Lutheran Social Services is a national non-profit service organization that has been in existence for 104 years. It serves the most vulnerable people in society. It really is the hands and feet of Jesuss command to love God and love our neighbor.
LSS helps with adoptions, foster care, mental and financial counseling, youth development programs, domestic violence situations, disaster response services, and the Center for New American or as most of us know it helping immigrants legally attain their citizenship. They also help refugees who have acquired asylum status because their life is endangered in their homeland, mostly from war.
At the beginning of the year, LSS was unjustly accused by leaders of the Department of Governmental Efficiency of money laundering, which is a flat-out lie. Their business and books are all accountable and audited yearly. Government grant funds were rescinded. At the time LSS of South Dakota was serving 125 clients for new citizenship and 126 refugees. They had to acquire private funds to complete these contracts. Since then they have not been able to take any more clients. In essence, the same thing happened to Catholic Charities.
There has been abuse that needs to be dealt with in the issue of immigration, but these are people who are taking due process to do the very thing our ancestors did to acquire legal citizenship. This wouldnt be so disturbing except at the same time our nation is offering a Gold Card program to anyone who can pay $5 million to get on the fast track for citizenship. Apparently our Statue of Liberty needs to change its motto from Give me your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses, to Give me your privileged, your rich, and your comfortable wealthy.
This is both unsettling and frightening as a Christian and as a proud American. What is happening on many levels is an offense to both. Our ancestors didnt come here as immigrants because they were wealthy or privileged. They came here looking for hope without discrimination; for an opportunity to live without fear.
Thats what our nation stands for. This is what the Gospel stands for. That is what LSS and Catholic Charities stand for. No doubt our lives and our nation have and will continue to fail in varying degrees, but we are entering into something blatantly hurtful. To care for the least of us; to love God and neighbor above all is the non-negotiable of our Christian life.
Passion Sunday, Jesus angered and irritated those in power; Herod and Pilate in the civic realm and the chief priests and Pharisees in the religious realm. Their anger and irritation had nothing to do with civic or religious interests but rather because Jesus message disrupted their power structures in which they were so deeply entrenched. Jesus passion/suffering came at the expense of those in power as well as the compliant and indifferent crowds; crowds who cried Hosanna to the king of kings but quickly turned into shouts of crucify him. It cost Jesus his life. Innocence slain. There is nothing but Good Friday sadness in that fact. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
In talking with Jason Lembke, a representative of LSS in South Dakota, he said, I want you to know that not one person on our LSS staff resigned or quit working. Our staff is committed to this ministry, despite all the uncertainty. It is still hard to work because we arent sure what other changes are coming but we will be there.
Darkness and uncertainty swirled around Jesus but even to his dying breath he revealed in word and action no matter what I will be there. We cling by the fingernails of faith that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Even in the shadow of death Jesus says I will be there.
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