Blogs of the ELCA

Contributed by Paul Henrickson, Salem, VA   Warm-up Questions What if Jesus prayed for you? Would it be the same as the prayer in John 17 which he prayed for his disciples? Would he pray that you would be “sanctified?” Would Jesus pray for your PROTECTION or for your PURIFICATION or both? Caps and Frowns [...]

The Rev. Eric and Christie Hanson are ELCA missionaries in Tokyo. They are serving with the Tokyo Lutheran Church and the Hongo Student Center. To support the Hansons, or another of the ELCA’s 230 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship. Since returning from home assignment in September, we have been working to solidify the new outreach ministries that [...]

By Mark Peters, director of the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota, a State Policy Advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America   The advocacy road trip continues, pausing to explore poverty in Minnesota.  In recent years, Minnesotans have heard some policy makers malign people who use government assistance programs. In a [...]

Every spring, I look forward to playing outside all summer (some people call it yard work). In among the flowers and trees in my little backyard playground, I grow a few herbs – basil, oregano, sage, chives, thyme and parsley — and, of course, a tomato plant. Last summer’s parsley plant actually survived the winter, much to my [...]

Wow! My son has graduated from high school. It seems like only yesterday he was toddling along behind his older sisters. Where has the time gone? Before you know it he will be off to college and I will be an empty nester. This is a day that I never truly imagined. It feels like [...]

Maddie Cahoon knows that one person can make a difference. Last year, her congregation, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Arlington, WA, raised awareness for the ELCA Malaria Campaign by using “Story People.” Paper dolls, dressed in African clothing, sat in the pews. The stories written on their backs were read aloud to the congregation.  Maddie [...]

Late April and early May mark a stark contrast for Israelis and Palestinians.  This year, the state of Israel celebrated 64 years of independence in late April.  But on May 15, Palestinians commemorated the same events as a tragedy they call Al Nakba – the Catastrophe, when 800,000 Palestinians became refugees by being displaced by [...]

The experiment that inspires Year of Plenty is one that grows out of a frustration with consumerism as well as a hunger for a sense of connectedness to place and people. Through an accessible and self-aware narrative, Craig Goodwin sketches his family’s year-long journey in sustainable living. Goodwin weaves personal experience with theological reflection (most [...]

The summer 2012 edition of the Global Mission Support quarterly newsletter, “Hand in Hand,” is now available to download. It contains a beautiful glimpse into the daily cycle of tropical life in Papua New Guinea by Nancy Anderson, who like her husband, the Rev. Rodney Norby, is an ELCA missionary in that equatorial country. Pastor [...]