Pastor Lars Hammar writes: Open Space Church is grieving the first death of one of our members, Kyle May, 30 years old. He died mid-July in his home town of New Jersey while there to attend his brother’s funeral. Kyle had a joyous and free-wheeling spirit about him, and his loss has been full of grief for the community at Open Space. Your prayers are appreciated.
Read MoreOn behalf of the Grand Canyon Synod Diakonia, Mike Reed writes to thank church leaders for responding to Diakonia’s survey, and is happy to report great interest in lay leadership in congregations.
Read MoreWe continue out 50·40·10 celebration with a message from Pastor Sarah Anderson-Rajarigam, Grace Lutheran, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. She shares who helped her get where she is today.
Read MoreELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s weekly message talks about the effect COVID-19 will have on the ability to feed our struggling neighbors, and implores us to act now.
You can help by letting your elected leaders know the importance of including funding for critical feeding programs in the $1 trillion COVID response bill in congress. https://ELCA.org/COVIDaction
Read MoreA few years back I started memorizing poetry. I was reading a lot of it then, and it felt like I needed those words to be with me though out my days, and not just in the mornings when I had time to sit down with a book.
Read MoreWe continue out 50·40·10 celebration with a message from Pastor Elizabeth Ekdale, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco. Her message: Take more risks, be a prophet.
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 MoreIn response to the government of Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank, Bishop Eaton calls on the church to accompany the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land in being a disturbing presence for peace through prayer, action, and advocacy with our elected leaders.
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 MoreIn her weekly message, Bishop Eaton reminds that when we are tired to remember we are church together and the words of Paul: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
Read MoreRev. Dr. Carl E. Braaten shares this letter, Faith Active In Love During This Deadly Pandemic. Braaten also recently published a book, The Christian Faith: Ecumenical Dogmatics.
How should we as believers in Christ and members of his church act during this deadly pandemic? I have heard people say this pandemic is unprecedented; we’ve never encountered anything like this before. It’s true, we haven’t, those of us living here and now. But history tells us that plagues and epidemics have been around since time immemorial.
Read MoreMike Reed, with the Diakonia Program, reminds rostered leaders that Diakonia graduates will be calling in the next few weeks to ask about lay leadership and how the Diakonia program might help in ministry.
Read MoreToday I am grateful for essential workers.
I get glimpses of positive moments in this pandemic. One is the realization for me and many others that these workers—so often invisible or ignored in our society—are in fact essential and deserve more than our recognition.
Read MoreOn July 1 Kairos Palestine and Global Kairos for Justice, a worldwide coalition born in response to the Kairos Palestine “Moment of Truth: a word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” issued an urgent call to Christians, churches and ecumenical institutions: “Cry for Hope”.
We share this with you as an authentic voice of Palestinian Christians and encourage you to read and study it.
Read MorePresiding Bishop Eaton recently responded to the Supreme Court decision on the DACA program and praises the SCOTUS decision on LGBTQIA+ rights.
Read MoreKathryn 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”
Read MoreBishop 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.”
Read MoreWhen 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.
Read MoreWe are committed to this work as we celebrate, during Pride Month and all year round, the gifts of our LGBTQIA+ siblings.
Read MoreLately 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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