Devotional: First, Learn. Next, Do.
By Hannah Peterson, 2021-22 Hunger Advocacy Fellow [about the author] I am not a practicing Lutheran. Although many of my relatives and ancestors are, I grew up in a secular family, attending church only for Christmas Eve services and the occasional baptism or funeral. As you might imagine, it was an unusual path that led me to this year of being an ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellow, of learning to navigate through new communities, new opportunities and new insights. “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way…
Introducing “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Muslim Community”
By Professor Mark Swanson On March 31st, the ELCA Church Council adopted “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Muslim Community,” uplifting our commitment to friendship and solidarity with our Muslim neighbors. The idea that the ELCA should develop “A Declaration to the Muslim Community” has been around for some time, especially since the Reformation commemorations of 2017, when there was renewed focus in a variety of forums on Luther’s attitudes toward the religious Other. After the adoption at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly of “A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” the Lutheran-Muslim Consultative Panel began in earnest to discuss the…
A Christologically Conditioned Theanthropology Revealed at the Cross
The theology of the cross reveals that God isn’t a philosophical Monad, or some pure being up yonder. The theology of the cross reveals that God in Christ is humble enough to define His being by concretely becoming flesh and blood humanity, such that we might share with Him who He has always already freely chosen to be: God not without us, but with us (Immanuel), in and by the assumed and vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ. And yet, His being, even in His humiliation as a human, becomes the image within which we are created and recreated, just as…
May 8, 2022–Whose Voice Are You Listening To?
Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA Warm-up Question If you could share a meal with any famous person – real or fictional / living or dead – who would it be and why? Whose Voice Are You Listening To? Recently, the board of Twitter agreed to an offer from Elon Musk to buy the social media company for around $ 44 billion. When the deal is completed, it will put the world’s richest person in charge of an incredibly influential platform. With nearly 400 million users, Twitter has helped to transform not only the news business but how influencers like celebrities…
Identity and Relationship in Arab-American Culture By Ryan LaHurd
In his Daily Meditation of February 6 on 1 Corinthians 12, Rev. Richard Rohr writes “Humanity consistently has to face the problem of unity and diversity. We’re not very good at understanding it. We habitually choose our smaller groups, because we don’t know how to belong to a larger group. That demands too much letting go.” He notes that Paul’s doctrine of the Body of Christ “isn’t easy for Westerners to understand, because we are deeply trained in cultural individualism. So much so, we don’t even recognize our lack.” It seems impossible that anyone with eyes and ears open could…
Martin Luther Against Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and the Post Reformed orthodox
Martin Luther, as I have referred to previously, was indeed anti-Aristotelian, particularly with reference to Aristotle’s anthropology as that effused throughout his Nicomachean Ethics. Indeed, Luther makes his disgust toward Aristotle’s Ethics, and thus, anthropology, very clear in his theological protestations, as he nailed those, just a month prior to his 95 theses, to the Wittenberg door. This was the real reason for Luther’s reformation, as my former professor and mentor, Dr Ron Frost, has so clearly argued. Luther saw Pelagian wickedness in Aristotle’s anthropology, and of course insofar as Aquinas appropriated Aristotle’s Ethics, among other things, this compelled Luther…
Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – May 1, 2022
These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod. Worship resources for the crisis in Eastern Europe: Follow this link to access resources 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…
May 1, 2022–Glimpse of the Kingdom
Bob Chell–Sioux Falls, SD Warm-up Question Where do your encounter Jesus in your life? Glimpse of the Kingdom TV stations like to run feel good stories. Sometimes it is about neighbors who harvest the crops of a sick or disabled farmer. It may celebrate a high school athlete with developmental or health challenges who scores a touchdown. Maybe it highlights a basketball game when opposing coaches and players conspire to allow a student with special needs to score. Often a raucous celebration follows with fans and athletes of both sides celebrating the special moment. We cherish such stories because they…
Jesus as Demi-Urge in the classical Calvinist Schemata
What is it about the decretum absolutum (absolute decree i.e., predestination in determinist mode) that sinks the classical Calvinist understanding of a doctrine of God in a God-world relation? It’s that it operates from an instrumentalist understanding of the Son’s relationship to the Father; it ruptures the eternal bond between the Father to the Son by the Spirit as the Son incarnates and becomes human. Under such conditions the work of Jesus is no longer essential to the being of the Son (and thus the Father), as such He simply becomes so much a demi-urge carrying out the dictates of…
April Update: UN and State Edition
Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices (sppos) in the ELCA Advocacy Network this month. Full list and map of sppos available. U.N. | Colorado | New Mexico | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Washington | Wisconsin U.N. Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Dennis Frado, Director The sixty-sixth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) took place from 14 to 25 March 2022. The Priority Theme was achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women…