Editor notes
By Daniel J. Lehmann
Promoting causes in D.C.
Advocacy a church commitment A
s the ELCA enters the spring synod assem- bly season, a select group of members gets an up-close look at their bishops, a post not
always on the radar of parishioners. One of the other jobs these leaders perform is advocacy with
elected officials. On April 2, 32 bishops from the ELCA’s 65 synods descended on Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional leaders. “We as Lutherans take very seriously God’s call to serve the widow, the orphan
and the sojourner,” Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton said at the Lutheran prayer breakfast in the Rayburn House Office Building. Bishops used Facebook posts to keep followers apprised of their day, as Bishop Larry R. Wohlrabe of the Northwestern Minnesota Synod did by offering Eaton’s quote. “The regular convening of ELCA bishops in Washington gives us a chance to
get up-to-date on those public policy issues about which our church has spoken and to speak as a public church to those issues that affect the lives of all God’s peo- ple,” Bishop H. Julian Gordy of the Southeastern Synod and chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops Immigration Ready Bench—one of six such groups that develop expertise among bishops for advocacy—told ELCA News Service. In Washington the benches promoted comprehensive federal immigra-
tion reform, the Millennium Development Goals of aid on behalf of child and maternal health, an increase in the fed- eral minimum wage as part of an over- all strategy to address U.S. poverty, and justice and peace in Palestine and Israel through the Peace Not Walls campaign. “It’s an honor to remind [Congress] that people of faith care about issues
‘No one wants poverty, hunger, confl ict or strife. God calls us to the better.’
beyond party politics,” said Bishop James A. Arends of the La Crosse Area Synod. “No one wants poverty, hunger, conflict or strife. God calls us to the better.” Such advocacy runs into opposition from those who see the church’s primary,
if not only, business as saving souls. To some, activity in the public square is sec- ondary, even inappropriate. But Martin Luther reasoned that God looks after the world in two distinct ways: by providing the church to proclaim the gospel and government to regulate basic social order. Lutherans have been active in sup- porting the positive role of government ever since. Eaton has been championing “four emphases” for the ELCA: we are church
first (not a social service agency); we are Lutheran (we have a distinctive voice); we are church together (congregations, synods, churchwide office); we are church for the sake of the world. “It’s not just about us,” she recently told the bishops. “We have not been
redeemed just so we can sit at home and think wonderful, lovely thoughts about Jesus. From worship we are sent out into the world to introduce people to Jesus and to serve the world God so loves.” Hence the trips to the capital.
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