“I see the dream of Martin Luther King and others,” the article quotes Nan Apuku saying. “We have people of all nations coming together to worship…”

A photo gallery accompanying the article is posted online.

Author afloat in Dead Sea

Now, over four months into my year as a Young Adult in Global Mission** in Jerusalem, I find myself feeling at home here, no longer a stranger in a new country. I can navigate the bus system, haggle with vendors and taxi drivers, hold myself to basic cultural norms for behavior, and conduct the most basic of conversations in Arabic. Still, I find it jarring to see a group of soldiers, mostly younger than I am, wielding machine guns, or to find a looming concrete wall interrupting my travel between short distances, but these realities are part of “home” for all who live here. Maintaining hope is part of the everyday struggle here, for Palestinians and me.

Thankfully, I encounter sources of joy and beauty every day that make that struggle possible and worthwhile. The sweet, loving faces of my kindergarteners, the humble sense of mutual care and hospitality among my Palestinian neighbors, the sight of a sunset beyond the Jerusalem skyline, the sense of a history that is at once ancient and living: all of these help me remember why I am here, why anybody would choose to be here, really, in this troubled place.

(continue reading – link to Steiner’s full newsletter, pdf file)

Take the ELCA 2012 National Advocacy Priorities Survey

Advocacy is a faith act you share with Moses, Esther, the Prophets, Luther and many Christians around the world.
Advocacy is living our Lutheran belief that good government is a gift.
Advocacy is pushing aside toxic politics to make space for others unheard. 
Advocacy is talking about your volunteering, projects and ministries to your public officials.
Advocacy is your voice. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “Advocate.”

I know, I know. You and I are Americans living in a country that seems to have forgotten how to make meaningful decisions.
Tired of politics-as-is in both major parties?  We hear you!
Want to share what is important to you as a person of faith for 2012? We hear you!
Take ten minutes and tell us about advocacy priorities…*
Your opinion matters!
Let’s stand together with hope and purpose next year.

Blessings,
The Rev. Andrew Genszler
Director for Advocacy, ELCA Washington Office

*This letter by Drew Genszler was distributed just before Christmas. The ELCA 2012 National Advocacy Prriorities Survey is still open, and your input is encouraged.

Merry Christmas and blessings for the New Year from all of us who work in the synod office!

“[It] simultaneously challenges the cultural assumption that the path to happiness is paved with gift cards and invites a trust in God’s providence that creates a sense of confidence and contentment that is as precious as it is rare,” Knoll writes in “I Shall Not Want” (PostLocal, 11/10/11).

An exercise testing the truth of the sentiment is suggested. On a blank page, start one column of things you’re thankful for and a second of things you want right now. “Which would have a greater impact, losing all the things for which you are grateful or gaining all the things you currently want?” Knoll asks.

Find comments from folks who did the exercise and read the full post online.

“Road trip!” tells the story of a student group’s journey that “included a mix of vocational discernment, volunteer work and quality time with Mother Nature.” The trip was taken at an important juncture, when the question of direction looms large.

Read the full article online from the November 2011 issue of The Lutheran.

Click image to view video of the work of CFLS. Claudia Thorne (pictured here), CFLS Executive Director, has been very helpful as the synod makes this transition.

Side-by-side doorbells will buzz the new synod office or Community Family Life Services (CFLS) when the synod moves to 4th and E later this month. Our future landlords have a long and respected involvement with those in need in the area.

First Trinity Lutheran Church, a synod congregation, started CFLS in 1969 in response to the needs of exoffenders, poor and homeless persons in the community. Today the organization is a faith-based, independent non-profit with a mission to facilitate personal growth, independence and integration into a healthy community for people who are homeless or have low-incomes.

“Our agency has two primary goals: to resolve our clients’ short-term crisis needs and to help them break the cycle of poverty that leads to crises and homelessness,” states the CFLS Web site. Nearly 500 people monthly receive housing, youth development, employment, mentoring and emergency services through the agency.

Around the corner from the founding church, and with a floor of offices in the CFLS building, you will find the Metro D.C. Synod office at its new home in NW D.C. soon.

Military chaplain leaders from Bethesda, Quantico, Forts Belvoir and Meade, Andrews and Bolling Air Force Bases joined with pastors and other congregation leaders from the synod to exchange knowledge and ideas, and gain expertise. Reaching out to wounded and recovering veterans, supporting families during deployment, and engaging the vocational and service-oriented values of military members and defense-related workers in our midst were among topics discussed.

Find a  photo album from the day and resources to take to YOUR congregation from this enlightening and vital workshop.

*BRAC = Base Realignment and Closure

"SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST" declares this sign outside of the church where the 2011 synod-sponsored Reformation Service was held.

From his vantage point as a juror in a murder trial, Bishop Richard H. Graham had a piercing opportunity to reflect recently on our times.

“We know that the world isn’t right now. So much of the news we hear and read reminds us that things are torn and are not being mended,” he said from the pulpit of the Metro D.C. Synod-sponsored Reformation Service on October 30, 2011.

“The contrast between what Paul says [in Romans 8:1-6] and what we experience could not be more striking. He doesn’t mean that the world won’t condemn us. He doesn’t mean that we won’t condemn ourselves,” Bishop Graham expounded. “But he means that God does not condemn us.”

Hear for yourself, and/or read the sermon transcript, this sermon of hope and opportunity as people freed in Christ. Also available are   photos from the Reformation Service, held at Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill.

A road outside of San Salvador isturned to mud by torrential rains and has become impassible. Credit: ACT/Thomas Ekelund

Heavy rains across Central America have swollen rivers, flooded towns and farmland, and brought death for nearly 100 people and displacement for tens of thousands.  Hardest hit was El Salvador, where authorities said more rain fell in the last eight days than during the devastating 1998 Hurricane Mitch. The Lempa River washed over its banks and flooded more than 18,000 homes.*

“Data says the amount of rainfall in the first week is 140% more than during Hurricane Mitch,” remarked Stephen Deal, ELCA Regional Representative for Central America, in an ELCA International Disaster Response conference call today, referencing the storm which has served as a point-of-reference for natural disaster devastation in this part of the world before now.

The Metro D.C. Synod shares a Companion Synod relationship with the Iglesia Luterana Salvadoreña (ILS) and holds this devastated community in prayer. The timing of the floods and mudslides couldn’t be worse according to Deal. “Peasant and subsistence farmers were about ready to harvest this time of year,” presenting them with a double challenge – no crop now, and no money for seeding next year’s crop.

Monitor the ELCA Disaster Response blog for first reports from Central America and learn of ways to contribute to relief work. Also highly recommended are resources from additional ELCA synods in Companion Synod relationships with the region:

• Tim’s El Salvador blog – Respected by ELCA colleagues and recently quoted in the New York Times.
• Greater Milwaukee Syond Friends for El Salvador Facebook page – Mentioned as good source of up-to-date photos.

* Reported in a Los Angeles Ties’ World Now Blog post  by Alex Renders, 10/18/11