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faith communities Remembering Sandy Victims

10/31/2014

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by Brita Rose

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."  Matthew 25:35

This week marks the two year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy - the deadliest and most destructive of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest in U.S. history, next to Hurricane Katrina.

Officially an "Extra-tropical Cyclone," Sandy became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record affecting 24 states in the United States, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York.  Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city which cost the city over $68 billion in damages.  At least 286 people were killed along the path of the storm.

The commitment of Good Shepherd, to offer hope and to help the community heal from these tragic events has played out through various local initiatives, as well as through involvement with the work of Faith in New York (FiNY) with whom Rev. David Rommereim serves as a co-vice president. 

Immediately following the storm our neighboring church, St. Jacobi, in Sunset Park, provided a hub out of which the innovative grass roots initiative, Occupy Sandy, was able to operate.  Occupy Sandy, an outgrowth of Occupy Wall Street was, with astonishing efficiency, able to organize and facilitate both volunteers and supplies to the most effected regions, in particular the Rockaways in Brooklyn.

Good Shepherd Church opened its basement gym as a storage space for supplies to be picked up by the steady stream of generous volunteers on their way to help clean up the damaged sites.  The outpouring of help that week was incredible, from clothes donations and food preparation to medical assistance and clean-up.  A first-hand account of that unique time can also be read on Good Shepherd's blog.

Good Shepherd also provided storage space for the initiative 'Hearts Connected' spearheaded by its Office Manager, Donna Lubrano.  Clothes and other supplies were donated and stored for pick-up by those in most need.  To this day, Hearts Connected (whose contact page can be found on facebook) is still giving out clothes to the poor, and portable heaters to Sandy victims. “Staten Island’s Midland Avenue and Coney Island were particularly damaged.  Many uninhabitable houses have not been touched and people are still living with mold and temporary heating” said Donna.  The work continues.

Two years later so many New Yorkers are still suffering from the effects of the storm and struggling to navigate the bureaucracy of Sandy relief.  Moreover, the storm uncovered some long-standing inequalities that have existed in low-income areas of the city, and showed us the need to pay close attention to both poverty and climate change.  

But there is a silver lining to this mammoth process of rebuilding.  In addition to the encouragement of numerous grassroots service organizations and emergency response teams manifested by local faith ministries and others, 
FiNY, through their persistent hard work have made substantial headway in a reluctant city to help it heal from this devastating storm.  By taking a prophetic stand for Sandy impacted communities, by calling for local hire in Sandy rebuilding, and by practicing creation care to help stop the effects of climate change by supporting climate jobs, FiNY has directly served and advocated for thousands of Sandy Survivors.  In collaboration with ‘The Alliance for a Just Rebuilding,’ ‘New York Disaster Interfaith Services,’ and the ‘PICO National Network,’ its efforts have yielded positive results, as illustrated from the list of accomplishments outlined by FiNY below:

On October 15th, 2014 Faith in New York Clergy and Lay-Leaders meet with Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss rebuilding Sandy affected communities through local jobs at the ‘Far Rockaway Recovery Opportunity & Resource Fair’ which was attended by 700 New Yorkers who were connected to jobs, resources and training programs. During a press conference at the fair the Mayor announced the ‘Build it Back Local Hiring Initiative’ and the ‘Rockaways Economic Advancement Initiative.’  

On July 29th, 2014 over 1650 people of faith came together at The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of ‘New York for a Faith & Community Forum’ concerning the ‘Hurricane Sandy Rebuild,’ the above mentioned ‘Opportunity & Resource Fair’ was a direct result of the forum.

Faith in New York won passage of the New York City Council “Sandy Tracker Bill” (Bill no. 1040-a) on December 19, 2013. The legislation requires that all Sandy rebuilding projects receiving $100,000 or more in public money report important information on job quality and safety, including number of jobs created, the salary ranges, whether jobs are part-time or full-time, temporary or permanent, and the zip code of where each employee on the project resides.

Advocacy led to the creation of the $16 million (2,000 homes) Neighborhood Revitalization NYC ‘Mold Treatment Program’ after Hurricane Sandy. We secured a pledge of $1.2 million in emergency relief funds for undocumented Sandy victims from the NYC Commission on Immigrant Affairs.

Seeing the connection between Climate Change and Hurricane Sandy, on September 21, 2014 Faith in New York led the ‘People's Climate March’ in New York City with the ‘Hurricane Sandy First Responders’ contingent and joined over 400,000 people who marched for climate justice that day.

FiNY continues to stand with Sandy survivors through prayer and holistic Sandy rebuild operations such as those listed above.  In one on-going effort, Faith in New York Far Rockaway clergy and lay-leaders discuss the need for their community to be rebuilt through local jobs as reported in this New York Daily News article - "Sandy victims want relief funds to go towards jobs in hard hit areas" by Jennifer Fermino, and in the New York Times article - "New York Today: Learning From Hurricane Sandy" by Annie Correal.


This week FiNY leaders met at a Far Rockaway vigil to pray for and remember the victims of this unprecedented storm.  We see that their efforts have not been in vain and as part of the local faith community we, at Good Shepherd, join them in their prayers and support their continued efforts to serve those most affected and still struggling to restore their broken lives.

“O afflicted city, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires." - Isaiah 54:11
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Pastor as an economist

10/28/2014

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Article in German paper written in response to the posting of the 'Economic Well-Being Award'
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany, Oct. 24, 2014

By Nikolaus Piper

Even in these days it is still rewarding to read newspaper ads. Last Saturday I found a half-page ad in the New York Times. In it an “Economic Well-Being Award” was announced. The Award will go to an economist, or a group of economists, who can explain why the American economy did so much better between 1946 and 1971 than it did between 1972 and 2012. Remarkable is not so much the Award itself or the prize money of 33,000 Dollars. It is its sponsor – the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church, a tiny congregation of merely 40 members in Southern Brooklyn.

How the Award was created, is one of these stories that is possible only in America. The pastor of the congregation is the Reverend Robert Emerick. Emerick, who is deeply rooted in the progressive true-to-life tradition of Methodism, discovered his interest in economics during the last Presidential campaign. “I’ve got the impression that nobody talked about facts, the discussion was led by propaganda machines,” he says. Consequently Emerick looked for the facts himself. His friend, Tracey Mott, head of the Economics Department at the University of Denver, provided him with a reading list and so Emerick took a crash course in basic Economics: Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, the Polish economist Michal Kalecki, and American economic history. Finally he came to the conclusion that even the experts couldn’t explain certain facts. So he got the idea to offer an Award.

This past September the council of the church voted with a strong majority for the unusual project. For Emerick this all has to do with the Bible. “Jesus teaches us to create Heaven on Earth by loving each other. We shall be radically committed to the physical, social, economic, and spiritual well-being of mankind.” The idea of looking for facts, not for ideology, is part of the American tradition as he sees it. “Pragmatism is a core American virtue,” Emerick says.

And how does a small church get the money to offer an award of $33,000 Dollars? The answer is: from its past. The Methodists in Bay Ridge owned a big property with a big church that no longer fitted the needs of the congregation. Therefore, they sold three quarters of their property to the City of New York and decided to build on the remaining land a new, smaller, solar-powered church. The proceeds from the sale are, together with the offerings of the faithful, not only sufficient for the expenses of the church, but also for finance projects like the Award.

The pastor has received a lot of responses to the ad from all over the U.S, some of them from professional economists. Maybe something significant will grow out of this initiative.

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The economic well-being award

10/16/2014

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A Comparison of Two Periods of 
U.S. Economic Indicators:

                                                               By Rev. Robert Emerick


                                                                                                       1946-1971     1972-2012

1. Average annual unemployment rate:                                       4.6%                6.4%
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2. Average annual Federal budget deficit:                                    1.8%                14%
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3. Number of Federal budget surpluses:                                        8                     4
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4. Average annual number of people on the                          5.8 million    4.7 million
    Federal payroll:
    (Note: comprehensive data is available starting in 1962)
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5. Average annual economic (GDP) growth rate                           4%                 2.8%
    (adjusted for inflation): 
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6. Average annual inflation rate:                                                     3.4%              4.3%
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7. Federal debt as % of GDP:                                           DECREASED        INCREASED
                                                                                                     68%                   173%

Information sources available on request.

The above information shows that the U.S. economy was much stronger in the period 1946-1971 than it was in the period 1972-2012.

The congregation of Bay Ridge United Methodist Church (BRUMC) in Brooklyn, N.Y., is offering an award of $33,000 to an economist, or group of economists, who identify the factors associated with the stronger economy in the period from 1946 to 1971, and the factors associated with the weaker economy in the period from 1972 to 2012.

BRUMC has two goals in offering the award. 

First, in the spirit of democracy and American pragmatism, we hope that knowledge of the factors actually associated with our stronger and weaker economies during these 67 years in our recent past will help our nation establish evidence-based principles and policies that have the highest probability of success in creating stable and sustainable economic growth and broadly-shared prosperity. Democratic pragmatism means: 1) that the economic goals that almost all of us would probably agree on (for example, lower unemployment and federal debt) should be established through a transparent and truly democratic political process; and 2) that the principles and policies we use to achieve our goals should be based on, and their success should be measured by, facts – rather than the ideological preferences, such as liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, and socialism, that currently divide us.

Second, we hope this project will promote a better understanding of our economy, because our economy has a profound and pervasive effect on the well-being of every person, family, community, institution, business, and government, every day.

We invite all institutions, organizations, and people of good will to pledge to increase the monetary value of the award. We invite academic economists, historians, policy experts, and representatives of the pledging institutions to serve on a panel of judges, which will determine the terms of the submission and judging process, and the recipient(s) of the award.

Many individuals and institutions of good will may have their own reasons for engaging in this project in some way. BRUMC’s motives are spiritual and moral. Because we are followers of Jesus, we gladly embrace His teaching as God’s Way of Life in this world, in this life. Jesus’ teaching places the highest value on the well-being of every person, the entire social body, all creatures, and the land, air, and water that sustain life on earth. BRUMC offers 'The Economic Well-Being Award' in response to the following core principles of Jesus’ teaching: 1) God’s Way of Life is grounded in a vision of life “…on earth as it is in heaven.” (The Gospel of Matthew 6:10, and 25:31-46); 2) God’s Way of Life will be achieved when we love every person, the entire social body, all creatures, and the land, air, and water that sustain life, as Jesus has loved us (The Gospel of John 13:34); and 3) the love that Jesus lived and taught produces loving action (The Gospel of Matthew 7:12; The Gospel of Luke 6:31 and 10: 25-37; and The Gospel of John 14:15).

What can we do to help the generation growing up now, and future generations? We can strive to create an economically secure, well informed, compassionate, and healthy population. This is the strongest foundation for civil liberty, and economic justice, for all.

We believe that the factors associated with economic strength and broadly-shared prosperity, and the principles and policies derived from those factors, will be in harmony with the principles of Jesus’ teaching because His principles harmonize the moral, spiritual, political, economic, and institutional dimensions of life. Jesus’ teaching addresses at least three of the purposes of our government, expressed in the Preamble to our Constitution: “to…establish Justice…promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” BRUMC offers The Economic Well-Being Award because we believe that the development and use of knowledge is essential to fulfilling the principles of Jesus’ teaching and the highest purposes of our Constitution.

                              Contact: Rev. Robert Emerick, Pastor - brumc@verizon.net
                   Paid for by Bay Ridge United Methodist Church - www.bayridgeumc.org


         Sources for the above: 'A Comparison of Some U.S. Economic Indicators'

                                                                                                                1946-1971   1972-2012
                                                                                                                  (26 years)   (41 years)
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Average annual unemployment rate:                                                    4.6%            6.4%
www.bls.gov/data or www.infoplease.com
“ unemployment rates for previous years”
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Average annual Federal budget deficit:                                                 1.8%            14%
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/budget.php
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Number of Federal budget surpluses:                                                      8                 4
www.presidency.ucsb.edu./data/budget.php
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Average annual number                                                                  5.8 million    4.7 million
of people on the Federal payroll: (1962-1971) 
NOTE: comprehensive data collection started in 1962
www.opm.gov/feddata/HistoricalTables/TotalGovernmentSince1962.asp
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Average annual economic (GDP) growth rate:                                       4%             2.8% 
(adjusted for inflation) www.multpl.com/us-real-gdp-growth-rate/table/by-year
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Average annual inflation rate:                                                                   3.4%         4.3% 
www.multpl.com/inflation/table
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Federal debt as % of GDP:                                                           DECREASED     INCREASED
                                                                                                                 68%                 173%
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/historicals (Table 7.1)
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                            Contact: Rev. Robert Emerick, email – brumc@verizon.net

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faith & authenticity

10/7/2014

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by Rev. David Rommereim

Deep in the bowels of a dusty old church household are two essential ingredients, they apply to each one of us, at any age.

The first is faith; a simple, pure, trust in God. Faith by itself is all we need from day to day - from the youngest individual to the oldest. I remember that simple faith as a child, when I would go to bed and my mom and dad would recite a prayer to calm my fear. It went like this: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Such a prayer eventually taught me not to be afraid of death. Faith that acknowledges the reality of death is an earned faith. However, at that young age, that prayer calmed me from the darkness of the night. Mom and Dad's prayer kept me from the fear of all those bugs and vicious animals waiting to pounce on me from under my bed immediately when I fell asleep.  It is encouraging to see the power and resilience of faith through our beloved nonagenarians, Katherine McBride and Eleanor Dwyer, who turned 93 on October 1. When you stop and smell the roses, crocuses, or autumnal leaves, you become mindful that God is present and will never leave us orphan, even if you feel alone in your majestic struggles.

The other ingredient deep in the bowels of a dusty old church is authenticity. What gives us the assurance that our faith is alive, maturing our bodies, minds, and souls? It is when our faith takes on the size, shape, and shade of authenticity. Such a faith is seen as alive when couched by an abiding love.  To be authentic keeps us intentionally different from the mainstream. To that end, I find it truly curious that in Bay Ridge, traditionally, a very conservative part of New York City, our Good Shepherd household has participated in an authentic faith from the norm, from media labels such as "Conservative," or "Liberal," or "Progressive," or "Democratic," or "Republican," or, even "Roman Catholic," or "Protestant." The Good Shepherd community has become odd and contrarian because we are disciplined with a deep, abiding faith, an inspired justice, and love. Yes, it gets us into trouble most of the time because of the in-authenticity contained in the above mentioned narrow-minded political hegemonies. Nevertheless, authenticity provides a discipline toward an abiding faith.

How do I see such authenticity at the old dusty church household of Good Shepherd? I see it through our partnership with the ministry of sanctuary. Since 2006, we have been partners with the New York Sanctuary Coalition. We have sought to accompany and offer sanctuary to those on the margins of our dysfunctional immigration system. We have also sought to be a sanctuary as individuals and households. To provide a safe place and to be a presence of sanctuary refers to an authentic faith rooted deep in the tradition of the synagogue and church. House holding the stranger, caring for the sojourner, and providing hospitality in the wilderness are mandates of our Jewish and Christian Faith.

When I noticed a 4 year old child praying with a group of colleagues in front of the Federal Plaza, where every not-properly-documented- migrant must "check in," I saw she was wearing a bracelet on her ankle which connected her to the ICE monitoring. They knew her every move. She wore it because she was a threat to our government. The insult is that I am an American standing, praying with her foster mother, and I felt so ashamed... so disempowered.

How are we authentic when the Obama administration has deported record numbers of persons, separated families, and pandered to a recalcitrant Congress? Joining in prayer remains my authentic faith as I seek to express the dangerous value of hospitality, and the meaningful relationship of sanctuary to all who cross our path. Hospitality is dangerous because, well ... 'you never know who God will be sending us next." It is meaningful, because, well ... 'in sanctuary, God abides.'

As you watch the news of the hundreds of churches across our beloved United States of America that are now offering sanctuary through the ministry of accompaniment, legal support, prayer, or actual sanctuary in the place of worship, know that we do nothing without the simple trust of faith and the effort to be authentic with what Jesus has taught.

I am proud of Pastor Knutson from Augustana Lutheran Church of Portland, Oregon who, together with an entire community says, "No" to the splitting up of families so that our tax-funded private prisons are filled and the ICE monthly deportation quota secure. Jesus, after all, was quoted as saying, "Come to me all who are heavy laden and forbid them not, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven." That quote in itself is a sanctuary for many of us. Sanctuary is providing and being the church in an authentic expression of Jesus' love.

So, thank you Good Shepherd who, since 2006, through the authentic faith lens of Saint Walter Jensen, provided the ministry of accompaniment to our members and partners in building this authentic community of faith. The first of those whom we have sanctaried are; Joe, Mei, Jeffery, Crystal, & Francesca... and since, then many, many more.

God is good and authentically alive.

I remain,

Rev. David H. Rommereim


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The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
7420 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209
www.goodshepherdbayridge.org

718-745-8520
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Metropolitan New York Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
https://www.mnys.org/

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