Advent resources from ELCA World Hunger

New resources are now available from ELCA World Hunger to enrich the life of your congregation in Advent 2024. ELCA World Hunger invites you into a celebration of storytelling through “Humming With the Word,” the theme for this year’s seasonal resources. Materials include an Advent calendar and study and action guides for your congregation. Hear how God is active in the stories of others and consider where your own stories intersect with God’s story. Browse resources.

Living Lutheran: School pickup prayers

In the November “Growing Together” column, Kimberly Knowle-Zeller shares how she fills the time in the after-school pickup line with prayer: “November provides a prime time to focus on gratitude. I wonder if it’s also the perfect time to dwell in prayer. As we move toward Thanksgiving and the bustle of the holiday season, perhaps we need the reminder to use what small pockets of time we have to pray.”

“Growing Together” is a monthly column on livinglutheran.org that features family faith reflections, practices and prayers. Read this month’s article and more.

Holiday shopping with ELCA Good Gifts

Wondering how to make a positive impact in the world right now? With ELCA Good Gifts, choose from over 60 charitable gifts to give in honor of friends and loved ones this Christmas! New gifts include safe birth, a climate resilience kit and supporting a Young Adults in Global Mission volunteer for a month. Each gift goes on to make a difference in the world and share the love of Christ with our neighbors in need. Give online and you can personalize free, printed cards to be sent directly to your loved ones. Find several special-edition Christmas cards for select gifts now. Browse gifts.

FEATURED VIDEO

"Woven Together: A Post-Election Message" | Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

Following the 2024 presidential election, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reflects on the many expressions of our church being woven together as strands of a large tapestry, even as individually people are experiencing joy or grief. She reminds us that, regardless of who is elected president or to other leadership positions in our country, our call to be Christ in the world doesn’t change.

BULLETIN BLURBS

A Time for Burning Revisited

Join the Association of White Lutherans for Racial Justice for an online discussion and preview of a new documentary that revisits A Time for Burning, a classic 1966 film about a congregation wrestling with racial justice. Hear interviews with filmmaker Bill Jersey, Bishop Eaton and others. The association seeks to connect people across the ELCA to share ideas from congregations, synods and regions on making racial justice an active part of our church. Register for this event: bit.ly/BurningRevisitedRegister.

Human Sexuality Social Statement Revisions

The 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for two reconsiderations of specific sections of the 2009 social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust. As a first step in this process, a task force from across the ELCA has released draft edits to the social statement, which address possible word changes without changing the substantive meaning of the statement. Your feedback is needed as the church considers the draft edits.

Resources, including a survey, FAQs and a discussion guide, are available at ELCA.org/reconsiderations. Provide feedback by Jan. 31, 2025, using this online survey or emailing [email protected].

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity resources now available

The traditional period for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is Jan. 18-25, but churches and Christian communities worldwide are invited to use the 2025 resources throughout the year. This year’s theme, “Do You Believe This?,” takes its cue from the dialogue between Jesus and Martha in John 11:17-27, when Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary after the death of their brother Lazarus.

The prayers and reflection resources for 2025 were prepared by the brothers and sisters of the monastic community of Bose in northern Italy. With 2025 marking the 1,700th anniversary of the first Christian Ecumenical Council, this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon what unites Christians around the world.

Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season

From poet and pastor Meta Herrick Carlson comes Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations, which recognizes the holy beneath the hustle and hibernation of the holidays. The book includes blessings for a wide range of experiences such as shoveling snow, setting boundaries with family and facing the first Christmas without a loved one. Also included are blessings dedicated to nativity characters, blessings for the twelve days of Christmas and blessings readers can use as daily Advent readings. Let this beautiful book be a reminder that the holy can be found in the routine and the ritual of the holiday season.