Treasuring lasts

Our family celebrated another commencement weekend as daughter Anne graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. Graduations are a natural time to reflect on last things and things that last.

Last things
Graduations, funerals, and other rituals, services, and ceremonies help us observe life's significant "lasts." Important, too, are the "lesser" lasts of life…those times when we or someone close to us moves (on, up, out), grows (up, apart), transitions, retires. Those times often mark a change in relationships: a child begins kindergarten; a parent must give up driving; a favorite friend moves away.

Noticing, appreciating, and celebrating the lasts of life—sometimes through tears of joy, sometimes through tears of pain—helps us better recognize God's presence and God's gifts in all of life. Maybe being present as we remember the past and anticipate the future is a way to "deposit" lasting treasure in our hearts.

Things that last
And Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal…. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19, 21).

Lord, forgive us, for we are dense. We are so focused on the new, next thing that we forget to be mindful; we forget to be thankful. We rarely connect the dots between the balance of our spending (time and money) and the balance of our lives. Our calendars and our credit-card statements do not reconcile with our faith and life priorities. Full of stuff and full of ourselves, we wonder why we still feel empty.

Thank God for grace. Each day brings a new opportunity to sing "O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come" (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 632). Each day brings new opportunities to faithfully treasure God's gifts and blessings, to faithfully treasure the lasts, firsts, and middles of life.
—Sue Edison-Swift

A Glimmer of Hope in the Food Crisis

As I was driving to work this morning, I heard an interesting story on National Public Radio. It was about how the global food crisis is affecting Afghanistan, and it started predicatably enough with statistics and stories explaining how horrible things are. The price of flour has tripled in the past year and 2.5 million Afghans have been pushed into food insecurity. Afghanistan does not produce enough food to feed its population, and many are now relying on international food aid.

I just had time to think, "Interesting that they don't produce enough food. They certainly have arable land. After all, they grow lots of poppies!" when the reporter addressed that very point. And here was the first shred of good news I've heard in relation to the food crisis. The Afghan Commerce Minister explained that in several provinces, farmers have begun replacing poppy crops with wheat crops. With higher prices and less competition from imports, Afghan farmers can now make a profit from wheat. What's more, growing poppies is illegal and dangerous, so given a viable alternative, some farmers are happy to make the switch.

My train of thought went on to the broader implications. If higher prices and fewer imports are making wheat farming profitable in Afghanistan, what other countries might experience the same effect? For years developing countries have been unable to compete with cheap commodity crops exported from the United States. In the long term, will the food crisis help that situation? And if more countries grow more staple grains, will it improve global food security? None of this musing is meant to minimize the current crisis. It's ridiculous that it takes starving people to bring attention and change to the way the world feeds itself, and it doesn't mean necessary policy changes will be made. But it's also nice to think that some good might come of the current suffering. So today I'm choosing to dwell on the bits of hope.

-Nancy Michaelis

Bad News/Good News

Does it seem like each morning's news brings a report about another global disaster? In my darkest "oh-no-not-another one" moments, I just want to turn the TV off, push the paper away, and set my internet news pop-ups to "entertainment only."

But I can't totally disengage. Even if I really wanted to, my colleagues and our ELCA doesn't let me. News clippings sent inter-office, phone calls from pastors, gifts sent in by children with prayerful notes... all bring me back to the reality of our broken world.

Of course, there's another reality as well, and that's the promise of God's abundance. I'm reminded of this as I read budget reports detailing spending plans for the overwhelming generosity we received last year for ELCA World Hunger Appeal. My World Hunger/Global Mission colleagues had made spending plans based on a modest increase in giving, but certainly didn't know that an additional $2.5 million would arrive at the very end of the year! What amazing generosity sent on behalf of our neighbors- near and far- who live with hunger and poverty!

Many of these "surplus" plans focus on our response to the global food crisis, one of those awful ongoing disasters we hear about so frequently (read more and give here). Our gifts to ELCA World Hunger help alleviate this crisis through a two-pronged approach. First, we are providing funds to our partners for emergency food and other relief efforts. But even more importantly, we have made a concerted effort to invest in long-term sustainable development that will help our partners help communities better withstand the ups and downs of the food market. For example, because of the generous giving to the World Hunger Appeal last year, we were recently able to make a special gift to the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church to provide tools, supplies and irrigation for a community to grow nutritious produce for their use and for market. In the long-term, this will have a far greater impact that food relief alone, and we are grateful to be able to make this special gift possible through our companion church.

So, on the next bad news day, when I just want to pull the metaphorical (and literal) covers over my head... I'll remember that God truly is at work in our world. God's work. Our Hands. Thanks be to God!

Remember ELCA Disaster Response on May 25

Last Friday I set to work writing a litany remembering survivors of recent disasters. I was inspired by the hymn. "God of the Sparrow," ELW #740, a recommended hymn for this coming Sunday, May 25. I was moved by the hymn's text for obvious reasons and because it is written by Jaroslav J. Vajda, who recently died.

I drew from Isaiah 49:13, an assigned text for May 25, for the congregation's response: "Comfort your people, O Lord; have compassion on your suffering ones."

Friday afternoon, after finishing and polishing the litany, it occurred to me to check on whether my use of the hymn's text necessitated copyright permission. Yes, it did. "That's OK," I consoled myself, "the litany uses next Sunday's texts." Today I learned that the permission needs to be granted by the estate of Jaroslav Vajda, and that will likely take some time.

So while I can't post the litany as written, please take the opportunity to sing ELW 740 during worship next Sunday. It would be fitting, too, for the prayers of the people to include our neighbors suffering as the result of the earthquake in China, the cyclone in Myanmar, and the tornadoes in the United States.

Learn more about ELCA Disaster Response at www.elca.org/disaster

"Comfort your people, O Lord; have compassion on your suffering ones."

Bomblets and hunger

That war is a cause of hunger is not news. War displaces people from their homes, livelihoods, and usual food sources. It recruits and kills working-age men who would otherwise support their families. It disrupts agricultural cycles and destroys fields. It maims economies, infrastructure, and people.

But one aspect of how war causes hunger did recently surprise me. It shouldn't have. Even a moment of thought makes it blatantly obvious. But I hadn't before considered how the ammunition of war causes hunger, sometimes for decades after the fighting has ended.

Here's an example I read about from the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines. The US dropped 90 million cluster bomblets on Laos during the Vietnam War. Today, they estimate that about 10 million of those bomblets remain unexploded, and that the bomblets cover one-third to one-half of Laos. They further explain that 80% of the country's labor force is involved in subsistence agriculture.

The choices are both obvious and bad. Either Laotians don't use a lot of land that they could to grow food because it's too dangerous, or they farm it anyway, understanding that people will be severely injured or killed when then accidentally hoe an old bomblet.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines' web site lists, in bullet form (munitions irony, there), the many problems land mines and cluster bombs cause. In addition to later land use, some of the key hunger-related problems include slowing the return of displaced people, slowing rebuilding efforts, environmental damage each time a mine or bomblet explodes, the resource strain to poor communities and governments trying to assist landmine survivors, and the ongoing danger to both people and livestock. Of course, some of these issues are common to any war. The difference is the length of time unexploded munitions extend the problems.

The good news is that the issue is getting some serious attention. Beginning today in Dublin, some 100 countries are meeting to discuss banning cluster bombs. You can read an overview in yesterday's Boston Globe. And if you've been looking for an advocacy project, this may be an opportunity to explore. The United States is not attending the talks.

Earthquake in China

Key ELCA Global Mission and World Hunger partners in China are located in the Sichuan province, in the cities of Chengdu and Luzhou--south of the areas worst-hit by the earthquake. We've learned that they are safe and that seminary students and faculty, church workers, and hospital personnel are all helping with resue efforts.

ELCA Global Mission staff are in communication with the Sichuan Christian Council to assess needs and how best the Christian community can help, and our recovery assistance after this disaster will likely be channeled through these established partnerships. We expect that restoration of water supplies, care and support for children and vulnerable adults who have lost loved ones, and restoration of health clinics will all be critical needs as recovery plans take shape.

Please keep the people of the Sichuan province in your prayers, especially those who fear for the safety of missing loved ones and those who have lost family, friends, homes, and livelihoods.

Visit www.elca.org/disaster for updates or click here to give now to support the response efforts. Thank you for your prayers and gifts!

What's in YOUR Basement?

Say what you will about capitalism, it has its place! If there's a demand, a supplier will appear. And the latest business I've run across is so perfectly American that I can't help but admire it, although it makes me cringe a little at the same time. Pehaps you've heard of it: 1-800-Got-Junk.

This is a business that exists because we've got too much stuff and no time (or desire) to deal with it. Some nice, uniformed employees will come to your house and haul away a whole truckload of stuff you don't want for a little over $500 (here in Chicago; pricing varies by location). Plus they recycle or donate some 60% of what they take away, and they'll sweep up the place after they've emptied it out.

I so enjoy the irony. We work long hours to earn money to buy stuff, and then we pay people to come take it away, all the while complaining that we don't have enough time or money! And it's not just one or two of us; the company expects to earn around $150 million in revenue this year.

In the time that I've worked for ELCA World Hunger I've become much more aware of what I buy and what I waste. Here's to hoping that once the truck leaves my house and I have a cleanly-swept floor, I won't set to work filling it again.

-- Nancy Michaelis

Myanmar Cyclone

This weekend, please remember the people of Myanmar in your prayers and offerings. It is still unclear how many people have lost their lives, and also unclear how the government of Myanmar will serve to help or hinder the international response efforts. ELCA International Disaster Response has been mobilized, and assessments are already underway by our partners in the region: Action by Churches Together and Church World Service. As funds are collected, these partners are putting together an implementation plan for how we can be most helpful, given the realities of the Myanmar political situation. The fact that multiple Action by Churches Together partners were already in place in Myanmar will be very helpful. Here is a bulletin insert you can use to inform and mobilize your congregation on both the Myanmar Cyclone and the World Food Crisis.
Myanmar%20Cyclone%20alert.pdf

Garment factories as role models?

I've decided to go out on a limb today. I'm writing about something I probably have no business writing about. I apologize in advance to all whom I offend with my ignorance, and I welcome your comments and corrections. But I'm curious about something: How should businesses (globally) respond to the food crisis? And what should we ask and expect of them?

My question arises from an article I read today on the BBC International web site about garment factory owners in Bangladesh. Factory owners there have started to distribute subsidized rice to their lowest paid workers as food prices force people to skip meals and some food groups. The government is doing something similar, but government purchasing locations are only open during working hours, so factory employees haven't been able to participate.

I also learned that the garment industry accounts for 3/4 of Bangladesh's export income. In my mind, that ranks the importance of the garment industry close to that of the government's in some ways.

At this point you may be thinking, "Why don't the factory owners just pay their employees a living wage and give them the time off work they need?" Certainly the thought crossed my mind, too, and certainly the companies aren't acting from pure altruism when they subsidize rice for their employees. People who don't get enough to eat, and who need to wait in government lines during the day, will be less productive and have increased absenteeism. That's bad for business, especially when you're competing with China, India, Vietnam, and other low-cost locations. What's more, since the garment industry is such a huge part of Bangladesh's economy, slowing its production and growth would cause even more problems, at least in the short term (though there's certainly an argument to be made for longer-term diversification). And it won't help a factory worker to lose his job in order to stand in line for cheaper rice. So even if these garment factories are not doing all they could do, and even if their motives are displeasing, they are bringing relief that's not otherwise available.

So I ask myself, if businesses and industry have power and resources, and also have an interest in keeping people healthy, working, and buying their products, why are they not a larger part of the conversation about addressing the food crisis? At a minimum, people spending more of their income on food will have less to spend on other products and services. At worst, people who are starving will not be coming to work, and the business or industry will falter. Yet most of the reporting I hear involves the responses of government, globabl political bodies like the UN and WTO, and not-for-profits. That's why today's BBC article caught my eye - it seemed unusual. Buy why? Where are the voices of business and industry? Perhaps they are there, and I just haven't been reading or listening to the right things (entirely possible!). But I also wonder if we don't somewhat overlook the business sector when we look for solutions. Perhaps our initial reaction to a crisis should be not only "What are governments doing?" but rather, "What are governments doing and how are businesses assisting or complementing those efforts?" And then we should expect a real answer.

The Bellwether Prize

I stumbled across an intriguing book list recently: winners of the Bellwether Prize. I love to read, and one of my favorite authors is Barbara Kingsolver. So when I read that she had founded a prize for literature, I immediately looked it up. Here are the introductory sentences from the Bellwether Prize web site:

"Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities."

What a delightful surprise! A list of novels, recommended by a favorite author, that address social justice issues! It's so satisfying when different aspects of one's interests intersect. I am hopeful that some of these books will be another resource for starting conversation and reflection about hunger's root causes.

I admit I haven't read any of the winning books (is it embarrassing to admit I haven't even heard of them?). It's possible that the concept will outshine the reality and I'll regret this blog later. But I'm sure looking forward to finding out!

-Nancy Michaelis