Five years ago, in the parking lot at Carthage College following the Synod Assembly, Pastor Tom Knutson pursued me and laid out a vision of a theological journal for the Metro Chicago Synod. It was time, he said, for this church to engage seriously the issues that were confronting us as a church, not simply in practical terms (there were lots of great workshops and forums to do that) but theologically. In the following months Tom’s dream began to take shape and a number of people helped to put flesh on a skeletal idea. With the blessing of Bishop Ken Olsen LET’S TALK was launched a few months later and exists as a unique kind of publication in, but not of, a synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The fact that this little publication has continued for these five years is testimony to its place in our life together as a synod. If nothing else, it serves as a helpful foil for reflection and decision making, perhaps even parish planning, on some of the issues we struggle with each year. Ecumenical debate and worship priorities have predominated in these pages, but certainly not exclusively, and I would like to think the articles on these pages have challenged and inspired this journal’s readers.
It’s time for me to take my leave as a member of the Editorial Council, and I will miss those lively meetings with their fabulous creativity and theological insight. The work that is done in LET’S TALK is important. It is a critical contribution that deserves to be replicated in other places. But for the vision to truly come alive, this journal needs you. This is to be a place of dialogue, of conversation, of mutual challenge and uplifting of sisters and brothers in Christ. Continue to make your contributions to this journal (financial contributions are welcome, too) so the dialogue can be authentic and enriching for us all.