ELCA Advocacy Director Speaks to Reporters at Health Care Rally

This news release from the ELCA NEWS SERVICE, offers a voice
in the moral and social public debate going on surrounding the need
for health care reform. We believe that it is an important debate
and worth the time of our readers -- John Spangler

September 18, 2009

ELCA Advocacy Director Speaks to Reporters at Health Care Rally
09-201-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) - The August recess of Congress had a volatile
atmosphere surrounding the health care debate, according to the Rev.
Andrew Genszler, director of advocacy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) Washington Office, in response to a question from a
Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News reporter.
"All people should be heard, but opinions should lead to
constructive discussion by people of good faith, and I think we're still
getting there as a country," Genszler said.
In conjunction with a "National Health Care Affordability Day" rally
here Sept. 16, Genszler was interviewed by Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly
(PBS) and CBN News.
"People of faith care about health care because Jesus was a healer,
and God cares about people in poverty. For Christians, those two
scriptural values converge in this public issue," Genszler said. "Through
congregational and health ministries, Lutherans also know the front lines
of what living with marginal or no health care can do to people and
families."
Regarding cost, Genszler said, "Uninsured people, struggling
families, small-business owners, and the very rich probably look at
affordability differently. All can be asked to be responsible, each
feeling like they are contributing to their own well-being. But many
people will need help to afford even basic care."
The Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly story will air Sept. 20. CBN News
aired its story Sept. 16.
In a joint statement presented at the event, several organizations,
including the ELCA, wrote, "We believe it is essential that the
responsibility to purchase health coverage come with strong consumer
protections and adequate subsidies that make it possible for families
to obtain quality coverage at a cost they can afford.
The rally included testimonies from families and remarks from U.S.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. "I have heard their stories ... about the
current unstable system ... and the interruptions they have in their
lives, in their ability to plan, because of the way our health insurance
system works, or maybe, to put it another way, the way it doesn't work,"
said Bennet, holding a book of testimonies presented to him at the event.
National Urban League, American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network, American Heart Association, Community Catalyst, Consumers Union,
Families USA and People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO)
National Network sponsored the news conference.
The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution committing
the church to advocate that "each person should have ready access to
basic health care services that include preventative, acute and chronic
physical and mental health care at affordable cost."
The ELCA Washington Office has been working with faith-based
coalitions for health reform legislation. One such collective effort was
in a nationwide faith call-in held Sept. 15. More than 20,000 calls were
made to members of Congress, urging support for health care legislation.
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The joint statement on health care affordability is at
http://tinyurl.com/lkm5rg on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

A Sower Whose Sowing Saved Millions

by Michael L. Cooper-White, Seminary President

______________________________________

Almost exactly 40 years ago, I first became aware of a modest man whose obituary appeared in newspapers a few days ago. During my freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus College, Norman Borlaug was on the program of one of that institution’s early Nobel conferences. Back then, the enormity of his ultimate influence was only beginning to be recognized. By the time of his death, it is estimated that the “father of the green revolution” may have saved the lives of as many as a billion of his fellow human beings. And all he did was sow and grow some wheat!

A scientist by training, Borlaug’s breakthrough came by breeding new strains of wheat that had shorter stalks, and produced an amazing increase in per-acre yield. Equally, if not more important, was his recognition that farmers—especially so-called “peasant farmers” in “third world” countries—needed a bit of coaxing and coaching to try something new. Country by country, he traveled around the world to introduce new strains of grain, and to demonstrate how production might be increased in order to raise both profits for the growers and food for consumers.

In recognition of Borlaug’s incredible contributions to our planet and its people, he was honored by The Luther Institute a few years ago, receiving one of the prestigious Wittenberg Awards granted to a handful of Lutheran luminaries. Since that time, the Institute has come under the Seminary’s umbrella. So in a certain sense we might say of this saint, whose contributions have saved more lives than that of any other person who has ever lived, “he’s one of us.”

Throughout his lifetime, Norman Borlaug neither sought nor received widespread public acclaim. That’s evident in the fact that as I’ve mentioned his passing among friends and associates in recent days, my comments have been met with blank stares or the expected question, “Norman who?” He worked quietly in laboratories and in the fields, just doing his thing day after day, year by year, decade following decade. He never received a “letter of call” from the Church, yet was not his work of growing seeds and filling hungry stomachs around the globe among the highest and holiest of vocations?

Several of my favorite hymns sing of grain and growth. As I sing them from now on, I’ll think of Norman Borlaug, and give thanks for a simple sower who saved millions.

Student of the Senate EMK: A Lifelong Learner

A reflection on a public servant August 31, 2009

by Michael L. Cooper-White
mcooper@ltsg.edu

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I found myself surprised at the depth of emotion that welled up as I joined millions of others around the world watching the funeral of Edward M. Kennedy. My generation and younger ones have never known an American political theater without one or another Kennedy playing a major role on the stage. Hearing of so many common folk whose lives were touched in a personal way by the gregarious Senator from Massachusetts, I could readily identify. For 35 years ago, when I was a seminary intern serving with the besieged Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile, we knew that Ted Kennedy’s office was closely watching and monitoring human rights abuses at the hand of the Pinochet dictatorship. After I returned to the U.S. and the Seminary, when Lutheran Bishop Helmut Frenz, by then exiled from Chile, had difficulty traveling to Washington for an event LTSG helped sponsor, Kennedy’s office intervened and a visa was approved in short order.

Thousands of such vignettes are being told across the nation and around the world in these days when many of us must adjust to the changed landscape of the United States Senate, where one named Kennedy loomed so large on the horizon for nearly four decades. Not without continuing critics, who are surely justified in continuing to hold him accountable for sins of youth that took a woman’s life and damaged reputations and careers of others, Kennedy is nevertheless remembered as a champion for the poor. There can be no full and complete redemption short of the resurrection, in which “Teddy” clearly believed fervently. His words and actions in later years gave evidence of true repentance and deep remorse, thereby rebalancing in some measure the lifetime record, which will, nevertheless, on this side of eternity continue to bear huge stains.

Beyond the many memories shared by his family, friends, colleagues and constituents, however, I think what has most surprised me is learning of his recent efforts to establish a study center that will encourage political scientists, historians and others to engage in ongoing serious scholarship about the evolution and current work of the United States Senate. As the second-longest serving senator, didn’t Ted Kennedy know all there was to know? By his own testimony, surely not. And therein may have resided the secret of his enormous influence, including his unequaled ability to introduce and garner votes for legislation he deemed critical. He remained a lifelong learner! He recognized that even a small community of 100 souls is an endlessly fascinating place, with a history that informs its present modus operandi, and a future that will be shaped by those who take seriously its current institutional dynamics and the lives of those who are the players on its stage.

While many in churchly circles tend to look askance at “politicians,” I think we who serve in the sphere of divine things might learn a great deal from this and other servants whose callings are amidst the hurly-burly of the public arena. Pastors who think they have grasped all there is to know about a parish after a couple years or so may quickly grow out of touch with their faith communities. Among other traits, teachers and professors who stay “ever-green” in their teaching and mentoring do so because they really believe they learn more from their students than the other way around. “Burnout” is less likely to occur if one is always on the hunt for new intellectual fuel and fodder, which can be as nearby as a next-door neighbor or new colleague across town.

I’d like to learn from your experiences as a lifelong learner. Where do you find new insights? What in your community’s history helps you offer creative leadership and get things done today? Are some new “laws” or rules for relating to one another needed in your place, and if so how are you going about getting them enacted?