The Lutheran Journey Begins in a Land of Freedom

and education. My home congregation started because several families wanted English as part of the worship experience as it was part of the educational and vocational experiences of America. St. Paul's, the Lutheran church in Appleton at the time, wished to keep German services. Last week I enumerated several synods that advertised themselves as "English." And traveling in the Upper Midwest one still finds many towns with a "First English Lutheran Church" in them. Language in America and in the Lutheran Church was a vital issue.

As English became the primary language among Lutherans, and the "mother tongues" of the various churches disappeared, cultural barriers were also broken down so that Lutherans could combine their efforts into larger church bodies and synods. Of course, free discourse in America also meant that groups could disagree-and if need be separate. In 1988 three Lutheran bodies merged to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Since then, small groups and individual congregations have split off from ELCA over theological disagreements.

As language and cultural barriers came down, Lutherans began cross-cultural ministry among all people regardless of race, creed, or color. On any given Sunday at Salem, in addition to the core of German-descended Lutherans, I worship with a Native American, a Sicilian, a Hungarian, African-Americans, One of Jewish descent, a Palestinian, a Scot, a Puerto Rican, and other cultures that reside in Milwaukee's Eastside and bless Salem with their presence.

Church Polity

In addition to supporting a pastor on their own, Lutherans also had to learn to deal with church finances and running the daily affairs of the church themselves. In this way God provided a way for His people to do more than just "pray, pay, and obey." American Lutherans are forced to discover what it means to be part of the "priesthood of all believers."

American Lutherans also live as citizens of two "kingdoms"-the state and the kingdom of God. Balancing the two can be frightening, precarious, and empowering. Unlike their British compatriots, Lutheran immigrants rarely came from nations that had a representative democracy. Voting and taking responsibility became a new learning experience.

In the process Lutherans in America learned how to develop Scriptural answers to some of life's more difficult questions. A conflict arose in the Norwegian Synod over slavery and whether it was right or wrong. The Norwegian faculty member at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis was asked his opinion, and he asked the Synod what

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