A Spoken word Poetics on the Living Word of God
As a radical Protestant I am a theologian of a radical theology of the Word. This means that I first understand the Word, to be the eternal Logos, the begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. I understand his free election (Deus incarnandus) to be for us to entail what has become the written and proclaimed Word. So, the creaturely media, such as written and proclaimed Words are, in order, at least for the former to be living and active, requires that its res or reality be antecedently given in and from the eternally living and active Word of…
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 the memory of Emmett Till and for all victims of race-based hate crimes… For those fighting…
Reflecting on the United Nations High-Level Political Forum
In July 2023, 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…
PhD Update, Saint Alcuin House Seminary
I have been accepted into the PhD program in Systematic and Historical Theology at St. Alcuin House Seminary, an Anglican institution of the Benedictine order in the Communion of Anglican Churches. I’ll give more details as I have them. They have been accredited in the past, and are currently in application for renewing their accreditation (I believe the accreditation comes through Cambridge Assessment International Education of Cambridge University). Athanasian Reformed
August Recess opportunity
OVERVIEW | 2023 FARM BILL REAUTHORIZATION | HOMELESSNESS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING | GLOBAL HEALTH: HIV/AIDS | TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOCUS | MIGRATION POLICY CLARITY | TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES | DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN August Recess is a congressional tradition that brings heightened opportunities to reach out to your federal lawmakers where you – and they – live. U.S. representatives traditionally return to their home districts in this month to engage with their constituents. Town Halls and in-district meetings may be available to you in this period that create…
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…









