2026 Fall Fundraising Letter
September 2026
Dear Friends in Christ –
The First Reading for September 13 from Genesis 50 is the culmination of the account of the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. There is something absolutely amazing going on here – the healing and restoring of a broken relationship through confession, repentance, and the giving and receiving of forgiveness.
A few chapters before Judah had offered to stay behind in Egypt in place of Benjamin in order to not break their father’s heart. Here we see the selfless act of a person who is willing to suffer the punishment that was coming to someone else. And that person is a biological ancestor of Jesus.
The brothers go back home, knowing full well that they are now going to have to tell old Jacob, “Joseph is still alive.” The problem is that in saying that they are going to have to tell their father what they did twenty-two years before.
Reconciliation and restored relationship are not about avoiding difficult conversations or uncomfortable, unpleasant situations or covering them up. Instead reconciliation and restored relationship always require telling the truth.
The miracle of rebuilt trust and community takes truth telling, confession, repentance, and forgiveness. And that is what happens here. After twenty-two years it happens here. For the first time – finally – they are a family.
Where in your life is a relationship that needs reconciliation? Where have you been most deeply hurt by someone? And/or where have you most deeply hurt someone else?
Think about the one who hurt you. You might think, he or she does not deserve to be forgiven. Maybe he or she does not deserve it. Neither did Joseph’s brothers deserve it. Neither do you and I deserve it.
Forgive him or her anyway. Do it because of the One who also was stripped of His robe, who also was deserted and betrayed, and who said, “I will pay the price. I will bear the cross. Let the punishment fall on me.”
What made Joseph able to endure – and endure so graciously – so many years of being mistreated and not take revenge on his brothers? The same three things that can make us able to endure it. Three things that are mentioned in Genesis 50 and Matthew 18, the First Reading and Gospel for September 13.
- Knowing that their father had told him to do it. In Genesis 50: 16-17 Joseph’s brothers approach him saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died. ‘Forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’”
- Knowing how much he had been forgiven. In contrast Matthew 18: 23-35 tell of a man who had been forgiven ten thousand talents (a huge amount) who refused to forgive one hundred denarii (a much smaller amount).
- Knowing that God makes all things work together for good. In Genesis 50: 20 Joseph said to his brothers, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”
We all need to forgive – and we all need to be forgiven. We all need the sweet promise of Psalm 103: 12 (part of the Psalm for September 13). “As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.”
It is very true what has often been said that the person whom we refuse to forgive will always hold power over us. But there is also a very strange corollary which seems to be the way the ELCA thinks and operates. You will lose power if you forgive. You will lose power over the one whom you choose to forgive. And power is what it is all about.
The apostle Paul wrote, “The law kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3: 6). With the law, no matter how much you do, it is never enough. You always need to do better and more. The law is a relentless, cruel, never-satisfied task master.
The same thing is true of the ELCA’s constantly calling on us to repent of racism, sexism, male dominance, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and Islamophobia. No matter how much we repent, it is never enough. We will always need to grovel and repent more. How long will the ELCA keep on calling on us to repent of the same things? And why are they doing this? I believe for two reasons. First, at the heart of all this is a massive self-righteousness. They are woke. They are not guilty of all the awful things that other people – especially old white people with traditional views – are guilty of. And second, I believe that they want to so demolish the courage, will, and self-confidence of old white people with traditional views that they will not resist as the woke totally take over.
As we learn more, we will keep you informed about how the stage is being set for an even more complete takeover at the 2028 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Thank you for your prayers, words of encouragement, and faithful financial support, all of which enable us to do our work of being a Voice for Biblical Truth and a Network for Confessing Lutherans. Please find below links you can use to give a gift towards our regular operating expenses. Your prayers are especially important to us. Please let us know how we can be praying for you.
In the Name of Jesus, who removes our sins as far as the east is from the west,
Dennis D. Nelson
Executive Director of Lutheran CORE
P.O. Box 1741
Wausau WI 54402-1741