From the Pastor

Dear friends,

If you read The Lutheran regularly, you are perhaps aware that the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America meets this month in Chicago, beginning August 6. You may recall that at the last assembly (in 2005), I was present as a reporter for Forum Letter, an independent newsletter published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. My job was to do "on the scene" reporting on the web site, and then to write a full report for the newsletter. I’ve been asked to do this again this year, and so will be heading off for Chicago for that week.

The biggest item on the agenda this year is not expected to be sexuality, but elections. Bishop Hanson, our presiding bishop, is completing his six year term. In the ELCA, there is no formal "nominations" process. The first ballot is a nominating ballot, and any pastor in the church is eligible to receive votes. Bishop Hanson has indicated his willingness to serve a second term, and the safe money is that he will be reelected.

The ELCA Secretary, Lowell Almen, is retiring, and so there is likely to be a more interesting contest for his job. The Secretary is a very powerful, though often invisible, position in the ELCA, and Pr. Almen has had quite a lot of influence as the first and so far the only person to serve in that office.

Of course there will be plenty of other interesting and sometimes controversial issues as well. Of course it’s also a time to connect with old friends and meet new ones. In addition to myself, David and Gloria Baker from Peace will be attending as visitors.

If you are interested in following the progress of the convention, you are welcome to "tune in" to the web reports at www.alpb.org.

Some of you are also aware that I have been appointed to serve as editor for Forum Letter, beginning with the September issue. The current editor, Pastor Russ Saltzman, a parish pastor in Kansas City, has been serving in that capacity for some 17 years, and has decided that’s long enough. This is a very "part-time" job (I figure, once I get rolling, the equivalent of a day or two a month).

But FL has been around for almost four decades, and has had some very highly regarded editors in that time, so I regard this as an honor. All the editors have been parish pastors, and the publication is really primarily a sort of commentary on current theological and church issues from the perspective of the parish pastor. When I first began the process for becoming a Lutheran back in the early 1980’s, Lois’s dad gave me a subscription, saying "This is the best way to keep abreast of what’s happening in American Lutheran circles." I’ve subscribed continually since that time. Again and again one hears it said, especially by pastors, "When Forum Letter comes in the mail, it’s always the first thing I read." So it will be fun to have that kind of audience.

And the other thing I really value is the fact that the group that publishes FL, the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, is an independent group that is deliberately "inter-Lutheran." It’s really one of the few places these days that provides opportunity for dialogue between ELCA and Missouri Synod (as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada). My associate editor, in fact, will be Pr. Peter Speckhard, a Missouri Synod pastor from Wisconsin. I believe those contacts and relationships are extremely important in a time when relationships between the two church bodies has been a bit frosty.

So join me on the web starting August 6. (If you are web savvy, actually, you can watch the assembly live—though my reports may well be more interesting much of the time!) If you go to the web site, you can also sample some of the articles from Forum Letter during the past few years.

I’ll be back August 11 and see you in church August 12. But since I’ll not have had much time that week, I’ve invited our resident seminary student, Johanna Johnson, to preach the sermon that Sunday. You won’t want to miss it!

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O Johnson

Classic Prayers

An evening prayer:

Christ, mighty Savior, Light of all creation,

you make the daytime radiant with the sunlight

and to the night give glittering adornment,

stars in the heavens.

Now comes the day’s end as the sun is setting,

mirror of daybreak, pledge of resurrection;

while in the heavens choirs of stars appearing

hallow the nightfall.

Therefore we come now evening rites of offer,

joyfully chanting holy hymns to praise you,

with all creation joining hearts and voices,

singing your glory.

Give heed, we pray you, to our supplication,

that you may grant us pardon for offenses,

strength for our weak hearts, rest for aching bodies,

soothing the weary.

Though bodies slumber, hearts shall keep their vigil,

forever resting in the peace of Jesus,

in light or darkness worshiping our Savior

now and forever.

-- 10th century Mozarabic prayer/hymn

Liturgy Notes: The Lectionary

Any regular worshiper in a Lutheran Church has noticed that there is a certain sequence to the Scripture lessons that are read from week to week. At Peace, for instance, the gospel lesson during this present year is usually from Luke. Often these lessons (or "lections," readings) go in sequential order—this week’s passage takes off pretty much from where last week’s left off.

The reason for this regularity is that Lutherans, along with the majority of Christians in the world, use something called a "lectionary." This is simply a calendar of readings that lists what passages should be read on a given Sunday. The use of lectionaries is very ancient; we know that Jews at the time of Jesus used a lectionary to determine synagogue readings on any given Sabbath.

The purpose of a lectionary is simply to insure that the congregation hears a balanced variety of the Scripture in worship during a given period of time. As Lutherans, we believe that the Scripture is a vital part of the liturgy. It is not just a "jumping off point" for the sermon, but a means through which Christ speaks to us. By following a calendar, we avoid the tendency simply to dwell on familiar, easy-to-understand passages; we hear what may be challenging, as well as what is comfortable.

Back in the 1960’s, the Roman Catholic Church began a massive study of its own lectionary, and the result was an entirely new lectionary based on a three-year cycle of readings (instead of a one-year cycle, which had been the previous practice). The new lectionary was so impressive, and so thoroughly Biblical, that many other churches used it as a starting point for developing their own lectionaries. Churches have continued to work together in refining this work, and now, while there are occasional differences, chances are good that on any given Sunday the same lessons will be read in most Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Episcopal churches in America, as well as many Methodist, Presbyterian, or other Protestant churches.

The structure of the lectionary is easy to understand. It is divided into three years (cycles A, B, and C). In year A, Matthew is the focus of the gospel lessons, while years B and C feature Mark and Luke. John is used consistently during the Easter season each year, and during a portion of the "Mark" year (since Mark is the shortest gospel).

The appointed gospel lesson then forms the basis for choosing the Old Testament lesson and the Psalm. Often one can some relationship between these and the gospel lesson—a common theme, or perhaps the gospel quote the Old Testament lesson. The second lesson (often called "the epistle") is chosen differently. Through most of the year, the second lesson simply reads from the epistles in sequence. We have recently been hearing from Colossians, for instance, and soon will delve into Hebrews for a few weeks.

One blessing of the lectionary is that it gives an opportunity for you to "read ahead." At the bottom of the bulletin cover each week you will find the lessons for the following Sunday. You might like to read those over a time or two during the week, so that they don’t hit you "cold" on Sunday morning. Whatever we can do to "prepare our hearts" to hear God’s Word is a good thing!