New Living Lutheran Post: St Clare of Assisi

Each Monday, I gather with a group of homeless youth in San Francisco who call themselves Otro Vanguard. I join them as a mentor, a pastor and an adult who won’t judge or take advantage of them.

Unfortunately, their stories are not too different from the stories of homeless and abandoned youth (estimated to be between 1.6 and 2.8 million) across the country. It’s hard to find the light in the deep darkness of their all too often broken and battered homes, scarred, addicted bodies or tales of dangerous sexual encounters.

Recently, I found myself sitting in a rocking chair as we shared stories, thinking about what faith stories could inspire the youth to take care of their bodies, live as soberly as possible and to seek the safest options for shelter that are available.

Read the rest at Living Lutheran.

Living Lutheran: A Lutheran Response to Shootings

Since I was 6 years old, I have been afraid of the kind of gun slaying that happened at the Batman screening recently. When I was younger, I tried to sleep in ways that made it look like my room was empty, so if an attacker came into my room at night they would not be able to find me. During nightmares, I strategized escape plans from attackers with guns in public places.

Unfortunately shootings, no matter how shocking, are not unique. And while I’m sure many survivors and pastors will be speaking out in the days following this event, I think the Lutheran tradition has a perspective that is helpful for this national conversation.

If you’re looking for lobbied opinions for more mental health care, more or less gun regulations or an attempt to figure out how or why this tragedy happened, you won’t find it here. Other traditions have louder, more polarized things to say. Lutherans are adept at issues that fall in the messy middle.

Read the rest at LivingLutheran.com.

Living Lutheran: Of Backpacks and Organizing

When I was a student at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., I worked at the summer conferences serving lutefisk at the Nordlandfest, setting up microphones for weddings, cots for the summer music program and chairs for the ELCA South Dakota Synod Assemblies.

In addition to providing me with a way to pay for summer school room and board, I learned many of the behind-the-scenes skills it takes to be a good community minister.

While it may seem strange, I bet that the members of synodical staffs around the country and the ELCA churchwide staff who manage national gatherings may resonate with the call to organize and coordinate.
Perhaps Noah was the first to get large groups coordinated in response to a natural disaster, but certainly, Jesus continued this tradition as he organized 12 motley tax collectors, fishermen and other riffraff to feed people, heal the sick and travel about bringing good news to those who had ears to hear.

Read the rest at Living Lutheran.

Living Lutheran Post: The Weary Traveler

Over the past couple of years I have been traveling around the country to preach or present at conferences and to learn about the ways ELCA congregations have been responding to the poverty they find in the communities where they live and worship.

Everywhere I’ve visited I have been inspired by the creativity, gospel-centeredness and the risks congregations have taken to care for their neighbor and to tangibly pass on the grace they have received.

Some of the greatest risks these congregations have taken happened by inviting people inside their worship spaces and home lives.

Read the rest at LivingLutheran.com

New Cafe Article: Advocacy - Faith in Action

When most people think of the 2009 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ameria's Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis, they think of the votes cast to allow openly gay people to serve as pastors. Some advocacy-minded folk might also think of the launch of the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

I think of tornadoes.

It felt strange to me that my beloved Lutheran church, in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the great depression, would spend such little time talking about domestic hunger and economic issues. Particularly at a time when the church seemed like it might be on the verge of splintering, it seemed like we should be talking about what Lutherans are best at: responding to poverty and advocating for hunger relief.

Sleepless in Minneapolis
Following in the footsteps of the great Civil Rights leaders who dramatized struggles in order to bring much needed attention to them, I decided to sleep on the streets of Minneapolis during the assembly. Since I had been on more than eight street retreats in San Francisco and lived with the poor in Nicaragua, I felt confident heading to Minneapolis. 

Read the rest here.

New Living Lutheran Blog: Upholding Human Dignity

During the 50 days of Easter, we remember the resurrected Christ, who pauses to dwell in humanness for a bit before ascending into the heavens.

With the stink of death still lingering in the air, our journey through Lent and Easter gives us a near-death experience without having to enter the grave ourselves. So what will we do as a church, as individuals in response to this life changing journey? As we shed the garments that kept us entombed, how shall we live in the world?

We pray weekly for daily bread, but Christ asks us to treat every person in need as if they are as sacred and as worthy of help as God’s own child. We ask God to be present at our meals, but Christ asks us to sell or give up our possessions every time someone is in need.
Read the rest on Living Lutheran here.

In the News: Aztec Press

LGBTQ author aims to inspire (online version)
By Edward Henderson,
Posted on 07 May 2012.

San Diego State social work graduate student Zander Keig may have a promising literary career ahead of him. Keig’s book, “Letters For My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect,” has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, which honors excellence in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer literature. Winners of this prestigious award will be announced on June 4 at the 24th Annual Lambda Literacy Awards gala in New York City. Keig’s book is nominated in the Transgender Nonfiction category.

“Letters For My Brothers” is an anthology of 24 letters written by female-to-male transsexuals describing the challenges and offering insight from their transition. The concept for the book was inspired by the life of Louis Sullivan, a pioneer in FTM transsexual community activism. Sullivan communicated methods of obtaining peer support, professional counseling, endocrinological services and reconstructive surgery outside the institution of the gender dysphoria clinics, mainly through letter correspondence with individuals interested in making the FTM transition. From the mid-1980s until his death in 1991, Sullivan raised awareness and set the foundation for a community of FTM transsexuals through these letters.

“Today, fewer people who have experience in their transition stay involved in the community, so we have a dearth of mentors,” Keig said. “Because of that, I thought it would be a good idea to merry this letter writing concept with mentorship.”

Keig and his co-editor Megan Rohrer reached out to friends in the FTM community and posted public submission calls to find content for the book. The posts prompted writers to compose a nostalgic letter to themselves before they made the FTM transition. These letters highlighted their challenges, obstacles, fears and joys throughout the experience. Writers could also compose directly to FTM brothers offering advice and guidance.

Keig hopes the book will offer guidance to those within the FTM community in hopes to inspire anyone who reads it.

“If you fall outside the norms assigned to gender at birth, there are consequences. Here are 24 people who dared to transcend expectations of gender,” Keig said. “When people see others living an authentic life, I think it inspires them.”