Go & Tell the Story

By Rev. Ricardo Riqueza Diversity. What is diversity? My diversity experience has been part of my ministry from the start. My experience with Clinical Pastoral Education at the San Francisco Night Ministry and my Teaching Parish in Berkeley, both in   California, taught me a lot about diversity. In San Francisco, I witness that the disease of addiction and mental health affects all regardless of their race and economic status. The “outcast” in the streets of San Francisco became “invisible” to the vast majority of members of our society. The homeless population that I met was diverse in races but had a common denominator that was most of them felt ostracized by society in general. Diversity in ministry was an eye-opener for me. I was born and raised in Brazil near Sao Paulo, I grew up as a white person, I never had to face the racism and prejudice that the black Brazilian have to face in their everyday life. As a South American, in the United States, my journey was

By Rev. Sadi Omar Vila, San Andreas- Iglesia Luterana "San Andrés is a good place ..." When the people of Israel left Egypt, their expectations were great and their assurances were few. They entered a territory rich in hopes and promises but unknown after all. They did not imagine a long and painful journey, but they did not back down. Moses led the search for a good place to celebrate their liberation, their reunion of love, their identity. Somehow —and we do not know how— I think they also had reasons to be happy ... because happiness also abounds in the midst of sadness.   This happens in San Andrés. Happiness is never a guarantee but there are plenty of reasons to smile and look to the future with hope and enthusiasm.  We are a community of faith, a community that walks looking for and building that good place to celebrate. Our pastoral project is based on the educational experience of the faith. We do not teach, we model behaviors and we share faith in a naturally

By Rebecca Sheridan, Nebraska Synod Evangelist Matthew 28:16-20 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”             For the last five years in my position as Nebraska Synod Evangelist, this passage from the end of Matthew has come up quite a bit, as if God has been trying to tell me something.   You may recognize it as the Great Commission.   In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus also gives us the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39).   As modern-day disciples of Jesus, sometimes we are tempted to pick and