Message from Bishop Gronberg

Dear Partners in Mission:

With temperatures well above 90 degrees fall seems to be stubborn in arriving. Yet on September 22nd fall will come and across NT-NL we are experiencing many of the rhythms of fall in our communities and congregations. Education programming, youth activities, renewed music, all done in the new reality of our pandemic experience, are occurring.

In the next weeks I am looking forward to celebrating 75 years of ministry at Beautiful Savior, Amarillo, and Calvary, San Angelo. Anniversaries, as with the change in seasons, give us an opportunity to take some inventory and make future plans. To assess where we have been and vision about where we are going. We do that also often in the fall as congregations engage in stewardship emphases. Both an opportunity for financial commitment but also to ask for pledges of time and talent to serve in the coming year.

In my family’s congregation I have been serving as a member of the nominating team in preparation to elect new council leaders this weekend. This is as law and gospel an activity as any in church life. Asking people to commit time and energy can be a dreaded task that brings with it a real possibility of rejection. That is the reality of the law and something I know all too well. However, it also can be a joyful time of working with others to brainstorm about individuals in our communities and what gifts they might have. To hear a yes when a member of the community is invited, sometimes surprised to be invited, to give the gifts God has given them in service to their congregation. That is the gospel at work. An abundant yes in response to a faithful and prayerful request.

We are in a season when the world around us is constantly telling us there isn’t enough. A world of law that tells us our response to inflation, division, and scarcity (all of which are real) should be like the rich man in our gospel for this coming Sunday. To take care of our own, hoard what is “ours,” all while Lazarus lies at the gate.

In this season I pray our communities can be places where we reject that notion and recognize the gospel of God’s surprising abundance. To be generous with all that God has given us and respond to calls to serve and give. That we will see the needs in our midst, the people at our gates, and heed Moses and the prophets because we know Jesus has risen from the dead. And that is enough.

In Mission Together,

Bishop Gronberg

PS: If you wish to give to hurricane disaster response, please do so either with Lutheran Disaster Response or with our synod disaster response fund. As Bishop Idalia Negron of the Carribean Synod shares needs, we will respond to the requests.

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Men’s Ministry Survey

Our synod, in cooperation with Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), is exploring the status of men’s ministry within/among our congregations. Your congregation’s response would be very helpful to us…and possibly to the men in your congregation! Thank you in advance for your moments spent with this brief survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfczTJtWXSRXnMtcmw6qI5IoCWWhEfClzvS-Ww70H5_9sMrjg/viewform

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TEDCourses: How to Connect in a Divided World

Online, we’re often told to “ignore the trolls.” But what if you refused to consider them trolls in the first place? Dylan Marron has had scores of one-on-one conversations with combative critics, and he’s learned a thing or two about how to connect with others across seemingly insurmountable divides. In this four-week course starting September 26 (additional start dates available), you’ll discover how to create the conditions for successful conversations online and offline, humanizing your “haters” and understanding them in different and sometimes surprising ways.

Dylan Marron moved from Venezuela to the United States when he was five years old. Since he was young he’s loved watching movies, but growing up as a “brown kid in America” he didn’t see himself and his experiences represented in film. At age 27, he created the critically acclaimed Every Single Word, a video series that edits down popular films to feature just the words spoken by people of color (spoiler alert: often, there aren’t many).

More recently, Dylan has been the host and creator of the podcast Conversations with People Who Hate Me, a social experiment connecting strangers who have exchanged negative or hateful messages on the internet. His book, also titled Conversations with People Who Hate Me, is published by Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster. He described his podcast work in his 2018 TED Talk Empathy is not endorsement, which has been viewed more than 4 million times.

For full details and to register for this course: https://courses.ted.com/product/how-to-connect-in-a-divided-world

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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:

Sep. 24-25: 75th Anniversary festivities, Beautiful Savior, Amarillo
Sep. 28-Oct. 1: Conference of Bishops
Oct. 1: MEF Seeds That Change, Fort Worth and Dallas
Oct. 2: King of Glory, Dallas
Oct. 6: Lutheran Men in Mission annual board meeting, Online
Oct. 16: 75th Anniversary festivities, Calvary, San Angelo
Oct. 22: Memorial service for Dr. Peter Hendrickson, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 5: Memorial service for former Bishop Phil Wahlburg, Gethsemane, Austin
Nov. 13: Abiding Grace, Southlake

Pastor Totzke:

Sep. 26-28: First Call Pastors Retreat, Lutherhill, LaGrange
Oct. 1: Conference Out West meeting, Grace, Abilene
Oct. 9: Worship and call committee orientation, Christ the Servant, Allen
Oct. 22-23: Shreveport ministry conversation, Holy Trinity

Pastora Bañales:

Sep. 20: Ecumenical Group meeting, then Conferencia Latina meeting, Adviento, Arlington
Sep. 21-24: ELCA Mission Developers training (English and Spanish)
Sep. 25-28: Stewardship Kaleidoscope Conference, Savannah, GA
Sep. 29: NT-NL Renewal Team meeting