Bishop Burkat preaches at Churchwide Assembly
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 The Churchwide Assembly opens tonight with a plenary session highlighted by the first ballot for presiding bishop. Tuesday, Bishop Claire S. Burkat will preach at the daily Eucharist service. Plenary sessions are broadcast live in streaming audio and video at the Assembly website. Worship is not broadcast live but audio will be posted after each service. Watch the Assembly website and SEPANews blog for updates.
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Thrivent employee among bridge collapse victims
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Sherry Engebretsen, head of distribution strategies for Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans, was one of those killed when the bridge
carrying Interstate 35W between Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota,
collapsed into the Mississippi River Aug. 1. Five persons are known
killed in the accident, and eight are still missing.
"When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs in a metropolitan area,
people's confidence in the stability of daily life is shaken," said the
Rev. Craig E. Johnson, ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod. "But as people of
faith, our confidence is centered upon God who rushes to aid all people
in their suffering," he said.
"All such tragedies leave us groping for ways to comprehend the
sudden, unexpected loss and to find comfort and consolation," said the
Rev. Peter Rogness, bishop, ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod. "Ultimately,
comfort and consolation come from Christ's sustaining love and the
dimension of his kingdom that overcomes death. Of this much we can be
assured," he said.
Please continue to pray with our sisters and brothers in Minnesota as they watch, wait and grieve.
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In a pre-Assembly conference call with reporters, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson was asked about the church's commitment to evangelism. In his response, Hanson noted the difficulty of leading "a church that continues to manifest homogeneity in the midst of diversity and declining membership in the midst of living in a mission field." Despite the demographic realities, the ELCA is committed to "be what our name declares us to be: evangelical and Lutheran."
