Feb. 29, 2016
Ulysses Burley recognized for ELCA work in minority health care
Dr. Ulysses Burley, program associate for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) strategy on HIV and AIDS, has been selected as one of the National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health. This is the first year the award is being presented.
The National Minority Quality Forum aims to eliminate disparities in health care in minority communities. The forum provides assistance to health care providers, administrators, policy makers and community and faith-based organizations in delivering appropriate health care to minority communities.
“This is special for me considering my difficult and prayerful decision to depart from clinical medicine fulltime and reimagine public health in this faith-based context of a more holistic approach that focuses on spirituality, relationships, community and the social determinants of health in my work with the ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS,” said Burley. “This award is a victory for the tireless and sometimes unseen work for health equity that happens outside of hospitals and laboratories, and inside the homes, churches, and communities of those in greatest need.”
Burley and other award recipients will be recognized at the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust’s awards dinner in Washington, D.C., in April, which is National Minority Health Month.
Burley is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Although his primary training is in scientific research and clinical medicine, Burley has dedicated much of his time to social justice advocacy through the church and community. His primary work with faith groups has been in the area of HIV and AIDS awareness, but it also includes mass incarceration, gender and racial justice, food security, and peace in the Middle East.
“The ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS is a strategy that focuses on and is committed to key populations of greatest impact which overwhelmingly include people of color,” said Burley. “Despite the fact that the ELCA is an overwhelmingly white church, it recognized the need for cultural competency in the work of HIV and AIDS and made way for me, a young male of African descent, to move this ministry forward, and now that work has been recognized as some of the most important work being done in this country around improving the health of minority communities.”
Feb. 17, 2016
ELCA supports Churches Uniting in Christ
In support of Churches Uniting in Christ and the group’s work in addressing racial justice, a delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) attended the communion’s January plenary meeting in St. Louis. Comprised of 10 Christian churches, Churches Uniting in Christ is committed to expressing unity and combating racism. The ELCA is the group’s partner in mission and dialogue. The event, held primarily at St. Peter African Methodist Episcopal Church, focused on issues surrounding race and reconciliation.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, who joined the ELCA delegation to St. Louis, recalled that 50 years ago the group, known at the time as Consultation on Christian Unity, “had as a goal the recognition of each other’s ministry by the members’ churches. That was achieved at the meeting in St. Louis and is a significant step in the ecumenical journey,” said Eaton. “But for me, it was equally significant that Churches Uniting in Christ recommitted itself to work for racial reconciliation believing that the church has a word to speak to the culture.”
“As a partner in mission and dialogue, the ELCA has valued the exchange of gifts we have experienced with Churches Uniting in Christ,” said Kathryn Johnson, director, ELCA ecumenical and inter-religious relations. “At this meeting, we were grateful for the opportunity to join in the opening worship, where the gospel was preached in stirring and challenging ways, and a wide range of church traditions came together to be fed at Christ’s table.”
Member churches are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the Moravian Church (Northern Province), the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.
“Gathering at a warmly hospitable AME (African Methodist Episcopal) congregation in St. Louis, we were able to have important conversations about the work of anti-racism to which we are called, as well as about mutual recognition of ministry and other matters,” said Johnson.
Lutherans continue effort to end discrimination
Posted on January 6, 2016 by ELCA News
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will continue her call to address the complexity and implications of racism in “Confronting Racism: A Holy Yearning” – a live webcast Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. CST, available at www.ELCA.org/webcast.
This is Eaton’s second live webcast on racism. Among other topics, the January webcast will raise the question of the racial disparity in the U.S. criminal justice system, emphasizing the ELCA’s commitment to pray for the incarcerated, their families and communities, and those wrongly convicted, as well as to pray for law enforcers and those who work in the system. [To read more, click on the link above]
Dec. 3, 2015
Memorial service to honor victims of Charleston shootings
A memorial service will be held Dec. 5 at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) in Columbia, S.C., in honor of the nine victims of the June 17 shootings at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Two of the victims – the Rev. Clementa Pinckney and the Rev. Daniel Simmons – were graduates of the seminary, an institution of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C. LTSS is one of eight ELCA seminaries; Lenoir-Rhyne is one of 26 ELCA colleges and universities.
“As our seminary community continues to mourn the loss of the nine in Charleston, including two beloved alumni, and as the world seems to keep spinning out of control, we are drawn to gather in worship and prayer, asking God for an end to senseless violence and for peace in our community, state and nation,” said the Rev. Clay Schmit, provost of LTSS. “We pray that this service of commemoration will bind wounds and bring reconciliation for our shattered communities.”
Pinckney, who served as pastor of Mother Emanuel, also served in state government. In 1996, at the age of 23, he was the youngest member elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. Four years later he was elected to the South Carolina Senate. Simmons served on the ministerial staff at Mother Emanuel.
Speakers at the service will include the Rev. Timothy Bupp, pastor of Reformation Lutheran Church in Columbia; the Rev. Leroy Cannon, pastor of Christ Mission in Columbia; and the Rev. Jackie Utley, pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church in Columbia.
The service will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the seminary’s Christ Chapel.
Nov. 12, 2015
ELCA dedicated day of service for 2016 to be held Sept. 11
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) dedicated day of service – known as “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday – will take place Sept. 11, 2016. The day offers an opportunity for the 3.7 million-member church to extend the work they do in their communities every day, ranging from preparing and delivering meals to people rendered homeless to thanking emergency responders. The 2016 dedicated day of service will also mark the 15-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks on the United States.
“The world can be a dangerous place. But there are some who, when disaster strikes, run toward the danger. These are the first responders, firefighters, police and EMTs, who live out their baptismal vocation in service to their communities in times of intense need. They do God’s work with their hands,” said ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton. [Read More]
Oct. 9, 2015
ELCA presiding bishop denounces possible anti-Muslim protests
In response to announcements from anti-Muslim activists intending to protest outside U.S. mosques and Muslim community centers this weekend, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), released on Oct. 9 the following statement:
“As Christians, we are freed in Christ to love and serve our neighbors. Today our neighbors include Muslims – upstanding faithful Americans. The enemy we face is not Islam but hatred and fear. I join my sisters and brothers in calling for gestures of solidarity with our American Muslim neighbors. Together we can witness to the world that God’s love will have the last word.”
Eaton’s statement is one of several from U.S. religious and other leaders made available through the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign: Standing with American Muslims, Upholding American Values atwww.shouldertoshouldercampaign.org/2015/10/09/national-interfaith-leaders-condemn-plan-for-hateful-protests-at-mosques-across-america. The ELCA is a founding member of the campaign.
Sept. 28, 2015
Lutherans, others rally around death-row inmate
Lutherans, faith leaders and other advocates are fervently working to stop the scheduled execution of Kelly Gissendaner, Georgia’s only woman on death row. The execution is set for Sept. 29. Gissendaner received the death penalty in 1988 for persuading her then-boyfriend to murder her husband. The boyfriend, Gregory Owen, is eligible for parole in eight years due to a plea bargain.
Gissendaner is featured in the October issue of The Lutheran magazine (www.thelutheran.org), in part because of the activism of Jennifer M. McBride, a Christian ethics professor of ELCA-affiliated Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa. [Read More]
Sept. 11, 2015
ELCA presiding bishop calls for end to incursions onto Palestinian land, demolition of Palestinian property
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has urged chairs and ranking members U.S. Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees to call upon the Israeli government to halt the ongoing incursions onto Palestinian land and demolition of Palestinian property.
In a Sept. 10 letter to U.S. officials, Eaton wrote to express her distress about actions of the Israeli government that make prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians “more difficult in the short- and medium-term and threaten further the realization of a just two-state solution which so many of us seek.” [Read More]
Aug. 19, 2015
Washington state wildfires burn near Holden Village
The Wolverine fire in northeastern Washington state continues to burn near Holden Village, an outdoor ministry related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The community, established more than 50 years ago, is located in a former mining town in the North Cascade Mountains above Lake Chelan.
Firefighters have managed to keep the fires from spreading into Holden Village by creating back-burns—controlled fires that are set to burn in the opposite direction in order to stop the advancing fire.
Chuck Hoffman and Peg Carlson-Hoffman are the co-executive directors of Holden Village. In an Aug. 17 blog post, Chuck Hoffman described the efforts of two hotshot crews brought in to fight the fires. [Read More]