Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church
In America
Volume 5, Number 1
Lent 2000
Reflecting on
LET’S TALK
Five years ago, in the parking lot at Carthage College
following the Synod Assembly, Pastor Tom Knutson pursued me and laid out a
vision of a theological journal for the Metro Chicago Synod. It was time, he said, for this church to
engage seriously the issues that were confronting us as a church, not simply in
practical terms (there were lots of great workshops and forums to do that) but
theologically. In the following months
Tom’s dream began to take shape and a number of people helped to put flesh on a
skeletal idea. With the blessing of
Bishop Ken Olsen LET’S TALK was launched a few months later and
exists as a unique kind of publication in, but not of, a synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The fact that this little publication has continued for these
five years is testimony to its place in our life together as a synod. If nothing else, it serves as a helpful foil
for reflection and decision making, perhaps even parish planning, on some of
the issues we struggle with each year. Ecumenical debate and worship priorities
have predominated in these pages, but certainly not exclusively, and I would
like to think the articles on these pages have challenged and inspired this
journal’s readers.
It’s time for me to take my leave as a member of the
Editorial Council, and I will miss those lively meetings with their fabulous
creativity and theological insight. The
work that is done in LET’S TALK is important. It is a critical contribution that deserves
to be replicated in other places. But
for the vision to truly come alive, this journal needs you. This is to be a place of dialogue, of
conversation, of mutual challenge and uplifting of sisters and brothers in
Christ. Continue to make your
contributions to this journal (financial contributions are welcome, too) so
the dialogue can be authentic and enriching for us all.
Randall R. Lee
Member, St. Luke (Belmont), Chicago