Members of Salem Lutheran Church, Flint, Mich., have reached out to their community amid the water crisis there by participating in rallies, providing spiritual care and serving as a donation center for bottled water.
“People from all over the community come to this church to find hope, healing, peace—and now we see families coming here in search of life in the form of water,” said Monica Villarreal, pastor of Salem. “I can’t help but think about the call we have in our baptism—the waters of Christ that flow over us in our baptism and call us to work for justice and peace throughout the world. There are no zip codes, racial or economic barriers. Every resident of this city has drunk this water and we stand side-by-side as a community raising our voices for justice and for help.”
In 2014 the city of Flint changed its water sources from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which was corrosive and caused lead from old pipes to leak into the water supply. The state and federal governments have declared a state of emergency in Flint.
Salem has received donations from 25 Michigan ELCA congregations, including Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Livonia, which collected and donated more than 3,000 gallons of water to Salem after hosting a drive Jan. 31. Members of Salem distribute the majority of the donated water to residents in the nearby community.
ELCA World Hunger disbursed $5,000 to the Southeast Michigan Synod to help support the immediate need for water and a food pantry at Salem. Villarreal said the pantry will use the funds to purchase food that meets the new nutritional needs of children and adults who have been exposed to lead poisoning, as recommended by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
“Certainly across the whole ELCA prayers are much appreciated and supported,” Villarreal said. “The faith community is what is holding this community together still because it’s all that we have left.”
To help, visit www.semisynod.com.
New theology school
The boards of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia adopted identical resolutions calling for “the creation of a new school of theology and leadership formation.” The boards’ unanimous actions, taken during simultaneous meetings Jan. 12-13, authorize the schools’ presidents and other officers to take all necessary steps required prior to their April 2016 board meetings that would launch the process of creating a unified Lutheran seminary. “Changes in both society and the church call for new experiments in theological education,” said Jonathan P. Strandjord, ELCA program director for seminaries. “The move by Gettysburg and Philadelphia toward forming a new school opens the door to a wide range of very promising experiments.”
College closing
Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, Wash., announced at the beginning of its spring semester that it will cease all academic instruction in May with no intention of resuming classes in the fall. Jim Lindus, executive director of Trinity, said the school’s business model is no longer sustainable with only 166 students currently enrolled. There will be a graduation ceremony in May for 55 seniors, and the school is working to find arrangements for other colleges and universities to receive its undergraduate students. Trinity was founded in 1944 as an arm of the Minneapolis-based Lutheran Bible Institute.
40 Days of Giving
This Lent, ELCA World Hunger released 40 Days of Giving—a challenge for all ELCA members and congregations to “encourage giving spiritually, intellectually and financially” (with a $2 million goal) by Easter. The challenge was issued as part of the ELCA’s five-year comprehensive campaign, Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA, which in 2016 is focusing on hunger and poverty alleviation. Sign up for a daily Lenten email devotion at www.ELCA.org/40days.
Cuts at LSSI
On Jan. 22, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois announced program and staff reductions due to the state’s inability to pass a budget for the past seven months. Thirty programs and more than 750 staff positions will be eliminated, ending agency support to approximately 4,700 Illinois residents. The organization reports it is owed more than $6 million in government grants for services already delivered, with “no foreseeable prospect of prompt reimbursement.”
Program on hold
Women of the ELCA announced that its grants program is being reassessed and will be on hiatus in 2016. “The grants program has helped to change lives for nearly 30 years,” said Linda Post Bushkofsky, the group’s executive director. “The review will allow us to consider the program’s effectiveness, reach, funding, etc., and it gives us space and time to make any adjustments that might come from the review.” In 2015, Women of the ELCA awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to 18 domestic and nine international programs to “promote women’s complete and total health,” staff reported. Grants are issued from designated endowments.
Raheb awarded
The Olof Palme Memorial Fund in Stockholm awarded its 2015 Olof Palme Prize jointly to Mitri Raheb (above), pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Bethlehem, and Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist for Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper. Long engaged in local, regional and international efforts on behalf of Palestine, Raheb is president of Dar al-Kalima University College in Bethlehem.
Church suspended
The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, was suspended from participating in the life and work of the communion during a meeting in Canterbury, England, in mid-January. The vote passed by a two-thirds margin and included prominent voices among African bishops who have condemned the U.S. church for its liberal stance on gays. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said the sanction would be painful for many in the Episcopal Church to receive. “Many of us have committed ourselves and our church to being ‘a house of prayer for all people,’ as the Bible says, when all are truly welcome,” he said.
Joint commemoration
Roman Catholics and Lutherans made another step toward joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 by issuing common liturgical guidelines for ecumenical services to mark the occasion. The guidelines, in a booklet called “Common Prayer,” provide a template for an ecumenical service complete with suggested prayers, hymns and themes for sermons. “Common Prayer” stresses the shared beliefs between Roman Catholicism’s 1.2 billion members and the 75 million Lutherans worldwide. It advises readers that the recommendations can be adjusted according to the country and language in which they are used.
Rejecting hate
Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC), based in Salisbury, N.C., was singled out in anti-refugee and anti-Muslim leaflets distributed Jan. 18 by the Ku Klux Klan. The leaflets were dispersed near one of its offices in Columbia, S.C., that provides services to refugees. “LSC rejects hate, whether it’s directed at religion, race or culture,” said Ted W. Goins Jr., the organization’s president. “LSC will continue to walk with all the people we serve, and we call on the people of the Carolinas to rise up and speak out against discrimination and separation.”
Resource on Islam
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service released “My Neighbor is Muslim,” a seven-part study guide for congregations, schools and other community organizations. First developed in 2015 by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and professors at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., the resource released in January was created to increase understanding of Islam in the United States. But learning is only the beginning, said Linda Hartke, LIRS executive director. “It is essential that people take the next step and actually meet their Muslim neighbors and begin to form meaningful
relationships,” she said. For a copy, visit www.lirs.org/myneighborismuslim.
Lawsuit filed
A recent suit was filed in Cass County, N.D., against the ELCA Eastern North Dakota Synod alleging discrimination against conservative members. The suit lists the ELCA; the synod; Norman Lutheran in Kindred, N.D.; a pastor; and several parishioners as defendants. The family that filed the suit said it has been members of Norman for 23 years and now feel ostracized for expressing opinions against hiring an openly gay pastor.
Finns meet pope
Samuel Salmi, bishop of the Oulu Diocese in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and other Finnish Lutherans received communion at a Jan. 15 mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, according to the Finnish periodical Kotimaa 24 (photo at right). The Lutherans attended the service after a private meeting with Pope Francis. “I myself accepted [communion],” Salmi told Kotimaa 24, adding “this was not a coincidence.” The delegation visited during the World Council of Churches’ 2016 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “This week of prayer invites us to reflect on, and bear witness to, our unity in Christ as God’s people,” the pope said in his address at his weekly audience.
Top global risks
In its Global Risks Report for 2016, the World Economic Forum ranked large-scale involuntary migration as the No. 1 most likely risk. At a January conference, Martin Junge, Lutheran World Federation general secretary, emphasized the need to strengthen collaboration between faith-based organizations and other bodies in protecting refugees and addressing the root causes of displacement and forced migration. The risk with the greatest impact, the report stated, is “a failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
