Ashes "represent repentance, a seriouness to live your life in a new way," said Pr. Buechler.

Practices as Christians observe Lent are described in a piece rebroadcast by PBS’ Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on February 12, 2010. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was featured, and reflections on Shrove Tuesday, ashes, and other Lenten traditions were discussed.

“Lent is, for us, an opportunity to reflect on how we’re living our lives as Christians and to reflect more fully and maybe change some of the things that we’re doing, to live more fully the way we think we should live as Christians,” said the Rev. Steve Buechler or Prince of Peace in the interview. View the rebroadcast and find an article summary from the PBS Web site.

This photo, courtesy of The Lazarus Project, appeared originally with the Post's article. In it, Debbie Berquist of the Lazarus Project treats a student in Haiti.

In part, the article highlighted the flexibility of this kind of relief work in these hours of desperate need. “Such smaller nonprofit groups can offer key advantages during events like this, experts say. ‘Often, they are the ones who know the neighborhood and are connected with the people in need,’ Abramson said. ‘They’re the ones who are there before, during and after,’” the article stated, quoting Alan Abramson, professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University.

The Rev. Ron Qualley, pastor, Lord of Life Lutheran, said in the article, “‘We’re working on a plan now for what to do in the short term, medium term and longer term in Haiti,’ he said. ‘We will definitely continue to help the chlidren in Haiti, to raise up leaders there. We just have to figure out how.’”

Read the article in full from The Washington Post’s Web site (sign in may be required), and visit the congregation’s Web site for more information about their work with the Lazarus Project.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is sharing funds given to the church by members in response to the Haiti earthquake with the LWF/DWS, Lutheran World Relief, Baltimore, and Church World Service, New York.   Earlier this week, the ELCA News Service reported more than $1.2 million in credit card gifts had been contributed to the ELCA for Haiti relief.

DWS Program Coordinator Rudelmar Bueno de Faria underlined the need to expand LWF/DWS response in order to address quickly and effectively the needs of the stricken population.

Reports from DWS country program staff in Haiti indicate that the Jan. 20 aftershock of magnitude 6.1 had caused further destruction. Buildings that had already been damaged collapsed completely and more people have been injured. It is still unknown, however, whether the death toll has increased as a result of the aftershock.

An ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance rapid support team has already arrived in the region and is providing assistance to partner organizations locally in assessing the extent of the damage and the support required. ACT Alliance is the world’s largest alliance of churches and related humanitarian and development agencies.

The support team is led by Elsa Moreno, LWF/DWS staff member in Geneva from 2006 to mid-2009. In an interview just before leaving Denmark for Haiti, Moreno told Lutheran World Information (LWI) that in the days to come the ACT Alliance would focus on delivering as much assistance as possible to the population in Port-au-Prince, as well as around the city and in other areas devastated by the earthquake.

Some of the towns include those closest to the epicenter, Leogane and Petit Goave. According to the United Nations, 80 to 90 percent of buildings in Leogane, 19 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, were destroyed.  Petit Goave, to the west of Leogane, was also badly hit.

Moreno and DWS collaborators in Haiti said that many people had fled Port-au-Prince and returned to their places of origin, putting a great deal of pressure on local communities to host them.

“The ACT Alliance will continuously try to assess the number of people going to those areas which are away from response of other agencies.  The main work will focus on water, shelter and care for children,” Moreno stated.

Moreno told LWI that two important components now needed to be put together — emergency response and long-term development.  “Our response is not only focused on the immediate needs, but also to help people recover in the long-term and start the process for development,” said Moreno.

A key task of the DWS country program in Haiti now will be bringing relief to people who have lost everything. DWS would aim to engage and focus attention on internally displaced persons (IDPs) given the department’s expertise in camp management, indicated Bueno de Faria. International relief organizations currently estimate the number of IDPs to be as many as 600,000.

—
ELCA NEWS SERVICE - January 21, 2010
Story provided by Lutheran World Information

CARE OF CREATION -
Legislation establishing a State policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2020 passed in 2009. To become effective this goal has to become part of Maryland’s energy policy regime. Currently energy policy is shared by three different departments that are not coordinated. We support making Maryland energy policy accountable to the new greenhouse gas goals. We also support better management of storm water as a first line defense of the health of the Bay.

ENERGY -
Advocates support using unclaimed utility funds as a source for Fuel Fund of Maryland energy assistance. We also support the development of alternative payment plans for those in arrears on their energy bills and uniform termination rules to assist customers cut off from their utility service.

ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE -
We support funding for the Medicaid expansion passed two years ago.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH -
Children in foster care remain at risk for neglect, and flaws have been revealed in their case management. Two administrative goals, “Place Matters” and “Ready by 21” lack funding and are not yet management policies. Adequate mental health funding and intervention services are a more efficient policy than detention for adjudicated youth. There is also a need for more childcare vouchers and Head Start funds.

APPROPRIATE SHELTER -
LOPP/MD supports inclusionary zoning and we urge the State to encourage that policy at local zoning. We also support “fair growth” to companion with State Smart Growth so that low-income households can access housing and transportation as well as job opportunities. We remain committed to ending discrimination based on income in rental agreements.

SPENDING PRIORITIES -
It takes five years for state revenues to recover after a downturn, and human service programs often recover last, if at all. We urge protecting vulnerable people from further budget rescission in light of our commitment to “advocate for public and private policies that effectively address the causes of poverty” (Sustainable Livelihood, 1999).

In Jesus,
The Rev. Richard H. Graham
Bishop
Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Bible is full of angels. Multitudes of angels are more rare. It is as if the responsibility for announcing the Messiah’s birth is too great for a single angel. The good news to the shepherds, which is also good news for us, has to be announced by a “multitude of the heavenly host.” The Greek actually says something like “a mighty army of angels.” No angel alone would be up to this glorious task.

So from the beginning, the Christmas message has been a shared responsibility. Sometimes it’s hard for us to remember this simple fact, since so many features of the world we live in conspire to make us feel isolated and alone. Many of us carry such heavy personal burdens that time for relationships seems missing from life. Our culture wants us to consider ourselves to be primarily consumer-units (who you are = what you can afford). And many of us live or work in places where we know we are the only Christians, where our commitments, our hopes and dreams would be politely disdained if voiced them. So we keep quiet, even about Christmas, and we say “season’s greetings” to people, and we ask about their “holiday plans.” What more can we really do?

But the whole point of Christmas is that nobody has to feel alone. In Bethlehem God came to gather up the human family. And our Christmas worship unites us to that community, that “great cloud of witnesses,” which shares the responsibility for announcing that God has come to be one of us forever. God doesn’t expect us to do this alone. After all, it took a multitude of angels to get it started. God just asks us to play our part. To praise. To give glory to God.

So in this holy season I praise God for the work and the witness of our Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod. In the ministries we share we lift up the gospel of the Lord Jesus, we call others to know him as their savior, we follow his example in serving the poor. Scattered around all over a huge urban area, caught up in a million tasks and a million cares, we are none the less God’s holy people, acting for one another as we act for our Lord.

May this sense of our shared work sustain us in the lonely moments that come upon us all. May we find ourselves making common purpose with all people who serve Jesus, whatever traditions they have learned to love and follow. May this Christmas bring us a new sense of possibility, and new opportunities to bear witness to the hope that is in us. “Glory to God in the highest,” sang the angels. May that be our song, too, practiced faithfully here until we sing it at last before God’s throne.

In Jesus,
Bishop Richard Graham

The Rev. Richard H. Graham
Bishop
Metro D.C. Synod, ELCA

Please use any of the following (pdf files):

• Home Connection Devotions (prayers, Bible readings, Reflection suggestions, blessing)
• Bible reading bookmark for this week, including Advent wreath candle lighting reading & response

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.”                  (Hebrews 10: 23,24)

Dear Friends,

Last week Bishop Graham sent out an email appeal for support to our Companion Synod in El Salvador as it seeks to respond to the widespread death and destruction caused by Hurricane Ida.  Since that time more information has become available on the extent of the damage.

Please consider this urgent plea and respond as you are able.  Checks can be sent to the Synod Office, Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the ELCA, 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 904, Washington, DC 20036, with the notation “El Salvador crisis.”

Last Sunday at Good Shepherd, Alexandria, Pastor Lou Schuetze’s sermon based on the lesson from Hebrews 10 – “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds” – converged with reports of the devastation in El Salvador.  At the annual meeting following, this “provocation” led to an overwhelming response: a motion to allocate an initial $4,500 and to solicit extra contributions from members.  A challenge was also expressed: to “provoke” other congregations to respond to Bishop Graham’s urgent appeal for support to our Companion Synod.

As many of you are aware, a delegation from the Metro D.C. Synod was recently in El Salvador.  From them we expect to hear first-hand reports on the situation.*

Thank you for responding.

In Christ,
The Rev. Bob Allard
for the Global Mission Committee of the Metro D.C. Synod

P.S. For your information, here follows the text of an email received from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) representative in Central America – and pastor of our synod – the Rev. Philip Anderson.

Bob, et. al. This is excellent.  The funds will be put to good use by your Companion Church here. GRACIAS!
Today some of our LWF team is accompanying Bishop Gómez to several badly impacted communities, and we are providing some immediate assistance (plastic sheeting, water, medical kits, rubber boots, etc.).  The ACT [Action of Lutherans Together] Appeal should go out from here today, then via ACT and LWF Geneva to all the related ecumenical funding partners (ELCA among them). Initially we are seeking through Rapid Response Funds the suggested maximum of $60,000.  In a month or two, we will likely send another appeal for reconstruction.  Sometimes it takes a month or more to consolidate assistance, so in the short run, the Metro D.C. Synod contribution would be very well received and utilized by your Companion Synod of El Salvador.
Blessings!  Phil

__________________________________________________________________________

[Editor's Note: From ELCA Disaster Response, here is an overview of the situation our brothers and sisters in the region of this Companion Synod are facing. - KK]

On November 7th heavy winds and rain swept over El Salvador, causing extensive flooding and landslides in seven of the fourteen departments of country. As of November 16th, this disaster has claimed the lives of 192 individuals with 80 people still missing. Landslides buried homes and roads contributing the 14,000 individuals seeking refuge in the 117 established shelters across the country in schools, churches and community centers. El Salvador’s government has declared a state of disaster, officially requesting assistance in providing 3,400 families with food, hygiene kits and shelter.