In the wake of mass shootings, Lutheran Disaster Response shares how LDR, the Upstate New York Synod and the Southwest Texas Synods, and other organizations, are responding. Ways to be part of the response are also shared.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona is hosting a Candlelight Vigil for Victims of Gun Violence on Saturday, 5/28/2022 at 7pm, at All Saints Episcopal Church , 6300 N. Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85012. The Rev. Canon Anita Braden will be present to make remarks. All are welcome to attend.
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Do you or your church need a piano? This piano is looking for a home. It needs to be tuned but is perfectly playable. It is free to anyone who is willing to pick it up! For questions or to claim, contact Pastor Sarah Stadler from Grace Lutheran Church, Phoenix at pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com.
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According to the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels, Clark County is the first to be at medium level after months of low levels in our synod.
All of our synod’s remaining counties are low level: Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma.
The United States is averaging more than 105,000 new cases each day, the most since February, when the first Omicron wave was subsiding. Cases are rising in most states, and since many cases go uncounted in official reports, the true toll is higher than these figures show.
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“Stewardship is not just about what we give to the church, but how we spend and use everything that God has given us. Everything that we give comes first from God and passing it on is a way of affirming our faith that God will continue to bless us.” Read in this post or view as PDF.
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The Office of the Bishop staff continue to prepare for our 2022 Assembly, while attending to the day to day functions of our Church Together life. We also share photos from the Pacifica Synod Assembly.
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Lisa Marie Higginbotham, CFRE, one of our Regional Gift Planners with the ELCA Foundation is presenting virtual workshops on three related topics: planned giving, stewardship, and endowment. Use the links below to join the meetings.
Planned Giving, Tuesday, 5/31/2022, 1pm MST/PDT, 2pm MDT: Join Zoom Meeting
Stewardship, Wednesday 6/1/2022, 9am MST/PDT, 10am MDT: Join Zoom Meeting
Endowment, Thursday 6/2/2022, 1pm MST/PDT, 2pm MDT: Join Zoom Meeting
I grew up a Lutheran, having built a deep connection to God from a young age. However, like many of us I am sure, I have struggled with my faith over the last few years, especially these last two years. It seemed like the life I planned out was turned upside down and twisted without a moment’s notice. “New” things kept appearing everywhere I looked, and I felt incredibly lost, stuck in an uncontrollable void of questions and uncertainty
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America grieves with the families of the 19 students and two teachers killed in Tuesday's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Mass shootings in this country over the past two weeks have deepened the wounds of grief and sorrow. This follows the racially motivated shooting of 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y.; the shooting in Laguna Woods, Calif.; and the 27 other school shootings that have occurred in 2022. Many of the shooters have targeted children and older adults — some of the most vulnerable in our society.
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Click here to view/download the Rules of Procedure as PDF document for our Synod Assembly, June 10-11, 2022, at Love of Christ Lutheran Church in Mesa, Arizona.
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For a long time, no one in Tulsa’s white or black communities talked about the massacre that destroyed the Greenwood district in May 1921. Those who were there remembered. A few kept the memory alive. But most simply chose to forget. Shrouded in silence for decades, it lay there in the heart of the city, eating away at it like a cancer.
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On May 2-5, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, National VOAD, held its annual conference in Baltimore, MD. Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) is a National VOAD member and has been a strong player in the VOAD movement.
National VOAD is a coalition of community-based, faith-based and nonprofit disaster response organizations throughout the United States.
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For victims of the the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and for their loved ones…
For all people, families, and communities affected by gun violence…
For local, state, and federal lawmakers, that justice, peace, and safety may prevail…
For students and graduates at the end of this school year (especially local institutions)…
For families searching for infant formula to feed their children, and for affordable access to safe, healthy nourishment for all people…
For families and friends remembering loved ones who died while serving in the United States armed forces on this Memorial Day weekend…
For peace between nations and an end to war across the globe…
All Creation Sings includes several for lament including “Lamenting Gun Violence” (Leaders Edition, p. 107) and “Service after a Violent Event” (Pew Edition p. 64-66, Leaders p. 110-113) as well as several collect prayers including the one below. This content is also available on SundaysandSeasons.com in the Library. (All Creation Sings/Prayers, Thanksgivings, and Laments/Resources for Lament)
Lord Jesus Christ, your own mother looked on when your life ended in violence. Our hearts are pierced with grief and anger at the [death of / mass shooting in_________]. We commend the slain to your wounded hands, and their loved ones to your merciful heart, trusting only in the promise that your love is stronger than death, and that even now, you live and reign forever and ever. Amen. (ACS, p.49)
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Jesus repeatedly prays that “they may all be one,” that through the communion of God and Jesus, we all may be one. This oneness is rooted in God’s immense love which goes beyond all time and space.
Even in that upper room, the reality of this oneness rooted in love is hard to conceptualize. The folks who fill that room are far from perfect, they will mess up some in pretty significant ways in the days to come, as they struggled to understand and cope with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yet, knowing all this, Jesus prays for them and, in that moment, Jesus prays for us too.
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This blog post from ELCA Advocacy is an invitation into learning more about the farm bill, farm bill advocacy and ways to get involved. It expands on information in the ELCA World Hunger’s Global Farm Challenge Youth Action Guide’s advocacy page.
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The Rev. Paul D. Erickson, Milwaukee, was reelected May 21 to a six-year term as bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA.
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Read the May and June updates from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C., by The Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director, ELCA Witness in Society.
The May/June issue of ELCA Advocacy Connections was prepared for distribution on May 25, 2022. While these brief updates on activity in which our ELCA Witness in Society federal staff is engaged are never an expansion of national news or a complete picture, today especially we are aware they don’t touch our corporate reflections, including on the horror of the shooting in Uvalde, Tex. and on observance of the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd.
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For over 25 years, Fund for Leaders has supported church leaders of tremendous promise. So far, your gifts to Fund for Leaders have made a difference in the lives of over 1,100 seminary students, allowing them to serve the church where they are needed most. Together, we are working toward our ultimate goal: a future in which every rostered minister can graduate without the burden of financial debt. ELCA.org/FundforLeaders25
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