Letters to the editor
Evolution a work in progress by God Readers react to kids in church, finding a pastor, state of ELCA
APRIL 2013 •
www.thelutheran.org • $2.50 ® A new imagination
Welcoming winged guests 14 Environmental stewardship 16 Copyright law & church 28 Focus on senior living 36
From Sunday into Monday Story 20, study guide 26
view of the world and an “incarna- tional” understanding of God’s work do fit well together. As to why the Bible doesn’t give an evolutionary account of creation, I recommend the essay “Couldn’t God Get it Right?” by Lutheran physicist, theologian and pastor George L. Murphy at archive.
elca.org/faithandscience/covalence/
story/content/06-03-15-murphy.pdf. Charles Austerberry Omaha, Neb.
The article on evolution (April, page 18) was spot on. Although the concept of evolution can be traced to Aristotle, the Protestant Reformation inspired a literal interpretation of the Bible, essentially cutting out evolution— for biblical literalists—as a way God might have created humanity as well as the universe. Charles Darwin did not rule out the possibility that God was instrumental in creation: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers having been origi- nally breathed by the creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst his planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so sim- ple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been made, and are being evolved.” Modern science assures us the world continues to evolve, subtly controlled
by the hand of God. J.R. Hanson
Colorado Springs, Colo. It can work together
I greatly appreciate the article on evolution. A scientifically informed
48 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Thought rings true I could have written Pastor Wesley C. Telyea’s column (April, page 49) nearly verbatim. Even before I became a father to two children, I tried to go out of my way to welcome all chil- dren in worship, noisy or not. I always repeated this axiom: a congregation that doesn’t want to hear kids in wor- ship will soon get its wish. I would only quibble that the children are not just the future of the church, they are a
vital part of its present. The Rev. Andrew C. Weaver Mount Pleasant Mills, Pa.
Truth in numbers Telyea’s column reminded me of my first Sunday worship at an internship site. Driving home, I asked my wife if she had noticed something differ- ent. We agreed. There was an unnatu- ral silence in that congregation. There were no child noises. They had all been shuttled off to a nursery. Recently my wife happened to be looking at some statistics and noted that this congrega- tion (which then numbered about 500 with two pastors) now worships an
average of 59 weekly. The Rev. David Redman Fond du Lac, Wis.
What takes so long? So the lead pastor (pope) of the Roman Catholic Church, with more than 1 bil- lion members, resigns and 13 days later his replacement is chosen, installed and is at work. Our 70-member congrega- tion went through nearly three years of hoops before we welcomed our new
pastor. What is wrong with this picture? The Rev. Paul A. Kruger Cutler Bay, Fla.
More to the story We regularly read how many congre- gations vote to leave the ELCA. How about also mentioning that there are 9,600 congregations in the ELCA? That gives a much more realistic picture of what is really happening. There are a lot of ELCA congregations out here that are, by the grace of God, happy and healthy and glad to be part of a church that struggles with the tough issues of life and in the middle of it all celebrates the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the
Spirit who keeps us going. The Rev. Andrew C. Diehl III Vero Beach, Fla.
Vision for future As one privileged to be a voting mem- ber at the 1987 Constituting Conven- tion, I remember the feelings of hope and promise that were in the room. We believed God would bless our efforts at unity. By any measure, the last 25 years have been a time of great disappoint- ment. Membership is down, worship attendance is down, mission support is down, and hundreds of congrega- tions have closed or chosen to leave the ELCA. Something is wrong. This might be an opportune time to ask the Spirit to send us leadership to craft a
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