Thursday, February 28, 2013

A "Man Prayer" to Eliminate Violence Against Women

While looking around online today for content to post on the www.ecumenicalwomen.org blog, I came upon the following short film by Tony Stroebel, with words by Eve Ensler entitled "Man Prayer."  The film is a powerful message supporting the development of a more positive masculinity that takes up the cause of eliminating all forms of violence against girls and women.

 

Especially on a day when the Violence Against Women Act was finally renewed in full by Congress despite the strong opposition of many conservatives, and only four days before the beginning of the 57th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, I thought its message was particularly fitting.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: France and Germany

French troops preparing to be airlifted to Mali.
As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (2/24 - 3/2) are France & Germany. While the paragraph below provides some recent information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources.
We give thanks this week that the highest court in Germany recently ruled in favor of adoption rights for same-sex couples. We pray for France, especially seven of its citizens who were kidnapped by armed individuals in Cameroon last Tuesday. We pray for the many French troops who began an operation last month in Mali to support its army and other African forces in restoring government control to the north of the country.
God's peace,
Dustin


Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Moments of Clarity at the United Nations

What follows is a cross-post I recently wrote for Voices for Change, the advocacy ministries blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  I highly encourage you to check out Voices for Change frequently, as its one of the best places to find out about the amazing advocacy work Lutherans are doing across the country.

Having interned here at the United Nations with the Lutheran Office for World Community for almost six months, my friends frequently ask what an average day is like. I usually respond that I am engaged in exciting advocacy work: planning for the upcoming Commission on the Status of Women with ecumenical partners, meeting with amazing people from faraway countries (including speaking with two Nobel Peace Prize winners) and covering the planning process for a new set of global development goals, among other things. Upon hearing about this work, my friends sometimes say it all sounds romantic in a certain way, if not glamorous, to be around global leaders at the United Nations, or that it must feel great to have a job helping people.

What does not always find its way into these conversations is that although I do occasionally meet important leaders and I sometimes feel like I am helping people, that is certainly not always the case. Sure, I get to sit in on all sorts of meetings, but they often involve lower-level diplomats reading a technical report verbatim. I might get to help plan some really powerful events, but that usually looks like waiting for email, updating a website or stuffing folders. Even when it does feel like I am actively working toward creating positive change at the United Nations, that change often seems many years and many obstacles away. In the midst of all these everyday tasks and difficulties, it’s easy to get frustrated and the people we are trying to accompany and empower can seem quite remote.

Luckily, in this advocacy work I have been blessed by moments of clarity, moments where it felt like I knew exactly why I was at the United Nations and exactly what I could do to make a positive impact, even if small. One such moment took place a few weeks ago while taking part in a grassroots advocacy event around recent event. For months I had been learning about the situation in Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, much of which is covered by the Sahara Desert. In Jan. 2012 an armed conflict broke out in the north, only to be complicated by a military coup the following March. Once the rebels, backed by a number of armed groups, took over a large portion of the country including the ancient city of Timbuktu, French forces, along with troops from elsewhere in Africa, intervened to support the Malian army in recapturing the lost territory. Currently, the international community is dealing with allegations of human rights violations, promoting inclusion of the politically marginalized, humanitarian concerns such as food security and how to keep the peace once the territorial integrity of the country is fully restored.

Given the devastation around this conflict, you can imagine my apprehension when I was asked to accompany a young man to his deportation hearing after the event. This hearing would decide whether he would immediately be sent back to his home country, Mali. After speaking with the man about his persecution and later escape to the United States as teenager, I sat behind him throughout the hearing, an action I was told would encourage his better treatment by the court. I doubt it had much to do with me, but his ruling ended up being postponed a number of months, we formed a relationship, and he will work with my congregation on additional advocacy actions in the future.

I have spent numerous meetings taking notes on violence in Mali, feeling like there was little I could to help. Educating ourselves and working to influence decision makers at the United Nations can help build a more peaceful world; This experience with the young man from Mali reminded me to connect all of the dots between this work in public policy and accompaniment of our struggling neighbor. In this moment of clarity, I realized that simply accompanying a person through a very difficult circumstance could at least provide temporary support and hopefully make a very big difference.
Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

God as a Protective Mother

What follows is a cross-post I wrote for Ecumenical Women, an organization of faith-based advocacy groups working to forward gender-equality through the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  The 57th CSW will be opening on March 4th and lasting for two weeks.

Hi everyone, with only 8 days remaining before the 57th Commission on the Status of Women begins on 4 March at United Nations Headquarters in New York, we at Ecumenical Women will be providing you with daily thoughts, video, quotes and prayers that inspire our work.  Those of you attending churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary this Sunday may have noticed that today’s appointed gospel message, Luke 13: 31 – 35, put forward an immensely powerful feminine image of God:
31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ 32He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’ (NRSV)
In this passage Jesus uses two metaphors, the first of which describes Herod as a fox, as someone cunning and destructive.  The second metaphor helps to clarify the first, as Jesus describes himself as a hen protecting her chicks.  Those sisters and brothers living in more agrarian communities will recognize the dichotomy that Jesus is setting up here:  God is a compassionate, strong mother protecting her children, an image contrasted with Herod who as a fox has set out to kill the young chicks.

While Herod himself is long gone, who do you think are the Herod’s of our own time?  As we prepare to work toward the elimination of all forms of violence against girls and women at CSW, we pray that God works through our advocacy to protect all Her children.
 
Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain

Malta
As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (2/17 - 2/23) are Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.  While the paragraph below provides some basic information, check out their
WCC page for additional prayer resources.

We pray for the people of Malta and Italy as both countries prepare to hold general elections in the coming weeks. We pray for the people and government of Portugal as their country's unemployment recently rose to 16.9%. We give thanks that Spain has succeeded in stabilizing its banking system, according to a recent report from the European Central Bank. In these days of discernment we also pray for the significant Roman Catholic populations in all this week's countries.
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Immigration Advocacy Workshop and Additional Resource

As you may have a seen in a recent post, this past Saturday at Saint Peter's Church where I currently serve as Vicar we were supposed to hold an Immigration Advocacy Workshop.  Unfortunately, a whole lot of snow happened and we thus had to reschedule.  Luckily it wasn't too difficult to find an alternative date.  Here's the updated information in both English and Spanish in case you'd like to join us:
Immigration Advocacy Workshop (rescheduled)
Saturday, March 16, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
In the Sanctuary and Living Room, Saint Peter's Church
Late last November, members of Saint Peter's and Iglesia Luterana Sión gathered together over brunch to discuss how we could begin organizing around important social justice issues, with an initial emphasis on immigration advocacy. We decided to plan an Immigration Advocacy Workshop, and those efforts have now come to fruition. Ravi Ragbir, Director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, will discuss how current issues relate to past immigration and Amy Gottlieb, Program Director of the Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program, will discuss why immigration issues should matter to people of faith. After worshiping together we'll proceed to the main discussion and conclude with time for light refreshment and informal conversation.  Please join us!
Taller sobre defensa migratoria (reprogramada)
Sábado, 16 de marzo, de 14:00 - 16:00
En el Santuario y living room, Iglesia San Pedro
A finales del pasado mes de noviembre, los miembros de San Pedro y la Iglesia Luterana Sión se reunieron durante brunch para discutir cómo podríamos empezar a organizarnos en torno a importantes cuestiones de justicia social, con énfasis inicial cuestiones de inmigración. Nos decidimos a planear un taller de defensa migratoria, y esos esfuerzos han llegado a buen término. Ravi Ragbir, director de la Coalición del Nuevo Santuario de Nueva York, hablará sobre problemas actuales relacionados con el pasado sistema migratorio y Amy Gottlieb, directora del programa de Servicio de los Amigos del Comité del Programa de Derechos de los Inmigrantes, hablará sobre por qué los temas de inmigración debe importar a la gente de fe. Después de orar juntos vamos a proceder a la discusión principal y concluir con un ligero refrigerio y conversación informal. Por favor, únete a nosotros!
In the midst of the planning process for the workshop I discovered a number of additional immigration resources.  The infographic to the left does a great job of explaining the many weaknesses of immigration reform as it's currently proposed.  Here's a list of some of the other great resources out there:

- A recent statement on immigration reform from Christian Churches Together in the USA, a group representing the full breadth of Christianity (including evangelicals) in the US, can be found here.

- A list of prayers from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service can be found here (check out their site for additional great resources as well).

- A great worship resource from the World Council of Churches, including a comprehensive list of Bible verses, can be found here.

- A Roman Catholic parish resource kit can be found here.

- An amazing resource for non-denominational/ evangelical churches entitled "I Was a Stranger" can be found here.

This by no means is an exhaustive list of resources out there.  It is amazing (and very encouraging) though that the full-breadth of American Christians have been able to rally around immigration reform, given their history of agreeing on very few public policy concerns.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, February 11, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

The river Alzette, Luxembourg
As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (2/10 - 2/16) are Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. While the paragraph below provides some basic information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources.
We pray this week for Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and all Eurozone countries continuing to face budget cuts and a weak economy.  We pray for Luxembourg as it begins a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council for the first time.  We give thanks for strong efforts in Belgium to develop renewable energy technologies.
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Saturday, February 09, 2013

The Church Hasn't Had It This Good in 1700 Years

Over the last few weeks I've been having a lot of conversations with folks about the long-trending decline in church attendance, partially due to a recent cover article of The Lutheran entitled "The Shrinking Church."  Perhaps it's just because I'm a naive seminarian, but in all of those conversations I've replied that on the whole, declining church attendance is a good thing, although I've never been all that successful in succinctly saying why I feel that way.  Luckily, I've been spending much of the day snowed in and reading the fortieth anniversary edition of A Black Theology of Liberation by James Cone.  While I don't agree with everything in the book, I do fully agree with the following quote, which does a great job summarizing why the decline in church attendance we're experiencing is going to have some really positive effects:
The "conversion" of Constantine to Christianity and the subsequent acceptance of it as the official religion of the Roman empire raise some serious questions about Christendom, especially the possibility of its remaining true to its origin and mandate.  It can be argued that this was the beginning of the decline of Christianity so evident in contemporary American society.  Is it possible for the church to be the church (committed unreservedly to the oppressed in society) and at the same time be an integral part of the structure of a society?  I think not.  If the gospel of Jesus is the gospel of and for the oppressed in society, the church of Christ cannot be the religion of society.  But the official church, which has been most responsible for the transmission of the gospel tradition, has also played a role as the political enforcer of "law and order" against the oppressed by lending divine sanction to the laws of the state and thus serving as the "redemptive" center of an established order (35).
Decreased church attendance in and of itself isn't a good thing of course, but the subsequent removal of the Church from the privileged place its had in society for 1700 years since Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan will definitely be a good thing; such a change in position has the potential to both strengthen the mission of the Church and thus hone its work in supporting the most oppressed members of our society.  I know my position isn't brand new, nor is it fully thought out, so I'd love to hear your response... thanks so much.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Immigration Advocacy Workshop @ Saint Peter's Church

As part of my yearlong vicarage project at Saint Peter's Church, I've been blessed to greatly grow in my understanding of congregation-based advocacy, specifically around the important issue of immigration reform.

Long before I began my vicarage, there had been interest at Saint Peter's in strengthening the parish's social justice ministries, but once we began exploring how to do so this past fall, it quickly became apparent that organizing around a specific issue, rather than advocacy in a general sense, was the way to go. Given both the current legislative environment and Saint Peter's new covenant relationship with Iglesia Luterana Sión, a predominately Spanish-speaking congregation, it also seemed obvious that immigration reform should be the first social justice issue to organize around.

Thus, the people of both Sión and Saint Peter's gathered in between our respective worship services this past November to gauge interest in the topic and begin discussing how we could mobilize.  While our group had a great deal of experience and interest in social justice issues in general, we decided a good first step would be organizing an informational workshop to provide us and the community with information on how the history of immigration in the United States relates to our current situation and why the issue should matter to people of faith.  After a bit of planning over the holidays, we organized a workshop for this Saturday, February 9th from 2 - 4p.  What follows is our bulletin announcement of the event in both English and Spanish:
Immigration Advocacy Workshop
Saturday, February 9, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
In the Sanctuary and Living Room, Saint Peter's Church
Late last November, members of Saint Peter's and Iglesia Luterana Sión gathered together over brunch to discuss how we could begin organizing around important social justice issues, with an initial emphasis on immigration advocacy. We decided to plan an Immigration Advocacy Workshop, and those efforts have now come to fruition. Ravi Ragbir, Director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, will discuss how current issues relate to past immigration and Amy Gottlieb, Program Director of the Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program, will discuss why immigration issues should matter to people of faith. After worshiping together we'll proceed to the main discussion and conclude with time for light refreshment and informal conversation. Please join us! For more information, contact Vicar Dustin.
Taller sobre defensa migratoria
Sábado, 09 de febrero, de 14:00 - 16:00
En el Santuario y living room, Iglesia San Pedro
A finales del pasado mes de noviembre, los miembros de San Pedro y la Iglesia Luterana Sión se reunieron durante brunch para discutir cómo podríamos empezar a organizarnos en torno a importantes cuestiones de justicia social, con énfasis inicial cuestiones de inmigración. Nos decidimos a planear un taller de defensa migratoria, y esos esfuerzos han llegado a buen término. Ravi Ragbir, director de la Coalición del Nuevo Santuario de Nueva York, hablará sobre problemas actuales relacionados con el pasado sistema migratorio y Amy Gottlieb, directora del programa de Servicio de los Amigos del Comité del Programa de Derechos de los Inmigrantes, hablará sobre por qué los temas de inmigración debe importar a la gente de fe. Después de orar juntos vamos a proceder a la discusión principal y concluir con un ligero refrigerio y conversación informal. Por favor, únete a nosotros! Para obtener más información, consulta al Vicario Dustin.
If you're in the New York area, please feel free to come as well... just contact me ahead of time if possible at dwright@saintpeters.org.  If not, please check back on It's Only a Northern Blog for information about how the event went, as well as a .pdf of the liturgy we used for our opening bilingual prayer service.

While planning the workshop over the last couple months, some members of Saint Peter's and Sión have also partnered with the New Sanctuary Movement of NY to participate in their weekly Jericho Walk around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices at 26 Federal Plaza.  Reflecting the Israelites march around the walls of Jericho in the book of Joshua, participants walk seven times around Federal Plaza in silent prayer and then conclude with praying out loud.  Having attended twice myself, I can certainly say it's a powerful advocacy action and also serves to comfort those who are facing deportation hearings inside.  To get a better idea of what the Jericho Walk is like, check out the video below:



Immigration reform, I'd argue, is perhaps one of the most obvious policy issues the Judeo-Christian faith speaks to, so we'll certainly be engaged in advocacy until justice for immigrants is attained.  Has your congregation or faith community worked on immigration reform?  If so, please comment and let me know what you've learned.  Thanks so much!

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, February 04, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: United Kingdom and Ireland

As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (2/3 - 2/9) are the United Kingdom and Ireland. While the paragraph below provides some basic information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources.
We pray for the United Kingdom as it discerns its future relationship with the European Union ahead of a recently announced referendum on EU in 2017.  We pray as well for UK Prime Minister David Cameron as he co-chairs the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.  We pray for the people of Ireland as they continue to navigate austerity measures and a weak economy.  We give thanks for continued peace and stability in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Saturday, February 02, 2013

The World We Want

What follows is cross-post of a piece I recently wrote for Voices for Change, a blog run by the advocacy ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The blog is an absolutely amazing resource that lifts up the voices of Lutheran advocates around the country, so I highly encourage you to check out additional posts here.

Nearly halfway into my yearlong internship with the Lutheran Office for World Community at the United Nations, I have certainly been blessed with a wide variety of powerful experiences. I’ve sat in on meetings with ambassadors, planned for the upcoming Fifty-Seventh Commission on the Status of Women with an ecumenical group of colleagues from other advocacy offices and even met two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Through such experiences however, I’ve been burdened with one central question, “How can ELCA members throughout the country participate in the global conversation I experience everyday in New York?”

On the local, state and federal levels of democratic government, grassroots advocacy is an often difficult but fairly straightforward process. Organizers identify a legislative issue that lines up with the stated values of their organization and then urge others to contact government officials about either voting for or against related pieces of legislation. This process is straightforward because we, of course, elect government officials to represent us in decision-making; we are their constituents and we can hold them accountable by voting them out of office.

On the global level at the United Nations, things work a bit differently. Our Permanent Representative to the United Nations is not elected but appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Because of this indirect system of representative democracy, our grassroots impact on global decision-making can often seem minimal.

Luckily, there is an exciting new way for Lutherans around the world to directly participate in global-decision making: The World We Want platform. In the year 2000, world leaders gathered to set specific global development goals to be reached by 2015, the Millennium Development Goals. Today the deadline is less than three years away, and we’ve made progress: access to clean drinking water has increased, fewer people live in unhealthy urban slums, and most importantly, the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide has been cut in half. This success shows us that change is possible, but more must be done: inequality is growing, 950 million people still go hungry each night and climate change threatens the livelihoods of millions more.

When world leaders first met to create the Millennium Development Goals, they left something out, something important: your voice. Without your voice gathered together with others from around the world, without people-power, shaping the world we want is not possible.

This time, you have a seat at the table. Through the World We Want platform, you can participate in a survey on your priorities for the world and your community called MyWorld. Maybe you want to contribute on a deeper level? After creating a profile you can submit directly to consultations sponsored by a United Nations panel of experts. Perhaps you want to share your own story? You can post pictures or even a YouTube video, and then be sure to share your posts with the Lutheran Office for World Community (lowc@elca.org).

A new world is being created. Whether it’s the world we want is up to us. Participate, contribute and share on the website — the World We Want.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.