Tag: Faith

Shawna with members of ROAD in Muskogee, OK | Photo credit Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma In the first week of May 2022, severe storms and flash flooding swept through Eastern Oklahoma, leaving a trail of destruction across multiple counties. In Muskogee alone, more than seven inches of rain fell in a single day, overwhelming homes, properties, and communities. Thousands of households were impacted, many of them uninsured and uncertain of how they would recover. Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) partnered with Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma through a grant supporting unmet needs from the storms. Together, this collaboration became a source…

In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. The following article is cross-posted from the Voices of Faith section of Living Lutheran online. The original post can be found here. Courtesy of Grace El-Yateem By: Grace El-Yateem | April 15, 2026 STEADY FAITH, STRONG TRADITIONS, LASTING IMPRESSION An Arab American Christian reflects on her community’s quiet but profound impact on the American Lutheran life April is Arab American Heritage Month in the United States. While this…

In celebration of Black History Month which is celebrated in the United States in February, we share the following article which is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. The original post can be found here. VOICES OF FAITH THE TIMBRE OF BLACK JOY The timbre of my voice rumbles at the back of my throat, and my mouth opens as a roar of laughter fills the space. Laughter is good for the soul. Too often, our brown bodies feel the tension of the world, and it dulls us. It quiets us, and its load weighs our shoulders down. Time and time again, the…

The creator of the Dilbert comic series, Scott Adams, just died today after a long battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was also a popular author focusing on matters of daily life, and cultural commentary. I followed him on X. He had been publishing videos discussing his cancer, and the state he was in at that moment. Only a few weeks ago he said that he didn’t have much time left. Just a day or two ago he was placed into hospice care; and today he died. During these last few weeks, he said that he was considering becoming a…

Prepare (This section is preparation for the leader, not content meant for the group.) The first part of this week’s gospel lesson is a familiar passage—though most of us probably recall its counterpart in Matthew 17:20, where faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain, rather than uproot a mulberry tree as we see in Luke 17. Either way, the point is not meant to be taken literally. This chapter is full of hyperbolic language meant to drive a lesson home. In verses 1–4, Jesus says it would be better to have a heavy stone hung around…

In my online wanderings recently the locus of Christian faith has come up. It is oriented around the age-old debate of the origination of faith; and in fact, what faith is. Is justificatory faith before God a quality inherent to the human (so, a Pelagian frame), or is it a reality that is alien to and outside of human agency that is given as gift to humanity (whether that be given to certain ‘elected’ humans or to all of humanity)? I would argue, along with Karl Barth, that justificatory faith is an outside of us reality that comes to us…

Catalyst Question Share about a time when, even after you made a mistake, someone gave you a second chance. Repentance as the Fertilizer of Faith  This week, the annual NCAA basketball tournaments begin. Dubbed “March Madness,” two tournaments seek to crown the respective men’s and women’s team champion for Division 1 basketball. While there’s plenty of controversy coming for missed foul calls questionable decisions from coaches and players alike, controversy always begins with Selection Sunday. On this day, when the teams are chosen to participate in the tournament, there’s always someone left out. This year, both West Virginia and Indiana had…

This blog post “Communicating Shared Values” is part two of a series designed to spark conversation! To read the previous posts in the series, you can view all ELCA Innovation Blog posts here. Research Insight: Young adult parents don’t consider religious faith or spiritual development important for their children.    This chart from the study shows how respondents view what is most important to teach children. Last week’s blog post shared a call to action from the U.S. Surgeon General for faith communities and religious leaders to play a part in responding to issues around parents’ mental health and well-being…

By Pastor Rob Rose, Assistant to the Bishop, Florida-Bahamas Synod Republished from the Florida-Bahamas Synod E-Spirit Weekly Newsletter     The past week took me on a journey across our synod, from the west coast to the east, meeting with congregations that had been battered by both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, along with the tornados that tore through communities in their wake. Each stop was a poignant reminder of the resilience of God’s people in the face of unimaginable loss, and yet a call to remember that none of us faces these struggles alone. We are part of something…

This blog post is part of a series designed to spark conversation! To read future posts in the series, you can view all ELCA Innovation Blog posts here. Parents under pressure This past summer, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents. A Surgeon General’s Advisory is “a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.” In short, an…