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“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 gatherings and conversations of interfaith partnerships and community groups dedicated to fostering dialog and understanding… For…

“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 those facing the immense grief of natural disasters and their devastation: flooding in Libya, earthquake in…

The LORD is beautiful. He alone is Immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. He who has this hope purifies himself. The glory of the LORD covers the earth as the waters cover the seas. The LORD’s Will will be done, and has been done. Jesus cried out God’s Will for the world, and said: “it is finished!” He made this cry in perfect tense. This is God’s beauty finished for the world in His dearly beloved Son. He has dwelled in this a se beauty, this plenitudinous pleroma before the foundations of the world; yea, before the foundations of the…

Issue 89 of Administration Matters Register Sept. 15 for the 2024 Youth Gathering and related events! Registration opens at noon on Sept. 15 for the ELCA Youth Gathering and Young Adult Gathering, taking place in New Orleans, La., July 16-20, 2024, and for the two pre-events: the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) and the tAble, for youth living with disabilities, both July 13-16, 2024. We’re thrilled to be back in such a vibrant city, filled with history, great food and inspiring music. This cycle we’re excited to announce that we will waive the pre-event registration fee for the first 1,000…

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. Association of Lutheran Church Musicians ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song. One-day local workshops for church musicians to learn new skills, share best practices, build relationships and support systems, and introduce others to the ALCM Community. Workshops are scheduled all across the country.  Sign up for upcoming events.   Lutheran Summer Music Academy and…

Out of curiosity: is anyone interested in more posts on classical Calvinism and Arminianism, and how they contrast with Evangelical Calvinism and/or Athanasian Reformed theology? I haven’t written those types of posts very much lately; I’m not even promising I will. But just curious if there is any interest in that, since that used to be the mainstay of what I engaged with. Athanasian Reformed

by Rev. Jonathan Vehar Every three years in the days leading up to the ELCA Youth Gathering a unique event takes place that gathers young people together for worship, service, and fellowship. And if you’re thinking, “isn’t that what the Youth Gathering does?”, you’d be right. But what makes The tAble exceptional is that it brings together youth who have a shared experience of living with a disability. We know that every youth who comes to The tAble brings their own story, struggles, triumphs, and ways that they experience the world around them. But they also share an identity as…

One of the many ways we live out our faith in action is through volunteering. There are many different ways that this can be done through the Gathering and what better place to do it than in New Orleans with thousands of your best friends! Check out the Gathering’s website for more information on how to get involved as a volunteer.  Learn how Anna went from being participant to volunteer and what that experience has meant to her— Hello! My name is Anna Thompson and I attended the 2009 Gathering in New Orleans as a youth participant. That was the…

Knowledge of ourselves first requires a genuine knowledge of the One who created us. Without that outer reference point, there can be no genuine knowledge of the self. This was a key axiom of Calvin’s, as he wrote in his Institutes; and it is key for Barth as he developed his theological anthropology in the Church Dogmatics. The following is an excerpt from Barth’s CD III/2, where he is, indeed, doing the yeoman’s work of developing what he takes to be a genuinely Christian understanding of what the entailments are of what it means to be human. You will notice,…

One week from today the Thirteenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation will begin in Krakow, Poland. The Assembly will take place September 13-19, and serves as the highest decision-making body of the LWF, which represents 77 million people from 150 member churches across 99 countries. In addition to celebrating the common faith of the Lutheran communion across contexts and cultures, the Assembly offers mutual enrichment through joint reflection and discernment while providing a platform for joint decision-making. As the principal authority of the LWF, the Assembly is the most representative expression of the LWF communion. Delegates from all member…