Letters


Pray that church is acceptable to God Lutheran


Marty column, women’s issues, diversity, tolerance, evolution move readers MARCH 2014 www.thelutheran.org $2.50 ®


Rocky vocational road


Coping in today’s


Story Page 16


28 30 32


job market


Study guide Page 22


Lenten challenge Following Jesus Telescopes to Tanzania


tor believed in the doctrines of the church, he would suspend Marty immediately. If the presiding bishop loved her church she would start the process of defrocking him tomorrow. Neither of these will happen. The leaders of the ELCA are so lukewarm and lazy that they will sniff at their critics and pretend that they are not tolerating a debilitating old heresy but are actually breaking new theo- logical ground. Henry Poetker Taylorsville, N.C.


The “Church of the future” authors (March, page 14) state, “We begin with the obvious: insofar as both the church and the future belong to God, the church will ‘look’ like whatever God intends or desires it to.” Really? It will look like whatever God intends? Sounds like predestination to me. Why then do we need to discern our- selves with this matter? The church will be and look like, as stated in the next paragraph, that “as disciples of Christ, we trust and live and worship and serve and do our best to discern what ‘church’ ” the future needs. It is up to us to analyze, plan and evolve a church that is meaningful and effec- tive in spreading the gospel. Let’s pray that this future church is acceptable to God. Gil Holocher Cincinnati


Old heresy Peter W. Marty’s advocacy of the old heresy of universalism is heart- breaking (March, page 4). If the edi-


48 www.thelutheran.org


Bravo Marty has given us the reminder that we all need to heed: “Christ is bigger that our imagination” and “we are not given permission to shrink the cross to suit our own version of God.” This is most certainly true. Betty Berggren Lindsborg, Kan.


Oops It appears that Marty accidentally submitted his “Who gets saved?” col- umn to The Lutheran when he surely must have intended it for publication in a Unitarian Universalist periodi- cal. How careless. The Rev. Elna L. Stratton Orwigsburg, Pa.


Keep it coming Marty does it again. In the tradition of both the Marty family and the family of God at large, he reflects and speaks for the living Christ. All too seldom do denominations have spokespeople who validate inclusiv- ity in the Christian church and par- ticularly from the historic Lutheran tradition. His reflections, just as his


father Martin E. Marty’s, continue to be a must read for all and, quite frankly, are what keep many of us as readers of The Lutheran and working hard on also following Christ. T. Lance Holthusen Brooklyn Park, Minn.


Good insight I found the February issue to be filled with faith-inspiring stories and study guides. Most useful were the articles and study guide on women’s issues. The magazine is moving in the right direction with the focus on eradi- cating discrimination in also high- lighting some of the earlier socially acceptable concerns on how women are/were viewed. Victimization in psychological and physical abuse issues has too long placed the ill- conceived blame on women. Thank you for your insight. Judy Mullane Glen Rock, N.J.


Range of diversity Clearly the ELCA should warmly welcome people of all races (Febru- ary, page 50). There are also other types of diversity. Wikipedia states that the ELCA is a broad denomina- tion containing socially conserva- tive and liberal factions that empha- size liturgical renewal, confessional Lutheranism, charismatic revival- ism, moderate to liberal theology and liberal activism. Divergence (a form of diversity) on gay ordination has led to another Balkanization (a potential result of diversity) of Amer- ican Lutherans. Politically, surveys indicate that the laity splits evenly between 45 percent Democrat and 43 percent Republican, yet clergy are


The


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