Kathryn Wolford: When we talk about LWR embodying the hands of Christ, can you discuss that image, and how you see that as integral to the ministry of the church and complementing the church’s work in global mission?
Mark Hanson: When you asked the question I went immediately to the 2nd Corinthians text where Paul declares that God has reconciled the whole creation to God’s self and given us the ministry of reconciliation. I thought of LWR as the expression of the hands of the reconciling Christ, reaching into communities of suffering and human disaster and injustice in ways that often the church has not found a way to be present as the church, in word and sacrament worship. So LWR becomes the extended fingers of the hands of Christ, often before the rest of the hand is even present. That really is a complementary sense of the body of Christ being present through LWR, and it reflects our interdependence as this church with LWR. I think when LWR is present as the hands of Christ … you’re present as that healing presence, the feeding presence, the building sustainable communities presence… we participate through you in being those hands of Christ, even as we are often also present through global mission in evangelism, leadership development, building up the worshiping community and witnessing community, the body of Christ in those contexts. But often you enable us to be present where we aren’t, and otherwise wouldn’t be, present.
One other way: you remind us of with whom we share ministry in being the hands of Christ, by enabling us to hold hands with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Through LWR, together we are expressing the love of Christ in these concrete actions. I think members of our church are so aware of our differences and the, I think, unfortunateness of our not being in altar and pulpit fellowship, that you remind us that there is yet a deeper unity that we have, that manifests itself not in theological disagreements but in humanitarian response to suffering as we seek together to be the hands of Christ through LWR.
KW: How would you describe LWR to someone who’s never heard of us?
MH: LWR is a ministry of the U.S. Lutheran churches, the two largest U.S. Lutheran churches, the ELCA and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. I would describe it as having 60 years of invaluable experience in relief and development, with particular expertise in working through community-based organizations. I would describe LWR as having incredible expertise at securing government grants, without diminishing its commitment to advocating for fair and just U.S. aid and trade policies – I think you just hold that tension in a way that models it for the rest of civil society and the religious community.
I think we live in a world in which the magnitude of human suffering, and the complexities of issues of justice, and the seeming relentless wave of disasters and crises and conflicts and poverty and hunger seem to overwhelm people. One of the beacons of hope for members of this church is LWR, because you both give an avenue for people to connect, particularly through quilts and health and school kits, that just lets the person sitting in a church basement say, ‘I can, through my hands, become part of the hands of Christ as they are manifested through LWR’s presence.’ And I just think that’s a huge sign of hope in a world where people just feel overwhelmed and often despairing.
KW: Thank you, that’s wonderful, and that’s how we describe it, so it’s nice to know that we’re in good company. Now, what do you think makes LWR’s work distinctly Lutheran?
MH: It’s rooted for me in Luther’s understanding of how faith becomes active in lives of love and service. It’s rooted for me in how we understand the vocation of all the baptized, that God calls us, in baptism, out of our preoccupation with self and places us before the neighbor and before the creation and before those struggling for justice. We say in the affirmation of baptism that to live in this covenant we will serve all our people, follow the example of our Lord Jesus, and we will strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Those are two of the marks of the vocation of all the baptized, and you give concreteness to those. We also say that to be the baptized is to proclaim the Gospel in word and sacrament, to live among God’s faithful people, and to proclaim the good news of God in Christ, and those are the dimensions of the baptized that we as the ELCA as church seem to manifest. So between the two of us in partnership, I think we are embodying the fullness of God’s gifts and expectations for the life of the baptized for the sake of the world.
I think a challenge for what people associate with ‘distinctly Lutheran’ is a church that, historically, has often been quiet in response to issues of injustice and oppression and war and violence. LWR and the ELCA together are awakening, I think, to what it means to be called to be a public church for the life of the world. In that shedding of what historically has been distinctly Lutheran, we are coming much more to terms with that role: as Jesus sent those terrified disciples on Easter Eve into the world that had crucified him, but filled with the spirit of the gift of the Gospel, so we are sent into the world. LWR leads that way, as we seek to develop relationships with churches on the ground, as you become the arm of relief and development.
KW: In talking about our work, we often refer to Micah 6:8, “and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” What does this verse mean to you, and how do you think it relates to LWR’s work?
MH: I often cite that. In the ELCA, in our constitution, in our standards for our roster leaders, and in the affirmation of baptism, all three places we say we expect the baptized in this church to be engaged in the struggles for justice and peace, and we expect our pastors and roster leaders to be prophetic voices in leading this church to be engaged in those struggles, as well as the relief of human suffering. I don’t think we have fully claimed that as our calling. What I think we also need to acknowledge is that Micah 6:8 doesn’t mean that we’ll all agree on what would make for justice in a particular context. Some might argue it’s distributive justice and some might argue retributive justice … as we’re engaged in justice-seeking and peace-making we also need to be engaged in critical discernment about what does make for lasting peace, what does make justice in a particular context. That’s where I think we can probably do better as LWR and the ELCA, to create those kinds of communities of public discernment and engagement around those questions even as we are engaged in the action, so that action and reflection would be two parts of one process, better than we do them now.
KW: I think that’s very helpful, the idea of discernment and not assuming that we’ll all always agree but that that doesn’t become an excuse for not engaging.
MH: I think we bypass and just get to justice assuming that we all fill it with the same content. And so, I think we need that, and I think we contribute something to that via our process of social statements which are participatory and provide grounding for our public speeches as a church body. And I think you bring to that both the wisdom of your intellect and the experience of your relationships on the ground. I think a truly action/reflection model is going to incorporate the shared wisdom and shared experience and the tradition of the church, and I just think we can do better at that together.
KW: Since you’ve been Bishop, is there any example of a particular thing that we’ve been engaged in as LWR that all of us as Lutherans can be proud of?
MH: One thing? I think a thing that hasn’t gotten enough attention in our church that you’ve been engaged in is in Colombia. Just because I think we get overwhelmed by the political complexities of the dynamic, the ambivalence about what is exactly the U.S. policy role, how does Colombia fit into the landscape of a changing socio-economic political reality on the whole continent. And yet, I gather… I should spend more time with this, but I think that you’ve been there, and are engaged working around those issues and with companion churches in ways that I don’t think we’ve paid enough attention to as instructive and as a witness. That’s just one piece.
I think clearly we can be proud of the stature of respect, gratitude and integrity LWR has in the public eye for the capacity to deliver the generous gifts of donors to the front-line places of need. But to not do that with high overhead, or unilaterally, always doing it engaged ecumenically where possible, always involved with local community-based organizations, not just for the sake of relief of suffering but always looking to how then relief of suffering can be turned to building capacity for sustainable communities. That’s just so much of the whole cloth of who LWR is that I think it models a kind of understanding of holistic ministry that we don’t have down in the U.S. like it’s just in the fabric of church life in so many parts of the world that I visit.
And I think your ability to sustain public affirmation for the work you do in relief and development without that causing you to diminish your courageous confronting of the root causes of poverty and oppression prophetically. That’s a pretty amazing tension to hold.
KW: I constantly say that’s the work of the Holy Spirit! You already mentioned a little bit about the relationship with LCMS, is there anything else you’d like to add around the benefit to U.S. Lutherans of having a pan-Lutheran organization?
MH: First of all it just makes sense. Why would two church bodies do apart what they can do more effectively together? That’s kind of the Lund principle in ecumenism: we will only do separately what we can’t do together. And I think a different kind of presupposition is often operative in American church life: we’ll only do together what we absolutely can’t do by ourselves. And I think given the theological doctrinal tensions between the two churches in recent years, that those are not going away, but we have a much better relationship as church leaders to church leaders. I often say the world is not longing to know the doctrinal differences within Lutheran communities in the United States. If the only witness that we make to the world is those things about which we don’t agree, then our witness lacks fullness. So to be able to say, as I often do, together we are engaged in this ministry of Lutheran World Relief, together we are engaged in military chaplaincy, and immigration/refugee service and disaster response, I think that’s a public witness not only in response to the world, but as a reflection of the deeper unity we have in faith that is God’s gift to us. So I think it’s pretty important for our public witness as well as for the effectiveness of our capacity to be engaged in this work.
KW: And what about the importance of the ELCA’s relationship with LWR in the future: the importance to the church, to the members and congregations of the church and to the people we serve around the world?
MH: I don’t think the church is being well served in those places where the proclamation of the Gospel to the gathered assembly in worship and the sharing of the story of Jesus in Bible studies and the formation of leaders for the church is increasingly seen as separate from the church engaged in the world, whether its in relief and development or seeking justice and peace. And I don’t think it’s helpful when those two are further separated from the church engaged in what is more traditionally thought of as global mission, or missionary society work. And I think when those three emphases of the life and witness of the church get trifurcated and separated we diminish the fullness of what it means to be the Body of Christ for the sake of the Gospel in the life of the world. And therefore the degree to which we can continue, and LWR continues to see itself, as the church in this ministry and the way that we affirm and see that, we are more fully being the totality of who God has called us to be and who the Holy Spirit gifts us to be.
I think there are some things that we need, in this interdependent relationship, to probably tend to even more forthrightly. I think we still have to work at what does mutual accountability look like? How do we differentiate skills so that we are complementary and not competitive? How do we enable each other to build capacity in the distinctiveness of the work that we see as ours rather than fear that we might be becoming either competitive or separate? So I certainly think that we have some work to do. I think that we as the ELCA want to continue to look to LWR and LWF as the greatest recipients of ELCA World Hunger funds. I think this is the primary vehicle for the members of this church and to support the work of LWR, and we take it very seriously that these two are our biggest recipients, because it reflects our deep commitment to, gratitude for and confidence in your work.
