L
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:18:33 -0400
From: Andre Lavergne
Peace be with you.
My name is Andre Lavergne. I serve as a congregational pastor at Trinity
Lutheran Church, New Hamburg, Ontario and as the Staff Person for Worship of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Together with Bob Kelly, I maintain an ELCIC home page, and together with
Wendell Grahlman I maintain the ELCIC worship site called LIFT UP YOUR
HEARTS. The former is, strickly speaking, a "hub site" designed to link the
ELCIC within and without. The latter is much richer in content and growing
all the time. URLs appear below.
I subscribe to a number of lists, including the ELC-CANADA list and the
LITURGY list.
I am married to Kim (Fullerton) and have two children, Ruth (almost 12...
going on 20) and John (9 and holding).
My interests include worship, liturgy, spirituality and the arts.
I look forward to this window on the ELCA.
Blessings.
André + (André Lavergne)
Pastor, Trinity Church, New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada. N0B 2G0.
Staff Person for Worship, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Working Group on Worship: http://www.golden.net/worship
ELCIC: http://info.wlu.ca/~wwwsem/elcic
---------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 12:52:18 -0800
From: Lance Lindgren
Greetings!
My name is Lance lindgren. I'm a recent seminary graduate from PLTS,
Berkeley (class of '96). I've just been assigned to the ELCA Nebraska
Synod, and am awaiting my first call. I completed my internship this
fall a Calvary Lutheran Church in San Diego.
I'm what you would call a "second career" person (though I don't care
for that label). I'm retired from the U.S. Navy, and spent 15 years in
computer system design and QA engineering. I reside in Chula Vista, CA
with my wife, Karen. Within a matter of weeks, we expect to be called
to a congregation in Nebraska (Bishop Jessen, and Pr. Schoonover are
working to get me a call soon!)
We've lived in California for over 35 years. We're currently members of
St. Mark Lutheran Church in Chula Vista, where my wife is the Admin
Assistant (fancy title for church office manager and pastors'
secretary). I have 26 years experience as a lay leader in a variety of
capacities in the congregation, and with the local conference and
Synod. (We (St. Mark) come out of the former ALC)
Besides administration, I have a particular interest in liturgics,
parish Christian education, and ecumenical affairs.
I look forward to the conversations on this mail list! For the moment,
I'll mainly be reading what's being discussed, unless someone asks me a
direct question.
Shalom!
Lance Lindgren
St. Mark Lutheran Church (ELCA)
Chula Vista, CA
(e-mail: LRL1@ix.netcom.com)
---------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 23:33:09 -0400
From:Jlokken@aol.com
I'm Jim Lokken, retired ELCA clergy living in San Francisco.
Pasadena, Calif. is my hometown. I graduated from Pacific Lutheran College
('55) and Luther Seminary ('59 -- the last class to be ordained in the old
ELC). Served a three-point parish at Barrett, Minn., 1959-64, and as youth
pastor at First Lutheran, Brookings, S.Dak., 1964-66.
In 1966 I went to New York to do some graduate study at The New School for
Social Research, and got involved with church-related publishing, which I
stayed with for 15 years. I was on the staff of the newly born Lutheran Forum
magazine, launched concurrently with the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A.,
though not a publication of that council. In 1968-72 I was on the editorial
staff of the Liturgical Conference, an independent, mostly Roman Catholic
group.
Back to New York in 1973, I worked in the Information Department of the
American Bible Society for two years, then was hired by an intersynodical
group known as Lutherans Cooperating in Metropolitan New York to edit The
Lutheran New Yorker, a monthly tabloid sent to all Lutheran homes in Metro
N.Y. That ran out of money after a year. I returned to Washington and the
Liturgical Conference until 1978, when I moved back to California.
In San Francisco I found secular employment in database publishing, which I
am still doing, as systems and database administrator for Barclays Law
Publishers. At the same time I have been, from 1982 until this year, an
assistant pastor, part time, at St. Francis Lutheran Church, a
non-stipendiary call. I retired from the active clergy at the end of
February.
I have been involved for a long time in the dialogue between our church and
its gay and lesbian members, and was one of the founders of Lutherans
Concerned, the Lutheran gay caucus, in June 1974. The dialogue continues, and
the same points get rehashed over and over as new persons join the
conversation and gradually come up to speed.
Twenty years ago there weren't many of us in the Lutheran community who were
discussing this publicly. Now, it seems, what Oscar Wilde once called "the
love that dare not speak its name" can hardly shut up. It has been upsetting
to many, and to the Church, but I am convinced that in the end we shall be
stronger for having worked through this issue. We are forced, in this
discussion, to take a fresh look at some fundamental beliefs -- about the
Bible, sin and grace, the nature of the Church and the ministry, among other
things -- and I think we all shall renew our understanding of the Gospel and
of who we are as Christians.
I try not to be a one-issue person, however, and you will read my comments
from time to time on a wide variety of topics. I enjoy these online
discussions. For me they are a means of keeping in touch with the larger
community of our church in a way that is relatively non-threatening for any
of us and allows each of us to remain comfortably at home while doing our
talking.
Scrapper, my cocker spaniel, begs to be walked. More later.
Jim Lokken
------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 08:50:10 EST
From: Frank Long
Subject: Introduction / Lutherans Catholic?
In addition to the fine starting point with the creed suggested by Pastor
White, I think of "Catholic" as a style and orientation. In elaboration
of that I offer the following, which is also something of my introduction
which the subscription materials said I should send to the list.
I was raised a Roman Catholic, but left that denomination while a college
student. I became an Anglican. During the decade following college
(which brings us up to the present) I have traveled extensively and have
found that my liturgical and theological needs are in some locales better
met by a Lutheran congregation than the resident Anglican parish. From
time to time I have found the same needs met in an Old Catholic community,
a Methodist congregation, or a Presbyterian congregation.
My needs are not met in Free Churches or in either of the UCCs--the
United Church of Christ in the USA and the United Church of Canada. (I'm
a Nova Scotian, but my travels often take me to New England, New York,
and Pennsylvania).
When I think about the style and orientation to which I am drawn in
Christianity, the term which seems to fit perfectly is "Catholic." It
expresses something about a form of worship which expresses a set of
beliefs held by those--in the past,present, and future--who share this
form of worship.
There is a fellow who is one of the managers of this list who has heard
my story on another list and invited me to subscribe here. We began our
conversation as a result of a survey he was conducting preparatory to
tentatively writing a book about the Catholic style and orientation
across various denominations. I hope he does it.
In the meantime, I look forward to enjoying the discussion here as much
as I have enjoyed participating in Catholic worship with Lutherans.
Frank Long
---------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 23:24:41 -0500 (CDT)
From: Nelson Lors
I am Nelson Lors, a member of the St. Paul ELCA congregation in Evanston
Illinois. I am a high school teacher just starting a sabbatical to
complete my M.A. (already have a couple of masters in education, but I decided
to get a real one--in History). I will be working mostly with Greg Singleton
whom most of you probably already know.
Over twenty years ago, just out of college, I spent a couple of years
sojourning with the Taize community in France, and am an associate member
of a community here in the midwest.
My name would indicate that I am hyper Scandinavian, but my Maternal
Grandmother's maiden name became my first name in my parents' only moment
of Scandinavian identity. I have yet to have my own moment of ethnic
identity, and by God's grace I may be able to avoid it alltogether.
Ubi Caritas,
Nelson Lors
---------------------------