April 20, 2021
Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA Enews
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ELCA Churchwide Domestic Hunger Grant process open again |
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Registration for 2022 ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grants is now open. Visit www.elca.org/domestichungergrants to learn more and how to apply. Organizations applying for a grant for the first time must register by setting up an account in ELCA GrantMaker in order to access the grant application once it opens on April 19. If your organization is already registered in ELCA GrantMaker, log back in and confirm that the contact information is up to date.
Application Timeline:
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Registration open: March 17–May 5, 2021. Applicants must be registered in ELCA GrantMaker to access the application. Allow up to two weeks for registration approval. If you have not registered by May 5, you will not be able to start a new application. If you have already registered in ELCA GrantMaker, you do not need to register again.
- Application open: April 19–May 21, 2021
- Application review: June 2021–October 2021
- Awards recommendations shared with applicants and synods: November 2021
- Final awards approved and announced: February 2022
NOTE: Congregations with feeding ministries should watch for an announcement about the next round of Daily Bread Matching Grants in the coming months. Visit www.elca.org/dailybread to learn more.
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Bishop Eaton's Earth Day statement |
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
—Psalm 104:24
Throughout Scripture, God promises to restore God’s people to health and wholeness, a promise that includes the renewal of all creation. This promise is depicted dramatically in the final pages of the book of Revelation as a grand vision of a new heaven and a new earth.
The earth and its inhabitants are weary and uncertain, battered by plagues and death, wars and destruction. But God is still there, persistent and faithful. At the last, God reveals a renewed heaven and an earth permeated by the presence of God, transformed from pain to be a place of healing and wholeness for all things. The 2021 Earth Day theme, "Restore Our Earth," reminds us of this vision and the holy work God entrusts to us — of seeking the well-being of creation as inseparable from the wholeness of humankind.
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Earth Day
worship service
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Lutherans Restoring Creation will offer a special online service in celebration of Earth Day. This service is intended for use on April 25 (Good Shepherd Sunday), but can be downloaded for use according to a congregation's needs. The service will feature preaching by Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, visual journeys, musical offerings, pastoral insights, and inspiration from lay leaders.
Register now to receive a special link with download instructions at least a week beforehand.
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Mosaics available for congregational display |
The panel “Feed the World” is our call to end world hunger. The images reflect the Three Sisters that native peoples planted together: corn, beans and squash. It is a planting that naturally calls to cooperation. As in nature, we are all one; we are all in this world together.
The panel “Love the Earth” shows native flowers of Minnesota, which attract pollinators needed for life: butterflies, bees, hummingbirds. Under the earth, you can see a different kind of pollinator: bugs and animals that help create the soil that nourishes all of us.
The middle panel was done by attendees of the 2019 synod assembly, under the direction of Pr. Luisa Cabello Hansel, Artistic Director of Semilla and co-pastor at St. Paul’s. It shows the unity of the church with our Creator, the creation, and one another.
They were created by the Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts at St. Paul’s Lutheran in south Minneapolis. Semilla means seed in Spanish, and the center works to plant seeds of hope by teaching and creating public art that can help make the community healthier, safer and more beautiful.
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Open Doors grant application open |
As ELCA congregations begin to assess the possibility of returning to in-person worship, following CDC guidelines, they can apply for grant funding with a specific and actionable idea for how its ministry might enable members to meet new people while regathering in community as COVID-19 considerations allow.
As we resume in-person gatherings we are not simply reclaiming our physical worship space. We are being reclaimed by God and one another in the Spirit as we return to physical community. As people freed by the gift of God’s love and grace, how might we share that gift with others who might need it, too?
Beginning April 21, congregations are encouraged to consider:
- how we can meet new people, especially those who crave community after a time of unprecedented isolation
- how we stay connected with people who have joined us online
- how we can create new ideas to meet the changing needs of our communities
Open doors invite us in to gather, and open doors send us out to meet our neighbors.
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Meet your Middle Eastern siblings
in April
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April is National Arab American Heritage Month. Members of the ELCA's Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH) wish to share their history, culture, values, and contributions to the larger Church in a Zoom webinar titled Let Us be a Sign to You.
Thursday, April 22
6:00 p.m., Central Time
The event will include devotions and information on the identity of Arab/Middle Eastern Christian communities; how the ELCA can gain from, welcome, and support Arab/Middle Eastern members; and how the group has related positively with our Muslim and Jewish neighbors.
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Where is the synod staff in upcoming weeks? |
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Ms. Madeline Troyer will be leading a virtual forum at Immanuel Lutheran, Eden Prairie, on Wednesday, April 21.
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Bishop Ann Svennungsen will be offering a Report from the Bishop at the Minneapolis Area Synod Virtual Synod Assembly on Friday, April 23.
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Ms. Emilie Bouvier will be preaching at Hope Lutheran, Jordan, on Sunday, April 25.
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Pastor Craig Pederson will be preaching at Atonement Lutheran, Bloomington, on Sunday, May 23.
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