Time to act on behalf of our neighbors in need
Monday, February 3, 2025
Dear New England Synod:
Yesterday we experienced shameful attacks on the integrity of the Lutheran expression of Christianity in the United States. Members of the President’s team, Mike Flynn and Elon Musk, publicly called our historic Lutheran commitments to loving and serving our neighbors in Christ’s name a “money laundering operation” in which we are receiving “illegal payments” from the Federal government. These comments have been widely shared on social media.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton responded directly with a video posted on the ELCA Facebook page last night. Bishop Easton affirmed the ELCA’s commitment to witnessing to Christ’s love by feeding people who are hungry, caring for people who are sick, and advocating for justice, peace, and the dignity of all people. She affirmed the decades-long work Lutheran Social Services and Lutheran Immigration Refugee Service (now named Global Refuge) have provided serving immigrants and those in need in our communities. She also shared concern for other faith-based and community organizations who have endured similar attacks and called on office-holders at all levels of government to use their platforms to denounce misinformation and baseless accusations.
Bishop Eaton has spoken. Now is the time for us as ELCA Lutherans to act.
Here’s what you do:
JOIN ME IN CALLING YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DEMAND FULL FUNDING FOR ASCENTRIA CARE ALLIANCE AND LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES.
You may have ignored appeals like this in the past. For the sake of our neighbors in need, and whatever your personal politics, please take this appeal seriously.
Ascentria Care Alliance (formerly Lutheran Social Services New England), provides critical services throughout New England serving a variety of populations. Ascentria runs nursing homes for the elderly and provides programming for children in foster care, homeless teenagers learning to be mothers, disabled individuals seeking to work, and low-income individuals needing transportation. These are the programs put at risk by the harmful, callous, and dangerous comments by Mike Flynn and Elon Musk.
As I stated last week, the choice is clear. We can choose the mean and cruel path set before us and do nothing as critical services for the elderly, teen mothers, disabled individuals, and low-income individuals are described as “money laundering” and funding for these programs labeled “illegal payments.”
Or, in the love of Jesus Christ, we can forcefully and powerfully insist on mercy and compassion for our neighbors and advocate today for continued funding for Ascentria Care Alliance here in New England, Lutheran Social Services organizations across the United States, and all faith-based and community-based organizations serving our neighbors in need so that may know the love of Jesus Christ.
Call your members of Congress today!
“Truly I tell you, just as you cared for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner, who are members of my family, you cared for me.” (Matthew 25:40).