35th Anniversary of ELCA

 Today, April 30, 2022 marks the 35th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Burton and I attended the Constituting Convention in Columbus, Ohio in 1987. I had been serving on three separate committees during the preceding 5 years of planning: "Church and Society," "Rostered Ministries" and "Theological Education" We had some challenging issues to work out as the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelic Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America came together to form a new Lutheran Church.

Representative principles were endorsed to be more inclusive of people of color and to lift up decision-making of the laity.  Seminaries took on a partnership relationship rather than closing some. And we vowed to reach out to serve in the public world more fully.

The word "bishop" was adopted rather than "district president" and the number of years of the term of bishop was set at 4 years.  So many other things to decide!  The issue of types of rostered leaders was not settled.  I served on "The Task Force of the Study of Ministry" for the following 5 years to work that out.

Many more changes have continued to be made in these 35 years, but the mission remains and is intensified for the future. The issues in the country and the world are even more urgent. We need the ELCA to "share the good news. The gospel not only is a word of Grace but it's also a word of liberation," said current Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.

Funeral of Madeleine Albright

 What role, if any should religious convictions play in the decisions about U.S. foreign policy? Madeleine Albright, whose funeral was Thursday, April 28 at the Washington National Cathedral, asked this question in her book, "The Mighty and the Almighty" She asked, "Does the United States believe it has a special relationship with God?" Besides serving as U.S. representative to the United Nations, and becoming the first female U.S. Secretary of State, she taught at Georgetown University for decades. He specialty was foreign policy. She researched, and learned first hand about the relationships of religion and government in countries throughout the world. She inspired women in leadership around the globe. 

Her funeral was inspirational. President Biden, former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke, along with Madeleine's three daughters. You can watch the entire service on C-Span's YouTube.  

Our Great National Parks

 Visit "Our Great National Parks," on Netflix. Barack Obama is executive producer and narrator. We might assume from the title, that this 5-part series is about the 63 national parks in the United States. However, Obama, in his slow quiet voice, takes us to some of the over 4000 national parks in the world, from Patagonia to Indonesia to Monterey Bay and Kenya. We see and marvel. We appreciate in awe. 

Earth Day, is a good day to listen and learn. Our common goal in this Climate Crisis is not to compete and conquer but to preserve and protect.

MLK Assassination: 54 Years Ago Today

 At 6:05 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was 39 years old. Today he would have been 93 years old. He had been in Memphis, TN, supporting the striking sanitation workers, most of whom were African-American.

Today people are still poor, Amazon and Starbucks workers are working to make progress in being able to organize unions. And Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's vote is before the Senate to become the first Black Woman on the Supreme Court. We have come a long way, Dr. King, and yet so far to go. We remember what you said, "Darkness cannot drive our darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."