From the Bishop

By Bishop Margaret G. Payne, New England Synod, ELCA

 

Reprinted from the May 2009 issue of “The Lutheran Link,” the magazine of the New England Synod. If you would like to receive “The Link,” please email sisterv@nesynod.org.

 

What’s NOT Wrong?

 

The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes that we invite sorrow, suffering and depression into our hearts when we constantly focus on what is wrong – with ourselves, our companions, our church, our community, our world. But we stay connected to joy and grace when we shift our focus to what is NOT wrong, and live in gratitude – for breath, sunshine, work, love and each day that comes to us as a gift from God. This way of living is not a denial of the problems that surround us; it is the recognition that the love and power of God is bigger than the problems. An infrequently used synonym for gratitude is “refreshed.” When we cannot see daily gifts, we become weary and cynical. When we open our eyes to them, God renews our spirits.

 

Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of God’s gifts and told to live daily in thankfulness for them. This “attitude of gratitude” is not only the healthiest way to live, it is also the way that allows God to shape us to make a difference in a world that is filled with things that ARE wrong.

 

In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes: “… let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God.” (Colossians 3:15-16, NRSV)

 

Paul bases his advice for “the good life” on two things: a personal relationship of indwelling with Christ and a connection with the faith community. We need both to find the spiritual balance that will provide the peace and wisdom that enables us to be true witnesses to the gospel. It is this intermingling of individual gifts with community that guides us into the joy found in lives of faith and service.

 

As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we are blessed with a strong awareness of God’s grace, regular nourishment of Word and Sacrament, and a deeply engrained impulse to work on all that IS wrong in the world. God’s Work. Our Hands. Lutherans have the DNA for helping others and we have a denominational network that gets the job done in a remarkably effective way in our own country and throughout the world. Lutherans also have the DNA for frugality, and so the money that is channeled through our church for good works is used more productively than any other charitable group. (Well, we are always in the top three.)

 

When you send mission support beyond your congregation, here are some of the ways that you fix the things that are wrong in the world: refugees are cared for in camps, immigrants are supported in new lives, Lutheran brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are accompanied in their oppression, disaster relief is given around the world, children are fed, wells are dug, fish farms are created, micro grants are provided, medical supplies arrive in hospitals, people with disabilities are welcomed and injustice is confronted. Recently, the United Nations and the Bill Gates Foundation requested the partnership of our church to help with the problem of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Africa. So, we now have a new initiative and a new partnership that will work to relieve the stigma and suffering of those diseases.

 

When you are challenged to send 10 percent or more of the gifts given to your congregation to ministry beyond your local setting, you are not sending money to “the synod.” You are supporting a world-wide network that sees all the things that are wrong in the world, and in the power of God and with your support, fixes them. Thank you for your partnership.