This month I’d like to encourage you to visit one of the many websites of our church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The web site, www.livinglutheran.com is a cousin of our churches main web www.elca.org. Living Lutheran offers timely blogs, videos and stories of an active and changing church. Allow me to share two stories that I found interesting.

As a pastor and as a father with a daughter who suffers from severe peanut allergies, I am always concerned as to how we as the church might make our buildings safe places for those who suffer from allergies.

Allergies can be more than an inconvenience, allergies can be life threating. I have experienced the terror of watching a child struggle to breath. I have watched helplessly as first responders rushed our daughter to the emergency room after being exposed to something as minute as peanut dust. I wanted to address the allergy issue in the scroll so I began to do some research. I’m not at all sure why but the first place I went to was www.elca.org. There I searched under the keyword “allergies” and was redirected to livinglutheran.com were I found an article “Welcoming and supporting those with allergies, asthma.”

This article offered suggestions as to how we might make our churches safe places for those with allergies. The suggestions included:

• Urge parents and leaders to provide snacks without nuts and nut oils (such as almond extract) or to mark baked goods containing these items.
• Make it known that non-wheat or gluten-free bread is also available for communion.
• Liability concerns are prompting many congregations to remove medications and Epi-Pens from first aid kits. Instead, train leaders to recognize symptoms and warning signs of asthma attacks or allergic reactions. A call to 911 is the preferred response.
• Invite a parish nurse or health care professional to meet with committees and other leaders to address a holistic approach to maintaining a healthy environment at church.
• Building maintenance is critical in combating mold. Keep the roof leak-free, control humidity and seal areas prone to moisture.

While on the Living Lutheran, one of the other stories I read was the story of Elizabeth Platz. Elizabeth, was the first woman ordained in the Lutheran Church in America, an ELCA predecessor church body in 1965.

Looking towards retirement and reflecting on her ordination Elizabeth writes “her path to ordination was an act of the Holy Spirit supported by professors and seminary presidents, most of who happened to be men, who helped to pave the way”. “There were people who opened doors for me every step of the way,” she continued “and those doors continued to open for the next 47 years.”

Check out a rather humorous video on livinglutheran.com of how God is at work with our hands in a video put together by a friend and classmate, Pastor Pete Warmanen, St. Paul Lutheran, Medford, Wisconsin.

At the website, livinglutheran.com, you’ll find blogs stories and videos of an alive, active and a changing church. A church of which I am proud to be a member.

Serving together with you in Christ,
Pastor Tom Hillertz