ProtestantBeliefs.com

18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. -Matthew 16:18-20   The Church of Jesus Christ is Christ’s, it is not our possession. It is a continuous event of God’s grace for the world. Its being is not generated by an…

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. Intercession prompts: For those celebrating Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and all other winter holidays… For the nativity of our Lord and for all expectant families… For those who have difficult relationships with family… For migrants and refugees around the world and at the…

By Emily Sollie Lenny stands next to the bank of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. He can see the U.S. from where he stands in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, but he can’t get there. As a Venezuelan, he is not allowed to enter the country due to the controversial Title 42 policy, an emergency public-health measure enacted during the pandemic that was later expanded to include Venezuelans. A former soldier in the Venezuelan armed forces, he decided to leave his home country looking for greater opportunities. Now he squeaks by with odd jobs – unable to finish his journey to America, unable…

I was just re-reading the following post which I originally posted on September 13, 2021. I was looking for a post that got into the role that natural theology and no-natural theology plays in regard to Christian praxis vis-à-vis the state. This particular post has to do with BigMedicine, and what I call, along with Agamben, a new religion. Really it isn’t new at all though. Hitler rationalized that what he was doing, in pushing forward his third reich, was being done in the name of medical and scientific advancement (thus cultural advancement ushering in a new millennium where he would be…

The following article was originally published by Church Anew* and is shared on the EIR Perspectives blog with the permission of the author. The original article can be found at here.   By Dr. Michael J. Chan This article will introduce readers to a newly-published resource titled, “Preaching and Teaching with Love and Respect for the Jewish People.” This publication is a product of the ELCA’s Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations and was written under the leadership of Dr. Peter Pettit. The title of this new resource echoes the ELCA’s 1994 “A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America…

Brenda N. Henry, Carnegie, PA Warm-up Questions Holidays are often seen as a time for merriment and happiness. However, not everyone is experiencing those feelings. What are some other emotions that you are/can experience during this Christmas season (i.e. frustration, sadness, loneliness)?  What are some resources that are available (in your school, in your church, in your community) to help with these feelings? When Christmas Feels Blue On Tuesday, December 13th, 2022, Stephen “tWitch” Boss – a dancer, musician, and DJ – died at the age of 40, from a self-inflected gunshot wound – suicide.  The consistent theme in the…

I wrote the following four years ago. This locus remains my primary point of theological interest. That is, how the Christian claims to know God, under what pressures, has the greatest theological, political, sociological, and ethical implications we could fathom. As you will see, beyond the programmatic entailments engaged with in the following, natural theology, and adherence to it, has clear and present impact on the daily lives of real-life people; whether personally or collectively (as a society). If it is maintained that God and His ways can be known in an abstract ground latent in human reason, consciousness, or brute…

from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: November/December 2022 HOMELESSNESS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING AWARENESS  |  GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY ACTION  |  STATUS OF TITLE 42  |  WORLD AIDS DAY DEMANDS ATTENTION  |  RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT HOMELESSNESS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING AWARENESS: In January, the ELCA Witness in Society office will be hand-delivering invitations to members of Congress to encourage lawmakers to visit Lutheran ministries actively addressing homelessness and poverty in their district. Interested Lutheran ministries which would like to host a site visit with a lawmaker…

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  | NEW MEXICO | OHIO | PENNSYLVANIA | WASHINGTON | WISCONSIN |   Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director World AIDS Day 2022 This year, World AIDS Day 2022 was marked under the theme Equalize, a call on global leaders and all peoples of goodwill to recognize and address inequalities holding…

I just came across a Tweet from some random person that stated (my paraphrase): “I no longer believe in an eternal unending hell.” He said: “I understand why some still do, but why do so many who do act is if they are excited about it; as if it’s a sign that they were right, and those who rejected Christ were wrong and now will pay for it in an eternity of unending, hopeless torment?” So, of course, we are referring now to Christian universalism (CU). CU has been growing some serious legs over the last two decades, and even…