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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...
Summer 2026: “I am worthy,” by the Rev. Sara Olson Smith
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 and girls to lead and love in bold ways....
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...
Fall 2026: “Bold faith on an unexpected journey,” by the Rev. Tiffany Cheney
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...
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...
December 2026: Advent devotional
More details to come!
Winter 2027: A two-part Bible study by the Rev. Wanda Frenchman
Description to come
Winter/Spring 2024: “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” by the Rev. Sara Olson-Smith
Jesus regularly invokes nature in his teaching, drawing us into deeper relationship with the created world. But it’s not just Jesus inviting us to see creation as teacher and kin. The scriptures themselves help us see the important role of the created world in God’s...
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...
Summer 2023 “Salvation Now!” Bible study video supplement Session 3
Needed Salvation Now—A World Wanting Wellness Anyone who’s been to a sports game knows John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Lesser known is John 3:17, which...
Summer 2023 “Salvation now!” Bible study video supplement Session 2
Tangible Salvation Now—Christians Bringing Wellness Following Jesus means expressing our solidarity with Jesus and his mission, in all we do. Because Jesus is the bringer of salvation, in his name, so, too, are we. Where there are wounds and brokenness, we are called...