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PreTrial Fairness & Minnesota Freedom Fund

June 10, 2026

The Pretrial Fairness Team at ECLC and Minnesota Freedom Fund — ECLC Mission Partner of the Month partner through court watch and advocacy issues to eliminate cash bail and increase equity in the pretrial system.

Why do people of faith care about cash bail and pretrial fairness?
As people of faith, compelled by the liberating message of the gospel, we feel called to respond to the breach in God’s community created by the cash bail system. ECLC’s Pretrial Fairness Team aims to further our congregation’s justice work by addressing the system’s inequities. We look for ways to educate ourselves, the congregation, and our community at large so we can support policy changes to the pretrial process.

What is pretrial detention and what are the systemic inequities?
People arrested or charged with a crime, but not convicted, who do not have the resources to pay the bail or follow conditions set by the judge, are held in jail for weeks to months prior to their trial. Simply put it is wealth-based detention. In 2023 the Minnesota legislature directed the Minnesota Justice and Research Center (MNJRC) to study our state’s pretrial system and make recommendations to improve it. 

They found that:

• about 56% of the people in Minnesota jails have not been convicted of a crime and Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native Minnesotans are vastly overrepresented in pretrial populations.
• there are two tiers of justice—one for those with money and one for those without.
• pretrial detention is deeply detrimental to individuals, families and communities.
• detention reduces community safety over the long term because people lose housing, employment, and access to other resources while in jail.
• community members, attorneys, and judges directly involved with the system agree that Minnesota’s pretrial system is not working as it should.

Announcing our New Associate Music Director!

June 3, 2026

With joy and gratitude, we are delighted to share that Paul Damico-Carper will be joining the ECLC staff as our new Associate Music Director.

Throughout the search process, we were looking for someone with musical excellence, creativity, theological depth, collaborative spirit, a deep respect for the song of the whole assembly, and an ability to rock the house from time to time. In Paul, we found those gifts in abundance.

Paul brings wide experience in Lutheran worship, congregational song, music leadership, composition, and collaborative worship planning. He has served as Interim Co-Director of Music and Worship at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and as Assistant Director of Music and Worship Production at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Saint Paul. His work has included leading eclectic and multicultural worship, involving members in shared music-making, directing ensembles, beginning new musical ministries, supporting livestream worship, and helping congregations sing music from around the world.

Paul is also a composer whose hymns, songs, and chants have been published by Augsburg Fortress. His background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Valparaiso University and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He has also brought his gifts to Holden Village, ELCA Churchwide Assemblies, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and a wide range of concerts, workshops, and church gatherings.

Those who know Paul speak of him with remarkable warmth. One reference described him as “an outstanding musician and an even nicer human being.” Another spoke of the breadth and depth of his musicianship, his gifts for composition, his commitment to justice, and his strength as a collaborator. Again and again, we heard that Paul brings not only skill, but kindness, creativity, steadiness, and a genuine love for the church’s song.

We are excited for the gifts Paul will bring to ECLC’s worship life: his musical imagination, his collaborative spirit, his commitment to justice, his love of congregational song, and his ability to help communities make music together with courage and joy. He will begin his ministry with us in July. Watch for information on the chance to meet him.  

Kick Off Summer with ECLC’s Neighborhood Parties

May 20, 2026

Inspired by the God of relationship, ECLC takes the "community" part of our name seriously. It means showing up for each other, worshipping and learning about God together, making connections across generations, praying and comforting one another in times of struggle, and having FUN together! 

We know people come from far and wide to be part of the ECLC community, so each year we plan Neighborhood Parties to help you connect to your closest ECLC neighbors! It's a meaningful, simple way to make new connections and find out who lives just around the corner from you. This year's potluck parties are Wednesday, June 10th at 6pm. 

RSVP now for one of ECLC's six neighborhood potluck parties: 

Eden Prairie & Minnetonka's Neighborhood Party hosted by Loren & Whitney H 
Edina's Neighborhood Party hosted by Doyle & Kim R
Minneapolis East of 35W's Neighborhood Party with host TBD 
Minneapolis West of 35W's Neighborhood Party hosted by Jan K and Peggy & Wayne K
Richfield & Bloomington's Neighborhood Party hosted by Katia M & Melanie R 
St. Louis Park & Golden Valley's Neighborhood Party hosted by Jim J & Elaine W 

Don't live in one of these cities? You're warmly invited to choose the potluck party closest to you or contact Deacon Lauren to help you find the closest party to you.

Happy Summer!
Deacon Lauren

Paul Andress: Professional Joy-Shouter  
 

May 13, 2026

Edina Community Lutheran Church is many things. Engaged. Optimistic. Driven. A thousand other adjectives that help the world know the kind of congregation that we are. 

But one thing that ECLC is not is quiet.

We aren’t quiet when we’re protesting in our community. We aren’t quiet when we welcome new people in worship. And we certainly aren’t quiet when we sing. One person in particular may be the least quiet among us, and that’s a gift we are all grateful for. 

Paul Andress started his career at ECLC in 1984. Not as the music director we all know and love, but as the Youth Director that many ECLC members still remember him as. Excerpts from ECLC newsletters from the 1980s detail the ways that Paul engaged the youth of our congregation back then. Horseback riding, roller skating, and hayrides were just a few of the entertainment options he brought to the congregation before leaving this position in 1988.

Most of us know Paul for the role he took on at ECLC in the year 2000: Music Leader. Instead of riding horses, he wrote worship songs. Instead of roller skating, he brought new musical genres and perspectives to our church. I don’t have a good pun for what hayrides turned into across these twenty-six years. But hey, what a ride it’s been.

Forgive me for getting emotional here, but if you look over at the drum set during Sunday’s worship service, I’m confident I’ll be even more emotional over there. I didn’t know anything about Paul Andress before I first came to ECLC in 2018, but he’s one of the primary reasons that I kept coming back. 

My wife had told me that church didn’t have to be the way it was for me growing up. What she meant by that was a church can be a place where you feel loved and accepted. What I learned is that church can be a place where you may hear bluegrass music one week, hymns from the 16th century the next week, followed by 12-bar blues the week after. And I wanted to be a part of all of it.

As soon as I learned that ECLC had this dynamic, wacky, talented musician and that the drum set behind him sat empty some weeks, I knew what I had to do. First, become a member of ECLC. Second, get behind that drum set. I knew I was gaining an outlet for my rhythm skills every weekend - what I didn’t know was that I was gaining a role model, an inspiration, and a friend. 

Playing in the ECLC Band with Paul has been a privilege. I know I’m not the only person who thinks that. Nor am I the only one who has grown as a musician, a Christian, and a person under Paul’s leadership. 

These decades of Paul’s music, passion, and infectious joy defined who ECLC is, what we stand for, and how we demonstrate that. After today, Paul’s face won’t be the first thing you see on the staff page of our website anymore. But his face, his voice, and his passion for justice-seeking will be a part of our congregation and our hearts even in his retirement. We’ll have to see whether people still think he’s too loud even without a microphone!

Psalm 98 tells us to “shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.” Paul’s job required him to do much more than play music for a few hours every Sunday. ECLC needed someone to shout for joy and burst into jubilant song. And we needed someone who could get us to do the same. 

I know that we will shout and burst and sing and dance and clap and laugh and cry again after Sunday, like we have before Paul Andress played his first note for us. We’re so fortunate to have had him as one of our Music Leaders, and even more fortunate that we’ll still have him as an ECLC member and a friend.

-Madelyn W.

Minneapolis Synod Assembly                

May 6, 2026

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for the one who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Last Friday evening and Saturday, representatives from our 137 worshipping communities of the Minneapolis Area Synod gathered at Lord of Life in Ramsey for our annual Synod Assembly. Pastor Jeff, Pastor Gretchen, Deacon Lauren, Carla Carlson, Barry Lau, and Tyler Moe-Slepica represented ECLC at the event, joined by Kriss Ross representing retired clergy. 

Bishop Jen Nagel led us as we worshipped together joined by the amazing synod youth choir, honored retiring synod staff (including Pastor John Hulden and Vice President Felicia Boone), elected new officers to synod committees and positions, and considered resolutions for our synod. In addition to passing a resolution on the 2026 and 2027 budgets for the synod, we also passed a resolution to create a task force to empower and educate congregations in their use and understanding of artificial intelligence, especially considering its environmental impact. Finally, we passed a resolution to encourage both the congregations of the Minneapolis Area Synod and the ELCA Churchwide organization to actively participate in the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action.

Along with the business of the day, we were led in Bible study by our ELCA Churchwide Representative, Pastor Miguel F. Gomez-Acosta. As a whole, we reflected on the passage from Hebrews above, as well as our shared experiences of this year during Operation Metro Surge. We considered what it means to hold fast to hope and to provoke one another to love and good deeds.

The Synod Assembly is a joyful gathering to connect as Lutherans in the Minneapolis Area. We have the opportunity to visit booths, including our mission partners as Bright Stars of Bethlehem, as well as a couple of our own ECLC members sitting at the booth for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. This year there was a service project for us to participate in as our mission partners at Lutheran Social Services gathered hygiene and snack kits for homeless youth- empowered by the $1300 gathered at ECLC on Sunday, April 26th for feminine hygiene products. Thanks to all who gave!

Please continue to pray for the leaders and people of our synod as we find ways to be church together.