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Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

ransformed:Always being made new

Te Daily Call

Celebrating 25 years togetheras a synod and as the ELCA,the Upstate New York SynodAssembly gathers this morn-ing around a theme of trans-formation. In the words ofBishop Marie Jerge, God istransforming us through ourbaptism...and reaching out

to transform the world usingour hands and voices.

As keynote speaker, theassembly welcomes Mr. DonJohnson, Associate in Min-istry and Vice-President ofStudent Development atTe Lutheran TeologicalSeminary at Philadelphia.He will address the assem-bly Friday morning, focusing

on the role of Gods call andvocation in our lives, and onSaturday he will speak aboutthe transforming power ofdiscerning Gods call.

Johnson says there are two things assembly-goerscan do to prepare for his speech: listen for Gods voicefrom within, and listen for Gods voice in the voice ofothers. He also advises that this will not be a tradition-al keynote presentation: Terell be a surprise or two!

Assembly inspired by ELCA 25th

anniversary theme

Early arrivals getto work servingthe community

Tose who arrived early inRochester wasted no time.Tey made a difference rightaway by volunteering at theRonald McDonald Houseand at Foodlink.

At the Ronald McDon-ald House, four volunteerswere hard at work scrubbingwindows, sills, blinds, andscreens in the rooms where

families will stay.I dont get time for this

very often, admitted BishopMarie Jerge. She explainedthat she had spent the morn-ing working on her sermonfor Friday evening, but shewas looking forward to thischance for hands-on service.Tis way, I know I am doingsome good.

o the north, ten vol-unteers were working likeclockwork to fill plastic gro-cery bags with cereal, maca-roni and cheese, ravioli, peas

and carrots, milk, juice, raisins, and cookies. Troughthe BackPack Program, Foodlink provides food for chil-dren who are eligible for free or reduced-price schoollunches. Each bag helps make sure a child will haveenough to eat over the weekend. After three hours, the

volunteers had packed 545 bags of food.Sue Osborne of Holy rinity, Elmira was excited

to be working there for the afternoon, especially be-cause Foodlink provides food to her local food bank inHorseheads. I went right away to sign up, she said.Congregations from Geneseo to East Schodack wererepresented among the volunteers.

Tese ministries stretch across the state. Familiesfrom as far away as Europe and all over New York statestay at the Ronald McDonald House. Te Rochesterlocation of Foodlink helps stock food banks as far away

as Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Southern ier.

Resurrection people who pray first, walk together, and change lives.

Whats Happening oday Plenary 1 begins at 9:00 am

2014 Mission Proposal to be introduced

Proposal to Restructure Synod Council will beintroduced

Fifteen different workshops offered at 1:15 pm

Awards and Recognitions in Plenary 2, 3:15 pm

Worship with Eucharist begins at 7:15 pm

a call to order a call to worship a call to be transformed

Upstate New York Synod Assembly 2013

Friday, June 7Rochester Riverside Convention Center Volume 6:1

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Te Daily Call Friday, page 2

What does it mean to bewho God created us to be?

Do you believe in God? If your answer is, Im a Lu-theran, then you should have been at last nights Imag-ining Mission conversation when the Rev. Laurie Car-son asked this question.

Over 130 people wrestled with what it means to beChristian, what it means to believe in God, and howwe share our faith in actions, not just words. Woventhrough the small group conversations, Organic Faithof Buffalo led the body of Christ in prayerful songabout Gods grace and Gods ability to create thrivinglife even when we walk through the valley of death.

Tat valley can be the death of family and friends ortragedies like bombings and tornadoes, but it is also theway we understand what it means to be church and tobe successful disciples. As the Rev. Matthew Nickoloffasked, Do we evaluate our successes by how many pro-grams our churches have? How big our Sunday Schoolis? Size of worship attendance? Or do we evaluate oursuccess based on what Jesus has done for us?

Tese are hard questions. Tere are pressures weface with meeting budgets, serving our community, and

providing meaningful worship for Gods children. ButGod calls us to resist the temptation to protect the insti-tution of church and instead boldly proclaim the gospel.As Nickoloff declared, God puts his body on the tableevery Sunday even though we put him on the cross.

When Jesus left us, he made it clear that we are toshare this message, reminded ara Eastman, followedby the Rev. Nate Preisinger who urged us to share Godsmessage freely. Just as we see the generosity of childrenwho collect toys, pens, crayon-colored pictures and oth-er treasures and then share them indiscriminately with

others, we are to pick up Gods love and give it away.

Newspaper Production Staff

Editor: Te Rev. Katie YahnsReporter: Te Rev. Norma MalfattiPhotography: Te Rev. Jeff L. Kane

Mr. Dave rulandProduction: Te Rev. Jeff L. KaneDistribution: Ms. Marcia Brown

Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Resurrection people who pray first, walk together, and change lives.

Synodically Approved Sudokucourtesy of websudoku.com

Meet the chaplains

Pictured at left: Te Rev. Rick KwiatkowskiPictured at right: Ms. Pamela Hoh

Not pictured: Sister Donna Font

AnnouncementsSteve Knutson of Portico will be at the tableoutside the plenary hall this morning. If you

receive Portico benefits or are a person who helpsmake insurance decisions in your congregation,please visit Steve today to learn more about themajor changes coming to Portico in 2014 due to

the Affordable Care Act.

Q: Where can I put thesealuminum can tabs?A: Teres a table at registration

with containers and bags for the tabs.

Choir rehearsal will take place today from4:30-5:30 pm in Highland D.

by the Rev. Norma Malfatti

A guitarist from Organic Faith leads the group in song.