My view
silent. The stakes are simply too high. Loren Johnson Elkhorn, Wis.
Still a problem
The “airbrushing” of women did not end in the early history of the church (October, page 10), but is rather alive and well today. Deaconesses, women associates in ministry and pastors’ wives have been airbrushed in our own time. Most Lutherans have no concept of the ministry of women outside the ordained ministry. It would be inter- esting to have articles in The Lutheran about the work of the non-ordained
women and deaconesses. The Rev. John T. Allen South Milwaukee, Wis.
Inconsistent ethic The Rev. Bernard K. Kern’s article about the death penalty (September, page 49) was well written and logical. But it is hard to get motivated on that subject while we continue to kill our children at a rate of about 23,000 per week. The sin of silence in the ELCA
on abortion is very grievous. Dave Nelson Billings, Mont.
1-2-3 strikes you’re out Want people to return to church? Stop the passing of the peace. A beautiful service is going on—my body and soul are really into the service—and bam.
Seventh inning stretch. Marjorie Sartori Lindsborg, Kan.
Send “Letters” to: Letters to the Editor, The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631-4183; fax: 773-380- 2409; email
lutheran@thelutheran.org. Please include your name, city and state. Your letter will be considered for publication unless you state otherwise. The Lutheran publishes letters representa- tive of those received on a given subject. Be brief and limit your letter to a single topic. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Letters must be signed, but a re- quest for anonymity will be honored if the subject matter is personally sensitive.
“My view” submis- sions should be 400 words on a societal event or issue or on issues in the life of the ELCA. All submis- sions are subject to editing. Send to: “My view, ” The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631; email: lutheran@
thelutheran.org; fax: 773-380-2409.
By Lawrence Henning
Doubting Thomas
Henning is an ELCA pastor and the internship coordina- tor for Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.
T
and kindred spirits We need proclamation & OK to struggle
homas is my patron saint, my soul mate and my kin- dred spirit. When he responds to the good news of Eas- ter with his famous demand (“Unless I see the mark of
the nails …” John 20:25), I can relate. Though I some- times wish I weren’t, I am a natural-born questioner who persistently wants to know, “How can this be?” And, so, I never experience faith as my own creation but always as a miraculous gift of the Spirit worked through the means of grace embedded in the community of faith. As a soul mate of Thomas, I need the two things he
receives from his faith community in those first days after Easter: bold proclamation and permission to struggle. Bold proclamation: “We have seen the Lord.” I need a community that proclaims Christ’s radical solidarity with sinners and the sinned-against. And I need a community committed to living out Christ’s wall-breaking revolution in the world. I need that bold proclamation even in those days when my questions get the best of me. But I also need the permission to struggle. The Sun- day after Easter, we hear this: “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them” (John 20:26). “Thomas was with them!” That little prepo- sition—with—means everything to me. Without it, or the truth behind it, I could not be part of the church, let alone a leader within it.
Can you imagine if this verse read another way? “A
week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was gone. They kicked him out for asking too many questions.” But that’s not how John reads. “A week later … and Thomas was with them.” No matter what his struggles were, they did not give up on him or he on them. That commitment to each other is a powerful model of the church: a community of fellow strugglers where raw hon- esty is welcome.
I write this because, of course, I am not the only one who can claim Thomas as a kindred spirit. Our number is legion. I know that from my decades of walking with fel- low Thomases within and, often, outside the church. And on their behalf I pray for a church that boldly proclaims the gospel and that also makes a place for honest strugglers to open up their questioning hearts to each other and, there- fore, to God.
December 2013 49
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