Dear Friends,
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?
- Rabbi Hillel
“We are watching the slow-motion collapse of American citizenship.” “We have
become customers and consumers of government services and are no longer
citizens who ‘own government,’ who “belong to a political community with a
collective existence and public purpose.” (Matthew Crenson and Benjamin
Ginsberg in Downsizing Democracy)
“In the personal realm, most Americans are thoughtful, caring, generous. . . .
[But] we‘ve all but forgotten that public participation is the very soul of democratic
citizenship, and that it can profoundly enrich our lives.” (Paul Loeb in Soul of a
Citizen)
Both authors make a compelling case for people to band together in
organizations such as Action in Montgomery (AIM) and Bread for the World
(BFW) to learn the skills appropriate to public life, and to influence policies that
affect our lives as well as the lives of those who are most vulnerable at home and
abroad.
Luther is not particularly normative for me. But, I‘ve long appreciated his
comments in The Large Catechism on “Give us this day our daily bread,” and his insistence that God not only works through the church but through the state. “For when you mention and pray for ‘daily bread,’ you pray for everything necessary
to the possession and enjoyment of your daily bread,” such things as a “home
and a sound body; to cause the grain and fruits of the field to grow and flourish; .
. . too cause our labor, our trade or whatever we do, to prosper and succeed, . . .
and to endow . . . [our rulers] with wisdom, strength and ability to govern us well.”
Let‘s face it. Governing bodies need our help, our input, not just the lobbying
done by large financial interests. As Christians, as Lutherans and as just-plain citizens, we need to join others in advocacy campaigns that help create and sustain peace, justice and a renewing creation.
Pastor Hoehn
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