Staff Blogs

By Emilie Bouvier

“Think of a time in which you powerfully experienced public space.” This is what I asked a room of faith leaders this week at the Peer Group Lunch and Learn I led this week. We went around and told stories (in two sentences or less!) about everything from rallies to hospital waiting rooms. What came to my mind to share from my own experience was the smell of crackling cedar logs and crisp clear feel of prairie air in late October. I thought of the tarped shelter over a microphone next to the sacred fire that functioned as the central public space at the Octeti Sackowin camp of Standing Rock.

As people arrived in camp they were invited to the mic to share why they came and their connection the water and native rights. As the sunset lit up the tall grasses with tones of orange and red, songs would rise from the scratchy amplification of the feeble little sound system and reverberate through camp. Drums and singing, stories and prayers. I was honored to stand in that space and bear witness to the presence and narratives that bound the people together.

I heard many languages, not only from global allies but from those spoken by native folks here. I learned recently that the people of the native nations in the Americas pre-colonization spoke 350 different languages. Potawatomi, Bodewadmimwin, Lakota, Dakota, Hopi, Seminole, and many more.

LATELY EVERYTHING SEEMS to remind me of Pentecost and this story is no exception. I immediately think of that cacophony of languages and stirring of the spirit that compelled these disciples out of an upper room into the public space of the street – citing prophets, proclaiming a new way centered on hope and healing, washing new believers in holy water, and sharing all things in common.

Acts 2 is such a compelling text, one that I’ve been thinking about for weeks as we make the journey from the empty tomb to the tongues of fire. I’m struck by the sudden thrust into public ministry, as these disciples literally go from sitting around a table in a house to speaking in many languages on the street corner, abruptly, with no interlude.

The Spirit here is not abstract, we’re given these powerful, physical details: and suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. (Acts 2:2-3). Rushing wind, fire, power. Later in this story water and breaking bread make an appearance. There’s a very visceral and sacramental nature to this story in all its earthiness and elemental nature.

“This fossil fuel is not the oil of anointing; this oil never makes an appearance in our scriptures.”

I think again of the power these elements have and the tangible impacts they bear when I recall what I witnessed at Standing Rock. Water has the power to nourish, wash, and heal – to give life and hold meaning in sacred ceremony.

And water is threatened by pipelines carrying crude oil to fuel an instable system for powering society. This fossil fuel is not the oil of anointing; this oil never makes an appearance in our scriptures.

Yet the power of wind fills the whole house where they were sitting, and can fill too our houses with the literal electric power we need for our day. Wind power cost has dropped 58 percent in the past five years and is the cheapest form of energy (besides energy efficiency). Wind is currently the largest renewable energy source for Minnesota, accounting for nearly 18 percent of Minnesota’s electricity in 2016, ranking sixth in the nation for wind energy as a share of total electricity generation.

This transformation is hopeful, but with 78 percentof our electricity coming from dirty energy, including 44 percent coming from coal, we know we still have a long way to go and need to keep pressing for a fast and equitable transition of our energy economy.

Wind power cost has dropped 58 percent in the past five years
and is the cheapest form of energy (besides energy efficiency).

In this time of celebrating the call of God’s people to public ministry and the commitment of this new community to caring for the common good, asking questions about our energy use and advocating for sustainable sources in the public square seems like a good response – to the prodding spirit and the call of my neighbors I heard echoing around the sacred fire.

One possible response is signing on to urge an increase the Renewable Energy Standard. It’s clear as legislators recently wrapped up the 2017 legislative session, we’re at best going to choose not to take steps backward on environmental policies. Now is the time to be building for the steps forward we can take in the months to come and look to ways we can continue to make room for the winds of the Spirit – in more ways than one.

Postscript: The Minneapolis Area Synod’s EcoFaith Network prepared Pentecost Worship Resources. If you want to add your name to the Renewable Energy Standard sign on letter, please contact Emilie Bouvier at e.bouvier@mpls-synod.org.

By Rev. Deb Stehlin

If you stop by the synod office this week, you’ll see stacks of boxes, file cabinets, and books shelves all over the place. We’re re-configuring our offices to make room for Jaddie Edwards, our new racial justice organizer. She and Emilie Bouvier, our eco-faith organizer, will take up residence right across the hall from me.

Whenever you make a move, it’s a great time to decide what’s essential. Do I really need this file? Will I ever read this book?

Last week, I got to sit at a table with church-planting executives from the mainline denominations in the U.S. and Canada. Each one came to share their latest research. I filled a legal pad with essential learnings – which I will keep on file!

One leader shared ground-breaking work by two Harvard Divinity School students. They did a deep dive to discover how millennials gather (www.howwegather.org). It’s required reading, I think. They studied 3,000 young adults and got a glimpse into the gifts this generation offers. We can learn a lot by noticing how they form community, seek personal and social transformation, use their creativity, and find purpose.

One person’s comment hit me like a thunderbolt: “If we’re not working for racial justice or addressing climate change – to millennials, it’s not the church.”

WOW! IT JUST SO happens that our synod is staffing to support congregations so they can enter into this work. And because these issues are so critical, foundations, individuals, government agencies, and ELCA Churchwide – as well as some individual congregations – were willing to provide support for the organizing positions through grants.

The “How We Gather” millennials study discovered something else essential: Even when young adults gather at Soul Cycle or The Dinner Party, even as they work for social and personal transformation, they are seeking what they call “something more.” Whether it’s named the Source of Being, The Transcendent, or God, young America thirsts for something bigger.

We can learn a lot by noticing how young people form community, seek personal and social transformation, use their creativity, and find purpose.

This isn’t anything new. The Apostle Paul encountered this reality in the first century! While he was hanging out with folks among the statues of gods at the Areopagus, he gave words to this yearning for something bigger, saying, “In

By Bob Hulteen

The Metro Transit bus route 2 includes a long section of Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, so I can pick up the bus just a block from my house and get dropped off less than a block from work. Most days the 2 bus is my mode of transportation to work. And I am so often blessed by “the ride.”

Because the route traverses several resource-deprived areas and is a short transfer away from a hospital and clinic, a number of riders are in wheel chairs, often due to complications caused by diabetes. Also just a block off the route is BLIND Inc., a nationally-recognized training center for blind persons of all ages. Many passengers use canes. By and large, people treat each other incredibly well, making the ride better for all.

Some passengers with indications of mental illnesses are also regular riders of the bus. While not always, these folks contribute greatly to the community care of the ride. And, to be very honest and speaking for myself, I truly experience acts of clear compassion more often on the bus than in churches I visit.

I RECENTLY FOUND out that May is mental illness month. I confess that I don’t know much about mental illness. If I am being truthful, I am even uncomfortable discussing it. I don’t even know if the way I am talking about mental illness is insensitive. If so, I apologize. But I am aware that increasingly people I know are talking about struggles related to mental illness.

So, I better educate myself. And I commit here to doing so.

“To be very honest, I experience acts of compassion more often on the bus than in churches I visit.”

I am much more comfortable talking with assurance about structural evil and social sin than care for individual people. That deficit is likely the primary, but not the only, reason that I did not attend seminary.

When the Rev. Dr. Richard Wallace was teaching at Luther Seminary, however, I was inspired. He challenged students to start with their pastoral care passion, but to look for all the external factors impinging on people’s struggles.

Wallace challenged students to think about ways that racism or sexism or homophobia or ableism could cause or contribute to mental health issues for individuals. These social sins or structural evils can exacerbate exponentially individual challenges that already exist. Pastoral care, Wallace would contend, requires taking seriously the entire person, including those systems that hold people in bondage.

As the church addresses mental health struggles in a committed way this month, I pray that we can bring a sensitivity to the structural challenges facing people as well. Who knows? Perhaps there is even room for me in the seminary.

UPDATED: An earlier iteration of this blog did not include several of the stories.

By Rev. Craig Pederson

At the change of each season, I relish the opportunity to return to the campus of my alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter Minnesota. I have the privilege of serving on the college’s Board of Trustees. Meetings of the board are generally held over the course of two very full days, during which we hear updates from administration and faculty members on the college’s strategic plan, enrollment outlook, fundraising efforts, curriculum development, and other important areas of campus life.

The board also spends time in breakfast and lunch gatherings with current students. As we dine on cafeteria food far superior to what I remember as a student, we learn about their incredible drive and passion for their areas of study, as well as their participation and leadership in extracurricular activities that encompass about as broad a range as one can imagine:  music, arts, sports, theater, community volunteering, ministry groups, martial arts, academic clubs, interfaith dialogues, justice groups, knitters . . . phew! They are truly impressive students – so much so that after each of those gatherings, board members grow more firmly convinced that we might never have been admitted to the college if we were competing with these students!

Every ELCA college has a story to tell about how faith was foundational to its beginnings, and how faith continues to propel its mission into the future.

As I made the quarterly trip to Gustavus last week, I reflected on how the alumni and friends of other ELCA colleges and universities make similar trips to provide leadership and stay connected to these institutions of higher education. Although a lot of work, it is highly rewarding to serve this way and provides an opportunity to give back to these places that challenged, nurtured, and prepared us at a highly impactful time of life.

AS CHURCH-RELATED institutions, Gustavus and other ELCA colleges are also concerned with their relationships to the church and the broader community beyond their campuses. Gustavus relates to the broader church through an Association of Congregations. Augsburg is linked with several congregations and institutions to serve the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood through incredibly innovative programming. Every college has a story to tell about how faith was foundational to its beginnings, and how faith continues to propel its mission into the future.

Perhaps the greatest impact beyond campuses, however, is that our Minneapolis Area Synod congregations are generously populated by thousands of graduates from our 26 ELCA colleges and universities. These faithful folks are “salt and light” in our churches through their liberal arts curiosity, their commitment to working through challenges, and their love of Lutheran heritage.

Your synod office is also made up of several grads of ELCA colleges – three from Concordia, three from Gustavus, two from Augsburg, one from St. Olaf. As you might imagine, we have friendly rivalries about who’s the “best” – but we realize and celebrate that we are ultimately blessed to have so many fine Lutheran colleges in such close proximity.

And now, a word of acknowledgement: I know there are many more graduates from non-Lutheran colleges and universities in our congregations, as well as people who chose not to attend college at all. Please know that we are grateful for you, too! We need the gifts, passions, and commitment of all God’s people to enliven our churches.

These faithful graduates of Lutheran colleges are “salt and light” in our churches through their liberal arts curiosity, their commitment to working through challenges, and their love of Lutheran heritage.

Please pray for college students as they approach the end of the school year, and especially for those who will be graduating. Pray also for graduating high school students who are awaiting acceptance letters and making their college choices. I hope many of them will choose an ELCA college – I believe they will be glad they did!

By Bob Hulteen

Over the years, I’ve been to more than five dozen church conventions. I’ve probably been a voting member at a couple dozen; and an observer, first with my parents and then on my own, at more – in Western North Dakota, Eastern North Dakota, Northwestern Minnesota, Metro DC, and the Minneapolis Area.

As the associate director of the Minnesota Council of Churches, I also attended United Methodist (the best), United Church of Christ, Episcopal, and Presbyterian assemblies, as well as all the other Minnesota ELCA synods. And then, as editor of Metro Lutheran, I went to local and national conventions of the alphabet soup of the other Lutheran church bodies — LCMS, WELS, ELS, NALC, LCMC, AFLC, AALC, and CLC.

“In all my nerd-dom, I very much enjoy assemblies.”

I promise I’m not trying to sound egotistical – I’m not bragging, we’re in Lent and this is confession. I’m officially a church nerd.

In all my nerd-dom, I very much enjoy assemblies. All of them – my own and others’. Even if I show up sleepy-eyed and under-caffeinated, I leave feeling energized by good conversation with good people and by learning some new things from the folks who stood up in front and shared insights. I even appreciate the business that takes place – I’d rather be there for it than not, because I want to be a part of the process.

Now, I am inside the planning of assemblies. It’s a huge responsibility. Huge! I want everyone to find a part of the assembly – or hopefully all of it – that connects them more deeply with the church universal.

THE THEME OF THE 2017 Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly is “Real Presence: In our neighborhoods, with our neighbors.” We have some of the greatest preachers in the ELCA – Ruben Duran, Barbara Lundblad, and David Lose, pastors all – as keynoters. It’s like having the Festival of Homiletics All-Stars at our synod assembly. We will be so full of inspiration that we won’t need meals. (But, we will have meals; don’t worry.)

In our increasing efforts to be ecologically aware, we will use the guidebook app this year. This means we will use much less paper and ink; all the information and resources you will need will be at your fingertips on your smart phone, iPad, or tablet. (Just remember, it’s all about the electrons.)

“Since there are fewer resolutions than recent years, synod leaders are planning table discussions around a couple of issues that are before many of our congregations – racism and sanctuary congregations.”

The business agenda will include budget adjustments and constitutional changes, as well as discussion of one resolution (engaging our Muslim neighbors). Since there are fewer resolutions than recent years, synod leaders are planning table discussions around a couple of issues that are before many of our congregations – racism and sanctuary congregations. Everyone has a voice in these conversations.

And, rumor has it that a Jeopardy-like game will be on the agenda again. I am going to suggest, if you are interested in playing, that you start looking at hymns right now. That’s all I’m saying.

And we will do something to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of the Lutheran movement. Guaranteed, it will be mentioned, at least.

Are you a voting member for your congregation? Are you a rostered leader? Or, are you just someone who is now curious about what happens at synod assembly this year?

Let those who will be attending from your congregation know that you are interested in the workings of the broader church – from New Hope to Nigeria and from Longfellow to Leipzig, we are one body. And, one way we live that out is by coming together in assembly. We are church together …  a real presence in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors.

By Pastor John Hulden

Today I had the privilege to take four pastors out to lunch so we could talk about – can you guess? – starting a Peer Group!

Hey, how’s your peer group coming along? Isn’t it amazing to pray, support, and learn together?

(By the way, my offer still stands: I’ll take you and a colleague or two out to lunch to talk about starting a peer group!)

All four of these pastors I took out to lunch are new to their calls here in the Minneapolis Area Synod. They each shared their vocational journey and talked about camp directors and campus pastors and others who encouraged them to pursue ordained ministry.

ONE OF THOSE rostered ministers, Pr. Elizabeth Felt, just moved here from the Seattle area. She has received a very warm welcome from the good folks at Advent Lutheran in Maple Grove. Elizabeth shared that Pastor Dan Erlander encouraged her to go to seminary. That brought a smile to my face. Dan Erlander is one of my heroes. And I know that Dan has made a habit of that kind of specific encouragement.

“How about you? When did you first sense a call into ministry?”

You might know Dan Erlander by his amazing summaries of deep Lutheran thinking in the form of easy-to-read, cartoon-filled publications like Manna and Mercy and Baptized We Live— with Bowling Pin People!

My personal favorite is It’s All About Love. You can download this four-page gem. (It is a free download; Dan is also generous!)

A number of years ago, I took a group of first-call pastors to meet Dan. I listened as these new pastors had a wide-ranging conversation with him. One of the pastors asked, “When did you first sense a call into ministry?” I remember Pr. Erlander thinking a bit, and then he calmly replied, “Oh, about seven years after I was ordained.”

That is quite an answer.

How about you? When did you first sense a call into ministry?

On another day, I’m guessing Dan might answer: When I was baptized (since ministry takes so many different forms).

This Saturday, I plan on celebrating with Chris Wogaman at his ordination at Salem English Lutheran in Minneapolis. Yep, it’s on April Fool’s day. Chris has a sense of humor. He has to; he’s waited about nine years for a call.

THIRTY YEARS AGO on April Fool’s Day 1987, first thing in the morning, I went to Patty’s house on the Eastside of Saint Paul, and picked up the keys to Bethany Lutheran Church. (Patty’s husband was the treasurer of that little congregation.) I took those keys and began pretending I knew what I was doing as a pastor.

Why would I do such a crazy thing? Because I too was encouraged. By many people. I still feel that encouragement. I hope you do too.

Here are some prayers you can use to help your community in their work of “encouragement”:

Christ Jesus, head of the church, raise up from among the baptized pastors to preach your word and administer your sacraments; deacons to serve all people and bear your gospel to the world; and congregational leaders to bring vision and vitality to your people. Grant us the grace to identify those in our midst you are calling, courage to name their gifts, and opportunities to gently nurture and support their discernment. God of mercy. Receive our prayer.

O God, you make your love known in Jesus Christ. We thank you for loving your church so much that you send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of children, women, and men so that they know themselves called to be pastors and deacons and leaders for congregations and the church.  Bless your church with an abundance of leaders. And as we are bold to believe that you will raise up pastors, deacons, and leaders from this congregation, ready our hearts to nurture their faith, celebrate their call, and support their preparation for ministry. God of mercy. Receive our prayer.

O God, you so love the world that you sent Jesus, and our world so needs your love. With the whole Church we implore you to call forth pastors, deacons, and congregational leaders to lead us in bearing Christ to all the world so that the world may know your love.  We pray especially for those in this faith community the Holy Spirit may be nudging to public ministry in the church and Christ-like service in the world. God of mercy. Receive our prayer.

“One of the pastors asked, ‘When did you first sense a call into ministry?’ I remember Pr. Erlander
thinking a bit, and then he calmly replied, ‘Oh, about seven years after I was ordained.'”

Lord Jesus, we pray for congregations in the call process and for the pastor you will send them. We pray for those outside the church who will come to know Jesus through ministry in his name and for the deacon you will send to serve them. We pray for our congregation’s future and for the leaders you will call forward to guide us.  Embolden us to invite those in whom we experience gifts for these ministries to prayerfully consider your calling, and give us generous spirits to support them. God of mercy. Receive our prayer.

We give you thanks, O God, for the children in our midst – especially those in elementary and middle school. We pray that as they grow, they will hear your voice calling them into your service – in the church, in the world, for the sake of their neighbors. Help them to imagine being pastors and deacons, church council leaders, Sunday school teachers, mentors and community leaders. Give them courage to say yes to your call, O God.  We pray in gratitude and boldness in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you to the members of the Conference of Bishops for providing these prayers. I am grateful to know there are church leaders still thinking about making space to hear the call into ministry.

By Rev. Craig Pederson, Assistant to the Bishop

The Prayer Vigil and March held at Luther Seminary last July to remember Philando Castile – the black man who was shot by police at a roadside stop – was a powerful and poignant event for the hundreds of people who attended. This memorial service came just a few months after the police killing of Jamar Clark and the demonstrations at the 4^th Precinct headquarters in Minneapolis, and coincided with the horrific attack in Dallas that took the lives of five Dallas policemen.

Gun violence and tensions between police and the community seemed to be increasing.  In response, people of faith were compelled to do something about it – even if the “something” was not clearly known. Trusting that the Spirit would intercede where sighs were too deep for words, the Prayer Vigil and March brought together Lutherans and ecumenical partners to declare words of lament, outrage, commitment, and hope. 

As summer moved into fall, a welcome reprieve from high profile shootings uneasily settled in. But in the everyday lives of people in communities such as North Minneapolis where gun violence persists, there was no reprieve. A further response was called for. Leaders from Lutheran Social Service, the Minneapolis and St. Paul Area Synods, Luther Seminary, and a number of congregations envisioned regular prayer gatherings where lament, outrage, commitment, and hope would be hosted in communities where they were most needed.

MONTHLY PRAYER SERVICES called “Come Together Peace Gatherings” have been the result. These services take place one Sunday afternoon a month from 4-5:30pm. They are led by a rotating group of ecumenical leaders who weave together elements of music, testimonies, spoken word, prayer, and dialogue. They create experiences that move from darkness to light, from despair to hope, and from lamentation to celebration. They rely on the conviction that, through Christ, all things are possible!

I attended the most recent “Come Together” service last Sunday afternoon. It was another richly diverse gathering with incredible music and honest dialogue about the challenges faced in our communities.

While it was held at one of our synod churches (Diamond Lake Lutheran), I recognized very few people there – which has been my experience with past services as well. And I consider that a good thing! Why? Because it causes me to broaden the circle of those with whom I pray and talk about the urgency of reducing gun violence and establishing peace in our neighborhoods.

The prayer gatherings create experiences that move from darkness to light, from despair to hope, and from lamentation to celebration.

Now, I know after a full Sunday morning of worship and activities in your own church, Sunday afternoon can be a tough time to get back out of the house. But your efforts will be rewarded, and you will be blessed by the inspiration and commitment of those who “Come Together!”

The next Come Together Peace Service is Sunday, April 9, at 4pm at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, 3811 Emerson Ave N, Minneapolis. This service will feature drumming prayers of Native Americans.

UPDATED 3/16/17: An earlier version of this blog said that Philando Castile was an “unarmed black man who was shot by police at a roadside stop.” The updated version acknowledges that Castile was a registered gun carrier who informed officers of his registration.

Craig Pederson says: “My thanks to Pastor Dan Carlson for graciously bringing this misstatement to my attention. Dan has been a public safety chaplain with police, fire, and EMS workers for ten years, and he is very willing to be a resource to congregations who are seeking a better understanding of these issues.  He can be reached at dan.carlson@publicsafetyministries.org or 612-554-4405.”

UPDATED 3/17/17: A second version of this blog included the phrase “even after informing them at the beginning of the stop that he was registered to carry a firearm” in the first paragraph. That phrase has subsequently been deleted.

 By Bob Hulteen, Director of Communications, Stewardship, and Organizing

I had always “prided” myself on not having traveled internationally. While all my friends were headed to other countries for service or learning or vacation, I bragged that I didn’t have a passport. (Though I might have actually been jealous, I used it as an opportunity to demonstrate my identification with people without the means to travel.)

But Tina Herpe, one of my colleagues at Interfaith Worker Justice, told me she didn’t feel the luxury of not having a passport. As a Jew, she believed that there was no country absolutely safe for her, no place where she didn’t need to be ready to relocate quickly.

I figured she was wrong about the U.S. I mean, I was well aware of the anti-Semitic skinheads who would occasionally show up at a city hall or state capitol complaining about how their America was changing. But, to be honest, deep in my soul, I didn’t believe they were a significant threat.

I underestimated the stamina of hate groups.

ON FEBRUARY 22, 1349, Jews were expelled from Zurich, Switzerland. A few days earlier, they were kicked out of Burgsordf, and a month later nearly 1,000 Jews were killed in riots in Efurt, Germany, not the last date of mass execution in that country that year.

That was a long time ago – almost 700 years.

But this week the Saint Paul Jewish Community Center was one of 10 similar centers in the country that received bomb threats. A month or so ago about 70 similar threats were delivered to JCC offices around the country, including Minneapolis.

“I underestimated the stamina of hate groups.”

That is not a long time ago.

Click image for video of members of Trinity Lutheran Congregation handing out tea to their immigrant neighbors after Friday prayers.

This follows upon increasing pressure at masjids where our Muslims sisters and brothers offer prayer. What is the Christian community doing about this?

While it is heartening to see Muslim groups offering rewards for information on anyone phoning in threats or going to cemeteries to clean up after 100 headstones are pushed over, we need a more proactive strategy to declare inviolate our unity in the One Who Creates (for Christians, the First Person of the Trinity).

The Rev. Jane Buckley-Farlee, Trinity Congregation in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, has developed deep and lasting relationships with imams in the community, one of the most densely populated Muslim neighborhoods in the country. She was present when a mosque burned a decade ago. She invited people into her offices on the anniversaries of 9/11. And now, with fear spreading amidst the Somali community due to the uncertainties created by the recent immigration executive orders, she and members of her congregation are greeting Muslims with tea as they come out of their Friday afternoon prayers.

That sounds a lot like something Jesus would do.

We know who are neighbors are; about that there is no question. So, the moral question set before us in this time is how we will be neighbors. Will we commit to protect these neighbors in the face of increased threats? By our fruit will these neighbors know us.

By Bob Hulteen, Director of Communications and Stewardship

I have a confession to make, like a real confession: I don’t say the first line of the Lord’s Prayer. (It’s not the only slight edit I make, but it is the most noticeable one, probably.) Yep. I don’t say “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

I am fine for folks to make a different choice. I mean, context and conscience certainly interact with how we as individuals approach liturgy. I find it powerful when we all say words together in confession or prayer.

But, I don’t find that limiting God into a particular gender to be helpful to my spiritual growth. Now, if we started “Mothering Hen, who art in heaven,” who knows what I’d do.

How we envision God does seem to be worthy of conversation for all of us.

Don’t get me wrong. My dad was incredibly wonderful; amazing even. But that is not true for all of my friends. And aligning God’s personage to a human sexual or gender identity really feels like worshipping graven images to me.

Our last Ministerium speaker, Elizabeth Johnson, writes, “that only if God is named in the more complete way, only if the full reality of historical women of all races and classes enters into our symbol of the divine, only then will the idolatrous fixation on one image of God be broken, will women be empowered at their deepest core, and will religious and civic communities be converted toward healing justice in the concrete” (from Quest for the Living God). That makes a lot of sense to me.

THE ELCA IS ENGAGED now in preparing a social statement on gender justice. The preparation materials are titled “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: Conversations toward a Social Statement.” The Faith, Sexism, and Justice Task Force, which includes Bishop Ann, has created a seven-session study to facilitate discussion within congregations and conferences. Churchwide staff would like feedback from individuals and congregations by August 31, 2017, in order to continue the process of writing the social statement which we will be considering at the 2019 Churchwide Assembly.

A subcommittee of the Minneapolis Area Synod’s Public Voice Committee is currently making plans to facilitate this conversation within the synod. There will be encouragement and resourcing that will help congregations discuss the material, and at least one synodical event will feature an opportunity to engage issues of gender justice and language. (Keep reading the synod’s weekly enews for more information.)

It’s not always clear what to do in issues around justice and God language. We can stumble over pronouns and worry about how new visitors will respond – one way or the other – to new ways to envision our Creator.

But how we envision God does seem to be worthy of conversation for all of us. Each of us can likely be stretched by the experience of our sisters and brothers. Thank God for a denomination that is not afraid of such interactions as we seek to be communities of faith engaged for the sake of the world.

By Rev. John Hulden, Assistant to the Bishop

How is your congregation doing at lifting up leaders and sending them out to serve the Church?

Can you name someone from your congregation who felt the call to leadership in the church and now is a children, youth, and family director? How about someone who is now a musician, parish nurse, administrator, a ministry director of any kind, or a deacon?

I served a church once that had six of its members attending seminary at one time. I thought it was a big deal. And it was. But then again, the church I served was a really big church. As I think about it now, why wouldn’t every really large congregation have had at least a half dozen followers of Jesus stepping out to learn and then lead in the larger church?

IN OUR MINNEAPOLIS AREA Synod, there are some smaller congregations that are fantastic at lifting up and sending out leaders to serve and minister all over the country and the world. I suppose if you do the math, those smaller congregations outshine many larger congregations. Thanks be to God!

Faith and leadership formation is such critical work for our communities of faith. Every generation, the body of Christ — the Church — needs new folks who answer the call to serve, minister, and lead God’s people.

So I’ve been wondering….

Is there a secret sauce in those congregations who so regularly and faithfully raise up ministry staff, deacons, and pastors?

Is there a secret sauce in those congregations who so regularly and faithfully raise up ministry staff, deacons, and pastors?

If you know a recipe that will help your people follow their call to lead in the church, please let me know. In fact, let everyone in our synod know. Please!

In the meantime …

next time you see a 5^th Grader take great interest in a bible story, get to know that kid!
next time you hear a 10^th Grader who asks a tough theological question, encourage more deep faith talk!
next time you notice that a friend from church has the gifts to be a deacon or a pastor, take them out for coffee and tell them!

P.S. Check out How Youth Ministry Can Change Theological Education — If We Let It (edited by Kendra Creasy Dean and Christy Lang Hearlson, Eerdmans, 2016). The authors’ research uncovered a list of “mother sauces” — something every top chef uses to make a variety of exquisite dishes — that are necessary ingredients for spiritual and vocational formation:

• community building
• decentering and disruption (e.g. Bible camp, mission/servant/learning trips)
• worship
• spiritual companionship
• holy conversation
• theological reflection
• pilgrimage
• experimental learning