Facing South: Religious groups join opposition to nuclear “Bombplex”

Facing South: Religious groups join opposition to nuclear “Bombplex”

Sixteen national religious organizations filed formal comments [PDF] yesterday opposing the Bush administration’s $150 billion plan to update the nation’s nuclear arsenal, calling the proposed Nuclear Weapons Complex Transformation project wasteful, unneeded and dangerous. The plan, dubbed “Bombplex” by its foes, would streamline the nation’s current atomic arsenal of some 10,000 warheads and build new nuclear weapons at various sites, including several in the South.

Watch Bishop Burkat’s Lenten greeting, via video from Jerusalem, by clicking the image above.

Local pastor will deliver his Ash Wednesday sermon from the Holy Land phillyBurbs.com | Intelligencer

Local pastor will deliver his Ash Wednesday sermon from the Holy Land phillyBurbs.com | Intelligencer

One faith, oceans apart

The Rev. Eric Shafer, senior pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, will be in the holiest of holy lands on Ash Wednesday: Jerusalem.

It will be there where Shafer will give a 10-minute sermon on the first day of Lent from the Mt. of Olives outside Jerusalem.

Through Internet and Google Video, that same sermon will be witnessed by members of Trinity Lutheran at the three Ash Wednesday worship services.

Shafer will be accompanied on his trip by … Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

“I want to experience the culture and I really want to better understand the dynamics and possible solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East,” (Burkat) said. “I want to listen to the stories and witness the minority Christian population in the Holy Land.”

“It will be very poignant and spiritual for me,” Burkat said.

Read it at: TheReporterOnline.com

Everyday Lutherans Working in Mission and Ministry Overseas

wfn.org | Everyday Lutherans Working in Mission and Ministry Overseas

Reporter Online : UDLC Tanzania delegation

Lansdale’s Reporter has a piece on the relationship of Upper Dublin Lutheran Church and Pr. Dyan Lawlor with our companion synod in Tanzania:

… Lawlor said she believes faith is shaped through relationships with others and especially those who have been left less fortunate. …

“I feel like I have come home to a congregation that is open to give financially spiritually and physically. I wanted to go global work and am grateful for this wonderful congregation and their vision, without them I would not be able to go and serve on these trips,” Lawlor said.

Janet Waechter of Upper Dublin has volunteered with Lawlor in the past and describes her as committed to her mission projects and working with youth.

“For our congregation it has increased our awareness of people throughout the world and how to help alleviate poverty and hunger in whatever way we can. She has involved the youth in a number of programs where they have learned ways that they can make a difference,” Waechter said.

Read the entire article.

Jerusalem Post – ELCA moves toward boycott

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has almost five million members in the US, took a step toward a partial boycott of Israeli goods at its 2007 Churchwide Assembly

Jerusalem Post: Lutherans consider boycott

Also: “IsraelInsider” reports on the Assembly’s actions regarding Palestine and Israel.

israelinsider: diplomacy: Lutheran Church of America to boycott products from Israeli settlements

Our teacher in Tanzania

Amanda Grant is heading to Tanzania Aug. 12 to teach for a year in the special education curriculum at the soon-to-open Sebastian Kolowa University College (SEKUCo). Amanda, a member of St. John, Mayfair, recently completed her masters in social work at the University of Pennsylvania and previously was a special education teacher in Arizona. At SEKUCo, Amanda will teach classes in special education, autism, inclusive education and learning disabilities. You can follow along with her adventure on her new blog, found at http://sekucoview.wordpress.com.

Inquirer profiles resettled refugee

Sunday’s Bucks County “Neighbors” section profiles James Lual, a “lost boy” from Sudan resettled by Lutheran Children and Family Service.

Student Spotlight | Inquirer | 08/05/2007

Local Pastor Challenges Faith Leaders Over Slow Pace in AIDS Response

From Worldwide Faith News/ELCA:

NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA, 18 July 2007 (LWI) * A session of a recent international gathering on HIV and AIDS expressed concern that 25 years after the first known HIV case, religious leaders and institutions were taking too long to change, thus slowing down efforts to effectively respond to the AIDS pandemic.

A pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Rev. Andrena Ingram, St Michael Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, said she had encountered stigma and discrimination, even as a member of the faith leadership.

Read more