Lutheran Vespers Speaker: Preserve Family History

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (ELCA) -- Tell your children and grandchildren about your childhood, and ask your own parents and grandparents about theirs, said the Rev. Walt Wangerin Jr., speaker for Lutheran Vespers, the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Wangerin made the comment at a Lutheran Vespers rally Sept. 30 here at the Lutheran Church of Hope.
Wangerin is an ELCA pastor who also teaches at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind. He is currently touring the Midwest, meeting with a variety of audiences in congregations along the way to raise attention to Lutheran Vespers. He is also using his experience as an author and storyteller to talk about his role as a grandfather, and his relationships with his parents and grandparents.
In his presentation, Wangerin said people often miss the opportunity to share childhood experiences with their own children and grandchildren, and they may know little about the childhood experiences of their parents and grandparents.
"We have to talk," Wangerin told the audience. "We must talk in our daily living. If we don't talk, (childhood experiences) will be lost forever."
"How can you not talk?" Wangerin asked. "How can you not tell your grandchildren what their ancestors fought for and worshiped over? When you talk to the children and grandchildren, you are passing down the spirit of Jesus Christ."
Wangerin began the "OutSpoken for Lutheran Vespers" tour Aug. 17 in Chicago. His intention was to ride much of the 2,600-mile journey on a bicycle, but on Sept. 9 he broke his left hip in a bicycle accident near Alexandria, Minn. Following surgery there and recuperation, Wangerin resumed the tour Sept. 19, traveling to Lutheran Vespers rallies in a truck.
Wangerin's trip is planned through Oct. 20. When completed, Wangerin and staff will have traveled through seven states in the Upper Midwest, and will have appeared at 24 scheduled rallies and made other personal appearances.
The 2,600-mile trip has three goals for Lutheran Vespers: increasing listener involvement, raising an endowment to help keep the program on the air, and seeking endorsement of the program from ELCA leaders and others.
The radio program is broadcast on 235 stations in the U.S. and abroad. About 3 million to 4 million people listen each year.
Wangerin told the attendees that in the eight years he's been Lutheran Vespers speaker, he has rarely had direct contact with listeners.
"I yearned for a relationship with the listeners, and it was essential for me to get out of the studio. I wanted to see you," Wangerin said.
Lutheran Vespers listeners should think of themselves as partners in the ministry, which reaches many people who may not attend a church. "We reach out to people who will never darken a church door," he said.
Prayers for the radio ministry are important, Wangerin said. "Your prayers are seas on which this ministry sails," he said. "Without them we run aground."
Wangerin pledged to the listeners that he will use the radio ministry to teach, tell stories and proclaim the "good news" of Jesus Christ.
"Always at the center of my stories is Jesus Christ," he said. "My deep truth is Jesus. I will always make what I do start with Jesus."
In return, he asked his audience to make two pledges. First, he asked them to talk about their childhoods with their children and grandchildren, and second, he asked audience members to learn what childhood was like for their parents and grandparents.
Also during his visit here, Wangerin met Sept. 29 with about 100 adults at St. Augustin Church, a Roman Catholic congregation in Des Moines. Members there have been reading his book, "Paul: A Novel," based on the biblical writings of Paul the apostle, a missionary of the early church and author of several of the 27 books in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. "Paul" was published in 2000 by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Wangerin read brief excerpts aloud and answered questions about the book. Paul, he said, was an interesting subject because his personality is reflected in biblical accounts.
"Paul wrote letters. Paul's mood and feeling comes behind the directives and theology he offered," Wangerin said. "One of my joys was taking Paul's letters and putting them in context."
Pope John Paul II "is a modern-day Paul, doing marvelous acts of reconciliation and recognizing other communions as brothers and sisters in Christ," Wangerin told the St. Augustin audience. -- -- --
Information about OutSpoken for Lutheran Vespers is available at http://www.elca.org/lv/OutSpoken/ on the ELCA's Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html