Fill… Spill… Thrill…

It started when a magazine article caught the eye of Pastor Chip Borgstadt.

He shared the idea with St. Mark’s Sunday School director, Sharon Josoff. She took the idea to her circle group and then asked other members if they would like to help. Then she took the idea to the Sunday School classes seeking participation from younger members.

The idea was to take pillow cases and sew dresses for young girls in Haiti living in the aftermath of January’s catastrophic earthquake.Josoff says she “couldn’t sew a stitch, but that wouldn’t deter her.” Prayers were offered that enough materials would be donated to make 25 dresses. But God’s abundance was great.

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Food shortage in Zimbabwe. Earthquakes in Haiti. Empty pantries in the United States. ELCA World Hunger is present - YOU are present - in these crises around the globe. You are helping to mend lives and offer hope where it is needed most.

This church has been remarkably faithful during a year of economic challenges. In 2009, the number of individual gifts to World Hunger rose 30 percent, with significant growth in total giving through ELCA Good Gifts and God’s Global Barnyard. In total, your gifts put over $19 million to work for poor and hungry people during 2009.

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Lisa Kramme
Director of Faith Formation
Nebraska Synod, ELCA

This past week I heard a historian talk about various stages of economic development our world has gone through.

In the beginning we were hunters and gatherers. Then we became largely agrarian, working with our hands and other small tools. After that came larger tools and the age of manufacturing. Now, we are in an era where the economy is based largely on information or knowledge.

The speaker asserted that a large shift has happened in “work” as our country defines that term. That is, we no longer work with our hands so much as we work with our minds. Although this seems to be true enough economically, I believe that some of the most important work we can engage in is still with our hands.

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