Give thanks that God knows us intimately and listens to our prayers, and that God is our rock, refuge and source of steadfast love in all circumstances and in all places.
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We all want to go back to in-person worship. We also want to be safe. We want our neighbors to be safe. Many have asked me when we can gather for in-person worship.
In a time of so many unknowns with so much at risk, I feel it would be ill-advised to project yet another date. As we decide when to proceed, I suggest we wait for the CDC guideline of a “downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period.”
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Pause throughout the day and give thanks for the simple things of creation that enrich your life and faith and fill you with joy and wonder.
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In a Zoom meeting with Bishop Ann Svennungsen of the Minneapolis Area Synod, Dr. Michael Osterholm advises us to be ready for months of uncertainty. You may have seen Dr. Osterholm and his rational and accurate pandemic forecasts on many news outlets. Not only is Osterholm an infectious disease epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, he is a plain-spoken ELCA member who cares deeply for the church.
“Sobering” is the most common word used to describe Dr. Osterholm’s advice to be ready for months of uncertainty. View at www.facebook.com/mplssynod/videos/619998971928161/.
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With no Covid-19 vaccine on the horizon, Women of the ELCA’s executive board voted to postpone the organization’s convention and gathering until August 2021. “We are postponing not canceling,” said Linda Post Bushkofsky, executive director of Women of the ELCA.
In the meantime, WELCA invites us to pray with Lutheran women across the church every Tuesday at noon.
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To support prayer practices in the home, ELCA Worship has provided these simplified forms of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. In addition to these three times of day we have provided Responsive Prayer, a simple order that may be adapted to a variety of times and contexts. Each of these services are adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
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Pray for our outdoor ministries and their year-round and summer staff, who are working to adapt their ministries, programs and ways of serving congregations and communities during these times of COVID-19.
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Remembering Jesus’ words to Thomas — “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” — we pray that they will empower us to embrace Jesus as the son of God and our salvation, and fill our lives with confidence to perform works of love, mercy, justice, truth and kindness.
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Pray that children and youth who suffer domestic abuse will experience the physical, emotional and spiritual care of concerned, skilled adults who intervene in their situations and help provide the safety, healing and trustworthy love for which they yearn.
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Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton gives her weekly message during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Allie Papke-Larson provides this update from the Shepherd of the Hills Youth Ministry in Flagstaff, which “has been discovering how to be a youth ministry in a time of COVID-19.”
“We have been gathering once a week as a middle school and high school group over Zoom, playing games, checking in with each other, and praying together. We began a youth community art project based on Micah 6:8, written letters to seniors living in lockdown, and are staying connected through sharing pictures and videos on a social media platform. While this time has been challenging, it has also allowed for connecting in new ways.”
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Give thanks for the work of the ELCA Domestic Mission unit, directors for evangelical mission, synod staff, coaches and consultants, and other partners assisting congregations as they renew themselves as communities of faith engaged in God’s mission ― locally and globally.
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With many people’s travel plans on hold across the country, the hospitality industry has been left with millions of empty hotel rooms. Many are concerned that the spread of the corona virus poses an inherent danger to the homeless, who stay in cramped shelters.
Many immigrants who are seeking asylum or citizenship in the United States have been put in detention centers and are also in danger of contracting the corona virus, by simply being placed in close proximity to others who are detained. Large cities are finding creative ways to use these empty hotel rooms to house the homeless or those recovering from corona virus.
Read More![Youth Gathering: Looking back… [a reflection of the 2018 Gathering]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bc35f5d7980b31e1c91ba1c/1588958359355-HIXA6O7JOE0MCKWWL3C9/Screen-Shot-2020-04-30-at-3.31.47-PM.jpg)
I had always grown up going to church and believing in something bigger, but I wasn’t overly passionate about my faith. At the airport, waiting to leave for the 2018 Gathering, a group of us decided to go to Starbucks and it was that moment when I realized this was a group of people who I knew I would make life changing memories with. I knew I was there for a purpose.
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You are invited to attend a free stewardship presentation by Evan Moilan, CFRE, entitled “Best Practices for Engaging Generosity in Uncertain Times” via Zoom on Monday, May 18, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. Please register in advance for this meeting. We have a large capacity for this meeting so please feel free to invite your stewardship committees, church councils, and anyone else interested.
Evan works with GSB Fundraising, and recently talked on one of the synod’s Zoom meetings with congregation presidents. His talk generated enough interest for a full seminar of best practices.
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Ask God to help us endure the risks and difficulties of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, doing good, working for justice and serving our neighbors in need.
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Yesterday for #GivingTuesdayNow, LSSN set an ambitious goal: to raise $10,000, the cost of only one of our biweekly COVID-19 Emergency DigiMart Distributions, in a single day. Thanks to your generosity and love for LSSN, we not only met but exceeded this goal, raising $15,369.24 in total!
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I see the sacrifices you are all making: giving up birthday parties, giving up attending funerals, sacrificing your freedoms by staying inside, giving up certainties and plans you once had about your futures, regular schedules that help keep you sane, getting together with those you love.
We are sacrificing these things for our community, to keep each other and ourselves healthy. In a very real way, we are protecting our neighbors.
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The news this month is pretty short, since we haven’t been able to meet. Our online art contest finished, and the winner did this knock-out mural. Congrats to @Guserblue of McAllen, Texas for this great piece.
Join us for weekly meetings on zoom. No agenda, just catching up with each other for the week, being there for each other.
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Many of us think of Easter as one day—a day of colorful clothes, full churches, and glorious music as we celebrate the Risen Christ. This year, we did not receive that glorious Sunday we expected.
As we swim through the Eastertide of this year, perhaps we can see we are being gifted with an Easter season rather than just one day, an Easter that continues to expand.
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