As the season of Lent quickly approaches, we come full circle on a year of worship during a pandemic.
You have found new and surprising ways to celebrate all of our major church seasons and festivals except one—Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021. Some of you have asked, during a pandemic, how should we handle the imposition of ashes?
Read MoreThere are times when events in our nation and world are shocking—we search for words to try to make sense of what we are seeing on television.
As bishops serving in Region 2, we stand united in calling upon elected leaders of all political parties to call for an end to this violence.
Read MoreMay we dwell in the story of Jesus’s birth in new ways, remembering the small intimacy of that night and the gathering of a family of three. May we be as surprised and astonished as the shepherds in the fields.
Read MoreI encourage you to take advantage of this year’s limited gathering ability to focus on what is most important to you and the ones you love as you enter these holidays.
Read MorePlease join Bishop Deborah Hutterer and Pastor Jacqui Pagel for a First Call process update information session. Beginning 1/31/2021, new processes will take effect.
Click here to register in advance for the Zoom meeting on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 2-3pm MST, 1-2pm PST.
Read MoreI encourage you to take advantage of this year’s limited gathering ability to focus on what is most important to you and the ones you love as you enter these holidays.
Read MoreAs Bishop, one of my main goals is to work with all of you to change and grow our church. The year 2020 has been wildly successful in implementing change, far more than anything we could have initiated on our own.
As church and people of faith, we have a huge advantage over most organizations and individuals. Our “product” is eternal and unwavering. The love of God, the good news of Jesus Christ, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit do not cease with the seasons of the world or the actions of humankind.
Read MoreHighlighted in the Arizona Republic, Bishop Hutterer was one of four Arizona faith leaders from diverse traditions who spoke at an online panel last week in Phoenix about how different faiths address human responsibility to the environment.
“From our Lutheran tradition, we have this idea of care of creation, the interdependence of each one of us, and the fact that without caring about creation, we have actually denied our neighbors,” Bishop Hutterer says in the article in Arizona Central. “Our lives depend on the life that surrounds us.”
Read MoreI encourage every congregation and ministry of our synod to take advantage of this disorienting time to intentionally ask God questions.
For the life of God’s beloved world, how can we more fully become the church the Spirit needs us to be? As the Body of Christ in our time and place, what conversations, partners, and resources help us explore the future we are being called to embrace?
Read MoreThe Office of the Bishop team is dwelling in the words of Acts 16:6-10, and will be for the next few months. In a time of weariness, when we are unable to go to the places we desire, this story from the church in its infancy has much to offer.
Read MoreIt has been a while since I wrote about in-person gathering for worship. I was waiting for certainty before I grabbed my pen. I was waiting for clarity from the federal government and the CDC, from health scientists, and from our state health departments and governors. I waited for a common-sense consensus amongst the citizens of our nation. I turned to the books of wisdom in the Old Testament, hoping for a revelation.
I am still waiting.
Read MoreLutheran Campus Ministry, which was a life preserver for me. I saw first-hand how students were hungry for a place to be heard and ask questions about life and faith. I saw students blossom and grow—they are leaders in the church today.
Read MoreWe all want to go back to in-person worship. We also want to be safe. We want our neighbors to be safe. Many have asked me when we can gather for in-person worship.
In a time of so many unknowns with so much at risk, I feel it would be ill-advised to project yet another date. As we decide when to proceed, I suggest we wait for the CDC guideline of a “downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period.”
Read MoreMany of us think of Easter as one day—a day of colorful clothes, full churches, and glorious music as we celebrate the Risen Christ. This year, we did not receive that glorious Sunday we expected.
As we swim through the Eastertide of this year, perhaps we can see we are being gifted with an Easter season rather than just one day, an Easter that continues to expand.
Read MoreAs we journey through this Easter season, we are beginning to hear the question: when can we gather again?
In the midst of changing restriction policies across the three states of our synod, when and how will we worship in person as church? Some ask with concern, hoping that we not gather in person too soon. Others ask with excitement, because they miss the face-to-face community.
Read MoreOn April 28, 2020, the Nevada judicatory leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and The Episcopal Church jointly sent the following letter to Governor Steve Sisolak.
Read MoreRev. Miguel Gomez-Acosta, Director for Evangelical Mission and Bishop’s Associate for Congregational Vitality with the Grand Canyon Synod, brings greetings, the Gospel, and a sermon for the second Sunday after Easter.
The Gospel, Luke 24:13-35, The Walk to Emmaus, can be found at the beginning of the video. The greetings and sermon starts at 2:54.
Read MoreRecently I heard a story about a Lutheran woman from the United States traveling through eastern Europe years ago. As she talked with a group of locals, it came up that she was Lutheran. One woman in the group told the American, “I know who you are.”
The European woman went into her house and came out with a quilt. She showed the American woman a label sewn onto the quilt which gave the name of an ELCA church who had made and donated it. "I was once in a refugee camp and had nothing,” the woman said. “You gave this quilt to me.”
Read MoreThe Arizona judicatory leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and The Episcopal Church jointly sent the following letter to Governor Doug Ducey.
Read MoreBishop Deborah K. Hutterer of the Grand Canyon Synod brings greetings, the Gospel, and a sermon for the first Sunday after Easter. The Bishop's greetings can be found at the beginning of the video. The Gospel starts at the 1:45 mark, and the sermon starts at 3:50.
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