Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – June 5, 2022
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. Responding to recent acts of violence All Creation Sings includes several for lament including “Lamenting Gun Violence” (Leaders Edition, p. 107) and “Service after a Violent Event” (Pew Edition p. 64-66, Leaders p. 110-113) as well as several collect prayers including the one…
Against Winsomeness Because of God’s Holiness
Someone I know from online recently wrote a viral article for First Things where he gently critiques the approach of Tim Keller. His primary critique was of the ‘winsome’ and purported ‘third wayism’ that Keller has operated with for the last couple of decades, and even further back. My friend, James Wood, made some appeal to sociological analysis as a way into making his critique of Keller. In nuce, the argument was that Keller’s winsome approach may have had some resonance in the last decade or so, but that we have moved into times that aren’t as receptive to Christian…
June 5, 2022–Noticed, Named, and Known
Drew Tucker, Columbus, OH Warm-up Question How do you know that you belong in a community? What are the signs from a community that indicate you might not belong there? Noticed, Named, and Known Recent research about Gen Z from the Springtide Research Institute suggests that a combination of three things leads to young people, aged 13-25, feeling like they belong in school: being noticed, named, and known by a community. Paying attention to someone, noticing rather than ignoring them, increases that person’s sense of connectedness. Greeting someone, holding the door for them, blessing them after a sneeze—all are simple…
Devotional: Can’t Control the New
by Isabella Peterson, 2021-22 Hunger Advocacy Fellow [about the author] I often struggle with an uneasy sensation when faced with change – that is the inability to control the “new.” It isn’t because I fear a new stage in my life, it’s because I fear the unknown. I fear the loss of control of what is happening around me; I fear the journey to the “new,” not the destination. I fear the loss of control of what is happening around me. “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will…
Self-Justification as the Warp and Woof of Edenic Ejaculation
The notion of ‘being justified’ is an inherently Christian notion, at least in the West (but I’d argue, globally). Our grammars for thinking life, the secular/sacred divide is no matter, come to all of us through a Christian lens. But even prior to that, in a chronological (and logical) sense, the desire to be ‘justified,’ one way or the other, presupposes someone we are seeking to be justified before, even if that someone reduces to ourselves. Nonetheless, I find this ethos, this pathos even, to be rather stunning when paused upon for reflection. Eberhard Juengal writes: Wanting to justify yourself…
Situation Report: Mass Shootings in the U.S.
Buffalo, NY Situation: On May 14, a mass shooting occurred in a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, NY. 10 people were killed and three others were injured in the racially-motivated attack. Response: The Upstate New York Synod, with support from Lutheran Disaster Response, is partnering with VOICE Buffalo, an organization addressing peace, reconciliation, and trauma counseling. The synod will hire a coordinator to work on a new-start mission with VOICE Buffalo, called “Community of Good Neighbors.” From the ELCA’s statement on the mass shooting: “Our hearts grieve for those who have been killed and our souls cry out against…
A Recap of the National VOAD Conference
On May 2-5, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, National VOAD, held its annual conference in Baltimore, MD. Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) is a National VOAD member and has been a strong player in the VOAD movement. National VOAD is a coalition of community-based, faith-based and nonprofit disaster response organizations throughout the United States. Its purpose is to serve as a forum in which organizations can coordinate responses. In addition to the more than 70 national member organizations, there are also VOADs at the state and local levels. The National VOAD Conference consists of various plenary sessions, interactive workshops, networking…
The Lutheran Connection with TF Torrance: The Kerygmatic Christ as the Concentration
The Gospels of the New Testament witness all present Jesus via His historicity, and the facts of His life as they unfolded in particular frames of reference. John the evangelist ended his Gospel with the quip, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” Clearly, Jesus was a historical personage, but this is not how the Christian has come to know Him at a first order; nor is it the way that the Evangelists…
Farm Bill Advocacy
This blog is an invitation into learning more about the farm bill, farm bill advocacy and ways to get involved. It expands on information in the ELCA World Hunger’s Global Farm Challenge Youth Action Guide’s advocacy page. The farm bill is legislation passed every five years that has a tremendous impact on hunger in the United States and globally. The current farm bill expires in 2023, so the process is ramping up – where the programs covered in the bill are debated, refreshed and ultimately passed by Congress toward being signed into law. Now is the time for our…
ELCA Bishops Write to Congress about Augusta Victoria Hospital Funding
On May 18, ELCA Presiding Bishop Eaton and 44 ELCA synod bishops wrote to Congress about their concerns related to the funding of Augusta Victoria Hospital. Read the full letter here: ELCA Bishops’ letter to Congress concerning US funding for Augusta Victoria Hospital. In the letter they ask for the Members of Congress to “support the transfer of $ 120 million to USAID to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in 2022. These allocations are needed to cover the PA’s debt to AVH and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.” Ask your Members of Congress to restore…