Editor
By Daniel J. Lehmann
Turning a page in ELCA history
Eaton pick affirms event’s theme T
he theme for the 2013 Churchwide Assembly lived up to its billing: “Always being made new” (see page 20).
Voting members turned to Elizabeth A. Eaton, bishop of Northeastern Ohio Synod, to lead the
ELCA for the next six years. After 12 years as presiding bishop, Mark S. Han- son’s chapters of service came to a close. The question that buzzed through the assembly and throughout the church following Eaton’s 600-287 election in a fifth round ballot with Hanson was “Why Eaton?” I’m guessing that voting members came to much the same conclusion I did
when meeting her for the first time in 2007. Eaton is one of those people whom you know within 10 minutes is smarter than you. She also has a quirky sense of humor that serves her well.
She delivered a speech on the future of the church that hit a sweet spot with many: Lutheranism is not a mainline denomination and should not strive to be; we offer a theology of the cross in a culture drenched in glory; we proclaim law and gospel in a nation looking for accountability and grace at the same time; and we need to be more intentional about listening to and hearing from those who remain in the ELCA but are hurt by the sexuality decisions of 2009. Eaton, along with Bishops Jessica R. Crist of the Montana Synod and Ann
M. Svennungsen of the Minneapolis Area Synod, didn’t withdraw their names during the election process. Many other leaders did, with Eaton explaining she wanted the election to generate a conversation about the status of our denomination.
The composition of the assembly may have played a part in her election. Of
the 952 voting members, 150-plus were 18 to 30 and more than 500 were first- time participants. Those numbers suggested a voting majority with no strong ties to any candidate. Further, the first two ELCA presiding bishops, Herbert W. Chilstrom and H. George Anderson, served two and one terms respectively. Despite “strong and positive sentiment” for Hanson, as one bishop put it, his long and respected time in office ran into a desire to open a new page in ELCA history. So the gathering’s theme became reality: Always being made new, including the office of the presiding bishop. “We can disagree on decisions as long as we agree on the cross,” Eaton told an interviewer. “My goal is to make sure we make room for the possibility that people disagree, that they are fully Lutheran, fully valued and fully part of this denomination.” Her job to make that happen starts Nov. 1, when
she formally assumes the office. Repeating another phrase heard frequently during the gathering, here’s praying Eaton can indeed guide the ELCA as a “both/ and church in an either/or world.”
4 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Eaton is one of those people whom you know within 10 minutes is smarter than you.
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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