Words for a New Week

I am writing this on a Monday and am already prompted to think about the scripture texts for next Sunday because of my morning e-mail. I receive the ELCA World Hunger Sermon Starters each week from the ELCA and find it is a helpful way for me to look ahead and “preach my own sermon” in preparation for what I will hear next Sunday at my home church, Incarnation Lutheran. I am especially appreciative of the inclusion of ideas for a children’s sermon each week; I sometimes find this to be the most enlightening of the whole piece just as I sometimes find a children’s sermon speaks to me more than an “adult” sermon on the same text. I bet you often find that to be true, too.

As you might expect from something that comes through ELCA World Hunger, the reflections incorporate themes of hunger, poverty, justice, and hope. The series are written by varied people, usually for two months at a time. January and February’s author is the Rev. Angela Khabeb, a pastor on staff at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and a graduate of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

If you’ve not signed up to receive the Monday e-mails, I highly recommend that you do so. You needn’t be a rostered person in the ELCA to find them inspirational. You just might find something that would be good fodder for a conversation with your pastor(s) and others before next Sunday. Contact Ryan Cumming at ELCA World Hunger at ryan.cumming@elca.org and ask to be added to the e-mail list for the sermon starters.

Vernita Kennen

Incarnation Lutheran, Shoreview