Faith In Action Sunday

356 - The number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made and delivered to Our Daily Bread

27 - The number of Linus blankets made and delivered

50+ The number of cards made and delivered to nursing home residents

436 - The number of canned goods, dry goods, and jars collected for the Reisterstown Community Crisis Center

On Sunday, November 8th we held our second Faith In Action Sunday. Worship was held at 10am and, following worship, our service began. Over 50 volunteers participated! Thank you to all!

Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Teresa of Avila

Two Typhoons, Two Earthquakes

In the past two weeks, two typhoons and two earthquakes have struck the Phillipines, Samoan Islands and Indonesia. ELCA Disaster Response and Lutheran World Relief are working with other agencies to respond to the needs of the people in those regions. Visit their web sites to learn more about their roles and/or to contribute to the relief efforts.

International Day of Prayer for Peace

Today is the International Day of Prayer for Peace, begun by the World Council of Churches. There are many resources at the ELCA web site. There is a Prayer Vigil for Peace at Trinity tonight from 6-11pm in the sanctuary. Please join us.

More on the Churchwide Assembly

I decided to make two posts out of the email update I had received from the synod. Here is another article from Linda Lovell regarding what has happened at the assembly:

Major business accomplished and remaining

Three major pieces of business have taken place so far, and I urge you to read the news releases and other information available. Again, I'm just going to summarize for you here.

1. Assembly voting members passed overwhelmingly a $10 million fundraising campaign for HIV and AIDS. Did you know that, on average, in the United States another person is infected with HIV every nine-and-a-half minutes? Read more at www.elca.org/assembly.

2. The assembly also overwhelmingly endorsed the Lutheran Malaria Initiative, a joint effort with Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Lutheran World Relief and the United Nations Foundation. If you want to know how just $10 can make a world of difference, read the news release at www.elca.org/assembly.

3. Last night, in a vote that resulted in an exactly 2/3 - 1/3 split, the assembly approved what becomes the tenth ELCA social statement. "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust" needed a 2/3 vote to pass - which it did at 676 (66.67 percent) to 338 (33.33 percent). Read about that at www.elca.org/assembly too.

Two major items related to sexuality remain to be discussed. The Implementing Resolutions to the social statement will be discussed this afternoon. (These are the action items that enable the social statement to be implemented, things like encouraging Augsburg Fortress to develop related education curricula and asking the Office of the Presiding Bishop to identify and publicize available liturgical resources for use at the time of divorce.) You can read the Implementing Resolutions at the end of the social statement, which is available at www.elca.org/faithfuljourney

The second major item is the "Report and Recommendation on Ministry Policies," expected to be voted on Friday night. You can read the report and recommendations also at www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.

Two additional major items are the election of a vice president to serve a six-year term and consideration of the proposed full communion relationship with the United Methodist Church.

Another good place to check out what's happening is the Summary of Actions to be Considered. Look at www.elca.org/assembly.

Much Going On At Minneapolis & Churchwide Assembly

Today I received an email update from Linda Lovell, De-Md Synod's Coordinator of Communication. Here was the lead article from this update-which took my breath away when I read the headline:

Unexpected tornado hits Convention Center

Before anything else, let me say that all is well here at our end of the Minneapolis Convention Center after a freakish tornado hit nearby yesterday afternoon. Dr. Diane Jacobsen (who's going to be the keynote speaker at Partners in Faith, Partners in Vision in October, BTW) had just started her Bible study when word started spreading on Twitter and elsewhere that there were severe storm warnings. Shortly after that, a loudspeaker blared throughout the convention center, telling everyone to evacuate to the lowest level except for those in the area serving as the plenary hall. After Bishop Hanson warned everyone again not to leave the hall - either in pursuit of coffee or the effect coffee produces (I think that's how he phrased it) - Dr. Jacobsen proceeded without missing a beat.

Security apparently went through the rest of the building and sent everyone, even from the second floor, all the way down to the basement level. I say "apparently" because they also - apparently - forgot all of us in the e-mail center. So we hunkered down, about 40 of us, flailing away at assorted desktops and laptops, again, never missing a beat. I was quite surprised that the power didn't go off, but it hung in there with us.

About 3:15 p.m. (Central time), Twitter started reporting damage to Central Lutheran Church, right across the street, where lots of assembly-related activities are going on. There were about 75 people in the building, but no one was hurt. A copper steeple was curled into what looks to me to be a kind of shepherd's crook, and a large tent was blown away. I was pretty much speechless to learn eventually that part of the roof at the other end of the Convention Center had been seriously damaged, and some other communicators in the Green Room at breakfast this morning reported seeing rain coming through a hallway ceiling on the second floor.

The most important consideration in all of this was that there were no physical injuries within the Convention Center or the church, and physical injuries elsewhere in Minneapolis were minor, according to last night's local news. There were no fatalities, thanks be to God. There was a tremendous amount of damage to homes in several areas, however.

To see a photo gallery of the damage, visit the Minneapolis daily newspaper, startribune.com.

For a picture of the tornado touching down next to the Convention Center, go to http://twitpic.com/eie0k.

Thank goodness everyone is safe.

If you want to get these email updates from the synod, email me at cindyranker@trinityreisterstown.org and I will put you on the mailing list.

Lutheran World Relief Annual Report

The Lutheran World Relief 2008 annual report can be downloaded here.

2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly Begins Today

The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly begins tonight at 7pm at the Minneapolis Convention Center and continues until the 23rd. Several important issues are being considered including full communion with the United Methodist Church, the social statement on human sexuality, and the Lutheran malaria initiative. To read more about it and to watch live video from the proceedings, visit the web site.