Social Media team member Pastor Lauren Muratore has your daily digest here.
- Our Noisy Change offering for ELCA World Hunger raised $22,000.
- Forward in Faith has already raised 1.6 of its 2.4 million dollar goal. (For more information on Forward and Faith, and to give, visit the website)
- We heard about the new venture between Gettysburg and Philadelphia seminaries, and increased support for seminarians, thanks to the Forward in Faith campaign.
- The assembly adopted the 2017 Faith Spending Plan as presented.
- The assembly unanimously voted to donate $10,000 in matching funds to Mar-Lu-Ridge.
- We recognized milestone congregational anniversaries, from 50 to 225 years, celebrating 1,075 total years of being church together.
- We recognized milestone ordination and consecration anniversaries, from 5 to 60 years, totaling an incredible 1,785 years of service.
- We received the report from ELCA churchwide representative, Secretary Chris Boerger, about the myriad things we do together in mission as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This includes advocating for voting rights, addressing human rights abuses, actively working towards a world in which all people are fed and have access to clean water, where woman and girls can live in safety and with equal access to resources, and where every congregation is actively in renewal – asking themselves each day how they might share the good news of Jesus in their neighborhoods. For more information on the work of the churchwide expression of the ELCA, visit the ELCA website).
On the final day of the assembly we worshipped together. This service included the rite of ordination for Bernard Anthony Barber and Matthew Beers, as well as the reception of the Rev. Christopher Otten to the roster. Bishop Wolfgang Herz-Lane brought the word for the assembly, reminding us that “the very breath of God enters our lives everyday, bringing new beginnings where we may only see endings.” That’s the kind of Spirit-filled wisdom we’ve come to expect from our bishop over the past six years. His is the prophetic, forward-looking, and mission-minded voice the Spirit has given us for a season of moving forward in faith.
In that same Spirit, with thanksgiving for Bishop Herz-Lane’s ministry and that of the synod staff, the assembly called (elected) the Rev. Bill Gohl to be our bishop in the six years ahead. The closeness of the vote belied a perfectly Lutheran moment - one of those “both-and” sort of things. After yesterday’s vote, deep appreciation was expressed for two faithful servants; one who has been called to shepherd the synod and one who will take up that calling. There was fervent acclamation for Bishop-elect Gohl, as well as a standing ovation for Bishop Herz-Lane and his staff.
And now it’s another day in the church and in the world. Just a normal Sunday. But like Bishop Herz-Lane preached, “the very breath of God enters our lives everyday, bringing new beginnings.” We here in the Delaware-Maryland Synod are ready for whatever God is up to next, as we gratefully, humbly, joyfully move forward in faith.
Look! I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up.
Do you see it?
|Isaiah 43:19
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Note:
Due to the election process, the assembly was left with unfinished business. This includes the African Descent Lutheran Lives Matter memorial, as well as four resolutions: Bridging the Racial Divide and Encouraging Racial Reconciliation in the Delaware-Maryland Synod; U.S. Aid to the State of Israel as a Tool For Peace; a resolution to support of the unification of Gettysburg and Philadelphia seminaries; and a resolution to move synod assembly to a new location. Synod Council will take these up, in accordance with the constitution.