A High and a Low

Another action packed day of the Churchwide Assembly came to a close at 8:00 p.m. this evening. There were a lot of sleepy looking folks entering the plenary hall twelve hours earlier, but it looked as if many had caught a second wind as they were venturing forth into downtown Minneapolis on a picture perfect evening.

I have now had a chance to check-in with all of our Northern Illinois voting members. There are quite a few visitors from our synod too. I know there are more than 10. There are at least two that I have not even seen yet, but I have heard rumors of their presence!

Today the assembly spent some time in a quasi-committee of the whole in order to discuss the sexuality statement. All of the discussion was polite and impassioned. For me, today’s high and low points came at other times.

The high point came when the assembly endorsed the Lutheran Malaria Initiative. Malaria is a critical health issue in many parts of the world. This initiative seeks to raise $75 million and will create a shared effort with the United Nations Foundation and Lutheran World Relief to combat malaria in Africa. The presentations made it clear that we can make a huge difference and be God’s hands in this important work.

The low point (again, in my opinion) came in the presentation of the proposed budget with its anticipated loss of mission support income in 2010 and 2011. As a parish pastor, I always worked hard to keep congregations connected to the mission of the wider church and I encouraged generous mission support giving. While I was doing stewardship work on the synod level, I challenged congregations to do the same—to stay connected and be generous. It is somewhat disheartening to me to see decreasing trend in the ELCA. I do not believe this should all be attributed to the poor economy or to some congregations’ displeasure with the ELCA. I think congregations simply do not have a good sense of what we do together.

Bishops’ assistants had lunch together today with a brief visit from Bishop Hanson. He was in good humor and thanked us for the work we do. I am so impressed by his faith, piety and leadership.

I should mention that Bishop Hanson presented his report to the assembly today as well. Focusing on the ELCA’s tagline and the theme of this assembly (God’s work. Our hands.), he asked us all to think of our hands. If you were to view a video of your hands over the past few weeks, how would you see your hands doing God’s work? I wondered if helping my son and daughter-in-law move would count?

You may want to read the ELCA and NIS press releases on all of today’s business and action. My photos show a disproportionate amount of eating. Unfortunately, meals times are one of the times I can find our people and snap some shots. One of our voting members told me at dinner that he has avoided the thought of coming to a Churchwide Assembly for years. He seems to be having a great time being engaged in the work of the church.

For those of you who receive these updates by email, please know that there is often a considerable delay from the time that I post. I update in the evening and my thoughts are immediately available at http://niselca.blogspot.com/. If you care to comment, I would be glad to hear from you. --JC