August 29, 2006
by John R. Brooks

The Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said an ecumenical prayer service will be held at 9:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls Aug. 29, 30 minutes before the start of the planned execution by lethal injection of death-row inmate Elijah Page. Page was sentenced to death in 2000 for his role in the murder of a 19-year-old man. If Page is executed at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, it will be the first execution in the state in almost 60 years.

DeGroot-Nesdahl told the ELCA News Service that the synod arranged for the ecumenical service, which will by led by her and other religious leaders, at East Side Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. Prayer services are also planned at several churches across the state. Page dropped his chance for appeals of his sentence, and the governor has said he will not intervene to stop the execution.

"My intention is that we pray in a 360-degree manner," she told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper. "We want to pray across a wide spectrum of concerns." DeGroot-Nesdahl the service is not a protest, but a chance to pray for everyone involved in the case. "If it (the execution) does go forward, then what we need is to be together as people of prayer for the healing of our state."

ELCA News Service