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Change of Command
In the military the “Change of Command” is a magnificent ceremony provoking reflection of where we have been and where we are going. Leaders change and institutions change. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has “changed commanders” as Synodical President-Elect, Pastor Matthew Harrison, assumed his responsibilities on September 1st. The Installation Eucharist will be on September 11th...
Following Jesus to Samaria
Delivered on August 26, 2010 at the "New Directions for Lutheranism" Conference (TEXT: JOHN 4:27-42)
The New Global South Face of Christianity: A Report on the Conference of the International Lutheran Council
Philip Jenkins, author of The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity (2007), among others, argues that when American or European church leaders and scholars meet with their counterparts from Asia, Africa, or Latin America, the agenda is crafted by the participants from the global North. As a result, the “new Christendom” emerging in the global South is marginalized and consequently many of the present realities of Christianity in these locations and the impact of their projected future courses are ignored. The growing religious impulses found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America demand attention now if Northern Christian denominations are to avoid a number of misunderstandings...
Here I Walk: An Ecumenical Pilgrimage
A few years back my husband Andrew and I noticed the upcoming 500th anniversary of Luther’s 1510 pilgrimage to Rome. We thought it would be really cool to retrace his steps. But the questions of “how?” and even more “why?” (besides the coolness factor) remained unanswered. Now, however, we have answers, and we’re gonna do it… in just a few days. We leave August 22 from Erfurt...
A Day for Prayer: August 19
The divisions in the ELCA are not going away. In spite of repeated cries that the current disagreements regarding blessing of same-gender relationships and GLBT persons in same-gender relationships serving in rostered ministry should not be church dividing, the ELCA is in fact divided. The number of congregations that are struggling with reactions among the members to the 2009 churchwide assembly decisions is, in some synods, very large, even if most of those congregations are not taking votes to leave. Pastors, regardless of their own stand on these matters, find that some members are voting with their feet, or with their pocketbooks, or both. And the financial shortfall in both synods and churchwide offices is taking a real toll...