Making Resurrection Real

For me, it has always mattered that we say, “I believe Jesus rose from the dead.” And, it has always also been critical that we live as if this is true, and show people what that good news can really do in their lives. When churches gather together to serve others, even when their own funds are tight, our capacity to spread good news becomes exponential. The impossible becomes possible, and resurrection is made real right now.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Duluth celebrated Easter just a little bit differently this year. The church was packed, the kids put flowers on the cross, and the favorite hymns were sung, of course, but something else was also afoot.

The congregation wanted to take action to make resurrection real for our neighbors. After a difficult winter, when pressure on our neighbors was coming from all sides, the church sought a way to do something real, concrete, and immediate that could make a difference. We looked for work that was uniquely ours and work that showed God’s good news in a new way.

What we found was an organization called Undue Medical Debt. Folks living in St. Paul may be familiar with this organization. Defaulted debt is often sold by hospitals to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar. Undue uses donations to purchase this debt on the market, and rather than collecting the debt, they abolish it. On average, $10 given to Undue can erase $1000 of debt.

Healthcare has been a part of St. Paul’s ministry since our earliest days. In 1881, St. Paul’s founded St. Luke’s hospital to respond to a typhoid epidemic. At the time, it was very important that this hospital serve those who both could and could not pay. Nowadays churches aren’t able to simply found makeshift hospitals in old blacksmiths shops—we (blessedly) have standards. However, we found a way that could help us take tangible steps against the crisis facing healthcare affordability.

We set out to raise $17,000—which represented what it would take to purchase and abolish all the debt in St. Louis County. Our congregation and our neighbors responded with immense generosity, and we gathered an incredible $25,000 on Easter Sunday alone. All together, these gifts were able to abolish $3,235,613.81 of medical debt for 3,693 families across St. Louis, Douglas, Lake, Carlton, and Itasca Counties—from Duluth to Cloquet and Superior, up the whole North Shore, and as far as Grand Rapids and the Leech Lake Reservation. Letters were delivered to the recipients of this debt erasure in early June.

These letters opened with the words: “We are writing to share with you the good news: your debt has been abolished.”

The identity of those who received debt abolishment are kept confidential, but we heard words of gratitude from a few stunned recipients. One said: “I received a letter today that I assumed would be a new debt collection agency from new jersey. It was a letter from Undue. I cannot express my gratitude sufficiently. Thank you.”

As the rector of St. Paul’s, I am deeply humbled and honored by the congregation’s response and adoption of this commitment to debt erasure. The decision to pursue this path came during our fall capital campaign to restore our historic building. During the campaign, the church decided that it was critical to help the community at the same time as we helped ourselves. At first it seemed too simple and too good to be true, but the more we learned, the more it seemed like the Holy Spirit was showing us exactly how we could continue our legacy of healthcare ministry in Duluth.