Southeastern Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
God's work. Our hands. E-News Weekly |
|
Issue: #348
|
December 05, 2012
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Reflections for the Advent Season
| | |
As we usher in the season of Advent and reflect on Christ's coming into the world, we invite you to read Pr. Eric Murray's Advent 1 sermon preached this past Sunday at Messiah Lutheran Church in Knoxville, TN. You might just see things a bit differently!
|
|
|
|
|
Help the ELCA Malaria Campaign Reach Its Goal!
| | |
Dear friend,
I am thankful for your support of the ELCA Malaria Campaign and ask that you make one more special gift this year. We have less than two months to raise $1 million, and we need your help.
Today, thousands of children in Africa will contract malaria. It will start with a fever, headache and vomiting. But within just a few days, the disease can turn deadly - all because of the bite of a mosquito.
A child dies from malaria every 60 seconds. Most are children under the age of 5.
Our church is making a difference. It has been less than two years since the ELCA Malaria Campaign joined the global movement to fight malaria, and we have already seen a reduction in the number of deaths from this preventable, treatable disease. Thank you for being a part of this!
We have more to do. This year, our goal is to raise an additional $4 million toward our goal of raising $15 million by 2015. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, we just passed the $3 million mark.
We are so close - but we need you.
Give now to help reach our goal. Your gift will ensure that the work of the ELCA Malaria Campaign continues. We need to raise $1 million more by the end of our fiscal year - January 31 - so that malaria programs in Africa that are just getting off the ground will continue to gain momentum. I know we can do it!
 Your gifts are critical - families in Africa will benefit from your support. A mother in Zambia recently told us, "The malaria program has really helped. Before the program started, people only slept [under] the mosquito nets during the rainy season, but now we all sleep under mosquito nets throughout the year. We now know how to protect ourselves."
We are a church that believes God is calling us into the world - together. Join the ELCA Malaria Campaign, working with Lutheran churches in Africa, to provide what is needed to help eliminate deaths from this disease - for good. Please give today.
Thanks for your gifts, prayers and partnership.
In Christ's service,
Jessica Nipp Hacker
Coordinator, ELCA Malaria Campaign
P.S. For resources on how to get your congregation involved visit www.elca.org/malaria. Remember that your gift, received before Dec. 31, 2012, is tax deductible as allowed by law.
|
|
Mindful Eating: A Spiritual Practice
| | |
By Abby Koning
Lutheran Volunteer Corps Member
Community Outreach Coordinator and Communications Assistant
 As a year-long member of Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC), I attend monthly community retreats with the other Atlanta volunteers. Our November retreat explored the connections between food and spirituality through the lens of mindful eating. We spent our day in northeast Atlanta at the Amerson House, a spiritual retreat center and ministry of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church. Our agenda for the day? To practice mindful eating by preparing, cooking, and eating a meal in silence. As we readied ourselves to cook, our leader challenged us to approach our food with careful attention, with full presence, and with all of our senses. She opened our time together with a poem - Buddhist monk Edward Espe Brown's "Working in the Kitchen".
...Enter, plunge into the heart
of the matter: an unknown destination:
an unknown adventure unfolding
with your wits about you and your
not-so-wits. Things emerging in life,
Life emerging in things, no separation.
Concentrating on food, concentrating
on myself, with heart opening, hands offering,
may everything be deliciously full
of warmth and kindness....
With these words to guide us, we each received a task, entered the kitchen, and began. I found myself near the stove in an unfamiliar kitchen, tasked with preparing the cheeses that would adorn our soup. I washed my hands, watching the water pour over my skin, a ritual cleansing and blessing. Slowly, I crumbled the bleu cheese between my fingers, taking note of its creamy texture and sharp scent. The thin blue veins running along the surface reminded me of tiny rivers, crisscrossing the pages of a faded map. Within each crumble, the entirety of creation: the groundwater that the cows drink, the black soil underneath their feet, the warmth of late-autumn sun. My companions worked alongside me, heads bent over fresh apples, onions, carrots, and kale in a posture not unlike that of prayer....
|
|
Notice: Synod E-News Changes
| |
Would you like a story or announcement included in an issue of the Synod E-News Weekly? Send all future submissions, suggestions, and questions to our newest staff member, Associate in Ministry Michelle Angalet, at mangalet@elca-ses.org. We send out the Synod E-News Weekly every Wednesday, so please send submissions by Tuesday at the latest. If you'd like to include photos with your submission, please attach as a .jpg, .png, or .gif file. Thanks!
|
|
Train for Ministry with the Stephen Series
| |
The Stephen Series provides congregations with the training, resources, and ongoing support to organize and equip a team of lay caregivers - called Stephen Ministers - in the congregation. Stephen Ministers provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care and support to people experiencing grief, divorce, cancer, job loss, loneliness, disability, relocation, and other life difficulties.
The Stephen Series Leader's Training Course is an amazing week of learning and growing for pastors, other church staff, and lay leaders who want to begin Stephen Ministry in their congregation. The LTC teaches you everything you need to know about leading Stephen Ministry and training Stephen Ministers in your congregation.
To get an insider's look at the Stephen Series Leader's Training Course, check out this short video. To learn about or register for a week-long 2013 LTC session, visit the Stephen Series website.
|
Friends in Hope: Visitation to Immigrants in Detention
| | |
 | | Friends in Hope volunteers outside El Refugio |
Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSG) is responding to Christ's call to welcome the stranger by creating a new ministry, Friends in Hope, to visit immigrant detainees at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. During their visits to Stewart Detention Center, volunteers have been supporting detainees by spending time with them and listening to their stories. In partnership with El Refugio, a hospitality house for families of detainees and other visitors, LSG has sponsored 4 visits to the Stewart Detention Center, during which 20 volunteers have seen 10 detainees. According to Anton Flores-Maisonet, pastor of the Alterna community that founded El Refugio, these visits have been meaningful for the immigrant detainees and also for the volunteers. Here is what Anton told a recent group of volunteers: "Your visit matters. It matters to the men who are held inside and are filled with so many emotional and spiritual questions and doubts. It matters to the loving families and friends who are praying for a reunion - sometimes hoping against all odds. It matters to you as you wrestle with the implications of what it means for a for-profit corporation to be operating the largest immigration detention center in the U.S. in the poorest county in Georgia - all in our name and with our tax dollars. It matters."
According to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS), there are over 400,000 immigrant detainees housed in the United States awaiting deportation or approval for asylum. These immigrants have been detained for civil, not criminal, violations, but nonetheless endure the harsh conditions of life in a detention center. LSG sees this reality as an opportunity to show compassion and hospitality to some of the most vulnerable and voiceless people in our country.
If you are interested in participating in this ministry or want to learn more about it, please consider attending a Friends in Hope orientation at the LSG office in Atlanta, GA on January 26. Register here to attend the orientation.
For more information, please contact Melanie Johnson, LSG's Volunteer Coordinator at mjohnson@lsga.org or 678-686-9619.
|
Christmas Blessings from the Mission Investment Fund
| | |
This Christmas season, the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA is grateful for the thousands of ELCA members, congregations, and ministries who put their trust in MIF as investors and the nearly 800 congregations and ministries that build, renovate, and expand their facilities with MIF loans. Your participation in the Mission Investment Fund is important in helping to build the church.
To learn more about MIF's portfolio of investments and loans --and competitive rates --visit our new website, call us toll-free at 877-886-3522, or contact your MIF Regional Manager Jerry Johnson at 904-645-9829 or jerry.johnson@elca.org.
Much gratitude and many Christmas blessings to you!
|
| Handwashing: A Special Gift | |
A message from Connie Pearson
Team Leader of the Health Ministries Task Force
Everyone around you seems to have the common head cold. It is only a week until Christmas and you are afraid that you are going to start sneezing and coughing any day. If you do catch the cold, you will not be able to sing in the Christmas Cantata. What is a person to do to keep from becoming a host to all those germs?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the most important thing that all of us can do to keep from getting sick and spreading germs to others is to wash our hands frequently. We might think of that statement in the context of the ELCA motto, "God's Work, Our Hands!" Our hands can be instruments for spreading or not spreading germs to others as well as to ourselves. Studies on handwashing show that even with access to soap and clean running water, improper handwashing or the lack of it still contributes significantly to disease transmission. Children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to hand-transmitted illnesses.
The most common way that people catch colds is by touching their nose, eyes or mouth after their hands have been contaminated with the cold virus. The cold germs can spread directly to others through the air or onto surfaces that other people touch. Before you know it, everyone around you is getting sick. The important thing to remember is that, in addition to colds, some serious diseases such as hepatitis A, meningitis, and infectious diarrhea can easily be prevented if people make a habit of washing their hands.
When should you wash your hands?
You should wash your hands often; if statistics are correct, probably more often than you do now. It is estimated that one out of three people do not wash their hands after using the restroom in public places. In addition, it is especially important to wash your hands:
- Before, during, and after preparing food
- Before eating
 - Before and after caring for someone who is ill
- Before and after treating a cut or wound
- After using the bathroom
- After changing diapers
- After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
- After handling animals or animal waste
- After touching garbage
What is the correct way to wash your hands?
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold) and apply liquid or bar soap. Place the bar soap on a rack and allow it to drain.
- Rub your hands vigorously together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces. Be sure to scrub between your fingers and under your nails.
- Continue rubbing for 15 to 20 seconds or about the length of Happy Birthday sung twice. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs.
- Rinse your hands well under running water.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
If soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol is a good substitute. These sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs but do not eliminate all germs. To apply hand sanitizers, place a small amount in the palm of one hand and rub your hands together over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until they are dry.
December 2-8 has been designated as National Handwashing Awareness Week. If you are a good steward of handwashing you are doing God's Work by purposefully helping to prevent the spread of germs at home and in the community. Join hands during this national week and celebrate having access to clean water and soap by helping to provide these necessities for those less fortunate. My suggestions are bars of soap for WELCA's soap collection and/or an extra contribution to ELCA Disaster Relief during December. Our Hands can go far to help others prevent the spread of diseases. Stay well!
|
Archival Survey Releases its Fall Issue
| | |
The Fall 2012 issue of the Archival Survey, the publication of the James R. Crumley Jr. Archives, is now available here. Please take a few moments to read through this latest issue of news and happenings related to your archives housed at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
The season's issue includes the slowly unfolding story of Alabama Lutherans, George A. Keck's memories from the his seminary cupola, and information on how your church can support the archives. The history and heritage of our Lutheran church in the Southeast and throughout the Caribbean is so important. Let's work to preserve it!
|
|
| | |
Meet Agrippa: Story from the ELCA Malaria Campaign
 At 14 months, Agrippa was infected with malaria so severely that when his mother brought him to the Emmanuel Health Center, a project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic, doctors found that over half of his red blood cells had been destroyed, leaving him on the edge of possibly fatal anemia.
As is common in areas where malaria is rampant and medical facilities are scarce, "many people develop partial immunity to malaria," says the Rev. Deborah Troester, a missionary serving in the Central African Republic, "but the parasite can remain in their blood, where it continues to destroy red blood cells."
 | Central African Republic
CIA World Factbook |
When there aren't enough red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout the body, Deborah says, people often die - especially infants and small children, who are more susceptible than adults.
Agrippa was able to receive a blood transfusion, as well as a treatment to kill the remaining parasites in his system. It's lifesaving procedures like this that are made possible through gifts to the ELCA Malaria Campaign as we work with our Lutheran partners in the Central African Republic and in 10 other countries in Africa.
"In a country where thousands of babies and children die needlessly every year," Deborah says, "it's nice to know of one baby who will live."
Click here to view this and other ELCA Malaria Campaign stories
************************************
ELCA, Episcopal Bishops Unite with a Goal for a Human Race Free of AIDS
From the ELCA News Service. November 30, 2012
On World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, people around the world pause to grieve the 30 million people who have died from HIV and AIDS in the past 30 years and unite in solidarity towards a goal of a "human race free of AIDS," according to the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, and Episcopal Presiding Bishop and Primate Katharine Jefferts Schori.
In their joint letter about the international observance, the bishops wrote that infection rates continue to grow in many parts of the world despite innovations in medicine and technology that could eliminate the virus.
"Last year alone, 2.5 million people were infected with HIV and 1.7 million died from AIDS-related causes. Each year, 50,000 new cases of HIV infection are reported in the United States alone," they wrote.
"Vulnerable populations continue to face disproportionately high rates of infection and shrinking access to life-sustaining treatment. Our silence, and the stigma attached to those living with HIV or AIDS, perpetuates the poverty that so often surrounds the disease," wrote Hanson and Schori, adding that the silence and stigma often cause HIV-positive Lutherans and Episcopalians to feel invisible in their own communities....
Click here to read more about the ELCA and Episcopal church's response to HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world.
|
| Around the Synod | |
Join Us at the First Call Roster Event!
If you are in your first call as an ELCA rostered person and in the first three years of that call, mark your calendar for January 14-16 (Monday noon through Wednesday noon) at Lutheranch in Tallapoosa, GA. This event will be a time to study the upcoming Lenten texts with Bishop H. Julian Gordy, a time of spiritual refreshment, worship, colleague support, and a time for some plain old fun! Contact Pr. Delmer Chilton at delmer.chilton@gmail.com with questions.
*******************************
Rock of Ages Holds Community Jazz Vespers
On December 9, Rock of Ages Lutheran Church in Stone Mountain, GA will hold its last Community Jazz Vespers service for the year. The upcoming service will feature Rock of Ages' own internationally renowned jazz pianist Gary Motley and vocalist Veronica Motley, along with other invited world-class jazz artists. Join Rock of Ages at 5:30 pm, December 9 for this special worship experience and musical treat. To learn about the vespers service, read musician biographies, or order a Jazz Vespers compilation CD, visit the Rock of Ages website.
|
| View the entire Synod Calendar | | |
Dec 24-26
Southeastern Synod Office Closed for Christmas
Dec 28
Synod Council Reports Due
Jan 1
Synod Office Closed for New Year's Day
Jan 11-12
Talking Together as Christians Cross-Culturally
Nashville, TN
Jan 14-16
First Call Theological Education
Jan 18-19
Synod Council Meeting
|
Share this e-news with a friend Do you know someone who might enjoy receiving news from the Southeastern Synod? Please forward a copy of this E-News and invite them to join the group!
ELCA-Southeastern Synod
100 Edgewood Ave. NE, Suite 1600
Atlanta, GA 30303
404-589-1977
|
|
|
