Pray for Lucas Chatelain, an ELCA missionary in Tokyo who is teaching English as a second language.

God did not send the Son Jesus ... to condemn the world, but ... that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

God will gather the people

Then the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, your kinsfolk, your own kin, your fellow exiles, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, "They have gone far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession." Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far away among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they have gone. Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. When they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God.

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. And the glory of the Lord ascended from the middle of the city, and stopped on the mountain east of the city. The spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen left me. And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert G. Schaefer, Venice, Fla., was elected May 4 to a six-year term as bishop of the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Schaefer was elected on the sixth ballot during the synod assembly May 2-4 in Orlando, Fla. “I am deeply grateful for the confidence that our assembly has placed in me in this call to serve as their bishop,” said Schaefer, who serves as lead pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran in Venice. “I p...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Rodger C. Prois, Storm Lake, Iowa, was elected April 27 to a six-year term as bishop of the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Prois was elected on the fifth ballot during the synod assembly April 26-28 in Sioux City, Iowa. Prois serves as interim pastor at St. Mark Lutheran in Sioux City, Iowa, and New Life Lutheran in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. He will be installed as bishop Sept. 1 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ch...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In observance of World Malaria Day April 25, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is emphasizing its commitment to help bring an end to malaria-related deaths with a week- long effort to raise $250,000 for the ELCA Malaria Campaign. The money raised April 22-29 will help spur the ELCA’s anti-malaria efforts in Uganda, where the disease is the leading cause of death among children under the age of 5. “Gifts given to the ELCA Malaria Campaign this w...

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