St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Silver Spring

Saint Stephen will hold a Blessing of the Animals/St. Francis Worship with Metro D.C. Synod, ELCA Bishop Philip Hirsch preaching at 10:00am.

🌿 Save the Date: October 4th.

On October 4th, the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, we will gather as one global family to give thanks, celebrate, and share a message of hope with the world.
🙏 Together, we will celebrate the beauty of all creation and the hope that emerges when we walk united for justice, peace, and care for our common home.

🕗 9am New York | 6am Los Angeles | 4pm Nairobi | 9pm Manila
🌐 Interpretation will be available in multiple languages.
✨ Save the date and join us for this closing celebration. May the spirit of Saint Francis continue to inspire us to live with simplicity, gratitude, and love for all creation.

Don’t miss it!

The Season of Creation 2026 calls us to do something essential: to pause, reflect, understand, and act. 🌍

Sending love to everyone who is carrying more than usual right now.

If work feels overwhelming, relationships feel complicated, or life simply feels like too much, be gentle with yourself. You do not have to solve everything today.

Take the next step. Breathe. Rest when you need to. Trust that God is present even in the uncertainty.

One day at a time. One moment at a time. Grace is there, too.

Keep choosing the good.
Keep showing up when it matters.
Keep loving generously.
Keep offering kindness.
Keep speaking with courage.
Keep caring when it would be easier not to.
Keep learning, growing, and trying again.
Keep making room for grace.
Keep believing that small acts of compassion matter.

The world can give us plenty of reasons to become discouraged. But every act of love, every welcome offered, every burden shared, and every stand for justice adds something good to the world.

So keep going.

The world needs people who still believe love can make a difference.

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
— Philippians 2:4–5

What might change if we entered each conversation, each meeting, each encounter asking not only, “What do I need?” but also, “What does my neighbor need?”

Paul points us toward the way of Christ: a way shaped by humility, compassion, and concern for one another. It is not about making ourselves smaller. It is about making room for one another.

In the days ahead, members of the Deaconess Community will gather for our annual Assembly. We carry this invitation with us, but it belongs to all of us: to listen generously, to honor the gifts of others, and to seek together what serves the good of our neighbors and our world.

May the mind of Christ shape how we meet one another this week.

🌏 The takes us through every region of the world over a year. This week we pray for , , and .
🗓️ 20 - 26 September 2026
🔗 Find the prayer material here: https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/prayer-cycle/argentina-paraguay-uruguay
🙏 God of life,
you put in human beings
the imprint of your image and likeness
and made us to participate with you in your creation.
Forgive our incapacity to respect and protect life in all its forms.

Services commemorating World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel “sign of hope and resilience” In connection with the start of the World Council of Churches (WCC) World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center with the General Secretariat of Christian Educational Institutions organized three services in Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem with ov...

During this Season of Creation,
grant us courage to observe
a Sabbath for our planet.

Strengthen us with the faith
to trust in your providence.
Inspire us with the creativity
to share what we have been given.
Teach us to be satisfied with enough.
And as we proclaim a
Jubilee for the Earth,
send Your Holy Spirit to renew
the face of the ground.

Creative Spirit,
enlighten our hearts
and remain with your world.
Amen.