A man in flip-flops, dirty jeans and a worn T-shirt sat on a rickety chair in a migrant safe house in southern Mexico. His two teenagers stood beside him. Holding his head in his hands, he said, “I’m just so thankful my daughter wasn’t raped in front of me.” The day before Mexican bandits assaulted […]
Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has issued a pastoral message in response to a U.S. district judge ruling to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on July 19. “Jesus taught us that when we welcome the stranger as a person made in God’s image, we also welcome God,” the […]
In June 2018, Miriam Vargas faced an almost unimaginable fate. A native of Honduras living in Columbus, Ohio, she received a deportation order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), meaning she would be forced to leave her daughters—ages 3 and 9 at the time, and both U.S. citizens—and return to her home country. Vargas came […]
A lot has changed in the decade-plus since I co-wrote They Are Us: Lutherans and Immigration (Augsburg Fortress, 2009) with Ralston Deffenbaugh. In the book, we attempted to build a biblical case for embracing immigrants and refugees, tell the history of immigration in the United States and the Lutheran church, highlight policy issues and share […]
The ELCA churchwide organization, as part of an interfaith coalition, called this April for lawmakers addressing climate change to include in their efforts faith communities and frontline communities facing climate-induced challenges. “Climate change impacts all,” said Ruth Ivory-Moore, ELCA program director for environmental and corporate social responsibility. “Knowing that climate change impacts marginalized and vulnerable people […]
They fled Africa after witnessing unthinkable violence in Somalia, Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo. They escaped Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, knowing that to stay—or return—would be a death sentence. They ended up as refugees seeking asylum in the small town of Okemos, Mich. Now these youth have found a home thanks to […]
On Feb. 1, the ELCA churchwide organization implemented Future Church, a new working structure focused on motivating the entire church to actively share the way of Jesus with more people so that they might experience community, justice and love. The design emphasizes the belief that members, congregations, synods, the churchwide organization and its partner organizations […]
Every day, Living Lutheran offers a prayer from the ELCA resource Prayer ventures, which can be downloaded here. These daily petitions are offered as a guide for your own prayer life as together we pray for the needs of the world and give thanks for the ministries of our church. Wednesday, March 3 The Spanish word […]
The room was spare and dimly lit. We sat on folding chairs in a circle—young Honduran women and some of us from the ELCA. We had come to Honduras to observe the work of AMMPARO (Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities). This is the ELCA’s strategy to help youth who have been […]
La habitación era sencilla y tenía poca iluminación. Nos sentamos en círculo en sillas plegables —unas jóvenes hondureñas y algunos de nosotros de la ELCA. Habíamos ido a Honduras para observar el trabajo de AMMPARO (Acompañamiento de Menores Migrantes con Protección, Incidencia, Representación y Oportunidades). Esta es la estrategia de la ELCA para ayudar a […]
