We pray for Rev. Timothy Nybroten and the people of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Oro Valley, part of the Santa Cruz Conference. Visit their site at orovalley.org, and their Facebook page.
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After a Covid hiatus, Open Space returns, and Pastor Lars Hammar shares their January 2022 newsletter. View in this post, online, or via PDF.
“I am reminded of how many times the people of God had to restart things in the scripture: exiles, temples destroyed, regime changes, and yet, somehow, God always finds a way. And I believe we can too. Our mission stays the same: to reach urban young adults with art. What, exactly, that looks like, will be the fun part to find out.”
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For continued relief and recovery efforts after tornadoes and storms…
For those separated from loved ones and congregations revising and canceling plans in order to stay healthy during this season of Covid…
For all approaching a new year with hope and optimism…
For all who struggle with addiction, disordered eating, or body image…
For healthcare workers and support staff in their second pandemic winter…
For the very young and all others who are unable to access or receive vaccines…
For everyone who envisioned this holiday season differently than how it turned out…
But the angel said to them,
‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.’
—Luke 2:10
May the Good News of Jesus be great joy for you and our world. Christmas peace,
—Bishop Deborah Hutterer and the Grand Canyon Synod office staff
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Desert Cross Lutheran is looking for a worship leader at their Gilbert campus. This person will be a gifted pianist and able to lift up other musical gifts and talents within the congregation. Contact the church if interested.
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Continued struggles with the Delta variant and the emergence of the highly infectious Omicron variant have pushed the country’s daily case totals to their highest levels since late summer.
Extremely high risk counties for unvaccinated people in our synod include Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma counties.
Bishop Hutterer wrapped up the year with the installation of Rev. Dr. Mari Larson at St. Andrew's Lutheran in Las Vegas this last Sunday. As we begin our church year anew, we thank you for walking with us through another year full of strange gifts and surprises. May we heed the winds of the Holy Spirit as we step forward yet again.
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In her December column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reminds us that the cross is the true gift of Christmas: “All of our Christmas glorias are realized in Jesus’ glorification on the cross. We have peace. We have hope. We are loved. And not just at Christmas.” Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3suio95 and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/32hG0mz.
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This network of the Grand Canyon Synod gathers once a month online to learn and to share with the group about hunger-related topics in our congregations. All are welcome. Tuesday, 12/28/2021, 6-7pm. View more info and find Zoom links here.
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The ordination of Lourdes Olson will be Saturday, 1/15/2022, 11am PST, 12pm MST, at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Las Vegas. The Rev. Matthew Metevelis will preach and Bishop Hutterer will preside.
Lourdes has been called to serve New Song Lutheran in Henderson.
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Deacon Janice Zimbelman will begin her call as Director of Congregation Transition beginning January 15, 2022. She serves in this role in partnership with the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain Synods.
We give thanks to Pastor Sarah Moening, who is currently serving as Director of Congregation Transition, and will conclude this ministry on February 1, 2022.
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We pray for the family of Jayne Hamlin, widow of Pr. Dick Hamlin, who died Monday morning, 12/13/2021, at Mayo Hospital in Scottsdale. There will be a memorial service on Thursday, 1/6/2022 at 3pm MST at Resurrection Lutheran Church, 4950 E. Greenway Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.
Pastor Hamlin was a long-time Grand Canyon Synod clergy member and former pastor of Shepherd of the Valley in Phoenix. With several other retired pastors , the Hamlins were largely responsible for starting our synod’s Retirees’ Retreat.
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Join us as Bishop Eaton discusses her family’s nativity scene traditions and offers a prayer for your family’s nativity scenes.
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“Attending the most recent annual UN climate change conference in Glasgow, COP26, was great for the ELCA living out its public witness and social teachings. Our ELCA delegation was diverse and included frontline people – folks most impacted by climate change,” said Ruth Ivory-Moore, ELCA program director for environment and Corporate Social Responsibility. Hear also from Lutheran leaders who give us a sense of what it meant to be there.
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When I first saw this image I felt a wave of release of personal judgement and connection to these two women, a wave full of humanness and grace.
It felt like the meeting of the selves, for me, almost in the way Martin Luther speaks about each person being concurrently Sinner and Saint.
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In July of 2021, the American Indian/Alaska Native Lutheran Association (AIANLA) asked the whole ELCA to remember and lament the children who died in Indian boarding schools in the United States and residential schools in Canada.
As the church observes the Feast of the Holy Innocents*, the Saint Paul Area Synod, the Minneapolis Area Synod, and the Advocates for Racial Equity offer this service of prayer and lament (on Vimeo) for use by individuals and congregations.
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Saturday, December 18, was International Migrants Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness and focus attention on the 281 million people around the world where are on the move, in search of peace, stability, security and an opportunity for new life. In 2020, more than 3.6% of people around the world were migrants.
In this podcast, Giovana Oaxaca, the ELCA’s program director for migration policy, joins Ryan Cumming of ELCA World Hunger to talk about the realities of migration and immigration policy.
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Amending the Christian Story: The Natural Sciences as a Window into Grounded Faith and Sustainable Living, by Ron Rude is now available at wipfandstock.com, bookshop.org, or Amazon. A press kit is newly available here.
After several years of research and writing and teaching, with worldview-altering insights into Nature's natural sciences and life's experience, "Amending the Christian Story" reframes and recasts God's story of life and God's story of Jesus.
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