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All Saints Day

October 28, 2026

All Saints Day falls on November 1, which this year is a Sunday. In worship, we will remember with gratitude those who have died, especially those from our congregation who have died in the past year. We give thanks for the communion of saints—the living and the dead—held together in God's unfailing love. We will name with joy those from our congregation newly baptized and newly confirmed. And, together, we will celebrate the promise that, in Christ, death never has the final word.

Reminder! DAYLIGHT SAVING ENDS SUNDAY!  A reminder to turn your clocks back one hour on Saturday evening--we look forward to that extra hour of sleep and a special Sunday together at 9am and 11am.

Faith Milestones

October 21, 2026

This Sunday is such a special day for the ECLC community! We invite you to wear red as we celebrate Reformation Sunday, a reminder of Martin Luther’s work which eventually kick started the Reformation. On this Lutheran holiday, we will also be celebrating important faith milestones at both services!!

At the 11am service, three students are affirming their Baptisms through the rite of Confirmation. These students were baptized as infants and were promised that they would be supported through their faith journeys throughout their lives by their community. Now, after three years of attending confirmation class and spending this fall working on a faith statement and project, they will publicly confess their faith in church, affirming that they will be making their faith their own; continuing the covenant made with God on their behalf at the time of their baptisms. 

Earlier in the morning, at the 9am service, twelve students will receive Bibles to use and study! Whether it’s the first Bibles that will belong to them alone, or it’s the next Bible that matches where they are developmentally, this milestone will empower these students to grow in faith in this community. 

I hope you can join us on Sunday to encourage and support these young people as they take their next steps in faith at ECLC!

-Kaya Hougen, Director of Children, Youth & Family Ministry

Children, Youth, & Families 

October 14, 2026

With school well underway, so is the program year here at ECLC! For kids and youth in our congregation, that means weekly Sunday School for kids of all ages, weekly Confirmation classes for Middle Schoolers, and fun events monthly for Middle and High School Students. ECLC serves nearly 100 kids between 0-18 with each age group steadily growing in size! In the coming months, thank you for praying for our students’ spiritual formation, that they would grow together in community, and for their classroom teachers, small group leaders, and mentors that walk with them throughout the year. 

Ministry of Compassion – ECLC Funeral Coordinator      

September 30, 2026

ECLC has a tradition of openness and deep compassion for those who grieve the death of loved ones. We hold our saints in our hearts and honor the pain of loss. 

At the time of a funeral or memorial service, our volunteer Funeral Coordinator has been a resource for loved ones. The myriad of decisions that need to be made can be overwhelming, especially when people are grieving.  The Funeral Coordinator walks families through details, supports them in making decisions about logistics, and guides the many moving parts the day of the service. This frees the pastors to attend to the grieving. 

Eileen S has served as Funeral Coordinator for 17 years with dedication, kindness, and compassion. Rynda C and others have also helped, but she has been the main go-to, and we are so grateful. She is stepping aside as the lead person on this ministry, and we are blessed to have Wendy W and Jeannie T stepping up. They also will bring many gifts to this ministry. 

If you have an interest in helping with funeral ministry, please contact Pastor Jeff.

National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding School Survivors

September 23, 2026

A week from today, on September 30, those who stand in solidarity with Native neighbors will mark with them the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding School Survivors. On Sunday, the 27th, ECLC will help you prepare. First, reground yourself in the idea of “all our relatives”, a Lakota idea that we are related to every person and thing around us. The kids at JAM camp last summer learned about this, Mitakuye Oyasin. Ask them! This is not a foreign idea to those of us who profess to be Christians. We enter this relationship with repentance, resolved to do better.

Second, wear an orange shirt to worship on Sunday, the 27th, and on the 30th. An orange shirt has become the symbol of the Day of Remembrance. An orange shirt reminds us of the way love and belonging were stripped from even very young Native children when they were sent to federal boarding schools (many of which were run by churches), whose purpose was to extinguish their culture. During Community Enrichment between services on the 27th, Elizabeth Andress will help us find the words to answer the question, “Why are you wearing an orange shirt?” Stop by and visit with members of the Indigenous Rights Team at the table outside Fellowship Hall.

Third, wear your orange shirt on Wednesday, September 30, and share with at least one person why you are. Take a picture of yourself on the 30th and post it on the ECLC Member Facebook Page. Being public about our support is a way to acknowledge our repentance and our commitment to do better.

Fourth, if you’ve not purchased an “official” orange shirt, do so here to get ready for next year! You’ll be supporting the important work the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a local non-profit leading repair work in the United States, including advocating for a federal Truth and Healing Commission on U.S. Boarding School Policies.

Mental Health Matters: Join ECLC at NAMI Walks! 

September 16, 2026

Our faith tell us: you matter.  Your body.  Your spirit. Your mind.  Caring for our mental health is one of many ways we live out our faith: it is why  ECLC is in deep partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Minnesota.   If you're seeking support, NAMI offers a number of support groups listed here to help.

NAMI not only offers direct support, but also is a highly regarded educator on mental health and leading advocate for mental health policy across Minnesota.  All of these life-changing and state-improving resources cost money...and NAMI's biggest fundraiser of the year is upon us! 

Join Team ECLC Partners in Mission invites you to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and raise funds by participating in NAMI Walks on Saturday, September 26th at 9am at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.  Join over a thousand marchers for an inspiring walk with your ECLC community as we show up en masse in support of mental health!   Not able to walk that day?  You can help Team ECLC Partners in Mission reach our $5000 goal by donating directly to the team here. 

To donate to our team or join us to walk, see our team page here and click on "Join Our Team" or "Support Us."   Thank you, ECLC, for showing up for ALL aspects of ECLC!  With questions or to get help registering, contact ECLC liaison Paula  P  or Deacon Lauren.

RENEWAL SUNDAY 

WORSHIP AT 9AM AND 11AM  with a JUSTICE & JOY FESTIVAL AT 10AM

September 9, 2026

This Sunday, we kick off our program year with a special Justice & Joy Festival between services.   

We are a congregation that does not ignore the injustices, sorrows, and suffering in our lives and in this world.  And, we continue to see and experience God's activity among us:  in worship through lifted song, in intergenerational community connections, in compassion from a neighbor, in children being baptized.   

This Sunday, let us recognize what God seeks in our world at our Justice & Joy Festival, including: 

• Photo Booth
• Signing welcome cards for new LGBT inclusive congregations 
• Pinata bursting at 10:30am with pinatas made by JAM Camp kids
• Intergenerational Prayer Partner Wall 
• Operation Metro Surge Storytelling 
• Noticing pocket-sized Jesus around the building! 
• Staff Emoji justice & joy boards

ECLC kids are also invited to visit their Sunday School classrooms to be ready for the start of Sunday School next Sunday.  

Look - What We’ve Done Together!

August 26, 2026

We’re only partway through 2026, and already there is so much to celebrate at ECLC.

Every Sunday when we gather for worship, every child who finds a place where they know they belong, every song sung, coffee shared, prayer offered, new person welcomed, and neighbor served is part of the ministry we create together.

And you make it possible.

Your generosity this year has supported vibrant worship and music, children and youth ministry, pastoral care, faith formation, House Churches, community gatherings, justice work, care for our building, technology that connects people beyond our walls, and partnerships that carry ECLC’s mission into our community and around the world.

Some of these ministries are easy to see. Others happen quietly, a conversation, a hospital visit, a repaired drinking fountain, a welcoming space prepared for a community group, or the technology that allows someone to worship with us from home. But all of it matters.

Thank you.

Thank you for every gift, every electronic gift, every recurring donation, every check, every donor-advised fund gift, every stock transfer, every qualified charitable distribution from an IRA, every wire transfer, and every act of generosity.

Together, those gifts become ministry. They become connection. They become welcome. They become justice, compassion, faith, and joy.

Numbers on a financial statement tell one part of our story. But the impact of your giving tells another. We want you to see and feel the laughter, relationships, music, service, learning, and beautiful moments happening at ECLC every week.

So, we decided to show you!

We put together a fun three-minute video celebrating just some of what your generosity has helped make possible in 2026. It’s three minutes of ministry, community, and mission and a whole lot of ECLC joy.

Click here, turn up the sound, and enjoy.

And as you watch, know this: you helped make this story possible.

Thank you for being part of what WE CAN do together.

Abundantly,

Anne Gustafson
Director of Finance & Administration

Justice and Joy

August 19, 2026

As we cherish the end of summer and move towards the more structured time of autumn, know that your ECLC Council has been working hard to develop priorities for our ministry here for the next 3-5 years. 

As we continue to listen to where God is calling us in this work of prioritization, as Rostered Ministers (your co-pastors and deacon), we have been talking about what we notice as two great strengths are already alive at ECLC: justice and joy. Along with the work of the council, we hope to make this a theme this year for worship, ministry, and fellowship in our congregation.

As a congregation that values justice, we know that faith is not private kindness alone. It is public love. ECLC has shown a deep commitment to human dignity, courageous welcome, public witness, advocacy, generosity, and care for neighbors whose lives are threatened or dismissed.

We are also a congregation marked by joy. Music, art, beauty, laughter, playfulness, worship, friendship, and hope are not extras here. They are part of how God sustains us. To be clear, this joy is not a joy that ignores hardship. It is a joy of truth and depth, that acknowledges lament and sorrow are no less faithful than joy. We know that our God is “big enough to hold all our emotions and times” (Debie Thomas). And, as a community, we find joy in gathering, in truth telling, in seeing one another wholly, in sharing God’s grace with one another.

Quoting the hymn, “For Everyone Born,” God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy. We believe the balance of these two will center us in whatever goals we have for the future. Joy keeps justice from becoming bitterness. Justice keeps joy from becoming escape.

In this next season, we want to name, affirm, leverage these strengths more intentionally. We do not take these strengths for granted. Any muscle will atrophy if not challenged. We want to exercise our strengths of justice and joy to shape not only what we do, but how we live together.

How do you notice the values of Justice and Joy here at ECLC? How do you carry them in your own life?

Music Ministry at ECLC

August 12, 2026

As we move toward the start of the program year, music ministry at ECLC has much to look forward to. Some of that began on Sunday, August 9th, when volunteers from the band gathered with Paul and Melissa to share some music and community. As the band takes on new leadership with Paul Damico-Carper, he shares some thoughts about what music ministry looks like:

Congregational singing is the core of music in worship and is the most basic way we participate. Through music we pray, praise, lament, encourage, and challenge. The music in our worship is born of our cultures, and connects to cultures not our own. It has the capacity to transcend culture and to challenge our cultural assumptions. Our communal song makes us a people who breathe together as one. And its patterns and repetition shape us into beloved community.

As we continue to grow community through shared music-making, we look forward to Sundays with both eclectic and themed musical languages. Be on the lookout for opportunities to join the singing and imagine where God might be calling us together!

Camp Wapo       

August 5, 2026

It’s that time of year again where over 20 ECLC kids head to Camp Wapo in Amery, WI for either a full week for Youth Camp or just a couple of nights for Seeds Camp. Each day kids spend at camp will be full of worship, games, delicious camp food, swimming, campfires, hype from high-energy counselors, and sweet time together with new and old friends. Camp is such a powerful way that kids can get away from their everyday routines, build confidence, practice independence, and encounter the Holy Spirit. As I spend the rest of the week at camp, I invite you to join me in prayer for all the ways God is working through Camp Wapo and in campers’ lives. 

-Kaya, ECLC Director of CYF Ministry