Mark your calendar for Sunday, Sept. 12, when congregations of the ELCA will come together for “God’s work. Our hands.” We’re not sure what the impact of this pandemic will look like in September, but we continue to be church together.
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Pastor Joann Conroy & Pastor Manuel Retamoza from the American Indian / Alaska Native Lutheran Association offer prayers for this Earth Day 2021 “to honor this great creation and to give thanks for this great land upon which we live.”
“We remember the passion of the wind, the rhythm of water, the warmth of fire, and the touch of your son on the skin of life. Awaken us this Earth Day to live in the fullness of your dream, seeing you, great Creator, emerging in our gift of imagination and incarnate in the night of our thought.”
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ELCA congregations interested in raising funds for their feeding ministry through ELCA World Hunger’s online platform, matched with a $500 grant, can register and apply in ELCA GrantMaker starting Monday, April 26, 2021.
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The Weekly Online Gathering for ELCA Leaders concludes (at least for a while) this Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 11am MST and PDT. Links to the meeting at elcacoaching.org, as well as archives. Join Zoom meeting here.
We are feeling the Spirit invite us to END WELL what has been... serving over 5,300 leaders in 60 gatherings in 13 months, with more accessing the recordings every day... and DREAM about what might be next.
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Lutherans Restoring Creation provides five ways congregations and individuals can participate in Earth Day.
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The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minnesota police officer charged with the killing of George Floyd, has riveted our national attention these past weeks, and now a verdict has been reached. Together with people around the world, we have anticipated the jury's decision with troubled hearts. As members of the community of Jesus, we affirm that "if one member suffers, all suffer together with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26, NRSV).
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Your congregation is invited to apply for an Open Doors grant to support your ministries as we resume in-person worship and gatherings.
How can we meet new people, especially as we crave community following a time of unprecedented isolation? How might we stay connected with people who have not visited our church buildings but joined us online? Have an idea? Apply and learn more at ELCA.org/OpenDoors.
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For 38 years, Mark and Linda Jacobson have worked in the health field in Tanzania, becoming our church’s longest-serving missionaries. Their powerful story is now available for streaming in the new documentary Kuambatana, which means accompaniment in Kiswahili.
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Stanley Enzweiler is the Program Manager of St. Matthew Trinity’s Lunchtime Ministry, which offers a warm meal, hospitality and community to neighbors in Hoboken, New Jersey.
In this post, Stanley reflects on the uncertainty and stress the community faced in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic – and on the hope, hard work and perseverance that has kept Lunchtime Ministry going.
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The Grand Canyon Synod invites you to an informational Zoom meeting, April 28, 2021, at 1 pm MST/PDT, regarding current and upcoming grant possibilities from ELCA. Our churchwide office guests are Julianna Glassco and Iain Chester, who will present grants from Domestic Hunger and Open Doors. Please register here.
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After witnessing acts of violence this week, particularly against Black and Brown people, Bishop Eaton reminds us of all the ways our church has committed to do justice—on racism, on health care, on education, on immigration—but implores us to do more. Work for change. Get in contact with your neighbors, communities, lawmakers and officials. The same liberating gospel that sets us free from sin sets us free to serve our neighbor.
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The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America welcomes the opportunity to share its Greening the Parish Resource Page with the ELCA. Designed for both the parish and home, this page provides resource material for navigating and fulfilling our vocation as stewards of creation and working towards greening our churches together on a personal level.
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The application window for the 2022 ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grants is now open. Visit ELCA.org/domestichungergrants to learn more about the grants and how to apply.
Organizations applying for an ELCA grant for the first time must register by setting up an account in ELCA GrantMaker in order to access the Domestic Hunger Grant application.
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Lutheran campus ministry (LCM) can sometimes be an afterthought to the greater church. I spent my whole life in Lutheran congregations and had never heard of campus ministry before coming to Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. However, LCM has been a vital part of the Lutheran community since the ministry’s inception in 1907 as a community “to attend to the needs of students.” Read more at Living Lutheran.
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Congress is currently considering two competing bills which would codify civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals in the United States, the Equality Act (H.R. 5) and the Fairness for All Act (H.R. 5331). The Equality Act has passed the House of Representatives and is now being considered by the Senate. One of the most significant points of dispute is how the two bills would treat religious objections.
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The 2021 Earth Day theme, "Restore Our Earth," reminds us of the holy work God entrusts to us — of seeking the well-being of creation as inseparable from the wholeness of humankind. En Español tambien.
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But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24 NRSV).
The last 16 days have been a microcosm of the original sins of racism and white supremacy in the United States. As an anti-racist church that condemns white supremacy, we acknowledge these injustices.
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Prompted to remember those who have died of the virus, Bishop Azar launched a memorial to plant an olive or native tree for every person lost to COVID-19. The Tree of Life initiative was announced in December and launched in late March. The initiative is managed the Environmental Education Center, an educational ministry of the ELCJHL. Read the full Lutheran World Federation story here.
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On Monday, April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged in a concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany, for his role in a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. A week earlier, on April 1, the wider world had celebrated the news that Jesus “is not here; for he has been raised” (Matthew 28:6).
Read more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s subversive witness in Living Lutheran.
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In her April column for Living Lutheran, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton writes about Easter and Earth Day, reminding us that we are redeemed, reconciled and reunited in the beauty of the Creator’s loving handiwork.
Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3uR9fFu and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3wXV9UA.
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