Dear friends, About four times a year pastors and rostered lay leaders from our Saint Paul Area Synod gather for a Synod Ministerium. Here we clergy and lay leaders have the opportunity to worship, hear our Bishop Rogness preach, and meet afterwards for refreshments and fellowship (kind of like “church” – for the pastors!). We build collegiality and relationships within the Synod this way. We also have a particular topic addressed by a guest speaker. Last week we heard an inspiring and challenging presentation by Stephen Bouman, who until recently was Bishop of the Greater Metropolitan Synod of New York. He told us riveting stories about the Lutheran church’s presence and ministry there in the aftermath of 9-11. He is now working in our national headquarters in Chicago, heading up evangelism outreach and congregational mission for the ELCA. He emphasized how our mission in the ELCA must be increasingly focused on local, congregational strategies for mission, in a context that is increasingly multicultural (there are 30 languages spoken in New York Synod congregational churches, just as there are 50 languages spoken now by children in St. Paul Public Schools). In order to survive and thrive as a national church in the future, we must learn to open our doors to the stranger, to the new immigrants among us, and do ministry with a population very different from the northern European immigrants who founded our churches 100 years ago. This means we must continually go out and listen to our neighbors, build relationships, and organize ourselves for mission. But the most profound thing he said was the importance of being a Word and Sacrament church, rooted in font and table, grounded in scripture and sent forth by God’s Spirit to do mission and really be “the Church” for the people around us – in the name of Christ. This sounds exactly like what we aspire to do at Redeemer. Since last October our congregation has been exploring our common visions for mission so that we can develop a long range plan for ministry. We have done scores of 1-to-1 visits within the congregation and out in the community. We have had several meetings after worship on Sundays to which all have been invited, giving multiple opportunities for everyone – members and guests - to share their priorities, hopes and aspirations for the Church with others. These conversations and gatherings have led us to some common ground about what is most truly important. Not surprisingly, worship is a priority for everyone. So is pastoral care for our members and addressing issues of racial and economic justice in our community. We also agree that faith formation in our youth and children is a high priority, in fact the nurture of faith and Christian education for all ages. We all want to make our church building and properties a welcoming and functional place for worship and ministry. In all these things, we have placed our greatest emphasis on evangelism and hospitality. Whether it is a Sunday worship service, a Sunday School or Bible School class, coffee hour fellowship or community meeting, we want to reach out to our neighbors beyond our walls and offer hospitality when they come through our doors. This is, in fact, necessary for our long-term survival! We all know this. Now it is time to plan, strategize, and act – to reach out to the world around us and welcome the strangers – visitors and guests – whom we encounter. Everything we do should take into account how we reach out to others, and welcome them when they arrive. We have to expand our concept of “what” the church is, to include all the people whom Christ would call “his flock.” Our long-range plan for Redeemer, then, is not a paper document, but a way of being Church. It is to consider first how we reach out to others and how we show hospitality to our brothers and sisters around us. It’s a new way of being Church, not defined by “membership” or by the walls of our church building, but by our capacity to reach out to others (and how far our reach is). We won’t do this perfectly, but this is how we seek to imitate Christ. On Sunday, May 18th we will have another conversation following worship to talk about this over coffee. A lot of people have been working hard on this effort, to devise a process for us to be the Church Christ wants us to be – always reaching out, always showing hospitality, always compassionate to others, always joyful in worship, always prophetic in our proclamation of the gospel and passionate for justice. This starts by being grounded in the scriptures, rooted in our baptism and table fellowship, and faithful to our calling by God to be sent out into the world by the Holy Spirit to do God’s work. It’s as simple as that. So, now, let’s get started! Or, should I say, let us continue! In the Name of Christ, Pastor Jim Erlandson