Leaders Join ELCA World Hunger and Witness in Society at the UN
This week, four leaders from across the United States joined ELCA World Hunger and the Lutheran Office for World Community in New York City as delegates of the Lutheran World Federation at the 2023 United Nations High-Level Political Forum. The forum was an opportunity for UN member states, agencies and organizations to share updates on progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. As our delegation learned, progress against the goals has been slow and, in some cases, has reversed. The delegation, representing the 149 member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, including the ELCA, was able to hear from leaders…
Kierkegaard, Confronting the Danish god of Hegel and the god of the Philosophers Writ Large
God is not “a datum or factoid that is best understood with the scrutiny of a scholarly mind.”[1] And yet, enter the fray of theological social media, enter the faculty lounges across many seminaries and divinity schools, or simply attempt to learn of God with more depth by reading theology books unawares (i.e., without critical resource to know otherwise), and you will end up coming up against a notion of God that has nothing do with the God Self-revealed in Jesus Christ. Whether that notion be informed by the scholasticism of Aristotelian or scholastic vintage, or it be of more…
For What Shall We Pray?
“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 natural lands and communities affected by wildfires in Canada and Greece, and for regions facing compromised…
June/July Update: Advocacy Connections
from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: June/July 2023 ENERGIZING FARM BILL LISTENING SESSIONS | AFGHAN ADJUSTMENT ACT REINTRODUCED | NEW WHO NETWORK LAUNCHES | WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION | DEBT CEILING UPDATE ENERGIZING FARM BILL LISTENING SESSIONS: With great representation of well over 100 of us from many parts of the United States, “Listening Sessions to Inform ELCA Farm Bill Advocacy” were productive opportunities to learn more about the Farm Bill reauthorization process and hear from bishops, farmers, USDA…
A Devotion: Christ, ‘Closer to us than we are to ourselves’
5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died…
With Anti-Immigration Sentiments Rising, More Action is Needed
By David Atkinson For those closely following immigration issues and debates, every day can seem to be a bad news day. The diatribes by anti-immigration officials and commentators become numbing with their angry repetition. But the ingrained perspectives of the voting public can be even more troubling. We now enter the season when many organizations, on the far ends and in the middle of the political spectrum, are conducting polling to test 2024 themes and discover what might most motivate large blocs of voters. Some of these surveys square with preconceived notions or confirm what we largely suspect. Yet,…
Index of the July 2023 Issue
Issue 88 of Administration Matters Protect your church’s operating reserve A well-designed contingency plan for a congregation maintains an operating reserve to cover the church’s expenses for at least four months should it experience difficulties and its income be drastically reduced. >More Know when to retain or discard synod or congregational records Congregations and synods must know which records and information they should keep and which can be removed. Some records need to be maintained permanently; others can be discarded periodically. >More for Synods. >More for Congregations. Church building redesigned with MIF loan Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester, Minn., had…
Against the God of classical Calvinism and Arminianism From the For-ness of God for the World in Christ
The God of classical Calvinism and Arminianism is the same God, in the sense that their respective doctrines of God find resource in what Richard Muller identifies as ‘Christian Aristotelianism.’ How the Christian thinks of God will determine all else following, theologically. Since the actus purus (‘pure being’) god of Aristotle stands structurally and materially behind the way that Calvinism and Arminianism generally conceive of a God-world relation, what happens is that they must construct a system wherein this God remains untouched by said creation/world. In this effort, said systems have come to think of this God-world relation through a…
June/July Updates: U.N. 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. | CALIFORNIA | COLORADO | MINNESOTA | PENNSYLVANIA | WASHINGTON | WISCONSIN Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director The Lutheran Office for World Community(LOWC) hosted a delegation of Lutherans as they engaged in the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (UNPFPAD) in its second session at the United Nations. This year…
For What Shall We Pray?
“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 rescue, recovery, and rebuilding following flooding in Vermont and other parts of New England… For all…