PASTOR’S MESSAGE
FAQs (or Frequently Asked Questions)
In looking at almost anything online today—and in much that is USPS mailed to us—we are often invited to read a list of FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions).
Why? FAQs are a quick way for venders, for both governmental and service agencies, and for many other agencies to let us know what they offer us—and, also, what we are getting into when we use their services.
Believe it or not, our Church—the ELCA (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)—has a list of FAQs in its webpage!
https://www.elca.org/ Welcome to the ELCA
Here’s the first FAQ— perhaps addressed to someone searching out the ELCA website but certainly addressed to you and me as members of the ELCA:
I’m new here. I have questions about God, church and faith.
All people seek meaning. This can come in the form of knowledge, relationships, spirituality or organized religion. The ELCA is part of the Christian church. We believe God’s grace and unfathomable love are available to all people as a gift through Jesus Christ. All are welcome here with their whole selves, which include one’s race, ethnic background, past wrongdoing, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability and legal status. Questions and doubts are welcome.
Here is my reading of the first line of this FAQ: “All people seek meaning.”
The Lutheran theologian, Paul Tillich, proposed that all of us are seeking, in various ways, to make meaning of our lives. I would add that we are seeking to make our lives meaningful also by assuming responsibility for ourselves and by caring for others. As we seek after these things, we often may have some or many questions about our lives and the best ways to live them.
What follows in this FAQ is a summary of our Christian faith: The ELCA is part of the Christian church. We believe God’s grace and unfathomable love are available to all people as a gift through Jesus Christ. That is, this FAQ offers the Gospel to those seeking to make meaning of their lives and to live meaningfully.
What comes next is a welcome from members of all congregations of the ELCA (which, of course, includes Augustana Lutheran, First Lutheran and Saint John’s Lutheran) to their congregations as places where all persons may ask questions about their lives and how to live them. Again: this welcome is extended to All Persons, whoever they may be—for as Jesus says in John 14:2, “In my Father’s House, there are many dwelling places.”
I share the above FAQ with you since, as members of ELCA congregations, you are joined to the ELCA in what it proclaims—both in its FAQs and elsewhere.
I will offer further comments on other ELCA FAQs for your consideration in the Newsletters ahead!
I pray that we may all grow in wisdom and love.
Peace be with you
Pastor Leonard Hummel
