January
Meeting
Thursday, January 5, 201212:00 noon
Click
here to RSVP for Luncheon or send E-mail to
luncheon@LutheranLayFellowship.org
Saint Luke Lutheran Church 9100 Colesville Road at
Dale Drive Silver Spring, MD 20910
The Rev. Dr. Maria Erling Professor of Modern
Church History and Global Missions Gettysburg Theological
Seminary Gettysburg, PA
"What Ever
Happened to Luther League?"
The Rev. Dr. Maria E. Erling is the professor of Modern
Church History and Global Missions at Gettysburg Seminary with a special focus
on American Lutheranism and the various ways that mission has been understood
in the history of the church.
Before coming to the Seminary in 1999, Dr. Erling served
parishes in New England: Trinity Lutheran Church, Worcester, MA and Christ the
King, Nashua, NH, and served as a specialist for urban congregations in the New
England Synod, Lutheran Church in America. She also chaired its ecumenical
affairs committee from 1991-1999. Her ecumenical involvement currently includes
service as an ELCA representative on the Faith and Order Commission of the
National Council of Churches of Christ, and as delegate to the 2010 assembly of
the Lutheran World Federation in Stuttgart. Parish ministry continues to be a
focus for her as she directs the seminary's Teaching Parish program.
As a part of her ongoing interest in the development of
American Lutheranism, Erling and co-author Mark Granquist wrote The Augustana
Story: Shaping North American Lutheranism, published by Augsburg Fortress in
2008. The fascinating history of American Lutheranism, with its many mergers of
separate ethnic churches, and its complex engagement with contemporary American
culture, gives her plenty of material to work with as she teaches seminarians
how to understand, appreciate, and extend theological and denominational
traditions to meet new challenges.
Dr. Erling also has contributed to two Lilly Endowment
projects to study the changes in Mainline Protestantism in North America, and
has delved into the mystery of the demise of the Luther League, the hidden
markers of Lutheran Spirituality, and the improbable strength of Lutheranism as
a denomination.
Dr. Erling has become known around campus for hosting an
annual fish night and for bringing the noble sport of croquet to the campus for
the first time since the storied days of A.R. Wentz, ecumenical pioneer,
competitive athlete, and Lutheran Historian. She lives in Gettysburg with her
husband John Spangler, who serves on the seminary staff. They have two
daughters, Marta and Johanna.
January's speaker received her Bachelor's degree at
Augustana College, her Master's of Divinity at Yale and her Doctorate at
Harvard Divinity School. We welcome her to our luncheon and await her
reflections on the "mystery of the demise of Luther League."
* * *
We invite all Lutherans and their friends to join us for
this luncheon meeting of Lutheran Lay Fellowship, scheduled for the first
Thursday of each month from 12:00 noon till 2:00 p.m. at Saint Luke Lutheran
Church, 9100 Colesville Road at Dale Drive in Silver Spring, one mile south of
the Capitol Beltway at Exit 30. Ample off-street parking is available.
Interested persons can make reservations for a delicious lunch by sending their
RSVP to luncheon@lutheranlayfellowship.org by contacting Vicki Porter at
301-229-9884 or no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 3. The cost of the
meal is $9.00, payable at the door.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
February 2, 2012 - Bishop Richard H. Graham, Metropolitan
Washington DC Synod ELCA March 1, 2012 - Dr. Barbara E. Solt, speaking on
"The Holy Land, Then and Now"
Click here to read December's meeting minutes
What is the Lutheran
Lay Fellowship?
LLF is an organization for women and men, both lay and clergy, active in
the Nation's Capital area. As early as 1936, feeling there was a definite
need for closer cooperation between Lutheran laity and clergy, a group of
laymen in the Washington, DC. Metropolitan area, organized to hold meetings
that would bring pastors and laity closer together. Due to jurisdictional
differences as well as ministerial difficulties, very little success was
achieved until the fall of 1941. Then the group met and decided to hold a
luncheon once a month, invite their friends and bring visitors. The first
luncheon was a success, and within three months every Lutheran judicatory was
represented
[From a Lutheran Directory of Metropolitan
Washington, DC, published in 1999.]
Today, more than 70 years later, the Lutheran Lay Fellowship of
Metropolitan Washington takes pride in knowing that every night, 365 nights
each year, more than 700 low income seniors and disabled persons live in safety
and friendship in four high rises owned and managed by Fellowship Square
Foundation, Inc. By means of annual scholarships and grants, LLF also supports
various college and seminary students; it also provides ushering services for
major inter-Lutheran events. But most of all, LLF is known far and wide as a
place to hear stimulating speakers on timely topics and to make friends from
other Lutheran congregationsfriendships that last for decades!
Wont you join us?
Received this notice
in error?
Effective June 2010, the print edition of the Newsletter which contained
both the next month's Meeting Announcement as well as the previous month's
Meeting Minutes was mailed to dues-paying members of the Lutheran Lay
Fellowship. Effective August 2011, the previous month's Meeting Minutes will be
posted in the ARCHIVE section of our website, www.LutheranLayFellowship.org and
the only hardcopy available will be at the next month's meeting. Meeting
Announcements will continue to be mailed to dues-paying members who do not have
an E-mail address.
If you are not interested in receiving notices from the LLF, please
reply to this note with a subject line of REMOVE and if applicable, specify who
in your congregation should receive notices.
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