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Seven Last Words: Strange Fruit Speaks

This Holy Week the Racial Equity Team invites you to engage in a new way of experiencing the cross. Modeled after the "Seven Last Words of Jesus" traditionally preached on Good Friday, The Riverside Church in the City of New...
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Reflections from the Holy Land-An Invitation

Many moons ago, while living in Puerto Rico and serving as youth director in my church, I was a liturgical dancer and choreographer. There it is; one of the least known or advertised facts about my faith story. For some,...
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Reflections from the Holy Land-Week 5

We woke up early one morning and walked over to the Sea of Galilee… This sacred place where Jesus and Peter walked on water, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and where he fed 5000 men along with...
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Reflections from the Holy Land-Week 4

Visiting the Lutheran Schools of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land was an experience I will not soon forget. Every presentation at each school was led by the students. They were fluent in multiple languages, talents,...
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Participate in a Study on Civic Life & Faith

The ELCA is in the process of developing a social statement on Church, State, and Civic Participation. The Task Force on Studies for Civic Life and Faith recently released a study curriculum that your congregation can participate in at your...
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Reflections from the Holy Land-Week 3

Before we were to witness history in the making during the ordination of the first Palestinian woman ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, now Rev. Sally Azar, we sat with the first woman General...
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Reflections from the Holy Land-Week 2

A Lenten Reflection from Bishop Leila's trip to the Holy Land for the second week of Lent. Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb is a Palestinian Christian theologian, author, and Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem. He is also the founder and president of...
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End Hunger in Calvert County- Stories of the Spirit

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. Isaiah 58:10 (NLT)​ There is a hunger problem in the United States....
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Reflections from the Holy Land by Bishop Leila

On the last day of our trip to the Holy Land, we (Seventeen ELCA Bishops and churchwide staff) were invited to The Al Husseiniya Palace to meet with Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, religious and cultural advisor to the King of...
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Sixth Meeting of Salvadoran Sister Churches-Stories of the Spirit

Several delegates from the Metro D.C. Synod participated in the Sixth Meeting of Salvadoran Sister Churches in El Salvador from November 7-10, 2022 On November 7, 2022, Acting Bishop Pastor Lamar Bailey, Kathryn Tobias, and Phil Loar traveled to El...
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