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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 peace among nations, especially between Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine… For relief and recovery efforts…

I think part of the problem is that there is a lot of theological insecurity out there, so there is a desire to find stability and safe-haven in a bulwark of theological enterprise that has time and development behind it. The problem with that approach, though, is that time isn’t God. A major aspect of the incarnation of God in Christ is the Revelation that God’s stability is filial and vulnerable. There is a sense of vulnerability and nakedness before God that characterizes God’s relationship with us, and thus ours with Him. Attempting to find repose in the God who…

by Autumn Byars, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Arizona [about the author] There is so much noise around the federal election cycle. Op-eds, debates, primaries, public feuds, scandals, caucuses, social media exchanges, exclusive interviews and on and on take up so much of our time and attention. As often as not, public discussions around pressing issues devolve into arguments about rhetoric and attempts to assert the superiority of any given campaign. Even though this is only the second presidential election I am able to participate in, I, like most people, find myself exhausted at the thought of going through it all…

Lutherans Restoring Creation and ELCA World Hunger are eager to share a resource faith communities can use to start discussions and inspire community-based-solutions to grow climate justice, as part of the One Home, One Future collaborative. Regenerating Life: How to Cool the Planet, Feed the World, and Live Happily Ever After offers attainable solutions to the climate crisis through an ecological approach that unpacks the social and environmental crises confronting us. Join us Tuesday Feb 27th at 8:00 pm ET/7:00 CT/6:00 MT/5:00 PT/4:00AK for film highlights & discussion with the filmmaker, John Feldman. You can view the trailer here. Register now (click here) to gain free temporary access to this…

Here at Athanasian Reformed we often talk about soteriology; indeed, as a nexus interlinked with a whole host of other theological loci, within a theological taxis (order). I was once again reminded by someone on X/Twitter that not everyone thinks these matters through the inner-theological reality present within the warp and woof of Holy Scripture; they simply skim the outer-textual-top and think they have somehow penetrated the marrow therein. But as is the case, the biblical marrow is only gotten at when the reader understands the Bible’s res (reality): i.e., Jesus Christ. When Scripture is “exegeted” through a Ramist place…

Eric Luke, Saint Paul, MN Warm-up Question When you get overwhelmed, where do you turn (or what do you turn to) to regain your focus? I Swear It’s a common television courtroom image to see a witness raise their right hand, put their left hand on the Bible, and  swear an oath to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” This tradition goes back generations and is intended to indicate the individual’s degree of commitment to the truth when making their oath. It’s common, as well, for elected officials to place their hand on a Bible…

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is upon us once again. To commemorate this time of collective witness we’ve compiled a list of ecumenical and inter-religious opportunities for you and your congregation to connect with throughout the year!   Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Traditionally the week of prayer is celebrated between 18-25 January, between the feasts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, though it can be celebrated at any point throughout the year. Each year ecumenical partners from a particular region are invited to produce a liturgical text based on a specific Biblical theme. This year’s theme…

Leave it to Barth to see an analogy of the incarnation (the hypostatic union) as the inner-theological basis of the Great Commandment found in Matthew 22:37–40. Let me share that now, with a concluding remark following. It is taken from Barth’s Church Dogmatics III/2 §45: For a true understanding, we can and must think of what is popularly called the twofold law of love—for God and neighbour (Mk. 12.29-31 and par.). It is no accident that it was Jesus who summed up the Law and the prophets in this particular way. He was speaking primarily and decisively of the law…

What is COP? COP28 took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Nov. 30 – Dec.12, 2023. LWF/Albin Hillert COP stands for the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is “the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC.” What is the UNFCCC? The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty drafted in 1992 and enacted in 1994 among 198 parties. Both the Kyoto Protocol and the subsequent Paris Agreement are implementation measures of the UNFCCC. The purpose of UNFCC is “to combat dangerous human interference in the climate system.” Who from the ELCA attended…

by Erin Brown, Lutheran Office for World Community [about the author] Since October, the Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC) has participated in weekly prayers for peace at the Church Center for the United Nations. At every service, we lift up prayers for all people impacted by violence and destruction caused by the numerous conflicts happening worldwide. At a recent service, members of an organization called Flame of Hope led the reflection, bringing with them a lantern illuminated with a flame recovered from the aftermath of the atomic bomb drop in Hiroshima in 1945. This flame has traveled across the…