ELCA Assembly Hears Greeting from ELCIC National Bishop

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Raymond L. Schultz, bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), asked Lutherans in
the United States to work with Canadian Lutherans to "exercise a
mutual prophetic stewardship" on domestic and international
issues.
Addressing the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Canadian bishop said that
Canada and the United States, two countries that had broken away
from colonial powers, "have not always been gracious when we have
had the political or economic edge over other countries."
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall.
About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,068 ELCA voting
members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's
Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!
Schultz is retiring as bishop of the Canadian denomination,
which has about 182,000 members, and brought greetings from the
Rev. Susan Johnson, bishop-elect of the ELCIC.
Schultz praised the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding
bishop, for keeping international issues before the church. "The
governments of our two countries are not interested in the
church," the bishop said, "and consider it a nuisance."
The Canadian church has also cooperated in the development
of a new worship book for Lutherans, the bishop said, and the
publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship has been
"enthusiastically received as the official worship resource of
our church."
Materials prepared for the ELCA social statement on
sexuality, which will be presented to the ELCA 2009 Assembly,
have also been adapted for use in Canada, the bishop said.
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Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be
found at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web.

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