In retrospect, it was a mistake to be reading Karl Barth’s The Epistle to the Romans so soon before my one visit to this year’s Churchwide Assembly. I must plead inexcusable tardiness: in three years of recently-concluded formal theological education, I never went deeper into Barth than a sermon or two. Reading the massive and […]
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.
Summer Church Convention Round-Up
Ah, summertime, when the livin’s easy, the cotton is high, and denominational bodies convene to regret, bestir, and proclaim. After the cosmic liturgical drama of Advent, Lent, and Easter, the over-churched among us must look to national meetings of Christians to supply the kind of sturm und drang that ordinary time seems to lack. It’s […]
The Challenge and the Promise
Our church decided twenty years ago to seek added diversity by establishing the goal of raising the ELCA’s minority membership to 10% within the first ten years of our common life. Sadly, the ELCA has consistently fallen short of this mark, despite the best of intentions. In this article, I will share from my perspective, […]
The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus J. Borg
Recently I picked up this book, curious after hearing a reference to it in a recent presentation on spirituality. I had heard about Marcus Borg before, but had been “turned off” by his participation in the Jesus Seminar. I had not thought about Borg in the context of spirituality, and was intrigued. About the Author […]
What happened at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly?
A while back I was watching “Akeelah and the Bee” with four-year-old grandson Reed. Toward the end of the movie he looked up at me and with great concern asked, “Gramma, why are you crying?” With a huge lump in my throat and wet cheeks, I replied, “It touches my heart.” Now at some very […]
Concordia Avondale Campus: A Community Ministry of Concordia Lutheran Church
Our History, Mission and Objectives Concordia Lutheran Church, a small, urban congregation of some 60 families, enacts its faith in Jesus Christ through vital ministries directed not only to our members, but also to the community around us. Concordia Lutheran Church created the ministry of Concordia Avondale Campus out of its belief that the vitality […]
Programmatic Triumphal Church to Relational Servant Ekklesia: A Conversion Narrative
I was involved in the initial discussions leading to the Pentecost 2008 issue of Let’s Talk. The editor kindly invited me to write some reflections. Other essays will offer inspiring and informative insights from those engaged in exemplary ministries in the Synod. This essay consists of some reflections based on a career spent trying to […]
The Multi-Faceted Ministry of Café Immanuel
Our members Chris Djuric, who works a lot of farmers’ markets, and Sarah Stegner, former executive chef at the Ritz Carlton who is now co-owner and chef of the Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook, saw beyond my limited vision. “Let’s serve a gourmet breakfast and invite the whole community of Evanston to come to breakfast—and […]
Structures of Mission and Ministry Leadership
All baptized Christians are called by virtue of their baptismal covenant to live a lifelong ministry of Word and Service. The Word is the grounding for all that we do, and all expressions of Christian life begin with our self-understanding as servants of all. As a practical matter, however, it has been good and necessary […]
Who Owns the Bible?
Who Owns the Bible? Toward the Recovery of a Christian Hermeneutic by Karl Donfried (Crossroad: 2006) Originally presented at St. Luke Lutheran Church (Belmont), Chicago, December 2007 Who owns the Bible? I will begin with three quotes, which in different ways lead to Donfried’s answer. A. The Church. B. The Church. C. The Church. Maintaining […]
Teen Sex, Urban Ministry, and Missio Passiva
Each Wednesday during Lent, the churches of the Metro Chicago Synod’s south conference gathered for a meal, song, prayer, and a frank moderated discussion of issues of sexuality facing our churches and communities. As an intern this year at Bethel-Imani Lutheran Church in Englewood, it has been my responsibility to attend and participate along with […]
On the Receiving End of the Ministry of Healing
Over the past several years I have had plenty of opportunity to think about disease, pain, suffering, medical science, and faith. Afflicted by colon cancer, I had a colectomy on August 26, 2006. I received a chemotherapy protocol that lasted almost a year, during which I experienced dry mouth, nausea, and rashes and lost hair, […]
Justice
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (Rev. 21:1) The November gathering of the Chicago Council of Religious Leaders convened at St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church at the north end of Lakeshore Drive. While we were there, I spent some time […]
Commemoration of September 11, 2001: A Homily
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him for us all, how will He not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one […]
The Limits of Faith and the Limits of Politics
In the end, the religiously-charged presidential campaign that many expected never materialized. The economy sidelined the marquee social issues of years past, a relatively secular Republican nominee kept personal faith largely out of discussion, a fiery black church’s theology was addressed in terms of race, and a fiery pre-millennial dispensationalist church was addressed, if at […]
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