A.J. Striffler, a Navy chaplain, served onboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower last year. Because the ship avoided port to prevent spread of COVID-19, it set a record for the longest consecutive time at sea for any naval vessel. Read his letter in this post.
Read MoreIn her November column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reminds us that God has given all of us a mission to invite more people into the way of Jesus. Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3DrbK6p and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3os6PeU .
Read MoreIt’s a sunny day in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. A group of Indigenous people and I form a circle to burn tobacco and offer a prayer of thanks to the Creator for the plants we’re gathering today. Once we pray and provide an offering to Mother Earth, we scatter across the wide-open space to dig up roots and collect berries.
For five years I’ve been listening, learning, collecting plants and building relationships with the Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Food Gathering (RSAFG) group from the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Read MoreThis week, Bishop Eaton comes to you masked and vaccinated from Church Council as they gather to make important decisions for this church.
Read MoreOn November 11, 2021, the nation will observe Veterans Day. It is a day set aside to recognize veterans’ service in the Armed Forces, past and present.
Congregations across the ELCA have chosen to recognize veterans in worship. Others have chosen not to. Both choices are faithful expressions of people’s deepest convictions. I want to offer why all congregations should consider acknowledging veterans in their worship services around Veterans Day this year.
Read MoreCaring for creation is not just a boutique issue for the few, but a faith issue for all of us. As COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, is underway in Glasgow, Bishop Eaton reminds us that we are called to tend God’s garden and be good stewards of creation.
Read MoreThis month, we commemorate two particularly inspirational Catholic saints, Martin de Porres on November 3, and Elizabeth of Hungary on November 17, who each exemplified “faith active in love” in important ways. What might we learn from these important leaders?
Read MoreGreetings! My name is Rev. Lisa Heffernan, and on June 1st I began serving as coordinator for ELCA Disability Ministries. I work remotely out of South Dakota, where I am also serving as a part-time interim pastor with a congregation.
As a person with a disability (spina bifida), this ministry is especially close to my heart and I’m excited for where God is leading us in 2022 and beyond.
Read MoreThe Lutheran movement has a distinctive voice. The world has been saved and redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and it’s not our effort but God’s. And it’s a gift! Bishop Eaton encourages us to revisit the small catechism this Reformation Day and recall the Lutheran exposition of the gospel.
Read MoreThe best stewardship campaign I ever planned was not done in the fall, but over Lent. I am writing this now in case anyone wants to think about doing it next spring.
About New Year’s I asked people to begin thinking about the most generous person they knew and to write a short story about what they had observed about that person that made them think that way.
Read MoreThe Evangelical Lutheran Church in America joins 14 other Churches and church-based organizations in a letter to Secretary of State Blinken to express concerns about the recent Israeli decision to label key Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations.” Read the letter as PDF or in this post.
Read MorePastor Kristin Engstrom writes to share her new call with ELCA Global Mission as the Facilitator for Leadership Development and Capacity Building with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia. She also celebrates four years of the YAGM Senegal program.
Her YAGM Senegal blog will remain online, and she is now posting to her new blog.
Read MoreHow long can you spend in silence? Did you know that God appears as “sheer silence” in the Bible? Learn why Bishop Eaton’s spiritual director recommends 20 minutes of silence each day as a faith practice.
Read MoreLike many of you, I have been praying for the Reformed Church in America (RCA) as it met in General Synod, Oct. 14-19, in Tucson, Ariz. For nearly a quarter century, we have grown in full communion with the RCA, sharing in mutual ministry and mission. We have come to know each other through our common witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Read MoreBishop Eaton reminds us that spending time in silence is a spiritual discipline, a way of being in God’s presence. Read her October column for Living Lutheran in English at https://bit.ly/3jfr8dL and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3n5x8ab.
Read MoreMost of you have heard of the ELCA’s goal to engage 1 million new, young, diverse members by the end of the decade. But what about the rest of us, the ones already engaged? Bishop Eaton has your answer.
Read MoreIt’s harvest season in various parts of the United States. I’m mindful of a parable Jesus shares about a harvest where the crops were infiltrated by weeds. Jesus compares the kindom of God to a farmer who sows good seed in his field. While everyone is sleeping, the enemy creeps in and sows weeds in this farmer’s field.
Read MoreJoin Bishop Eaton in giving thanks for this year’s Fund for Leaders recipients, a scholarship program which supports seminary students. We’re grateful for all future ministers, their confidence and courage to lead the church, and the ways they share the love of God in Christ with God’s people. Are you considering a call to ministry? Visit: elcaseminaries.org/
Read MoreOn Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate the heritage and contributions of Indigenous members of our church and society. Bishop Eaton also invites us into a time of confession and commitment.
We confess the church’s failure to address the racism that has so damaged Indigenous communities. We commit to working cooperatively to promote justice for Indigenous people, participating in acts of advocacy, practicing land acknowledgements and taking seriously the experiences of our Indigenous neighbors. Together we are all children of God, redeemed by Jesus, sustained by the Spirit.
Read MoreBut when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. —Matthew 6:3
Do you ever feel like neither your left or right hand know what to do about giving? Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the needs in the world and all the requests for money and help that you get knowing you don’t have the resources to help them all?
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