On the first Sunday in Advent, the start of the Christian new year, we began praying together this Prayer of Discernment:

To access our 2024 Vision & Spending Priorities and 2024 Proposed Mission Plan, click here.

There is no more difficult conversation in which a congregation must engage than the conversation about finance. The Bible underscores that fact: there are more than 2000 references to money, many more than almost every other subject.

As part of our 2024 Stewardship Appeal, the Stewardship Team invited Nancy Rosenthal to share why she gives to New Journey Lutheran Church in worship on November 5.

Why the color blue for Advent? As you may have noticed our worship space is filled with the color blue for Advent.

This month, for our Stewardship column, we hear from one of our friends and members, Deb Bigley, on the topic of gratitude. Deb shares this personal witness from her life.

As I write this Pastor’s Pen article, I am enjoying the tranquility and peace of the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale while attending the Bishop’s Fall Gathering with about 60 of my colleagues from around the Grand Canyon Synod.

Spend twenty minutes writing two versions of a story. You might begin with a lament or longing. Something you had hoped would be different in your life or in the world.

The final issue that New Journey will be supporting on Reformation Sunday is Mesa’s “Off the Streets” Program. This bill will help the City of Mesa purchase the Grand Hotel at 6733 E. Main Street so that they can help provide temporary housing and support for those experiencing homelessness.

Another bill New Journey will be supporting on Reformation Sunday is the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) bill.

On Reformation Sunday, we will be hosting a round of letter-writing in support of policy initiatives for the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill. To learn more about the various Farm Bills being considered by Congress, please click the links below.

From the ELCA: As the crisis between Hamas and Israel continues, the ELCA denounces the egregious acts of Hamas, acts that have led to unspeakable loss of life and hope. At the same time the ELCA denounces the indiscriminate retaliation of Israel against the Palestinian people, both Christian and Muslim. We are in anguish, grieving and praying for all people who are living in trauma, fear and uncertainty.

Read Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's full statement below.

As part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s initiative entitled, “God’s Work. Our Hands,” New Journey Lutheran Church packed welcome bags for refugees arriving in Phoenix on Sunday, Sept. 10.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s been a long, hot and dry summer in Arizona. No monsoon weather this summer. Fear not! The Lord is with us and sending us into the season of Fall.

Since the August e-News went to press before completion of heat respite lunch packs, here are additional details:

Sometimes, being a pastor in God’s church and world is overwhelming. There is always something to accomplish, a person to visit, a call to make, a meeting to prepare for, a sermon to write.

On Sunday, July 24, New Journey Lutheran Church hosted as guest preacher and fellowship discussant Ms. Solveig Muus, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (www.LAMAz.org).

Residents of Fountain Hills, individually and through faith, civic and other organizations, are generous in addressing local, national and international hunger. We support Extended Hands and St. Mary’s Food Banks, pack heat respite lunches, volunteer annually for Food for Kidz and much more.

“You are cordially invited.” Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie preached to a room of nearly 400 ELCA deacons and pastors at the opening worship service of the Rostered Ministers Gathering (RMG) hosted at the Phoenix Convention Center in mid-July.

As Christian people, we are called to profess hope.

In a world that seems hell-bent on violence and destruction and death, here we are, the people of God: singing and praying, serving and sharing all because we have hope for a world that can be better.