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Mid-week Prayer

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Read: Acts 6:1-7

Reflect: The church leaders were busy proclaiming the good news of the risen Jesus. The Holy Spirit was busy too – inspiring those leaders and opening the hearts and minds of those who heard their message. As a result, many believed and were baptized. But with the growing numbers of believers there was less time and energy to care for the needs of the most vulnerable among them. The solution: to set apart for special service faithful individuals with gifts for serving those in need. In this way, the message of God’s abundant love made known in Jesus would be shared not just through preaching and teaching, but also through deeds of compassion and mercy.

Two thousand years later, the church is still setting apart such persons for special service – we call them deacons. Frequently (but not always) they serve in food pantries and soup kitchens, hospitals and nursing homes, and shelters for unhoused neighbors. Deacons don’t relieve the rest of us from our responsibility to act wherever we find God’s children in need of help, hope, or advocacy. Instead, the Holy Spirit empowers and guides them to lead us in this work by their own examples of faithfulness and generosity.

Prayer: God of compassion, your Son came among us not to be served but to serve. We give you thanks for those whom you have called to the ministry of word and service [especially

name/s ]. Give to all deacons faith to serve you with gladness; sustain them with a living hope, especially in times of despair; and kindle in them your love, so that they see in every neighbor the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen. (from All Creation Sings, p. 46. ©2020 Augsburg Fortress, used by permission.)

Memorial Day

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Read: Isaiah 2:4

Reflect: This week we observed Memorial Day – a national day set aside to remember all who have died in service to this country. It is good for us to remember the cost of war in terms of lives lost. It is also good for us to count the cost of war as it is measured by those who survive, yet continue to suffer from wounds that are not always obvious. As we remember our dead, let us also remember the living. Let us pray for our own and for our enemies, that one day nations will no longer lift up swords against each other, or learn war any more.

Prayer: Holy God, you call us forward into a day of peace between nations; a time when war is no longer taught or sought. So many have died in the defense of liberty. We remember them with love and thanksgiving. Open our hearts to care for those who struggle to heal from wounds we can see… and the ones that remain invisible. Strengthen and support the families of our service members. Teach us all your lasting way of peace. We pray in the name of the one who is our Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

An Easter Reflection (see Matthew 28:1-10)

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According to Matthew, the Easter story is all about God: God’s power and love and what God has done for the world in raising Jesus from the dead. And about how God has come out in full force against the powers of sin, and death and the grave. The battle is engaged once and for all, and God is unquestionably the victor! Jesus lives! Alleluia!

Easter is also a story about us. It’s about how God chooses to work in and through the whole of creation in the cause of bringing new life from death. It’s about how the good news of Jesus’ resurrection is able to transform our grief and despair into hope and great joy. It’s about how our proper response (like that of the women) is one of worship and obedience EVEN in the face of things we don’t fully understand. It’s about being eager and courageous as we tell others what God in Christ has done for us, inviting them to “come and see” him for themselves.

The invitation is there for you, too. Come and see!

New Hope Celebrates it’s 10th Anniversary!

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New Hope Lutheran Church had a wonderful celebration service featuring a variety of special music including a bells choir, a vocal choir, sax, trumpet, drums, piano, and organ. The Rev. Dr. Laurie Jungling was the guest preacher. The service was followed by a potluck meal, birthday cake, games, and shared memories.

THANK YOU to the Congregational Life team, all the musicians, the church council, and everyone else who helped make the 10th Anniversary Celebration a wonderful day!

A Message from the Presiding Bishop

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Dear church,

As Lutherans, we are accustomed to holding tension between two truths. Thus the ELCA denounces the egregious acts of Hamas, acts that have led to unspeakable loss of life and hope. At the same time the ELCA denounces the indiscriminate retaliation of Israel against the Palestinian people, both Christian and Muslim.

For the past week we have borne witness to the horrors of the escalating crisis between Israel and Hamas. We also watch a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel blocks food, water, fuel and medical supplies and as airstrikes continue to cause unbearable civilian casualties ahead of a just-announced ground assault. We see Israelis and families around the world in the agonizing wait for word about the fate of loved ones killed or taken hostage by Hamas. We are in anguish, grieving and praying for all people who are living in trauma, fear and uncertainty.

Among us are Palestinian Lutherans who are fearful for their families, their communities and their homeland. In our communities we have Jewish and Muslim neighbors, who are also facing the horrors of this crisis and its impact on their loved ones.

It is difficult to find words that suffice in the complexity of this moment, and in the web of relationships that bind us together, as church, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and our interreligious partners. Yet God has called us to be a people who stand with others amid suffering.

We must also call a thing a thing. The power exerted against all Palestinian people — through the occupation, the expansion of settlements and the escalating violence — must be called out as a root cause of what we are witnessing. We are committed to our long-standing accompaniment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

The God who liberates us calls us to be a liberating witness. May it be so. 

In Christ,


The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America