Northeastern Minnesota Synod
Online Reflections
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week of July 10, 2016  
Prayer Petitions 

Each Wednesday morning the synod staff meets for devotions and prays for the congregations and people of our synod. You are invited to join us.
  • Pastor Philip Swensson, retired in Barnum
  • First Lutheran, Buhl, and Pastor Ellen Taube
  • Pastor Vicki Taylor, retired in Deer River
  • Ms. Ann Terhark, AiM, retired in Eveleth
  • Pastor Gary Terrio, retired in Cloquet
Bishop Aitken and Staff,

This morning (July 6) at the Lutheran Center Chapel mid-week service, we lifted up you and the people of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod in prayer.

We also prayed for your partners in ministry: The Christian Lutheran Church in Honduras, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia, and the South Andhra Lutheran Church in India. 

We are blessed to accompany you in the work you do with and for your congregations and communities. We give thanks for our shared ministries in Christ.

The ELCA worship staff,
Kevin, Scott and BethAnn
Pastoral Letter on violence from Bishop Aitken
Northeastern MN Synod
Evangelical Lutheran church in America
 
July 11, 2016
In the aftermath of the horrific violence and the continued use of gun violence in general, and in St. Paul, Baton Rouge and Dallas last week in particular, let us as a synod and church offer the world a different "normal." As Christians, we don't simply have a "belief" in Jesus; we are joined to him in baptism, through the weekly spoken gospel in our ears, and through Holy Communion. The living Jesus, crucified and raised for the life of the world joined us to his kind of life, one that frankly, the world is looking for. Our Lord addressed the issues of fear, hatred, tribalism, prejudice and violence repeatedly. To each action of hatred he saw or experienced, Jesus spoke and acted in love. It didn't matter who you were: Gentile or Jew, woman or man, slave or free, people of his own kin, people of other tribes and religions, Jesus walked into every situation, no matter how tragic, and brought new, courageous, and authentic life.
 
If you haven't developed a devotional life yet, now is the time to start. Pray for the families of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, pray for the families of the police who died in Dallas, and those who were injured trying to protect others. Pray for your own town or community. Pray specifically the names of those who died from acts of violence. Take your own inventory and ask God to remove prejudice and tribalism from your own heart and create in its place a new willingness to become an active loving neighbor to anyone in need. Talk with each other courageously about ending violence as a solution to our problems. Attend your community prayer vigils and talk to new people about how faith brings hope and new strength to address our complex problems. Talk to your pastor about holding prayer and study groups across Denominational lines.
 
Prayer: God have mercy on us. All of us. Create in us a new longing for you and your dream for the world. Give us the heart and desires of your Son Jesus. Speak to me, I am listening. Amen.
 
+Bishop Thomas M. Aitken
  Northeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA
A service of Prayer and Lament
ELCA Churchwide, Chicago, IL

A Service of Prayer and Lament - July 8, 2016
A Service of Prayer and Lament - July 8, 2016


Service Bulletin
synod logoOnline Evangelical Mission
 
Welcome to the Synod
 
Welcome to the Synod is an opportunity to meet other people who are relatively new to service in the synod, the bishop and the synod staff, your conference dean, and others involved in the mission of the church in the Northeastern Minnesota Synod. Welcome to the Synod is a time for leaders to introduce themselves, their work, and the many ministries of the synod including: outdoor ministries, campus ministries, hunger, justice, rural life, creation care ... and many more! Following lunch, there will be an open house at the synod office across the street from First Lutheran Church: come to take a tour of the building or to sit down with a staff member to begin or continue a conversation!   
 
If you are within the first five years of serving in the synod as a rostered leader; within the first five years of serving as a synodically authorized minister; the dean of your conference; a lay youth and family minister working in a congregation of the synod; or a candidate/ seminarian/ intern in the territory of this synod, then you are invited to the 2016 Welcome to the Synod event!
 
Join us at 9:30 am - 1:30 pm, Tuesday, August 16, 2016 at First Lutheran Church - Duluth (1100 E. Superior St, Duluth, MN 55802). Please call the synod office (218-724-4424) or email Pastor John Dietz at john.dietz@nemnsynod.org to let us know we will be seeing you there! (Please RSVP by August 7 so we can order food - and let us know of any dietary restrictions at that time!)
 
Find more information on this link: http://tinyurl.com/NEMNWelcome
 
Pastor John Dietz
Assistant to the Bishop
Director for Evangelical Mission
In This Issue
Bishop Aitken's Reflections

ELCA Service of Prayer & Lament

Welcome to the Synod Event

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Staff Listing
Phone: 218.724.4424
 
   Bishop
Brenda Tibbetts, AiM - 122
   Assistant to the Bishop
   Call process
   Director for Evangelical Mission
   Assistant to the Bishop
   Candidacy 
   Youth Ministry 
    Bookkeeper/Receptionist
    Communications/Office Support

   NE MN Synod, ELCA
1105 E. Superior St.,
Upper Suite
Duluth, MN  55802

FAX: 218.724.4393    
Summer Office Hours

This summer the synod office will have amended hours to accommodate the overlap of staff vacations. Staff will still fulfill their designated hours June-August, however, the phone will be answered by voicemail, and the office will be closed to meetings and drop-in visits on Fridays.

Online Reflections Editor

Anne Laechel
218-828-9374

Online Reflections is a semi-weekly e-newsletter from the Northeastern Minnesota Synod.

Online Reflections Part 1 is published on Monday of each week and contains articles from Bishop Thomas Aitken, Synod Staff, and information from the ELCA.

Online Reflections Part 2 is published on Thursday of each week and contains late breaking news, information about events occurring in the congregations of the NE MN Synod, and job postings.
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