Discussion

Today’s clip from “Intersections” explores how various types of injustice overlap. When confronting an issue, we may have trouble disentangling the many injustices at play. Taking the time to reflect on such entanglements can be more challenging when we feel the urgency proclaimed by John the Baptizer in Matthew 3:1-12: God’s “wrath” is imminent, our roots are about to be cut, and Jesus’ “winnowing fork is in his hand.”

The work of gospel justice is regularly pulled back and forth between two facets of the same issue: we are called to listen with genuine care to our neighbors’ stories of suffering while also recognizing that they needed justice even before they experienced pain.

The present-day story shows Hephatha Lutheran Church in Milwaukee ministering at the intersection of race-based poverty and incarceration, environmental harm and housing insecurity. Hephatha’s ministry also intersects with the patience of a congregation embedded in its community for good and that same community’s demand for life and dignity.

1. When you are called to repent for the inequities in which you participate, how do you feel? How do you want to respond to that feeling?
2. How does Hephatha’s story embody the tension between patient love for one’s community and the urgency to do justice?
3. Where do you see injustices overlapping in this story, and how do you see the people of Hephatha talking about those overlapping injustices?
4. The term “advocacy” is used frequently by the storytellers in this clip. How do they understand that term?
5. What would your community (defined however you like) identify as an injustice it faces?
6. The people of Hephatha used their power, found in their collective voice, their network and their storytelling. What power does your community have that might enable it to make change?

Recommended Resources for Action and Learning

• Are you interested in learning how to unite your community to effect change? Check out the ELCA’s Organizing for Mission Network (OFMN) and the organizing trainings it offers.
• The ELCA’s advocacy ministry is active and powerful, and you can be part of it. Here are some ways to join:
  • Learn how to advocate on issues with the ELCA in our resource “Advocacy 101 for Young Adults.” It’s not just for young adults!
  • Visit the ELCA Advocacy Action Center for ways to take action right now.
• Are you interested in learning more about your community? We recommend two resources in particular:
  • The “Backpack Buddies” guide gives you and your neighbors an entry point to do justice in your community.
  • The “Know Your Neighborhood” guide gives you tools to learn more about food insecurity and accessing food and housing in your community. This is another way for learning to activate your people.

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