Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All

I am writing this while watching the Occupy Portland march on the banks here in Portland. It started this morning with peaceful arrests being made and the Steel Bridge blocked by riot clad police. the marchers then took a different route across the Willamette River toward the downtown district. My first prayer is for my new aquaintance Sam, a young man who is very committed to this movement. We met via email and Soul Cafe. He bravely accepted my inviation to come and share his passion in the Synod Office. He met a group of us the next week outsidee St. James Lutheran Church and took us dowon to the OCUPY camp to show some of us around. We went to lunch and he shared that he had researched the ELCA and found a statement on economic life and HE ACTUALLY READ IT!

Did you know that the ELCA, adopted by more than a two-thirds majority vote by the sixt Churchwide Assembly in Denver, Co in 1999 a social statement that speaks to the OCUPY MOVEMENT happening now?

It begins by stating that, "economic life pervades our lives-the work we do, the income we receive, how much we consume and save, what we value, and how we view one another". In 1999 Presient Bill Clinton was aquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial,  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published in the US and the EURO was introduced. While I liked the walk down memory lane, the final factoid caught my eye. Now, here in 2011, Greece is seriously considering dropping the EURO and some have labeled the EURO as a failure.

I am not only reading the statement I am praying with it today. Will you read it, pray with it and respond to this discussion? You can find the statement at http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/Economic-Life.aspx .

I am grateful for PROJECT BELIEVE AND SOUL CAFE for helping me put a personal face to what is happening on the TV and in my city.  Join me in praying for Sam and his passion.