Take it to the Lord in Prayer

Synod assembly planning is a twelve month process. As soon as an assembly ends, we begin work on the next one. We are fortunate to have a great partner in Augustana College in Rock Island. Their staff works very hard to make sure that all of our needs are accommodated.

The finishing touches are now being applied to this year’s assembly plans. Menus have been chosen and rooms have been assigned. The Bulletin of Reports, all 197 pages of it, is now available on the synod’s Web site (http://www.nisynod.org/assembly/index.html). The worship services have been planned. Calls have been issued by congregations to new seminary graduates, so we will celebrate ordinations. Bishop Mark Hanson, our presiding bishop, is looking forward to being our ELCA representative this year. Dr. Ralph Klein is busy preparing his Bible study and forum materials. Bishop Wollersheim is studying and praying. Conferences and congregations are busy discussing the resolutions. Congregations celebrating significant anniversaries are preparing presentations.

In many ways this year’s assembly will be like every other. But there is a fair amount of anxiety throughout the church, including within our synod, regarding the proposed social statement on human sexuality and the recommendations on ministry policy that our Churchwide Assembly will act upon in August. We have other important business to attend to, but those items do not seem to be generating the same amount of angst.

I have attended every assembly of the Northern Illinois Synod, including the constituting assembly in 1987. We have always grounded ourselves in worship and God’s Word. I have been pleased and proud of the way we conduct business. We have always shared ideas and opinions respectfully. We have treated each other as the brothers and sisters that we are. I do not expect this year to be any different.

Bishop Hanson has called upon the whole ELCA to engage in 50 days of prayer in preparation for this summer’s Churchwide Assembly (http://www.elca.org/50days). I would encourage every congregation to heed this call. I would also ask each of our congregations to pray in preparation for our own synod assembly.

Bishop Wollersheim prepares thoroughly for our assemblies. The most important part of his preparation is engaging in prayer. He prays through the entire agenda, always seeking God’s guidance and the intervention of the Holy Spirit. We are now a little more than a month away from our assembly. I invite you to join me in praying for our work as a synod in the assembly. I am also praying that those who are anxious will find comfort in the knowledge that this is indeed God’s church.

To comment, go to http://niselca.blogspot.com/. --JC