wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Re-Elects Miller Magazine Editor

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 15, 2003

ELCA Assembly Re-Elects Miller Magazine Editor
03-CWA-36-JAC*

     MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The Rev. David L. Miller, editor, The
Lutheran, magazine of the ELCA, was re-elected to a four-year
term. Voting members of the 2003 Churchwide Assembly of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted Aug. 15 with 95
percent in favor of the re-election.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 11-17 at the Midwest Airlines
Center.  There are about 2,100 people participating, including
1,031 ELCA voting members.  The theme for the biennial assembly
is "Making Christ Known: For the Healing of the World."
     "Thank you very much for the trust you have just extended to
me," Miller said.
     During his speech Miller spoke about his experiences in New
York shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.
     He said during his visit one night he wandered into Union
Square.  There he walked among thousands of people.  As he
walked, he came across thousands of candles and amid the candles
was a young woman.  Miller said the young woman sat cross-legged
and she kept watch, making sure all the candles remained lit.
     "Our lady of the lights, I came to call her.  The madonna of
Manhattan," he said.
     Miller said every night while he was in New York he returned
to the candles.  He said this young woman was there, making sure
the candles remained lit.  She provided consolation and hope by
her presence, he said.
     "At our very, very best, we at The Lutheran seek to do
something very much like that," he said, referring to the young
woman.
     The Lutheran seeks to hold up candles of God's light each
month in the lives of individual Lutherans, and seeks to lift up
congregations struggling to show and hold up Christ's love,
Miller said.
     "We hold up Lutheran ministries ... revealing how they touch
the suffering in a world of hurt," he said.
     "Each month we reveal the connections with our church and
churches around the world," he said.
     Miller, 50, received his undergraduate degree in psychology
and philosophy from Knox College, Galesburg, Ill.  He received
his master of divinity degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary,
Dubuque, Iowa.	He has served as pastor at Salem Lutheran Church,
Superior, Neb., and St. Mark Lutheran Church, Olathe, Kan.  He
currently resides in Bolingbrook, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
Wartburg is one of eight seminaries of the ELCA.
-- -- --
Information about the ELCA assembly can be found at
http://www.elca.org/assembly/03 on the Web.

*Jessica A. Crane is completing her bachelor of arts degree at
Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.  She is an intern this summer
for ELCA News and Media Production.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news