and belonging to a church,” said Kollman, a member of Advent Lutheran, Olathe, Kan.
That was the way it was for Barb Harris’ best friend’s
family in Valparaiso, Ind. Harris was 10 when she stayed overnight with her friend and was told they would all be going to church the next morning. “I went back every Sunday, got baptized, confirmed and was the first high school church council member,” said Harris, now a member of Desert Cross Lutheran Church, Tempe, Ariz. “I’m now 47… and can’t imagine not being an ELCA Lutheran.”
Nearly always about a person Like so many others, Gloria Walsworth’s story is a reminder that church is always about relationships. She belongs to United in Christ Lutheran Church, Morrison- ville, Wis.
“My father was an atheist,” she said. “We only went inside a church for occasional weddings or funerals. As a child, I thought that was all that happened there, and I wondered why there were so many church buildings. I didn’t know that people went every week.” As a young adult in crisis, an inner voice told her to go to church. So she visited a Lutheran church, wearing a
JESSICA C. WHITE
hat and gloves as she had seen on TV (she left them in the car). She was greeted by a woman who saw the look on her face, handed her a bulletin, and directed her to a seat and where to begin in the hymnal.
“If not for her kindness, I might not have gone again,”
Walsworth said. “I will never forget her. Not only did I join, but I’m married to a Lutheran pastor. My father would be surprised.”
It was the persistence of Peter Reinhart’s neighbors that brought him and his wife to church. In Lexington, S.C., they were frequently invited to church by Lutheran neigh- bors. After the 9/11 attacks they visited the church and were met at the door by their neighbor who said, “We’ve been waiting for you.” Reinhart is now a diaconal minister at Lutheran Services Carolinas Refugee Resettlement.
A child’s yearning
Candace R. Bassat, St. Paul Lutheran, Beachwood, N.J., remembers wanting to attend church as a child. But on Sundays her dad worked and her mom didn’t want to get up that early. When St. Paul relocated just three blocks away, she could walk there on her own and started attend- ing at age 12.
“I was so proud on my confirmation day, and a few months later my mom also joined, and much later, my dad.” she said. “I’ll never forget that when I went to church I felt that I had come home and that I
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It started with the sunrise Sherman Lee, Bethel Lutheran Church, St.
Louis, was left to make his own religious choice growing up. But it wasn’t until his senior year in high school when he went to his first non-wedding or non-funeral service: an Easter sunrise service on the beach, invited by Roman Catholic friends. “Awestruck by nature’s beauty and the mystery
of faith, my spiritual journey started by asking those friends about different parts of the worship service and why churchgoers did them,” he said.
He continued searching Roman Catholicism until he dated a Lutheran woman. “Though it might appear that romance drew me to Lutheranism,” he said a congregation that partnered with Lutheran Campus Ministry really drew him to baptism and helped him wrestle with questions. He began co-leading a youth group, which he has done most of his life. He has also led lay theology workshops in
Seoul, Hong Kong and Beijing, enabling him to reflect on his Chinese/Hawaiian heritage “and my adopted Lutheran cul- ture—since I’m as comfortable with bratwurst and lutefisk as I am with dim sum and sashimi,” Lee said.
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