|
|
|
Called to Mission,
Relationship,
Empowerment and
Abundant Living
| February 21, 2024 |
| |
|
Leave a Legacy, Receive a Legacy
Rev. Lisa Smith Fiegel
Picture this: an elder in your congregation dies and leaves a $1 million dollar gift to your congregation. Frankly, your congregational council has never imagined that this could happen and has no idea what to do with the money. Conflict ensues.
Here’s another one: a member of your congregation is making out their estate plan and considers leaving a $1 million dollar gift to your congregation. But no one ever asked them to consider this, and this member knows that there’s no plan in place for such a gift. So, they designate the money to a Lutheran college instead.
These are, unfortunately, true-to-life scenarios and a reminder of the value of legacy planning, both for the congregation and for the donor.
| |
|
Talks at the Desk
African Descent Ministries of the ELCA
Especially during this Black History Month, we give thanks for the gifts, accomplishments, influence, and witness of our African-descent neighbors and siblings in Christ—we stand together to glorify God as partners in the gospel, doing God’s work in the world together. Though unified as siblings in Christ, we ask God to lead us to individual and community reflection and action in pursuit of racial justice, socioeconomic equity, racial reconciliation and an end to hatred and mistrust.
African Descent Ministries of the ELCA is celebrating Black History Month with season three of Talks at the Desk, a video series that explores diverse expressions of the church. This season focuses on the Reclaim Gathering and its themes: reclaim, embolden, embody and liberate. A new video will premiere each Wednesday in February.
| |
|
First Fruits Grants 2024 are Open
Office of the Alaska Synod
Here's a great way to invite a non-profit that you know and love to receive grant money from the Alaska Synod. First Fruits grants are just that -- money taken off the top of our received undesignated gifts, and offered back to non-profits and ministries that align with one or more of our synod values. Please invite non-profits you know to apply.
Applicants should have a connection to one or more ELCA Alaska Synod congregations and must be a not-for-profit organization.
Please see here to apply. The deadline is Feb 29. Funds available are variable based on offerings received to the synod from congregations.
| |
|
Lent Study
ELCA World Hunger
This Lent we continue to explore people’s experiences encountering God, as we did in ELCA World Hunger’s study for Advent earlier this year. The theme for both studies comes from the prophet Isaiah, who, in speaking to God, remembers “when you did awesome deeds that we did not expect” (Isaiah 64:3). As the seasons passed, these “awesome deeds” came to look less like the quaking mountains Isaiah described and more like Christian communities doing what they are called to do — meet our neighbors and one another amid our need, mourning, journeying and hoping together.
Lent is a perfect season for reflecting on this. It is, after all, a season of journeying. In it we accompany the Hebrews as they set off toward the Promised Land; we follow Jesus during his temptation in the wilderness and, finally, on his march to the cross at Calvary. It is a journey fraught with memories of the pain and grief we have both suffered and caused, individually and collectively. Yet it is also a journey undertaken in hope and trust.
| |
Emotional Wellness Checklist
National Institutes of Health
How you feel can affect your ability to carry out everyday activities, your relationships, and your overall mental health. How you react to your experiences and feelings can change over time.
Emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life’s stresses and adapt to change and difficult times. Here are tips for improving your emotional health:
| | |
|
|
Regenerating Life:
How to cool the planet, feed the world, and live happily ever after
4:00 (AK)
Film Highlights & Discussion with the Filmmaker, John Feldman
Regenerating Life offers attainable solutions to the climate crisis through an ecological approach that unpacks the social and environmental crises confronting us.
Register now to gain free temporary access to this three-part documentary film, to watch at your convenience before we spend an hour meeting with the filmmaker and considering how best to share this multifaceted resource within our communities.
Lutherans Restoring Creation and ELCA World Hunger are eager to share a resource faith communities can use to start discussions and inspire community-based-solutions to grow climate justice, as part of the One Home, One Future collaborative.
| | |
|
Come rediscover balance and renewed purpose in your ministry by taking a fresh look at faithful pathways to spiritual, emotional, and relational health. This workshop isn’t going to add to your burdens with Band-Aid fixes that promise to banish burnout in three easy steps. What it will do is guide you through sustainable practices and proactive strategies for addressing the challenges of your context and preventing burnout before it sets in. | | |
|
|
When Bad Theology Happens to Good Christians
Workshop on Zoom
Law and Gospel. Theology of the Cross versus Theology of Glory. Works-righteousness. The Lutheran theological buzzwords can get overwhelming sometimes. We know the basics of what we believe, but sometimes our domesticated concepts seem to shrivel when faced with some of the wild ideas floating around these days. What's a Lutheran to do when bearing witness to God's grace in a crowded marketplace of ideas?
This class will brush up your Lutheran basics and then we will use those basics to help you understand the things your pastor calls "bad theology". Ideas like "law of attraction", spiritual bypassing, and the prosperity gospel can seem harmless, but they actually contradict some of our most significant biblical and theological tenets as Lutherans. In this session, we will learn to recognize a few of these theological missteps and how to counteract them with grace, hope, and love.
Pastor Julia Seymour has served Big Timber Lutheran Church since November 2018. Prior to that, she and her family (spouse and 2 children) lived in Alaska. She likes knitting, reading, and visiting Yellowstone National Park, which she refers to as "her backyard".
Cost: $40 - 3 hours of continuing education
| | |
|
|
Glacier Bible Camp
Sponsored by Lutheran Southeast Alaska Camping Association
Eagle Valley Boy Scout Camp, Juneau
For anyone entering grades 5th - 12th!
Those entering 5th - 9th grades will participate in the traditional in-camp experience. There will be crafts, games, gifts of the spirit, Bible studies, campfire and all your favorite activities. This camp is not exclusively for Lutherans so feel free to invite friends. This is an inclusive camp where all youth are welcome without judgment.
Those entering 10th - 12th grade may participate as Counselors in Training or come as campers. CITs will work with the primary counselors to help with a cabin of campers. They will also assist with leading different activities.
You will make new friends, grow in your relationship with God and have fun!
| |
|
Polycarp was a 2nd-century bishop of Smyrna, which is in present-day Turkey. He died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him. Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of John and that John had ordained him bishop of Smyrna.
With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, he is regarded as one of chief Apostolic Fathers. Polycarp was an important link between the first-century followers of Jesus and the developing church.
O God, our true life, to serve you is freedom, and to know you is unending joy. We worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory. Abide with us, reign in us, and make this world into a fit habitation for your divine majesty, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ELW)
| |
|
Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?
— Polycarp before the judge who
condemned him to death
| |
|
Domestic Violence Help
Click here for contact information on crisis teams across Alaska and to find programs in your area that can help.
Click here for resources from the ELCA about helping to nurture families dealing with domestic violence.
-
One in three women and one in four men have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV). On average, 20 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States—more than 10 million women and men a year, according to the NCADV.
Suicide Prevention
If you’re having thoughts of suicide, call the Alaska CARELINE (1-877-266-4357), or reach out to someone you love and trust. You can also text 4HELP to 839863, 3 - 11 pm Tuesday – Saturday.
Careline treats callers with respect and listens without judging. Careline also provides information for those concerned about someone else. Advice is tailored to Alaskans.
Suicide prevention works. People can and do put suicidal thoughts behind them.
| |
|
l Spread the News! l
Please share this newsletter with your friends, family and colleagues.
To subscribe, click here, then verify your subscription in your email inbox.
| | | | |
