My life-long Lutheran faith has empowered me to see the world through God’s eyes.  My faith has and continues to influence my values, my decisions, my daily life, and how I think about world events. Because so many people and congregations have been a part of shaping me into a disciple, I have come to see the world as a network of people who are all loved by God.  Because each person has value, we need to give value to each person.  Because we live in a nation that was founded on the revolutionary principles of freedom, independence and justice, we need to work in our daily lives to insure that all people have access to what is fair, equitable, and right.  Feeding the hungry, sticking up for the poor, welcoming the immigrant and the stranger, caring for all those in need are all things for every Christian to be passionate about.  God’s “politics” as spoken through the whole scriptural message and as embodied in the person of Jesus Christ are quite different from the current Christian rhetoric that has been hijacked by single-issue biblical literalists who look to exclude people rather than include them.