Posts in ELCA
For What Shall We Pray? 3/22/2023
  • For people involved in labor strikes – teachers in Los Angeles, workers across sectors in France, and hospital and airport workers in England…

  • For those working to stabilize political unrest in Kenya and South AFrica…

  • For the people of Russia and Ukraine, and for all peace and diplomacy efforts…

  • For Muslims across the world who are preparing for the holy season of Ramadan…

  • For rescue and relief efforts in Ecuador following this weekend’s earthquake…

  • For continued recovery efforts in Malawi following last week’s cyclone…

  • For educators, librarians, and all who steward knowledge and encourage learning…

  • For all who mourn, and for all who watch and wait at bedside of those nearing death…

  • For women across the world who continue to stand up, speak out, love, fight, and flourish despite opposition and violence…

  • For marginalized and vulnerable communities, and for their allies and advocates…

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ELCA Worship News: March, 2024

ELCA Worship shares their news for March, 2023.

We enter these latter weeks in Lent and anticipate the Three Days, attentive to the depth of human experience these days bring. Amid deep grief and great joy, pain and pleasure, quiet prayer and jubilant praise, God is with us. In this and every season the ELCA Worship staff note resources and events that can be helpful to you in your ministry.

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Bishop Eaton Issues Statement on Anti-Transgender Legislation

As we approach March 31, many people are preparing to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility, an international day to celebrate the contributions of transgender people and raise awareness about the deadly injustices they face.

As bishop of this church, I am concerned that the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans have been targeted all over this nation.

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It’s tax season: Updated tax guides are now available through Portico

Portico Benefit Services provides ministers and congregations participating in the ELCA benefit program with no-cost access to annual tax guides. For ministers, Clergy Tax Return Preparation Guide by Richard R. Hammar gives special attention to tax-related topics most relevant to ministers.

For congregations, Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches by Richard R. Hammar helps congregations understand their federal tax-reporting requirements.

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Rostered Ministers Gathering: Register by 3/31/2023 for best rate

All rostered ministers in the ELCA are invited to join colleagues July 17-20 in Phoenix, Ariz., for the Rostered Ministers Gathering. Early registration will close March 31, and online registration will close July 1, 2023. Learn more and register today! And check out this special invitation from Bishop Eaton.

If you like to welcome people, help with registration, or have the gift of hospitality, please connect with Pastor Doug Dill: pastordoug@centrallutheranaz.org or 402-235-6969. Click here to register as a volunteer at elca.org.

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Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE): 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering

The Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) is a pre-event to the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. From July 13-16, youth of color or those whose primary language is not English, will gather together to worship, celebrate, and learn from one another. Dr. Kelly Sherman Conroy (she/her), the director of MYLE, shares an invitation to be a part of this faith formation event. To learn more about the 2024 Gathering, visit elca.org/Gathering and watch the video in this post.

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ELCA Disability Ministries March 2023 newsletter

Click here for the ELCA Disability Ministries March 2023 newsletter, with a reminder that March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. If you want to learn more, please go to the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities site.

April is Stress Awareness Month. If you're struggling or reaching out to help a friend who may be struggling with stress, consider some of the many resources on coping and managing stress by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

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For What Shall We Pray? 3/15/2023
  • For all who are anxious for their financial future after this week’s bank collapses and for keen and collaborative wisdom among those crafting policies in response…

  • For peace and protection for our transgender siblings, and especially transgender youth, as 41 state legislatures consider bills restricting and revoking their rights…

  • For a path forward and a renewed commitment to the common good amidst continued political partisan division in the United States and across the globe…

  • For people on the west coast of the United States, Australia, and Kenya who are living with extreme flooding; for those facing threat of sever storms on the east coast of the United States; and for victims of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi…

  • In thanksgiving for recently negotiated peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia…

  • For the people of El Salvador, living under a century of civil conflict…

  • For Muslim siblings preparing for Ramadan…
    For all caregivers who provide for, educate, and nurture children…

  • For all navigating news of pregnancy, expected or unexpected, and for their support systems…

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Faith Lens: Seeing Possibility

Yvonne Shortt is an artist who uses grasses, clay, moss, and other natural materials to create beautiful sculptures of people’s heads.  Slowly over time Yvonne began losing her eyesight because of a rare genetic disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Her story is part of a documentary called Adapt-Ability by filmmaker James Robinson which highlights how her limitations are really a gift to her art.

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Reinterpreting John 9 

The healing of the blind man in John chapter 9 is one of my favorite healing stories in the whole Bible.  I love this story because in this story Jesus confronts and rejects the common belief that disabilities are somehow caused by sin. 

I commend to you the book A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability by Kathy Black.  Kathy Black is an ordained Methodist minister who has served as the chaplain at Gallaudet University and pastored two churches for deaf persons.

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Nourishing community and cultivating joy in Federal Way, Wash.

If you visit the Saturday-morning farmers market in Federal Way, Wash., you might see Kay (Kyong Yon) Mattingly smiling and dancing with her friends from Dasom Bi-Cultural Cooperation, a ministry of Light of Grace Lutheran Church. The ministry hosts a booth with a variety of Korean goods for sale, but the members also seek to bring joy to those around them – and create it for themselves.

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