After the vote: Walking with Grace

March 7th, 2010

Weeks before members of Grace Lutheran Church voted on whether to stay in the ELCA, Pastor Eric Lemonholm wrote a letter appealing for a “yes” outcome.

His heartfelt letter, titled “Saving Grace,” circulated widely across the ELCA after he posted it on his blog. The letter was also posted on Pretty Good Lutherans.

In December, a majority of church members voted to remain in the congregation. But the struggle over the issue of partnered gay clergy continued.

Now, nearly three months later, the pastor has posted another letter to church members.

“I still cannot fully comprehend the depth of hurt that is felt by some of our members over the Churchwide Assembly’s decisions last year, though I see it often,” the pastor wrote.

“I still do not see the decisions made as anything but a way to stay together and respect each individual’s, and each congregation’s, own conscience regarding issues of human sexuality . . .”

“Help me to understand where you are coming from; please do not give up on this congregation or on me as a brother in Christ.”

The full letter follows.

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Bishops’ quandry: ‘The Seventeen’

March 3rd, 2010

“On Welcoming Prophets”
An essay by David R. Weiss

David Weiss, author of "To The Tune of a Welcoming God," lives in St. Paul, Minn.

The church as a whole, like its Hebrew forebears and its Jewish cousins, has a better record of recognizing its prophets long after their words and deeds have lost their edge than of responding well to them in the present moment.

From Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus on to Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr., those voices who spoke words of unwelcome truth to power have rarely — if ever — been warmly welcomed.

So it is not surprising that the ELCA, especially within its institutional structures where power lingers as much by inertia as by intent, has a hard time knowing how to “welcome” onto its roster those seventeen persons ordained extra ordinem over the past two decades. Still, as the bishops gather this weekend  to consider on what terms to extend the recognition of ministry to these persons, it is worth reflecting on the weight of this present moment.

Of the approximately 40 people on the roster of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM), more than half have been duly ordained by a Lutheran body and either left ministry or were removed from ministry due to the ELCA’s discriminatory policy toward gay and lesbian pastors. They became rostered through ELM as part of their return to ministry. A handful of persons on the roster are approved for call but not yet ordained.

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Class project: A body image video

March 3rd, 2010

By Chris Albert
Pacific Lutheran University News
Tacoma, Wash.

Emily Branch and Marina Pitassi teamed together for a unique final project for their physicial education class. They decided to write a song and make a music video about body image.

“For me this project hit close to home because I’ve had body image issues all my life that have seriously affected my self-esteem and every day choices,” Pitassi said.


Branch said the video was a way to provide good information in a venue that would make people want to listen.

“Our main goal with this video is to make people aware of the stereotypes and negative body images issues that an alarming amount of people face due to pressure from the media to achieve the thin ideal (for women) or muscular ideal (for men),” she said.

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Pastor rips governor on behalf of the poor

March 2nd, 2010

Pastor Grant Stevensen of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn.

After the Minnesota House fell four votes shorts of passing a health care bill for the poor on Monday, ELCA Pastor Grant Stevensen of St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul had harsh words for Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a frequent quoter of God.

“Don’t pass this off on God,” Stevenson was quoted as saying by Minnesota news outlets. “That’s no God we’ve ever heard of. And please stop lecturing us about God! It’s offensive! You need to stop!”

News coverage:

*Minnesota Public Radio: “Pastor pops governor on God”
*City Pages (Minn.): “Pastor hammers governor for hijacking God”
*Minneapolis Star Tribune: “House fails to override governor’s bill”

Background:
*Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Pawlenty the pious – God runs the show”
*Minnesota Post: “Amid prayers and passionate speeches, House Republicans support governor’s health care veto”
*New York Times: “Pawlenty’s Principles: ‘God’s in Charge’”
*Daily Kos: “Take the Tim Pawlenty insta-poll!”
*Alas!: “Pawlenty to Uninsured: Drop Dead”

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Registrar donates $2 million to seminary

March 1st, 2010

The Rev. John Kaufmann -- generous in life and in death

The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia announced today that the school’s former registrar has left a $2 million bequest.

That’s the largest donation in the seminary’s 146-year history, according to a news release.

The Rev. Dr. John Kaufman, who recently died, graduated from the seminary in 1944 with a bachelor of divinity degree. He retired as the school’s registrar in 1990.

Here’s the link to Kaumann’s obituary. Below is the full press release about the donation from the seminary:

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When refugee resettlement programs end

February 28th, 2010

As reported here earlier, Lutheran Services of Iowa ended its refugee resettlement program in January. What does that mean for refugees, and for Iowa?

Iowa Public Television has produced a compelling report. Because of copyright restrictions, I can only provide a link to the story. It’s well worth your while to watch the broadcast. HERE’S THE LINK

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God’s fundamentalist mind-readers

February 28th, 2010

Remember the headline-seeking fundamentalist preacher in Minneapolis last year? He blamed a tornado and a steeple’s falling on the Lutheran decision to affirm partnered gay clergy in ministries.

Now, a fundamentalist church in Fort Worth, Texas, is raining down God’s shame on Margot Kaessmann. Last week, she resigned her post a head of the Lutheran Church in  Germany after admitting to driving drunk.

How does the Texas-based West Side Church of Christ view the bishop’s transgression? On the church’s blog, presumptuously named “Sound Teaching,” an explanation is posted under the tags “divorce,” “women,”  and “drunkenness.”

Oh good grief. Here’s the fundamentalists take on the German news:

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“Jesus is the Hen”

February 27th, 2010

Reflection on Sunday’s Readings
By Pastor Timothy Seitz-Brown

49th anniversary of Abram’s AARP membership
Lord makes a wee bit impossible absolutely insane Promise
You will have a child

Abram offers the Lord a helpful suggestion
Hey, Lord, what do you think about this idea?
What if I adopt Eliezar of Damascus?
He’s a good boy
Like a son to me
Worked for our family for years
How about we say Eliezar is my boy and we call it even?
Deal or no deal?

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Two pastors, two points of views

February 27th, 2010

Pastor David Housholder of Huntington Beach, Calif.

Pastor David Housholder of Huntington Beach, Calif., may be the closest thing the ELCA has to a ’surfer dude’ pastor. When he isn’t hanging 10 on the water, you might find fight him in snow country on a pair a skis.

All that risky athleticism doesn’t carry over to his theology. Housholder is a self-described conservative, Pentecostal-leaning Lutheran who believes the Bible is inerrant (without error.)

He’s on leave as an ELCA pastor, but functions as the main “preacher/teacher”  at Robinwood Church which, he says, isn’t an ELCA congregation, though it’s applied for affiliation. He and his wife, Wendy, are listed as elders there.

“We believe that God’s plan for you is financial abundance so that you can practice generosity and generative living,” the church’s Web site says.

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Pastor receives $15,000 grant

February 26th, 2010
The following press release comes from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa:

Lutheran Church of Rome prepares for pope

February 26th, 2010

Pastor Jens Martin Kruse of the Lutheran Church of Rome talked with Rome Reports News Agency about the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to his church. The visit is scheduled for March 14.

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The 38, 40 or 44 days of Lent

February 25th, 2010

(The following article by me was first published in the Dallas Morning News in 2003. It’s reprinted with permission in the format the newspaper requires.)

By Susan Hogan
The Dallas Morning News

Christians know where Lent is headed.

They fast, they pray, they repent. When it’s over they celebrate Easter.

But when, exactly, does Lent end?

Catholics say it ends just before the Holy Thursday service, what Protestants call Maundy Thursday. That’s three days before Easter.

Some Protestants, namely Lutherans, are coming around to that perspective, too, though it’s still a minority viewpoint.

But do the math. If Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Maundy Thursday, then the season doesn’t last 40 days.

It lasts either 38 days or 44 days, depending on whether you count Sundays. (In liturgical math, some traditions don’t count Sundays because the more festive event of resurrection is being commemorated.)

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A bishop, Bob Dylan and the changing times

February 24th, 2010

By Bishop Peter Rogness
Saint Paul Area Synod

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in younger days

I recently saw a television clip of Minnesotan Bob Dylan [left and in framed photo] singing at the White House — singing one of the songs that made him legendary: “The Times, They Are A’Changing.”

He wrote that song in 1963, a decade of tumult and change. Not long after, in 1970, Alvin Toeffler wrote the best selling Future Shock, saying that more and more rapid change would be the way the world works.

That’s certainly become true. The Iron Curtain fell. We elected actors as governors and presidents. And more computing power resides in your iPhone than on the Apollo 13 spaceship! Things keep changing!

So is church life. Some have said that the church is changing, and denominations are dead. The first part has always been true. I don’t think the second part is. But I would say denominational life is changing.

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St. Paul Synod approves Hill for clergy roster

February 22nd, 2010

Pastor Anita Hill

The following report comes from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries regarding Pastor Anita Hill of St-Paul Reformation Lutheran Church in Minnesota:

The St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA has approved Rev. Anita Hill for reception to the ELCA roster.

“In communicating their decision, the panel wrote:

At the recommendation of the panel that met with you on February 2, 2010, it was moved by Marty Ericson and carried that Anita Hill be received onto the roster of the ELCA for ordained pastors pending the implementation of the Vision and Expectations policy changes approved at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2009.

“The committee shared the following words with their decision: ‘Recognizing the intentional, prayerful, parallel process of the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries candidacy process, as well as your ministry partnership within the life of our synod, the Saint Paul Area Synod Candidacy Committee celebrates with you as you anticipate being received onto the roster.’”

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Augsburg students celebrate Lunar New Year

February 20th, 2010

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