December 2023 Newsletter
December 2023 Newsletter
Christ in the rubble
Photo from Pastor Munther Isaac on X (formerly Twitter)
Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem put up their sanctuary creche in the midst of rubble, in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. Pastor Munther Isaac shared on X (formerly Twitter): "Christmas in Palestine this year. The Child under the rubble. Immanuel God is with us in our pain and suffering. God in solidarity with the oppressed. The child of Bethlehem is our hope. For the children of Gaza and all victims of wars."
Read more here.
Prayer from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton for the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the 2023 Advent Cycle of Prayer for Churches in the Holy Land and the Middle East:
"Gracious God, we feel helpless in the face of war. As we witness the devastation in Israel and Palestine, we feel it here, too. Help us to accompany all who suffer, to be your healing balm in this wounded world.
Almighty God, only you bring healing. When we feel helpless, help us to feel your presence. When we feel despair, restore our confidence in you alone. Teach us again to turn weapons into tools for harvesting your abundance. Remind us that true healing comes only in the presence of your truth, your justice, and your peace.
Heal us, O Lord, so that we might be your healing presence now and always. Amen."
ELCA Resources for the crisis in the Holy Land.
MLK Event - April 7, 2024
Join us on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at House of Prayer Lutheran Church (2100 W Irwin St, Aliquippa) for The Legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Fires of Freedom and Cloud of Witnesses.
Schedule for Sunday, April 7
2pm - Pre-Event in Aliquippa - more information to follow
4pm - Education time / Panel Discussion
5:30pm - Dinner
6:30pm - Worship with Holy Communion, with the Rev. CeCee Mills preaching and Bishop Kurt Kusserow presiding
A livestream will be available for the worship service as well as for the panel discussion.
Childcare for children age 0-5 is available during this event. Please pre-register for childcare here.
New PIIN Book Study: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story
James McBride is known for thought-provoking novels, commentaries, and multimedia presentations that engage the audience in a conversation about the diversity of our culture and its meaning for how we should move forward together. He is a writer and musician who is the recipient of the 2013 National Book Award for fiction for his novel The Good Lord Bird. McBride’s latest novel is The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. This novel has been described in the New York Times as a “murder mystery wrapped up in a great American Novel.”
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is set in the 1920s in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, an actual place that, as in the novel, was home to Jewish immigrants and to African Americans who’d migrated from the South. In the prologue, we learn that the last Jewish inhabitant, a mysterious figure named Malachi, has disappeared after cops showed up on his doorstep—and just before Hurricane Agnes sweeps in and destroys the whole area in 1972. At this point, the novel shifts the scene to the early 20th century in Chicken Hill and to the relationships of the community’s inhabitants.
The Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN), an organization of congregations in Southwest Pennsylvania focused on housing, environmental and criminal justice issues, will offer a zoom discussion group on McBride’s book beginning in January 2024. The first meeting is scheduled for January 22, 2024. Those interested in participating in this zoom study group should contact Paul Lawson (uunpuppy@yahoo.com) to register before December 24, 2023.
The book is available on the Authentic Diversity & Justice Recommended Reading List at Bookshop.org. (By purchasing from our list, 10% of the sale will go towards funding our annual MLK event.)
The New York Times Book Review describes the novel in this way: “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a charming, smart, heart-blistering and heart-healing novel. Great love bursts through these pages via the friends and families that mobilize to protect Dodo, a child endangered by the structures he was born into and injured by. With this story, McBride brilliantly captures a rapidly changing country, as seen through the eyes of the recently arrived and the formerly enslaved people of Chicken Hill. He has reached back into our shared past when, by migration and violence, segregation and collision, America was still becoming America. And through this evocation, McBride offers us a thorough reminder: Against seemingly impossible odds, even in the midst of humanity’s most wicked designs, love, community and action can save us.” - Danez Smith is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently “Homie,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award.
MLK Housing Focus Update
One of our synod’s commitments relative to the 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration focusing on housing in the Pittsburgh region is to support Bethel AME as the congregation seeks reparations for the loss of their church center in the Lower Hill through eminent domain and urban development.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold development rights in the Lower Hill have pledged to return 1.5 acres to the church and to be supportive of their plans for a new housing development featuring 128 affordable units.
This development addresses the need for new, affordable units in Pittsburgh while also marking Bethel’s remarkable history in our region and specifically in the Hill District. Currently, the congregation is preparing to present their plans to the Development Review Panel of the Hill District Community Development Corporation. This is the first step in seeking community and City agency approval for the development.
Persons wishing to be more closely informed and engaged in Bethel AME’s project should contact Rev. Dale Snyder, pastor of Bethel (dbs5127@gmail.com).
LAMPa Lutheran Day in the Capitol
Save the date! Join LAMPa and advocates from across the Commonwealth in Harrisburg on May 9, 2024 for Lutheran Day in the Capitol and Gala Celebration of Advocates. We will also be celebrating the 45th anniversary of LAMPa and 50th anniversary of ELCA World Hunger.
ELCA Task Force: Human Sexuality - Gift and Trust Study Process
In 2022, the Churchwide Assembly authorized a review of the Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust social statement. A task force will begin working on the review in 2024, and applications to be a member are currently open until January 31, 2024. To apply or to nominate someone, learn more at elca.org/reconsiderations.