Ecumenical Advocacy Days: Troubling the Waters for the Healing of the World

 submitted by Deacon Aura Suárez 

I was invited by Jennifer de Leon, Director for Justice from the Women of the ELCA (WELCA), to attend ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS in Washington DC, the first week of April. This is a chance for people from various denominations to come together for learning and advocacy in our nation’s capital. This year’s theme was TROUBLING THE WATERS FOR THE HEALING OF OUR WORLD, based on John 5:1-9 where Jesus went to Jerusalem and visited a pool named Bethsaida. Many people visited this pool looking for healing because it was believed that when the water was troubled, people that hurried into the water became healed. I felt agitated, inspired and challenged by this Bible passage to become more aware of the importance as children of God to create action in our communities of faith. Not only “splashing the waters” as charity vessels, but also “troubling the waters”—advocating, not conforming to patterns of oppression and injustice, attacking the root of social issues and demanding real changes in systems of oppression in our communities.

It was so refreshing to see people from different denominations united by the love of God and working together for the healing of the world. Rev. Russell Meyer, Director for Florida Council of Churches, was also a participant. Together we went to the office of FL Congresswoman Katherine Castor from Tampa, and with others from Florida we visited the offices of Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to ask them to support the Voting Rights Act and the Fragility Act. It was an empowering and uplifting experience. 

Synod Youth Ministry Visioning Task Force

Children and youth ministry is one of the many aspects of shared ministry that benefits from intentional reflection, planning and prayerful discernment. Bishop Suarez is putting together a task force of people interested in having some focused conversation regarding the future vision for synodical youth ministry. This task force will gather in various ways (electronically, mostly) over the next several months, working with and listening to many voices to discuss the challenges and opportunities for synodical children/youth/family ministry. If you would like to be considered for this task force, please contact Ileana Sardinas (Ileanas@fbsynod.org) by June 1. Bishop Suarez will be inviting people to serve on this task force.

Click on the calendar to go to the synod calendar to learn more about these events

Different Way to Access Guidebook Material for Assembly This Year

It will be helpful to make sure you can access the guidebook materials before arriving at Assembly. This year, rather than accessing the assembly materials through the Guidebook app, you will need to access them through the ELCA Organization and Events App . On your mobile device, go to the Google Play store or the Apple store and search for the ELCA Organization and Events App. Download it. Then you can search for the "2019 Florida-Bahamas Synod Assembly" guide and download the material. Please help the voting members from your congregation make sure they can access the material before arriving at Assembly. Please note that this app is NOT available on laptop computers, and the guidebook material can only be accessed through an Android or Apple mobile device. We will have extra volunteers ready to help with guidebook and technology glitches. If you know you prefer paper material for worship, please plan ahead and print out the worship bulletins (which will be available June 1).

Thank You for Your Reports!

The synod office received parochial reports from 93% of congregations in the synod this year! Thank you for your faithfulness in sharing about your ministry and context! The information from parochial reports is instrumental in strengthening our ministry together. These reports give us data, information, and narrative that helps us understand the joys and challenges being experienced by congregations, which helps us better inform our ministry initiatives and priorities. THANK YOU!