Lund, Sweden, 20-27 March 2007
Day 2 - Wednesday 21 March
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Becoming Somebody in God’s Family
 Rev. Sonia A. Skupch preaches at the opening worship service. © LWF/Z. Rakotoniaina |
“We are not a group of crazy people dreaming of a better world. We are the people of God, citizens with the same rights, not anonymous and no longer nobodies. People of God with names, identities, stories to share. There in lies our hope, our strength, our faith and joy,” declared Rev. Sonia A. Skupch in the sermon at the opening service of the LWF Council meeting in Lund, Sweden.
Skupch stressed that despite the widespread poverty worldwide that has contributed to people “becoming nobodies”—invisible, anonymous and insignificant because they are not useful to the actual economic system—the gospel message gives people hope. More...
Click here for the full text of the sermon of Rev. Sonia A. Skupch in PDF format.
Hesitance, Urgency, Joy
 Bishop Mark S. Hanson, LWF President, addresses plenary session. © LWF/D. Jusaitis |
“The LWF finds itself in this historical moment with a rich and compelling vocation phase, ‘Living as communion in the world today,’” said LWF President, Bishop Mark S. Hanson.
Hanson pointed to the joy that grew out of the hesitancy and urgency at the time of the LWF founding as a sign of hope for future direction of the Lutheran communion.
Living a full communion relationship will not be easy, rather it will mean challenging old assumptions, listening to one another and becoming, “accountable to others with different angles of vision, with different insights, blind spots, strengths and temptation.” But “together we can discover how to speak the gospel more truly. Together we can challenge each other to engage in God’s mission more courageously. Together through the eyes of others we will begin to see ourselves more clearly, even critically."
 Opening plenary session of the LWF Council Meeting 2007. © LWF/D. Jusaitis |
Hanson requested the member churches to consider a number of difficult, complex and pressing questions as they reflect on their role in both the Lutheran and ecumenical communion. He cited issues such as finding agreement on ethical questions with other churches with whom the LWF shares little or no ecclesiological commonality; what and who establishes the LWF’s priorities; the organization’s financial future and new income sources while holding each other accountable for membership fees; and how ecumenical and inter-religious work can be done most effectively.
Hanson is presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. More...
Click here for the full text of the Address of the LWF President in PDF format.
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