Delaware-Maryland Synod

bishop — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:02:43 +0000

Sunday evening, February 19, 2012, 6:45 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

I am so grateful as I think back over the week just passed, even if it was not the easiest of weeks to live through. I was still dealing with some jet lag from my African and European travels earlier in the week when my son Josef came down with a nasty bug that kept us awake nights … and then I caught the bug myself and ended up in bed for two days. I missed some meetings and had to cancel several appointments, but by Saturday felt rested and ready to go.

Please help me pray and give God thanks for these blessings:

- for Julie Stecker, who was commissioned as an Associate in Ministry (AIM) on Saturday at a moving ceremony at St. Michael Lutheran Church, Perry Hall

- for the people of Calvary, Mt. Airy, and their pastors, Eric and Anke Deibler, where I visited and preached this morning and where I was received most graciously

- for my Mutual Ministry Committee, chaired by Pastor John Sabatelli. and the most helpful and insightful meeting we shared on Thursday

- for the new lease that is ready to sign and that will give the synod office a new home at the Harbor Court office building come April 1

- for the bishops of the ELCA who will gather later this week in Chicago for the spring Conference of Bishops meeting, and especially for our Presiding Bishop. Mark Hanson.

May I also ask for prayers for Pastor Bill Wallace and the people of First Lutheran Church, Gray Manor. The congregation voted Feb. 12 to leave the ELCA, the first of two required votes that now begins the consultation process with the bishop. I am scheduled to worship and preach at First on March 25. Please pray with me that God would guide them in their decision making and the transition to a new church body.

As always, I am most grateful for you and for your continuing prayers. Keep them coming!

Prayer Partners 02.12.2012

bishop — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:03:34 +0000

Sunday afternoon, February 12, 2012, 2:10 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

Welcome back to the weekly prayer partners blog … and hello from Wilmington! I am sitting at the Delaware rest stop on I-95 (it’s one of my favorite hang-outs because they have free wi-fi and – you’ll laugh at me – I can buy a Philadelphia Inquirer, which I still miss after living in the Philly area for 35 years). Not scheduled to preach anywhere else, I got to attend service this morning at my own church, Spirit of Life Lutheran Church in Wilmington where I have been a member since 2006. Now I am passing time until the installation this afternoon of Rev. Diane Loufman as pastor of St. Stephen, Wilmington.

I got back from Germany on Tuesday. Thank you for all of your fervent prayers during my trip to Tanzania and Europe. It was a blessed experience! What a joy to connect with our partners in the Mara Region Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. We visited many churches, schools, hospitals, ministry sites and a half a dozen wells which had been paid for by the Delaware-Maryland Synod. Our support, YOUR support really makes a difference to many people there! It’s hard to believe that a week ago I was traveling from the 95-degree heat of Dar-es-Salaam to the icebox that is Europe just now (minus 18 in my parents’ hometown).

It’s good to be back. I give thanks to God for safe travel, for new and renewed friendships, for downtime at home and for fresh energy to re-engage the ministry in the days to come. Thanks for all your prayers!

Prayer Partners 01.17.2012

bishop — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:07:14 +0000

Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 9 a.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

Welcome to this special edition of the prayer partners blog at an unusual time. It comes with a special request. This Friday, I will set out on my first-ever trip to Africa, leading a small delegation from the Delaware-Maryland Synod to Tanzania to visit with our partner church there, the Mara Region Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT).
We first will fly to Mt. Kilimanjaro where we will worship with the Nkiraawanga Lutheran Parish on Sunday. A safari across the Serengeti follows before arriving in the Mara region on January 25. During a week long stay there, we will visit various congregations and ministries as well as the Bunda Hospital and the Kiabakari Bible School where Annie Bunio works as a teacher in a position funded by the synod’s Tanzania Task Force with support from Salem, Catonsville, and New Hope, Columbia. I am also scheduled to preach at the Cathedral in Musoma on January 29.

My travel companions are Ruth Greene, Melissa May, Geneva Wallace and Kristen McMasters. Please pray for us as we travel and renew the bonds between the Mara Diocese and the Delaware-Maryland Synod. On the way home, I am planning a quick stop-over in Germany to visit with family and friends. I am especially looking forward to see my mother who recently came home from the hospital; her broken elbow is healing well. I return on Feb. 7.

During the trip, I won’t have much access to e-mail, so please be patient with me. I will try to communicate with you at least once during the trip but can’t be sure when that would be. Thanks for your prayers!

Prayer Partners 01.08.2012

bishop — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:07:02 +0000

Sunday morning, January 8, 2012, 6:45 a.m. PT

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

Good morning from San Diego! I have been at the Bishops’ Academy since Wednesday and am getting ready for a day of travel as Josef and I are making our way home via Houston today. (Margaret was with us, too, as spouses are invited to the annual academy but returned yesterday since she is preaching at her congregation this morning).

Aside from meeting up with many of the other bishops and renewing old friendships, the academy is a continuing education event that usually features interesting and challenging theological presentations. This year was no exception as we engaged Marcus Borg (a well-known if controversial Episcopalian theologian), Peter Steinke (of “Healthy Congregations” fame) and our own Ken Innskeep (ELCA Research and Evaluation) on the topic of “Speaking Christian in the 21st Century.”

I very much appreciated meeting Marcus Borg, in particular. More than 15 years ago, his little book “Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time” fascinated me so much that I decided to go to seminary. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t agree with everything Borg proposes (he tends to challenge orthodox Christianity on just about anything) but his view on how to engage un-churched and de-churched people with a mature and passionate faith in Jesus Christ is refreshing.

Same with Peter Steinke. Margaret, Josef and I had occasion to connect with him on a personal level as he drove us Friday evening to our Epiphany service, which was being held at the Mission San Diego de Alcala, a Catholic parish at the site of the first Christian mission in California, begun in 1769. To worship in such a historic place was awesome.

Thank you God travel mercies, for theological discourse and passionate debate, for 85 degree sunny weather (not rubbing it in or anything), for home comings and for our faithful prayer partners. See you next week.

Prayer Partners 01.02.2012

bishop — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:57:49 +0000

Monday , January 2, 2012, 11:30 a.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

We drove to New Jersey with a heavy heart yesterday. After 108 years of ministry in what is now the poorest and second-most violent city in the country, Grace Lutheran Church in Camden was holding its closing service. This is the church where I arrived as a bright-eyed 21-year-old volunteer, met Lutherans for the first time, fell in love with the Lutheran church (not to mention with my wife of now 28 years). Margaret served there as pastor for 29 years until our move to Baltimore in the summer of 2010. We were married at Grace, our children grew up there. The idea that this congregation that courageously made the transition from white to black and then to Latino and that spawned so many social ministry projects from the Camden Lutheran Housing Corp. to a homeless day shelter is now closed angers and saddens us to no end.

As with most good funerals, the closing service was a celebration of life. It was a blessing to see many old friends, former parishioners, colleagues, brothers and sisters in the struggle. Perhaps the best and for me most helpful thing was my one-year-old grandson, asleep against my chest for most of the service. Who could have predicted back in 1975, when I first arrived in this country and at this church, that one day I would sit in these very pews with a grandson on my lap? Carter is God’s gift, and for me yesterday he was a true sign for me of future life and of God’s promises on a bleak day that brought to a close 108 years of faithful ministry in a place that God loves and others call “God-forsaken.”

I am glad to be back in touch with you after our holiday break, and I appreciate your prayers this week for the people of Camden and of the former Grace Lutheran Church. Give thanks with me for all God has done and pray for all that God will yet do.

Prayer Partners 12.18.2011

bishop — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:34:45 +0000

Sunday evening, December 18, 2011, 5:30 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

OK, so I admit it: I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas. You see, I hate Christmas, and every year around this time, I get so fed up with all the shopping and the baking and the decorating and the sweet Christmas music that blares 24/7 in every grocery store and every elevator. I avoid shopping malls because ever since the early days of October, tinsel-laden Christmas trees have been sprouting by the hundreds … and don’t get me started on those giant fake Christmas presents and the equally fake Santa Clauses who populate the food court. I hate Christmas because none of that is what Christmas is all about.

See, in a sense, it’s just the opposite of what we have made of it: Christmas is a scandal because it is about a homeless family left out in the cold, part of the 99%, without medical care or food or shelter, forced into a drafty old cave where the young woman, exhausted from long travels, completes her high-risk, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, another statistic in the exploding teenage pregnancy rate. Christmas is a scandal because it demonstrates – again! – how little we humans take care of each other.

But Christmas is a scandal for another reason, too: It’s about a God who is so love-sick for his creation that God decides to give up being God, becomes one of the creatures, enfleshed and incarnated, fully human and fully divine. O how I love Christmas because Christmas is about a God who is so smitten with us that he becomes us, loves us so much that he becomes us. God takes on flesh. In Spanish, the word for meat, flesh, is “carne” … so the in-carn-ation is literally the enfleshment of the One who has made everything there is. It’s a scandal, really, a most amazing and utterly mystifying and ultimately life-giving event that changes everything. God breaks into the human condition … and nothing is the same for you and for me and for all of the created universe. That’s why I love Christmas: Because it tells me that God is with us! Emmanuel!

I wish for you a most blessed and peaceful Christmas. May God bless you and keep you always.

PS: The Lutheran Center (and with it the synod office) is closed for the Christmas/New Year’s holiday and won’t reopen until the first week of January. We will take a short break also, and I will be back in touch with you after the holidays. But keep on praying as I keep praying for you.

Prayer Partners 12.11.2011

bishop — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:33:15 +0000

Sunday afternoon, Decmber 11, 2011, 3:30 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

What a strange day this has been! I went to Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday morning for a “Breakfast with the Bishop” event on stewardship for the Delmarva Conference (good turn-out, great conversation) and after returning home about noon have been off since. I guess this is the first Sunday since I became bishop that I have not been working. Instead, I had a “pj day” when you don’t get out of your pajamas: a little pleasure reading, snacking on and off, a bit of painting in the house, laundry and the guilty pleasure of watching four (count them, four) episodes of “Boss” on cable TV. (It’s a terrific show with Kelsey Grammar who plays the corrupt mayor of Chicago. I’ve been trying to follow it but am never home when it airs). But before you think I’ve become a total couch potato, let me add that I did attend Saturday evening service at St. Luke, where my wife Margaret is pastor. I give thanks to God today for down time and for leisure … I needed some time off.

Please pray for me and the synod staff as we interview candidates for the Assistant to the Bishop position that will become available when Pastor Roland Hobbs retires at the end of January. We will meet with six potential new colleagues over the next three days. Pray that the Holy Spirit will send us the right person to fill Roland considerably large shoes. Thanks for your prayers.

Prayer Partners 12.05.2011

bishop — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:19:08 +0000

Monday afternoon, December 5, 2011, 1:20 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

A bit late this week, I am writing to tell you about my visit to Washington DC last week. ELCA bishops gathered with Episcopalian colleagues for the annual “Bishops’ Advocacy Days” on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers to advance positions that our churches have taken. This year, we were especially focused on the current debates about cutting the Federal deficit, and we reminded senators and representatives that while budget cutting was important, it should not be done on the backs of the poor. The ELCA has endorsed an effort called “Circle of Protection” which is trying to make sure that programs for low-income families, such as food stamps, would not be affected by Congress’ budget ax. I was able to secure appointments with Maryland’s senators, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, as well as with Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware to tell them about the faith community’s concern. I invite you to pray with me this week for our leadership in Washington, Annapolis and Dover as lawmakers and their staffs face tough decisions.

The reason for my lateness this week is a late-night return yesterday from Hagerstown where I met with pastors of the Washington County conference in the wake of the suicide of Eric Norgard, pastor of Trinity, Hagerstown, and conference dean. We were able to spend time together over dinner to support one another, pray together and discuss ways in which we can support our rostered leaders better. As you continue to pray for the Norgard family and for Trinity, please also include Rev. David Oravec who is now serving as Trinity’s interim pastor, and for Rev. Michael Louia whom I appointed as interim dean. Thanks for your prayerful support.

–
Peace & Blessings,

Bishop Wolfgang D. Herz-Lane
Delaware-Maryland Synod, ELCA

Prayer Partners 11.27.2011

bishop — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:17:41 +0000

Sunday evening, November 27, 2011, 6:15 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope you had a restful and peaceful holiday weekend. I certainly did. Margaret, Josef and I drove to Philadelphia on Thursday where we had dinner with old friends at the seminary (John Hoffmeyer, a professor there, and his spouse, Janet Corpus, also a pastor). It was so good to see them again after having skipped last year what had become a Thanksgiving tradition. Our son Kyle, his wife Ashley and the greatest grandson of them all, eleven-month old Carter, joined us there as well. God is good; so much to be thankful for!

This morning, Josef and I attended a joint worship service of St. James and St. Paul Lutheran churches in Rockdale, the two congregations who voted two weeks ago to consolidate into one new mission congregation. Pray with me that this courageous and difficult decision will result in a strong new church that reaches out into a vibrant multicultural neighborhood. I also ask that you pray this week for the ELCA public policy efforts, especially our work to protect programs for the poor from federal budget cuts. ELCA bishops will gather Tuesday through Thursday on Capitol Hill to be in conversation with lawmakers to bring the message that in the drive to reign in the deficit, the poor not be forgotten. Pray that the Holy Spirit will bless these conversations!

Prayer Partners 11.20.2011

bishop — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:02:36 +0000

Sunday evening, November 20, 2011, 9 p.m.

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends:

A few minutes ago, the last guests left after we celebrated our new home with an open house and a service of blessing and thanksgiving. It was a wonderful event that brought together friends, colleagues, and prayer partners and at the same time raised funds for our synod’s youth programs. I give thanks to God for all who came and all those who helped!

Please pray this week for the family of Pastor Eric Norgard. Eric took his own life on Wednesday, leaving his congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church, Hagerstown, to grieve. I preached at Trinity this morning and will be presiding at Eric’s funeral tomorrow. These are days of great sadness! Pray with me that all who mourn Eric’s violent death may be comforted by God’s amazing love and the assurance of his grace and mercy. Thank you for your prayerful support!