February Update: Advocacy Connections
from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: February 2025 DOMESTIC SERVICES AND GRANT ACCESS | PRESIDENT TRUMP WITHDRAWS FROM THE PARIS AGREEMENT | FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS | USAID IMPACTS | IMMIGRATION IMPERATIVES This month has seen rapidly developing impact of executive actions from President Trump, jolting a vast array of government agencies and the people who intersect with related vital supports. All Witness in Society staff have been active with ELCA colleagues and partners to discern and advocate in the rapidly evolving, complex political climate,…
March 2, 2025–A God We Can’t Control
Catalyst Question Describe a time when something out of your control was happening in your life. What did it feel like? A God We Can’t Control People often like to feel in control. Sometimes that’s for their own sinful reasons, like wanting unfair influence over others’ lives. At other times, people try to take charge because they’ve been hurt by someone they trusted. And surely, there are things in our lives that we should control. How we treat other people, how we choose to use money, and how we spend our time are all appropriately within our control. This week,…
On the Monad with Attributes
More from the philo class. On the potential problem for classical theism and its doctrine of divine simplicity. How can God be Simple and yet still have attributes? That’s the question I’m responding to w/ ref to our reading of Maimonides. I overlooked responding to the question: “Can this claim be held together with the claim that God has attributes?” I think this can portend of a weakness for the pure being view of Maimonides et al. I think it is important to say that God is non-composite. But on the other hand, God comes to us by way of…
February 23, 2025–Mercy Meant for Today
Catalyst Question How do you define the word “mercy”? Mercy Meant for Today This devotion is based on The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). A lectionary is a set of scripture readings assigned to different days throughout the year. Right now, we’re in the third year (known as Year C) of the RCL’s three-year cycle, which was assembled in 1983 by leaders of many denominations. That’s important background because, today, many congregational leaders are being accused of manipulating the biblical selections for worship to fit their own political or social agendas. If the congregation is using the Revised Common Lectionary, that’s…
My American Christian Voice
How can we use our voices for justice in Palestine and Israel as American Christians? ELCA Blogs
An Eastertide Break from Blogging
Dearest readers, I am going to take a break from blogging, at least through Easter Sunday (April 20). My blogging has slowed anyway, from my typical pace, years past. I am not feeling as motivated to post like I used to. It has become more like work, than a joy; even though I appreciate the fellowship that it fosters with you all (especially, Richard B., my most faithful interlocutor over these last many years). I just need a time to step back, and refresh. I just deleted my X/Twitter accounts as well. I love Jesus Christ, and the Father, by…
Winter Updates: State Edition
ARIZONA | KANSAS | MINNESOTA | NEW MEXICO | PENNSYLVANIA | TEXAS | VIRGINIA Following are updates shared from submissions from ELCA-affiliated state public policy offices (sppos) this quarter (formerly shared monthly). Full list and map of sppos available. Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAM-AZ) Solveig Muus, Director Arizona Lutheran Day at the Legislature photo credit: Eric O. Ledermann ©2025, www.ericoledermann.com Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA) hosted its 4th annual Lutheran Day at the Legislature on Feb. 10. More than 200 Lutherans and friends representing 29 of Arizona’s 30 legislative districts gathered to hear remarks from Senate President Warren Petersen,…
Devotional: More Questions than Answers
By Courtney Hall, Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California [ABOUT THE AUTHOR] In all honesty, I feel I have lost sense of what the phrase “common good” even means today. In a world so divided, what I view as the common good may be the antithesis of my neighbor’s beliefs; so, who decides? Is it those with power, is it a popular vote, is it those with the most influence? As I try to understand how my role as a faith-based advocate contributes to the common good, I am left with more questions than answers. It is in times…
No Human Freedom Outwith Participatio Christi: On an Order of Being to Evangelicum
Karl Barth being rightfully critical of a reformed Federal or Covenantal theology. Here we see what it looks like to think from a noncompetitive relationship between God and humanity; and to simply think humanity from God’s life for us. It is God who is genuinely free in His inner and eternal life, and not us (‘Not unto us, not unto us, but to God be the glory’ Ps 115). It is God’s being in becoming for us, wherein the “us” comes to have the type of creaturely, and thus contingent independence (as TFT would say it) vis-à-vis God that the…
For what shall we pray?
“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here. Prayer prompts: For areas of the world impacted by ongoing war, conflict, or political instability, especially Ukraine, Gaza, and…