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from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – The Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director, ELCA Witness in Society Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: July/August 2022 AUGUSTA VICTORIA HOSPITAL FUNDING  |  BORDER ENCOUNTERS  |  SUPREME COURT ABORTION RULING  |  USE OF LANDMINES  |  BIPARTISAN GUN LEGISLATION   AUGUSTA VICTORIA HOSPITAL FUNDING: President Joe Biden visited Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) on July 15 as part of a two-day presidential visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. While there, the president announced a $ 100 million multiyear commitment toward the East Jerusalem Hospital Network (EJHN), of which AVH is a…

OVERVIEW | SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCES | MOMENT – CHILD TAX CREDIT  |  MOMENT – HOUSING | MOMENT – GUN VIOLENCE | MOMENT – ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | MOMENT – GENDER BASED VIOLENCE | MOMENT – ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION | MOMENT – VOTING RIGHTS   By design and adapted to present realities, 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…

Questioner: Why are so many people against Reformed/Calvinist theology? Steven Lawson: Because they don’t know the Bible; it’s not that they know too much of the Bible, but too little that leads them to the conclusion that Calvinism isn’t viable (my paraphrase). To view the whole exchange on the above click here. The respondents also include the late R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur. None of this is surprising, of course Lawson et al. will claim that people reject their version of Calvinism because, as he claims, people don’t know their Bibles. It is hard to fathom how folks can survive…

These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod. Intercession prompts:  For those in London and all across Europe, experiencing record-high temperatures and facing the on-going threat of wildfires… For jurors, students, and families in the midst of the Parkland shooting sentencing trial… For the victims of the mall shooting in Indiana,…

Our Christian faith compels us to attend to the world through the lens of our relationship to God and to one another. Sometimes, we may echo the sentiment: The world’s so big and I’m so small. Yet there is much we can do act for greater justice, and we are far from alone. Drop by an Advocacy Cafe to hear from ELCA advocacy community leaders about timely topics. The 30-minute presentations will be offered twice on the same day. The day session will wrap-up with 15-minutes for a Q&A session with panelists. The evening session will wrap-up differently, with 25…

What does it mean to be genuinely and humanly free? Must we settle for some philosophical abstraction arrived at like libertarian free agency (aka “freewill”), or on the determinist side, some form of what is often referred to as compatibilism? Do you believe that you have freewill; and if you do, how do you define freewill (as a Christian) before God? While this might seem a knotty discussion, nonetheless, it is significant and impinges on everyone’s daily life. According to my reading of the Apostle Paul to be humanly free is to be for God. Since only God, ultimately, has…

Issue 83 of Administration Matters ELCA Churchwide Assembly Pre-event: “Embody the Word” Bible study sessions In preparation for the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, ELCA members are encouraged to participate in a series of online Bible studies. Participants will explore the meaning of “embodiment,” from Luke 24, and get the chance to engage with the presenters. Sessions take place Sunday afternoons in July from 3 to 3:45 p.m. Central time, and they can be streamed live or on-demand in the Churchwide Assembly Playlist of  the ELCA YouTube channel. The presenters are: • Rev. Jay Alanis (July 10). • Sally Azar (July…

The United States President Joe Biden visited the LWF-operated Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) on the morning of Friday July 15. The visit was part of a two-day presidential visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Biden’s visit to the hospital is the first visit of a sitting US president to East Jerusalem. The US President announced a USD 100 million multi-year commitment toward the East Jerusalem Hospital Network (EJHN), of which AVH is a member. The six chief executive officers of the EJHN members were invited as well as ELCJHL Bishop Ibrahim Azar.  Several AVH medical staff and the LWF…

Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor of the Roman Catholic church, is a Doctor of Theology located in the 13th century. When this is appreciated, things go better. If we could look at him, purely historically, this would be a better way. But instead, people, in particular, Protestant theologians are attempting to retrieve Aquinas’ theology, and the broader Thomist mantle in general, for what they see as a necessary corrective for the evangelical turn into heterodox and heretical positions in regard to doctrine and its subsequent praxis as it is applied to the daily lives of its adherents. But is Aquinas…

by Kathryn M. Lohre As Lutherans in North America, we have a remarkable opportunity to live out our Christian vocation in a multi-religious world. No matter where we live, the realities of religious diversity are not “out there,” but in our daily lives with our families, in our congregations, communities, and at work. Our ministries – whether as pastors, deacons, or lay people – are shaped by the religious diversity in our midst. The brand new “ELCA Guidelines for Ministry in a Multi-Religious World” provide a way for our ministries to also be shaped for our multi-religious context. These new…