I am writing this from the beautiful Malibu hills. I'm here with rostered leaders of Region 2 (the five synods in the southwest) for our fall first call theological education event. We are gathered under the theme "We are Lutheran".  Bishop Guy Erwin, of the Southwest California Synod led the gathered group in conversations around being Lutheran in the 21st Century .

As we talked, it was clear that (like most of us already know) there is no one way to 'be' Lutheran. We worship differently, we often have different understandings of how to read the Bible and apply it to daily life, we belong to a variety of political parties. We are from urban, suburban, and rural ministry sites. Like the ministries they serve, the rostered leaders gathered here are a diverse group, and express a variety of ways to 'be' Lutheran.

One mistake many of us make is that we presume that our way of being Lutheran is 'the' way to be Lutheran. If we clap, dance, and shout in worship, we think 'that's Lutheran.' Likewise if we are more personally reflective with generous amounts of silence, we think that's what Lutheran worship looks like. Ditto with the organ, piano, guitar or drums. Is it Lutheran worship without the Apostle's Creed, or the confession and forgiveness, or the post-communion blessing? Most of us have a 'thing' (especially in worship) that makes it 'Lutheran.'

But, as I am being reminded this week, there are a multiplicity of ways that Lutherans worship, read scripture, and engage in public life - and because Lutherans are doing it, all are 'Lutheran.' It will look and sound different from place to place, and this week I'm reminded of the incredible and beautiful variety in our church. Our challenge (especially those of us who are life-long Lutherans from Northern European descent) is to not assume that other ways of being Lutheran are not authentic - or that every life-long Lutheran looks like us! Can we, instead of proclaiming something as being 'not Lutheran', enter into conversation with our brothers and sisters, deeply listening to the stories and experiences of Lutherans that are not like us, and then affirming them, also, as beautifully Lutheran? (This may a good place to start: https://revtifc.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/living-lutheran-my-story/)  I hope so - we, and our church will be richly blessed by these encounters!

Reverend Katy Grindberg
Assistant to the Bishop