When the men’s basketball team from Stephen F. Austin arrived in Durham, NC on November 26, 2019 to play the number one ranked Duke Blue Devils, no one outside of Stephen F. Austin’s players and fans expected the game to be close.
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Christmas ornaments are available from the ELCA that include the beloved expression “You Belong” in four different languages, in braille, in sign language, and accompanied by the LGBTQ symbol. Your purchase supports grants being paid to congregations and synods as they work toward greater engagement of members living with disabilities. Visit our online store to order the star or round ornament.
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“Stories of Faith in Action” is an annual publication highlighting how God changes lives through the ministries funded by your congregation’s unrestricted offering of Mission Support.
The publication and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly congregational offering is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. Stories, videos, bulletin inserts and an infographic explaining “Where Does My Offering Go?” are available at ELCA.org/SOFIA.
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View a Christmas video message from Bishop Eaton, or download a PDF in Spanish or in English.
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In this video, high school students share about their experience learning at the Lutheran Schools in the Holy Land. The 4 ELCJHL schools (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land) start with preschool and continue to Grade 12.
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“Don’t go wishing your life away.” I can remember how hard my eyes rolled when my mom said this to me for the umpteenth time. She was driving me home from driver’s ed and I was laying out my life plan with clarity and ease. I was sure that once I had my driver’s license the problems of 15.75 year-old me would go away completely! Isn’t that how it works? Driver’s license = freedom and freedom = doing whatever I wanted!
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ELCA Advocacy brings their December Update: U.N. and State Edition, with news from: U.N. | Colorado | Minnesota | New Mexico | Pennsylvania | Texas | Washington | Wisconsin.
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The ELCA is responding as stewards of God’s good creation, and we need more #CreationCareAmbassadors. You can learn more on Dec. 11 from the free webinar “ELCA Caring for God’s Creation Today: Pass It On!”
The moment is now. The opportunities are many. The resources exist and are expanding. Learn how you can make a difference through this webinar hosted by ELCA Advocacy on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM MST. Maybe being a #CreationCareAmbassador is for you: facebook.com/pg/elcaadvocacy/events/.
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The 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) is underway in Madrid, Spain, and an unprecedented number of people from the ELCA are present as part of an ELCA Advocacy delegation – including Lutheran state public policy office directors, young adult leaders, global companions and members of the Lutherans Restoring Creation network.
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Today, many scientists see our changing weather patterns, diminished arctic ice, increasing ocean temperatures, 500-year floods every four years, mass extinctions, and forest fires as desperate calls to action. Just a century ago, miners kept caged birds in the tunnels to warn of deadly mine gasses. According to climate activists, nations and industries are ignoring the warning signs and heading deeper into the mine.
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In her December column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reflects on the mystery of the season: the expectation and longing of Advent and the true gifts of Christmas—“the helpless baby in a wooden manger, a broken man on a cross.” Read her column in English and in Spanish.
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The circuit preacher was an idea of the frontier past. Now it’s the cutting-edge response to shrinking churches.
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Michael Martin was serving as a Mennonite youth pastor when news of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School came as a “breaking news” story on his car radio. The news touched and troubled Pastor Martin deeply. As he went about his ministry he couldn’t shake the story and a feeling that he had to do something. A short time later Martin knew what he had to do.
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What boundless: God beyond measure means to me is such a powerful feeling that it’s difficult to put into words. To have a God that’s boundless is to have a God that accepts and loves us all, no matter what we look like, who we love, or what we’ve done.
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These petitions are offered as guides to prayer for the global, social and outreach ministries of the ELCA, as well as for the needs and circumstances of our neighbors, communities and world. Thank you for your continued prayers for the life and mission of this church. Download a Word doc, or PDF for letter size printout or legal size printout, or view the ELCA resource page.
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“Compassion” is the heart of Jesus’ life, the word literally means ‘to suffer with’ someone. The 13th century theologian Meister Eckhart said that the best name for Jesus might just be “Son of compassion.”
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“Died in the line of duty.” How often have we heard these sad but somehow inspiring words? This time they were said two weeks ago about firefighter Lieutenant Jason Menard, thirty-nine year-old husband and father of three, on his last day of duty before going with them on vacation to Disney World. Doing what he was trained to do, put out fires and rescue people, he was trapped with other firefighters in a burning home in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. Responding to a distress call and hearing that others might be still in the burning house, Menard and two others went looking to make sure everyone was safe. It was reported that as things got difficult, Menard helped his two comrades get to safety. He could have rushed out on his own. He chose, instead, to risk his own life so that their lives could be saved. He made the ultimate sacrifice.
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Author Torbjørn Greipsland has written or edited 18 books on topics ranging from emigration to Christian artists to the Norwegian royal family. For his latest, To the Ends of the Earth (Ventura, 2017), he set out to document what he considered an underappreciated aspect of his country’s history: Norway’s contributions to missionary work around the globe.
In doing so, he came to realize just how in sync Norwegian American missionaries were with the ELCA—even those who served well over a century ago. “As the ELCA does today, so did the pioneers,” Greipsland said. Both aspired to build schools, provide health care and bolster indigenous Christians in leadership.
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Steve Thomason faced a massive blank canvas, his back to the congregation, and opened his arms wide, lifted his head and prayed. He was preparing to accept whatever God wanted to come out of his hands and onto the canvas.
Then, like a tennis player with a winning shot, his right arm swung forward and dotted the canvas with specks of smoky paint.
While the congregation sung and spoke the “Seven Last Words of Christ” cantata, Thomason—whose vocations of artist and pastor have merged for decades—transformed his first vigorous splashes of paint into a journey of Jesus to the crucifixion. Many watching were so mesmerized that when a video projection prompted them to leave quietly, they simply sat and stared at what they had seen, taking in what it did to them emotionally and spiritually.
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When Charles (not his real name) knocks on our church door during the week, he sometimes wants to play the piano, often requests food and bus fare or asks to use the phone, and always leaves with the benediction “Love you.”
On Sunday, when the door is unlocked and staffed with an attendant, Charles will get coffee and treats, chat cheerily with people and perhaps interrupt the steady bubbling of table conversation with some improvisation on the baby grand in our fellowship hall. His vulnerability and dignity are evident in his daily struggles with mental health issues and bureaucratic public assistance.
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