by Lee Wimberly, member of Holy Cross
When did it all start? What was that first step in Holy Cross’ journey to becoming an advocating congregation? It is hard to say when — exactly —but the following is as good a place as any.
A while back, God touched the hearts of two of our members – Steven and Theresa Fisher – through a story told in a sermon. The story was about a homeless man who had wandered into Holy Cross asking for money to buy a much-needed pair of work boots. Steven and Theresa’s feelings of compassion quickly grew into our passion as more and more of us reached outside of our comfort zone by participating in face-to-face service to others. We began by serving meals at Compass Center, and then became regulars in preparing and serving diners at Tent City IV.
Feeling a need to do more, and encouraged by others, Steve and Theresa headed up a new effort; and Holy Cross formed what we called “The Outreach Team.” A roadmap was soon drawn for our journey thanks to the direction of Bill Grace, a valuable and long-time resource at Holy Cross. Under Bill’s guidance, the team defined Outreach’s charter to include the elements of charity, compassion, and justice.
This early phase in the team’s development gave the Outreach Team – and in turn Holy Cross – the tools to expand our vision of what we could do outside our church walls. It was this clarity of focus that helped us to define and prioritize our activities. We quickly identified that Holy Cross was pretty active in acts of charity, less in the area of compassion, and virtually inactive in the area of justice.
We set out to change that, and set goals for what we wanted to accomplish.
An LPPO Board Member, Bill Grace introduced us to Advocacy by encouraging us to attend a the Faith Advocacy Day. Our first trip in 2005 to Olympia was scary, intimidating, eye-opening… and ever-so rewarding. Holy Cross has participated in every Faith Advocacy since.
In our Outreach meetings we studied works by Ched Meyers and Walter Wink. In our discussions, we composed the adage: “an ounce of justice is worth a pound of compassion, and ten pounds of charity.” Along the way, we marched in 2006 from The Compass Center to the Federal Building in downtown Seattle, participating in the kickoff to Kairos, again inspired by Bill Grace.
Since that first day in 2005, members at Holy Cross have become active in advocacy for the homeless, earth keeping, and immigration reform. In our efforts to advocate for the homeless, Holy Cross has been represented in the last four Interfaith Task Forces’ annual “Building the Political Will” conferences and the last three Housing Advocacy Days in Olympia.
An active and energetic group has a healthy start in defining and shaping an earth keeping movement at Holy Cross, one piece of which includes advocating on environmental issues. We have worked to educate ourselves on climate change, and worked to reduce our church’s environmental footprint. Through the leadership of our Earth Keeping group, led by Rich Young and Janet Farness, Holy Cross has become an Earth Ministries member.
Under the leadership of Diakonda Gurning, an ELCA pastoral intern, members of Holy Cross have become active in advocating for Immigration Reform. God has particularly touched one member of Holy Cross – Jan Starr – on the issue of Immigration Reform. Jan Starr continues to be a vibrant and energetic advocate in this area. She periodically reminds us of our responsibility to our fellow immigrants through email. In the fall of 2009, Jan coordinated Holy Cross’ hosting of Eastside congregations to listen to a broadcast featuring Congressional Representative Lois Gutierrez from Illinois, and the follow-up campaign to contact our legislators. Several Holy Cross members carried signs with LPPO and many other organization at the April 10th Immigration Rally at Occidental Park. On Sunday, April 18th, Holy Cross joined with other ELCA congregations in educating ourselves on immigration issues and participating in a letter-writing campaign.
In the fall of 2009, the Holy Cross council voted to accept the challenge of becoming an Advocating Congregation. With plans for LPPO to meet with the Church Council, Holy Cross intends to keep Advocacy to be a church-wide priority.