God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate our 25th anniversary as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.

We are a church that rolls up our sleeves and gets to work. On Sept., 8, 2013, let’s join together as 4 million members, nearly 10,000 congregations, 65 synods and the churchwide expression for a dedicated day of service.

Let’s clean up neighborhoods, deliver meals, collect supplies for refugees overseas, visit our neighbors or help a child learn to read.

You work every day to welcome your neighbors and make your community a better place. Now let’s do it together as one body, using our hands to do God’s work of restoring and reconciling communities in Jesus Christ’s name throughout the world.

Resources are available at “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday. Bulletin inserts, flyers, t-shirts, may be ordered and a congregational toolkit will be available mid-May.

Number 230. A publication of the Central States Synod. Published monthly by the central States Synod, ELCA. Deadline for submission of materials is the 15th of the month for the subsequent issue. News may be directed to Dan Glamann at dglamann@css-elca.org. Permission is granted to ELCA congregations and members to reproduce any portion of this newsletter. Download:

CHICAGO (ELCA) — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) continues to advocate for comprehensive federal immigration reform as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on legislation that calls for reform. A bipartisan group of senators introduced a reform bill April 17.

In anticipation of the Senate’s bill, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service sponsored a leadership summit April 14-16 that brought together 40 Lutheran leaders from across the country to Capitol Hill to support the new legislation.

“I’m proud that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service could convene so many skilled and respected leaders at such a critical time at this year’s Lutheran Immigration Leadership Summit, as the Senate rolls out history-making immigration legislation. There’s never been a more important time for us, as Lutherans and Americans, to make our voices heard,” said Linda Hartke, president and CEO of the service.

Based in Baltimore, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is one of the nation’s leaders in welcoming and advocating for refugees and immigrants and works on behalf of the ELCA. READ MORE

Double your impact

This week gifts to the ELCA Malaria Campaign will be matched – dollar for dollar – up to $130,000. Our goal this week is to raise $250,000 – enough to jump-start anti-malaria work in Uganda.

World Malaria Day is April 25, 2013. We are turning this day into a special week – focusing on the work of the ELCA Malaria Campaign. You and your congregation are invited to join ELCA members across this church in observing World Malaria Day through the ELCA Malaria Campaign on Sunday, April 28, 2013.

Whether on Earth Day or any other day, caring for the earth is always timely. Any time we increase our commitment to caring for the earth we show gratitude for its riches to our gracious and generous God! For an Earth Day Resource produced by the Women of the ELCA, click CARING FOR THE EARTH.

For more information about Earth Day celebrations and activities visit EARTH DAY NETWORK.

CHICAGO (ELCA) — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has made available prayer and worship resources in response to the April 15 explosions during the Boston Marathon. The resources are at http://www.ELCA.org/Growing-In-Faith/Worship.aspx.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, offered the following prayer:

“Oh God, in Jesus name we renounce the forces of evil and the disruptive power of violence. With all those who suffer, we cry out for mercy and healing, by your spirit join us together into one community of compassion and courage. Do not let fear hold us captive. Give us faith to trust your promise that nothing in all creation will separate us from your love in Christ Jesus. For all who care for the wounded, we give thanks and pray that you will give them strength. For all who mourn, give the comfort of your peace. In the name of the risen Christ we pray, amen.”

The ELCA New England Synod, based in Worcester, Mass., is a member of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, which offered a statement in response to the bombing in Boston. The statement is available at http://masscouncilofchurches.wordpress.com/.

Bishop Mansholt Climbs Capitol Hill to Advocate for Humane Immigration Reform

MARCH 15, 2013 – WASHINGTON, D.C. Living out God’s call to welcome the stranger, Bishop Gerald Mansholt of the Central States Synod today visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill with the message that economic security and personal responsibility start with strong families and citizenship, and that America would be foolish to rebuild its immigration system on any other bedrock.

“As I have worked with new immigrants and refugees, I have discovered them to be aspiring citizens of this land, stimulating the economy, working hard to enjoy the freedoms we enjoy,” said the bishop, who made the Hill visits as part of a national leadership team organized by the 2013 Lutheran Immigration Leadership Summit. “They enrich us with their families, labor, and desire to be good citizens of this land.” READ COMPLETE ARTICLE

Following is the first segment of Bishop Mansholt’s Remarks on Family Unity. To download the complete document, CLICK HERE.

FAMILY UNITY IN THE LEGAL IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Bishop Gerald L. Mansholt
Central States Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Kansas City, Kansas
March 15, 2013

I want to thank the conveners of this panel for the opportunity to address the very important matter of family unity in comprehensive immigration reform.  Currently, one of the most heartbreaking and prevalent consequences of this broken immigration system is the separation of families, which takes a toll on individuals, families and communities alike.  Of the 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, close to one-half of the unauthorized-immigrant households are couples with children.[i]

As bishop of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, I serve 60,000 baptized Lutherans in Kansas and Missouri.  The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. I also am a member of the Conference of Bishops’ Immigration Ready Bench, a group of thirteen of my colleague bishops from all across the country.  We on the Immigration Ready Bench see firsthand how our current immigration system is failing.  We work with pastors and lay leaders of our congregations in many different contexts and communities, urban and rural, and we hear regularly how the lives of immigrant families have been hurt by the current immigration system.

Migration, or the act of uprooting oneself to move to a new place, is by no means an easy choice. My wife and I have been married for over 40 years.  We have been blessed with two married daughters, two son-in-laws, and three granddaughters.  We know the joy of family life and the importance of the extended family for the well-being of all.  From a personal perspective we can see why families would resort to desperate actions in desperate situations.

I decided to get involved with the immigration issue about 10 years ago.  As bishop I had presided at the confirmation of 27 young children, ages 10-16, at one of our Hispanic congregations in western Kansas.  In the confirmation rite I laid hands on the heads on each of these children and prayed the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon them as they reaffirmed the faith of their baptism.  As each child knelt to receive the blessing they were joined and surrounded by their parents and godparents and aunts and uncles.  Twenty-seven times this happened as each child came forward, and  the gathered community celebrated this joyful event.  About 18 months later I learned that most all of these families had disappeared, the result of a quiet immigration raid and the ensuing fear that drove them either out of the country or deeper into the shadows of this land.

While I am honored to be sitting here today at the invitation of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, I also know there are many religious leaders from other Christian denominations as well as from other religious traditions who could sit here and give voice to the same hopes and lift up the high value placed on the family.  A basic tenet of religious belief and value is that of family unity, and that tenet is common all across the religious spectrum—from more conservative Christianity to mainline denominations and Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions.

Click image to view video message.

Easter. It is about more than an open tomb. It is the good news of the risen Christ who opens lives.

Number 229. A publication of the Central States Synod. Published monthly by the central States Synod, ELCA. Deadline for submission of materials is the 15th of the month for the subsequent issue. News may be directed to Dan Glamann at dglamann@css-elca.org. Permission is granted to ELCA congregations and members to reproduce any portion of this newsletter. Download: Newsletter.

Gearing up for Holy Week

What began in ashes,
declarations signed into our souls,
dwelling there still,
the cross carried heavy upon us. Within us.

The disciplines, day by day,
carrying us deeper into the mystery of the moment
now arriving.
Basin, towel, and the discomfort of intimacy.
Ponder more the humility, washing another, towel in hand,
or one’s own feet
in the hands of another,
all imperfections laid bare,
scars and nails and callous.

The sacredness of serving, but ever more so in being served,
the dirt falling away from perhaps a stranger’s touch,
a stranger’s care.

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