ProtestantBeliefs.com

Jason Fisher, Champaign, IL Warm-up Question Name some reasons someone might lock themselves in their room? What would it be like to live your whole life without leaving that room? What would you miss? Opening Doors and Hearts Kristen Berthiaume and her family live in Alabama.  They wanted to promote racial justice in their community. Seeing that  nationwide protests and demands for justice were often met with open racism and ignorance, the family decided to create an Anti-racist Little Library in front of their home. Kristen noticed that books about racial justice were high on bestseller lists.  So, she stocked…

I have decided to go ahead and pursue the PhD in theology (Reformed Dogmatics) with Martin Luther School of Bible and Theology. It has taken me time to process, research, pray, and reflect how I should go about this. In the end this PhD is what the Lord has set before me. Martin Luther School of Bible and Theology is the Divinity School (we could say) of the General Lutheran Church (denomination) based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The denomination itself has existed since 2014, and claims to be the offshoot of the descendants from the former Evangelical Lutheran General…

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: Worship resources are available to assist worshiping communities as they respond to the crisis in Eastern Europe. Visit this link to access a wide variety of resources and prayers for general use. Additional newly-composed worship…

By Kristen Opalinski For the first time in decades we are witnessing a confluence of significant religious holy days and cultural traditions during the month of April. As Christians move through Holy Week, we do so knowing that many of our neighbors of other religions are also journeying through their holy days, including Vaisakhi, Mahavir Jayanti, Passover, Ramadan, and Theravada New Year. For Muslims, Jews, Christians, Baha’is, Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and others, this moment of convergence serves as a reminder of our interconnectedness. As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America this is also a time to remember…

You go online in the Reformed space, and you get the same old trope on a doctrine of election and reprobation; you essentially get the L (imited Atonement) of the TULIP served up as the ‘hard teaching’ Gospel truth reality about the way God relates to part of humanity in a God-world relation. I am here to set the record straight once and for all! This is simply not how God has related to the world, and this based on the analogy of the incarnation. We aren’t groping around in the darkness for snipes, but as Christians, instead, we have…

By Giovana Oaxaca, ELCA program director for migration The announcement of the Biden administration of an end date for Title 42 is a welcome step forward towards restoring access to the right to seek asylum. Rather than promote a safe, orderly or humane process, Title 42 wound up increasing risk and vulnerability. Our Lutheran tradition teaches “hospitality for the uprooted is a way to live out the biblical call to love the neighbor in response to God’s love in Jesus Christ” (ELCA social message on “Immigration,” pg. 3). The human repercussions of Title 42 will be felt for years to…

Situation: On March 21-22, a storm system moved through several southern states, including Texas and Louisiana. It spawned multiple tornadoes, including an EF-3 tornado in Arabi, La., which killed one and damaged dozens of homes.     Response: The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, with support from Lutheran Disaster Response, is addressing immediate needs for those impacted by the storms. In Arabi, Gethsemane Lutheran Church-Chalmette is coordinating with other organizations to distribute food supplies and expects the need for its own food pantry to grow. The church’s preschool is also welcoming in students from a nearby preschool that was damaged in…

Is there salvation for the orangeman and his followers, the American heretics? According to David Bentely Hart there is not, he writes: For instance, if impoverished and terrified refugees arrive by the thousands at our southern borders, bearing their children with them, driven from their homes in El Salvador and Guatemala and Honduras by monstrous violence and hopeless poverty, much of it the long-unfolding consequence of our own barbaric policies in Central America, and our foul, degenerate, vicious, contemptible, worthless, brutishly stupid sociopath and dropsical orange goblin of a president and the little horde of oleaginous fascists who slithered out…

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: Worship resources are available to assist worshiping communities as they respond to the crisis in Eastern Europe. Visit this link to access a wide variety of resources and prayers for general use. Additional newly-composed worship…

Since the start of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in 1988, New Orleans has hosted the ELCA Youth Gathering and pre-events three different times. The city has a unique blend of history, culture and beautiful venues that are within walking distance of one another— making it a prime location for the 2024 Gathering. Emphasizing the Mississippi River and connecting it to our Baptism, River of Life was the theme of the 1997 Gathering. It was a time when less than 40% of the population had a cell phone and none of them were smartphones. Pictures were taken on a camera…