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Texas-Louisiana
Gulf Coast Synod
A network of growing, Christ-centered, outwardly-focused
congregations passing the faith to the next generation
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Lisa's
Pieces: Creation Care Tips from the Synod Lutherans Restoring
Creation Team
The mission of
Lutherans Restoring Creation is to promote incorporation of care for
creation into the full life and mission of the church, working in five areas: worship,
education, discipleship, building & grounds, and public
ministry/advocacy. For some timely tips in these areas, Read more...
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Fall
Outing in Nature: Guided Tour of the Houston Botanic Garden
Saturday, November 7, 1:00 p.m.
The synod Lutherans
Restoring Creation Team has organized an outing to the recently-opened
Houston Botanic Garden. Enjoy a private one-hour guided tour, followed by
practice of the Franciscan spiritual discipline Prayer with Eyes Wide
Open.
If you'd like to join
us, contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com to sign up. Read
more...
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The
Path of Hope: A Study on Climate Action for Faith Communities
You are invited to join
an online discussion series built around 15-minute videos featuring
interviews with US faith leaders, representatives of climate-impacted
communities from the global South, and presentations by UN officials and
other experts. The videos walk viewers through four key climate policy
issues that intersect with universal faith concerns for vulnerable and
marginalized people. Read more....
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Awe
& Wonder as an Approach to the Divine
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Sister Damien Marie
Savino FSE, Ph. D, Dean of Science & Sustainability, Aquinas
College
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In November, join Sr.
Damien Marie Savino, Dean of Science & Sustainability at Aquinas
College, as she explores Awe & Wonder as an Approach to the Divine...
In this talk, Sister
Damien Marie will explore the significance of awe and wonder as an
approach to the Divine, and the special opportunity we have at this time
of COVID-19 to recapture those experiences as a way of renewing our
lives. Read more...
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Advent Devotions in a Pandemic
By Bishop Michael Rinehart
 This
year, 2020, Advent begins on November 29, the Sunday after
Thanksgiving. As I write this, in October, better than half of our
congregations are having some form of in-person worship, albeit with
masks, physical distancing and very small crowds. The Christian faith
is a team sport, something we do together in our humanity, so this
epidemic has robbed us of something vital. How might we get through
this together?
We don't yet know what Christmas will look like. If case
counts continue to drop, it is possible that many congregations will
have in-person Christmas Eve worship services. Packed houses however,
will not be possible this year. Read more...
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Caring for First Responders in Your
Congregation and Community
 By
Chris Markert, Bishop's Associate for
Mission
Since the beginning of the pandemic nurses, doctors,
hospital staffs, EMTs, and other first responders have placed themselves
in significant harm's way to provide care and support for those affected
by COVID-19, as well as those who are dealing with other health issues.
It is important for churches to find ways to provide
pastoral care, support, and ministry with essential workers, both in
your congregation and in your neighborhood.
As part of our ongoing series on providing care and support
to your congregation and community during the pandemic, I invite
congregations to consider ways they can minister with the first
responders in their midst.
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Highly Esteemed in Love: Minister
Appreciation & Compensation
By Tracey Breashears Schultz, Bishop's
Associate for Leadership
 Being
a pastor or deacon has its challenges in any year, but for some of our
leaders, 2020 has been especially difficult. I've had more than one
phone conversation lately with pastors who feel underappreciated and
especially weary. Being a minister in the age of COVID19 has meant
responding to this crisis, keeping congregation members safe while
reiterating love of neighbor, becoming a tech and social media guru, and
making multiple decisions one could not have imagined making at the
beginning of the year. Some of our leaders have had the added stress of
tracking, surviving, and recovering after hurricanes in these last
months.
When ministers (and their councils) make tough decisions,
they do so knowing they can't and won't please everyone, but being accused
of "choosing fear over faith"
for postponing in-person worship or of "putting lives at
risk" by resuming in-person worship does not feel
especially good, and when the criticisms come from multiple people
through emails and phone calls and Facebook posts, the anxiety rises,
and the self-doubt creeps in. Read more...
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ELCA Bishops Who Happen to Be Women
By Bishop Michael Rinehart
 The
fall after I was elected bishop in 2007, I headed to a Chicago for my
first 5-day meeting with the Conference of Bishops. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America has 65 Synodical Bishops, and one Presiding
Bishop. Of the 15 of us elected in 2007, two were women, Jessica Crist
in Montana and Elizabeth Eaton in Northeastern Ohio, bringing the total
to seven bishops who were women. At the end of the year April Larson
retired, leaving us six. That number would stay the same until 2012,
just eight years ago.
The paucity could be felt in so many ways. When we sang,
the women's voices could hardly be heard. The meetings were also
dominated by men's voices, men's thoughts and men's concerns. I recall
in morning prayer one time, Bishop Kurt Kusserow inviting the men to
modulate their voices as we sang, so the women's voices might be heard.
The result was stunning. It became a metaphor for our theological and
ecclesial deliberations. How might the men modulate their voices so the
women's voices might be heard?
This fall, 47% of the Conference of Bishops will be women,
maybe more, once all synods have held their assemblies. Things have
improved markedly, but there is still work to do. Read more...
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By Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
A colleague of mine once pointed out that Martin Luther
wrote far more about freedom than he did about reform or reformation.
Liberation in Christ through faith was the freedom that transformed
Luther. This freedom is what he wrote about most frequently and most passionately.
In The Freedom of a Christian, Luther makes the case that
liberation in Christ is both a freedom from and a
freedom for.
Freedom from is liberation from all spiritual
bondage. We are set free from being trapped in ourselves, consumed by
ourselves, from the belief and terror that we can and must save
ourselves. That our self is the center of the universe. Life
in Christ is not an inward-dwelling experience. We are free to get over
ourselves. Read more...
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Fall 2020 Interfaith Environmental
Stewardship Event
Sunday Evening Conversations on Creation
Continue...
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Volunteers
hard at work at the Fall 2019 event.
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The synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team invites you to
a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2020
is the wonders of nature.
Sunday, November 8, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
The synod Lutherans Restoring Creation Team invites you to
join with people of other faiths to care for our shared
environment! We will engage in hands-on environmental
stewardship at the Willow Waterhole Conservation Reserve, cleaning up
rose garden beds, mulching around trees, & other tasks. This event
will offer activities for all ages and skill levels and appropriate
precautions to prevent spread of the novel Coronavirus will be
taken.
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