Bishop Eaton: A Statement on the Killing of Tyre Nichols

As the nation watches another video exposing police violence against a Black man after a traffic stop, there will be great suffering and despair emerging from across the United States. In just over a week we have witnessed mass gun violence in California – twice – and the shooting of a protester at a future police training site in Atlanta.  Each of these tragedies inspires grief, not only for the lives lost and forever altered but also for our loss of confidence in a system that continues to fail us, over and over.

Bishop Eaton, ELCA, Letters, NewsBrian FlatgardJanuary 29, 2023Racial JusticeComment

Bishop Eaton and Abrahamic Leaders Condemn Anti-Christian Hate in the Holy Land

We stand together as Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders in the United States to condemn the recent rise in anti-Christian hate in the Holy Land, including the vandalism of a Protestant cemetery on Jan. 1, and graffiti threatening "Death to Christians" that appeared last week both in and near the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem.

These and other actions taken to erase the presence of Christians in the Holy Land, which would be devastating to us all. May the God of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar comfort our Christian siblings in the place we all believe is holy and give us courage as we speak with one voice against religious bigotry.

Bishop Eaton statement on the ordination of the first female Palestinian pastor in the Holy Land

On Sunday the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) will for the first time ordain a woman into pastoral ministry, Sally Azar. I invite you to join in the celebration by watching this short documentary about what women’s ordination means for the ELCJHL, and the livestream of the ordination service, which will begin at 7 a.m. Central time.

Katie Langston: Operation Cookie Conversations

Pastor Katie Langston, pastor of mission and outreach at New Promise Lutheran Church in St. George, Utah, shares her adventures in delivering cookies to the church’s neighbors.

“Operation Cookie Conversations” was the product of the question, “What would happen if we tried to talk to the neighbors near us?”

Angela T. !Khabeb: King’s theological legacy

King’s theology is many things. It is dynamic, revolutionary and loving. But above all, his theology was actually lived, providing us with a theological legacy of a Christian answer to racism, segregation, violence and other evils. King’s daughter, Bernice, describes his life as a “walking sermon inspired by God.”

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardJanuary 17, 2023Living Lutheran, MLK, Racial Justice Comments

Prayers for the Fulfillment of King’s Dream by Rev. Dr. Andrea L. Walker

I was 4 years old when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I was too young to understand the import of his words while he lived. Yet I remember the importance of those words, his struggles and his assassination to the Black community as I grew up in Chester, Penn. The community felt he was one of theirs. Not only was he a marvelous young African American preacher and civil rights leader, but he was also educated at Crozer Theological Seminary, just up the road in Upland, Penn.

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardJanuary 17, 2023Racial Justice Ministries, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries, Racial JusticeComment

Rev. Steven Holm: Reflections on Race and Caste

In the winter of 1959, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta, came to India for a month-long stay as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He had long wanted to visit the land of Gandhi, the man he considered to be the father of nonviolent protest.

According to Isabel Wilkerson, author of the book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Dr. King was taken to visit high school students who came from Untouchable families. There he received the following introduction from the principal. “Young people, I would like to present to you a fellow untouchable from the United States of America.”

Grand Canyon Synod, LettersBrian FlatgardJanuary 12, 2023Racial Justice Comments

ELCA presiding bishop issues message on death of Pope Benedict XVI

Yesterday we awoke to the news of the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. As part of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), we mourn his death and celebrate his life eternal in Christ Jesus.

Bishop Eaton, ELCA, Letters, NewsBrian FlatgardJanuary 3, 2023Ecumenical and Inter-Religious RelationsComment

Bishop Hutterer: Thank you for the many blessings of 2022!

Before you review our year-end newsletter, I want to express my deep gratitude for all you have done through your actions and ministries to make our synod and our world a better place. As you scroll through each month’s highlights, I hope you’ll vividly see all the ways we are Church Together.

I also want to thank all of you for your generous giving and support to our synod through your benevolence dollars, half of which goes to our ELCA Churchwide organization. In your name, the three expressions of the ELCA acts around the world, as well as in your local ministries. Your generosity has allowed us to continue the important work of communicating Jesus, connecting people, and creating possibilities.

Bishop Hutterer, Letters, Grand Canyon SynodBrian FlatgardDecember 27, 2022Growing Generosity AppealComment

Reflections on Christmas at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Lenny stands next to the bank of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. He can see the U.S. from where he stands in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, but he can’t get there. A former soldier in the Venezuelan armed forces, he decided to leave his home country looking for greater opportunities.

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardDecember 27, 2022Immigration and Refugees, AMMPARO, 2022 Advent and ChristmasComment

A Cup of Generosity: December, 2022

"When you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Matthew 6:3

It occurred to me the other day as I was trying to work with a budget app that my daughters had talked me into, that sooner or later your left hand is going to figure out what your right hand is doing.

View this month’s Cup of Generosity in this post or in this PDF.

Letters, Grand Canyon SynodBrian FlatgardDecember 21, 2022Stewardship, A Cup of Generosity, GCS Stewardship TeamComment

Current sign-on letters from ELCA Advocacy

One timely way we can act as ELCA is to sign on with others to offer pointed comments to decision makers when developments demand. ELCA Advocacy shares this updates list of sign-on letters.

Letters, News, Resources, ELCABrian FlatgardDecember 13, 2022Advocacy, ELCA AdvocacyComment

Bishop Hutterer: The liminal season

We are in the midst of Advent, our season of waiting. In our church calendar of birth, death, and resurrection, we are entering a new year. We are waiting for prophecies to be fulfilled in the form of a lowly birth. In our secular calendar, our norms are interrupted by the holidays, friends, families, and year-end projects. We are waiting for the New Year, hoping for better. And we are a people who do not like waiting.

There is a concept that describes these in-between times and places, called a liminal space.

Pastor Matthew Zemanick: Advent, Disaster and Apocalypse

This season of Advent begins with apocalypse, revelation. Contrary to the popular and colloquial use of the term apocalypse, it does not mean “end of the world.” Quite literally, apocalypse means revelation, pulling [the curtain] away.

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardDecember 2, 20222022 Advent and Christmas, Lutheran Disaster ResponseComment

Bishop Hutterer: The jar that will not empty

In our synod, we are blessed with an abundance of ministries that focus on hunger. From the advocacy work of LAMA and LEAN to the many food banks and outreach efforts of many of our ministries, we are a synod that works in many ways to end food insecurity.

During this Thanksgiving, as we are grateful for the bounties we share, I hope you find time to listen to the ways God calls you to be both the giver and receiver of bread and faith.

DeAnna Quietwater Noriega: Who Are You!

We share this post from DeAnna Quietwater Noriega, who is half Apache and a quarter Chippewa. She is the mother of three, two daughters and an adopted blind son. She was the eldest of five children in a close–knit American Indian family. As a result of congenital glaucoma, she became totally blind at the age of eight.

ALAMEH Statement on Iran

ALAMEH (Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage) released a issued a statement on current events in Iran. Read it here or in full in this post.

“Zan. Zendegi. Azadi. Woman. Life. Freedom. These are the words Iranian citizens have been shouting from the streets throughout Iran for the last several weeks. Iranians took to the streets to protest the murder of a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini.”

ELCA, Letters, NewsBrian FlatgardNovember 18, 2022Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH)Comment

Kimberly Knowle-Zeller: I am good

I invited the youth to write down all the things they could think of that were good. I told them to keep writing, not to lift up their pens, and to list as many things—big and small—that felt good to them. Once we finished sharing, I asked one question: Did anyone include themselves on the list? I met their eyes and saw surprise and many heads shaking. Not one had added their name to their list of good things.

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardNovember 14, 2022Living LutheranComment

Dorothy C. Bass: On the playground, grace steps in

When I met Mark, his first marriage had failed, as had mine, but his love and commitment toward his young daughter, Kristen, were unshakable. When we married, she became a full-fledged member of our new family, and I became a stepmother.

The time and increasing closeness Kristen and I shared brought me immense joy. Even so, I often felt insecure as she came and went on a schedule beyond my control, always returning to the care of a woman whose claim and closeness far outweighed my own.

ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardNovember 11, 2022Living LutheranComment