You may matter more than you think!

There's been a lot of buzz recently about a happiness study. The premise is that happiness is contagious up to three degrees of separation. So if you are my friend and you become happy, I'm more likely to become happy, too. What's more, my friend Mary is more likely to become happy even if Mary doesn't know you. And even Mary's friend John is more likely to become happy - 3 people removed from you, the source of all that happiness.

In addition to studying happiness, the authors have previously studied the impact of social networks on obesity and smoking rates. Apparently obesity has been spreading through social networks, and smoking has been declining. There are some interesting animations charting the progressions on this page.

If these social influences are real, what hopeful news for those of us fighting hunger! It suggests that our attitudes and behaviors can have larger impact than we ever knew. If happiness, obesity, and smoking are trackably influenced by a single person through their chain of friends, why not charitable giving or concern for those who are living in poverty? When I speak passionately and regularly about hunger, perhaps it will influence not only my immediate audience, but, through them, people I've never seen or met. And what happens when a whole web of us do it?

There are, of course, people criticizing the happiness study. One of the complaints is that the authors have proven correlation, but not causation. Still, the whole idea feels commonsensical to me. Doesn't peer pressure work in a similar way? Aren't we influenced by people we know? Aren't they influenced by people they know? Why would it not carry through? So right or wrong, I'm going to approach the new year as if I matter more than I thought I did. May 2009 see our individual anti-hunger efforts spread far and wide!

-Nancy Michaelis

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

In the season of Advent we wait expectantly for the promised light. During the twelve days of Christmas, we celebrate the light revealed in the incarnation. This Sunday, many will celebrate Epiphany, the revelation of Christ's light to the nations. The Christ event in the Christian tradition represents the fulfillment of God’s promises, the dawn of a new era.

In our current context, however, this neat and tidy summation of God’s activity can be explored more deeply. In spite of the fulfillment language found throughout the New Testament, we nonetheless still live in a liminal stage (what George Eldon Ladd called the “already and not yet”). Yes, the light has come in the Christ event; yet we still await the final fulfillment (Romans 8:18-25 expresses this idea well).

Although Christ has come and we have a taste of God’s promises, we still live in very uncertain times. The current financial crisis threatens the livelihood of millions (one estimate I’ve read is that by the time we emerge from the recession, nearly 50 million in the US will be living below the poverty line [see the report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, available at http://www.cbpp.org/11-24-08pov.pdf]; already the crisis has plunged more than 115 million people into poverty worldwide [see www.bread.org]). Wars, famine, and disease persist throughout the world. In this way, I find this next Sunday's Psalm (72) to be a beautiful prayer for our times—that God would empower rulers (in our cities, states, nations, and world) to govern justly and defend the cause of the poor. May the church, empowered by the gracious Holy Spirit, lead by example!

The Gift of Snow and Sleet

Like many places, Chicago has had a lot of snow recently, and I'm probably the first to whine about the winter commute to and from work. But that's the extent of my whining. I hate how much time I spend in the car, but I don't hate the snow. The way I see it, snow and sleet are sparkly gifts that we're lucky to get and should never take for granted - let alone curse!

Reinforcing my opinion was a recent article in Time Magazine titled "Dying for a Drink." From it I learned that Las Vegas has a population of 1.9 million people (!!) and typically receives just 4 inches of rain a year. How long can they all live there before the water is gone? And what will happen then? I also learned that "half the planet lacks the same quality of water that the ancient Romans enjoyed" and that in India "wells that once hit water at 20 ft. now need to go 80 ft. or deeper."

Life - including the food we eat - can't exist without water. Everyone's rice and wheat cost more this year because of Australia's drought. So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Frozen water that melts slowly and is absorbed by the ground is good. It's good for our water tables and aquifers, good for our plants and animals, and good for us. Las Vegas can only hope it's not another 30 years before their next big snowfall. And as the snow comes down here in Chicago this winter, I will give thanks for this most precious and beautiful of gifts.

The absurdly frigid temperatures are a different story.

-Nancy Michaelis

Pastor Julie Rowe served with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2004 to 2008 and watched the walls and settlements grow and encircle Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns and lands. She wrote this for those who sing the traditional carol to make them aware of the current reality and hopefully stir up some conscience to do something to free the town of the One who freed us. Learn more at www.elca.org/peacenotwalls

The Little Town of Bethlehem
by the Rev. Julie Rowe

From the little town of Bethlehem we sing to you tonight;
Our streets are clear, there's no one here, who sees our daily plight;
Once here was born a savior, but now we're all enslaved;
By razor wire and walls and towers, now when will we be saved?
The little town of Bethlehem gets smaller every day;
They take our land, some have it planned to make us fade away;
The settlements keep growing, they're bigger every day.
We've not much left from all the theft, so soon they'll have their way.

The little town of Bethlehem is trapped by walls of stone
By razor wire and giant towers we're left here all alone;
Tonight as you sing carols of peace on earth to all
Think of us all behind the wall that dwarfs the manger stall.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray,
Break down our walls and hear our calls, bring just peace here to stay;
We hear the Christmas angels, their great glad tidings tell:
Live in your land, there's peace at hand, from God Immanuel!

Service Opportunities for the 21st Century

This is the fourth and final post in our series by young adults on the topic of HIV/AIDS.

It is written by Ryan Fordice, a Luther College Alumnus. He attends Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Dubuque, IA, and has previous experience centered on social justice.

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As we in the ELCA continue to shape our identity and mission for the 21st century, it has become clear that we intend to not just continue our central focus on humanitarian concerns but expand and intensify it. The long‑overdue call for an official AIDS policy is a major component of our forward motion. This push and the commitment to action that absolutely must follow will challenge the ELCA to utilize the full depth of its resources, especially the remarkable individual talent and energy of our five million members. One mechanism through which we can advance our humanitarian mission is full time service opportunities. The personal, church-wide and societal benefits of service are great for people of any demographic, but the situational conditions of youth and recent graduates make the investment of offering meaningful service to young adults especially fruitful for a couple reasons.

Firstly, they often have the extraordinary freedom to set aside a year for service, and the simple immediate effect of this full time work is invaluable in and of itself. Secondly, and this is really the heart of the issue, the investment of self in a meaningful cause through service forms a lasting personal concern with that cause. If we offer expanded and increased service opportunities for our youth that are intentionally focused on the problems we have prioritized,—AIDS, for example—in addition to the immediate benefit of their labors we will gain the long-term benefit of planting the humanitarian priorities of the ELCA deeply into the hearts and minds of these young adults who have already demonstrated that they will be advocates and active citizens through their service.

Since I am most familiar with HIV/AIDS and was a member of the ELCA's youth delegation to the International AIDS Conference I will deal with this issue as an example. If combating the AIDS pandemic is going to be a priority of the ELCA in the 21st century (and I believe our faith demands it must), we must drastically increase the opportunities we give our members to serve with HIV/AIDS projects and organizations.

In perusing the ELCA's mission and service websites I found the following regarding AIDS service opportunities for young adults in our primary domestic service organization, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps: From 2003‑2005, the LVC had placements in six organizations nationwide working with an AIDS organization. In the 2007‑2008 placement listing there are only three organizations—providing five total placements—listed that obviously focus on HIV/AIDS. This list is not broken down by category, so there may be some organizations that deal with AIDS and have names that do not immediately suggest this, but whatever the case, at any given time the ELCA is providing the opportunity to work in domestic AIDS organizations to a single digit number of young adults at maximum.

The situation is similar for our primary international service organization for youth, Young Adults in Global Mission. Of the nine global sites, only one—South Africa—includes a focus on AIDS. The scope of our AIDS service offerings must be expanded dramatically, both to increase our immediate response to the crisis and invest in future societal and church leaders to champion the cause.

We have a wealth of passionate young adults currently serving in an admirable domestic and international service system; this call is not meant to belittle or criticize this. Neither the work that has been done to create and maintain this system nor the meaningful service that have been offered by those who have served and are serving in it is being attacked. This call is rather meant to lift up the goodness and the power of this invaluable resource and offer that it ought to be expanded, and that when it is expanded it ought to be focused on the advancement of our church's vision for the world as it ought to be. And it lastly offers that this vision ought to include more than just an official statement on AIDS, but a plan to address it with the full strength of this church and all its passionate members. We must form new service partnerships with HIV/AIDS clinics, care centers, educational organizations, and ministries both in the U.S. and in AIDS‑stricken countries around the world, building on existing relationships where possible and creating new ones where necessary.

This is a plan that will provide the kind of individual involvement that will transform the hearts and minds of those who serve into lifelong advocates in both the church and the world at large.

-Ryan Fordice

We must ask for forgiveness and open our doors to respond to global AIDS

This is the third post in our HIV/AIDS series by young adults. It is written by Jacquelin Rostad, who attends Luther Seminary. Her home Congregation is Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead, MN. She plans to bring HIV/AIDS advocacy into her future ministry.

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Bishop Mark Hanson’s call for public acts of repentance by members of the church to oppressed communities was a powerful and proud moment for Lutherans during the 2008 International AIDS Conference. In front of five hundred onlookers, Hanson washed the feet of two HIV+ women.

Certainly the message is on the mark – there is no room for discrimination against anyone in the body of Christ, and the presence of stigma is the absence of Christian love. But the move towards repentance, reconciliation, and lived Christian love cannot end with one leader’s largely symbolic act while the cameras were flashing and all eyes were on him. The challenge now lies with us, the church, to answer the call, to repent for being openly or subtly exclusionary, to make amends for turning a blind eye to those in desperate need. How might the neighborhood church and the individual Lutheran respond?

To truly make amends, a symbolic gesture or word is not enough. Things must be set to rights. Action must be taken. Individuals might feel powerless to respond to the global AIDS crisis – “I don’t know anyone with AIDS!,” or “What can one person do?” But acts of repentance don’t have to happen publicly or on the global scale to be powerful. It could be as simple as church members coming together to create an AIDS visitation team, a small group of people who visit or bring food to individuals in the community with HIV/AIDS. The community church can also help to erase stigma by encouraging church members to get tested for HIV. Familiarity erases stigma, and something as simple as having a conversation about getting tested for HIV can start to erase that stigma.

Churches can begin to repent for the discrimination of the past by welcoming stigmatized persons into their communities. Many churches claim to be welcoming and friendly, but make little effort to truly position themselves as centers of their communities or reach out to stigmatized people in their neighborhoods. Offering support groups for persons affected by HIV/AIDS and their friends and family, or hosting a community meal with a facilitated discussion of AIDS in the community can open doors for conversation. To truly show a spirit of repentance, the emphasis should be on learning and dialogue, with the attitude that the church is already walking with the community, not reaching down to it.

Going forward, we must remain mindful that real people are hurt by the actions and words – and the inaction and silence – of the church. Getting rid of stigma implies opening our doors, our arms, and our hearts to individuals who may have had a very different life experience, and a very different experience of the church. It implies salving the deep wounds of discrimination with the healing balm of unconditional Christian love, even if someone looks different or loves differently or lives differently than us.

-Jacquelin Rostad

Voice out for Zimbabwe neighbors

It is easy and effective to be an e-advocate. When it comes to voicing concern for our neighbors in Zimbabwe, e-advocacy is also urgently needed. Visit http://tinyurl.com/ZimbabweAdvocacy to find suggested text to e-mail to your senators and representatives. Don't know who they are? Don't worry. All you need to know is your home address!

One Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe pastor told an ELCA colleague "I thought we had hit bottom, so it couldn't get worse; but it seems a hole can be dug in the bottom."

Don't be tempted to put this off. What else can you do in the next five minutes that will be as important? E-advocate for our neighbors in Zimbabwe and urge at least one other to do the same.

Questions? Visit www.elca.org/advocacy , www.elca.org/disaster, or contact Jodi Deike, Director for Grassroots Advocacy and Communication, ELCA Washington Office.

Advocating blessings,
Sue-s

Sister Corita Kent, an artist who lives the body of Christ

Another entry in our AIDS series by young adults, this post is written by Mary Button. Ms. Button is an Artist/Activist/writer; she works with Visual AIDS for the Arts and a creator of the Hymnbook Project (www.thehymnbookproject.org), http://actiontoaccess.blogspot.com/ She is a member of Advent Lutheran Church, NYC.

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For many, religious art conjures up images of Michelangelo lying on his back, way up high on scaffolding, wiping sweat from his eyes, painting The Sistine Chapel. Or gilded altars in Bavaria. Or the dark, brooding images of St. Peter’s crucifixion by Caravaggio. Our preconceptions of religious art are, all too often, intricately tied up in our societal definitions of what art is and what it isn’t. If it’s old, European and precious it’s Art; likewise if it’s modern, expensive and inscrutable it’s Art. For me, though, the very epitome of religious art has always been the day-glo color poetics found in the work on Sister Corita Kent.

An innovative artist working in a pop art vernacular, Kent was also the chair of the art department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles and a practicing nun. She left her religious community at the height of her success in 1968. Her works were calls of action. In a piece titled my people she pairs the front page of the August 14, 1965 edition of the Los Angeles Times, the fourth day of the Watts Riots - it’s bold headline reads “EIGHT MEN SLAIN; GUARD MOVES IN,” with the words of Father Maurice Ouellet, an Edmundite priest who was expelled from his Selma, Alabama parish by Archbishop Toolen who felt Ouellet too outspoken in his support of the Civil Rights Movement. Written in white in Kent’s handwriting against a red background are the words of Father Ouellet:

The body of Christ is no more comfortable now that it was when it hung from the cross. Those who live in the well organized, well ordered, nourished, clean, calm and comfortable middle-class part of Christ’s body can easily forget that the body of Christ, as it now exists, is mostly disorganized, devoid of order, concerned with the material needs, hungry, dirty, not motivated by reason, fermenting in agonizing uncertainty and certainly most uncomfortable. Youth is a time of rebellion. Rather than squelch the rebellion, we might better enlist the rebels to join that greatest rebel of his time – Christ himself.

These words move and inspire me. These words are a call to action. To be part of a Christian community implies membership in a community that holds sacred the power of words to heal and stories to create solidarity that transcends race, gender, class, sexuality and nationalism.

Where academic notions of religious art conjure up images of The Creation painted centuries ago Sister Corita Kent’s work directly engaged with her community and is still a powerful, plaintive cry for social change. In the face of all the social problems that fuel the AIDS pandemic - stigma, homelessness, racial inequality, gender based violence – art is a powerful means of communicating the church’s message on these issues. And what exactly should the message of the church be with regard to social issues? Namely, that membership in Christian community means joining a rebellion against a society that accepts as status quo these exacerbating factors. The artwork of Sister Corita Kent is a powerful example of what happens when an artist lives in the body of Christ as it now exists.

-Mary Button

Will the Church Respond?

Today we were greeted with another round of bad economic news--533,000 jobs lost in November, the largest drop since December 1974. This frightening number does not take into account two important groups: 1) The so-called "discouraged workers" (what a wretched euphemism) who have lost hope and are no longer searching for work--637,000 added in November and 2) Those who could only find part time work--621,ooo in November. That's nearly 1.8 million people in November alone who are now in the ranks of those who do not have a reliable/sufficient source of income.

An important recent report correlates unemployment rates to poverty. While unemployment does not necessarily lead one into poverty, the two are closely related. If employment peaks next December at 9%, as is predicted, we can explect 10 million more people to fall below the poverty line. If this projection is correct, in December of 2009, nearly 50 million people in the US will be living below the poverty line.

The government will do what it can, but it is clear that government intervention will not be enough. For example, the number of food stamps distributed is far below the number of people living below the poverty line (see page 9, Figure 3 of the report noted above). As the people of God, how will we respond to this need? At a time when we are dealing with our own sense of insecurity, will we find the courage to take risks for the most vulnerable people in our communities? In the coming years we will have the opportunity to live out Matthew 25, will we answer the call?

-David Creech

Are we answering the call to respond to HIV/AIDS?

David Creech mentioned in his post this week that we would be featuring entries from young adults who attended the Interational AIDS Conference in Mexico City this summer. Here is the first.

It is written by Joni Ricks, who is currently a 2nd year doctoral student in Epidemiology at University of California Los Angeles. She is also an Associate Member of Lord of Light Lutheran Church.

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Christians are often comfortable relating with certain groups of people that do not challenge our Christian values or make us feel uneasy. Historically global challenges such as poverty, homelessness, and diseases were acceptable and were seen as opportunity for service.

Today HIV and AIDS (a disease associated with issues that Christian organizations have been dealing with for decades) creates segregation, contrary to the Scriptures call -‘We should be the first ones to combat the epidemic’. Christians have shied away from this mission. HIV and AIDS is not a ‘comfortable disease’ for many Christians. We increasingly build walls with people affected by HIV and AIDS, yet we gather together every Sunday to celebrate Christ’s unconditional love for us.

The apostle Matthew invited Jesus and other disciples to dinner at his home; together with tax collectors and other ‘disreputable sinners’. Pharisees referred to tax collectors as “scum” and wondered why anyone would debase themselves to be seen with “such” type of people. We similarly brand people living with HIV and AIDS as ‘sinners’. Christians are called to love sinners and not the sin. We are all saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And I often wonder why we Christians perceive ourselves to be better than those whose lifestyles are not what we would consider acceptable.

In the United States we are comfortable ministering and ‘donating’ to people halfway across the world but ignore those living with the disease in our own locality. How often do we think of offering services to a homeless shelter? Or bother to make eye contact with people who seeks our help on the street?

We are created in God’s image hence are co-creators. Our actions and deeds ought to reflect Christ’s teachings. But how are we to show the love of Christ if we refuse to minister to people in need? We must strive to be the people of God we are chosen to be and that will only be demonstrated with our un-conditional love to people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.

-Joni Ricks

12 Days of Green & Good Christmas

You'll want to share the CSR "12 Days of Christmas" link with your networks. Don't forget to click on the star on the top of the tree to learn about make-a-difference gifts.
Here's another tip: Sign up for the Shareholders Network e-Newsletter and receive e-mail alerts about faith-based investing, corporate social responsibility, and resources (like the annual "12 Days of Christmas" list). Let's see if we can help Pat and Patty add at least 120 new participants to the Shareholders Network. Advent blessings, Sue

SHAREHOLDER'S NETWORK
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In this season of hope and wonder the Corporate Social Responsibility program has put together a list of resources that you may find helpful. Please visit the "The 12 Days of Christmas".

World AIDS Day

Today is the 20th annual World AIDS Day, a day when individuals and organizations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.

AIDS and hunger are closely intertwined. AIDS is rapidly spreading in the most impoverished areas of the world—places where education, women’s and children’s rights, and peace are hard to come by. Many areas, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, are trapped in a vicious cycle in which the symptoms of poverty facilitate the spread of the disease while the lives and productivity lost to the pandemic further impoverish vulnerable communities. Moreover, AIDS is especially devastating to hungry persons. Malnourished persons cannot take anti-retroviral drugs—an empty stomach cannot handle the powerful medicine. In the absence of drugs and adequate nutrition, HIV develops into AIDS more quickly. Once a person has AIDS, more food is needed to fight the illness and counteract weight loss.

Back in August, ELCA World Hunger sent representatives to the 17th International AIDS Conference. Over the next few days we’ll be posting some of their insights gleaned from the experience. Today, let us recommit ourselves to living for the most vulnerable people in own world.

-David Creech