Interview with Ms. Ruth Hoffman
Director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in New Mexico October 08, 2018 Moving forward with my Alternative Residency Formation Plan to be approved for ordination by the Rocky Mountain Synod Candidacy Committee, I will be focusing my interviews to answer the following question: What are the joys and challenges of congregational ministry? To answer this question, I will ask:
I had the opportunity to meet with Ruth Hoffman, Director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in New Mexico, when she was in the Denver metro area to attend meetings at the synod office. What strengths did you bring to your ministry setting? Ruth said she is a native of New Mexico and her family has been in New Mexico for about a hundred years. Ruth said she was raised as a Methodist and became a Lutheran in high school after she was invited to join the Luther League. She said she was raised to believe a person could not be part of a church and be political. She said all that changed when she moved away from home to attend college at Eastern New Mexico University. Ruth said she met a woman who became a role model for her at an anti-war demonstration in the late 1960s. She said this person was doing pivotal work in the community and she introduced Ruth to her eventual career in advocacy. Ruth said she spent the first ten years in advocacy working for non-profit organizations—Common Cause and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. In 1999, Ruth joined Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in New Mexico and moved to Santa Fe. What were your areas of growth? Ruth said she has to be careful about how she brings faith into policy making setting. She said “public officials are as unchurched as everyone else” so she has to take care about how she talks about God to policy makers. She also has to take care not to profess to “know God better than others” and give the impression your “God isn’t good enough” for that attitude can be counterproductive. Do justice issues impact how you do ministry? Ruth stressed the mission of Lutheran advocacy in New Mexico is to advocate for justice in public policy to alleviate poverty and hunger; “this is what the church represents.” She stressed the fact “we are not there to tell people what to believe—I would never go there,” but the whole goal of justice issues for Lutheran advocacy is “trying to make life better for people in poverty.” Ruth talked about how the church does have to have a presence and voice in the issues surrounding poverty and hunger. She said the church has to set an example of how to reach out and to be real. How does the geographical setting of your ministry impact how you do ministry? Ruth said New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the United States and there are 22 Lutheran congregations in the state. There is “a lot of territory in New Mexico, including plains and mountains.” Geography influences a lot of thought and action in New Mexico. She said Hispanics have a lot of political power in New Mexico, but she also pointed out there is still a significant amount of white privilege in the state. She said the oldest Lutheran congregation is about 125 years old, but the vast majority of Lutheran congregations were founded after WWII when mid-westerners moved into the state. Reflection For refection, I am to answer the following questions: What do they tell you about you? How does your particular lens as a Latina Transgender minister affect how you hear and see the work of other ministries in this synod, and how would a deeper understanding on the part of these ministers bless the work at hand? Where does the gospel intersect these interpretations? Ruth and I had an in-depth conversation about our thoughts related to the Hispanic population in New Mexico. I told her about my grandparents who moved from New Mexico to Colorado about a hundred years ago. We talked about how varied the Hispanic community is in New Mexico and southern Colorado. For example, Ruth said most individuals with Spanish surnames did refer to themselves as Hispanic, but there is a distinct group of people who call themselves Spanish as they claim they are direct descendants of the Spanish conquistadores. I agreed with Ruth for I do have family members who do say they are Spanish and not Hispanic and definitely not Mexican. I pointed out the fact that I was raised in Boulder and I utilize “Latina” to describe my ethnicity, but in my past, I have also referred to myself as Chicano—a person of Mexican ancestry who was born in the United States. The term Chicano, however, is not widely accepted and used for individuals who, according to older members of my family, are radicals. Ruth and I also talked about how political views vary greatly due to geographical and historical settings. Individuals with Spanish surnames may or may not support immigration laws. We both agreed there is a significant amount of variation related to social justice programs based on where a person is born and where their parents were born. We talked about similar experiences encountering individuals who were immigrants and obtained citizenship in their youth who may now object to recent immigrants if they did not enter this country with legal documentation. We both were amazed at how attitudes change quickly. I agree with everything Ruth has to say about working as a person of faith who attempts to do advocacy work in the world of politics and policy making. I have also had to try to advocate on behalf of a position as a person of faith, but policy makers are often reluctant to bridge the gap between politics and religion or they slam the two worlds together and justify their positions as a matter of faith. I agree with Ruth when she said it can be difficult to walk the line between advocating for a position while talking about the gospel, but not preaching to a policy maker that your interpretation of how Jesus would react is the one and only way to interpret scripture.
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