Gerald L. Lundby responded to Frank Senn’s column “As I See It … The Need to Observe the Rubrics” in Volume 7, Issue 2 as follows: Pastor Senn’s comments on the proper use of the liturgy were scholarly and appreciated.  I sometimes find that the “contemporary liturgies” popping up all over our synod congregations leave […]

This is off the beaten path for me, but the situation in the Holy Land has been an interest of mine since I was privileged to travel to Israel and Palestine in the summer of 1998 in the Christian Clergy Traveling Seminar sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.  I’m grateful that […]

Faithful Conversation: Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality, ed.James M. Childs Jr.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.  viii + 132pp.  $9.00. A Commentary by way of a Review I had intended to write a review, not a commentary flowing from a review.  Furthermore, the review taking shape in my head was negative.  I now begin this review fully aware […]

ALPB Conference on Christian Sexuality, Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church, Kansas City, MO, October 2002 Report and Reflections by Wayne R. Cowell They came to the heartland from every state except Hawaii, and some from Canada.  Conference organizer Russell Saltzman had been clear about what they should expect.  In his announcement (Forum Letter, Vol. 31, No. […]

So far, I have been very dissatisfied with the discussion of the proposals for same-sex holy unions and ordination of sexually active homosexual clergy in the ELCA.  The discussion keeps being presented as a debate between “liberals” and “conservatives” or between “progressives” and “traditionalists,” with the former supposed to be in support of the radical […]

Ross Merkel is the pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Oakland, California.  Saint Paul, an ELCA congregation, is a growing, joyful church with outstanding worship, education, fellowship, and service to the community.  I have been a member of St. Paul’s for five years.  About a year ago, in the middle of a dialogue sermon, […]

In 1991 the ELCA voted to welcome all people regardless of their sexual orientation into membership in their congregations.  This was reaffirmed in 1995.  In 1993, the Metropolitan Chicago Synod became a “Reconciling in Christ” Synod, by affirming that “gay and lesbian people share with all others the worth that comes from being loved and […]