ELCA Churchwide Assembly--My Post at Living Lutheran

How often does your denomination gather to meet as one body?  I'm a member of the ELCA, the largest group of U.S. Lutherans, and we gather every other year.  This year, this very day, Lutherans from across the country are heading to Orlando.

You may be wondering why we do this.  You may be wondering if it's the best use of money and time.  You may be wondering if the Lutherans are up to something substantial, like the sexuality decisions of 2009.

Well, I can't answer that last one, but I do wrestle with the other issues over at this post at the Living Lutheran website.

My pastor will be blogging the Assembly, and he begins with this post.  I look forward to hearing what he's experiencing.  Our Synod often meets in Orlando, site of this year's Assembly, and I wonder if Churchwide Assembly will feel different.

I imagine that at some point we won't all gather to meet like this.  We won't have the luxury of fairly inexpensive airline tickets.  We won't get price discounts from resorts.  Or maybe we'll have something better than we can even imagine now.  Maybe we'll be such an expansive group that we'll need to meet, maybe even more often.  Maybe Lutherans a generation or two from now will look back to the tumultuous times and be thankful for what we did to stabilize the foundations of their denomination.

Even if you're not a Lutheran, I'd love for us all to join in prayer for the larger organization meeting this week.  May God grant them wisdom and a vision for the future!