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Improvised Preaching
As an English major at St. Olaf College, I also sensed the call to pursue the ministry of Word and Sacrament, as did Carol R. Breimeier. Her article "An English Major in the Pulpit-Or, How I Learned to Love Contractions" in Lutheran Partners (November / December 2007) resonated in every way with me, especially when she stated: "John the Baptist looked me straight in the eye from John 3 and said 'He must increase, but you must decrease.'"

My experience as a preacher was that I had been a "manuscript slave" for the first 25 years of my life as a pulpiteer of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Carol states: "For me truly to conquer the high-falutin' tendencies of the English major, I have had to abandon the manuscript for almost all of my sermons. With rare exceptions, falutin' seems to work just fine."

I took the model of jazz improvisation as my liberating path from being a manuscript slave. I even got to interview Dave Brubeck while I was in a D.Min. program at San Francisco Theological Seminary in the late 1980s on the subject of improvisation in jazz. He said that Paul Desmond had said he never played "Take Five" the same way twice. My thesis was: "The Holy Spirit, Jazz Music, and Improvisational Preaching." Jazz musicians have to know the basics of a melody or theme in order to improvise new interpretations. The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines improvisation as "composition done during a performance."

I discovered that preaching is done best when following that model so prevalent in jazz: Don't just read the manuscript word for word, but be free to improvise as you preach, knowing the basics as you improvise. It works for me. My one exception is the corrective [from] author and pastor Frederick Buechner: "All theology is autobiographical." In a true sense, so is preaching, yet "He must increase, but you must decrease" is improvisationally true also.

Thanks, Carol, for a fine article on an English major's preaching dilemma resolved!

L.A. Jake Jacobson
Wilsonville, Oregon

Hocus Pocus
I have a hard time believing that a Churchwide Assembly vote discerns the will of God on controversial matters. It certainly reflects, more or less, the political will of the slight majority, at least to the extent that voting members actually comprehend the whole and heart and complexities and details of what resolutions actually mean in the confusing game of Robert's Rules [and] the short- and long-term theological and legal implications of it all.

But it's hocus pocus to ascribe that to God's will or to discerning the Spirit. Or to think that national-level decisions (as opposed to synod or congregation or candidacy committee decisions) must really, really, really be God's will, as if God operates hierarchically (as opposed to incarnationally).

So for ELCA church leaders to strong-arm one another under the guise of "accountability to the adopted policies, practices and procedures of the ELCA," asserting that Jesus would want the church to follow what a majority votes (shutting out the other 39-49 percent from living out their convictions), well again, it's hocus pocus in my view.

It's time the ELCA quit trying to be a one-answer-only denomination. If some congregations want to keep lesbian, gay, bi-, transgender (LGBT) couples, individuals, and their families out of their pulpits, away from their altars and fonts, and in the closet, fine. Do that. But don't expect those of us who cannot behave in such a fashion — because it violates our imperfect but convicted grasp of God's gospel and justice in Christ, as learned in our ELCA seminaries, pulpits, Bible studies, life experiences, synod ministries — to do the same.

Ron Rude
Tucson, Arizona

Down-to-Earth Thinking
The Nov./Dec. 2007 issue of Lutheran Partners was different.

Guess it was good to read some articles written by just ordinary people who really are the backbone of the church. In a day of the specialist and the expert, it was refreshing to hear some down-to-earth thinking which came from ordinary ministries.

I especially appreciated Marcus Kunz's article ("Confessions of a Commonplace Preacher") and how he wrestled with trying to be the expert. This ought to be assigned reading for seminarians. To discover that being a pastor is not a competition but just fulfilling your calling where you are [and] with whom you are is a lesson well learned. I suspect that a lot of us preachers have had to learn that lesson. I might add that I sometimes have learned more about faith from very ordinary people than from the experts and learned books.

[The article by Linda Francisco Bets caught my attention. She] said: "While sticking with the lectionary I felt free to take it in any direction with the idea of sharing life with them for the time I served them" ("To Whom Am I Speaking?"). I'm one of those mavericks who dumped the lectionary some 30 years ago and never regretted it one bit. I will admit that it is a lot easier to rely on the lectionary for your biblical texts, and emphasis for the day, but Linda covered herself well when she admits feeling free to take [the lectionary] in any direction.

For the last almost 30 years, I've been a state prison chaplain, and after retirement have been conducting Sunday morning services at nursing homes. It has been a non-denominational ministry of necessity, so I have relied upon my knowledge of both the needs of my people and my understanding of what I felt God wanted me to share from God's Word with the people. I also believe that the Lutheran liturgy and lectionary both suffer from overload, so I choose to limit [what is offered] for the day. If I limit the scope [of the lectionary], the retention and application will be greater on the people than if I dumped a whole lot of Scripture, announcements, etc.

I grant you it is easier if I just follow the lectionary and use some sermon books, but if I wrestle with the people's needs and search the Scripture for that which speaks to these needs, I come filled with enthusiasm and find eager listeners. Free texts have long been anathema at seminaries and should be practiced only by those who know their people, the Bible, and theology well. Tradition is good but it has never been canonized. Sticking too closely to tradition just may be pretending there was no Reformation.

Lester F. Polenz
Mansfield, Ohio