For non-Orthodox Jews, communal prayer in the synagogue on Shabbat is seen as an optional activity that a relatively small percentage of liberal Jews take advantage of on a regular basis. A recent study found that in Reform congregations 17 people out of 100 families who are members attend on any given Shabbat and that […]
Welcome to Let’s Talk
We invite submission of papers and talks from members of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA, talks given to members of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, or articles from other pastors and theologians, not limited to ELCA. Send submissions in Word docx. to fcsenn70@gmail.com.
What Sociologists Have Learned About Church Attendance
Social scientists have been tracking self-reported religious service attendance for over seventy years. At present, over 40% of adult Americans claim to attend church (or other religious services) nearly every week. That figure is 25% lower than at its peak in the 1950s, but it has remained remarkably stable for the past four decades, declining […]
Let’s Talk Survey on Worship Attendance
The pastor stands up at the annual meeting to give the demographic and statistics report on the state of the congregation. “I’ve got bad news and good news”, she tells the members as she begins her report “our membership is down by 12% this past year. But the good news is that the Methodists across […]
A Tribute to Ruth E. VanDemark, 1944-2012
Ruth VanDemark, our colleague on this journal and in our synod, died on June 9th of complications from breast cancer. She was deeply devoted to the ministry and mission of Let’s Talk, to foster thoughtful theological conversation in our synod and beyond. She co-edited our 2010 issue on “Environmental Theology” and was instrumental, though uncredited, […]
On the Way: Children of the Heavenly Father
The phantom-limb sensation of parenting two children lasted for about a month. For over two years, my wife, son and I had been the family for a foster child placed in our care well before her first birthday. Caring for her was a great blessing and an adventure, though it was, not coincidentally, a daily […]
As I See It: Training Youth To Visit Other Churches
It intrigues and concerns me that many of our young people don’t seek out worshiping communities when they leave home, for example, to go away to college or university. Yet they readily return to worship at their home church when they are home visiting their parents. So they cut loose from family routines when they […]
Sea Monsters, Butterflyfish, and the Hiddenness of God
Annie Dillard once wrote: “Nothing could more surely convince me of God’s unending mercy than the continued existence on earth of the church.”1 True enough, but I would also add a corollary: nothing could more surely convince me of God’s hiddenness than the continued existence of theology. The history of theological reflection might plausibly be […]
“I have called you by name”: The Calling of Parenthood in the Midst of Grief
“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you…” […]
A Mother’s Day Sermon
Sixth Sunday of Easter, 2012 John 15:9-17 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that […]
Washing the Diapers: On gratitude, justice, and living in a broken world
I’d just picked up my daughter Harper from preschool. When she was safely buckled into the car and we were headed toward home, we turned onto the main thoroughfare that runs from downtown to our neighborhood, and there she was: the homeless woman we see standing on that corner nearly every day. She stands holding […]
Faithful Parenting: It’s in the Story!
Economically, emotionally, and socially, they had known mean lives. They practiced the few parenting resources they had received on their children. My parents were capricious, insular, and hard as nails. They choked on compassion and squashed rebellion. They did not go to church. They did not pray or read the Bible. Their social lives and […]
Writing Our Children
This morning, my daughter and I ate yogurt, granola, and plums for breakfast. We sat together on the couch and read The Time of Easter, a rather dry picture book that explains the theological roots of Holy Week via the persona of two church mice. Then Thisbe and I walked to the library and I […]
On the Way: Rise and Fall
In his brief, astonishing novel Waiting for the Barbarians, South African author J.M. Coetzee imagines a town on the frontier of a nameless Empire, in a state of continual hostilities with its “barbarian” neighbors. As the story’s climax nears, the main character—a fallen functionary of the Empire—goes for a sunset walk outside the walls and […]
As I See It: Lutherans Observe Advent
I like every season of the church year when we get to it, but I think I like Advent best of all. It is a season that emerged out of the culture and geography of Western Europe, not the Mediterranean world. It is not observed in the Eastern Churches. In the Western church calendar Advent […]
There’s Good News in Metro Chicago on the First Sunday in Advent!
Like every listener, I bring expectations and assumptions to the preaching I hear, which greatly influence how I respond to sermons.1 So, permit me to lay those out for you, so you know where I am coming from. Preaching is theocentric or christocentric rather than anthropocentric. God is the star of scripture; we are not. […]
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