AN OPEN LETTER

From January 1, 1996 - December 31, 1999, it was my pleasure and privilege to serve on the Church Council at Christ Lutheran Church (CLC) in Lake Jackson, Texas. From January 1, 1998 - December 31, 1999, I served as Vice-Chair of the Council. CLC is an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation. ELCA congregations do not generally attempt to convert members of other churches, and this letter is in no way an attempt to do that. I am simply putting it here to have the convenience of having it available in my portfolio, but feel I want to leave it open to anyone who may wish to read it. For anyone who may be interested in learning more about the ELCA, I would refer you to the website www.elca.org

Some explanation is in order since being Vice-Chair of anything usually means one just sits around and waits for something to happen to the Chair. The structure of the Council at CLC is such that the pastors are the Council Chair, but they choose not to exercise the administrative aspect of that function, which is the responsibility of the Vice-Chair. The Vice-Chair presides at all Council and Congregational meetings, as well as signs official documents using such titles as Congregational President, Lay Chairperson, etc. Council members are elected by vote of the congregation members. The Vice-Chair is then elected by the Council.

I hope this explanation helps to place the following letter in context. I have made one change, editing out the name of the previous Vice-Chair, since I have not obtained permission to use that name and will not do so without that permission.



AN OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH

I am honored and I am humbled to have been elected Council Vice-Chair for 1998. By the grace of God, with your prayers and your support, I will repay the trust thus placed in me. I know the path ahead has been made much easier for me thanks to the leadership demonstrated by our Vice-Chair for the past two years. Our journey of faith has been sure, and it is my desire that we continue that journey.

I feel we are richly blessed at CLC in possessing one of the greatest gifts - unity in diversity. We have among our membership those who have already traveled many miles and many years on their journey of faith, and from these we learn to appreciate and understand the great ritual and tradition of the Church. We learn that far from being meaningless repetition, ritual and tradition can serve as anchors of the faith in trying times, recalling us to the centrality of our vision of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

We are also blessed with the seemingly unbounded vitality of youth, who remind us that the joy of discovery need not die with age. They teach us that we can appreciate ritual and tradition while reaching beyond these to the new and the untried. With their boldness, their daring, their willingness to try even in the face of failure, they teach us that we need not fear failure, and remind us that it is often what we learned from our failures that led on to our greatest triumphs. We are no doubt all familiar with the old cliche, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I have never believed that to be true, because I believe that old dog got to be an old dog by learning new tricks every step of the way.

I feel especially blessed to be somewhere in the middle of the age spectrum, able to receive and appreciate the best both young and old have to offer as I continue my own journey of faith.

We also have among our membership both life-long Lutherans and those who have come to the Lutheran tradition from other expressions of the Christian faith ( and among these latter I include myself), having found greater spiritual depth here. Again, I believe the unity in the Spirit is made stronger by this diversity.

As we proceed through the coming year and have to deal with mundane matters like budgets and schedules and things that seem far from deep matters of the Spirit, we will no doubt be too often confronted with reminders that we are indeed still human. We are going to disagree. And that's OK. It is often in the midst of creative tension that greater visions arise, and I would not want our vision limited. To borrow a phrase first heard in another context, however, when we disagree, let us do so without being disagreeable. Let us always understand that we are people of God, and that our community will know us by our fruits. Let us always be the light "burning brightly" in our community. It is with great anticipation and excitement that I look forward to what we can accomplish in 1998, and it is my hope that each of you individually and all of us collectively experience our best year ever on the journey of faith.