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Steven Alloway, Granada Hills, CA Warm-up Question Have you ever been in a seemingly hopeless situation, then been given a second chance? Survivors When a building collapses, there’s an estimated 48-hour window during which trapped victims might be rescued. More generous estimates expand that to five or six days, maximum. Beyond that, the odds of survival decrease significantly. But after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey on February 6th, rescue teams were still pulling survivors from the rubble nearly 10 days later! One 13 year old boy, Mustafa, was trapped for 228 hours. “I have no clue how he survived,”…

Session 1 — Psalm 32 “You are a hiding place for me.” —Psalm 32:7   Psalm 32 is a fitting way to begin the season of Lent. The season has most commonly been understood through the centuries as a time of fasting and preparation for Easter, a time when new Christians were often baptized. As early as the second century, theologian Irenaeus of Lyons wrote of a time of penance and prayer leading up to Holy Week when Christians and those seeking baptism should fast for a period of 40 days or 40 hours (the translation is unclear) while reflecting…

Let me know if this new font is too small, and thus hard to read. Thank you. Athanasian Reformed

“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 continued relief and recovery efforts in Turkey and Syria… For continued clean-up efforts following the East…

After perhaps a year or more of not gathering on-site for Ash Wednesday services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, worshiping communities across a large swath of the US are dealing with or expecting severe weather that would prevent gathering on-site. This solemn observance is a treasured one in the liturgical year, a day to be gathered with one another and to have the ashen cross marked on our forehead, reminding us of the dust from which we came and to where we will return.  Conversations on social media have begun, as fellow worship planners ask one another what they are…

Here is what I presented as my dissertation by prior publication to Concordia Academic Theology Consortium, Intl. As noted, I have given the PhD back, but here is the work I presented to Dr. Enrique Ramos and Dr. Fred Macharia for examination. It really was just a coalescing together of what I had already written; whether that be published in book form, or various blog posts strung together. It is what it is. Click here: Evangelical Calvinism’s Portrait of a Knowledge of God and a Sure Salvation. Like I also said: I am still happy to have the honorary DTh from CATC, but…

The following is cross published with permission from disciplescuim.org.   By the Rev. Paul S. Tché Fullerton, California – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) concluded a productive meeting on January 26-28, 2023, at the Disciples Ministry Center in Fullerton, California, to continue their ongoing bilateral dialogue. The dialogue team studied together the WCC Faith and Order Commission’s theological convergent text, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (1984), led by Bishop Emeritus Donald J. McCoid, who served as Assistant to the Presiding Bishop and Executive for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations of the ELCA. The discussions focused on…

Situation: On Feb. 6 two powerful earthquakes hit Türkiye and significantly impacted neighboring Syria. The first was a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in south central Türkiye, followed hours later by a magnitude 7.5 quake in the southeastern part of the country. The two quakes have devastated Türkiye and Syria, collapsing thousands of buildings and damaging infrastructure. Over 41,000 people have been killed, with the count expected to continue rising drastically. ACT Alliance member organizations are on the ground assisting earthquake survivors. Photo: GOPA-DERD     Response: Lutheran Disaster Response is contributing to ACT Alliance to address the devastation from the earthquakes. There…

Eberhard Juengal on the humanity of God in Christ: . . . The event of God’s justifying the ungodly teaches us to recognize his divinity in the act of selfless self-commitment by God. The New Testament calls this selfless commitment by God love – and in particular – love directed towards people. In this selfless commitment, that is, in his love to people, God is righteous, he is ‘OK’, he is consistent with himself. God’s humanity is the clearest expression of his divinity, not a contradiction of it (otherwise, talking of God’s humanity would be a paradox). God does not…

In the fall of 2021, the ELCA Worship Blog began a weekly series entitled, “Prompts for Prayers of Intercession.” Each post included a listing of prayer prompts based on current news and events, as well as a listing of upcoming commemorations and observations and additional prayer and hymn suggestions from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW)/All Creation Sings (ACS) and ELCA resources.  The goal of the project was to give church leaders a resource for crafting, updating, and contextualizing the weekly prayers of intercession for their worshiping communities. The prompts were intended to be a simple way to remain mindful of world…