Write for Change
Over 500 of us heard his challenge when he addressed our recent synod assembly during the Friday night banquet. He described how we can make a difference not just though our charity but our advocacy as well. He shared facts of the impact Bread for the World has offered in recent years. He told stories of letters coming from a nursing home in Indiana that moved congressional legislation.

And then, Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, invited the Southeastern Minnesota Synod to join in a “2008 Offering of Letters.” He invited our synod, “A Synod at Table with the Hungry,” to write letters on that table for the sake of the hungry.

What is an offering of letters? Churches and groups across the country take up a nationwide offering of personal letters and emails to Congress on an issue that is important to hungry people. And your senators and representatives read them. This outpouring of concern sends a powerful message to our country’s political leaders and enables individuals to see their concerns translated into policies that help hungry and poor people improve their lives. This offering helps us as a nation move closer to our goal of ending hunger.

I invite the congregations of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod to join me in this effort. There is an “Offering of Letters Kit” available from Bread for the World to assist your congregation in this effort. The cost is $10, but we feel this is important enough that the synod office will pay for your kit. Simply contact our office before the end of June. We will submit the order for you and have it delivered to your congregation.

Your letters to Congress will help create hope and opportunity for hungry people in Africa and elsewhere. You do make a difference.

“We are moved by God’s grace in Jesus Christ To work for justice for hungry people. They may be in the next house. Or in the next country. No matter where they live, they are our neighbors. And we have the power to help.” (BFW Credo)

Shalom,
Harold Usgaard
Bishop

Wilderness Wanderings?
Signage plays an important role
By Rev. Linda Gunderson
Synod Minister

In these past months I have enjoyed traveling to congregations throughout the synod. As I have been learning my way around I’ve been asking myself some questions, “How does someone find a particular church, even with a map?” and, “Can anyone from the neighborhood around the church find it?” I ask those questions because I believe we are called to be welcoming places where people hear the good news of salvation. I ask because we desire to be friendly and inviting. If the church is hard to locate, this presents a challenge. Also, if there are no signs or if the signs are placed only on the lawn or near the parking lot it is difficult to find the church building even while in the neighborhood.

Then, when I arrive at a church I wonder where to park and which door to enter. That varies whether it is a weeknight or a Sunday morning. At one congregation someone commented that they could tell who the visitors where because they were the only ones who used the front door. So, I find myself asking additional questions, “How does a visitor find the correct door?” and “What if this door goes somewhere in the church a visitor really doesn’t want to go (the kitchen, for example)?”

When we have lived, worshipped, and gathered in a place that is familiar it is natural to take for granted what we know. A stranger has a different perspective. I invite you to imagine you’re a stranger visiting your church the next time you go for worship. Would you know where to go and what time to arrive? What if you were going without an invitation from a friend? Who would welcome you and make you feel at home?

Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. We are also blessed with the opportunity to make disciples of those who come to us.

Peace,
Pr. Linda

Cheap Membership?
Greetings!

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21)

Rev. Michael Foss, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta, Ga., wrote Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church to address this issue in our churches. A review of the book says: “Foss outlines the six marks of discipleship that measure the spiritual practices of both church governing structures and laity: daily prayer, weekly worship, Bible reading, service, spiritual friendships, and giving.” Could anyone argue about the importance of those six points?

Many congregations are yoking membership with those six marks of discipleship. They are saying that anyone and everyone is welcome to worship with us and to participate in the life of our congregation, but anyone who seeks to be a member of our congregation must commit to daily prayer, weekly worship, daily Bible reading, service inside and outside of our congregation, spiritual friendships, and giving that is either a tithe (10%) or working toward a tithe.

And do you know what is both amazing and terribly exciting? Those congregations are growing by leaps and bounds!

Many of our members are quietly living out these six marks of discipleship. However, far too many of our members don’t worship and commune, give rarely and give very little, and are seen within our church doors only when they cry, “Lord, Lord, I need my baby baptized in the church. I need to be married in the church. I need to be buried in the church” and then claim their “rights” of membership.

I don’t have the answer, but I certainly want to raise the question: Are we doing the right thing by allowing “cheap” membership? Are we following the Lord’s command for ourselves and for others? Isaiah 58:2-5 critiques fasting for our own interest. There is a difference between “works righteousness,” which is the empty fasting that Isaiah is talking about and what James 2:22-26 is talking about: “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. . .For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”

I have had unbelieving friends who challenged my need to worship, my “need” to give; who sneered at the church and asked if I “had” to do certain things in order to go to heaven. My response is always: I have been given the gift of eternal life—beginning with my baptism. I live all my days in and with this gift. How can I not respond by worshiping, by giving, by serving?

Michael Foss is encouraging Christians continually to remind each other of the gift of grace through a life of discipleship (which means learning). I would love for us all to engage in a conversation around the idea that anyone and everyone can worship with us and participate in our activities, but becoming a member includes making commitments to ourselves, to our congregation and to God. We already said we would do that in our Affirmation of Baptism. We promised: “to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” This is also part of the service in accepting new members to the congregation. Since we’ve already made the promises, why not ask those who claim membership to actively live out those promises?