How's your health?

Wow! I can't believe Oct. 9 was the last blog. Somehow time gets away from me - just as all my plans for exercising and living right do. This is uppermost on my mind today for several reasons.

First, I had yet another cortisone shot in my right shoulder yesterday to help me cope with ongoing pain. I've also been instructed by the cardiologist to lose weight, cut the cholesterol numbers and exercise more.

Next, I've signed up for our congregation's Pilgrimage to Bethlehem, an Advent journey that church members make in the weeks preceding Christmas. Each 20 minutes of vigorous exercise counts as one mile. All the participants submit their mileage weekly, and, on a large map in the narthex, we chart our "progress" en route from First Lutheran Church, Ellicott City, Md., to Bethlehem, hoping to make it there by Christmas eve in time for the Christ Child's birth. As I read other church newsletters, I see several congregations doing the same thing. It's a great spiritual exercise for me to get outside, away from the almighty computer, and contemplate the wonders of God's paint palette in the fall, as well as being good physical exercise.

Thirdly, I've been using a gift from friends, the Marva Dawn book called Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, as my devotional guide. Its emphasis on the restorative powers of Sabbath-keeping - for mind, body and spirit - is appealing, to say the least.

Also in the back of my mind today: one of the interesting tidbits of information I've picked up through my work with the Stewardship of Life Institute Board of Directors is something many of you probably already know - that good health is a stewardship issue. God had a purpose in giving us these wondrous machines in which our souls reside. I need to continue to remind myself that a healthier me can do much more to bring about the kingdom.

Finally, what do I find in my inbox today but a news release from the ELCA about a presentation to the Conference of Bishops last week about health and wellness issues for rostered leaders. (Rostered leaders = ordained clergy, associates in ministry, diaconal ministers and deaconesses, for those of you not conversant with Lutheran-speak.)

John Kapanke, president of the ELCA Board of Pensions (hereafter the BoP), told the church's 65 bishops at their meeting Oct. 5-10 that the board is concerned that the church "may not be able to grow unless its professional leaders embrace a stronger health and wellness discipline." (That's not a quote from Kapanke but from the news release, just to be clear.) Based on the third annual online health risk assessment conducted by the famed Mayo Clinic for the ELCA's rostered leaders and other employees, the BoP estimates "a fairly low percentage" (Kapanke's words) of those professional leaders live healthy lives. The news release also quotes Kapanke as saying that health trends for ELCA leaders are "deteriorating." The statistics themselves are scary…but you can read them for yourself in the news release.

The ELCA and the BoP provide lots of information about health and wellness. One of the most interesting, IMHO, is the Wholeness Wheel. It shows how physical and emotional health are balanced with vocational, intellectual and social/interpersonal health. Another that I've just discovered but feel particularly drawn to is a list of Ten Best Practices for Health and Wellness. It's written like the 10 Commandments, obviously, but, again, it's an interesting approach to balancing a life of faith and a life of health. An online resource I've used frequently since it was "born" in 2003 is the elcaforwellness.org site. This is a secure, sign-in required site offered by the Mayo Clinic for Board of Pensions members. I've learned quite a bit from their free electronic newsletter, for which you can sign up deeper into the site.

I hope maybe I've inspired myself to get out there and log some more miles for the trip to Bethlehem on this beautiful day - and maybe to have inspired you to check out some of the links in this upload.

Check out Project Connect!

You'll see that I've added a new link to our blog. Project Connect is a groundbreaking effort by the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries (Gettysburg, Philadelphia and Southern) to involve more young adults in discerning a call to ministry. Thanks to a $3 million grant from the Lily Endowment, the project will run for several years and reach out in all sorts of ways. I researched and wrote an article about it for The Lutheran magazine. though I don't know when it's scheduled to appear.

The project Web site is well worth a visit. It's also a great place to refer youth and/or parents of youth. Among the many things the project does is offer retreats to youth who might consider some form of public ministry. There's one coming up Jan. 7-9, 2007, at our own outdoor ministry site, Mar-Lu-Ridge, in fact. The Affirmation of Baptism festivals I typed about in a recent E-Letter are also aspects of the project.

Project Director Don Johnson is excited about the prospect of being in touch with potential candidates as well as church leaders who can help identify such candidates. There's even a secure online database where pastors and rostered leaders can enter contact info for young people from their churches who might be interested.

Pr. Earl Janssen, Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, Severna Park, Md., is the DE-MD Synod discernment advocate for 2006-2007. As such, he will mentor a number of youth who've expressed interested in the ministry as well as make presentations at various events on behalf of Project Connect.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month throughout the United States. Here are some resources for your congregation:

+ The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

+ The Domestic Violence Awareness Project

+ The Family Violence Prevention Fund

+ U.S. Department of Justice Director's Message on Domestic Violence Awareness Month

+ National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women

+ The ELCA Commission for Women offers various print resources

+ The ELCA Website's Christian Education pages offer a series of downloadable .pdf brochures about nurturing faith through life's transitions. Several deal with domestic violence, most notably the Family Pledge of Nonviolence and Nurturing Families Dealing with Domestic Violence.

+ Pr. Sandy Carlson Alexis, Reformation Church, Baltimore, has received special training in domestic violence awareness and prevention. In the Oct. 2005 issue of FaithLines OnLine, she offered suggestions and resources for observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you're looking for the most recent statistics about domestic violence for use in bulletins or temple talks, Sandy offers these sources:

- - In 2006, US residents age 12 or older experienced an estimated 23 million violent and property victimizations, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. This and other important statistics about crime and victimization are available in the just-released "Criminal Victimization 2005" from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

- - "Child Maltreatment 2004," published by the Administration for Children & Families, is a treasure trove of data relevant to child abuse and neglect. It contains lots of good information about both victims and perpetrators; preventive services; and a nice summary of current research in the final chapter.

Talk Turkey for Thanksgiving

The number and quality of resources available on the ELCA Web site never ceases to amaze me! Here's an intriguing one, about how to "Talk Turkey for Thanksgiving" that just came across my desk this morning in a note from the ELCA Wellness Coordinator, Tammy Devine. You don't have to be a member of the ELCA Board of Pensions to access it either.

A cornucopia of resources and links (sorry - I couldn't resist the pun) are available through that page, including a new resource from Aging with Dignity that offers families an opportunity to discuss faith, health and end-of-life questions. Tammy's note describes Five Wishes® as "a living will that asks questions about personal, emotional and spiritual needs, as well as medical wishes." Free copies are available, along with tools to organize a discussion. Estate planning resources are available as well.

One of the most interesting links on the page, IMHO, is a downloadable form called "My Life Story." If nothing else, you could use that form to get folks from the older generation telling stories from their childhood and young adulthood. Several years ago, I read a columnist's lament that, with the advent of electronic communications, people no longer write letters on paper. If you think about the past, how much have we been able to learn from those letters which are published as collections of correspondence and portraits of daily life in days gone by? What will be the means by which our grandchildren's generation learns about life as we're living it now? Maybe "My Life Story" and these other resources will be a starting point.

P.S. While we're on the topic of estate planning, don't forget that those of us in the Delaware-Maryland Synod are fortunate to have access to Jeremy Bouman, ELCA Regional Gift Planner. He meets with individuals and groups to discuss estate planning, charitable giving, tax planning, etc. To arrange an appointment, contact him at (410)230-2868. He also produces an insert for FaithLines each month. Just look in each issue of FaithLines for The Charitable Giver, which is the bottom point in the list of Regular Features in each issue.

The Bishop Blogs

We're still working on the getting the bishop set to blog directly to this site. In the meantime, I'm going to relay messages from him. Thanks for your patience.
-- Linda

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From Bishop Jerry Knoche




In spite of the lateness of the announcement, the speaker for the 2006 Bishop's Leadership Days, the Rev. Dr. Mark Swanson, should produce some real conversation that is pertinent to what's going on in our world. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA. When I served New Hope Church (before becoming bishop) and went door to door visiting in Columbia, Md., I was very surprised to discover that about one in 20 homes I visited were Muslim. Prior to that, when I went on a sabbatical to England in 1990, I lived with a man studying to become a missionary for the Muslims to Canada.

Some issues I see that require more thought are these:
1. As Christians I believe we can be a bridge between Muslims and Jews, the other two religions who see Abraham as their ancestor. That can be very important in relation to strife in the Middle East.
2. Both Islam and Christianity are missionary religions, commanded to proclaim a message so others become believers. When two missionary religions clash it often is not pretty.

Just to talk about these questions would make coming to the leadership days a good thing!

Advent devotions coming up

Before I tell you about the Advent devotions, let me just ask if you're reading the ELCA Uganda Blog? It's linked on the right side of this page and it's well worth checking out. I've been astonished that they've been able to post videos with audio all the way from an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in Africa, and boy, do you get a sense of immediacy.

What I wanted to blog about today briefly, as opposed to my usual longwinded post, is this year's online Advent devotions. For the last two years, we've provided daily devotions throughout Advent, written by volunteers from within the synod. This year, I'm really excited to announce that we're working together with the other seven synods of the ELCA's Region 8 to do it as a joint project. The plan is for all eight bishops to contribute a piece, all eight synod vice presidents, and then, in the case of six synods, another person chosen somewhat randomly. We hope to have not only the writer's picture with each devotion but also a link to the writer's congregation's Web site.

This project is an outgrowth of a meeting I attended a few weeks ago with Bishop Knoche and Vice President Donna Kent in Bedford, Pa. One segment of it had to do with communications and how we can work together to help people in our synods have a stronger sense of who we are as the ELCA. Just listening to each of the bishops do a brief presentation about his/her synod, I was struck with how similar we as the region's synods are in some respects but how incredibly different we are in most others. I'm hoping that this joint devotions project will give readers a chance to experience in some small measure just how strong the ties are that bind us together as Lutherans despite our other differences.

The Oct. issue of FaithLines OnLine, to be posted soon on our Web site, will have available for your use two camera-ready bulletin inserts about the devotions - one in letter size, one in legal size. I'll also try to send you some simpler bulletin blurbs to use in Nov. and Dec. Stay tuned!