Today, 243 faith leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) expressed their strong support for resettling more refugees in Fiscal Year 2021 in a letter sent to President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The letter, spearheaded by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), the United States’ largest faith-based organization exclusively dedicated to serving immigrants, urges the President to raise refugee admissions to at least 95,000 in the coming fiscal year.

> Read the full press release for this letter on the LIRS website here. The letter with complete signatures is posted here.

The first time I made the connection between the intersections of faith, spirituality, social justice and my own positionality as an undocumented immigrant brown man born in Mexico and living in the United States, was in the summer 2015 when I participated in a special event held at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The church was hosting a special guest from Centro America who was invited by a local immigrant rights organization called the New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice. The sole purpose of this engagement was to share a meal together, laugh, dance, cry and heal. As I sat in a circle with other participants in the event, I began to feel like I was sitting around a fire listening to the stories of my sister in Christ along with my aunts and uncles from the church. While listening to the experiences being shared by my sister in Christ, tears began to flow from my eyes due to the compelling and resilient stories she was sharing.

Learn more at: alcgj.org/racialjustice

Gather -- As part of your registration, you will receive soup and cornbread from Women’s Bean Project (a partner organization with USC) to be prepared at your home and eaten “together” in a small group community meal (via Zoom) the night of the event.

Share -- hear from current volunteers and alumni who continue to change the world!

Give -- Offer your financial and "stage" talents. Opportunities to contribute to various aspects of the USC community will be offered throughout the night. Please consider offering your stage talents during our first annual USC Talent Show! If you are interested in having your act be considered for the USC Talent Show, please let us know! We welcome your submissions -- kids and/or family talent is invited! (music, jokes, juggling, and/or general silliness!)

For more information visit: https://urbanservantcorps.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/gather-and-give

This week's conversation will be about wisdom sayings. As we all navigate the rough waters of these days, what guiding wisdom is helping us with our life challenges? Rev. Martie McMane will share some of her favorite wisdom sayings that have helped her through the lived experiences of uncertainty, lack of control, embracing resilience, learning to trust and more.

The conversation will introduce these insights, encourage discussion, and invite you to share your own favorite wisdom sayings. Martie, a retired UCC clergy, works with individuals and small groups in soul care through her training in spiritual direction, SoulCollage®, pastoral counseling and the Enneagram. She is also an artist.

Hosted by the Mental Health Ministry Team of Atonement Lutheran Church, Boulder, and INMI.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4264420220

Come learn how the health of your gut directly impacts your brain, and how this relationship works. Plus, get tips on how to optimize the health of your gut, which then helps improve your brain and mental health.

Lisa Shanken is a Certified Health Counselor, Certified Personal Trainer, Executive Functioning Coach, Healthy Cooking Instructor, and Corporate Wellness Specialist. She began her own personal journey towards wellness while earning her B.S. at Cornell University. Accredited at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, earned her Personal Training Certification plus a Corporate Wellness Certification from Vital Advantage Corporate Wellness Consulting.

Hosted by Atonement Lutheran Church and Interfaith Network on Mental Illness.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4264420220

In this four-session workshop, we will explore Mark’s story. Pam Faro, a professional storyteller with world-wide experience, will tell key parts of Mark’s story, and Richard Swanson, director of the Provoking the Gospel Storytelling Project, will guide our exploration of Pam’s performances. We will experience the story together and we will join in exploratory thinking about this old, audacious story.

To learn more about Pam Faro and her work, go to: Story Crossings | StoryCrossings

To learn more about Richard W. Swanson and his work, go to: About |provokingthegospel

October 1: https://www.facebook.com/events/977348019444727

October 8: https://www.facebook.com/events/806015056817668

October 15: https://www.facebook.com/events/673630460239110

October 22: https://www.facebook.com/events/2722102408051775

October 29: https://www.facebook.com/events/421322075502372

RSVP required to Leblanc@CalLutheran.edu for pre-registration and zoom link.

This is a brave space to uncover our whiteness and process racism in ourselves. We will do the personal work, in community, necessary to show up as more effective co-conspirators and change agents for racial justice in our church. Share a flyer here.

Questions? Desta Goehner, Director of Congregational Relations, California Lutheran University, Desta@CalLutheran.edu

Our new Urban Servant Corps volunteers gathered in in City Park for the Welcome BBQ, and are pictured left to right, front to back:

Sydney Ewing serving at New Legacy Charter School

Ciara Kowalczyk serving at GrowHaus

Cassi Lamb serving at Women's Bean Project

Abby Lonne serving at St. Francis Center

Tatum Pappas serving at Senior Support Services

Gabbie Noack serving at S.A.M.E. Cafe

Our keynote speaker will be Rachel Kodanaz. Rachel Kodanaz is a heart-minded professional author, speaker and consultant helping her audiences to Embrace Life's Challenges. Overcoming her own adversity following the sudden death of her husband, leaving her with a two-year-old daughter. She has been speaking passionately to national audiences of all sizes for over 20 years.

Visit https://fcnrockies.org/.

For more information and to register, download our flyer here.

Thank you to everyone who donated to World Hunger, who prayed, thought about, and cheered on our team! Our team of ten from around Colorado and New Mexico completed the thirty legs of the Flaming Foliage Relay in record time! We are waiting for a final tally of the amount raised. Thank you for all your support! If you would still like to donate, you may do so HERE or HERE. Your gift will help provide food and resources for the more than 800 million people in the world who will go hungry today.

On a note close to Cross of Christ, Pastor Will Johnson ran 16.5 miles in three legs over 24 hours. Some of the highlights of the runs were: seeing hundreds of sunflowers, nearly being run over by a bicyclist delivering take-out, eating about a thousand flies on a 50-yard stretch of trail (the only place with flies over all three legs), and running through peaceful lakes and parks with his homemade race bib. Only after the race did he find out that everyone else received their bib in their mailed race packet – his had ended up in another team members. They are green, and look nice, but this one is now the official one!

A new in-depth resource of safe practices for worship during the pandemic has been created by an ecumenical consultation. In addition to representatives from several denominations in the United States, the consultation team included scientists and medical professionals.

A Spanish Version of this resource is now available. Additional materials will be made available on the supporting website in the coming weeks.

Policies and procedures are an essential part of any organization. Together, they provide a roadmap for day-to-day operations. They ensure compliance with laws and regulations, give guidance for decision-making and streamline internal processes. Utilizing policies and procedures during decision-making ensures that employers are consistent in their decisions. >More

Theft and embezzlement are scary topics. You probably don’t want to think about them at all but knowing the warning signs to watch out for and taking steps to protect your organization can go a long way. >More

The Fall 2020 issue of Interchange is available for you to download, print, and share. In it, you will find information about using Women of the ELCA blogs, Thankofferings and Faithful Friends, news from Lutheran World Relief and the explosion in Beruit, an article about the church serving as a place of hope for people with HIV/AIDS, and much more.

Interchange is now digital only. You can download it, print it, and share it. Forward this email to your friends and ask them to sign up here.

The purpose of Interchange is to equip and empower Women of the ELCA participants with information and resources necessary to carry out the organization's mission. Both English and Spanish versions are posted on our website under the publications link and are available for download. Articles may be reproduced provided each copy carries the notice, "Reprinted with permission from Interchange, the churchwide newsletter of Women of the ELCA, copyright © 2020."

St. Andrew Lutheran Church, an active, service-oriented ELCA congregation in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, invites individuals who are passionate about sharing God’s good news with others, particularly children, youth, and their families, to apply for the position of Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry.

(Full job posting here)

Christ Lutheran Church is seeking a friendly, outgoing, and detail-oriented individual to fill the role of Office Coordinator. In this important role, you will be the face of CLC to our members and the public by being the first point of contact for the church. In addition, you will provide office services for church staff and various committees, organize communications, act as a receptionist for the church, and keep church records. We are looking for someone with strong organization, computer, and communication skills. This is a part-time position that will average 30 hours per week.

Resumes should be sent to, and job descriptions can be obtained from, Executive Pastor Gail Mundt, Christ Lutheran Church, 8997 S. Broadway, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126, pastorgail@clchr.org. *Covid restrictions are in currently in place. Please contact Pastor Gail Mundt at pastorgail@clchr.org for additional information.

St. Andrew Lutheran Church - Vancouver, WA

Christ Lutheran Church - Highlands Ranch, CO

Joy Mission Preschool - Parker, CO

Atonement Lutheran Church - Boulder, CO