Tag: Reflection

by Rev. Peter Heide  At the 2024 ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza, several firsts occurred surrounding Disability Ministries. It had a more central place than in the past because, rather than offering the one 75-minute workshop we anticipated, in the end, our Disability Ministries (DM) advisory team, represented by coordinator Rev. Lisa Heffernan, Anita Smallin, Rev. Brian Krause, and Rev. Peter Heide, provided three 75-minute workshops, offered a revised Thanksgiving for Baptism service, and participated in a panel discussion with Rev. Jonathan Vehar, DEM for the South Dakota synod and director of the tAble, on the main stage. The DM advisory…

I had just started my car to drive to my internship site on June 18, 2015, when I learned from the radio about the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine. As I drove down the freeway and the details of this atrocious act spilled out of my speakers, I had to pull onto the shoulder and collect myself before making my way to the office for whatever meetings were scheduled that day.   The murders of nine people during a Bible study weighed on me throughout the week. That Sunday we prayed for their families. We prayed that such senseless violence…

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving Lent 2022 In English and en Espanol Week 4: Transformed in the Wilderness “They ate the crops of the land” (Joshua 5:12) Read Joshua 5:9-12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Reflect The reading from Joshua for this week is brief, but it recounts the time the Hebrews, who left Egypt under God’s care, had so longed to see: the end of their exodus and the beginning of their life in the Promised Land of Canaan. No longer would their food rain down from the heavens; now, they would be fed…

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving Lent 2022 In English and en Espanol Week 2: Wandering in the Wilderness “I must be on my way” (Luke 13:33). Read Genesis 15:1-12;17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 12:31-35 Reflect As we saw in the reflection for Week 1, Lent is a story of the journey of God’s people. It is our story, or more appropriately the story of “God with us.” During Lent, we remember the ancient Hebrews’ journey from slavery in Egypt and a generation spent wandering in the wilderness, as recounted in the offering of the “first fruits” in…

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving Lent 2022 Week 1: Journey in the Wilderness “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor” (Deuteronomy 26:5). Read Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Psalm 91:1-2, 9 -16 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13 Reflect We have a curious set of readings for this first Sunday of Lent. Biblical scholars believe that Deuteronomy 26:5-10 is a script for someone making an offering of what was called the “first fruits,” a religious practice for farming communities. Following the first harvest that the Israelites reaped in the Promised Land, they were to gather a basket of select produce from the fields and…