WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Summer Blessings
                        June 4, 2015

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Click here to read the highlights of the 2015 Synod Assembly   

In This Issue
A message from Carlton Monroe, Director for Evangelical Mission and Asst. to the Bishop 
  

 



I am so glad that Jesus did not knock. I am so glad that Jesus did not just show up at the door and say "Hey guys...you know me, let me in." My joy is that Jesus just appeared in the midst of the disciples where they were locked in a room hiding in fear. Jesus just appears and says, "Peace be with you." And then Jesus breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Beloved we are again blessed to be re-acquainted with two returning seasons, the season of Pentecost fire and the returning season of summer's heat. Certainly the experience of staying inside during these seasons with our doors shut may get mighty stuffy. For that matter staying locked-up inside anytime can be almost stifling after a while. It can be especially overpowering when one locks themselves inside a room because of fear.

Yet this is the beginning of the Christian church. There, in a little locked room, are Jesus' disciples, holed up, stifled from fear that at any moment that there will be a knock at the door. Still Jesus appears in their midst and breathes life into his frightened friends. And as Jesus breathes new life into the disciples, Jesus also breathes his new, restored life into you and me. Just as Jesus bestows his Holy Spirit upon the disciples, we too receive this gift of God and receive the commission of Christ himself: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

I am glad that Jesus appears in our midst as a church that often times has hardly been behaving like a church at all - locked behind doors in fearful preoccupation with our own survival. I am glad God gives the Holy Spirit to disciples of every age both the comfort and the strength we need to fearlessly open the doors and go outside. Beloved you are sent into the very world loved by God so much that God sent Jesus, God's Beloved Son into it, so that you who believe in him might have no reason any longer to lock yourself away. Most importantly God sent Jesus to eliminate any fear we may have for the church's survival.

Days after the crucifixion, those who had been closest to Jesus remain out of sight, huddled behind locked doors, frightened. Imagining the disciples shut up in that room, and how in many ways we are realizing how we are those same disciples locked behind those same closed doors...in our churches...I can almost imagine and hearing Jesus say as He appears in our midst, "Beloved its stifling, can you breathe in here?"

  

Rev. Carlton Monroe

Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop 

NEWS FROM THE ELCA 
ELCA reaches milestone in welcoming new congregations

CHICAGO (ELCA) - For the Rev. Ruben Duran, the message is quite clear - "Christ's church is not dying." That's a different message, he says, than what has been widely reported in recent years about the decline in membership among U.S. mainline denominations, such as the 3.8 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

As director of ELCA new starts, Duran believes that this church "is not dying. It is changing" - particularly as the ELCA reaches a significant milestone this spring.

Since the ELCA began in 1988 as a result of a merger, more than 500 new congregations have been "planted, organized and joined the ELCA. That is a milestone worth celebrating," said Duran. The "changing part," he said, is that 56 percent of all ELCA new starts are among ethnic-multicultural communities, and 27 percent in communities where people are living in poverty or low-income. Another 26 new ministries started with leaders whose congregations left the ELCA in recent years, and there are 65 ELCA prison ministries. Click here to read more...

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SYNOD
AND BEYOND

June 2015   

Council/Committee/Leadership Team Devotions: Stewards of the Story ....  

 

 

  1. Sing Verse One of "I Love to Tell the Story"

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,

Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story, because I know it's true;

It satisfies my longings as nothing else would do.

 

  • How many in the group knew the song by heart?
  • What kind of feelings did it evoke?
  • Who told you the story?
  • Do you think it's true? Why?
  • What sort of longings does it satisfy?

Interested In Granting Hope in Your Community?

ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants Are Available To Congregations In This Synod!

 

The ELCA World Hunger-funded Domestic Hunger Grants support ministries that offer hope and assistance to many thousands of people who experience poverty and hunger in the United States. These grants do more than just give food to people who are hungry - in addition to immediate relief programs, ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grants fund projects in community development and community-based organizing and advocacy that strengthen the foundations of communities impacted by hunger and poverty.

 

The domestic hunger grants process follows this cycle:

 

Please note these are deadlines for 2016-2017 Grants.

 

May 1, 2015: Grant applications are available online, go to http://www.elca.org/domestichungergrants

 

July 10, 2015: Completed applications must be back in the ELCA Domestic Hunger office to be considered for funding.

 

The application is for a two-year funding period

  • Applicants will not be required to complete an application for 2017 funding considerations.
  • Second year funding will be contingent upon the completion of an Organizational Information Update and Evaluation form.
  • The Organizational Information Update and Evaluation form will become available November 01, 2016 for submission on or before December 16, 2016.
  • Applicants that received a Domestic Hunger Grant in 2014-2015 are ineligible for a 2016-2017 grant.

For more information contact: Ms. Johnnie Thompson at   [email protected] or go to the website. http://www.elca.org/domestichungergrants


Quick Links
We Are a Reconciling in Christ Synod
  
For more information click here

 

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We Remember in Prayer...
Pr. Tuhina Rasche (St. Paul's, Oakland) and her family, as they grieve the death of her father, Suban Verma. 

Pr. Rebekah Davis (St. Mark's, San Francisco) as she begins medical treatments.


Pr Jose Luis La Torre Cuadros and his family as they travel out of the country this week.

 

Karen Ilder, AIM, and her family as they begin their summer together.

 

Please hold the following Bishops and Synods in your prayers as they gather for their synod assemblies on the following dates:


Bishop Mark Narum, Western North Dakota Synod, 06/04/15 - 06/06/15

Bishop Roger Gustafson, Central States Synod, 06/04/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop S. John Roth, Central/Southern Illinois Synod, 06/04/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop Tracie Bartholomew, New Jersey Synod, 06/04/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop Michael Rhyne, Allegheny Synod, 06/04/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop Jessica Crist, Montana Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/07/15

 

Bishop William Gafkjen, Indiana-Kentucky Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/07/15

 

Bishop Suzanne Dillahunt, Southern Ohio Synod, 06/05/16 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop James Hazelwood, New England Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop James Dunlop, Lower Susquehanna Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/07/15

 

Bishop Ralph Dunkin, West Virginia-Western  Maryland Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/06/15

 

Bishop James Mauney, Virginia Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/07/15

 

Bishop H. Julian Gordy, Southeastern Synod, 06/05/15 - 06/07/15


 

 

Those who are affected by the ongoing drought, including those whose wells have now gone dry, ranch and farm workers, and farmers and ranchers. 

 

For all those who work with communities that continue to face challenges of poverty, race relations, unemployment and sub-standard housing who are left feeling powerless.  Pray we all find ways to address the root causes and help bring necessary changes to eliminate these challenges.

  

Congregations in Transition

Second Mile Giving

Second Mile Giving

June 2015
Upcoming Events
Check our Classifieds!

 Check the Classifieds section of the SPS website for congregational employment opportunities and donated items that your congregation may find useful.

Click here to view employment opportunities in our Synod

Synod Calendar

Events and Meetings

  
 
Synod Council Meeting
June 26-27
Sacramento, CA

September 13, 2015
God's Work. Our Hands.

October 9-11, 2015
SPS WELCA Retreat
Evergreen Conference Center
Oakhurst, CA

October 19-20, 2015
Rostered Professional Women's Retreat and Dean's Gathering

October 20-22, 2015
Professional Leaders Conference
Monterey, CA

Staff Listing
Mark W. Holmerud, Bishop
Nancy Feniuk Nelson, Bishop's Associate

Committed to being re-formed...
The Sierra Pacific Synod

PO BOX 276648, Sacramento, CA  95827-6628

 916-756-1665  �  800-275-3522  �  888-789-6434 (Fax)

Click here to visit our website www.spselca.org


                       
Office of the Bishop, Sacramento
Office of the Bishop, Bay Area

Office of the Bishop, Fresno
   Synod Resource Center
   9985 Folsom Blvd.
   500 Airport Blvd. Suite 442
   2311 E. Shaw Avenue
   Sacramento, CA 95827-1405
   Burlingame, CA 94010-1938
   Fresno, CA 93710-8204
   916-756-1665 (Direct)
   650-590-0980 (Direct)
   559-345-2725 (Direct)