All are invited to online Epiphany 2 worship and the installation of Rev. Thaddeus M. Book at Desert Cross Lutheran Church, Tempe/Gilbert, on January 17, 2021, 10am MST, 11 am PST. A welcome reception will follow the installation on Zoom. Click to join the Zoom meeting. Download worship bulletin here.
Read MorePray for Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, members of the ELCA Church Council and the Conference of Bishops. Give thanks for their humble service, their faith in Christ, their leadership and gifts, and their commitment to wrestle with difficult decisions and issues for the sake of the church and the world.
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Leonard Hoffmann, Rev. Martha Neff Stum and the people of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Tucson, part of the Santa Cruz Conference. Visit their site at lutherantucson.org/, and their social media pages on Facebook and Youtube.
Read MoreFollowing the death of his wife Kay, we pray for Pastor Vernon Victorson and family. Kay Victorson died Monday, January 4, 2021. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in April, 2020. As Pastor Victorson shared, "The strife is o'er, the battle done; Now is the victor's triumph won! Now be the song of praise begun. Alleluia!"
There are no plans for a service until after the pandemic, when a memorial celebration will be held at First Lutheran in Albany, New York.
Eternal God, your love is stronger than death, and your passion more fierce than the grave. We rejoice in the lives of those whom you have drawn into your eternal embrace. Keep us in joyful communion with them until we join the saints of every people and nation gathered before your throne in your ceaseless praise, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Read MoreApplications are actively being accepted for Lutheran Summer Music 2021. Consider the young musicians in your congregation who would thrive at LSM, making music, building community, and growing creatively in their faith. Nominate a student online to connect them with LSM Admissions and help them learn more.
Read MoreThis PDF resource from ELCA explores the role of the congregation council: to assess and shape strategic and long-term direction, protect church unity and oversee administrative functions of the church.
Being elected to a congregation council carries with it the respect and trust of your congregation. Learn some of the functions and responsibilities of the congregation council’s positions.
Read MoreNational Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month We remember and pray for victims of sex trafficking, involuntary servitude, debt bondage and forced labor in our nation and around the world, and we ask God’s guidance in caring for victims and actively working to end this abuse, injustice and oppression.
Read MoreIncorporate care for creation into your worship life. Lutherans Restoring Creation is offering substantive care-for-creation reflections on the lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, 2020-2021.
These commentaries are exegetically-based, theologically sound, creative in their ecological exploration of the text’s potential, and effective in articulation. These are not add-ons, but an integral part of the exposition of the text itself.
Read MoreIt’s a new year, and a good time to remember the ELCA's environmental commitment from our social statement Caring for Creation, available in Spanish and English.
Read an introduction or a brief summary if you’re busy. Engage with the study guide, and order multiple copies of the social statement click here.
Read MoreGive thanks and praise to God that we are children of God, knowing and testifying to the good news that Jesus Christ became flesh and lived among us, and that we have seen the glory of God’s only son, full of grace and truth for the world.
Read MoreIn this week’s Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA), we explore Lutheran Campus Ministry Chapel at West Virginia University, where pastor Tony Setley explains how he draws students in, and shares the story of rent-free homes for people discerning calls to ministry.
Read MorePray for our companion churches and international leaders as they confront multiple waves of the pandemic. Ask the Spirit to fill them with hope, resilience and reassurance that our faith in the presence and love of God, which we share as siblings in Christ, will unify us in caring for one another and in doing God’s work in the world, using our diverse gifts, cultures, languages, resources and perspectives in every circumstance.
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Brian Cain and the people of Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Gilbert, part of the Rio Salado Conference. Visit their site at spiritofjoygilbert.org, and their Youtube page.
Read MoreGive thanks and praise that God knows intimately our complexities, failures, accomplishments, questions, goals and hopes, and still looks upon us with loving kindness, newness and a desire for us to thrive as individuals and communities.
Read MoreNew Year’s Eve A new year can offer hope and enthusiasm for starting anew, or it can bring fear and despair stirred by our human weaknesses and failures. Ask God to help us achieve our new endeavors and resolutions and reground ourselves in God’s grace, forgiveness and newness when we fall short of our expectations and goals. Ask the Spirit to help us encourage, assist and surround with grace people who stumble or whose confidence is unsteady.
Read MoreAs we begin a new year, we thank you for the ministry we share as the Grand Canyon Synod. We thank you for the honor of serving you. We give thanks for God’s creation and new creation.
Sovereign of the universe, your first covenant of mercy was with every living creature. When your beloved Son came among us, the waters of the river welcomed him, the heavens opened to greet his arrival, the animals of the wilderness drew near as his companions. With all the world’s people, may we who are washed into new life through baptism seek the way of your new creation, the way of justice and care, mercy and peace; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Read MoreWe end our year grateful for all of the leaders of the Grand Canyon Synod, and especially celebrate those with ordination anniversaries in 2020, as well as the newly ordained, in this video from earlier in the year.
Read MoreCalifornia Lutheran University’s 6-week FAB Winter Session begins on Jan. 19, and registration is now open! For more information visit: callutheran.edu or this PDF.
Courses include: History of Women Artists, America and the Cold War, American Life Through Broadway Musicals, Pioneer Women of the Movies, and more!
Read MoreThe Grand Canyon Women of the ELCA present the Winter Gather Bible Study on January 23rd, 2021 from 9am to noon MST.
We invite you to join us and Rev. Christa von Zychlin to “Journey with Angels” by exploring the Bible in search for angels and God’s calls to action. Register here for this free event. Registration open through Jan. 21, 2021. English-to-Spanish closed captioning available.
Read MoreListen to devotional music available through Augsburg Fortress: “On Hills of Bethlehem;” “This Little Light of Mine;” “O Laughing Light.”
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