Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton gives her weekly message during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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We pray for first responders, who over the next several days will work around the clock and in increasing heat to contain the Bighorn Fire in Tucson. We lift up in prayer the people in the Catalina Foothills who are evacuating their homes in a time of pandemic.
“O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen”
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Take time to reflect on nature, humankind, the earth and the heavens above ― everything God has made ― and pray that we will stand in awe and thanksgiving to God, proclaiming God’s creation to be very good.
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Please keep Danny Pugh, husband of Pastor Chon Pugh of Bethlehem Lutheran in Mesa, in your prayers as he battles fast growing prostate cancer. May his doctors and their support staff be blessed with the wisdom and guidance to treat this.
By your power, great God, our Lord Jesus healed the sick and gave new hope to the hopeless. Though we cannot command or possess your power, we pray for those who want to be healed. Mend their wounds, soothe fevered brows, and make broken people whole again. Help us to welcome every healing as a sign that, though death is against us, you are for us, and have promised renewed and risen life in Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
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The Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin, who was elected in 2013 as the fourth bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and elected to a second term in 2019, will be leaving the bishopric as of July 31, 2020 and, beginning August 1, will serve United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, PA as its next president.
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In a segment entitled, “As a heat wave rolls through Phoenix, a church offers resources,” Fox 10 interviews Pastor Sarah Stadler on Grace Lutheran, Phoenix, adapting their heat respite program in time of coronavirus.
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Dr. Julia Lambert Fogg, Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University, has published a book: Finding Jesus at the Border, Opening Our Hearts to the Stories of Our Immigrant Neighbors. More info here »
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Because of coronavirus safety concerns, the 2020 Campformation planned for Camp Pine Rock in Prescott the week of July 5- 10, 2020, has been cancelled. For more info, visit the Campformation site.
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Esperanza Lutheran, Phoenix, has part-time openings for a Youth Ministry Coordinator.
For the youth ministry coordinator, they are seeking an engaging person who loves Jesus and teens to work directly with kids and also with other adults who serve in this ministry. More info in this Word doc.
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The Grand Canyon Synod Tech Lab is a weekly online Zoom conversation designed to spark possibilities as our church rapidly changes. Join us every Wednesday at 10 am with the link bit.ly/gcstechlab to access the Zoom meeting.
We’re all over-Zoomed, and Tech Lab is quick. Drop by for ten minutes or stay the full forty. Each lab starts with a ten-minute presentation, then a ten-minute Q&A with the presenter. The final 20 minutes are open forum.
Our first contributor is Pastor David Drach-Meinel, with Christ the Servant in Henderson, who has enough tech knowledge to present every Wednesday for a year. We’ll see what he can fit in ten minutes! More info: gcsynod.org/tech-lab.
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For quick comparison, we are using New York Times 7-day average graphs for each state in our synod: Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. As of June 4, 2020:
Arizona: 31,283 cases and 1,130 deaths.
Nevada: 10,403 cases and 458 deaths.
Utah: 12,986 cases and 128 deaths.
Navajo Nation: This week, 6,275 cases and 292 deaths. Last week, 5,661 cases and 259 deaths.
Hopi Nation: This week, 145 cases. Last week, 104 cases.
Dr. Michael Osterholm—certainly on everybody’s top 5 Lutheran epidemiologists list—has a weekly podcast through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
In the latest episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss the role that asymptomatic individuals might play in COVID-19 transmission, the issue of repeat PCR testing and "chronic infection," the latest updates on masks, and studies assessing the effectiveness of shutdowns in reducing illness. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play.
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ELCA Advocacy shares updates from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices. U.N. | Arizona | California | Colorado | Minnesota | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Texas | Washington | Wisconsin
Solveig Muus, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA) director, writes in part: “LAMA’s policy team continues to reach out to each of our 85 Arizona congregations to learn how we might serve their needs. One church at a time, we are learning what each is passionate about, what community ministries each supports, and where there might be an advocacy call to action.”
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Bishop Eaton notes that the “restrictions imposed by the pandemic have made it clear that people are searching for hope and meaning and love.” As those restrictions are eased, she urges us to assess the ways our congregations are witnesses to the transcendent, keeping in mind all those who worshiped with us online but may not walk into our churches.
“The problem comes when people confuse the sacred space with the Sacred,” she writes. “We must take care that our congregations don’t become idols.” Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3hgd0yo and in Spanish https://bit.ly/2YqYMSy.
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Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance as we work together and journey into the future as a thriving church, spreading the gospel and deepening faith for all people.
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On May 20, Cyclone Amphan made landfall in India and Bangladesh. It was the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. Amphan caused 128 deaths and the damage to homes and infrastructure made Amphan the costliest cyclone in the northern Indian Ocean. In Bangladesh and eastern India, millions were left without power, including the entire city of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. With Lutheran World Service India Trust, LDF is providing food to families in the Kolkata’s slums.
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For your individual or group devotion, you may choose to listen to the following choral recordings made available through Augsburg Fortress: “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”; “Our Mission Is to Follow Jesus”; “Creation’s Grandest Glory Stands.”
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“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” With humility and joy, give thanks and praise to God!
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Continue to pray for synod leaders making new plans for their assemblies with concern for the health and well-being of leaders, voting members and others. Pray that the Spirit will guide their plans and strengthen them in their work proclaiming the gospel, growing the church, serving our neighbor and doing God’s work in the world.
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