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Meaningful advocacy I applaud the editor of The Lutheran for asking its readership about what they seek. Nowhere on the list in the November issue (page 4) were topics of the latest societal moods. Does the leadership of the ELCA try to ascer- tain what our members are seeking? The reason ELCA membership has fallen is complex. I am dumbfounded that our leadership has an apparent avowed intent to alienate a full third, perhaps half, of the remaining mem- bership. Not all of us believe in the evils of fossil fuels, of the alleged mis- conduct of Israel, the sin of whiteness and the like. Has anyone asked the other half if the advocacy is meaning- ful to them and to what extent? One can join plenty of liberal groups to engage in all that nonsense. There are scant few other places to go to under- stand the best practices for Lutheran congregations and faith and spiritu- ality as practiced by Lutherans. Tom Wenstrand Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Kindness to sojourners A writer in “Letters” (November, page 64) complains that when we talk about compassion to the immi- grants among us we never consider that many of them are here illegally. Should we? God doesn’t. In the 19th chapter of Leviticus, God tells us to be kind to the sojourner among us;
Send “Letters” to: The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631;
lutheran@thelutheran.org. Include your name, city and state. All letters are subject to editing. Be brief and limit your letter to a single topic. Requests for anonymity will be considered but not guaranteed.
In praise of ‘The Little Lutheran’ Logan Gyorko, 3, of Harpers Ferry,
W.Va., and a fourth generation member of Trinity Lutheran
Church, Stephens City, Va., diligently checks out The Little Lutheran. The children’s magazine ceased publication in December 2015 after more than eight years.
let them be to us as though they were our neighbors, our kin; love them as we love ourselves. God does not go on to say, “unless they have bro- ken some laws that you have made against them.” Bill Robbins Blaine, Minn.
Send us your best high-resolution photos that tell the tale of your faith life or that of your congregation or the ELCA, or our church at work around the world, along with caption information to
lutheran@thelutheran.org.
January 2016 49
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