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Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (ELCA) For many U.S. residents reading this blog post, our ability to think soundly about the Israel-Hamas conflict has been consistently interrupted by waves of conflicting images and emotions: stories of trauma and grief from Israelis impacted by the Hamas attacks on their homes, followed almost immediately by accounts from Gaza of deaths; both moments of horror followed quickly by a outrage and ambivalence gestated over decades by a binary debate over U.S. involvement in the conflict. We can certainly feel tired to act when we pile onto these emotions the ways social media and…

I have decided to migrate over to Substack, as I was contemplating in my last post. I will leave this blog up, of course!, with all of its archives intact. I have exported all of my posts, and I believe comments, over to my Substack (I think it is still in the process of processing all of that). I hope all of my readers and subscribers will follow me over to my new online writing home. It will still be the same type of material as I’ve engaged with here over the years, just on a different platform (with I…

In the United States, November is Native American Heritage Month. Racial Justice Ministries would like to elevate the voices and work of our Indigenous siblings by bringing attention to the multitude of events by the ELCA’s Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. A full list of offerings for this month can be found here, but there are two events that we would especially like to highlight: Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium In 2013, the Annual American Indian and Alaska Native Symposium at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago was renamed in honor of Vine Deloria Jr., an alum of Augustana…

“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 in our world… For all casualties of conflicts between Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine,…

How does the Christian know the depth of sin; how does anyone? How does a Christian have knowledge of themselves; how does anyone? According to Scripture we only know the depth of human sin through God’s Self-revelation in Jesus Christ. To think sin, to think humanity even, from any other ground than the ground of God’s Light of Light for the world in Jesus Christ will give us a skewed sense, a perverted perspective on just who we are as fallen humanity. Until we come to the realization and understanding of the depth dimension of our status as fallen creatures,…

“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 in our world… For all casualties of the conflict in Israel and Palestine and for…

Situation: The Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives. Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Due to escalating conflict in Gaza and Israel, a severe humanitarian crisis is rapidly unfolding in the Holy Land. Response: Lutheran Disaster Response is providing support to Augusta Victoria Hospital to procure medical supplies and accommodations for patients and staff who are unable to return to their homes in Gaza between treatments.   Be part of the response: Pray Please pray for those impacted by the humanitarian crisis in the Holy Land. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of…

Even as a Christian, nearly 30yrs ago, I went through a season of extreme spiritual and intellectual doubt. It was as if the heavens were bronze, as if closed. That in my attempt to think and talk with God, it felt as if my words and thoughts would only make it as high as this bronze ceiling; as if the God I was ostensibly worshipping was merely a projection of my own wants and wishes. But I came to realize—through God’s grace and persistence—that in fact the Heavens are always open; indeed, that the veil of the flesh of Christ’s…

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 |KANSAS | MINNESOTA | WASHINGTON |WISCONSIN   New York Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), U.N. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director LWF Assembly: Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC) director Christine Mangale joined more than a thousand participants from around the global Lutheran communion who gathered in Krakow, Poland for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Thirteenth Assembly. It took…

Drew Tucker, Columbus, OH Warm-up Question Think of something that affects everyone, that’s often unpopular, and that’s necessary for living in a society. Share with a group or a trusted friend how you feel about that thing that you’ve named.  Taxing Question Thanks to the recent threat of a government shutdown, averted by a last-minute stopgap funding bill that President Biden signed into law on September 30th, 2023, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we fund living in our shared society. From infrastructure like roads and utilities to people like first responders and postal workers, our taxes…