I served as an interim pastor for a church in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod. The first Sunday there, a couple came up the aisle for communion (“Jesus on the brain” November, page 30) with their three sons. The eldest son confidently held his hands up to me for a piece of the bread and responded to “the body of Christ, given for you” with a quiet “Amen” and headed back to the pew. The next brother did the same. I prepared to give the third son, about 4, a blessing, but he held out his hands. I looked down the aisle for some guidance — the grandparents both nodded their heads. I offered the boy communion. A month later, I asked the grandparents how it came to be that a 4-year-old was communing. When he was 3 or so, the family came to church and all received communion except him. He made a fuss as his parents embarrassedly carried him back to the pew. This continued week after week. Finally the pastor decided to ask him why this was such a big issue. The boy’s answer: “Every week we come to church and everyone in my family gets to receive Jesus. Am I not also a member of this family? Why am I being left out?” So the parents and pastor decided the answer was simple: If he was a member of his family, and that is what they did together, we ought to include him with the rest of the family. The pastor explained to the boy what communion was about (after all, the real presence in the eucharist is a mystery, received in faith). The parents also remind their son: This is God’s food that we receive and, in so doing, Jesus becomes part of us. The boy communes every week just like every other member of his family.
The Rev. Chris Miller
Camarilla, Calif.
Gun violence
I found it perplexing that in the article “Congregations respond to gun violence” (December, page 36) the writer never mentions gun regulation. In light of the controversial nature of this subject, I can understand that the author may not have wanted to make it the main subject, but it is astonishing to me that an article on gun violence in a church periodical fails even to mention the subject.
The Rev. Jerry L. Folk
Madison, Wis.
Well done!
“Food for body & soul” (November, page 28) is an excellent article. Well done! For about 10 months, we have had dinner at Bethany Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. We go every month and bring friends with us.
The Rev. Roger K. Ose
Richfield, Minn.
Membership decline
ELCA churches are in decline. According to data compiled by ELCA Research and Evaluation, 82 percent of ELCA congregations declined by 5 percent or more in average church attendance between 2000 and 2013. One reason is that the organized church is more concerned with the needs of their pastors than they are with the needs of the people. My daughter was in the hospital for spinal cord surgery and wanted communion from a Lutheran chaplain but was refused because she was not Lutheran. When my parents died, we wanted their funeral to be held on a Saturday so all of us children [could attend], but we were told by the pastor that was not possible because of a conference that weekend. The pastor’s needs were more important than ours, although our parents were members of that congregation for more than 30 years. I know that pastors are human and have needs like everyone else, but when their needs take priority over the needs of the congregations they serve, people notice.
David Moe
Sun City, Calif.
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 ascertain 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 membership. Not all of us believe in the evils of fossil fuels, of the alleged misconduct of Israel, the sin of whiteness and the like. Has anyone asked the other half if the advocacy is meaningful 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 understand the best practices for Lutheran congregations and faith and spirituality 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 immigrants 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; 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 broken some laws that you have made against them.”
Bill Robbins
Blaine, Minn.
