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Summer 2026: “I am worthy” video supplement 3
Watch video. (August 2026) “I am because you are: We need one another.” Our individual identities are always bound up in community. Jesus describes this vision using a vine and branches. Paul talks about a body with many parts. The prophets describe communities of...
Getting to know Mary Magdalene
By Cara Strickland Years ago, I spoke to a pastor friend as Easter approached. She hadn’t decided on the theme of her sermon, but at least one point was clear. “I’m going to make sure people know that Mary Magdalene wasn’t a prostitute,” she said. Did these words...
Summer 2026: “I am worthy” video supplement 2
Watch the video. (July 2026) “I am more than one thing: Honoring our many identities.” In her TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie names this truth: We are much more than one thing. All of us have intersecting identities, roles and...
I am worthy
By Elyssa Salinas-Lazarski When I heard the phrase “I am worthy,” I thought about how I use the concept of worth in my daily life. I go to the store, pick out a shirt and consider whether the price makes it worth buying. Looking at the clock, I consider whether an...
Planting seeds in their lives
By Venice Williams I hadn’t yet checked the ride-sharing app on my cellphone to see who had accepted my request for transportation. That is normally my practice. But that evening, I was tired, irritable and hungry. I simply wanted to leave a community culinary event...
When the music stopped
By Zarah van Dyk That Monday afternoon in my junior year felt like any other. I was majoring in music, and halfway through the second semester, still clinging to the dream I’d carried since childhood. Music had always been the plan—the only plan I’d ever really...
Women of the ELCA staff received a total of 26 awards from two religion communicator organizations
Women of the ELCA staff received a total of 26 awards from two religion communicator organizations, including four Best in Class, three Category Winner and 10 Award of Excellence awards. The Religion Communicators Council and Associated Church Press honored Women of...
Mary and Martha and the right to rest: Sources
Giles Constable. Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought: The Interpretation of Mary and Martha. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Bernadette Escaffre. “Martha,” in Gospels: Narrative and History, ed. Mercedes Navarro Puerto and Marinella...
Christian spirituality and artificial intelligence: Sources
Works Cited Finding God in the App Store - The New York Times Artificial Intelligence Issue Paper - ELCA Resources AI & the Church Summit Journals Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026) deepai.org - Chat with Martin Luther AI...
Women of the ELCA parenting curriculum resources
Session one It Starts with You, Nicole Schwartz (Broadleaf: Minneapolis, 2022). The Search Institute’s Developmental Assets (https://searchinstitute.org/resources-hub/developmental-assets-framework). Parenting from the Inside Out, Daniel J. Siegel and Mary Hartzell...
Summer 2026: “I am worthy,” video supplement 1
Watch the video. (June 2026) “I am created in God’s image. No matter what anyone else says.” We’ll begin with the story of God’s creation and the “very goodness” that is spoken over every human being. The study will then turn to various scripture texts that have been...
Summer 2026: “I am worthy,” by the Rev. Sara Olson-Smith
Download all three sessions of the study. This summer, Women of the ELCA participants will gather in Des Moines, Iowa, under the theme “I am worthy.” When Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee spoke in 2017, she invited WELCA participants to reclaim space for women...
Fall 2026: “Bold faith on an unexpected journey,” by the Rev. Tiffany Chaney
Faith often leads us down paths we didn’t expect—into wilderness places, across unfamiliar lands, and through seasons of grief and hope. This three-session study takes us on a journey with Hagar, Ruth and Mary Magdalene, women whose bold faith transformed their...
How we stand for her
Raising awareness, taking action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women By Christine Lafave Grace The statistics are startling: More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Native Alaskan women—a staggering 84.3 percent—have experienced violence in their lifetime,...
May 2026: “Paul’s letters and yours” video supplement
Watch the video. Our world often moves at a head-spinning pace. Regardless of where you find yourself, the responsibilities of daily living may sometimes feel overwhelming. In this one-session Bible study/devotional, we will look at some of the ways Paul’s letters...
Spring 2026: “I AM: God’s holy name and promise,” video supplement 3
Watch the video (May) Session three: Resurrection and life: Leading us into abundant life (John 11 and 14) This final session revolves around the third dimension of I AM: God’s promise to lead God’s people into abundant life. From before creation to the time of Moses...
Patterns of war: Tracing the ways women and children are most affected
By Laura Gifford Chin trudged wearily along the wilderness trail. She was hungry, cold and terribly alone. Chin thought she had experienced the worst when the white settlers came and took her family’s home. Chin, her husband, and her three young children had set off...
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis: Get tools for use in your congregation or community
In 2021, the ELCA Church council adopted a Declaration to American Indian and Alaska Native People by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. That document reads, in part: "We commit to advocacy for and being in solidarity with Tribal Nations, MMIWGR...