To everything there is a season...even Ecclesiastes

There is only one theologian in my family, and I am not she. However, after reading Ray Waddle's article on Ecclesiastes in the September issue of The Lutheran magazine, I just may vary my usual diet of mysteries and spy novels and read his book. Initially, I was drawn in by the art work, a magnificent seragraph full of color and movement. Then I read the article and was hooked when Waddle pointed out that, in 40 years of churchgoing, he's never heard a sermon on Ecclesiastes.

This seems an especially good issue. I came near to tears reading Walt Wangerin's article called "Standing at the door of heaven," about his mother-in-law. He's returning to the magazine with a quarterly column, "Between us," I was happy to see.

Do check it out. Go to http://thelutheran.org/template/index.cfm and click on the gray box that says Current issue in the top left just above this month's cover shot of Bishop Hanson preaching at the Churchwide Assembly. If you're a print subscriber, online access is free. If you're not, look at one of the web memberships - they're incredibly cheap, as low as $5 for three months. You can get started with a free 30-day trial, if you want. Look in the left-side menu bar toward the bottom for the link to Web membership. With web membership, by the way, you get access to a number of articles exclusively online. Enjoy!

Prayer Resources Online

Prayer resources online abound! When I was in Chicago two weeks ago for the Churchwide Assembly, I ran into an old friend, Pr. David Miller, former editor of The Lutheran magazine who currently serves as Cornelsen Director of Spirtual Formation and Dean of the Chapel at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. In chatting about our various adventures since we last saw each other, I discovered that David writes a weekday blog called Praying The Mystery. Each day he uses a brief Scripture passage (he's currently working his way through Luke 12) as the basis for a prayer. His prayers are conversational rather than formal, personal rather than corporate. Check them out when you have a chance.

What online prayer resource do you use? Please leave a comment with your nomination for "favorite online prayer resource."

Sharing Dinner and Faith Stories

Thursday night at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the DE-MD Synod joined with our Partner Synod, Northern Great Lakes Synod, for a festive evening at Vivere, a local Italian restaurant. In addition to voting members and a few of their family members, other visitors from each synod, and a few staff members.


DMS Bishop Jerry Knoche and NGLS Bishop Tom Skrennes cohosted the evening.




DMS voting member, Pr. Carl Myers (Grace Church, Lutherville, Md.) captured this wide-angle view of the private area in Vivere where DMS and NGLS diners interacted at small tables, sharing stories of faith and ministry.




Angie Haines (who served for many years as ELCA parliamentarian and is now here as a visitor from Grace Church, Lutherville, Md.), Jason Day (St. James Church, Rockdale, Md.) and Kathleen Kazmar (St. Paul Church, Newark, Del.) shared one end of a table at the dinner.




Vicky Whetstone (voting member from Salem Church, Catonsville, Md.) and Mandy Kent (visitor from Immanuel Church, Manchester, Md.) conversed across the table before dinner was served.

Swartling Elected Secretary

David Swartling, a lawyer and layperson, has been elected to a six-year term as secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. His election came on the fifth and final ballot against the Rev. Paul Schreck, who has served as one of the assistants to current Secretary Lowell Almen. Addressing the assembly, Swartling said, “I stand before you as your humble servant,” emphasizing his commitment to “be scrupulously fair to everyone in this church.”

Much, much more information is available on the ELCA website. Check it out!

Voting Members at Work

Here’s a group photo of our voting members in their seats…everybody, that is, except Pr. Carl Myers (Grace Church, Lutherville, Md.), who took this picture. Notice the “goodies” on the tables – souvenirs that voting members receive pretty much on a daily basis. They’re been given amazing blue travel coffee mugs, red water bottles, giant yellow notebooks for all their assembly materials, red and gray backpacks, and assorted smaller items. If you look really closely, you might even see the electronic voting machines that have made voting results basically instantaneous.




Peg Sheeler, one of our voting members from Holy Spirit Church, Eldersburg, Md., decided to pose with Phil Harris, chair of the ELCA Elections Committee, who happened to be appearing on the live video feed we get here in the E-Mail Center.



Bob Budnicki, Zion Church, Williamsport, Md., stopped by briefly en route from lunch to the plenary yesterday (Thurs.)

Position of Secretary Goes to Fourth Ballot

There was no election on the third ballot for ELCA secretary. The results of that ballot were just reported out. There were 1,043 votes cast, with 2/3 (696) required for election. Only the top three names will appear on the fourth ballot. Those three are
- The Rev. Michael Cooper-White, president of Gettysburg Seminary, received 267 votes.
- Mr. David Swartling, a lawyer from Seattle, Wash., who works part-time as director of the Planned Giving Consortium of Western Washington, received 241.
- The Rev. Paul Schreck, ELCA Executive for Constitution and Roster Interpretation and Oversight in the Office of the Secretary, received 157.

Other vote totals:
Bishop Andrea Degroot-Nesdahl, 124
The Rev. Mark Grorud, 78
The Rev. Kenneth Ruppar, 77
Bishop Chris Boerger, 50
Ms. Glenndy Ose (Scully), 49

Remember that you can watch the plenary sessions live via webcast. The assembly is now moving to a discussion of a variety of memorials regarding human sexuality. A complete schedule is available on the assembly website so you can determine what you’d like to watch, though there are occasionally changes to the schedule as items of business occupy more or less time than anticipated.

More Faces and a Surprise

Pr. Michael Dubsky (St. Luke Church, Hampden, Baltimore) checks out the Advent stoles at the Augsburg Fortress store while Pr. Bill Gohl (Epiphany Church, Baltimore) seems focused on some new evangelism strategy - or perhaps lunch.




Kathleen Kazmar (St. Paul Church, Newark, Del.) is here as a voting member, while her husband Matthew tagged along as a visitor.




Speaking of the small world of Lutheranism...I was cruising up and down the aisles of computers earlier when a tall young man asked if I remembered him - from the picture I used of him four years ago in FaithLines! Lance Cooper (Amazing Grace Church, Baltimore) portrayed Martin Luther for the first-ever Luther Festival at Morgan State, Baltimore. Here he is, a rising senior in high school, taking part in the Youth Convo that runs alongside the Churchwide Assembly. Lance says there are youth here from other synod churches, and he's agreed to write up a story for me about their experiences. Stay tuned for that story at some point once we're back.

Faces in the Crowd

The Four Musketeers - three DE-MD Synod voting members and a member of the ELCA Church Council. Pr. Mark Dill, St. John Church, Cumberland, Md. Pr. Carl Myers, Grace Church, Lutherville, Md. Richard Sherrill, Holy Communion Church, Fallston, Md. Richard Wahl, Our Shepherd Church, Severna Park, Md.



Vicky Whetstone, Salem Church, Catonsville, Md. Pr. Joan Copeland, St. John Church, Creagerstown, Md.

First Ballot for Secretary

There was no election on the first ballot, with 1004 ballots cast and 753 (75%) required. The two leading vote-getters were Michael Cooper-White (president of Gettysburg Seminary), 162, and Andrea Degroot-Nesdahl (bishop, South Dakota Synod), 110. Of the 161 ELCA pastors who received votes on the nominating ballot (done by ecclesiastical ballot, just as the bishop was), three were members of the DE-MD Synod. Pr. Michael Dubsky (St. Luke Church, Hampden, Baltimore) was number 22 on the list with 5 votes; Bishop Jerry Knoche and Assistant to the Bishop Mary Miller-Zurell each received one vote.

(Carl Myers is paying me back for all those photos I randomly shoot of you by sneaking up to take a picture of me as I type. I think I broke the camera however, as he's scrambling in his equipment bag and mumbling imprecations...)

LCM Birthday and It's a Small World

Lutheran Campus Ministry’s birthday bash
The celebration continues for Lutheran campus ministry. At the end of yesterday afternoon’s session, everyone moved to the large display halls for a reception hosted by the ELCA colleges and universities. Most of the presidents and chaplains were here, and there were hors d’oeuvres heavy enough that at least a few of our voting members were making it the evening meal. A DJ on a raised platform provided narration and music. I said hello to my undergrad school president (Jay Lemons from Susquehanna University) and chaplain (Pr. Mark Radeke), and headed for the shuttle. Some of the younger staffers reported this morning that dancing eventually broke out in the large clear space. You’ll have to ask our delegation when they got home who danced and who didn’t.


Picnic time
Yesterday’s lunch was a picnic packed in individual ELCA lunch bags, perfect for taking home as a souvenir. I took a few minutes to wander outside on the area overlooking the lake where lots of folks were eating. As I took a picture (see below), I discovered yet again what a small world Lutheranism is. Jason Day (St. James Church, Rockdale) and Pr. Mark Dill (St. John Church, Cumberland, Md.) had joined a lady (who’s hidden in this picture – I’m sorry). Another lady came up (in the red), and Bishop Jerry Knoche joined the group last. It turned out that the lady he sat next to is Petra Ressel, who was his secretary when he was chaplain at University of Wisconsin, Madison, before coming to New Hope Church, Columbia, Md. When we remarked on that, I noted the nametag on the lady at the far end of the bench said “Pr. Joan Mau.” I asked, and, sure enough, she’s the daughter of Pr. Carl Mau, who served in our synod before his death several years ago and – even more amazingly – was at one point Lutheran campus pastor at Madison. I repeat – it’s a small Lutheran world. (I’ve also run into four people whom I knew while we were all undergrads at Susquehanna, three of them pastors, the fourth helping manage the tech staff behind the stage.)

The Birds (with apologies to A. Hitchcock)

As is sometimes the case in these giant facilities, we have our own flock of birds to study, up close and personal. Two of them (sparrows maybe?) have taken up residence in our corner of the ELCA world this week. Periodically, they march down the carpet of the wide aisles that separate us from the Augsburg Fortress displays. I'd wandered how they stayed alive - until I saw several of them eating all the crumbs left by various wandering voting members and their snacks.

In the plenary hall, there are a number of pigeons, waddling and cooing on the carpeted pathways over the hard concrete floors. My fellow E-mail Center workers and I were watching the live in-house feed yesterday when Bishop Hanson suddenly hit the deck behind the podium. He’d apparently been dive-bombed by an errant pigeon. When he got back up, he jokingly made reference to the doves of peace in the hall.

Some Photos from Chicago

I'm in a fairly remote place here, it seems, so I haven't seen too many of our voting members at a time when I can take photos. Here are just a few, however, with more to come, I hope.

You'll note that I'm going to surrender on my repeated attempts to place the photos correctly with the captions and just put captions in order with photos following.


1. I was surprised to discover Pr. Ed Heim, on sabbatical for the summer from St. John Church, Hagerstown, Md., browsing among the books at Augsburg Fortress' on-site bookstore, which surrounds us here on the Lakeview Terrace. He's traveling to study discipleship and decided to drop into the CWA (Churchwide Assembly) just for yesterday, Tuesday.

2. Pr. Ginny Price (left) is here for the meeting of the synodical assistants to the bishop. She and Pr. Jenny Johnson-Wrege, assistant to the bishop of the Northern Great Lakes Synod spent far more time than they'd anticipated huddled over a computer at the far end of the E-mail Center, trying to make arrangements for our synods' joint Partner Synod dinner at a local restaurant tomorrow night.

3. Synod Treasurer Mick Thistle and Paula Thistle, both of St. Martin Church, Annapolis, Md., are both here as voting members. (We also have a sister team - Yolanda and Yvonne Tanner.) Paula had already been here and checked e-mail but waited patiently for Mick to check his. Note in Mick's hand the bright red and grey backpack all the voting members received this year to tote around the giant (maybe 3-4 inches thick) notebook that contains all the reading materials for which they're responsible.

Hanson reelected on second ballot

“I accept this reaffirmation of your call with deep gratitude and truly expectant hopefulness for the next six years,” said ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, acknowledging his reelection to a second term. After missing reelection on the first ballot by a mere two votes out of more than 1,000 cast, Hanson was elected on the second ballot with 888 votes. Some 1,029 ballots were cast, with 772 (75%) needed to win.

Following a prolonged standing ovation that resounded through the cavernous plenary hall, Hanson introduced his wife Ione and youngest of six daughters, saying that he’s even more convinced, having been bishop for six years, that this is a shared calling. Obviously moved, he spoke of the sacrifices his family has made. He also asked the assembly to affirm the work of the churchwide staff, who share this call with him. In speaking of the “deep wellspring of faith” from which he draws daily, he noted the impact his parents and in-laws as well as his sisters had on developing that faith. He also noted how humbling it is “to know how frequently one is prayed for.”

In one of the many lighter moments from the podium of the assembly, ELCA Vice President Carlos Peña, who had assumed the chair during both ballots for bishop, quite formally turned the chair back to Bishop Hanson – all the while grinning broadly, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt.

Book of Faith initiative adopted

In what may well be one of the most significant, long-lasting, far-reaching actions of this assembly, voting members just adopted the proposed initiative on the “Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible.” According to an ELCA news release of June 8, this is “a renewal initiative for the church aimed at helping members to engage the Scriptures.” It also supports the “intentional teaching, understanding and use of Lutheran approaches to Scripture.”

By all means, go to the website and read the initiative. (There was one amendment from the floor - an addition of an item to the second proposal from the Church Council.) Here’s the Book of Faith website as it currently exists, with more resources promised to be added regularly. As part of the initiative’s presentation to the assembly, a brief video was shown which should be available for your congregation’s use by download from the ELCA website. (I confess that I can’t find it at the moment, but keep checking back on the videos page.)

The Rev. Diane Jacobson, professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, will serve as the initiative’s director. In her brief presentation to voting members, she invited people to consider becoming a Book of Faith congregation, synod or organization this fall. That’s just one of the items that will be available on the Book of Faith website.

You’re also invited to contribute to the Book of Faith blog, coming in September. “Share biblical resources you’re using or make suggestions of resources you might need in the future,” Jacobson encouraged listeners. To find the blog from the main Book of Faith page, click on the blue type at the top of the page that says “Join the Conversation.” In September, you’ll be able to find a link to the blog by looking toward the bottom of the text on that “conversation” page. Keep checking back to the Book of Faith website “as the resources and excitement build,” Jacobson urged.

Greetings from the Windy City

Well, folks, here we all are in the Windy City, though today (and especially tonight) it’s the smoggy, humid city with no perceptible wind ruffling the waters of the lake which surrounds the E-Mail Center here at Navy Pier. Night, fog, rain and lighting are all falling simultaneously as ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson leads a resounding chorus of “A Mighty Fortress” as the assembly officially begins.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I rolled into BWI at the eye-splitting hour of 5:25 a.m. today. At least one of our voting members left on the 6 a.m. flight and has been here since. The E-Mail Center, provided in part by funds from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, was jammed long before we even had the computers hooked to the Internet. Tonight is the only scheduled evening session, going until 9. Unless business exceeds the time allotted, we'll be finished at 6 p.m. the rest of the week, until ending at 2 p.m. Sat.

Bishop Hansen just announced the 1,071 is the official voting strength of the assembly. ELCA Secretary Lowell Almen is announcing that 969 are registered on site as of 7:20 this evening – not even 20 minutes ago. That should give you some idea of the number of Lutherans hanging around, drinking coffee, and asking “Which way is the assembly?” This is the biggest convention center I’ve ever seen, topping even the Orlando Convention Center two years ago. The “green room,” which is where we communications staff and volunteers hang out when we’re not on duty, is a brisk 7-minute walk away, and that’s if I don’t get lost…which I haven’t managed to do thus far. We’re in the Lakeview Terrace, which is on some strange half-floor.)

I’ll be blogging all week to try to give you a sense of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the assembly. To watch the live streaming of all the plenary sessions, go to the ELCA website and look for the link to the assembly live streaming. You also can see lots and lots of pictures, read news releases, and get all the materials the voting members receive. I’ll also be cruising the pier with my camera when my feet hold up and I get a free minute. Here are some pictures from today.



You think you iron too many processional robes at your church? How’d you like to be the altar guild for the Churchwide Assembly, ironing in an improvised sacristy? (Some of these photos were taken from a balcony overlooking the worship and plenary areas, by the way.)



Jason Day (the synod’s youth member from St. James Church, Rockdale, Md.) and Bishop Jerry Knoche were the first two members of our delegation to be in their assigned seats this afternoon in the vast plenary hall.




The plenary hall features five large screens across the front, one above the dais and two on each side.

There’s much technical support behind the scenes here at the assembly. You can see the elevated platform for the plenary hall cameras – and that’s only what’s in the hall. Behind the huge floor-to-ceiling curtains behind the dais, an entire forest of equipment and techies has moved in for the week.

FreeRide Registration Information Mailed

Registration information about FreeRide 2007 was mailed this week to each congregation in the synod. Please watch your snail mail for the material. In case you misplace it, or never receive it, the registration forms are also available online.



FreeRide is the Synod's Middle School Youth Event. It is being held at YMCA Camp Letts, in Annapolis, MD, on October 19-21. The theme this year is: We Are All One: One in Christ. We hope you will be joining us for a great week end!