ELCA Prayer Network Offers Comfort, Hope
(Full story)
Lutherans are praying for people all over the world. They are praying for soldiers readying for battle, families facing home foreclosures, couples with relationship struggles, individuals who need work and for others. Through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Prayer Network, thousands of prayer requests are being received and cared for by the 4.6 million-member ELCA.

"These are difficult times, and our prayer network offers comfort and hope to many," said the Rev. Kathryn I. Love, director for prayer and spiritual renewal, ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.

"We are responding to prayer requests from all over the world, submitted in a variety of languages, even from people who are not Lutheran," said Love. "I read every prayer request, occasionally seeking help from colleagues when prayers are offered in other languages."

Love encourages people who desire prayer to visit http://www.prayingchurch.org on the ELCA Web site. "God is listening," she said.

Prayers submitted on the site are shared with nearly 300 congregations of the ELCA who commit to prayer for 30 days. "There are a lot of tears on these prayer pages," said Love, adding that people also return to the site to share stories of celebration.

Congregational prayer groups allow people who submit prayers to "feel that they are being cared for," according to the Rev. Elise J. Brown, pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in Manhattan, New York. "There is a lot of need out there," she said.

The 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted "Sharing Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Calling the church to prayer is the first objective of the strategy.

Get it Online

• Information about the ELCA's "Prayer Center" is at www.ELCA.org/prayer

Bradley Schmeling, Darin Easler to be Reinstated to ELCA Clergy Roster
(Full story)
The Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling and the Rev. Darin Easler are in the process of being reinstated to the clergy roster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Revisions made to ministry policy documents now allow eligible Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders. The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for these revisions. The ELCA Church Council adopted the revisions to ministry policy documents April 10.

The candidacy committee of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, met April 24-25 and approved Schmeling's request for reinstatement, which will become effective "once the paperwork has been filed," said Schmeling.

In 2007 Schmeling was removed from the ELCA clergy roster for being in a committed, same-gender relationship with Easler while serving as pastor of St. John. A disciplinary committee ruled that Schmeling was in violation of an ELCA policy regarding the sexual conduct of pastors.

"I feel grateful in coming back home to my faith family, after feeling disconnected for a number of years," said Easler.

"I am aware that this moment is about so much more than ourselves, and our own situation with the ELCA, but (it is) a moment for the church to be a beacon of hope and bear witness to the widening embrace of love and welcome to all people in the life and the ministries of the church," said Easler.

The candidacy committee of the ELCA Southeastern Minnesota Synod, Rochester, approved Easler's request for reinstatement April 30.

Easler left his parish call at United Redeemer Lutheran Church, Zumbrota, Minn., in 2003. Since he was without a call for three years, Easler was removed from the ELCA clergy roster in 2006. He transferred to the United Church of Christ (UCC), working in hospice care as a bereavement coordinator. The ELCA and UCC are full communion partners.

Easler "served in our synod, and he served well," said the Rev. Harold L. Usgaard, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Minnesota Synod.

Once the reinstatement onto the ELCA clergy roster is official, Easler said he will transfer to the ELCA Southeastern Synod. In the meantime, he plans to continue his work in hospice care "with openness to whatever door God opens for me."

Page 4 - Southeastern Minnesota Synod Now a Reconciling in Christ Synod

By Bishop Harold Usgaard
This was part of Bishop Usgaard’s written report to the 2010 Synod Assembly

At the 2009 Synod Assembly, the Southeastern Minnesota Synod voted to become a Reconciling in Christ synod. This is a program committed to the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. It involves developing an affirmation of welcome for the synod. I invited Rev. Chris Brekke and Julia Accola to chair a task force to create the welcoming statement. I asked them because they represent differing views on the debate of sexuality in our church. They in turn invited others to join the task force…others who also hold differing views. These included Rev. Kristen Schlauderaff, Rev. Karna Hagen, Paul Hamlin and Rev. Roy Satre. I want to thank all of them for their willingness and commitment to find agreement in the midst of diversity. I believe their work offers hope for our church. Together they proposed the following statement which has been approved by the synod council:

Introductory Statement
Since the Southeastern Minnesota Synod in assembly in 2009 passed Resolution 2009-08 to become a Reconciling in Christ Synod, we submit the following as an Affirmation of Welcome for the work and witness of the synod in its assemblies, its synod council meetings, the committees, task forces, agencies and working groups related to the synod. (This statement may be a model for a congregation within the synod for the congregation's work and witness, but this welcoming statement is essentially for the synod.)

Affirmation of Welcome
Baptized into the waters of Christ and raised to new life by the strong word of God, fed and nourished by the body and blood of Christ, the people of God in the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided in the 2009 assembly to be a Reconciling in Christ Synod. This synod, called by the Holy Spirit, is kept in unity with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. We are freely forgiven in Christ and we are in full service to one another. Whenever we meet in worship, prayer, deliberation and decision, as a large and diverse body of Christians, we recognize various ministries to ensure all people are welcomed into a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. As baptized believers created in the image of God-including, but not limited to, people of every race, nationality, age, political affiliation, marital status, gender identity, economic or social status, sexual orientation, mental and physical abilities-our synod welcomes all people of all backgrounds to become Christ's devoted disciples.

Martin Luther writes in his catechism that "the Holy Spirit…calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith." I believe this Affirmation of Welcome is evidence of the Spirit. I believe the Spirit was at work in and through each of these task force members.

Page 5 - Cards Bring It Home for the Holidays
From http://bit.ly/8Z6r4R on the ELCA website

Edwin Holmvig-Johnson's first Thanksgiving as a missionary was also his first away from home.

Edwin is a Young Adult in Global Mission with the ELCA. He teaches reading and writing to children in primary school in the U.K.

"My homesickness had been fairly stable up until that week," he said. "The weather was gray and it starts to get dark here around 4:00 in the afternoon. It was a hard week."

Then, a package from the ELCA churchwide organization in Chicago arrived.

Edwin opened it expecting to find official forms needing his John Hancock. Instead he found a package filled with handmade cards, compliments of the first annual "Operation Thanks-giving," a new ELCA missionary support initiative.

"There were these fantastic cards and greetings from a congregation (Trinity Lutheran Church in Vale, N.C.) that I'd never met on the other side of 'the Pond.' It felt wonderful to know that I was being thought of and prayed for and made it easier to keep going," Edwin said.

Ginger Crisman, evangelism committee chairperson at Trinity, was inspired by the idea of involving her congregation in Operation Thanks-giving. Early in November she supplied 150 worshipers with colored paper, crayons and pens prior to Sunday service. The Rev. John Locke encouraged each card-marker to say a prayer for the recipient of their creations.

Worshipers from age 3 to 83 put their artistic talent to use, creating cards for ELCA missionaries and military service personnel. "It was everything we hoped for," Ginger said. "God works in big and little ways. This was a little way."

"Show the Missionaries Some Love"
The Rev. Twila Schock, ELCA program director for Global Mission Support, knew this "little way" could have a big impact.

In 1994, Twila was a first-year missionary in Slovakia. The excitement of the assignment was wearing off by Thanksgiving, Twila recalled, when everything (language, shopping, daily routines) just seemed hard. But a Thanksgiving care package she received turned out to the best cure for homesickness.

Twila shared her story with Sue Edison-Swift, associate director for Global Mission Support, and that was all Sue needed to hear. "We've got to show the missionaries some love," she said, and the first annual Operation Thanks-giving was born.

Having Faith in the Work that God Can Do
Those cards deeply touched Emily E. Ewing, a missionary in Rankovce, Slovakia, worlds away from her hometown of Vail, Colo.

"The fact that people I don't know and who don't know me sent me the cards was big for me," she said. "It just shows so much faith in the work that God can do with each of us and faith in our church, as well, that they will send cards knowing that they're going to someone who is far from home, following God's call.

On November 15 during Sunday school at St. John Lutheran Church of Farmersville in Easton, Pa., 22 people each made three cards for missionaries and military persons serving in Baghdad.

"We often hear about the needs of military units who are deployed over the holidays. I had never considered the same type of need for missionaries," said the Rev. Roxi Kringle, pastor of St. John.

The excitement surrounding Operation Thanks-giving was contagious. "The (Sunday School) room was buzzing by the time I got down," Pastor Kringle said. "A couple boys asked their recipients to write back. The thank you notes the church received from Iraq had the class beaming."

A Wonderful Sense of Connection
Michael and Terri Church, a husband-and-wife pastor team serving in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, saw Thanksgiving arrive as they struggled to become acclimated with a new culture.

"Friday's mail brought our Operation Thanks-giving cards," Michael said. "Completely unexpected, out of the blue, came these wonderful handmade cards from complete strangers, in Lutheran churches all over the country, reminding us that we weren't alone, and that there were people at home giving thanks to God for all their blessings -- and even that we ourselves, as missionaries, were one of those blessings. It gave us a wonderful sense of connection to our country and to our church.”

Start planning now! To learn how to participate in next year's Operation Thanks-giving, call 800-638-3522, ext. 2969 or e-mail globalmissionsupport @ elca . org

Page 6 - 2010 Synod Assembly - A Summary
"God's Work. Our Hands. Congregations Alive in Communities"

Click here to read the summary. (Includes a link to the original print-ready version to use to report to the congregation.)

Page 8 - Bishop's Column Connect Global & Local

Reminded by Others

"You know, it's not just about you." Ever heard that comment? How often our conversations and actions are so limited in focus. And in the process, we forget about all of God's creation and all of God's children. We need to be reminded.

At our recent Synod Assembly, God sent such messengers from our companion synods. Dr. Peter Kijanga and Dr. Alex Mkumbo joined us from the Central Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania, a church that is now the third largest Lutheran church in the world. They had come to our synod to visit college and university leaders. The Central Diocese is developing plans for its own university. The real joy in such visits is the time they spend in our congregations and communities. Such guests bring a joy and an excitement of faith that cannot help but inspire. In their country, they have so little, but in their faith, they are rich beyond compare. We can learn much from them.

As part of our assembly, we also hosted the Lutheran World Relief display, "Remember Me: Voices of the Silenced in Colombia" (http://rememberme.lwr.org). It was a haunting reminder of what has been labeled the worst chronic humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Created and inspired by victims of a 50-year-old civil war, we could not escape the faces of the 70,000 dead and its four million displaced citizens.

It is in this setting that our other companion synod, the Lutheran Church of Colombia, works for healing and justice. It is a small church, but young and vibrant. The needs that surround them seem insurmountable, yet their faith carries them forward. During the assembly, we received a greeting from their new bishop, Rev. Eduardo Martínez Díaz. In a personal letter, Bishop Diaz added, "we take this opportunity to express our gratitude to God for the mission relations between churches. It is our wish to strengthen the bonds that maintain our communion."

It isn't just about us. And God reminds us of that.

Shalom,

Harold Usgaard
Bishop

Synod offers two opportunities:

• A delegation will visit Colombia November 10-16, 2010.
  
• In December of 2011, a contingent will visit the Central Diocese in Tanzania to join in their celebration of 100 years of mission work there.

Rev. Peter Reuss' Column

Getting to Know the Sudanese in Our Synod
By Rev. Peter Reuss
Synod Mission Developer

The other day I was on the Southeastern Minnesota Synod website, reading about our synod's companion synod relationship with bishop Eliuphoo Sima and the Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. I may never have a chance to meet Bishop Sima, but I know about him and his ministry through what others say.

It's one thing to know about people. It's a completely different thing to know them. For the past year I have been blowing the trumpet to announce the exciting Sudanese ministries right here in our synod. We now have African immigrants worshipping in Anyuak, Dinka, and Nuer in Austin, Rochester, Owatonna, Faribault, and (soon) Mankato. I've written articles about them. I've talked to people about them. The synod website will soon have a downloadable video and other materials focusing on their ministries. These are all good things. You can know about them and their ministry through what we at the synod office say.

But this isn't about "those people" worshipping in their native languages. The Sudanese are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. They are fellow Lutherans. "They" are "us," and they have powerful stories of the ways that God has worked in their lives. It's time that we as a synod do more than know about the Anyuak, Dinka, and Nuer. It's time to know them!

We have a group of African leaders who would welcome an invitation to come and meet people in your congregation. Perhaps they could lead an Adult Forum or preach or bring a greeting in worship or meet a youth group. We have an awesome opportunity to get to know and be known, to teach and to learn. God has worked among the Sudanese in powerful ways. If you are interested in inviting an African leader to your congregation, let me know (reuss @ semnsynod . org) and I'll get you hooked up.

Pr. Pete

Get it Online
Watch www.semnsynod.org/newministrystarts.html for the video, coming soon!

Page 9 - Shirley Gangstad's Column

Let the Holy Spirit Lift You Up
Greetings!

While traveling by car, I heard a snippet of a sermon on the radio. The preacher evidently had two children beside him, one on a chair representing the kingdom of heaven and one on the floor representing the world. He asked the child on the chair to lift the other child up onto the chair. Not possible! Then he asked the child on the floor to pull the one on the chair down. This task was easily done.

The obvious lesson—it is not us but the Holy Spirit who lifts people into the kingdom of heaven. The equally obvious second lesson—the world is always trying to pull us down and away from the kingdom of heaven—and it is an easy task.

All of our Christian beliefs are counter-cultural. What we hold dear, the world scorns; the standards we live by, the world jeers; striving for love, justice, mercy and care of the poor and marginalized is an overwhelming task and the world laughs at us for even trying—besides "those" people don't matter anyway.

We Christians know this attitude of the world is a fact of life, and that is why we pray for support and guidance and comfort. As our church year celebrates the ending of the season of Easter and moves into Pentecost, Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit and then sends us the Holy Spirit. Each of us has stated our belief that "I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him." But the Holy Spirit calls, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us and the whole Christian church in true faith, forgives our sins and gives us eternal life.

Knowing that the world is going to try to pull us down and diminish us, we need pray for guidance and then be willing to dream BIG. Half of a big dream accomplished is better than all of a paltry dream. Besides, who knows how far we can go with the Holy Spirit surging along with us. We can have a Minnesota without poverty! We can wipe out malaria! We can feed the hungry! We can change the world! God's work. Our hands!

Blessings in Christ,
Shirley

New Devotional Materials Available
By Rev. Jay Dahlvang
Synod Book of
Faith Advocate

You and your community of faith are invited to join with congregations, mission and ministry centers, and over 130,000 baptized in conversation with the Word and one another.

These downloadable, print ready, devotional pages are based upon the Revised Common Lectionary texts, and are written by people you know—the lay leaders and pastors of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. We hope every congregation will find creative ways to be engaged in the Word, so that together we might grow in fluency in the first language of faith, the Scriptures.

Use them for:

• Bible conversations at circle meetings, youth events, text studies, or at a new gathering started in your community to grow in God’s grace and calling.
  
• As an opening for council or other meetings in your congregation.
  
• To enhance your worship experience as you anticipate the following Sunday.
  
• Family conversations.
  
• Online discussion using the social network platform at bookoffaith.ning.com.
  
• For personal devotion and edification in the Word.
  

These devotions are available on the synod website. If you would like to author one of these, contact a Book of Faith Task Force Member, or send an email to: jtdahlvang @ hotmail . com

Get it Online

• Find these devotions online at www.semnsynod.org/BOF.html

Page 10 - Call Update - click here to view call update

Upcoming Events - click here for all upcoming events

H1N1 Update

Each week Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView.

During the week of May 9-May 15, 2010, nationally all key flu indicators are low. Activity levels at this time are similar to what is usually seen during the U.S. summer months. Only a small number of influenza viruses are being reported, most of which were 2009 H1N1.

Flu is unpredictable, but sporadic cases of flu, caused by either 2009 H1N1 or seasonal flu viruses, will likely continue to occur throughout the summer in the United States. Internationally, 2009 H1N1 viruses are still circulating, including in the Southern Hemisphere, which is entering its flu season. For more information, please see the international situation update.

Get it Online
This and more information available at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu

Page 11 - Bridge

Angels
Issue to be used anytime after July 1, 2010

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• Plain text with links to graphic

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