Across the nation, 22 ELCA Lutheran Synods (geographic grouping of churches) will gather for their annual synod assemblies. It's a great time to meet new people, learn about new opportunities and make decisions about the future of the church. While searching my twitter feed for others reporting about their treks to synod assembly, I ran across tweets from Earl Janssen. After some quick googling, I learned that Earl is the pastor of Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Severna Park, MD and chose to ride his bike the 117 miles to the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly to raises fund for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. In a word Pastor Earl, this is awesome!
Each congregation was encouraged to donate $1 per worshipper to help, with the goal of about $25,000. Talk about strength in numbers! Imagine what could happen if every ELCA Synod meeting this weekend did that? What if we all gave $5 or $10? The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people globally live on less than $1.25 dollars a day. Although this number may seem overwhelming, it's people like Pastor Earl and the DE-MD Synod that prove a little organization can go a long way. Isn't that what Christ would have us do anyway?
So how can you help? Organize a giving campaign to ELCA World Hunger, other great hunger advocacy organizations like Bread for the World, or to your local food bank. Christ is counting on us to make a difference. Will you answer his call?
"Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9)
