontent for mediocrity, proudly told me of the 1700 students from this institution who volunteered this year to make a difference here in this world. Congratulations, graduates! We need your spirit, young people with plenty of energy who will not accept the irrationality of millions of needless, senseless deaths every year.
Martin Luther King, Jr. captured well your spirit when he said: “Deeply woven into the fiber of our tradition is the conviction that all people are made in the image of God. If we accept this, we cannot be content to see people hungry or suffering.”

“You Must Go”

2009-06-02T06:40:00.003-05:00

On May 22, I had the honor of speaking to the graduates of Concordia Theological Seminary at Fort Wayne, Indiana. I’d like to share with you a few of the remarks that I shared with these remarkable men and women. Like these seminary grads, each one of us has a call, and a responsibility, to go into the world and make a difference. The way we do that will, of course, be different for each of us depending on our own unique talent and vocation – but into the world we must go.

It’s a well known fact—and sometimes an excuse used by those who “drop out”—that the world’s wealthiest man never completed his college education at Harvard. But not finishing college was not Bill Gates’ biggest unfinished business, according to him.

“I do have one big regret,” the Microsoft man has remarked. “I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world, the appalling disparities of health and wealth and opportunity that condemn millions to lives of despair.”

The Gates Foundation is now making a huge difference. And at LWR we work with them.

But we desire to work more with you, also—with the church. Because you posses something unique: You go into the world—as women and men, splashed in the strong name of the Three-Person God, therefore, the transcendent dignity of every human person is not a question for you. People living in oppression need your theology-on-the-go, and your theology, in order not to become docetic, needs them.

Even as you walk across this center stage, you walk out into a world that’s more like the world the founder of this seminary found than you may at first realize. When he arrived at the village of Fort Wayne 150 years ago, Wilhelm Sihler found a place that was “primitive and life expectancy was short.”

You are going into a world of immense suffering; a world with H1N1; a world with an economy that, economic experts say, … sucks; a world, where, as the prophet Isaiah says: “Justice is turned back, righteousness stands at a distance, and truth stumbles in the public square” (Isaiah 59:14).

But, there’s something about this world that’s non-negotiable for church-workers like yourselves according to the founder of this venerable institution: Into such a world, “you must go!”

Desperation in Sri Lanka

2009-05-18T09:40:00.004-05:00

IDP tents with up to 40 people per tent.

Friends,

Perhaps you’ve seen it on the news, or maybe not: thousands killed and displaced as a result of the on-going fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

It is a scene of graphic violence and human suffering. Our Sri Lankan staff is working with partners on the ground to provide desperately needed food and water to the families who have been driven from their homes and into government camps.

The recent news of attacks on government camps (ironically called “safe zones”) makes the following report from our Sri Lankan staffer, K. (Nalee) Thampu, all the more timely.

Read Nalee’s words and let your hearts be moved to act on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka.

Words cannot accurately describe the suffering of the people of Sri Lanka. The technical term for these huddled masses, who now reside in crowded government camps, is internally displaced persons, or IDPs. What I saw going into the camps to deliver food were families whose lives have been severely interrupted—traumatized—by violence, terror, and separation.

A few days ago we visited an IDP camp in Vavuniya, a government controlled city about 10 miles from the front lines of violence. We went there to distribute 850 food packets with our local partners. People traveled for weeks to get to the camp and had little access to food along the way. In the camps the only food available is being supplied by the local organizations, like our partners, with the help of volunteers from surrounding villages.

When we arrived there were many men waiting for food. The men are the ones tasked with providing food for their families, so there they stood—hundreds of them—their eyes imploring us to hand out the parcels. I could not wait to get the food that we had into their hands so that they could share it with their wives and children. The distribution was a bit chaotic with so many hands outstretched in need of food. The one thing that haunts me about this day is that after all the food was distributed we met a little boy who had gotten lost in the throngs of people who showed up. He was separated from his family and he was hungry. He asked if we had just one more food package and it broke my heart to tell him that there was no more.

On that same trip, we had the occasion to speak with a social worker working with LWR’s local partner. She spends her time talking with IDPs and trying to provide some comfort to them.

Ms. Vijaya told us about a woman who became separated from her baby amidst the chaos. The woman and her family had fled their homes and were staying on the beach when, without warning, that beach came under attack. The woman and her husband rushed to gather up their children and what few belongings they could carry. Almost immediately the husband and wife were separated. When they met back up in the government safe zone both were horrified to find that their eight month-old baby had somehow been left behind, both parents assuming the other had him.

A lost child is any parent’s worst nightmare but in this situation—with so much violence and very little order—the loss is tragic. The woman is understandably inconsolable and cannot eat or drink. She just waits for news of her lost baby. Ms. Vijaya is trying to help her cope with her anxiety.

It is important for LWR’s supporters to know that their donations are helping the people of Sri Lanka. We are able to get into the camps and distribute food and other desperately needed items. The thing that strikes at my heart is that for every person we help there are many more who we have not yet reached. There are many more children like the boy who stood hungry with no one to care for him. There are many more families in need of food. There are many more parents who wait in desperation for news of their lost children.

I appeal to you, in the U.S. to be as generous as you can. Your gifts put food directly into the hands of hungry people. Your generosity provides life saving support.

I was able to take a few pictures while in the camp that I would like to share. I hope these pictures and stories will move the hearts of people in the U.S. to help their brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka.

Join the Sri Lanka crisis relief effort—and provide food and other life saving support—with your gift today.

community kitchen in the camp

community kitchen provides a warm meal for this young girl

The Generous Spirit of Glenwood

2009-05-18T06:48:00.003-05:00

I pose with Pastors: Krista S. Lee and Randy S. Chrissis

Tucked cozily adjacent to Lake Minnewaska is the town of Glenwood, Minnesota. (That’s the 32nd state of the union [smile!]). Although this hamlet has a population of just 2532, it should by no means be thought of as sleepy or provincial. The 2117 members of Glenwood Lutheran Church offer themselves passionately in as compassionate givers, engaged in quilting projects, health kits, and for the sake of those living in extreme poverty. Earl Hauge, is a key, energetic lay leader. Margie May, a registered nurse, is a stellar example of the hospitality and concern this bustling small-town congregation extends to guests. Though there’s only one set of traffic lights in the entire Pope County, this congregation is a beacon the light of Christ for those living without hope.

Thanks for having me as a visitor and speaker on Good Shepherd Sunday, 3 May 2009.

Divine, indeed

2009-05-05T14:02:00.004-05:00

It's always a blessing to make connections with our partners from around the world. This time, they came to us --here I am in Washington, DC with three representatives from Kuapa Kokoo, in Ghana, who were in town for a meeting with Divine Chocolate. In case you haven't heard about Divine yet, it's one of the coolest companies out there -- Fair Trade and farmer-owned. The farmers of Kuapa Kokoo grow all the cocoa that goes into Divine, and it's the chocolate that we feature in the LWR Chocolate Project.

I hope you'll try some for yourself, and I hope you'll join us in our quest to raise $100,000 to help Divine expand into new markets in the U.S. The more demand we create for Divine Chocolate, the greater the benefits for the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo and their families. Click here to make a gift, and thanks!

Enjoy your chocolate ....

The Language of Gratitude

2009-04-24T08:42:00.005-05:00

I was in Chicago with several colleagues this month to visit with Bishop Hanson and ELCA staff to say thanks for their investment in our mutual ministry. They have supported our shared mission, as we talk with and walk with and work with communities experiencing the most painful forms of poverty on the planet. We are profoundly grateful for the partnership we share with the ELCA (and also with the LCMS, but that’s another blog post for another day). I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts from this “thank you” day.

In the midst of these crazy economic times, it is easy to forget to say thank you. We Americans are so focused on putting our own economic house in order that we are tempted to be overly turned in on ourselves. That’s the temptation of tough times, to forsake our mission of ending hunger, to focus so much on our own situation that we forget the excluded and the marginalized, and forget to say thank-you.

Money talks especially loudly these days. But money, or a lack of money, is not the language of our faith. The ELCA knows, as LWR knows, that we need to remember the impact of the economic crisis on people in poor countries. As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote (28 March 2009), “It’s worth remembering that the consequence of a deep recession in a poor country isn’t just a lost job but also a lost child.”

Money talks, but it can never say enough. Instead, we are called to speak the language of faith, a language of prayer, worship, and praise. It is with such language that we express our gratitude for our partnership with the ELCA. With a fullness of heart, flowing from God’s love-language to us, the crucifixion, and rooted in our hope in the resurrection of Jesus, LWR says thank you. Praise God for those who courageously do justice, for those who patiently call forth human dignity, for those who strive to live as peacemakers.

Lenten Repenting in Frankenmuth

2009-03-10T11:13:00.002-05:00

A durable definition of development is “reduction in vulnerability.” I can’t think of a time in my twenty-eight years of public life as an adult when I have not been associated with a local or global, faith-based organization seeking to assist families and children in developing better lives. I can think of times when I’ve been more attentive to causes of the poor and less diverted by the economic realities of the relatively affluent.

Served by banquet staff in lederhosen this past Saturday in Frankenmuth, MI, a mentor to me and many, Dr. Robert Miles, surprised me with an award from the organization he heads, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Michigan. I’d say my response to this “Friend of Children” award was bumbling. My words stumbled because of the thoughts of regret chasing through my mind. Even while Bob was graciously lauding me, I was considering—confessing, perhaps—the ways I’ve been way too focused lately on this economic crisis. Of course non-profits are economically vulnerable, but not more vulnerable than children burned by a deadly downdraft of disease, violence, poverty and daily crises. Thanks, Bob. Your words and that award call me back to more perspective.

Success is a process. As a president and CEO who sees himself in perpetual development, these days I need a personal reduction in my preoccupation with this troublesome economic situation. Yes, money matters to our ministries, but never more than the children and families at risk. Those communities digging themselves out of poverty, those for whom LCFS and Lutheran World Relief exist, deserve the priority of our best imagination and most visionary creativity—energy currently being over-expended by me on how to stay ahead of curve in this fiscal crisis.

Lord, make me an even better friend of children. Give me your Spirit and clarity, especially through times of economic crisis! Amen.

So, the child-focused theme of this blog entry gives me a good excuse for posting a favorite photo of one of my grandsons, Malachi Emmanuel, who’s currently living in Baltimore with Monique and me.

On to Peru...

Bandiagara Cliffs

2009-02-17T14:31:00.003-05:00

Awakened by waves of Harmattan wind
Sweeping new dust through boulders, revealing
Children, full of grace, from Banani who
Cry though smiling with mimicry, while they
Shoulder impassable poverty and
Trade francs for shrieks of Ave Maria.

Ah, with chagrin, palimpsest of pilgrims,
Rewrite, please, this kind guide’s dead sentiments,
Or else foredoomed be the fruit of all wombs.

Birth with these Dōgon, in deep sediment,
An earthed symphony without misery:
Vivid, gemmed, weightless as flying Tellem.

So, children find voice in redemption songs
Ushering a rush of revolution
Inscribing streams, irrigating dry dreams,
Erasing blood and blame for who has sinned,
Ambushing old dust from caves with fresh green
Awakened by waves of Harmattan wind.

Taking Half the Road

2009-02-11T08:09:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite cultural customs in Mali is the elegant way departures happen here. There’s nothing hasty or unannounced about them. When visiting a community, we don’t merely get up and leave. We request permission to “take the road.” If one’s host has enjoyed the visit, she or he will say, “You may take half the road, leaving the other half for your return visit.”

Kirk Betts, LWR Board Chair with Aldiouma Guindo,
President of the SEPROBIO Sesame Program.

Upon granting us half the road, Aldiouma Guindo, the president of the SEPROBIO Sesame Program in Koro, Mali said, our work is only possible because of Lutheran World Relief.

“No,” I retorted, “your success is due to your hard work and God’s blessing.”

“I understand that” he replied, “but when you ask for God’s blessing, God sends others like you to help us.”

At that we simply said, “Thanks,” and took half the road.