About
Gather, the magazine of Women of the ELCA, offers a mix of articles, theological reflections, devotions and stories of comfort and challenge that help readers grow in faith and engage in ministry and action.
Emergence
By Elise Seyfried SOMETIMES, DURING WORSHIP, we are asked to remember our baptism. We watch the welcome of a little one at the font. We listen to a confirmand’s words during the Affirmation of Baptism. I must confess: These are not my favorite parts of the liturgy. I...
Gather offers Lenten devotional
As we approach the Lenten season, you may be looking for a devotional to carry you through the 40-day season. Gather magazine offers “An outward-facing Lent” with daily readings that allow us to explore our vocations and lift up the vocations of others. Download the...
What critters teach us about faith
God wants us to take care of our world. My young son Richard showed me that years ago when he found a wounded bird, a Robin, in our backyard. He named it “John”. Richard ran in and said we had to save him. His dad and I realized that this Robin was one of God’s...
Of monkeys, tears and the Wisdom of God
I was terrified. And I cried. I was living and working at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong at the time. I’m not weepy or alarmist by nature. I’d weathered a ginormous flying cockroach in my shower. Swatted it hard and disposed of it. I wasn’t crying...
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...
What critters teach us about faith
God wants us to take care of our world. My young son Richard showed me that years ago when he found a wounded bird, a Robin, in our backyard. He named it “John”. Richard ran in and said we had to save him. His dad and I realized that this Robin was one of God’s...
“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 inquiries came after the ELCA’s difficult decision to evacuate the ELCA Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteers serving in the West Bank and country coordinators ELCA pastors Adam and Jordan Miller-Stubbendick, with their young children.
Johnston Aelabouni reported: “We are safe in Jerusalem and continue our work [accompanying the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and other partners], which is now more important than ever.” Johnston Aelabouni serves as ELCA Theologian in Residence for the Middle East and North Africa desk. She and her spouse, the Rev. Gabi Aelabouni, Area Desk Director for the Middle East and North Africa, have three children.
“Participants in Women of the ELCA grow fond of authors they read, and so it’s no surprise that many have contacted the churchwide offices to ask about the wellbeing of the author of the current Bible study published in Gather, the Rev. Dr. Meghan Johnston Aelabouni, and her family,” said Linda Post Bushkofsky, executive director, Women of the ELCA.
“Even before the recent violence between Hamas and Israel, many participants have been praying for the Aelabouni family,” Post Bushkofsky said. “Now those prayers have expanded—both in number and breadth—prayers of peace and wellbeing for all who live in the Middle East, prayers of peace and justice throughout the world. In the words of our Purpose Statement, participants are actively promoting healing and wholeness in the church, the society and the world.”