Advocacy as a Spiritual Discipline

ADVOCACY AS A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE Lent 2012

Greetings!

"Give us today our daily bread."

To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition

that God may make us aware of his gifts and enable us to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and

flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful

rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends, faithful

neighbors, and the like.

- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism

This explanation gets at the heart of Advocacy Ministry. Whenever people are lacking in these bodily needs, it is 'truly meet, right, and salutary' that God's faithful people speak and act on their behalf. The Lenten discipline of almsgiving ,or providing charity, is one way to do so.

Advocacy takes us farther, both beyond the 40 days of Lent, and beyond supplying what's needed in the moment to address the causes of unmet bodily needs. Advocacy builds on our works of charity to bring about greater justice and seeks to build good government that is responsive to the needs of all people

Advocacy begins in the simple act of prayer for daily bread for ourselves, our neighbors and the meeting of all bodily needs.

LUTHERAN DAY AT THE CAPITOL - MAY 9

Join advocates from around the state on for Lutheran Day at the Capitol "A Refuge for the Poor and Needy"

with a focus on advocacy on affordable housing and homelessness. Registration is now open.

Yours, in Christ,

Paul Lubold