Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – December 4, 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. Intercession prompts: For rebuilding and recovery work following tornadoes in the southern United States… For families grieving children killed in a school bombing in northern Afghanistan… For an end to continued war in Ukraine… For an end to gun violence in our nation……
Election. John Owen in Conversation with Barth and Torrance
Here’s a post I found in my drafts from 2013, not sure if I ever posted this. Election. Election has been such a source of consternation for so many of us through our own theological years. The battle continues to fray on and on between the rascally classical Calvinists and Arminians—at least in its most popular expression—there is a trading of proof texts that sail right past each other as two ships in the dark navigate precariously past one another. There is a more sophisticated way to engage with this tumultuous topic. I like to think that Myk Habets and…
Advent Pilgrimage in Palestine 2022
Join us in Sensing Advent: Practicing God’s justice in embodied community Advent Pilgrimage in Palestine is a four-week virtual pilgrimage from the ELCA’s Peace Not Walls, Young Adult Ministry, Arab and Middle Eastern ministry, and ALAMEH featuring young adult voices from the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. In Palestine and around the world, Advent is a time to prepare for Christmas—not only in our hearts and minds, but in embodied traditions that involve all our senses. Decorations, food, music, and gifts can not only express the rich cultural diversity of the church and connect…
ALAMEH Statement on Iran
ALAMEH (Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage) issued a statement on Iran, please find it linked below. ALAMEH Statement on Iran ELCA Blogs
God Speaks, but Only Through Men in Christ
It’s better to know God in the way that He has deigned to be known. He has freely chosen to be known through men’s (Prophets and Apostles) voices, and not His voice directly (like audibly per se). Even as He came to us in the Son, He came as a human being; the human being par excellence. But still, He accommodates to speak to us, to reveal Himself to us, in a man’s voice, a human’s voice; albeit the Godman’s voice. The person we finally encounter in the Man, Christ Jesus’ voice, is the person of the triune God; nevertheless,…
Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – November 27, 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. Intercession prompts: For those mourning loss of life, home, and livelihood in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Indonesia… For the loved ones of those killed and for others who were injured in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs on…
November 27, 2022–Are You. Awake?
Mary Houck, Decatur, GA Warm-up Question Name a favorite celebrity or a public figure you admire. How much do you know about them and what they stand for? Should famous people be held accountable for what they believe personally? For example, can you listen to someone’s music, read their book, or watch them in a movie, even if you know their values are different from yours? Are You Awake? Public figures, from social media influencers to celebrities to politicians, talk about how “woke” they are. The term has developed more layers of meaning in the past few years. For example,…
Editor’s Note
A housekeeping note: most likely, unless I post a re-post, my forthcoming posts for the foreseeable future will be shorter than normal. I am still going through some heavy spiritual battle, that is also producing heavy mental anguish, and so that has been affecting my output here, as well as in other areas of life. For that I would appreciate continued prayer, that the Lord would see fit to release me from this current struggle, and provide that type of “new day” for me in Him. Anyway, that’s what you can expect for the near future. Shorter posts that attempt…
“Who Are You!”
Today’s blog post comes from DeAnna Quietwater Noriega. DeAnna Quietwater Noriega is half Apache and a quarter Chippewa. She is the mother of three, two daughters and an adopted blind son. She was the eldest of five children in a close–knit American Indian family. As a result of congenital glaucoma, she became totally blind at the age of eight. DeAnna was mainstreamed in public schools in Texas, Michigan, and California. She completed a bachelor’s degree in social science and did a year toward a master’s in social work at California State University Stanislaus. While attending college, she taught independent…
November 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. | ARIZONA | CALIFORNIA | COLORADO | MINNESOTA | NEW MEXICO | OHIO | PENNSYLVANIA | TEXAS | WASHINGTON | WISCONSIN | U.N. Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director Women’s Human Rights Advocacy Training The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in partnership with the World Council of Churches, Finn Church Aid, and Norwegian Church Aid held…