The Crossings Blog

Thursday Theology -full listing Crossings Film Series
  • Lutheran Theology for Mission
    Colleagues, Three items. The Crossings bank balance is getting low. You know what to do. The address is: The Crossings Community, P.O.Box 7011. St. Louis MO 63006. USA. During the past month I’ve attended two conferences out of town. One was in Minnesota on the topic: “Thinking Theologically about Sexuality.” My presentations there are posted on the web-page ...
  • National Repentance #6: Proclaiming Repentance in the Public Square
    Colleagues, I received the text below from Steve Kuhl, an ELCA pastor in Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Right now in Mid-USA it’s Wednesday morning. But this is so good that I can’t wait another 24 hours before posting it to you. For one thing there’s Steve’s remarkable “parrasia” [=the NT Greek term for the chutzpah of faith-grounded ...
  • National Repentance #5. (I wish it were the last one.)
    Colleagues,  It’s been a month. Also a month since ThTh touched the repentance word for the USA. You’ve seen some of the ping-pong that’s elicited. Not yet passed on to you is dissent from some of our own “brightest and best” from the days of Seminex, and later, Crossings. You can understand why.To wit: “I agree with ...
  • For a Nation to Repent (Continued) #4
    Colleagues, I’ve been out of town for most of the week since the last posting. Four of the past 7 days were spent in Minnesota with 250 church-workers (most of them pastors) at the Fall Theological Conference of the Southwest Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. The topic was “Thinking Theologically about Sexuality.” You know what the ...
  • A Letter to President George W. Bush
    Colleagues, On Wednesday, the day before Yom Kippur 2001, I sent this e-message to President Bush apropos of national repentance.Peace and Joy! Ed Schroeder President George W Bush September 26, 2001 YOM KIPPUR FOR ALL AMERICANS — CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS TOO! Dear Mr. President, My email to you last week about national repentance was acknowledged by the White House Autoresponder. “Thank you ...
  • Terror and Repentance, Part II
    Colleagues, Today’s posting consists of responses from many of you to last week’s offering. The only words from me relate to what just transpired at our breakfast table this morning.First the bad news: On the radio we just heard that the US response planned for our enemies is now named “Infinite Justice.” The sheer blasphemy of ...
  • Coping with Terror–the Missing “R” Word
    Colleagues, It may be too soon to post this to you. Maybe it shouldn’t ever be posted at all. I’m not clear on this. So trepidation goes along with this posting. One “R” word–better, one “re-” word–has been missing in what I’ve heard from our leaders and media voices about the disasters of Sept. 11 so far. ...
  • Getting married in church
    Colleagues, In the ELCA folks are debating whether or not the church should “bless” same-sex unions. Some synods have urged that it be done. Our own congregation here in town has put the topic on the agenda for the Adult Education Forum during the month of September. On one of those Sundays I’ve been asked to ...
  • The Law’s So-called “Third Use”
    Hi Folks, Today’s Thursday Theology is in several sections. First is this quick intro by me and some painful news from Thelda Bertram with a prayer request. Next are Ed’s intro and historical background to Tim Hoyer’s discussions about the third use of the law and what the Bible says about the law’s purpose. Plenty of ...
  • 2001 Churchwide Assembly by Robin Morgan
    The evening before I left for Indianapolis to be a voting member at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, I attended a block party on the street in front of the 100 year old house we’d moved into two weeks before. Flipping burgers on the grill was a woman named Irma who, along with her husband, own ...