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All letters to be published in Lutheran Partners magazine / Lutheran Partners Online must include your name and where you reside. Address: Editor, Lutheran Partners, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631-4101; e-mail, Lutheran.Partners@elca.org, Lutheran_Partners@ecunet.org, or LUTHERAN PARTNERS (if on Ecunet/ Lutherlink). Because we wish to publish as many letters as possible and at the same time maintain some control over the length of the letter section, letters should be no more than 600 words in length. Shorter letters are preferred.

Retired Loci
Thanks, Steve, for honoring us with one more installment of Pastor Loci (Nov./Dec. 2006). It was brim-filled with joy and enthusiasm — a wonderful tribute to a satisfying retirement. In my 12th year now of a similar life, interrupted somewhat by my part-time Board of Pensions duties, I find myself singing the same praises. It was so good to see you in print again, and I do hope we shall have the privilege again soon.

Harold C. Skillrud
Atlanta, Georgia

It was nice to note the return of Pastor Loci. With clarity of insightful and delightful details, he strikes a chord in the lives of us "retired" pastors. After 47 years of ordained ministry in the ELC-ALC-ELCA, I retired about a year ago. Reading Steven's article was like seeing a parallelism in my life in the ministry. From having one's name spelled incorrectly, to not missing the many meetings and responsibilities, to not having set schedules day and night, and leisurely moving through Sunday morning is the "good life" of retirement, Steve alludes to.

Yet, like Steve, I find myself, at times, "chomping at the bit" to get "back in the saddle." I miss leading worship and creatively working the liturgical seasons for the church year. I miss the confirmation classes and the young people. I miss, I miss....

While in high school and college, my wife and I did a lot of dancing. The ministry didn't afford us much time to go dancing. Back then, dancing, among other things, was a kind of "no-no." Pastors, for the most part, didn't dance! My wife is a good dancer, so like Steve indicated, I think we'll get back to dancing. Of course, I, too, may have to re-learn some of the ballroom steps.

Thank you, Pastor Loci, for freeing us up!

Owen Gaasedelen
Northfield, Minnesota

Why wasn't I surprised when Steven L. McKinley didn't leave quietly. For many years, even though there were hundreds of Pastors Loci, we were compelled to see things through the eyes of Steven L. McKinley. When he changed churches I thought we might get a different view, but McKinley continued. And now he's back.

What this says is that big name pastors never get their fill and that editors like to stick with the tried and true. I don't know about others but I've had my fill. How about a new voice or two?

Charles E. Rein
Loveland, Colorado

I have appreciated the past imaginative messages of Steve. How good to learn that retirement has been a blessing for him and his good wife. In the 16 years of our retirement, my wife and I also feel that "our cup runneth over!" In fact, previous years of ministry were also most blessed. Steve's message has made me check out my call to ministry that I received as a very young boy nearly 80 years ago. I find that the call I received does not mention retirement at all (not even in the fine print). In fact it seems to be a life-long call.

And so I continue to fulfill that call by conducting Sunday morning worship at two different Nursing Homes each Sunday. I enjoy the challenge of crafting a different sermon each week geared to the spiritual needs of the elderly residents. My wife and I do enjoy many extra self-centered activities in our elderly years such as gardening, wood working, traveling, [and] biking, but we have been led to be also involved with the needs of people in the larger community. Both of us are deeply involved in a Horticultural Center. My wife also spends lots of time at a Pregnancy Center, while I tutor 13 children two full mornings each week at an elementary school.

We do become weary at times with a demanding schedule but we count ourselves most blessed as we feel that our Lord has called us to still serve others in these special ministries even in our elderly years. The fact is that we get more rewards from these ministries than from having the freedom to indulge ourselves in our own pleasures. I do not believe that retirement as commonly understood and practiced is in any way a Christian concept! The retired elderly are the most neglected and untapped resource for a Christian witness and service to the world. Shades of the "rich farmer?" When's the last time you heard a sermon on the fruits of the Spirit directed to our elderly? (Matthew 25:34).

And they didn't even know they did anything special.

Lester F. Polenz
Mansfield, Ohio

The Word Beyond Words
Thank you for the recent article on multimedia preaching (Nov./Dec. 2006). It is good to see Lutheran churches embracing modern tools in proclaiming the Gospel.

May I suggest that you continue to offer articles exploring the subject in more depth? For instance, multimedia is more than a big screen. Good multimedia engages all of the senses and so creates a scent aroma to match the season or theme of the day, offers people the opportunity to speak at appropriate places in the sermon, and offers hand-outs or other tangible items (perhaps merely a page of sermon notes) to occupy the hands. We engage people with the sense of taste during communion; we can engage them with all the senses at other points in worship.

A screen can also be used to project the musical score of hymns and liturgy. This is easy to do using the Augsburg Hymns for Worship CD or downloading hymns from GIA Music. At my church we also enjoy writing and projecting hymns and liturgy using Finale software. People who have seen only the words of a praise song on the screen might be surprised how worship can be liturgical and sophisticated with a musical score on the screen.

One other possibility: The images used during a sermon do not need to merely replicate the spoken word; that can be like explaining a joke. People can think much faster than the preacher can speak, and replicating images has limited ability to hold their attention. More helpful are supplementing images when the preacher is not describing the image on the screen but allowing the congregation to make the connection. This is like telling a joke without having to explain the punch line.

Even more stimulating is using images that complement the spoken word. For instance, when preaching of the inner turmoil of Paul on the Damascus Road when his fervent beliefs were challenged, the screen can show a bewildered person being baptized in a river or a photograph of a man in a yarmulke in animated conversation with a man in an Arab kaffiyeh. The image challenges the people to find the connection, like challenging them to provide the punch line for the joke. The screen and the preacher work together as in a dialogue sermon.

Please continue to promote stimulating proclamation of the Word beyond words.

Paul Hegele
Louisville, Kentucky

The article "Ten Things You Really Ought to know about Multimedia Preaching" caught my attention. Luther had stressed preaching the gospel in the language of the people. It's obvious that Pastors Fred Nelson and Carol Breimeier wanted to do that too in their preaching in congruence with the reality of our multimedia-languaged culture.

The advantages they found in doing multimedia preaching, practical suggestions, as well as tools and resources they discovered in their six years of experience "in getting it wrong and getting it right" beckon pastors to give it a try. Once you try it [and] do it, you too will find that there's no turning back. Is there any other conclusion?

Is multimedia preaching the answer? What is the theological "multimedia" that's been at work from the gospel's first proclamation? My wrestling with the matter goes back a couple of dozen years.

Following seminary I received a graduate degree in Educational Media (Theory and Production) from the University of Iowa. I became completely immersed in media production and communication theory during that time. I felt multimedia was the "voice" of the future and showed that voice in my first parish in Louisiana. I began in little ways-a worship poster visual capturing the lesson theme each Sunday, [and] short existential films like Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge for Lenten services and retreats-and then going on to put together and photograph multimedia productions for the national, regional, and local church as well as for the Natchitoches Community.

There were no easily accessible sites available for photographs. If I wanted a picture I had to take it, and if I wanted a voice I had to record it.

In the midst of such times I was interviewed by a reporter from the Alexandria Daily Town Talk and asked if I thought multimedia was the answer. My answer surprised the reporter when I answered, "No." Having done it all and having seen the power of images to move people, I had come to the conclusion that nothing is more compelling and immediate than a pastor who gets up and speaks personally and homiletically with a word that is created and spoken in and for the moment. Perhaps at the time I said it in [consideration of] some good and gracious pastors I knew who would never pick up a camera. But, I also wanted to underscore a theological and confessional word about the Office of Ministry as described in Augustana Article V — namely, that the office of the ministry in itself is the Gospel. In other words the pastor is audiovisual multimedia.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The medium is the message. It's true but sometimes that picture-word is not one we want to say and the message is not one we want being heard. A picture can be a sign pointing only to itself rather than a symbol pointing beyond it. I recall going to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala to shoot scenes for the national church film Amazing Grace. The "shoot" was to center at the new church built there. As we made our way through the dirt streets with raw sewage flowing through ditches surrounded by shacks, we turned toward the new church standing apart from it all. Around it a high wall with broken glass on top was interrupted only by locked steel gates. I was asked, "How are we supposed to 'shoot' this. We can't photograph any of it-not the pastor greeting the people, preaching, or giving communion — without showing steel bars and glass topped walls. Is that the message you want to get across in the film?"

A picture, no matter how well-intentioned, can be culturally and racially bound. Returning from a youth group gathering, African American students with me were talking about racist pastors. I asked if I was a racist too. I was shocked when they said, "Yes, because you use 'honkey' music to go with your presentations."

That's how it is. And that's why I said long ago that multimedia is not the answer. What picture can do what the cup extended, oil actually traced on the forehead of the sick and dying, rough ash rubbed into the forehead of a kneeling penitent, or a gentle hand binding the hands and hearts of a couple saying "Yes" to one another? Now that's gospel and theological multimedia!

Dan Benuska
El Paso, Texas

Addressing SALMs
SALM. This is not a misspelling. SALM stands for synodically authorized lay minister — a term that is common to most of us in the ELCA.

What is confusing, particularly to congregational members and sometimes to the synodically authorized lay ministers themselves, is how these individuals are to be introduced or addressed. To use the full title often loses people on the first word. Persons not familiar with church language think they hear "senate." And so the confusion begins.

If or when [some] hear the word "minister," their minds leap to the word pastor or reverend; and the conversation becomes quite detailed or heads simply shake in perplexity.

In an age when word and title continue to be formed, I think it is only appropriate that we adopt the title SALM (rhymes with balm). Yes, there will be questions about the title; however that will provide the opportunity for one to explain "one authorized for ministry only in this particular setting." And when SALMs and rostered gather for assemblies and other events, this title will help clarify for all each one's role in the life of the church.

Karen Kaufman
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Keeping Things Straight
...After struggling as a parish pastor for 37 years to separate the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in the local congregation, I was dismayed to see the poem, "Epiphany" by Pastor Steven K. Schou (Nov./ Dec. 2006).

He writes of the wise men "...traveling by starlight down that long road from the ivory towers to a stable...."

The Gospel of Matthew clearly states in chapter two, verse eleven: "...and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother...."

If we can't keep it straight in a publication for rostered leaders of the church, is it any wonder that we have a difficult time in the parish?

Philip Zimmerman
Watsontown, Pennsylvania

Bestowing Blessings on God
I congratulate those who produced the new hymnal on their diligent work on a complicated task. However, I strongly urge that throughout the book, wherever we are said to bless God, "praise" be substituted for "bless" (e.g. in the Eucharistic Prayer, "Blessed are you..." etc.). God blesses us, but it is absurd to presume that we bestow a blessing on God.

Terence Y. Mullins