Upstate Update: Wednesday, February 4, 2015

The Upstate Update for Wednesday, February 4, 2015

OUR CHANCE FOR $21,000 IN SAVINGS FOR OUR SYNOD

Portico Benefit Services is again offering us the opportunity to earn a 2% discount on ELCA health contributions this year. Each congregation and organization in our synod will receive a 2% discount on all of this year's health contributions if 65% of our eligible ELCA-Primary health plan members and eligible spouses complete the confidential Mayo Clinic Health Assessment January 1 - April 30.

This year, we could collectively save approximately $21,000!

If you have ELCA-Primary health benefits, we need your help. Take this year's Mayo Clinic Health Assessment January 1 - April 30. You'll earn a $150 credit to your wellness account to offset out of pocket medical costs, and will help us earn a 2% discount on the cost of your health coverage. If your spouse has ELCA-Primary health benefits and completes the Mayo Clinic Health Assessment, too, you'll receive another $150 wellness dollars into your wellness account, and will help us earn our synod-wide 2% discount on health contributions.

Sign in to https://myportico.porticobenefits.org/ to get to Mayo Clinic Healthy Living online, where they'll take the health assessment and earn wellness dollars. There's no longer a separate Mayo Clinic user ID and password. Spouses must register for their own myPortico account using details that we've mailed to them. Spouses and members cannot share a myPortico account.

PRAY FIRST

PRAYERS OF HEALING

Rev. Tom Mason

Rev. Carl Reichert

Rev. Allen Griep

We hold in prayer all victims of violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion, repression, especially the most vulnerable: in our society and in other areas torn by war, conflict, hunger, poverty and injustice. Lord, in your mercy....

ANNUAL ROSTERED LEADER REPORTS TO THE BISHOP

Bishop John Macholz

It's that time of year again to fill out the Report to the Bishop. If you have already done so, thank you. If not, I ask you to do so. I know, you don't like doing them, wonder if I read them at all and finally ask yourself what difference it makes anyway?

As I live into this calling I have discovered that the reports submitted thus far have been a great help to me in coming to know people better, understand more clearly where they are in life and ministry and what needs might exist that I can assist with moving forward.

I also believe that as the years roll by the reports will help me to understand folk's journeys and ministries from a broader and more helpful perspective. So, take ten minutes and have at it. Whether retired, on leave from call or actively serving, together we are the body of Christ and together we are growing in relationship and understanding of who we are and whose we are. Thanks for your participation in this endeavor.

We need to talk

Church the appropriate place for deep, honest, even painful conversation about race

By Elizabeth A. Eaton

This summer and fall our country was shaken by violence-the violent encounters between police and young African-American men in Ferguson, Mo., New York and Cleveland, and the violence of communities of color reacting to decisions of grand juries. And, just before Christmas, we were saddened and sickened by the assassination of two New York City police officers as they sat in their patrol car. So much loss of life. Such a forfeit of hope. Read more

GIVE IT UP FOR LENT

Have you decided what you're giving up for Lent this year? Be grateful you have the luxury of being able to eliminate something from your regular food intake, when 800 million people around the world don't have enough to eat. That's 1 in 8 people globally. ELCA World Hunger gives over $18 million to feed those people, as well as to seek sustainable solutions for the roots of poverty and hunger. Its Domestic Hunger Grants distributed over $800,000 last year to 384 projects in the US.

Lent is an opportune time to focus on the hungry, and the ELCA has resources to help. On the ELCA website, enter "Lent" or "World Hunger" into the search box, and you'll find many useful items-coin banks, calendars to walk you through the 40 days, posters, bulletin inserts-many of them free, even shipping! Your congregations' gifts to the wider church make this possible. Thank you!

Make this Lent a time to "give it up" for the hungry.

We are church together for the sake of the world. God's Work. Our Hands.

TIDBITS

Synod Assembly Reports Deadline Extended

The deadline for reports has been extended to March 10, 2015. Please submit them to Caitlin Donovan at cld4910@rit.edu

Save the date and celebrate!

On Sunday, September 13, 2015 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will again have the opportunity to gather together for "God's work. Our hands." Sunday and celebrate who we are as the ELCA - one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.

If your congregation cannot participate on that day, please consider another time.

Please visit http://www.elca.org/dayofservice

Get your Global Church PlaceMaps for annual meetings and Lenten meals!

Inspire your members with a PlaceMap which shows where God is working through ELCA Missionaries, Young Adults in Global Mission, scholarships for International Leaders, and Global Ministries of outreach and education. This FREE resource is perfect for dinner place mats, displays or coloring sheets. Download an 11 X 17 copy at www.ELCA.org/resources/globalchurch under the "General" tab. Request 100 or 200 in pre-printed pads with free shipping and handling at 800-638-3522.

Order larger quantities at http://resources.elca.org/search.cgi?keywords=placemats&Click+to+Search.x=16&Click+to+Search.y=12 shipping and handling charges will apply.

Congregation Report Covers

Available at: http://resources.elca.org/search.cgi?keywords=REPORT+COVERS&Click+to+Search.x=19&Click+to+Search.y=9

2015 Region 7 Women of the ELCA SPIRITUAL RETREAT

April 17-19, 2015

This year's theme is "A Time for Every Season-A Time for YOU!"

based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, West Hartford, CT 06107

Information and registration at:

http://upstatenysynod.org/women-of-the-elca/forms/

Grow your faith. Sharpen your training. Let Scripture unfold in a new way.

From April 27 to April 30, 2015, spend four days with Paul Hoffman, author of Faith Forming Faith and Faith Shaping Ministry as he shares the nuts and bolts of the catechumenate, and how it can help a congregation become a place that forms faith. Learn old and new ways of reading the Bible for faith with the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Palmer, as she shows us how Lutheran readings of Scripture help us encounter the hidden God who speaks.

Theological Continuing Education at Koinonia is place for forming faith and shaping ministry. Join us! Find more information at www.tcek.org

This event is funded in part by a generous Leadership Development Grant from the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Practicing Care in Rural Congregations & Communities

Wartburg Seminary's Rural Ministry Conference is where leaders in rural communities and congregations gather to gain insight and inspiration, to network and neighbor that their ministries might be empowered. This ecumenical conference includes worship, keynote speakers, workshops, and Bible study, and offers participants a unique opportunity to network with others who are active in and concerned about rural ministry.

https://www.wartburgseminary.edu/template_Centers.asp?id=418

Submit form for Early Bird Registration by

February 2, 2015

Standard Registration due by February 27, 2015

Please visit our website upstatenysynod.org

Thank you for spending some time reading this edition of the Upstate Update. We hope, and pray, that you found it useful. If you know someone who could benefit from the Upstate Update, please forward it to them and ask them to sign up directly.

Kathy Neugent

Executive Assistant to the Bishop

Upstate New York Synod of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

kneugent@upstatenysynod.org

Phone: 315-299-4955 Fax: 315-299-4981

Resurrection people who pray first, walk together and change lives.