Bishop Jim Gonia

I woke up the other day with the story of Nathan and David on my mind. You might remember this story from 2 Samuel 12 in which the prophet Nathan comes to David after David has used his privilege to send Uriah the Hittite to die on the front lines of battle so that David could claim for himself Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. As Nathan engages David, he describes how a rich man, owner of many flocks, has taken the only lamb of a poor man to prepare a meal for his guest, rather than using his own resources. David is outraged at this injustice and angrily responds that this rich man without pity deserves to die, while the poor man should be restored fourfold what he lost. That is when Nathan utters the words that change everything for David: You are the one! You are the one! These prophetic words confront David with the truth of his complicity in the death of Uriah.   You are the one! These prophetic words expose how David’s failure to recognize his privilege has served as a tool...

Lutheran Day at the Legislature Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Colorado February 27, 2020 As part of my teaching around our ELCA identity called Claiming Our Gifts, I speak of the 14 markers of our ELCA DNA. One of them is our call to be public church, including our ministry of advocacy. It’s not a stretch to think that Lutheran Christians consider advocacy central to our ministry. It’s rooted in our theology of grace – God’s expansive, cross shaped love for all people, without exception, in every circumstance of life, without fail. God’s grace frees us from the illusion that our life must somehow be spent pleasing God so that we can turn our time, attention and energy to loving and serving the neighbor. Part of our love of neighbor is direct and concrete – if my neighbor is hungry, we do what we can to feed them. Part of our love of neighbor goes to the deeper issues: why is my neighbor hungry and what can I do to change the circumstances that keep my neighbor in that s...

In late January my wife, Kim, and I joined in a one-week journey with six fellow ELCA Bishops to visit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (E LCJHL) . Much of our time was spend in the West Bank region of Palestine in communities like Beit Sahour, Bethlehem and Beit Jala, where the Lutheran Christian presence is strongest. We also spent time in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nazareth and then in Jordan for the dedication of the Lutheran Church Bethany beyond the Jordan Baptismal Site .  Language matters. When I first was describing this trip to others, I spoke of going to the Holy Land for the first time. While that was true in a sense, this visit was really about the church to church relationship we enjoy as the ELCA with the ELCJHL. We heard more than once that while many pilgrims comes to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus by seeing historical sites related to the life and ministry of Christ, the real accompaniment with Christ happens ...