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How I found peace
By Claire Garcia - I HAD BEEN UNCHURCHED since my confirmation day in 1969. I’d drifted away from church (but not from faith), leaving Minnesota at age 20. I went into the Navy, and became a hospital corpsman stationed in Memphis, Tennessee. After my discharge from...
“We have felt the power of your prayer” Gather Bible study leader continues work in Jerusalem
Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel and the Israeli siege of Gaza, many Gather readers contacted Women of the ELCA churchwide staff to ask about the safety of Gather Bible study author the Rev. Dr. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni and her family. Many of the...
Go-to places for sacred spaces
By Kathryn Haueisen— I’m embarrassed about how many times I’ve changed my address. Sometimes I’ve moved within the same zip code or to a nearby one. Many times, I have moved far enough that I’ve had to change pretty much every detail of daily life. Whenever that...
Just Generosity
By Mihee Kim-Kort— Across the U.S., day laborers line up outside job sites, waiting and hoping to be hired for the day. Work is not guaranteed. It may not be enough to live on. Sometimes it is dangerous. Recently, as summer temperatures soared above 105 degrees,...
What makes home holy
By Erin Strybis— When I think of home, I imagine my childhood bedroom. With sky blue walls and matching sheer curtains, it was my oasis. As a shy, introverted child, I relished my alone time. Sometimes I’d lie on my queen bed and pretend the pastel ceiling was a...
I’m a Martha. My kitchen is my holy place.
By Elise Seyfried I AM NO STRANGER TO SACRED SPACES. For 20 years I worked at a church where, several times each week, I’d leave my office, slip into the sanctuary, and sit in welcome, peaceful silence for a few minutes. On frantic Sundays, I had a hard time feeling...
At home in the Holy Land
By Cetera Jacobs MARHABA (HELLO) FROM PALESTINE! This past year, I was one of seven ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteers who served in Jerusalem and The West Bank this past year—a beautiful, eye-opening experience. Palestinians are the most hospitable...
Winter/Spring 2023 Bible study, “The Ten Commandments” by The Rev. Christa von Zychlin
The Ten Commandments by the Rev. Christa von Zychlin Join Gather magazine and revive your soul in 2023 with a four-session study of the 10 commandments. ELCA pastor and Bible study author Christa von Zychlin will help us see how these commandments are more than they...
May 2023 devotional: Love in action The art of intergenerational hospitality by Sarah Carson
Love in action The art of intergenerational hospitality by Sarah Carson In writing to the Romans, Paul advised this early Christian community: "For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body...
Sing out loud
By Karen Wright Marsh THE REFORMER MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546) gave out a great deal of advice, much of it documented in his 3,000 letters to parishioners, friends and family members, princes and commoners. Topping the pastor’s “Don’t” list: lying late abed, gluttony,...
The blessings of a nap
By Elise Seyfried WHEN I WAS YOUNG, I spent a lot of time with my dad’s mom, my beloved Nana. Nana would rent a cottage at the New Jersey shore for the whole summer and invite our family down for weeks at a time. It was a welcome respite from the brutal New York City...
Summer 2023 Bible study: Salvation Now by the Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen
Session One: Promised Salvation Now—Jesus Brings Wellness Of all the gospel writers, John is uniquely concerned about the effectiveness of Jesus’ immediate presence. One clue is his regular use of the word “now,” a tiny but powerful word which appears more here than...
Fall 2023: “Holy places,” a three-session Bible study by the Rev. Dr. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni
Physical places often shape our identities, relationships and faith. “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it,” Paul writes. Part of what this means is that faith doesn’t just reside in our thoughts or emotions. Faith resides in our whole bodies,...
December 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...
Winter 2022: The kingdom of God by the Rev. Mark Allan Powell
The Rev. Dr. Mark Allan Powell, the author of Gather’s four-part Bible study on “The kingdom of heaven,” has responded to questions about session 4. Thank you for sharing your concerns and questions. The kingdom of God: What does it mean for God to be in charge? by...
All in good time
What I love about Ecclesiastes by Anne Basye MY MOM KEEPS A TO-DO LIST. It shows everything she is going to do the rest of her life. When my son wrote these words in a long-ago grade school essay, I was pleased... and uneasy. His assignment was to recommend me for a...
Dandelions
The miraculous in the common by Jennifer Grant THE GROUNDSKEEPERS have just mowed the park. Walking across the meadow, I kick at thick, matted clumps of grass. Then I spy, a few feet ahead of me, a lone dandelion standing up straight. About six or seven inches tall,...
Clinging and letting go
by Lisa A. Smith I’VE BEEN A MOTHER since the week of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I was on a work-related training trip out of state, my heart already full of emotion, when I first heard about the shooting. My husband and I had been trying to start a...