Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry issues his fifth in a series of monthly messages that continue through the end of this year, titled “All Together in One Place.” Each message will share a pastoral word, rooted in Scripture, that witnesses to God’s presence today, our rich theological tradition and the social teaching that connects us.

Celebrating Our Diversity

Dear beloved children of God, 

As a church, we collectively continue to celebrate the diversity with which God has created the world. Scripture tells us that, from the very beginning, we were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). In the book of Acts, many were gathered in one place when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Each was given the power to witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:32-33). In 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, the human body serves as a metaphor, demonstrating that a healthy Christian community relies on the many distinct gifts and qualities of each unique member — emphasizing unity through continuing to be a connected church.    

I am thankful to serve this church in the office of presiding bishop. I am also grateful for my experience as an activist and leader in communities and congregations that are at the margins. Whatever our role and wherever our place in the church, God calls us to develop trusting relationships with our neighbors. In the service of Affirmation of Baptism, the presiding minister asks, “Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism … to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 236). Striving for justice involves learning about underlying causes of division and inequity. It is a commitment our church makes because of baptism. 

Celebrating diversity and striving for equity, inclusion and accessibility for all reflect this baptismal call. The words “diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility” and the initialism “DEIA” mean different things to different people. For the ELCA, as church together, these terms reflect our “delight in the fact that the people called, gathered, and enlightened” by God represent such a wide array of identities, backgrounds and life stories (ELCA social statement Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture, 1993, p. 3). The terms remind us of the gospel vision of community, in which all are truly welcome. They are terms this church has chosen to include in its teachings and constitutions as reflections of our faith in God, who creates, redeems and sustains all people.   

Everyone matters in this church. I have celebrated with synods and congregations as they build communities that reflect the people and neighborhoods around them. I have worshiped in places where many languages are spoken and people from different backgrounds feel welcome. Together we have expanded our understanding of what it means to be church through relationships with companion churches around the world and through relationships between congregations in rural, urban and suburban settings here in the United States. We are joined together through holy baptism, through which God calls us to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.  “Diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion” and “accessibility” are reflections of justice when it is fulfilled. Like many saints before us have said, justice is the form love takes in society.     

The road is long, but we go forth in faith, trusting in the risen Christ and inspired by one another for the work ahead. Let us continue in the covenant God has made with us, to serve all people in love. 

In Christ,

The Rev. Yehiel Curry
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

All Together in One Place

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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.6 million members in 8,200 communities worshiping in 41 languages across the 50 states and in the Caribbean. Known as the church of “God’s work. Our hands.,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA’s roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.

Presiding Bishop Curry issues his fourth in a series of monthly messages that continue through the end of this year, titled “All Together in One Place.” Each message will share a pastoral word, rooted in Scripture, that witnesses to God’s presence today, our rich theological tradition and the social teaching that connects us.

A Call to be Trusted Messengers in this Election Season

Dear church, 

In an interview after I was elected, I reflected on my experience as a mission developer, saying, “It is not about what you think you’re bringing into the community. It’s who you are in the community. The minute we showed that we cared is really when the community adopted us. People don’t care about what you know till they know that you care, and that was the biggest learning for me.” 

Faithful. Informed. Engaged. This refrain captures a vision for Lutheran Christians living out their baptismal calling in the election season and beyond. Faith grounds us in God’s promises, and Christ sends us forth to love our neighbors and serve the world. Being informed equips us to address complex issues with wisdom, discernment and integrity. Being engaged reminds us that our participation in civic life is a key way we love and serve our neighbors. Our public witness is rooted in faith, guided by honesty and expressed through active citizenship. 

ELCA ministries and leaders already play vital roles during election seasons. You register voters, provide rides to the polls, open your buildings as polling places and advocate for voting rights. Thank you! This year, I invite you to embrace an additional role to help strengthen our democracy: serving as trusted messengers in your communities. 

Our church can be “all together in one place” as a powerful witness for truth, love of neighbor and honesty. False information remains a persistent challenge during elections. It can spread rapidly, undermining confidence in the electoral process and discouraging participation. Grounded in the commandment not to bear false witness, our churches and faith leaders are uniquely positioned to help address this challenge by seeking out and sharing accurate information and correcting misinformation when it arises. In a time when trust is often in short supply, serving as trusted sources of wisdom and guidance is a meaningful form of Christian witness. By helping our neighbors access accurate information and engage confidently in the democratic process, we live out our faith through responsible civic engagement and service to the common good.  

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“Healthy civic engagement depends on clear distinctions between fact and all forms of falsehood, ranging from partial misstatements to intentional disinformation to outright lies. … Our church, then, encourages us all to ask, in every personal interaction and on social media, whether our words or those we repeat represent the best possible understanding of our neighbor.” 

— ELCA social statement Faith and Civic Life: Seeking the Well-being of All (p. 62)

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The ELCA offers a variety of resources to help congregations and individuals be trusted messengers. 

The new “ELCA Election Engagement Toolkit” provides guidance on topics that include serving as trusted messengers, engaging in election protection and modeling love of neighbor in polarized communities. (A tool kit launch webinar on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 12:30 p.m. Central time will provide an introduction to action steps and themes grounded in our Lutheran tradition.) 

Through the “ELCA Civic Engagement Guide,” you can access materials on voter education, voter registration, candidate forums, legal guidelines for congregations, voting rights and ways to encourage participation in local communities.  

I invite you to take faithful steps this election year: 

• Register to vote if you have not already done so and check your registration to make sure it is up-to-date. Use the “Prepared to Vote Checklist” to think through local voting requirements.  
• Learn about the issues, ballot measures and candidates that will shape your community. Participate in respectful conversations. 
• Check sources of information before sharing it in conversations or online.  
• Pray for those who serve in public office, for election workers and for all who will exercise the privilege of voting. Create spaces for faithful, open conversation with voters, candidates or neighbors in your community.  
• Encourage your family members, friends and neighbors to take part in the democratic process. 

Be faithful, informed and engaged as disciples of Jesus seeking the well-being of our neighbors and the common good of the communities God has entrusted to our care. Every act of informed participation, every conversation marked by grace and every vote cast with prayerful discernment is an opportunity to bear witness to God’s love in the world. 

In Christ, 

The Rev. Yehiel Curry 
Presiding Bishop 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

A Call to be Trusted Messengers in this Election Season  

ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry issues his third in a series of monthly messages that continue through the end of this year.  Each message will share a pastoral word, rooted in Scripture, that witnesses to God’s presence today, our rich theological tradition, and the social teaching that connects us.

  
Dear church,
 
From its earliest days, the United States has been shaped by religious diversity. Indigenous peoples sustained diverse spiritual and religious traditions long before the nation’s founding, and successive waves of settlers, including Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others, brought a variety of beliefs that helped define the nation’s unique and vital religious landscape.
 
Throughout the church today, many are struggling with debates regarding the religious identity of our nation. While religious diversity did not begin with the Constitution, the Constitution’s framers recognized an important truth: the future of our nation could not be tied to a single religious identity. By rejecting religious tests for public office, the Founders created space for people of any or no faith tradition to participate in public life together. That commitment continues to be foundational to our nation’s vitality, especially at a time when people are tempted to identify love of the nation, or the government itself, with a single religion. No one faith tradition should rule the United States, just as the framers desired.¹
 
As the apostle Paul writes, God has given us “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Reconciliation involves living in God’s future — including through renewed interreligious relationships.
 
Religious diversity is the reality of the world we live in. Recognizing this, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted “A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” which affirms that mutual understanding with other faith traditions can deepen our own faith. Through encountering neighbors and working side by side in shared commitments to love and compassion and community, our own Christian faith is strengthened. This conviction means that through my call as presiding bishop of the ELCA, our church develops and maintains relationships with Jewish, Muslim and many other faith communities. Like personal friendships we hold, these relationships do not require us to set aside Christian faith. Rather they reaffirm that in a nation as diverse as ours, being a good neighbor across religious differences is not optional. It’s a part of the shared American experience. It is an experience we can support as everyday Lutherans in God’s call to reconciliation.

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“The ELCA will explore and encourage inter-religious friendship, accompaniment, and partnership with all who seek justice, peace, human wholeness, and the well-being of creation (ELCA Constitution, Chapter 4.03.f).” —“A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” p. 10
 
“The ELCA will defend the full participation of all in our religiously diverse society, ‘strengthening public space as a just place for all’ regardless of religion or worldview (‘The Church in the Public Space: A Statement of The Lutheran World Federation,’ 2016).” —“A Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” p. 11

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The ministry of reconciliation is both local and national. God invites us to love one another across differences. Trusting in God’s grace, we boldly form relationships with neighbors of all faiths who share a commitment to justice, peace and the flourishing of all creation. I encourage you to engage in this essential ministry, which offers a powerful opportunity to heal divisions, deepen respect across differences and strengthen the bonds of our common life.
 
In Christ,

The Rev. Yehiel Curry
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  
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[1] The ELCA social statement Faith and Civic Life, Seeking the Well-being of All states, “The Establishment Clause is cut from the same cloth as the Constitution’s prohibition against religious tests for public office. Government is not the church, and the church is not the government. The intent of the Establishment Clause clearly is that government must not promote a particular faith or religion in general” (45).

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

Every day, I receive emails and messages from members across this church. Many of you share concerns about the state of the world and how faith informs your response to troubling or perplexing events. Sometimes you ask me to speak out more often regarding current affairs, and sometimes you ask me not to speak so much. I cannot answer every message, yet I am learning from you and feel the heartbeat of this church through the concerns, fears and hopes you share with me.

To continue our conversation and respond to what I am hearing from you, I will issue a monthly message through the end of this year in a series called “All Together in One Place.” Each message will share a pastoral word that witnesses to God’s presence today, rooted in Scripture, our rich theological tradition and the social teaching that connects us for life together.

At the first Pentecost, the disciples were guided by the prophet Joel’s assurance that, even in troubling and perplexing times, God is faithfully present.

Our baptismal vocation together is to serve God and neighbor in daily life, fostering “a faith that is active in love, a love that seeks justice, and an insight that strives to discern what is right, good, and fitting” (ELCA social statement The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective, 1991, p. 6). Baptism invites us to love our neighbor, to steward creation, to advocate justice and mercy in situations of brokenness, and to seek peace.

As much as we strive to be “all together in one place,” we may not agree on how to do this. The letters I receive testify that we span a beautiful and God-given diversity that invites Lutherans into deep listening, moral deliberation and a certain humility as we seek the common good.

In our differences, we can still be together in one place, when that place is connection in the unity that only Christ gives us (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). We stand in one place when we embrace the dignity of every human being by engaging others with curiosity and respect. We stand in one place when we shake off the immobility of fear to nurture connection in diversity. Our witness to the world embodies 2 Timothy 1:7: “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”

Just as those early followers of Jesus Christ experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, may we also trust when the Holy Spirit comes blowing into our lives to connect the body of Christ.

In peace,

The Rev. Yehiel Curry
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

As people of faith, we are called to give of our time, talent, and treasure for a greater purpose. Bread for the World invites you to use your voice to help end hunger.

Every year, Bread for the World (BFW) organizes churches, community organizations, and people of faith from across the country to write letters and emails to their members of Congress who have the power to impact the policies and programs that can end hunger.

Your letter matters. Your letter, joined with the voices of thousands of advocates across the country, is an expression of faith and hope, urging U.S. decision makers to pursue a world without hunger. These letters to change hearts and minds, and again and again, Bread for the World wins help and opportunity for our neighbors who face hunger.

Millions of children in the U.S. live in households facing food insecurity. Globally, almost 45 million children suffer from severe hunger, and nearly half of all preventable deaths among children under five are attributed to malnutrition. Child hunger is a local and a global problem, but together, we can make a difference. 

Despite progress over the past few decades, the world continues to lose more than two million young children to malnutrition every year.¹

Click Here to Urge Congress to Protect and Strengthen Vital Nutrition Programs.
Then it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Enter your address [ title, first name, second name, address, city, state, zip code, email address].

2. Click yes: this e-mail is part of an Offering of Letters.

3. Write Message (prewritten, and you can edit if you like).

Click Here to Urge State Legislators to Protect SNAP and Help End Hunger.
Then it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Enter your address [ title, first name, second name, address, city, state, zip code, email address].

2. State Action Information:
If you live in New Hampshire, click Yes.
If you live in Vermont, DO NOT click “Yes, this email is part of a state action.”

3. Write Message (prewritten, and you can edit if you like).

Please email Paul or Wendy Manganiello or the church office after you email your letters so that we can report back to Bread for the World.  Thank you.