Category: Protestant

“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 justice and peace among nations where war and violence rage, especially Ukraine and Russia, Palestine and…

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. ELCA Worship also features resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers in a monthly blog post. Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981. Lutheran Summer Music 2025 Valparaiso University,Valparaiso, Ind. June 22–July 20 Lutheran Summer Music (LSM) is delighted to announce the 2025 Worship Faculty of The Eugene and Mary Sukup Church Music Program,…

In the coming weeks, those in the United States will mark two significant anniversaries: five years since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota (May 25, 2020) and ten years since the murder of the Emanuel Nine at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina (June 17, 2015). The collects and petitions for the prayers of intercession provided below could be used as desired in worship on the Sundays closest to these dates. As with all prayers crafted for assembly worship, they may be adapted as needed for local use. The responses to the petitions match those provided…

Catalyst Question When someone asks “who are you,” who do you typically respond to that question? What are 3-5 things that you share about yourself to indicate who you understand yourself to be? Who Are You? Last month, news broke that dire wolves had been brought back to life. Colossal Biosciences, the company behind the animal’s reintroduction, used DNA from well-preserved fossils to give these old creatures new life. Though only puppies right now, these canines will grow to become the largest wolves on the planet, not only by heigh but also by muscle mass. Though they won’t be as…

In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here. My take: We are not newcomers Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage—let us be changed by it By Khader Khalilia | April 28, 2025 Marhaba (mar-huh-bah or mar-ha-bah). A simple word, ancient and powerful. Rooted in Aramaic and Syriac languages of early Middle Eastern Christians. It means more than just “hello.” It means God…

Greetings from ELCA Disability Ministries! Today would like to announce that the applications for our next cycle of grants will open on Thursday, May 15th, and close on July 31st. Projects receiving grants will be announced by the end of October 2025. For more information on the details regarding registration and eligibility/expectations for grant proposals, please go to:  https://www.elca.org/our-work/grants/impact-church-ministry and scroll down to “Disability Ministries” . If questions arise, please contact our coordinator, Rev. Lisa Heffernan at disability.ministry@elca.org. We are excited to learn what your communities are dreaming up for 2025! God’s peace and blessings to you in this spring…

Catalyst Question When you greet your friends, how do you first speak to or otherwise engage one another? This could be a phrase like “what’s up”, a special handshake, or other shared behavior. What does having this ritual indicate about your relationship? May the 4th Be With You This Sunday is a special holiday for a very specific segment of the population. For Christians who are also Star Wars fans, May 4th falling on a Sunday is a special occasion. Why is that? An artist’s rendering of the B1 Battle Droid, featured prominently in Episode III. “May The Force be…

This post is shared jointly on the Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Perspectives blog and the ELCA Worship blog.  1700 years ago, in 325, the first ecumenical council was convened in Nicaea to discern matters central to the Christian faith, namely: How do we understand Jesus Christ? The council sought to end disputes about the divine nature of Jesus, and his relationship to God in an attempt to unify all of Christendom. The end-result, later expanded in 381, was the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – a clear articulation of the complexity of the faith. However, a later addition to the creed – the “filioque”…

This post is shared jointly on the Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Perspectives blog and the ELCA Worship blog. 1700 years ago, in 325, the first ecumenical council was convened in Nicaea to discern matters central to the Christian faith, namely: How do we understand Jesus Christ? The council sought to end disputes about the divine nature of Jesus, and his relationship to God in an attempt to unify all of Christendom. The end-result, later expanded in 381, was the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – a clear articulation of the complexity of the faith. However, a later addition to the creed – the “filioque”…

“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 justice and peace among nations where war and violence rage, especially Ukraine and Russia, Palestine and…