News Shootings decried
“It has been a long season of disquiet in our country,” said ELCA Presid- ing Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton in response to the June 17 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episco- pal Church, Charleston, S.C. “From Ferguson to Baltimore, simmering racial tensions have boiled over into violence. But this … the fatal shoot- ing of nine African-Americans in a church is a stark, raw manifesta- tion of the sin that is racism,” she said. Calling on ELCA members to “examine ourselves, our church and our communities,” Eaton said, “We need to be honest about the reality of racism within us and around us. We need to talk and we need to listen, but we also need to act.” Two of the vic- tims—Clementa Pinckney and Dan- iel Simmons—were graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Sem- inary in Columbia, S.C. The alleged shooter was a member of an ELCA congregation.
Advancing rights
The Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, Islamic Relief Worldwide and the World YWCA issued a joint state- ment for advancing women’s rights and denouncing gender-based vio- lence during the 29th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in June. “Although we come from different religious traditions, we share a com- mon vision to protect the dignity and rights of women and girls,” the state- ment reads. It goes on to urge the council to consider faith-based orga- nizations as partners in addressing gender-based violence and advocat- ing for women’s rights.
8
www.thelutheran.org
Mikka McCracken (left) of the ELCA and Titi Malik of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, at the Lutheran World Federation Council meeting in Geneva.
LWF acts on communion and climate justice
T
he Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council met June 18-22 in Geneva under the theme
“Hope does not disappoint.” General Secretary Martin Junge
introduced “The Self-Understand- ing of the Lutheran Communion,” a study document created to help member churches discern how to handle differences while upholding their commitment to unity. The council made plans to enable
member churches like the ELCA to study the resource in preparation for the LWF Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia, in 2017, which is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In other action, the council dem-
Delegation to Mexico
An ELCA delegation traveled June 9-14 to Tapachula and Mexico City in Mexico to meet with migrant families and others to learn more about the root causes of migra- tion. They heard accounts from staff of Casa de Migrante (House of Migrants) in Tecún Umán, Guate- mala, the final stop for thousands of people before crossing into southern Mexico. The staff is “deeply con- cerned by the firsthand accounts of human trafficking that they hear with increasing frequency,” said Ste- phen Deal, ELCA regional repre- sentative for Central America. (For more see
www.elca.org/news.)
onstrated its commitment to climate justice. Voting to divest from fos- sil fuels, the council called on LWF member churches “not to invest in fossil fuels and to support energy effi- ciency and renewable energy compa- nies and to encourage their institu- tions and individual members to do likewise.” “As a Lutheran communion, we
understand climate change as an issue of justice, peace, care for cre- ation and protection for all peoples everywhere. We raise a special con- cern for the most vulnerable, in particular the poor, the indigenous people and the voiceless,” the council added.
LDR responds
As severe weather events continue throughout the U.S., Lutherans are responding with gifts and prayers. At presstime, Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) had dispersed more than $873,590 this year to its part- ners for storm-related relief efforts in six states. “Although this is only the first half of 2015, this is already the same number of states [with severe weather] that we assisted in 2014,” said Michael Stadie, LDR program director. “Most of the severe weather- related disasters we have responded to this year have been flooding.” For more information, see www.elca. org/disaster.
LWF/S. GALLAY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52