One of my favorite Sunday school songs is “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man” (“And a wee little man was he”). I love teaching the actions to kids and watching them light up at the seeming silliness of the story—from pretending to climb the tree to peering down at Jesus as Zacchaeus to looking up at Zacchaeus as Jesus.
Read MoreAs you vote early or make your plan to vote, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offers this message in advance of Election Day. Thank you for making informed and faithful decisions for your community, and congratulations to the first-time voters!
Read MoreChristian Nationalism identifies human-made governments as lockstep with God’s will and seeks to privilege Christians, typically only white Christians. This type of ideology is not only dangerous but distorts the difference between holding government accountable to God as opposed to identified strictly with God’s will. We must stand against Christian Nationalism and as that you join us in signing the petition and sharing your stance by visiting the Christians Against Christian Nationalism site.
Read MoreOur synod is blessed with a rich tapestry of people, land, and history. How do we move forward as church together, honoring and including so many cultures?
This is what we set out to explore at our latest retreat of the synod council, conference deans, and Office of the Bishop staff.
Read MoreOn Reformation Day and in this video from Bishop Eaton, we celebrate the five hundred and fifth anniversary of the Reformation! Over five hundred years later, the Lutheran movement is alive and well, as the good news is proclaimed in languages and places Martin Luther never knew existed.
Read MoreFor me, this awareness month/s isn’t about simply learning what spina bifida is or saying how “inspiring” disabled people are. (Just don’t say that…seriously. We’re human. Just as faulted, sinful, loving, and capable as you.) It’s about making we who follow Christ aware of the beauty in this diverse community.
Read MoreThe pandemic is not over, and we encourage you to get vaccinated and boosted (and to encourage your neighbors to do the same), not just for you, but for your family, your community, and your faith.
Read MoreSt. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Oak Harbor, Ohio: Elementary general music teacher
“Attending church with my mom and grandparents is one of my earliest memories. My grandmother would hold me on her lap and rock me during the church service. Today I still hold this memory close to my heart, as I always felt safe and loved in her arms.”
Read MoreIt is my prayer that each of you had a wonderful Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and that as you looked around you saw more and more non-Indigenous people observing this holiday in ways that lifted up the gifts and beauty of the Indigenous people in what is presently known as the United States.
Read MoreMonday, October 10, 2022, we observe Indigenous Peoples' Day, an opportunity to honor Indigenous Peoples and celebrate all the vital gifts that they offer to Creation from their cultures, traditions, theology, wisdom, creativity, ingenuity and so much more.
Read More“We should look to see what God is doing in our lives but with the knowledge that God isn't out to get us but God is there to guide us, comfort us, perhaps sometimes to challenge us but always to be leading us in the right direction and caring for us along the way.”
View this month’s Cup of Generosity in this post or in this PDF.
Read MoreThe Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem issued a statement in support of HM King Abdullah II following his speech at the UN Assembly in NY on September 20, 2022. The speech raised concerns about threats to the Christian presence in Jerusalem.
Read MoreAccompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO) responds to recent arrivals of migrants by bus.
“Those who cross through our country to get to a better place to live are human beings with needs who eat, who drink and who need to rest. Let us not allow rejection and xenophobia to be more visible than God’s great acts of justice and love” —Moises Perez Espino, Biblical Studies; Old Testament and Migration
Read MoreAgain, we are gathering.
For those of us who are blessed with the health to gather in-person, we are increasingly finding ourselves grouped up again: in meeting rooms, around altars, in schools and universities, and around dinner tables. We look ahead to busy seasons of Thanksgiving and Advent with familiar feelings of hope and sometimes dread, along with some new emotions.
Read MoreIn her September, 2022 column for Living Lutheran, Bishop Eaton writes: “In Christ we are individually members one of another. Sometimes we might feel like we are stuck with each other. This is the great mystery and beauty of the wounded body of Christ—we are woven together.” Read in English at https://bit.ly/3RUS2a5 and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3f1BfDT.
Read MoreI moved to Minnesota in July 1998 after graduating from Waldorf University, Forest City, Iowa (then the ELCA’s Waldorf College). I’d heard there was a congregation in Minneapolis that had a Swahili service in the afternoon. The day I visited, I knew right away that I’d found my church.
Read MoreThis September brings with it a heavy joy. Every year the calendar’s turn to Labor Day and the weather’s switch to rain and chill bring us back from the fun of summer.
But years in the shadow of a global pandemic have called our attention to the same questions that Jesus poses in this month’s Gospel readings.
Read MoreHappy National Hispanic Heritage Month! As we celebrate, I can’t help reflecting on what is being celebrated: independence, legacy and identity. As far as my own identity, I grew up, like many Puerto Ricans, hearing the poems and songs that claim we all have a Black grandma hidden away somewhere. There was this shared idea among the people in my life that, no matter how hard we try to hide it, somewhere in our DNA we are all Black.
Read MoreTwo thirds of everything Jesus said related to money and not because Jesus cared about money but because Jesus cares about us and our spiritual welfare. He taught us that where our treasure is there will our heart be also. And Jesus wants our hearts.
Read MoreTotal Inclusion was launched in 2020 after some lead up work by the ELCA and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries (LOM). The goal of Total Inclusion is to enrich the lives of youth from traditionally marginalized groups by creating a welcoming and safe experience for them at ELCA affiliated camps.
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