is the first to win approval from the U.S. Army to continue on active duty while maintaining his religiously mandated beard and turban. The Army issued a decision March 31, concluding that to allow beards for medical reasons but ban them for religious reasons is a discriminatory bar to service for Sikh Americans, according to a law office that argued the case. Singh, a West Point graduate and Army Ranger who earned a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, said, “My faith, like many of the soldiers I work with, is an integral part of who I am. I am thankful that I no longer have to make the choice between faith and service to our nation.”
For more news, see
livinglutheran.org.
Megachurch reopens
In its April issue, Living Lutheran reported that North Heights Lutheran, Arden Hills, Minn., once among the nation’s largest ELCA congregations, was shutting down. On April 6, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the closing was short- lived and that services would resume April 10.
A longtime parishioner said new leadership at North Heights announced via email that services would resume and that its Roseville location, closed last summer, would also reopen. The email, reported the Star Tribune, said “the church board has stepped aside and has been replaced by a council of elders.”
In a March interview, Mindy Bak, former pastor of North Heights, said prior to the church’s closing it had been in a “downward death spiral” for more than a decade.
When North Heights had its final service in March, some 900 people came to witness the closing of a church with a 69-year history that at one time had more than 7,500 members.
Official notice
Pursuant to constitutional provision 12.31. and bylaw 12.31.02. in the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will convene in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, 900 Convention Center Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday, August 8, 2016, at 3:00 p.m. with the opening service of worship in the Great Hall and will adjourn at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 13, 2016.
The first plenary session will begin on Monday, August 8, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. All plenary sessions will be held in Hall C.
The following college corporations also will meet during plenary session five on Wednesday, August 10, 2016: Luther College (Decorah, Iowa); St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota); and Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa).
The Rev. Wm Chris Boerger, ELCA secretary
10 MAY 2016
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