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Fall 2024 “Receiving grace: A study of Ephesians” Bible study video supplement Session 1
Session one: Is grace real? We often focus on how we fall short and deserve God’s judgment. What if, instead, we remember God’s continual gift of grace? God invites us to lead lives of love and wholeness. What is grace, exactly? Grace does not take away the sin and...
Called to heal: The journey of Clara Maass
Late-nineteenth century New Jersey could be a difficult place for a young woman from a poor German-immigrant household to gain a foothold. Clara Maass was the eldest daughter of a large, economically struggling family. She needed to work hard from an early age....
Summer 2024 “After certainty: A biblical guide” Bible study video supplement Session 3
August 2024 After certainty: Compassion When certainty becomes judgmentalism, it contributes to divisions between people and within communities. The teachings of Jesus and the pastoral writings of the apostle Paul sometimes urge people to choose compassion over...
Summer 2024 “After certainty: A biblical guide” Bible study video supplement Session 2
July 2024 After certainty: Community When certainty in faith becomes the responsibility of the individual, this can isolate us from God and from community. The reformer Martin Luther’s own failures of certainty led him to return to passages in the gospels and epistles...
Summer 2024 “After certainty: A biblical guide” Bible study video supplement Session 1
After certainty: Curiosity Jesus’ ministry, during the uncertainty of the first century Roman occupation, often challenged the “certainties” of the status quo when it came to faith, power and relationships—both the relationships between people and God, and between...
May 2024 Devotional on Mental Health and Wellness video supplement
As long as humans have existed, there has been mental illness. By some estimates, as many as 20% of all adults live with a mental health issue. In biblical times, mental illness was often misunderstood and thought to be caused by demonic possession. In modern times,...
Resources for an election season
Summer 2024 “After certainty: A biblical guide” by the Rev. Dr. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni A global pandemic, political upheaval, a changing climate… these days, the future is more uncertain than it has ever been. Or is it? For the people of the Bible, life was often...
Winter/Spring 2024 “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” Bible study video supplement Session 4
Session Four: Food: Daily bread for the health of the world Most of us hunt, harvest and forage in grocery store aisles. We’ve forgotten the ways our food first comes to us—from fields, flocks, forests and farms. Considering our relationship with creation and our...
War impacts a Lutheran-run hospital in the Holy Land
The war in Gaza had been going on for six months. It was the week before Easter, and the third week of Ramadan. The Old City of Jerusalem, normally packed with pilgrims, seemed deserted. “Look around you; this is not like Easter,” Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar of the...
Radical hospitality
I recently returned from a remote village in rural northwest Alaska. I’d been attending a regional Lutheran conference there. The highlight—aside from hours of singing gospel hymns and participating in business meetings—was visiting people in their homes and accepting...
Winter/Spring 2024 “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” Bible study video supplement Session 3
Session Three: Rivers: Springs of life and hope Fresh water. Most of life on our planet depends on it, and the story of God’s saving work flows alongside it, through stories of biblical rivers that offer a vision of flourishing creation. Together we’ll journey from...
Winter/Spring 2024 “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” Bible study video supplement Session 2
Session Two: Creatures: Our siblings in praise and trust Jesus invites us to consider the birds, but we’ll get to know biblical critters beyond the sparrows. We’ll look at biblical animals (some adorable, some terrifying) from ravens and lions to a big fish, paired...
Winter/Spring 2024 “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” Bible study video supplement Session 1
Session One: Weather: Powerful force for change We can’t control the weather, but we can learn from it. Storms, rain, drought and wind shape the lives of human and non-human beings, both in scripture and today. As we face catastrophic storms and the weird weather of...
Listening to loneliness
I didn’t grow up deprived of opportunities to make friends. I had a loving family. I enjoyed playing with my little brother. Still, I always felt like I was missing something. Whenever a house went up for sale on our block, I would pray that a little girl would move...
2023 Advent devotional: “Topsy-turvy” by the Rev. Hannah Hawkinson
In her song, Mary, the mother of Jesus, praises God for turning the world upside down--or perhaps, turning the world right-side-up! Gather's annual Advent devotional focuses on the Magnificat song of Mary (see Luke 1:46b-55), as well as parallel topsy-turvy stories of...
Fall 2023 “Holy Places” Bible study video supplement Session 3
Holy places: Pilgrimage Pilgrimage, a journey to a sacred place, is a spiritual practice with a long history in Christianity (and many other religions). In the Bible, pilgrimage is not only about the destination, but also about the “holy place” of the journey itself....
Fall 2023 “Holy Places” Bible study video supplement Session 2
Holy places: Sanctuary For thousands of years, physical spaces have been set apart for individual prayer and community worship. “Sanctuary” is one word for such spaces. Throughout history, “sanctuary” has also referred to spaces of safety and refuge. If God is...
Fall 2023 “Holy Places” Bible study video supplement Session 1
Holy places: Home Home can be the place we lay our head and the people we call family. Home can be our community or homeland. Home is also found wherever we truly and fully belong. This month, we consider the complexity and the promise of “home” through the...