November 2022 Edition
updates from the
Reconciling in Christ Team
Latest Happenings
Welcome to the new RIC newsletter! We will be bringing you monthly updates on our progress, along with reflections and resources intended to help us learn together as a congregation.

We have been conducting one-to-one meetings with members of the congregation to create relationships, to discuss our values and our callings, and to intentionally discern, with the help of Christ, who we are, now, as a congregation in this new thing that God is doing.

We're using the free resource book Building an Inclusive Church to guide our journey toward RIC. Check it out for more information on the steps and tools we're following.
Reflection
Land Acknowledgements
by Amy Isler

Early this month, I attended a Racial Justice Training for clergy and lay leaders conducted by the Lower Susquehanna Synod in PA, taught by The Rev. Carla Christopher Wilson. One of the highlights was a discussion of Land Acknowledgments. As November is National Native American Heritage Month, this was a well-timed opportunity to explore the concept and its impact.

A Land Acknowledgement first acknowledges that a church building is located on land that was unceded, meaning taken, from indigenous people. Continue Reading
Resource
Reconciling Works, the organization that oversees the Reconciling in Christ program, advocates for the acceptance, full participation, and liberation of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions within the Lutheran Church.
Welcoming Intentionally, Growing Authentically, Sharing in Community
Welcoming in God's Grace
calls us to see God in all people and to open our hearts to them. As a reflection of God’s gracious love, First Lutheran Church welcomes ALL of God’s people with no exceptions! Our faith community invites and welcomes you—regardless of race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender/identity, disability, or economic status—for worship, fellowship, and partnership in ministry.
RIC Core Team Members

Amy Isler
Lisa Andersen
Joanna Casto
Lisa Hines
Bruce Isler
Cathy Rice
Sarah Smit
Looking Outward
North Ave Mission
North Ave Mission is a ministry of the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA. It is a fellowship of people who are unhoused, formerly unhoused, people who are food and housing insecure, people who use drugs and people in recovery, people of faith, no faith, and different faith, those living with addiction, disability, or mental illness and those with lived experience, people who are LGBTQ+, nonbinary, and straight along with their friends and supporters in Station North, Baltimore.