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A Birthday Wish
Wind, fire and a group of fearful friends. And then suddenly the Spirit descends and all is utterly, eternally, irrevocably changed. The once fearful disciples cringe no longer. Wishful thinking and timid whispers yield to a bold proclamation of passion and resurrection. Jesus’ disciples are quite literally given a "second...Read More -
A Message from Bishop Pryse to Our Eastern Synod Pastors and Deacons
This Easter Triduum will be unlike any we have experienced. Three short weeks ago, most of us expected we would be back in our churches by now, basking in the familiar patterns of rite and ritual, grateful to have concluded these enforced days of separation. Now we wonder about Pentecost...Read More -
Classics or Jazz?
In his book Free At Last?: The Gospel in the African-American Experience, Carl Ellis talks about theology through musical metaphors. He writes, “Like classical music, the classical approach to theology comprises the formal methods of arranging what we know about God and his world into a reasoned, cogent and consistent system....Read More -
A Season of Prayer
This past fall, our church began a four year deep dive into some of our primary Christian faith practices. Our National Bishop invited us to join her in a new four-year emphasis on Living our Faith, as together we pray, read, worship and love. From September 2019 until September 2020,...Read More -
Black History Month
At our 2018 Synod Assembly delegates engaged in some challenging conversations and exercises that identified how racialized differences, and the lack thereof, impacts the life of our church and its congregations. It accentuated the need for a better understanding of who we are as a predominantly white church and how...Read More -
Hope’s Lovely Sisters
I love Christmas. I’m no Scrooge. But year by year I have become more distressed, if not depressed, by the consumerist bacchanalia which dominates our North American commemoration of Jesus’ birth. Although we might try to deny it, most of us are quite aware of where we sit in humanity’s...Read More -
A Distressing Fact
Here’s a distressing fact. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the whitest denomination in the United States. The 2014 Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study found that 96% of the denomination’s members were white, 2% black and 2% mixed race or Latino. We don’t have similar demographic data for...Read More -
Transitions
The coming of autumn makes me think of transitions. And those who know me best know that I don’t particularly like them. When the kids were younger, I dreaded the approach of Labour Day and “back to school.” I liked the gentler routines of summer, the comfortable rhythms of just...Read More -
From Generation to Generation
I have a pretty unique perspective on the life of our church. In my work I interact with an amazingly wide variety of congregations and rostered leaders. I visit your churches. I worship with you. I share food and drink with you. I counsel with you. I celebrate your joys...Read More -
On Thoughts and Prayers
It’s a phrase we hear, read and perhaps say quite often. In moments of catastrophe and loss; in times of crisis or disaster, the flow of “thoughts and prayers” through my twitter feed can become a torrent. And in its wake there is often a subsequent torrent telling us in...Read More
Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Member church of the Lutheran World Federation