Letters


Aging clergy article sparks reaction Lutheran


Column on guns and idolatry brings sharply different comments NOVEMBER 2014 www.thelutheran.org $2.50 ®


aging clergy wave


The ELCA’s


Age 65 in 2014


Story Page 18


Study guide Page 25


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Food pantries feel strain


30


Write your own obit


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No veteran dies alone


Age at Ordination 70-79


60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 20-29


to our seminaries, where those who respond to the call will be shaped and formed into the leaders tomorrow’s church will need. As for “retiring the all-star team,” the church indeed experiences loss each time a faithful pastor retires or dies. But as one who lives daily among the church’s future leaders, I offer the unqualified assur- ance: The church of the future will be in very good hands. Michael Cooper-White, president Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.)


22-page report 36


Higher ed:


Thank you for “The ELCA’s aging clergy wave” (November, page 18). The real shortage is in congregations that can pay a full-time pastor with benefits. Many retired clergy I know are quickly returning to do interim, pulpit supply or agency ministry because of inadequate retirement benefits. I’ve served lower paying congregations that couldn’t put much money into my retirement accounts. At age 60 I don’t see myself retiring in the foreseeable future. The Rev. David Coffin Deshler, Ohio


Seminary beckons While some bishops and others say the ELCA doesn’t face an imminent clergy shortage, the facts indicate otherwise. Except for a brief period after the U.S. economy went into free fall, as senior seminarians are assigned to synods for their first calls fewer than half the number requested have been available. So come yourself or send your faithful fellow members


48 www.thelutheran.org


Column on target After chuckling in agreement with the November cover (aging clergy wave—no kidding) I read Peter W. Marty (page 3). It was easily the best conversation on the topic of guns in our society I’ve ever read. The idea that Jesus would approve of the gun culture in America is unbelievable. Thomas M. Corrigan Dayton, Md.


Misses mark Although Marty’s article is framed in a nonconfrontational manner, his position is offensive. To imply that those of us who love guns, a home, freedom and our country aren’t fully living up to the First Commandment is insulting to those of us who served our country to protect our freedoms. History tells us that Martian Luther carried a sword for protection when traveling German roads. What has really changed? Vern Schweigert Phoenix


Discussion a must Many thanks to Marty for his brave


words regarding the reality of guns in our culture. There will surely be a fierce response, but that can’t keep us from discussing life and death, God- infused issues. Further thanks to The Lutheran for an exceptional Novem- ber issue full of healthy provocation and faithful witness. Martin Wells, Eastern Washington- Idaho Synod bishop Spokane, Wash.


Sacred stuff Charlton Heston’s comment that “sacred stuff resides in that wooden stock and blued steel” may best be understood in the context of the Sec- ond Amendment. Many consider the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, to be divinely inspired. Even in the absence of that belief, many consider the rights ensured by the Constitution to be sacred, not in a religious sense, but as precepts to be honored, treasured and valued. Guns are the symbol of the right to keep and bear arms and representative of that sacred value. That doesn’t make them a god. Donald W. Bohlken Indianola, Iowa


Look to Bonhoeffer I’m perplexed at the argument to stay out of politics and “grow Christian- ity” (September, page 4). We hold Dietrich Bonhoeffer in high esteem to a large extent because of what he did (resistance to Adolf Hitler) and the price he paid. You’d think that of all churches, the Lutheran commu- nion would have learned from him to not wash its hands of politics. Rick Schrenker North Reading, Mass.


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