ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 29, 2008  

Lutherans in Davenport, Iowa, 'Journey to Jerusalem' to Buy Mules, Goats
08-021-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The young members of Zion Lutheran Church,
Davenport, Iowa, are walking 6,317 miles -- the distance from
Davenport to Jerusalem -- by Palm Sunday, March 16.  They're
using pedometers to track their steps each week of Lent, and
sponsors will help them convert their miles into money to buy
mules and goats from Heifer International for Zion's companion
congregations in Kirangare, Tanzania.
     With the winter blues -- "the kind of downturn you
experience after Christmas" -- and with Lent in February and
March this year, "it made sense to get something physical going
and get the kids excited, showing up and recording their miles,"
said the Rev. Del D. Preston, Zion Lutheran Church, a
congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
     The Bible readings for this Lent trace Jesus' journey from
his hometown of Capernaum to Jerusalem, where he arrived the
Sunday before he was crucified.  Preston used an online distance
calculator to measure the distance "as the crow flies" from the
congregation's hometown to Jerusalem and plotted Zion's "Journey
to Jerusalem."
     The pastor priced pedometers and took his idea to the
congregation's Christian education committee.  Committee members
suggested that those who can't walk can sponsor walkers, and the
money could help four congregations in the Kirangare Parish, Pare
Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Africa.
     "The opportunities just seemed to grow and grow and grow,"
Preston said.
     About 90 pedometers were distributed among members -- from
three years old to eighth grade.  The young people and their
teachers calculate the distance they traveled each day and, at
the end of each week, add their totals to those of the other
"travelers" at church.
     "The kids are excited.  Many of them have their pedometers
on at church when they come up for the children's sermon or
attached to their shoes," the pastor said.
     The young people are encouraged to ask parents and
grandparents to take turns wearing the pedometers, Preston said.
"There are people in our congregation who run marathons, and
they'll be ideal people to ask to participate."  People planning
a museum trip could volunteer to wear a pedometer, he said.
Preston wears one when he works out at the "Y."
     The education committee fastened a strip of paper to the
wall running from the Sunday school rooms to the sanctuary,
representing 6,317 miles with intervals marked along the way.
The goal is to be able to follow that route and process into the
sanctuary on Palm Sunday, Preston said.
     As of Feb. 24, the pastor confesses, the congregation has
only reached Toledo, Ohio.  He blames the slow start on inclement
weather and records left at home.
     Zion has a "companion congregation" relationship with the
Kirangare Parish.  Members of Zion have paid Tanzania Lutherans
several visits, Preston said.
     The Pare Mountains make it difficult for them to haul crops
to markets, he said, and mules would help.  "Goats provide them
with a source of milk and cheese and eventually meat," Preston
said.  "They don't eat a lot of meat."

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