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.
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We 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.
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Bishop 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.
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We 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.
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Pastor 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.”
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We 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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In their most recent newsletter, Navajo Lutheran Mission Executive Director and Pastor Kate Adelman shares how sustainable solutions are created when love reframes the conversation.
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As we prepare for our 2022 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly on June 10-11, 2022, we again ask your help in sharing your story. Mission and ministry partners to the Grand Canyon Synod are asked to provide your ministry’s story in a way that works best for you.
We’ll again feature our stories as stand-alone news items in the lead-up to our 2022 assembly. Each story will appear in our blog, Facebook page, and weekly newsletter. We’ll also have an assembly page compiling all our stories. Bonus points if you work in our assembly theme: Stirred Up in the Spirit!
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We pray for Rev. Patricia Lowe and the people of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Prescott Valley, part of the High Country Conference. Visit their site at emmanuellutheranpv.org, and their social media pages on Facebook and YouTube.
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As part of our Monday meetings, the Office of the Bishop staff recently discussed The Forgotten Luther, a series of three books edited variously by Carter Lindberg, Paul Wee, Ryan P. Cumming, and Conrad Braaten.
True to its name, the premise of the series is to reclaim the Martin Luther’s oft-forgotten voice for socio-economic justice. Martin Luther addressed the crises of the day on the basis of Scripture with pioneering theology. The series calls us to do the same.
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Gracious God, grant peace among nations. Cleanse from our own hearts the seeds of strife: greed and envy, harsh misunderstandings and ill will, fear and desire for revenge. Make us quick to welcome ventures in cooperation among the peoples of the world, so that there may be woven the fabric of a common good too strong to be torn by the evil hands of war. In the time of opportunity, make us be diligent; and in the time of peril, let not our courage fail; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Ascension Lutheran Church in Paradise Valley is hosting a panel discussion on refugee resettlement, Thursday, 3/10/2021, 1 – 2:30 pm. View flyer here.
The panel will consist Connie Phillips and Charlotte Shurtz of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, and Solveig Muus with Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona. RSVP at alcpv.org under special events or call the office at (480) 948-6050.
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We are pleased to announce that our visiting Churchwide representative for the 2022 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly is Rev. Louise Johnson, whose role with the ELCA is Executive for Administration.
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Rev. Christopher Heller, Mountain View Lutheran in Phoenix, celebrates 12 years on February 28.
Rev. Jeremy Nausin, Holy Spirit Lutheran in, Las Vegas, celebrates 7 years on March 1.
Rev. Elaine Watskey, retired, celebrates 19 years on March 1.
Rev. Timothy Wright, Community of Grace Lutheran in Peoria, celebrates 38 years on March 4.
New coronavirus cases have declined more than 80 percent from their peak in mid-January. Still, daily case reports remain well above 100,000 per day in the US.
Fully vaccinated rates remain at roughly 60% of our synod’s population. All counties are at extremely high levels of risk for unvaccinated people.
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Bishop Hutterer travels out of state for events, with others in the Office of the Bishop preaching and attending leadership meetings. Photos from Bishop Hutterer’s visit to Our Saviour's Lutheran in Buckeye are also in this post.
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Former Bishop Lowell Almen brings our attention to Madagascar, where for the fifth time in six weeks, heavy rain and destructive wind are blowing in from the Indian Ocean: “Sitting off the coast of southeastern African, the island seems to escape the attention of much of the world.”
In this post, we pray for the people of the Malagasy Lutheran Church (part of the Lutheran World Federation) and the whole population of the island of Madagascar.
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Grace Lutheran Church, Phoenix, seeks a caretaker to clean, oversee property maintenance and repair, set up for events, and provide hospitality to outside groups. Read the job description in this post, or as a Word doc or PDF.
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Lord of Grace Lutheran Church in Tucson is giving away 65 regular print NIV bibles and 35 large print NIV bibles, as well as a conference table (heavy table with a wobbly leg, will need reinforcement, 94” x144”).
Need to pick up in Tucson at Lord of Grace Lutheran Church. Office hours Monday-Friday, 9am to 1pm. Call Niki to work out the details. (520) 744-7400.
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Openings are still available for the Grand Canyon Synod Holy Land Trip, led by Bishop Deborah K. Hutterer and Rev. Mark Holman.: January 2-11, 2023. View information on the trip here and view a PDF here.
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