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What's New at Lutheran Forum
Correcting the Creed
Some of my fellow ELCA pastors do not react to the new and improved Apostles' Creed in ELW with horror and dismay. Largely it is because they were not expecting to be horrified and dismayed. I admire this; it must be nice not to approach the church with suspicion at all times. I do not have the charism of ecclesiastical trust, so I am left to deal with my horror and dismay...
Leaving Wittenberg: Rome or Constantinople?
It seems an almost yearly occurrence that one reads about a Lutheran pastor who leaves the ecclesial confines of Wittenberg for either Rome or Constantinople. While much ink gets spilled about why they have left and what their leaving says about the current state of Lutheranism, one interesting detail seems to have gone unnoticed. Why is it that those who come out of the ELCA (most notably Leonard Klein, Philip Max Johnson) have tended to gravitate toward Rome, while those who have left the LCMS in recent years (most notably John Fenton) have made their way to Constantinople?...
Not Losing Their Religion
Conventional wisdom has long held that the young adult years are marked by a growing autonomy and movement, not only away from home, but away from organized religion as well. Churches have responded by waiting for their young people — especially those who had attended college — to come back to church, as they often did after marrying and starting families. Recent research, however, challenges the perception that young adulthood is a time of “losing my religion.” ...
The Best-Kept Secret in the Christian Church: Senn on Lutheran Identity
A number of years ago, while teaching a course in human anatomy and physiology at our local community college, a student in her early 20s approached me and said, “It is so cool that you are a pastor and my professor! What is even cooler is that you are the pastor of a black church.” Somewhat taken aback, I replied, “Thanks, but what makes you think that my congregation is made up of African-Americans?” She said, “Well, you know, Martin Luther King and all that.” This is a true story! And to this day this episode causes me to ponder our identity as Lutheran catholic Christians. There have been numerous attempts to define Lutheranism from a doctrinal, ethnic, or sociological point of view. Too often, Lutheranism ends up being the best kept secret in the Christian church.
The Problem is Not Self-Care
Nowadays it seems the single most important thing you hear in seminary, candidacy retreats, first call education and so forth is not “proclaim repentance of sins for the kingdom of God is at hand” but “please take care of yourself so you don’t burn out, leave the ministry, and worsen the clergy shortage problem...”