The question in the title of this issue of Let’s Talk is ironic. Yes, of course the Church should evangelize. We’re under a “great commission” from our Lord himself to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15). In Matthew the commission is given to the eleven disciples to make disciples of all nations […]
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.
Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World
A Crusade to Save Christendom On Saturday, July 22, 2011, a young Norwegian named Anders Behring Breivik, described by police as a “right-wing Christian fundamentalist,” was charged by Norwegian police with committing attacks that killed at least 92 people. This was the deadliest attack in the country since World War II. The killer left behind […]
Evangelizing the Contemporary Urban Metropolitan Landscape
This issue of Let’s Talk has posed the question of whether or not it is still necessary or even appropriate to engage in the intentional Christian evangelization of a highly diverse, pluralistic social environment. The question itself implies an attitude or understanding about what evangelism is and how evangelism is done that is highly suspect. […]
Not In It for the Fire Insurance
So, say we had it all wrong somehow… Say God is still God, but we’ve misunderstood the whole abundant/eternal life thing and it turns out there actually is no afterlife as we’ve been thinking of it. (This is not what I actually believe or preach, by the way. Please note that I’m positing this as […]
Confessions of a Failed Evangelist
At a church council meeting a couple of years ago, we found ourselves discussing friends and neighbors of our city church and their prospects for eventual membership. One neighbor in particular seemed like he should really be coming to church because, as someone observed, his brother is a Lutheran pastor. I spoke up to suggest […]
The Name Game
Like millions of others this summer, my family has been delighted by everything Hogwarts. My ten-year-old daughter is on her second reading of the Harry Potter series and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 twice while my wife and I saw it a pedestrian one time. We’re nearly done reading the series […]
The Adult Catechumenate and the Missional Church
In the previous issue of Let’s Talk, contributors weighed in on the question “Should we evangelize?” The focus of this issue, centering around our synod’s vision for “turning around” our congregations from inwardness and complacency to Spirited evangelical mission, proceeds very naturally to the question “How do Lutherans do that?” Too often we take cover […]
Repentance and Confession
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” These words from Joel, heard on Ash Wednesday, are a liturgical sentence sung throughout Lent. Lent is a season of repentance, of turning around. It originated as the time in which the candidates for baptism […]
Old Rites and New Catholics
Breaking Open the Scriptures It’s a cloudy Sunday morning in early February as I pull up outside of the parish center of St Vincent De Paul Roman Catholic Church. In the basement, a group of about a dozen young adults are gathered in a circle. I ease my way into the room quietly and sit […]
Repentance
What do we mean when we say we should repent? The concept of repentance appears throughout the Bible, yet when its theme returns the accents and the texture often change. The topic of repentance in the Bible requires careful translation and an openness to ancient ideas of repentance. We cannot assume that if we […]
To Turn Again
The new years walk, restoring Through a bright cloud of tears, the years, restoring With a new verse the ancient rhyme T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday When I was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, I took a class entirely on the poetry of T.S. Eliot. I don’t remember now what made me so eager, […]
Turning Around a Synod
I heard this story from the bishop of another synod: A woman was talking with him and said that she thought her smallish congregation was “just the right size” the way it was and shouldn’t try to get bigger. He asked, “Do you think there might be one person left in the neighborhood of your […]
On the Way: Treading Out the Grain
Some day I hope to preach on Deuteronomy 25:4: “You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.” Unjustly neglected by our lectionary, this verse is both poetic and, in its way, evangelical. Is there an earlier legal admonition to treat beasts of burden humanely while they are in the midst […]
As I See It: Inculcating the Habit of Worship
On Trinity Sunday (June 3, 2012) the so-called Athanasian Creed will be recited in many churches. It is noteworthy that this Creed, which seems to offend many sensibilities today, does not begin with a statement of belief but an affirmation of worship. It says that salvation is a matter of clinging to the catholic faith […]
Opening God’s Gift of Time
One Saturday night more than twenty years ago, some friends and I were having dinner at a nice restaurant. It was a beautiful spring evening, but we were having trouble relaxing because we were thinking about tomorrow. After putting in a quick appearance at church, each of us planned to spend most of the day […]
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