Title: Youth Gathering for Older Lutherans
March 6, 1996
"SENIOR SAINTS ALIVE" (50 lines)
96-04-009-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Senior Saints
Alive" was billed as "a rally in the valley"
or "a youth gathering for older Lutherans."
It brought more than 500 members of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to
Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in
Phoenix.
Mavis Hamre, Mesa, Ariz., chaired the
Feb. 11-12 event. She said 450 attended the
main events on the first day, and 275
attended workshops the second day. Most
participants were between 65 and 75 years of
age.
The Grand Canyon Synod -- ELCA
congregations in Arizona and southern Nevada
-- sponsored the gathering. "It was a
natural for us to have such an event,
because we are a gathering place of folks
from all over the church and all over the
country this time of year," said the Rev.
Howard E. Wennes, synod bishop.
Retired Lutherans are "some of the most
loyal, supportive and faithful members of
this church," he said, and "they're coming
here with a lot of energy and resources."
The gathering was a way of helping them
examine the question: "What is the shape of
faithfulness at this stage of our life?"
Wennes said participants enjoyed
hearing the Rev. Jack F. Reents, ELCA
Division for Global Mission, discuss ways
they could support the volunteer efforts of
the church around the world.
"I was impressed by the energy and the
optimism of the group," said ELCA Bishop H.
George Anderson. "There was a lot of
interest in the volunteer options."
Electronic voting devices allowed
Anderson to poll the audience. "I asked
them, given the state of the world, is the
future of the church 1-bleak, 2-dangerous,
3-challenging or 4- hopeful?" he said.
"To my great surprise nearly 60 percent
said `challenging,' and the next largest
number was about 19 percent for `hopeful,'"
said Anderson. "It made me feel that these
`true blue Lutherans' still had a feeling
that the church was going to do okay and
times were going to be difficult but not
`dangerous.'"
Hamre described elements of the
gathering as "really quite touching," such
as a conversation between Bishop Anderson
and Vance Robbins, president of the Lutheran
Youth Organization. Participants received
pewter medallions during an empowering
ceremony. "We used those as an affirmation
of baptism and a commissioning to serve in
the community," said Hamre.
Fourteen workshops examined topics from
parish nurses and coping with memory loss to
estate planning and the White House
Conference on Aging.
Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal
benefits society based in Minneapolis,
funded the event.
For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir.,
ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2058; Frank
Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956
