SE MN SYNOD: 2003 Synod Assembly - Elect Voting Members

2003 Synod Assembly

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Community-Wide Worship Service:
"Service of Health and Wholeness"

8 a.m.
Saturday, May 3
Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall

The communities of Rochester and its surrounding area are invited to participate in a Service of Health and Wholeness, which will take place 8 a.m., Saturday, May 3 at the Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall.

Participants in this Christ-centered service will be invited to come forward, if they wish, and have the hands of pastors and chaplains placed on their heads as they are prayed for individually. The service is intended to symbolize more than just prayer for physical healing; spiritual healing is also a component.

Special guest Bishop Margaret Payne of the New England Synod, ELCA, will preach at the service, which will feature meditative music on guitar and harp.

All are welcome to attend. One does not need to be an active church-goer to participate. No communion will be served. The service is expected to run about an hour long.

The event is part of the annual Assembly of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Assembly is the annual legislative session of the regional unit of the church.

The Southeastern Minnesota Synod is one of 65 synods in the ELCA and includes 132,000 ELCA Lutherans in 183 congregations in 15 Minnesota counties.

Please help us publicize this event - copy/paste sample bulletin/newsletter blurbs

Information About the Southeastern Minnesota Synod
www.semnsynod.org/aboutus.html

Information About the ELCA
www.elca.org

Information About Christianity
www.sharingfaith.org

Information About the Ministry of Healing
The church embraces the ministry of healing as an important way of bringing the loving care of God to people in their need. Although the dimensions of this healing work are many and include a variety of institutions dedicated to it, the ministry of healing has its foundation in the prayer of the worshipping community, whether in the Sunday assembly or where two or three are gathered at a particular time of need.

The church’s ministry of healing emphasizes caring for the sick in the widest possible understanding of that term. Every human person stands in need of healing in some dimension of life. Healing is a gift that need not be limited to those seeking remedy from a specific injury or illness. The Christian assembly at worship may embrace the gift of healing as it applies to various needs—for example, physical, emotional, spiritual, relational—that may be present among those gathered. Finally, the church’s ministry of healing extends also to those nearing the end of life, as it lifts up in prayer all human decision-making and entrusts the dying into the gracious arms of God.

The liturgical ministry of healing is grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, whose presence we experience tangibly in baptism and the Eucharist. In addition to these means of grace in word and sacrament, the ministry of healing has long included the prayer of faith, words of forgiveness and encouragement, and gestures such as the touch of a hand and anointing with oil.

In the rite of healing, the church does not replace the gifts of God that come through the scientific community, nor does it promise a cure. Rather, the church offers and celebrates gifts such as these: God’s presence with strength and comfort in time of suffering, God’s promise of wholeness and peace, and God’s love embodied in the community of faith.

Sample Bulletin/Newsletter Blurbs
Bulletin blurb #1 (short)
You are invited to a community-wide Service of Health and Wholeness at the Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall, Saturday, May 3, at 8 a.m.

The Southeastern Minnesota Synod (region) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is sponsoring this event. Participants in this Christ-centered service will be invited to come forward, if they wish, and have the hands of pastors and chaplains placed on their heads as they are prayed for individually.

All are welcome to attend. No communion will be served. The service is expected to run about an hour long. Feel free to bring a friend! One does not need to be an active church-goer to participate.

For more information, see www.semnsynod.org.

Bulletin blurb #2 (press release style - long)

The communities of Rochester and its surrounding area are invited to participate in a Service of Health and Wholeness, which will take place 8 a.m., Saturday, May 3 at the Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall.

Special guest Bishop Margaret Payne of the New England Synod, ELCA, will preach at the service, which will feature meditative music on guitar and harp.

All are welcome to attend. One does not need to be an active church-goer to participate. No communion will be served. The service is expected to run about an hour long.

The Southeastern Minnesota Synod is one of 65 synods in the ELCA and includes 132,000 ELCA Lutherans in 183 congregations in 15 Minnesota counties. For more information, see www.semnsynod.org.