Take a deeper dive into the beauty and complexity of the border.

Pre-Assembly: Full-week immersion Sunday, April 16 through Saturday, April 22 - cost for programming, food, housing, and transportation is $350 per person with some additional food costs - Contact Dan Tisdel HERE for more information.

Post-Assembly: Mini-immersion will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 18th (the assembly concludes at noon), and conclude with breakfast on Saturday, May 20th. Cost for programming, food, housing, and transportation is $1`25 per person - Contact Diana Linden-Johnson HERE for more information, and/or register TODAY using the button below.

Participants will stay at Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey in shared rooms for both events.

IN-PERSON and ZOOM WORKSHOP

BREADITATION:

a bread baking workshop at Messiah Mountain and online

Saturday, May 6 from 9:00am to 1:00pm

plus FRIDAY PREP for ZOOM participants: required the day before

IN PERSON is at Messiah Mountain Retreat Center: no prep needed the day before

COST: $20 for Zoom participant (providing your own ingredients); $40 in person (includes all ingredients and lunch)

Bread is beautiful because it is simple and nourishing. It nourishes our body. It unites us in community. Join us in person or online to meditate on the beauty and mystery of bread while gaining experience, confidence, and know-how. We'll bake together fougasse, which is a light, open textured bread typically associated with the Provence region of France. While the fougasse is rising, we'll bake a nicely textured flat gluten free communion bread––a taste of the Bread of Heaven with honey, molasses, and more. Your workshop leaders are Pastor Ron Glusenkamp and Pastor Kent Mueller.

Monday, May 1 registration deadline. Limited to 12 participants in person. 

Zoom registrants will receive ingredient list, instructions, and Zoom link several weeks before the event.

Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains 75th Anniversary Gala!

The 75th Anniversary Gala celebration will be May 12, 2023 from 6:00-9:00pm at the Denver Art Museum. Save the date cards and invitations will be mailed shortly, but tickets are on sale now on the LFSRM website. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Contact Margo Hatton at 719-250-7491 or margo.hatton@lfsrm.org for more information

The Annual Golf Tournament will be held on July 31, 2023 at the Red Rocks Golf Course. More details coming soon!

The 40th Inn Keeper Dinner in Colorado Springs will be held on September 21, 2023 at 6:00 PM at the Pinery in Colorado Springs, Colorado. More details for this wonderful Colorado Springs community event are coming soon!

For over a decade the Wolf Creek Foundation, a 501C3 nonprofit organization, has been supporting military families through the generosity of our community. Whether being deployed or returning from deployment, separation brings stress and anxiety to a military family which is often difficult to overcome.

We sponsor and facilitate weekend retreats twice a year where our military families relax, reconnect and develop much needed skills that help the entire family cope with deployments. Meals, lodging and entertainment along with dedicated programming for adults and children are offered at no cost to the family.

Military families sacrifice each day to allow us to have the freedoms we all enjoy. Become a part of something amazing. Join us today! wolfcreekfoundation.com.

ELCA Farm Bill Listening Sessions

Tuesday, April 25

ELCA farm bill listening sessions are virtual gatherings where ministry leaders, members of congregations, and those with valuable lived experiences gather our opinions and experiences informed by faith values on stewardship, justice and serving our neighbor. The farm bill connects food on our tables and cafeterias, the farmers and ranchers who produce it, and the natural resources that make growing food possible, and is in the process of being reauthorized. Please join the conversation shaping our faithful action!

Watch an invitation to participate here.

Registration links and more information at blogs.elca.org/advocacy/elca-farm-bill-listening-sessions.

Worship in English in Budapest!

Tourists from all over the world will visit Budapest this year to see the Parliament building, Fisherman’s Bastion, Heroes’ Square, Margaret Island, and the Danube. If you are touring the city, or know anyone who plans to come, I hope you will visit our English language worship services, Bible study, and campus ministry that serves international students who are studying in English in Hungary. We worship at Deák Téri Evangélikus Templom (Pesti Evangélikus Egyház, Deák téri Egyházközség (deakter.hu)) on the first Sunday of every month. Organ concerts and Hungarian services take place on other Sunday evenings. Most of the pastors and many of parishioners speak English so you will always find a welcome. Deák Tér also celebrates Bach Week this year from June 5-11 with concerts every evening, and monthly Bach cantatas during Sunday worship. On the third Sunday of each month, we worship in English at Budapest-Fasori Evangélikus Egyházközség. Look for directions at Budapest-Fasori Evangélikus Egyházközség | Facebook. Both congregations hope that you will take the time to worship with us and meet some local Hungarians.  Find us on Facebook at English Lutheran Ministry in Budapest.

Pastor Anne Morawski is a retired ELCA pastor and volunteer with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary (ELCH) and the English Lutheran Ministry in Budapest (ELMB). Both churches are members of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches.

AUGUSTANA ARTS PRESENTS

Emerging: New Musical Voices

Stratus Chamber Orchestra

Adam Torres, Music Director

Be sure to make your plans now to attend our final Stratus Concert of the 2022-23 Season!

Saturday, April 29 at 7:00pm at Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda Ave.

Sunday matinee, April 30 at 3:00pm at First Universalist Church of Denver, 4101 E. Hampden Ave.

SEICENTO PRESENTS

J.S. Bach’s monumental St. John’s Passion

May 6 at 7:00pm, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Denver

Seicento’s performance of this monumental work will focus on historically informed musical forces and techniques, beginning with the use of period instruments such as theorbo, portative organ, traverso (wooden flute), baroque oboes, viola da gamba, and baroque strings. Seicento’s singers and instrumentalists perform at baroque pitch with the signature Seicento flair, all contributing to the realization of the work as—in the words of American choral director and conductor Hugh Ross— “transcendent in its divine benignity.’

Tickets are $15 - 50. For concert locations, directions, times and tickets, visit

seicentobaroque.org/current-season/.

A DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION

A Water Prayer

From the cold of winter to daylight savings time change to the first day of spring; from the season of Lent to the season of Easter; from Easter to Earth Day—we are always thinking about water. From “we need the moisture” (still shoveling snow in March) to April showers, we think about water and whether we will be irrigating our lawns and gardens this summer.

The Colorado River supplies water to Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Forty million people rely on it. Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam hold most of the water. Imperial Dam holds water for agriculture in the Imperial Valley of California. The last dam is Morelos which irrigates Mexico’s Mexicali Valley. Below that the river is mostly dry.

In Colorado, 24 tunnels move river water from west to east. Some of the biggest are Moffat Tunnel—Winter Park to Rollinsville for rail (since 1928) and water (since 1936); Bousted Tunnel—Arkansas/Frying Pan Project water to Turquoise Lake near Leadville; Roberts Tunnel—Lake Dillon water to Denver since 1962 (took 16 years to complete and supplies 40% of Denver’s water); Hoosier Pass Tunnel—diverts So. Platte River and Blue River water to the Montgomery Reservoir near Alma from which water is piped 70 miles to Colorado Springs by way of the Blue River Pipeline (since 1957); Straight Creek Tunnel—the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels are also water tunnels delivering 300 acre feet of water per year to Clear Creek; Adams Tunnel from Lake Granby to Shadow Mountain to Grand Lake under Rocky Mt. Nat. Park to the Big Thompson River to the Horsetooth Reservoir, to Carter Lake, and to the Boulder Reservoir. WOW—and that is just a small part of this interesting story!

Prayer: Dear Lord, water sustains us. Every creature needs it for life. Our watery baptism sustains us. Water reminds us each day of our baptism. Christ’s love surrounds us as we move about in our daily activities in our families, in our workplaces, and in our communities. We need water; it flows in us and makes us whole. Help us to appreciate and conserve the gift of water.

Suggested reading: Exodus 17:1-7.

Questions- rmscreationcareteam@gmail.com.

ONLINE RETREAT

Bearing Witness to the Pandemic - collective memory, personal reflection, and sacred pause

an invitation from DanaLee Simon & Rachel Bass-Guennewig

DanaLee and I are excited to offer another 4 week online retreat this spring. We will gather for four Wednesdays, starting April 12, to join together to remember and reflect on our experience of the Pandemic and how we have grown and changed through it.

With the gift of hindsight and the guidance of the book, God Holds You; A Pandemic Chronicle, by Sarah S. Scherschligt, we will use weekly writing prompts to help you remember what happened during that rare time, and reflect in community.

We will gather on ZOOM at 11:00am CST/10:00am MST on April 12, 19, 26, and May 3. The Sunday before we meet you will receive an email with the theme for that Wednesday's gathering, and a prompt for you to reflect on in preparation. The ZOOM gatherings will last for 75 minutes and will be the primary practice of the retreat, in large and small groups. So, while the large group sessions will be recorded to look back on, your in-person participation is essential to receiving the gifts of this retreat. The cost of this online retreat is $50. You can pay DanaLee by Venmo (@DanaLee-Simon) or by check, mailed to DanaLee Simon, 1184 S 1500 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84105.

As mentioned above, we will be using the book God Holds You; A Pandemic Chronicle to take us back through that first year of the pandemic. While we encourage you to purchase and read the book, it is not necessary for you to be able to participate.

Let us know if you have any questions, feel free to invite your friends, and please use the link below to register and register by Saturday, April 8 in order to receive the first Sunday email!

The Tomb is Empty!

Lord of the Hills Lutheran Church

21755 E Smoky Hill Rd. Aurora, CO

Sunday, April 16, 4:00 to 6:00pm

Join Rejoicing Spirits for dinner and worship where we will unite in activities, singing, laughing and loving God. Rejoicing Spirits is an inclusive worship space for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, their caregivers, families and anyone who seeks an open, joyful and creative worship experience.

We will gather at LOTH on the third Sunday of each month in 2023.

If you would like more information regarding the Rejoicing Spirits experience or volunteering, please contact Pastor Ann Hultquist at native2615@gmail.com or

Karen Ullestad at kmullestad@hotmail.com.

ONLINE LEARNING

5 Simple Steps to Stop Working on Your Day Off

April 25 at 10:00am MST

You're a woman in ministry writing your sermon and catching up on administrative work on your Sabbath days.

I'm going to show you exactly how to rest instead of work.

Learn these 5 steps to stop working on your day off.

You'll create the rest that supports a life-giving ministry.

Join Dr. Crystal Hall on Tuesday, April 25 at 10:00am MT/12:00pm ET.

Learn more at crystalhallphd.com.

The Summit at Rainbow Trail

- A Faith Formation Retreat for Leaders

April 24-26

You're invited to come spend time at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp for personal reflection, renewal, and professional development with other youth, family, children, young adult, and faith formation leaders!

This is a FREE retreat for folks in the Rocky Mountain Synod! Folks outside of the synod are welcome to join. The 2023 theme is LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Faith Formation. Deacon Ross Murray, Pastor Kelsey Fauser, and Daniel Kirschbaum will be our content speakers and conversation facilitators.

Contact Bryan at Bryan@bethany-denver.org or Alec Celecki at 303-912-0283 with questions. Use QR code to register or click button below.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Guns, Violence, Security in the U.S.: What Might the ELCA Say Now?

April/May 2023

The April issue of JLE publishes the papers and proceedings from The Lutheran Ethicists’ Network Gathering that was held in January. The conference topic in 2023 was “Guns, Violence, Security in the U.S.: What Might the ELCA Say Now?” This issue is released the same week as the mass shooting at The Covenant School, in Nashville. The first funeral for the six victims, for 9 year old Evelyn Dieckhaus, was yesterday, Friday, March 31, 2023. Our hearts break for these 3 children and 3 adults killed, their parents and families, the survivors, and for all those children in other schools who are yet again frightened to realize anew their vulnerability to gun violence even, and especially, in places where they should be safe and secure to learn and to play. Read more >

"The Southern Ohio Synod is one of the most diverse synods in the country. It extends God's mission to several major metropolitan areas and many small town and rural settings from north of Columbus, south to the Ohio River. Post-modern urban lifestyles contrast with a significant, nearby Appalachian culture.

Here is an exciting glimpse into what the Bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod could be reporting in the year 2025, as we move forward in living the Values and implementing this Vision. Indeed, we invite you to boldly embrace the future with us as we head into the future–Stronger and Better Together: Joining Jesus in the Restoration of the World."

The Rev. Suzanne Darcy Dillahunt was elected June 7, 2019 to serve a second six-year term as bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod. Read her story in this article from Living Lutheran.

Visit southernohiosynod.org and on Facebook.

Click here for a map of our 65 ELCA synods and 9 regions.