The Rev. Yehiel Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will give the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote address at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 19, in the Center for Faith and Life (CFL) Main Hall on Luther College’s campus. The theme of the day and Curry’s talk is “Courage for the Common Good.”
The program begins with a community choir rehearsal at 9:30 a.m. in the CFL’s Recital Hall. Singers of all ages and backgrounds are invited to learn a simple gospel arrangement to be performed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote address. The community choir will be led by Andrew Last, director of choral activities at Luther. The performance will feature soloist Adrianna Tam, assistant professor of music and director of Luther’s Aurora and the Collegiate Chorale. his keynote address, Curry will highlight how “Courage for the Common Good” represents the shared legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Martin Luther, both of whom embodied the moral courage needed to confront injustice while uplifting the people around them. This theme calls our community into bold, brave, benevolent action.
“Dr. King taught us that true courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to act despite it,” Curry said. “As Lutherans, we believe that faith must be lived publicly, for the sake of others. Faith gives us the courage to confront injustice, to stand with the vulnerable, and work for the common good.”
Advocacy Director, Pastor Paul Larson will be on the road this weekend for LEAN.
On Sunday, he will preach at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church at 8:00 am and 10:00 am.
The Colorado River Conference: Second Annual MLK Celebration
Sunday, January 18, 2026 • 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time
New Song Church, Henderson, NV
1291 Cornet Ave, Henderson, NV 89052
The Colorado River Conference invites you to a festive worship celebration featuring guest preacher Rev. Dr. James Thomas, author of A Rumor of Black Lutherans: The Formation of Black Leadership in Early American Lutheranism. Worship will be followed by a reception and conversation/book study with Dr. Thomas.
The House passed legislation on January 8th to extend enhanced ACA premium subsidies, bringing us one step closer to ensuring millions of Americans can continue affording health coverage. Now we need the Senate to act—urge your senators to pass this critical extension.
Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada is concerned about efforts to restrict SNAP food choices for Nevada families. These proposed limitations, introduced without a public process, fail to address the real and urgent causes of hunger in our state.
The ELCA’s 1999 Social Statement Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All teaches that “food is a fundamental human right” and that society has a moral obligation to ensure that “all people are fed and protected from hunger.” It further calls on public leaders to create policies that “enhance human dignity rather than punish people for their poverty.”
Restricting how low-income families use their already, limited SNAP benefits does not protect health, it stigmatizes hunger. At a time when grocery costs continue to rise and many communities across Nevada lack access to fresh, affordable food, such restrictions do nothing to increase nutrition, dignity, or choice.
The ELCA reminds us that hunger is not caused by personal failure but by “a web of policies, structures, and circumstances.” Any meaningful response must address the systemic barriers that prevent families from thriving, barriers like food deserts, low wages, and rising housing and utility costs.
As people of faith grounded in Jesus’ command to feed the hungry, we call on Nevada to pursue policies that:
Expand access to healthy and affordable food
Invest in grocery infrastructure in rural and underserved communities
Engage the public transparently, including those most impacted
Protect choice and dignity for families relying on SNAP
Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada will continue to advocate alongside our congregations, neighbors, and community partners for a Nevada where every person, especially those living on the margins, has food on the table and agency in their lives.
In scripture, we are reminded that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. This Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord, when the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and God proclaims over Jesus: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
That same blessing echoes through time and over all God’s children. God looks upon us, not with suspicion or fear, but with delight and unwavering love. God does not act as a judgmental parent waiting for us to measure up. God embraces each person as beloved, affirmed, and worthy of dignity simply because God created us.
At Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada, we hold firmly to this truth as we witness Governor Joe Lombardo’s continued use of transgender Nevadans as political theater. This comes at a time when violence against transgender individuals is rising and when legislatures across the country continue to target and harass transgender communities.
The ballot proposal Governor Lombardo has endorsed would undermine the will of Nevada voters. In 2022, Nevadans overwhelmingly passed the Equal Rights Amendment, enshrining broad constitutional protections against discrimination. The message from the people of Nevada could not have been clearer: our state is moving toward equality and fairness, not backward.
Policies like those proposed are not abstract debates. They inflict real and immediate harm on beloved children of God. They deputize adults, coaches, and even classmates to police girls’ bodies and appearances, to decide who “looks feminine enough” to belong. Girls who are tall, strong, broad-shouldered, or who simply do not match narrow expectations are singled out, scrutinized, and shamed. These invasions of privacy and dignity have already occurred in other states; the damage is not hypothetical.
This ballot proposal is not about fairness or safety. It is a political weapon rooted in fear, designed to energize an agenda that targets transgender people—especially transgender youth.
As people of faith, we reject the narrative of fear. We proclaim the Gospel of a God who calls us beloved, just as we are. As Lutherans, we are grounded in our church’s own teaching. ELCA social policy is explicit that discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, including transgender youth, is incompatible with our understanding of God’s love and justice. In “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” (2009), the ELCA affirms that “all people—regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity—are created in the image of God and should be treated with dignity, respect, and protection under the law.”
Our church also recognizes that government has a responsibility to safeguard the well-being of all residents and must not be used to harm or marginalize vulnerable communities (Church and State: A Lutheran Perspective, 1966; Government and Civic Engagement).
These teachings establish a clear theological mandate: Lutherans are called to advocate alongside all LGBTQIA+ people, resisting policies grounded in fear and exclusion, and upholding protections that recognize every person as beloved.
Transgender Nevadans deserve safety, dignity, belonging, and joy, not to be used as pawns in a culture war. And we will continue to stand with them, advocate for them, and remind this state of the sacred truth spoken at the Jordan River, this is God’s beloved child; in them God is well pleased.
In Faith,
Rev. Paul M. Larson
Advocacy Director, Lutheran Engagement Advocacy in Nevada
Pastor, St. Paul’s Lutheran Family, Carson City, NV
Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada 