February 2010: Human Trafficking

Volume 10

		Introduction to February 2010: Human Trafficking by Kaari Reierson The latest atrocious news from Haiti, thanks to a mesmerized CNN seems to be that fears that the countless children orphaned or lost before and during the earthquake are not only at risk from their physical circumstances. They are also at an even greater risk than previously of being trafficking for sex, labor, or organs....

		Human Trafficking: Flourishing in the Shadows, Demanding Our Attention by Emily Davila As part of its exhibit to raise awareness about human trafficking at the 2009 Youth Gathering in New Orleans, the ELCA's program unit for Church and Society rented a U-Haul Van and opened its back doors. Youth groups were invited to jump in and read the stories of people affected such as Miya....

		The Book of Ruth: A Voice That Calls Out from Ancient Days by Kate Lawler In this romantic poem, "Ode to a Nightingale," John Keats hears the nightingale and imagines that it could be the same beautiful and immortal song that accompanied the brave yet vulnerable protagonist of the Old Testament's Book of Ruth....

		Your Body, Myself: Combating Human Trafficking with Theology of the Body by Alison Killeen We often take our bodies for granted. As essential to our lives as air itself, it might seem that one of the few universal truths in this world that humans tend not to notice our bodies. The particular way in which an elbow bends is unappreciated until it adopts a creak in its movement....

		The Lutheran Church in Latvia Wants to Ban the Ordination of Women by Vija Klive On November 11, 2009 there was an atmosphere of anxiety in the Youth Center of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (LELC) in Riga's Old City as LELC pastors and evangelists met. The agenda of the LELC Pastors' Conference had as a point of debate the question of women's ordination....

		Wilhelm Loehe on the Christian Life by Craig Nessan Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe served from 1837 to the end of his life as a village pastor in Neuendettelsau, Germany, in the vicinity of Nuremberg. This was a call that Loehe did not covet. However, from this out-of-the way place, Loehe engaged in a ministry and mission that had monumental influence....

		Book Review: Welcoming the Stranger Can Revive Tired Denominations by Clint Schnekloth A book this good is worth its weight in gold. Actually, the book weighs about nine ounces, which would make it worth over $9,000. However, although it's worth its weight in gold, it doesn't cost its weight in gold....