We share a letter from the ELCA Youth Ministry Network, who let us know “ELCA camps and outdoor ministry sites are in deep need right now and are asking for our help.”
The letter provides many great ways you and your ministry can support this vital ministry.
Read MoreDirectors of Lutheran summer camps from around the USA are eager to discuss opportunities for you at their camps. Get more info at lomnetwork.org or this post, and try out their Camp MatchUp app for an easy way for camps to connect with potential summer staff looking for a camp.
Read MoreMore than 1 billion people — nearly 15% of the world's population — experience some form of disability. In the United States alone, about 61 million, or 1 out of every 4 adults, live with at least one disability.
In her book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, Emily Ladau shares thoughts on how both nondisabled and disabled people can collectively make the world a more inclusive and accessible place. NPR’s Life Kit features an article and 17-minute listen featuring Ladau here.
Read MoreFor the people of Ukraine, for conscripted Russian soldiers, for war zone reporters, for the leaders of the nations…that all your beloved might live in safety and freedom from fear…
For bold, adaptive leadership in the face of urgent climate change…
For African students in Ukraine seeking refuge, for an end to racism everywhere…
For Chef José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen, for all humanitarian relief efforts…
For trans kids and their parents, for allies, for legislators
For all who despair, for all who dare still to hope…
Rev. Stephen Talmage, Love of Christ in Mesa, celebrates 37 years of ordination on March 10.
Rev. Talmage was Bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod from 2006 through 2017.
Read MoreWe introduce the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels, a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.
High level counties in our synod include: Apache, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Navajo, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Yuma. Medium level counties are Clark, Coconino, Maricopa, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma counties.
Read MoreBishop Hutterer attends the Conference of Bishops, with others in the Office of the Bishop attending leadership meetings and preparing for synod assembly. Photos from the Inauguration of Cal Lutheran president Lori E. Varlotta, as well as the Conference of Bishops, are also in this post.
Read MoreThe prophet Joel doesn’t hold back when sounding the alarm about the coming Day of the Lord in our Ash Wednesday reading. This year Joel’s alert sounds above the horror of the Putin regime’s invasion of Ukraine, a great and powerful army conducting an unprovoked attack against a neighboring state.
Read MoreBecause congregations and clergy have unique reporting requirements, Portico offers complimentary access to two annually updated guides: Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches PDF and Clergy Tax Return Preparation Guide PDF.
Read MoreThe Russian church hopes to reunite with the independent Ukrainian branch under a single patriarch in Moscow that would allow it to control the holiest sites of Orthodoxy in the Slavic world.
If Ukraine prevails against the Russian invasion, the Moscow church will all but certainly be ejected. If Russia wins, the Ukrainian church is unlikely to survive inside Ukraine. Read the full article at the New York Times.
Read MoreWe share a letter from Ambassador Daniel Speckhard, President and CEO of Lutheran World Relief, encouraging emergency gifts to deliver urgent support and care.
We also share a message from Rev. Lisa Kipp, with Lutheran World Relief’s Congregational Engagement, announcing that Nelsonville Lutheran Church in Wisconsin will double all gifts from congregations – up to $100,000 – for our neighbors suffering in the Ukraine crisis. You can give online at www.lwr.org/match.
Read MoreWe have a curious set of readings for this first Sunday of Lent. Biblical scholars believe that Deuteronomy 26:5-10 is a script for someone making an offering of what was called the “first fruits,” a religious practice for farming communities. These verses fit well with this somber season. Lent is, if nothing else, a time of looking backward and a time of looking forward.
Read MoreWe share Pastor Sarah Stadler’s letter to the Grace Lutheran congregation in Phoenix. We appreciate the letter’s thoughtfulness on the Ukraine conflict as we enter Lent, and the specific calls to action from Grace members’ brainstorming sessions.
Read MoreOn Feb. 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, launching land, sea and air attacks. Millions of civilians fleeing the violence are heading toward Ukraine’s western districts and neighboring countries.
In this post we share a letter from The Rev. Daniel Rift, Director, ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response Fund. You can support Urkainians and others by giving here.
Read MoreBishop Eaton provides a prayer as we enter Lent, and invites us to explore Now Is the Time: A Study Guide for ELCA Declaration to People of African Descent and ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving at ELCA.org/40Days.
Read MoreIt started in Canada. They called it the Freedom Convoy. Truckers driving in a convoy (a line of trucks all traveling in the same direction) began a noisy, horn-honking, but originally peaceful protest against the government’s requirement of COVID vaccinations for workers.
Read MoreWorshipWell offers a Turning, worship resources based on the Gospel of John. “Poring over the Lenten texts from John’s Gospel, we are dizzied by all of the turning: God turning toward humanity’s pain as Jesus weeps at raw and unbearable grief; Jesus turning Lazarus’ death into something confusingly hopeful; Jesus turning into a servant, turning clear water brown with the disciples’ gathered dust, turning them toward loving their neighbor.” Read an overview here and visit worship-well.com where this series is available at no cost.
Read MorePastor Kristin Engstrom, ELCA Global Missionary with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia, is glad to share with us her arrival in Zambia, “to begin my new call as an ELCA global missionary with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia (ELCZa). Thank you for all your prayers and support over these past months of waiting and anticipating my deployment to Zambia. I've written a new blog post about my first week in Zambia. You can find it here.”
Read MoreThe Associated Press provides an explainer on the role of religion in the Russia Ukraine war: “Even though Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine in part as a defense of the Moscow-oriented Orthodox church, leaders of both Ukrainian Orthodox factions are fiercely denouncing the Russian invasion, as is Ukraine’s significant Catholic minority.”
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Scott Hackler and the people of Spirit of Grace Lutheran Church in Surprise, part of the Cactus Conference. Visit their site at spiritofgrace.com, and their social media pages on Facebook and YouTube.
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