wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Encouraged to Recall 'Songs of Faith'

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 10, 2001

ELCA ASSEMBLY ENCOURAGED TO RECALL 'SONGS OF FAITH'
01-CWA30-LS

     INDIANAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Christians have much to learn from past
generations and from each other, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen,
secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Almen
delivered his report Aug. 10 to the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 8-14 at the Indiana Convention Center.  There
are more than 2,000 people participating, including 1,040 ELCA voting
members.  The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known:
Sharing Faith in a New Century."
     "What song of faith will our children sing?  What hymn of the
church will flow from their hearts?  What chorale of the ages will
cascade from their lips?" Almen said.
     Part of Almen's responsibility as secretary is oversight of the
church's archives.  Those documents remind Lutherans of their legacy, he
said. "They reveal the grand ways in which our forebears sang the song
of faith," Almen said.
     He recalled lessons learned from the pastor of his childhood
church, the now-closed St. Peter Lutheran Church in North Dakota. The
pastor, the Rev. Peder Olsen Laurhammer, constantly reminded
parishioners of connections to the wider church, Almen said. "The church
was not only our own congregation. But the church was our congregation
in relation to all others who confessed the name of Jesus," he said. "We
understood that we were not some isolated congregation."
     Laurhammer was a representative at the 1952 assembly of the
Lutheran World Federation and served as secretary of the Lutheran Free
Church throughout the 1920s.
     The church needs renewed outreach in a highly privatized and
secularized society, Almen said. Congregations must remember the faith
of their ancestors and look to those examples. The "song of faith" is
different throughout generations, Almen said, but "if we are faithful in
our time, future generations may remember us."
-- -- --
     Information about assembly actions is at
http://www.elca.org/assembly/01 on the ELCA's Web site. Recorded updates
during the assembly are available by calling 773/380-2477.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html