A while back someone asked how Lutheran CORE supports faithful, confessional, orthodox ELCA pastors who are serving in ELCA congregations.  It is a good question.  In the March 2019 issue of our newsletter, CORE Voice, I sought to answer that question.  Here I will be providing an update to my answer. 

First of all, I would again want to say that when I speak of confessional, orthodox ELCA pastors who are serving (or did serve) in ELCA congregations, I am also speaking of myself.  I am ELCA rostered.  I served the same congregation (first ALC, then ELCA) for forty years before my retirement in June 2014.  So I will also be speaking of ways in which Lutheran CORE was of support to me during my years of ministry.

Let me also say at the beginning that we feel that part of our calling as Lutheran CORE is to alert people to ways in which orthodoxy is being threatened in the ELCA.  We inform people of how the ELCA is not keeping its promise to honor also the traditional view of marriage and human sexuality.  We know that there are many faithful, confessional, orthodox pastors still in the ELCA, and we want to be of support to them in every way that we can.  But we also believe that that number is continually diminishing as many of them have retired, are retiring, or soon will retire.  Our role is to support those who are working to be faithful in the ELCA, those who have decided that being faithful requires them to leave the ELCA, and those who are in the process of determining how God is calling them to be affiliated. 

Having said that, I will now list a number of ways in which CORE seeks to support confessional, orthodox ELCA pastors who are faithfully serving in ELCA congregations.

• Assurance that you are not alone.  Connection with many others who share your concerns and are engaged in the same struggles.

• Providing Facebook groups in which you can engage in conversation with like-minded people.  We have a private and visible (Facebook terminology) Facebook group that includes pastors, seminarians, and lay people with several different church body affiliations.  We also have a private and hidden (again Facebook terminology) Facebook group that is only for ELCA pastors and seminarians.  In addition, we have a third Facebook group, the Lutheran CORE Worship Group, where people can post worship services and Bible studies.  We also have a MeWe page and group.

• Resources for worship, including prayers and hymn suggestions.

• Daily devotionals.

• Our annual Encuentro – a day of support, connection, fellowship, inspiration, and resources for those who already are involved and for those who are considering becoming involved in bi-lingual (English-Spanish) or Spanish language ministries.

• Some day you will retire or resign to take another call.  Through our Congregations in Transition ministry initiative we have a group of (mostly retired) Lutheran pastors who have been trained to serve as coaches for congregations who are between pastors who either do not have an interim pastor available to them or do not have the resources for an interim pastor.  This ministry also works with pastors still serving in congregations who either already have announced or soon will be announcing their retirement.   

• Clergy Connect – a resource on our website through which congregations that are looking for an orthodox pastor and pastors who are looking for another call can find each other.

• Guidance in evaluating ELCA communications and decisions such as the social statement, “Faith, Sexism, and Justice” and the “Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” both of which were approved at the 2019 Churchwide Assembly. 

• Assistance for pastors who want to gather examples to communicate to their church leaders of ways in which orthodoxy is being threatened within the ELCA.    

• Articles in our bi-monthly newsletter, CORE Voice, on such topics as critical race theory, how to share the faith with people who are hostile to the Christian faith, and how to communicate in a way that is relevant to technically sophisticated, younger generations. 

• Representation to ELCA leaders.  We have advocated for traditional views in our communications to the presiding bishop and synodical bishops concerning such things as the Supreme Court decision regarding same sex marriage, the choice of keynote speakers for the 2018 youth gathering, and state legislation regarding abortion.

• Through our sponsoring of the July 11-17, 2021 week of NEXUS at Grand View University in Des Moines, we are providing a resource for pastors who would like their high school students to attend a week of Bible study, theological reflection, fellowship, involvement in ministry, and challenge to consider attending seminary and become involved in a life of Christian service. 

• On our website an annotated List of Confessional Resources – books, magazines, ministries, and other resources recommended by other confessional pastors.

• We have video book reviews, including video reviews of some of the books on the list of confessional resources

The author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us . . . run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” (12:1-2)  Our goal as Lutheran CORE is to help you look to Jesus and to run with perseverance the race that is set before you.  

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to David Charlton, ELCA pastor and vice president of our board, for doing this month’s video review.  His review is about the book, The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church by Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand. 

Concerning this book Pastor Charlton writes, “Twenty-first century Lutherans are often confused and conflicted about the place of good works, service to the community, and social justice in the Christian life.  Kolb and Arand use Luther’s distinction between the Two Kinds of Righteousness to help us find a way to talk about all those things without losing sight of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in the process.”

These reviews are posted on YouTube.  Our YouTube channel, which contains four other reviews, can be found here.  Many thanks to Pastor Charlton for having done a previous review, and to LCMC pastor, Chris Johnson; NALC pastor Brett Jenkins; and LCMC pastor Bob Rognlien for making the other reviews. 

Our plan is to publish a new video book review during the first week of every month.  Many of the books that will be reviewed are described in the List of Confessional Resources on the Seminarians page of our website.  That list can be found here.

When you look at a video review for the first time, please click on the Subscribe button.  As enough people do that, it will eventually help us to get a channel name that will include our organization’s name.  

What an incredibly difficult ten months this has been for so many Americans.  In addition to the struggles many of us had with life in general pre-COVID, a recent national survey indicates that, during this pandemic, we have had a three-fold increase in the number of Americans exhibiting signs of depression! That is a staggering statistic. 

Yet there is still an amazing, under-utilized ministry tool available to us, and which can be used effectively “at a distance”: the telephone.  All of us should be considering whom we need to call; someone we suspect might need human contact during this depressing pandemic when so many are experiencing social isolation.

However, I am not suggesting one of those “Hi,-how-are-you?-Fine” kind of conversations.  I’m thinking of meaningful, thoughtful and repeated conversations where the recipient feels cared for; where you are both a friend and a counselor.

One of my favorite Scripture passages is Ephesians 3:16-19.  “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is that love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  This text, at least in part, captures a vision of what the fellowship of the Body of Christ can and should be.  And in pre-COVID, more “normal” times I would like to think that my brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling are being supported and encouraged by their congregation.  Well even if that was the case then, it is far less likely now.  There are so many out there who are feeling cut off from whatever social support system they could once count on from their fellow church members.  And this will be an on-going issue for many months to come.

This ministry challenge — and opportunity — came to mind when I read a November 19^th New York Times column written by David Brooks.  This article focused on some of the keys to having “deeper conversations.”  And the following insights and recommendations from Brooks are by no means limited to face-to-face conversations.  They can just as easily be utilized on the phone.  Here are five of the recommendations David Brooks shares when it comes to facilitating “deeper conversations.”

1. “Ask elevating questions…Some questions, startling as they seem at first, compel us to see ourselves from a higher vantage: What crossroads are you at?…Whom do you feel most grateful to have in your life?  What problem did you once have but now have licked?  In what ways are you sliding backward?”

2. “Ask open-ended questions.”  Instead of questions that tend to limit conversation, “better questions start with ‘What was it like…’ or ‘Tell me about a time…’”  I would add, “What has been the hardest part of this pandemic for you personally?”

3. “Treat (your) attention as all or nothing…In conversation it’s best to act as if attention had an on/off switch with no dimmer.  Total focus.  I have a friend who listens to conversations the way congregants listen to sermons in charismatic churches — with amens, and approbations.  The effect is magnetic.”

4. “Don’t fear the pause.  Most of us stop listening to a comment about halfway through so we can be ready with a response.  In Japan…business people are more likely to hear the whole comment and then pause, sometimes eight seconds, before responding, which is twice as long a silence as American business people conventionally tolerate.”

5. “Keep the gem statement front and center.”  In this time when our culture seems embroiled in partisanship and conflict this is a particularly apt insight from Brooks.  He writes, “In the midst of many difficult conversations, there is what mediator Adar Cohen calls the gem statement.  This is the comment that keeps the relationship together: ‘Even when we can’t agree on Dad’s medical care, I’ve never doubted your good intentions.  I know you want the best for him.’”

One additional quote that Brooks shared in this article is from journalist Amanda Ripley: “Humans need to be heard before they will listen.”

I have some suggestions of my own when it comes to these deeper, more meaningful conversations.  And these apply to both phone and online communication.  One is that for on-going relationships it can be helpful to set up each conversation in advance; preferable agreeing on a next time at the conclusion of the previous conversation.  That way he/she has the assurance that you will continue to be available; that this is not a one-time-only conversation.  And finally, I think that it is helpful if this person knows you will be praying for him/her.  I’m not talking about the judgmental cliché, “I’ll be praying for you.”  Instead, “I want you to know that I am including you in my prayers each and every day.”  And then do it.

Pastor Don Brandt

Congregations in Transition

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Brett Jenkins, NALC pastor and former member of our board, for doing this month’s video review.  Here is a synopsis of his review of the book Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher.

“Support for free speech is plummeting among the young, while social mobbing and shouting have largely replaced principled debate on college campuses.  There are striking cultural parallels to the early 20th century in pre-totalitarian Germany, Italy, and Russia.   At a time when orthodox, Biblically serious Christians have increasingly found themselves not only culturally sidelined, but the objects of scorn and derision in the dominant Western culture, powerful new world-shaping technologies are changing communication and the market in ways whose closest parallel is the invention of the printing press… and the levers of power are in the hands of people who despise traditional Christians.  While the reader may have serious questions as to how accurately Rod Dreher has read the signs of our times, his book Live Not By Lies is a forceful and timely call for Christians to remember the truth of the old adage that, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’”

These reviews are posted on YouTube.  Brett’s review can be found here.  Our YouTube channel, which contains two other reviews, can be found here.  Many thanks to Chris Johnson, LCMC pastor, and David Charlton, ELCA pastor, for making the other two reviews.  Both Chris and David are members of our board.

Our plan is to publish a new video book review during the first week of every month.  Many of the books that will be reviewed are described in the List of Confessional Resources on the Seminarians page of our website.  That list can be found here. When you look at a video review for the first time, please click on the Subscribe button.  As enough people do that, it will eventually help us to get a channel name that will include our organization’s name.  

Two recent news stories from the ELCA speak loudly about the values and priorities of that church body.  The first one is dated November 16, 2020 and is entitled “ELCA Future Church design affirmed by ELCA Church Council.”  A link to that article can be found here.  The second one is dated November 4, 2020 and is a transcript of a video message from ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton about the national elections, which occurred the day before.  A link to that article can be found here.  There are four things I would like to say about those two articles.

First, the article on the ELCA’s Future Church design described the desired outcome as “so that more people may know the way of Jesus and discover community, justice, and love.”  Now certainly community, justice, and love are important.  They definitely are a part of what the church needs to work for and offer to the world.  But Jesus said that He is the truth and the life as well as the way (John 14: 6).  The ELCA seems concerned only about pursuing the way of Jesus as they define it — working against gender injustice, racism, and white supremacy and affirming the full LGBTQIA+ agenda.  The ELCA does not seem to value whether people know the full truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus did and whether people are experiencing the life that Jesus gives through a saving faith relationship with Him. 

In Bishop Eaton’s video message regarding the national elections, she describes “the gospel of Jesus Christ as the basis for equity, justice, and peace for all people and creation.”  Again, I would fully agree that as followers of Jesus we must pursue equity, justice, and peace for all people and creation.  But the gospel of Jesus is not primarily about equity, justice, and peace for all people and creation.  It is primarily about what God has done so that we can be in right relationship with Him.  Pursuing equity, justice, and peace for all people and creation, though important, is part of our response to what God has done for us, not our main message or the prime focus of our faith and mission.    

At least Bishop Eaton’s video message regarding the national elections was an improvement over the “Summary of Actions” which came from the ELCA’s 2019 Churchwide Assembly.  A link to that summary can be found here.  At least Bishop Eaton mentioned Jesus in the elections video.  But one would hope that the Presiding Bishop of a Lutheran church body would mention Jesus.  In contrast, the “Summary of Actions” from the ELCA’s 2019 Churchwide Assembly never mentions Jesus.  And it only mentions God once.  And the sentence in which it mentions God is not focused on God.  Instead it is focused on people.  It states that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. 

At least Bishop Eaton mentions Jesus as she refers to “the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  But in what she says next she does not seem to see the gospel as a record of what God has done so that we can be in right relationship with Him and with each other.  Instead – typical of the ELCA – she speaks of the gospel as the basis for what we need to do.  And what she defines as what we need to do has nothing to do with sharing the saving message of Jesus.  Instead it is all about typical ELCA priorities – our holding “fast to our commitments to gender justice, to dismantling white supremacy as an anti-racist church, to welcoming the stranger and accompanying the neighbor, to affirming LGBTQIA+ siblings, and seeking economic justice for all.” 

If anyone were to claim that I am misrepresenting the ELCA and/or being unfair to the ELCA, I would refer them to the “Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment,” which was approved by the 2019 Churchwide Assembly.  A link to that document can be found here.  In that document the statement is made that we must be careful about claiming to know God’s judgment regarding other religions, and that our main role is to love and serve our neighbor.  In other words, according to the ELCA, the church – including the ELCA – has nothing unique to offer to the world. 

Second, the article about the ELCA’s Future Church design places great emphasis upon the need to reach and engage “new, young, and diverse people.”  Now certainly if the ELCA wants to have a future it needs to reach and engage “new, young, and diverse people.”  Any congregation that wants to have a future needs to reach and engage “new, young, and diverse people.”  Lutheran CORE needs to reach and engage “new, young, and diverse people.”  Any Christian ministry that wants to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 19-20) needs to reach and engage “new, young, and diverse people.”   

The ELCA knows that it is in major decline.  It is fully aware of the fact that those who built the congregations, built and paid for the buildings used by congregations, and developed the educational and social service agencies are aging and dying.  The builders and developers are not going to be around much longer to maintain the ministries and pay the bills.  But ELCA leaders show no concern about the disaster they are creating and the fact that they are alienating those who built the organizations and built and paid for the buildings that ELCA leaders are selling in order to balance synodical and churchwide budgets.  ELCA leaders are creating a disaster in the way in which they are reaching out to and engaging some “new, young, and diverse people.”

For example, for the November 2020 issue of CORE Voice I wrote an article entitled, “You Reap Whatever You Sow.”  A link to that article can be found here.  In that article I told about an ELCA pastor by the name of Lenny Duncan, author of the book, Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the United States.  The ELCA had made Lenny Duncan into a hero-celebrity-poster boy.  But now that hero-celebrity-poster boy has turned against the ELCA.  He is demanding that over the next three years the ELCA set aside $32 million in reparations funds in order to right the wrongs of centuries of racial injustice here in the United States.  And if the ELCA does not do that, he will work through his “Defund Churchwide” movement to get people to divert $32 million in contributions away from the ELCA to his reparations fund.  Lenny Duncan is now also advocating for polyamory (multiple partners). 

Lenny Duncan is only the latest in a series of people who are doing such things as demanding that the ELCA eliminate any kind of expectation that pastors be married in order to be sexually active, throwing out the Bible because they claim that for centuries the Bible has been used to abuse people, and eliminating the Lutheran Confessions because they were written by white males. 

As an aside, a while ago the synod in which I was rostered before I retired created a new staff position called Assistant to the Bishop for Authentic Diversity and Ethnic-Specific Ministries.  As a white, confessionally orthodox male within the ELCA, I should be an example of authentic diversity.  So I responded to the announcement by writing to the synod asking how this new staff person would be relating to someone like me.  As I expected, I did not receive a reply.  I am no longer new and young (though I once was new and young), but within the ELCA I am an example of diversity – and maybe even authentic diversity.  So the ELCA should have an interest in reaching out to and engaging with someone like me.     

Those who valued the organization of the church built the organization of the church.  Will the ELCA learn – from their experience with Lenny Duncan – what will happen if they continue to enable, empower, and cater to those who do not value the organization and would be very happy to tear the organization down?  When will the ELCA come to realize what they are eventually going to have to deal with because of whom they have been enabling, empowering, and catering to?  Or do those in leadership realize that these movements are already beyond their control?  

Third, I am concerned about the second of six “new criteria” which “were affirmed for the ELCA” in the Future Church design – “Unite all expressions of the church (congregations, synods, and the churchwide organization) into one church – together.”  That statement was not further explained in the article.  I am concerned about what that statement might mean for the future integrity and identity of congregations.    

Fourth, there was one place where I found myself agreeing with the article on the ELCA’s Future Church design.  And that is where it reported how Bishop Eaton told the Church Council that the ELCA has been witnessing “a pattern of significant decline” for more than thirty years and that “the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharper focus the need to respond more quickly to this rapidly changing world.”  Here I would totally agree.  Dr. Thom Rainer from Church Answers describes the pandemic as a change accelerator.  He says that during this past year the dynamics and trends present in every congregation have been advanced by about four years.  For example, if a congregation is in decline, its decline has been advanced by four years.  In 2020 it already was where pre-COVID it would not have been until 2024.  

The ELCA with its current leadership reminds me of a family where one generation built up the family business, and then the next generation is driving the family business into the ground.  One generation gathered the resources.  The next generation is consuming, if not squandering, the resources.  The ELCA will be able to keep going for a while – because of all the buildings they can sell because of all the churches that will close.  But even that source of income can only keep the ELCA going for so long. 

The ELCA needs to re-design itself in a way that is faithful to the Scriptures rather than in a way that is in line with the current, top, social justice warrior causes if it is going to have a future.  

Our Fourth Annual NALC Life Conference will be held on Thursday, January 28th, 2021 at Reformation Lutheran Church, 601 Madison Rd, Culpeper, VA 22701 from noon until 5PM. The event is free and will begin with a free lunch and will conclude with a communion service with Rev. Mark Chavez presiding.

This year’s conference will be very special. Our keynote speaker will be Chrissie Gillette, director of Word of Hope for Lutherans for Life.

Chrissie earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Spalding University and completed her psychology residency as an officer in the United States Air Force. She served four years active duty and another four as inactive reserve. God blessed her with a range of counseling experiences in settings such as: a domestic violence shelter, a suicide crisis hotline, military mental health clinics, and a Christian counseling agency. Transitioning from an emphasis on psychology to theology, Chrissie attended the Distance Deaconess Program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. She graduated in October 2018 and was commissioned as a deaconess with Lutherans for Life.

In her position as the Word of Hope Director, Chrissie answers hotline calls and emails. Understanding both the secular worldview and the Christ-centered perspective, she listens without personal judgment while also responding in Christian truth and love. Motivated by compassion, she often goes above and beyond to connect people with local services and natural supports. Beyond her typical hotline responsibilities, Chrissie writes articles, publicly speaks, and leads Bible studies on a range of topics related to life issues.

Valuing a Christ-centered lifestyle, Chrissie serves her neighbor through acts of mercy. Each year, she opens her heart and home to exchange students from around the world. Amongst her church family, she regularly visits folks who are hospitalized or shut-in, and enjoys the fellowship while creating crafts with members in her home. Within the rural and small-town community, she gifts numerous people with produce from her garden, home-cooked dishes, or crocheted newborn-baby blankets. Truly, to know Chrissie is to know her as your loving sister in Christ.

There is no registration required. But please email Rebecka Andrae at rebeckaandrae@yahoo.com if you will be attending the lunch so we can get a head count.

For those interested, the following day, Friday the 29th, we will be attending the March for Life in Washington, DC. The usual prayer service before the march has been cancelled due to COVID-19, but the march is on! We will be joining the LCMS contingent at 12^th & Constitution from 12:00-12:30PM and then starting the trek to the Supreme Court at 12:30PM. If you need help on the day of the march you can call Pastor Dennis at the number below.

We are also taking orders for either baby blue or pink hats that we will wear during the march for $10 apiece.

Orders can be made by calling Pastor Dennis Di Mauro at (703) 568-3346 or emailing him at dennisdimauro@yahoo.com You can send a check payable to “Trinity Lutheran Church” (with “NALC Life” in the notes) to 276 Cleveland St. Warrenton, VA 20186. Make sure and let him know whether you want a pink or a blue hat!

Dear Reader of the ALPB,

The ALPB has just published a new book entitled “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.”  This book includes the fourth and fifth presentations of the Braaten-Benne Lecture Series from 2018 and 2019.  As the title suggests, it is dealing with the “identity of the Spirit, the role of the Spirit, and historical and ecumenical debates surrounding the Spirit”.    A few of the contributors are Robert Benne, Paul R. Hinlicky, and Mark C. Mattes.   The cost is $17 plus postage.  

While you are on our website, please check out the other books in this series, “Who Is Jesus Christ For Us Today: Part Two (2017)”, “Who Is Jesus Christ For Us Today (2016)”, and “Martyrdom and the Suffering of the Righteous (2015).”  Delve even further to discover the predecessor books to the Braaten/Benne Lecture Series, the CORE Theological Conference papers: “Rightly Handling the Word of Truth (2014)”, “On Being the Church in These Precarious Times (2013)”, “Preaching and Teaching the Law and Gospel of God (2012)”, “No Other Name (2011)”, and “Seeking New Directions (2010).” 

All these books can be found on our website under “Shop” and then the Braaten-Benne Lecture Series tab.  

If you are not a subscriber, join the Forum family by subscribing to the Forum package, which includes four Lutheran Forums (edited by R. David Nelson) and twelve Forum Letters (edited by Richard O. Johnson) per year.  There is a special, introductory price of $28 for new subscribers.  Go to our website at www.alpb.org or feel free to email or phone me.  I will be happy to help.  Thank you.

In Christ,

Donna
Donna K. Roche, Office Manager

American Lutheran Publicity Bureau
P.O. Box 327
Delhi, NY  13753-0327
(607) 746-7511
www.alpb.org

While I had met Bishop Paull Spring a few times over the years, our real contact began late in 2005. I had made the mistake of not attending a meeting (the Kansas City Conference), and in my absence I was elected to the Steering Committee of the new Lutheran Coalition for Reform (as it was called then).

Before our first meeting, Paull called and asked whether I would be willing to take the minutes of the meeting. And so the journey began, often together.

Paull was, as a friend described in a positive way, a true character. He was a unique individual, and was not bashful about letting people know his thoughts and opinions. But he would also listen and respond rationally to opposing viewpoints.

As an ELCA bishop from a relatively small rural synod (Northwestern Pennsylvania), Paull was known as the theological conscience of the Conference of Bishops. He developed strong friendships and equally strong dislikes among the group. Paull was not one of those boring people who needed everybody to like him, and he did not suffer fools gladly.

Yet it was Paull Spring who met with Pr. Jaynan Clark of the WordAlone Network, as those two leaders who had very different views on many issues in the ELCA realized that the things they agreed about were more important than the ones that separated them. Probably nobody else would have had the credibility to lead the generally eastern and “liturgical” group into an alliance with the mostly-midwestern and “evangelical” (in the American sense) constituency of WordAlone. But thanks to Paull and Jaynan as the initiators, it happened.

I always enjoyed meetings Paull led, because by about the 50-minute point he would shuffle nervously, and soon he would call a recess so he could go outside and puff on his pipe. Of course, his smoking got him in trouble from time to time. Once at the Indianapolis Airport I was sure we would be arrested waiting for a shuttle as he insisted on lighting his pipe beneath a sign threatening prosecution for smoking. And he recounted the time he thought he had found a secret place to smoke during a Pittsburgh Pirates game, but when his family realized he had been gone a long time, they discovered security was in the process of removing him from the stadium.

Paull not only got himself into quite a few mishaps, he delighted in telling about them. As I have heard stories from mutual friends over the years, I realized that I heard most of them from Paull himself. He didn’t take himself all that seriously, but he certainly took his theology seriously.

Riding in a vehicle he was driving was a spiritual experience. I repented of most of my sins on such trips, starting when he let go of the steering wheel at 75 mph on an Ohio Interstate so he could light his pipe. He thought I was kind and generous to do most of the driving; I viewed it as self-preservation.

Paull had strong feelings about hotels and restaurants. He insisted on a hotel where he could smoke his pipe (no surprise there). A glass of wine in the evening with the manager only made the facility more attractive. And he never did like my choice in restaurants. After the biker bar that was recommended to us in Akron (which had great food), I just left it up to him to find our dining places.

Paull also never quite forgave me for a certain church service we attended. I will omit the city and congregation. The congregation was rainbow-friendly, and the liturgy was magnificent until Paull turned around at the sharing of the peace and saw two older men kissing on the lips. The look on his face was priceless. Like at the biker bar.

That said, at Churchwide Assemblies Lutheran CORE usually had a room next to the organization advocating acceptance of same-sex sexual relationships. To most people’s amazement, our groups had cordial relationships. When the folks from the next room invited Paull to their worship service, he accepted. But he was about as comfortable as he was at that biker bar in Akron.

When the time came to choose a bishop for the first year of the NALC, there really was no other option. Paull had the credibility, the respect, and the organizational skills to make it happen. And he had the theological acumen to get us started in the right directions.

Paull and I continued to connect through the years, sometimes at events and sometimes as Linda and I worshipped at the congregation he helped start in State College, Pennsylvania. Paull and I didn’t always agree on things (including politics), but we were always able to share with mutual respect. I wrote a few things along the way that disturbed people in the NALC, but if Paull wrote a response, he always made sure I received a copy directly from him. He was generous with his praise, helpful with his criticisms, and always a true gentleman and a faithful follower of Christ.

I visited him at the hospital in State College earlier this year, and he knew how sick he was. In typical Paull fashion, as I walked into the room, he blurted out, “I almost died, you know!” And the last time we were together, at a worship service in Emmanuel in State College, I asked how he was doing and he barked, “Not as good as I used to be.” That sort of blunt realism characterized so many of my experiences with him.

I will miss seeing him again this side of eternity, and I trust that our Lord has prepared a good supply of pipe tobacco, since near the end he was even unable to enjoy that guilty pleasure.

I thank God for the privilege of knowing and working with this unique and delightful (even when grumpy) saint. His example, his faithfulness, and his hard work will be a blessing to the North American Lutheran Church and beyond for generations to come. My prayers continue for his wife Barbara and for their daughters.

May Paull Spring rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon him!

A personal confession: I was, prior to retirement, a programmatic pastor.  In my defense I wanted to increase the percentage of church members who were active rather than passive.  And I was also motivated by the hope that more programs — and groups — meant more lay people exercising their ministry gifts in leadership roles.  However, this pandemic has been a startling reminder of how quickly many of our church “programs” have become, under our current circumstances, untenable and perhaps even non-essential.

Author and pastor Thom Rainer — whom I know I have quoted in previous columns — addressed this issue in July.  And given the fall COVID surge most states are currently experiencing, Rainer’s comments are still timely.  Rainer writes, “It is time (for congregations) to revisit the need to simplify…to do only a few things well and eliminate the rest.  Many of our churches have become so busy that we have hurt our best families.  Many of our churches have become so cluttered with activities that we don’t give margin for our members to have a gospel presence in the community.  The pandemic, for the most part, provides us a blank slate.  It’s time to rethink our busy schedules and become a minimal church.”

Rainer continues, “A minimal church is not a church of minimal impact.  It is a church that has decided … to unleash our members to have more time to disciple their families, to become a gospel presence in the community, and to develop relationships in their neighborhoods.”

An additional congregational challenge looms large during this pandemic; a challenge that is currently of far greater importance than most of our “programs.”  This particular challenge has to do with the mental and emotional health crisis millions of Americans are enduring as a result of COVID 19.  New York Times columnist Jennifer Senior, this last August, wrote about this crisis in American life: “Let’s start with the numbers.  According to the National Center for Health Statistics, roughly one in 12 American adults reported symptoms of an anxiety disorder at this time last year; now it’s more than one in three.  Last week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a tracking poll showing that for the first time, a majority of American adults — 53 percent — believes that the pandemic is taking a toll on their mental health.”

Psychologist and author Daphne de Marneffe defines trauma, in the context of COVID, this way: “What trauma is really about is helplessness, about being on the receiving end of forces you can’t control.  Which is what we have now.  It’s like we’re in an endless car ride with a drunk at the wheel.  No one knows when the pain will stop.”

So, what about your congregational members?  How are they holding up?  Do you have a clear picture of whether many of them — especially those who are living alone — are being overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness?  How is your congregation doing, during COVID, when it comes to member care?  This is probably a simpler task for small congregations than it is for mid-sized and larger churches.  But the truth is this: Even in “normal” times most congregations have members who are “falling through the cracks” when it comes to pastoral care.  But these times are anything but normal; they are extraordinary in the bleakest sense of that word.  And the larger the congregation the more likely member care needs to be an urgent, organized effort.  This is not about another program.  This is about one of the most crucial and central tasks within the Body of Christ.  The Apostle Paul sums it up this way:

Pastor Don Brandt

I remember well the first time I met Paull Spring.  It was in a meeting in a Gullixson Hall classroom at Luther Seminary that would lead to the beginning of CORE.  Paull walked into the room (in clerics, of course, whenever he was doing church business) with a leader of Word Alone …  that was an amazing sight and combination to be sure.  But the cause of Lutheran Orthodoxy and faithfulness brought such together.  And many more of us with them, too. 

Paull Spring represented some of the best of eastern Lutheranism, a pastor and bishop and leader from years of ministry.  He brought those gifts to the diversity of faithful Lutherans all over the country as we began to form Lutheran CORE.

Those were amazing days, as we came together around the challenge to affect the slippery slope of the ELCA’s theological and spiritual descent.  Paull Spring was articulate and theologically able.  He spoke with both authority and passion……and a deep love and concern for the Church. 

We didn’t always agree, but we had huge respect and mutual patience to get the best from each other, not just me but everyone else with Paull Spring.  It was a fruitful partnership and collaboration.  Our work brought us to Synod and Churchwide Assemblies, to gatherings all over the country.  Who could forget the hundreds who came to Fishers, Indiana after the ELCA vote of 2009?  Paull was a giant at that meeting and others to come.

Our CORE work eventually came to the reality of forming the NALC, which was launched at a yearly CORE Convocation in Columbus, Ohio.  Paull Spring was chosen as the NALC’s first bishop.  He knew how to do that already.

Since those times Paull Spring led faithfully and has been succeeded now twice.  Yet he has remained a valued leader and respected confidant to many in this new “retirement.”

Paull Spring’s wisdom lives on even as we grieve his passing.  Eternity will tell the rest of Bishop Paull Spring’s story.  We will enjoy hearing then what now only God knows and Paull sees more fully.

“Oh God, the generations rise and pass away before You.  You are the strength of the weary; You are the rest of the blessed dead.  We rejoice in the company of All Your Saints” including now Bishop Paull Spring. 

Blessed be his memory and legacy to us all.

Paul Ulring