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Angie Larson, Alexandria, MN Warm-up Question What is one area that you think humans could work better together at? Even Greater Things On Thursday, April 13th, 16 year old Ralph Yarl went to pick up his twin younger brothers from a friend’s house, but accidentally went to the wrong house. When the homeowner came to the door he shot Ralph twice. Once through the door and then when he was already on the ground. Ralph made his way to a neighbor’s house where he got help for his injuries. His story shocked and outraged our nation. Ralph survived but not…

  Theology done by people in the depths of suffering looks much different than theology done by people who are relatively comfortable. When I say “theology” I mean anything anyone thinks or does towards the magnification of Jesus Christ. And this might not even be a conscious effort, especially for those in the thralls of suffering. Indeed, it is in these seasons, when “we have the sentence of death on us so that we will learn to trust the One who raises the dead,” that we are simply living out of the depths of Christ’s life for us (ecstatic existence);…

“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 friends and family of the shooting victims in Texas; for all those who have suffered…

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 | KANSAS | MINNESOTA | NEW MEXICO | OHIO | PENNSYLVANIA | TEXAS | WASHINGTON | WISCONSIN |   Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director From March 6-17, 2023, LOWC hosted 30 Lutheran Delegates who attended the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. The delegation represented Lutherans…

In the following Bruce McCormack sketches out, what Wilhelm Herrmann believed about the ‘historical Jesus as the ground of faith.’ Herrmann was Barth’s teacher while Barth studied at the University of Marburg. As you read this, from your own perspective as a Christian, do you find anything objectionable about the way Herrmann conceived of Jesus and salvation therefrom? If you know anything about the school that Herrmann represented in his day, then you will understand that there were some attending problems with his theology; as Barth later would come against himself. But as a stand-alone representation of Herrmann’s thought on…

from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: April 2023 UN WATER CONFERENCE | COMMENTS ADD UP AGAINST ASYLUM RULE | GLOBAL FRAGILITY ACT | FAIR HOUSING | FAITH ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSE FAMILY DETENTION   UN WATER CONFERENCE: “It has been 46 years since the last time the United Nations gathered on the issue of water,” said Christine Moffett, ELCA Environment Policy Contractor, who took part in the event along with ELCA World Hunger staff by coordination of the Lutheran Office for World Community. Held in New…

ELCA World Hunger’s Domestic Hunger Grants are one way this church accompanies communities throughout the United States and Caribbean as they respond to hunger and poverty. Domestic Hunger Grants Open May 1! Our team is excited to share that the application process for Domestic Hunger Grants will open May 1, 2023. For those who are familiar with the Domestic Hunger Grants, this year’s process will look a bit different, but we hope that the changes described below will improve the process in some important ways. To learn more about the updated process and how to apply, please visit https://elca.org/domestichungergrants. This…

I just wrote the following, off the top, as a long Tweet; take it for what it’s worth. It’s ironic when you think about it: classical Calvinists claim to be strident proponents of a doctrine of total depravity. But when you actually look at the historical ideational development there, what you get from them is a Thomist intellectualist anthropology. This entails that the intellect is the defining component of what defines a human being as a human being in a faculty psychology. The classical Calvinist (and Arminian), following Aquinas and Aristotle, requires that at the time of the fall the…

Brian Hiordahl, Orangevale, CA Warm-up Question What do you do to relax or escape stress? Gate Expectations The use of cannabis (marijuana) and whether it should be legal remains a hotly debated issue in our country, with different states reaching different conclusions. One persistent fear is that cannabis is a “gateway drug” leading its consumers to use harder drugs. In an article for Forbes, Dario Sabaghi traces the dubious history of this concern, noting that several studies not only challenge this idea but also suggest that cannabis may also lead users away from opioids. Sabaghi sites evidence that most users…

On Thursday, April 20, 2023 the ELCA Church Council adopted the church’s sixteenth social message, titled “Earth’s Climate Crisis” — an action that acknowledges the urgency of this critical moment and our responsibility as Christians to respond decisively. On this Earth Day, 2023, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton released a video on the ELCA’s Facebook page highlighting this call to action. Eaton named this as a “moment of Kairos, a critical moment in time when God is calling for decisive action in history.” This action will need to happen in our congregations and communities, but also reach far beyond them, because…