This week, we celebrate retired pastor Rev. Martin Overson’s 43 years of ordination on March 18.
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According to the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels, high level counties in our synod are Apache, La Paz and Yuma.
Medium level counties are Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, and Yuma.
Low level counties are Clark, Mohave, and Washington.
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Visit the ELCA’s Eastern Europe Crisis Response resource page for a compilation of the situation, the ELCA’s response, and how you can help by praying, giving, worshiping, and connecting.
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Click here for this PDF resource from the ELCA, which is provided to assist worshiping communities as they respond to the crisis in Eastern Europe. Several prayers are provided that could be used during the prayers of intercession or at other times, in public worship or for devotional use at home or in other settings.
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In her March column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reminds us that “over and over again humankind has betrayed the hope God has for us.” She suggests that this is a “time for a reset.” Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/361wmXp and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3wgluj2.
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Bishop Hutterer and Pastor Jacqui Pagel will attend Faith Formation In A Secular Age, the Luther Seminary event at Living Water with Dr. Andy Root. As usual, staff travels around the synod to preach and visit.
At our in-office staff retreat on Wednesday, we were visited by Rev. Lisa Kipp, who updated us on the latest relief efforts by Lutheran World Relief.
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We pray for Rev. Mary Louise Frenchman and the people of Native American Urban Ministry in Phoenix, part of the Capital Conference. Visit their site at Facebook page.
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For an end to the Russian government’s attacks on Ukraine, for the security of Kyiv, for the protection of civilians, for solidarity among those who stand for peace…
For an end to pay disparities based on gender, race, or ethnicity…
For China, as COVID-19 surges there again…
For all marking two years of pandemic upheaval, for all whose memories leave them breathless, for all who grieve without hope…
For substantive relief for all experiencing financial stress…
With gratitude for the life of Leon Schwarzbaum, holocaust survivor and justice maker, who died recently at the age of 101…
2021 was a very meaningful year for Rock Point area households. In total, the Navajo Lutheran Mission received and distributed over a quarter-million pounds of food to almost 2,000 Navajo homes.
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Rev. Patsy Koeneke, interim pastor with Grace Lutheran in Kingman, celebrates 15 years on March 11.
Rev. Bruce Ayers, retired, celebrates 60 years on March 11.
Rev. Steven Crittenden, with Epiphany of Christ Lutheran in Apache Junction, celebrates 13 years on March 12.
Rev. Beth Gallen, with New Journey Lutheran in Fountain Hills, celebrates her first year on March 13.
Rev. Peter Lai, retired, celebrate 37 years on March 16.
The #NoPlasticsforLent initiative, led by young adults across the church, calls us to prayer for creation, to lament the ways we have been complicit in the degradation of the earth, and to take action to care for our neighbor in fasting from the things that are hurting our planet. For more info, view the ELCA Young Adults Facebook page or the No Plastics for Lent website.
One of the discussion group leaders is Tiana Diaz-Reyes, a student in our synod’s Lutheran campus ministry. She is working toward her PhD in Sustainability at ASU.
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Bishop Hutterer visits Cruzando Fronteras, Rev. Miguel Gomez-Acosta preaches at Epiphany of Christ Lutheran in Apache Junction, and Rev. Jacqui Pagel preaches at Community Lutheran in Bullhead City. Read all the updates from the staff in this weekly post.
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Right now, far away from some of us but near to others, Russian has invaded Ukraine. Confronting power hungry leadership and complex socio-political tensions, the global community watches and waits. Ground invasion and the startling aftermath of dropped bombs consume our collective conscious. War brings heightened anxieties and unanswered questions; it leaves people displaced and refugees fleeing. The journeys of our refugee siblings are filled with uncertainty.
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For all in crisis as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues…
With gratitude for the first combined heart and thymus transplant, for all advances in the field of organ transplantation, for all organ donors…
For all who suffer in the wake of deadly US tornadoes…
For the people of Peshawar, Pakistan as they mourn those killed during the bombing of a Shiite Muslim mosque in their city…
For the United Methodist Church, as it continues to grapple with divisions…
For those wrestling with Long Covid, for Covid researchers, for all those preparing now for the rise of future variants…
For all unsafe in their own homes, for all without a home…
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton shares some of the ways the ELCA, Lutheran Disaster Response and our partners in ministry are responding to the growing humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe by providing support for refugees and internally displaced people. Please keep our companions in your prayers during these turbulent times. God of life, give us your peace.
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Lutheran Disaster Response is accompanying our companions in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, as well as such ecumenical partners as Lutheran World Federation and Church World Service, in their humanitarian responses to the crisis. These partners provide refugees with immediate support and supplies such as food, blankets, water and hygiene kits. You and your congregation or organization can donate by clicking here.
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Rev. Rachel Eskesen, ELCA Area Desk Director for Europe, and Associate in Ministry Rev. Zach Courter provide updates from Budapest, Hungary. In this post, we share a video update, an expanded letter (read in this post or view as PDF), and a bulletin insert (PDF).
For those of you wishing to financially support our partner churches who are doing the work on the ground to respond to the needs of refugees, you can donate here.
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In this sacred season, we turn inward, reflecting on our dependence on God’s grace. Marked by ashes at the start, we enter the 40 days of Lent with penitent hearts and awareness of our need for God’s mercy. Repentance and self-reflection are important practices, but it’s easy to stay here, forgetting that the season is about so much more than our own self-examination.
Martin Luther captured this well. Luther defined repentance in two ways: “contrition…and in taking hold of the promise.” Read more in this post in English and Spanish.
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