Updated Resources! ELCA presiding bishop names “day of repentance and mourning”

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06/26/2015

Updated Resources! ELCA presiding bishop names “day of repentance and mourning”

This letter was just received from Bishop Elizabeth Eaton regarding the Service of Prayer in Remembrance. The resources have been updated. Please use the updated resources as you see fit.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am in touch with you again today even as I am headed to Charleston, S.C., to be present at the funeral tomorrow of the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was pastor at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and was a graduate of the ELCA’s Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.

Yesterday I shared with you a worship resource titled “Service of Prayer in Remembrance” for use in this Sunday’s worship services. Today I am sending you a revised version of this resource, now titled “Service of Repentance and Mourning.” The revisions are significant and important; I would not be in touch again today if this weren’t the case. I received valuable feedback from several quarters yesterday, and I decided it was worthwhile to incorporate these responses into a revised worship resource. I hope you will be able to make good use of it.

I understand that it may be difficult for some congregations to incorporate this liturgy (or portions of it) into this Sunday’s services. And I know that many of you offered prayers in response to the Charleston shooting in last Sunday’s worship. We will need to be praying about, and acting in response to, this act of racism and hatred, and the sin of racism, for a sustained period of time. I encourage you to use your good discernment and judgment to be creative, flexible and resourceful in how and when you address this situation in your congregations – in worship, in education and discussion, in your collective actions. While this Sunday is designated as one of repentance and mourning for the ELCA, our attention to this cannot be limited to one particular day.

Included again for your use this Sunday is the public statement I made June 18, the day after the shooting in Charleston. Share this with your congregation.

Thank you again for your ministry and all you do to share the good news of Jesus Christ and God’s healing, redemptive power.

Your Sister in Christ,

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

CHICAGO (ELCA) – In a public statement following a shooting that claimed the lives of nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called for a “day of repentance and mourning.” Local authorities called the killing racially motivated.

In a June 24 letter to ELCA rostered leaders, Eaton said she would like the day to take place Sunday, June 28. The worship staff of the ELCA churchwide organization developed a "Service of Prayer in Remembrance" for use among the nearly 10,000 congregations of the denomination.
“I hope you will have an opportunity to use significant portions (if not all) of this liturgy this Sunday,” Eaton wrote. “I also want to encourage you to share with your congregations, ideally from the pulpit during Sunday's worship, the June 18 public statement. The members of this church, no matter where they are located, must think about, discuss and deal with this crucial issue of justice and compassion. It is the church's work."

“God’s intention for all humanity is that we see the intrinsic worth, dignity and value of all people. Racism undermines the promise of community and fractures authentic relationships with one another. We need to talk and we need to listen, but we also need to act and speak out against inequity. Look with newly opened eyes at the many subtle and overt ways that racism infects and affects our communities. Above all pray – for insight, for forgiveness, for courage. I thank God for your faithful service to the gospel and God's work, and I thank you for your partnership in helping all of us to address the sin of racism.”

Bishop Suzanne Dillahunt will be at Faith Lutheran Church, Dayton on June 28 in honor of Pr. Steve Kimpel's retirement. Bishop Dillahunt and the people of Faith Lutheran will observe this day of repentance and mourning. Bishop Dillahunt encourages your congregation to do the same.

Eaton’s June 18 public statement is available at http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/long_season_of_disquiet_letter.pdf and “Service of Prayer for Remembrance” is at http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/A_Service_of_Prayer_in_Remembrance.pdf.

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