News

As you may know we keep small food pantry for our students. They will be returning in August and it is time to restock the pantry! The pantry is a set of bookshelves just inside the main entrance of the Campus Center. Always popular are soups, ramen, mac and cheese, snacks, and other non-perishable food items. Students often stop in and make a lunch or take a can or box of something with them to their room/apartment. With over a third of ASU students experiencing food anxiety each week, this  and our twice weekly meals for students is a help to insure our students are not among that category. Thanks!!

Perspective: Why the ELCA welcomes refugees by Michael Rinehart, June 20, 2019

When World Refugee Day arrives on June 20, we will be several years into the largest refugee crisis the world has ever seen. Extreme weather, poverty and violence are pushing our neighbors to migrate. 

In March, Cyclone Idai killed 1,000 in southeastern Africa and left 110,000 in refugee camps. In Yemen, searing conflict and extreme poverty forced 3 million people to flee their homes; 280,000 have sought asylum in other countries. Closer to home, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa in Honduras have the highest homicide rates in the world.  

These are three of many hot spots around the world. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 68.5 million people are displaced—one-third are refugees and many are children. At the risk of sounding cliché, what would Jesus do? 

Read the full article at LivingLutheran.org

For many Lutherans, immigration is a memory that is still alive in ourselves and our families. You may have grown up in a congregation that worshipped in different languages. Your home church might have had German inscribed in the stained glass, or you celebrated a holiday with special foods.

Our involvement with immigration is as old as the Bible. The people of Israel were refugees. The Holy family were refugees. It continued into post World War II, when one in every six Lutherans was a refugee. It continues today in the work of the Lutheran World Federation, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, and other organizations.

We are Lutheran and we are a pro-immigrant church.

Living in this place and time, there are many fears. Uncertainty about the future of our church, our economy, and our safety. Public discourse can feed into this fear.

It is helpful to remember that immigrants pay taxes, add to the economy as consumers, and generate revenue as business owners. They comprise a significant and important part of the workforce. They are an important part of our Synod’s diverse and thriving communities, and make contributions that benefit all of us.

Our current immigration system is in need of repair, and I hope and pray we can have civil conversations about change that makes sense. I believe people of faith, people of this Synod, are needed voices.

As we converse, let’s retain the humanity of these neighbors at the center of our hearts and actions. Scripture is clear. God calls us to hospitality. The Kingdom of Heaven has no borders.

I am thankful for the congregations that have been leaders in sheltering asylum seekers under their roofs, co-sponsored newly arriving refugee families, and have raised their voices to elected officials.

More hands are needed for all of these initiatives. Contact Pastor Kevin Meyer (LSS-SW), Pastor Jeff Kallevig or Pastor Mateo Chavez (Cruzando Fronteras a joint ministry of the Grand Canyon Synod and Episcopal Dioceses of Arizona), or the Office of the Bishop (advocacy) for more information how to get started.

As Martin Luther remarked, when hospitality is shown to the persecuted and oppressed, “God himself is in our home, is being fed at our house, is lying down and resting.”

Grateful for how God works through you in the world,

The Rev. Deborah K. Hutterer

Bishop 

Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA