* Bishop Candea's Holy Week Message
* Renewal of Ordination Services
* Eastern Missouri Easter Vigil
* Endowment Committee
* Remembering our Companion Synods
* Earth Day Celebrations
* Ministry Enrichment
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* Arab Heritage Month
* PMA Conference:
The Finer Points of Worship
* The Church Council as Engine of Vitality
* Hunger Grants
* Religion Speaks, An Educational Event
* An Evening of Poetry
with Christopher Kempf
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Traveling the way of Jesus. . .
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“If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
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The Central States Synod joined with the Episcopal Dioceses of Missouri and Kansas bringing over 100 Lutheran and Episcopal clergy together for a special celebration of Holy Eucharist and a renewal of Baptismal and Ordination Vows. Priests, Deacons and lay leaders gathered at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in West St. Louis County, MO, St. John's Lutheran Church in Salina, KS, and Grace Cathedral in Topeka, KS.
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Despite the busy time of Holy Week, the Bishops wanted those gathered to take pause and ground themselves in Christ's death and resurrection in order to live out their callings as ministers in the church.
“To do this on this week, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Or does it?” asked Bishop Candea in her sermon. “Is this perhaps the perfect week to do this? Because we have a God who makes all things holy and calls us to holy work. What better week to affirm that than Holy Week?”
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Prayers
9
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
Loving God,
We celebrate with the people of your church as
Rev. Kristin Ross
celebrates twenty years of faithful ministry. Continue to g
uide and
empower her as she shepherds your people in the truth of Your Word.
We thank you for your comfort given to the family of
Rev. Elwin Bergstrasser
and all those that gather for a memorial service at 2:00 p.m. April 23rd at Bethany Lutheran, Lindsborg, KS. We lift up and celebrate his life and ministry.
Merciful God, you grieve amid the pain, fear, and suffering of your children. Look with compassion on all who endure the miseries of the war in Ukraine and those touched by the frightening events in New York City. Hear the cry of the distressed and grant speedy deliverance in a new day of peace and concord.
We turn our eyes to your mercy in this time of confusion and fear. Let the design of your great love give peace to your church, peace among nations, peace in our homes, and peace in our hearts; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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The Eastern Missouri Conference is hosting an area wide Easter vigil. This night we move from the darkness of Good Friday to the light of Easter.
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April 16th, 7:30 p.m.
Resurrection Lutheran Church
4112 W Florissant Ave
St. Louis, MO
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Our worship has four parts: the services of Light, Readings, Baptism, and Communion.
A reception with pie and bubbly drinks will follow.
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Endowment Committee Meets April 21, 2022
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The Endowment Committee of the Central States Synod will be meeting on April 21 to consider grant requests.
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Complete information about the Endowment Fund along with application forms can be found at
www.css-elca.org/mission-endowment-fund
. Grant requests can be made using the forms be received by
April 18
.
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Remembering Our Companion Synods
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The 2021 Central States Synod Assembly adopted
Resolution SA 21.01 "A Season of Global Awareness"
. This resolution designates
Sunday, April 24th, 2022
as a Sunday of solidarity with, and prayer for our Companion District, the Kote District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea (ELCPNG). We chose this Sunday because the Gospel lesson tells of the risen Christ revealing himself to the disciples and especially to “doubting Thomas.” This same risen Christ has continued to reveal himself to the people in “Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b)
We invite you to use this
bulletin insert on April 24th, 2022
,
and consider having a special offering or making a special contribution to the Companion Synod Ministry. There is new leadership in the Kote District and we are seeking contributions to assist a delegation to travel to Papua New Guinea to meet the new district president, renew relationships and see what more we can do together.
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CSS Lutherans Restoring Creation Mission Table
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Earth Day Sunday Celebration Opportunities
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The Central States Synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Mission Table offers the following opportunities for your congregation to observe Earth Day Sunday on April 24, 2022.
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An Act of Solidarity -All Synods – All Congregations
The NY Metro synod asks all synods and all synod congregations to join us nationally on Earth Sunday, April 24th in a joint action of solidarity to raise up the importance of Creation Care and promote the Earth Charter (earthcharter.org).
https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/act-of-solidarity-in-support-of-the-earth-charter/
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Lutherans Restoring Creation Worship Service
We welcome you to listen to the wisdom, song, and stories from our fellow Created and throughout Creation in our upcoming online worship service for Earth Day.
https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/register-for-the-2022-earth-day-worship/
It will be available to all via our
YouTube channel
and
Facebook live
starting Friday April 22, 2022.
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GREEN Creation Care SURVEY
The CSS Lutherans Restoring Creation Mission Table wants to hear from YOU – that is, every congregation and ministry site in the Synod!
In preparation for our 2022 Synod Assembly, the LRC Mission Table is compiling information about the Creation Care activities of all our congregations and ministry sites. You may be doing lots of things or maybe you’re wondering how to get started. We want to support you and help you in any way!
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Beginning in March, the Central States Synod will be offering a new series:
M
inistry Enrichment
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
4th Thursday of each month
Topics will vary from month to month. Some sessions will appeal more to clergy, while others may be of interest to your church's lay leadership. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to share this resource with those that may be interested.
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When you register, you will receive an email confirmation with details about how to access the meeting. We hope to see you there!
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April is Arab American Heritage Month!
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The Association of Lutheran of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH) is hosting an online celebration on
Thursday, April 28,
6 p.m. CDT.
The event will feature speakers Samer Khalaf, national president of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and Jonathan Kuttab, executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America. Join us to discuss of Arab American heritage in the United States, advocacy, justice, combating discrimination and more.
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2022 Central States Synod PMA Conference
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THE FINER POINTS OF WORSHIP
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Lots of people have lots of questions about worship:
"Why do we do what we do?"
"What makes for a 'good' worship service?"
"What makes for a 'good' worship leader?"
All those questions have their roots in a single larger question:
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What's the Point of Lutheran Worship?
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Friday evening we'll explore that question in such a way that our understanding of what happens in worship is broken open, leading us to see what we're doing through new and clearer eyes.
Saturday, over the course of three sessions, the members of our synod PMA Team will lead seminars addressing some of the practical matters of worship planning in the congregational context:
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Planning and implementing special or occasional services such as funerals, weddings, and blessings.
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Effective use of the worship resources at our disposal, and some of the great worship helps available for congregational use.
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Implementing meaningful worship planning in the life of a congregation, including when resources are limited.
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This conference is for all who are currently serving as Parish Ministry Associates, students enrolled in the Parish Ministry Education Program and lay leaders who are interested in the program or learning more about how to be better-equipped stewards and servants of God’s mission in their own communities.
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When
April 29 - 30, 2022
Friday 3:00 p.m. - Saturday 12:00 p.m.
Where
Overland Park Lutheran Church
7810 W 79th St, Overland Park, KS 66204
Participants are encouraged to bring in-kind canned or non-perishable goods for their food pantry.
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The PMA Conference registration fee of $40 includes the Conference and Friday's dinner. Registration deadline is April 25, 2022.
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The Church Council as Engine of Vitality:
A Zoom Gathering for Central States Synod lay and rostered persons.
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Saturday, May 14, 9am to 12:30pm on Zoom
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“The Congregation Council shall have general oversight of the life and activities of this congregation, and in particular its worship life, to the end that everything be done in accordance with the Word of God and the faith and practice of the ELCA.”
--ELCA Model Constitution, C12.04
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Is your Congregation Council providing oversight of the life and activities of the congregation, and leading a vital engagement with your context? Or are you spending most of your meeting time hearing reports and talking about money and property? While those concerns are important—stewardship of the church’s resources is an important role for church leaders—the leadership potential of our council members is often largely untapped, lost in the day-to-day concerns of managing a church in the twenty-first century.
The 2022 Central States Synod
Congregational Vitality Gathering: The Church Council as Engine of Vitality
will be an opportunity to learn how to build a church council full of people who are excited about their call to the ministry of lay leadership in the church. Among the topics of the panel keynote and workshops are:
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Click
here
or use the QR code to register for this event. We will send the Zoom login the week of the Vitality Gathering.
Questions? Contact Director for Evangelical Mission Donna Simon,
dsimon@css-elca.org
, 816-419-5575.
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* Understanding your purpose as a congregation
* The council meeting as faith practice
* Creating a culture of abundance
* Building a Team of Leaders
* The Consent Agenda
* Budget Alternatives
* The Consensus Organization
* Covenanting Together
* The Constitution Is More Than a Bunch of Rules
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Hunger Education & Networking Grants
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The 2022 ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking Grant application cycle is now open!
ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking Grants are designed for projects that provide educational opportunities to deepen participants’ understanding of poverty and hunger (including root causes and intersectional issues) and equip participants to work toward effective solutions.
Applicants must pre-register on ELCA GrantMaker in order to access the grant application. Approval of registration may take up to ten business days, so register now at
ELCA.org/grants
, and submit your application by
May 31, 2022
.
If you have any questions, please email Ryan Cumming, program director for hunger education, at
Ryan.Cumming@elca.org
.
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Daily Bread Matching Grants
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ELCA World Hunger Daily Bread Matching Grants support congregations and their partners as they work toward a just world where all are fed. ELCA congregations with feeding ministries are eligible to participate, regardless of whether or not they have received a Daily Bread Matching Grant in the past.
These grants provide daily bread for neighbors experiencing hunger while also serving as a tool for ministry fundraising and capacity building. ELCA World Hunger Daily Bread Matching Grants will be made available to congregation on a first-come, first-served basis.
Registration and applications for the 2023 Daily Bread Matching Grant will open
April 25, 2022
. Visit
ELCA.org/dailybread
to learn more and stay up to date!
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An Evening Of Poetry
With Christopher Kempf
LST invites you to a poetry reading and discussion as part of our 2022 focus on Making Meaning. We are honored to welcome Dr. Christopher Kempf to lead us on Monday, May 2 at 7:00 pm CDT via Zoom.
In his new poetry collection, What Though the Field Be Lost (LSU, 2021), Christopher Kempf uses the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he lived for two years, as a way to engage ongoing conversations involving race, regional identity, and ethics of memory in the United States. While sharing poems from the collection, Kempf will also discuss the ambitions of the book in contemporary social and artistic contexts, at the same time reflecting on his own experience living in Gettysburg during recent social strife. Kempf will also field questions from the audience. Shuttling between past and present, the personal and the public, Kempf examines in this book the many pasts that inhere, now and forever, in the places we occupy.
In addition to
What Though the Field Be Lost
, Kempf is the author of the poetry collection
Late in the Empire of Men
(Four Way, 2017) and the scholarly book Craft Class:
The Writing Workshop in American Culture
(Johns Hopkins, 2022). Recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, Kempf received his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Chicago and currently teaches in the MFA program at the University of Illinois.
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Dr. Christopher Kempf
Monday 5/2: 7:00pm
Online Via Zoom
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Registration: $25.
Included with your registration is a copy of
What Though the Field Be Lost
, to be shipped to you within two weeks of the event.
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Upcoming Staff Travel and Events:
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April 15
April 21
April 22
April 23
April 24
April 29
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Good Friday, Synod Office Closed
Mission Endowment Committee
Candidacy Committee
Bethany, Lindsborg, KS
First Lutheran, Mission Hills, KS
PMA Conference, Overland Park, KS
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April 15
April 20
April 24
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Good Friday, Synod Office Closed
St. James, Kansas City, MO
St. Paul/St. Matthew, Nevada/Butler, MO
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