Message from Bishop Gronberg
Introducing our 2023 NT-NL Synod Assembly keynote speakers, Deacon Jess and Pastor Joe Liles:
Synod Assembly March 1 Registration Deadline
Additional updates have been added to the event page for our 2023 Assembly: https://www.ntnl.org/event/2023-nt-nl-synod-assembly/
Early bird registration pricing closes TOMORROW, March 1, at 11:59pm Central. If you need to wait until tomorrow to register, we highly recommend registering as early in the day as possible so that if you need any support from synod staff with that process, there is time for us to respond.
Friendly reminder: Registration for Assembly and the hotel room block both close on April 16 (there will be no on-site registration)
Your Love Is On The Way To Turkey
From our partners at Lutheran World Relief (LWR):
Please extend our deep gratitude to your quilters and kit-makers. Because of their commitment to making quilts and kits year-round, Lutheran World Relief is sending these valuable resources and bringing hope to our neighbors who have lost everything.
We’ve created a special video that shows your congregations’ faith in action as our warehouse team prepares a shipment on February 16 of LWR Mission Quilts, Personal Care Kits, and Baby Kits to be delivered to Turkey:
FINANCIAL GIFTS
At this time, financial gifts are the number one need to assist our neighbors who are injured, hungry, and displaced from multiple earthquakes. Your congregations’ generosity will ensure that we are able to deliver quilts, kits, and urgently needed aid to hard-to-reach places as quickly as possible and expand our response into the future. Gifts can be made now at lwr.org/quake or a number of other ways: https://lwr.org/ways-to-give.
RESOURCES
Congregations may use our suite of resources:
+ NEW! Video and photos of quilts and kits being prepared to ship to Turkey
+ Bulletin insert
+ Worship announcement slide
+ Social media graphics
Your congregations’ quick and faithful response is reaching earthquake survivors and ensuring that Lutherans are at the front lines to share God’s love with our neighbors when they need it most. Thank you.
Featured Resources for February
March 5, 2023
Celebrate the bold women in your life. Bold Women’s Day–observed the first Sunday of March–celebrates all Lutheran women who have acted or are acting boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ. Some women are bold in their unceasing prayers. Other women are bold in their service to those in need. Still other women are bold in their advocacy or through their hospitality. Whether we live out our bold story of faith in the workplace, family, home, or community, our faith compels us to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s all about living out our baptismal call, about being a disciple of Christ. Resources can be found here: https://www.womenoftheelca.org/bold-womens-day
March 8, 2023
For International Women’s Day and beyond, let’s all fully #EmbraceEquity. Equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #EmbraceEquity. Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness about discrimination. Take action to drive gender parity. Resources can be found here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Save the Date
United Lutheran Seminary (ULS) Lazareth Lecture. March 20 at 7 pm via Livestream. Dr. Pamela Cooper-White, Dean of Union Theological Seminary discusses her new book The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide.
White Christian Nationalism is the dangerous belief that America is –and must remain – a Christian nation founded for its white Christian inhabitants, and that our laws and policies must reflect this premise. Such ideologies can lead to the erosion of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism and fascism. Rev. Dr. Pamela Cooper-White, author of The Psychology of Christian Nationalism offers keen insights into the nature of this movement and how critical-thinking Christians can provide a much-needed counter-narrative to this fear-based rhetoric.
The Rev. Pamela Cooper-White, Ph.D., is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion and for the past 3 years served as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, at Union Theological Seminary, New York. She also serves as Assisting Priest at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She earned her MDiv and a PhD in historical musicology from Harvard University, and a PhD in clinical social work at the Chicago Institute for Clinical Social Work. Prior to serving at Union Seminary, she was the Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and Co-Director of the Atlanta Theological Association’s ThD program in pastoral counseling; and from 1999-2008 she was associate and then full Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now ULS).
Livestreamed on the ULS YouTube channel. This event is FREE and open to the public.
Recent Blog Posts
Bishop Gronberg:
(https://www.ntnl.org/luther-springs-water-in-sierra-leone/ – published Feb. 23)
Where in the world is?
Across a context as wide and different as NT-NL, the reality of Covid-19 is very different. As such, NT-NL synod staff are doing more in-person Sunday visits for worship and occasional meetings. However, as good stewards of time and travel dollars, we will be utilizing online meeting formats into our new hybrid future. Given the rise of breakthrough infections and in order to protect those gathered, the synod staff will choose to wear masks as is deemed appropriate unless preaching or presiding and sufficient social distancing can be provided.
Bishop Gronberg:
Feb. 28-Mar. 3: Conference of Bishops
Mar. 11: Parish Lay Ministry Academy (PLMA)
Pastor Totzke:
Dec. 1-Feb. 28: On Sabbatical
Pastora Bañales:
(Awaiting calendar updates)
Upcoming Events
With the ever-changing guidelines and recommendations in our world right now, as we maintain physical distance in social solidarity, please keep in mind these events may be moved online, postponed, or cancelled:
- Mar. 1: Courageous Leadership – Coaching – Choose Your Own Adventure (breakout rooms by topic), Zoom
- Mar. 1: DEADLINE to register for Synod Assembly at Early Bird Pricing, Online
- Mar. 2: Transitional Pastors monthly meeting, Zoom
- Mar. 8: Courageous Leadership – Presenter(s) and Topic TBA, Zoom
- Mar. 11: Parish Lay Ministry Academy (PLMA), Spring 2023, Course 1, Hybrid
- Mar. 11: Public Witness Team meeting, Hybrid
- Mar. 15: Courageous Leadership – Tim Brown – Where Your Heart Is, Zoom
- Mar. 22: Courageous Leadership – Jeff Linman – Living and Leading with Resurrection Faith, Zoom
- Mar. 23: Cultivating Compassion Session 3: Practice – Disproportionality, Online
- Mar. 28: First Call Pastors Check-in, Online
- Mar. 29: Courageous Leadership – Bishop Mike Girlinghouse – Embracing God’s Future, Part 2, Zoom
Access our full online Calendar here. Updates made regularly.
Do you have news or announcements to share? Please submit to Jason (jason@ntnl.org) for consideration for upcoming editions of our weekly news.