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We must challenge all theological interpretations that do not take seriously the suffering in the world, a world afflicted with poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS. As Lutheran churches, we are to be shaped by a theology of the cross, which compels us to identify with and for the suffering rather than the successful.
A theology of the cross calls things what they really are, moving beyond politeness and pretense, breaking the silence and taking the risk of speaking truth to power, even when this threatens the established order and results in hardship or persecution. This is at the heart of the prophetic diakonal calling.
Poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS
provoke the Church
Poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS are three of the major issues in our day that churches cannot ignore. They provoke us to move into more prophetic expressions of diakonia.
There are many ways in which the LWF, member churches and related organizations, as well as the ecumenical movement as whole have been analyzing and addressing these challenges. Rather than repeating analyses and commitments already set forth in these documents, here we cite a few of the major points we discerned in these areas.
The current development paradigm that seeks to "reduce poverty" must be reconsidered to become more justice-oriented. Poverty is a symptom of the deeper problems of injustice, greed and the massive accumulation of wealth, encouraged by the neo-liberal paradigm and implemented through multilateral corporations and institutions.
We recognize that the poor and the rich are among and within us as churches. The Lutheran communion is composed of those who themselves are poor, sick or marginalized. We are invited to name and claim those gifts and possibilities we have for diaconal work, no matter how materially impoverished we might be. Churches in situations of poverty have a truth to share with churches in more affluent situations. As churches, we together are called to renew the hope of those who are poor, to listen and work in partnership with each other so that the full potential of human beings might be realized.
Those of us who are rich materially need to learn how to relinquish power, and realize how radical is God's grace. Those who live in poverty are far more than recipients of "our" help or service, especially if this is done in order to assuage our guilt or perpetuate paternalistic if not implicitly violent relationships. Those of us who are poor, in turn, should claim our God-given rights to life and livelihood.
Violence
We confess that the church has too often overlooked, tolerated and legitimized patterns and practices of violence—such as domestic violence—including through some of its theology and how power is structured in churches. Some church leaders have been perpetrators of violence inside the churches, or have aligned themselves with the perpetrators rather than the victims.
A culture of silence regarding violence, and the injustices that underlie it, jeopardizes the churches' prophetic voice and needs to be challenged. An appropriate role of churches is to confront perpetrators of violence, seeking to bring them to repentance, in order to transform and accompany the process of reconciliation and healing.
In situations of violence and in working with victims of violence, churches should plan, implement and accompany processes of conflict management and promote non-violent methods of resolving conflicts. Churches' proactive efforts to build peace involve working together with other faiths, organizations and movements in the civil society.
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