Presiding Bishop Eaton recently responded to the Supreme Court decision on the DACA program and praises the SCOTUS decision on LGBTQIA+ rights.
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Kathryn Mary Lohre writes: “500 years ago, Martin Luther wrote the treatise ‘The Freedom of a Christian.’ Our freedom in Christ is not a freedom for ourselves, but for the sake of our neighbors, lived out in love. As an expression of the liberating love we share in Jesus Christ, we join our Palestinian family, and our partner Bishop Azar, in calling for ‘liberation not annexation.’
Please join in ELCA advocacy through Peace Not Walls: June action alert”
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Bishop Eaton writes: “Words matter. Words matter in our Scripture, in our hymns, in our governing documents, and beyond. Fifty years ago, on June 29, 1970, the Lutheran Church in America voted to change the word “man” to “person” in its bylaws and opened the door for the ordination of women. The American Lutheran Church achieved the same thing by resolution a few months later. The church was led by the Spirit to change. At the time it was scary for some. Fifty years later, it is now part of our heritage.”
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When I announced my intention to go to law school my mother’s family became suspiciously excited. My grandfather was the first Black Genesee County (MI) deputy in the 1950’s. He studied law then finished his career as a magistrate. His only daughter (my mother) was a probation officer briefly. 3 of his 4 sons are, to this day, sworn law enforcement officers. One of them even married a state trooper! Adding a prosecutor to the family would complete the set.
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We are committed to this work as we celebrate, during Pride Month and all year round, the gifts of our LGBTQIA+ siblings.
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Lately I’ve been wrestling with why the ELCA is the second-most white denomination in the United States, followed only by the National Baptist Convention. The ELCA is 95% white, in a country that is 72% white. It just doesn’t make sense to me that our churches do not reflect our country, neighborhoods, or workplaces.
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The George Floyd memorial on 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis is holy ground where people gather. Gather to pay their respects, gather to lay down flowers, gather with advocacy organizations and gather around food and water. The words and artwork are a balm for the wounds that I, a white woman, cannot even begin to imagine.
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Juneteenth commemorates a day when my ancestors could breath a little more freely. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, enslaved Africans were read federal orders that they were freed, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed over two years prior. They didn’t know they were free because, in spite of the law, they were still brutalized by those who weaponized power.
Today, families of African descent throughout the United States celebrate this Freedom Day, which gave us a brief moment to inhale deeper than before.
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When religious leaders stepped up to help the communities of Minneapolis and St. Paul following the murder of George Floyd, I don’t think they knew what they were in for.
As a Native American and an activist, I know first hand the harm that well intentioned people of faith can do when they come in to “help” communities that have been marginalized or minoritized.
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The Deaconess Community of the ELCA is using prophetic diakonia to do the work of justice with the Poor Peoples Campaign (PPC). This movement encourages us to be grounded in the thousands of scripture verses that call God’s people to the work of justice.
The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020 will be a digital gathering, marshalling collective voices to demonstrate the power of our communities, and you can register from this link.
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I have written a few times about how and when to introduce phases of in-person worship. I continue to encourage no in-person gathering until the deaths or cases of newly infected decrease for a minimum of 14 days in your area. This letter is a follow up about in-person worship and Holy Communion.
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Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton gives her weekly message during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Bishop Eaton notes that the “restrictions imposed by the pandemic have made it clear that people are searching for hope and meaning and love.” As those restrictions are eased, she urges us to assess the ways our congregations are witnesses to the transcendent, keeping in mind all those who worshiped with us online but may not walk into our churches.
“The problem comes when people confuse the sacred space with the Sacred,” she writes. “We must take care that our congregations don’t become idols.” Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3hgd0yo and in Spanish https://bit.ly/2YqYMSy.
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Rev. Kwame Pitts, pastor to Crossroads Lutheran Church in Amherst, New York, reflects on the Emanuel 9, five years later.
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We are a nation in distress. We are a church in distress. The coronavirus has killed 103,000 of us. The virus of racism has taken hundreds of thousands more throughout our history. Now these two deadly viruses converge. Under this distress the veneer of equality has cracked and we see the pain, anger and frustration of those who have been denied the rights and dignity so many of us expect and often take for granted.
I have heard it said that slavery ended with the Civil War. Why don't people of color "just get over it." Here is the question we need to ask, "How do you get over something that isn't over?"
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Bishop Eaton’s weekly video: It is so clear that life is not equal in this country. But we believe in and serve a God who brings about good even out of evil, who brings healing out of pain, and brings life out of death. This is a call to repentance, dear church, and also to action based in the hope of the reconciliation we have already experienced in Jesus Christ.
Remember to reserve June 17, 2020 as a day to commemorate the Emanuel 9.
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These are daunting moments.
To be honest, I don’t know where to start. I can’t find adequate words to address the deep anger, anxiety, anguish, and grief spreading through our world today, growing from a mix of COVID-19 deaths, political turmoil, and repeated episodes of racial injustice.
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On June 17, 2015, a white man named Dylann Roof entered a historic Black church in Charleston during a prayer meeting and opened fire, killing 9 people and wounding 3 more. He overtly and explictly espoused white supremacist beliefs and targeted the people of Mother Emanuel Church because of their race and commitment to civil rights. I felt my stomach sink when I found out that Roof was raised in an ELCA church.
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What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
In a statement signed by many bishops of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, including Bishop Hutterer, the ELCA reaffirms its commitment to combating racism and white supremacy following the recent murders of Black Americans. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Dreasjon (Sean) Reed, and George Floyd were our neighbors.
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Today, we, the Jewish People, have finished counting and fulfilling seven weeks of seven days, forty-nine days since Pesakh and the liberation from slavery in Egypt-Mitzrayim. As the Torah records, we were freed from slavery in the sight of all the world.
Every human being is created in the Tselem Elokhim, the Image of God. And into every human being has God breathed the breath of life. As we remember the last words of George Floyd, “Please, I can’t breathe!”
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