Report of the Vice President
Jeannine Grimm

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

Greetings from the Synod Council.  As you know, we are the individuals whom you have elected to do the work of this assembly while you stand in recess.  In essence, these two days are our “vacation”…but here we are! 

I am not going to read the report which appears in your packet on page 77-78.  Please question any of the council members if you would like more information on any item mentioned there.  I do affirm for you, however, that the synod council has taken their charge of speaking for this assembly seriously and that means that this past year has been filled with meetings where we discussed (often at length) many matters.  We have taken seriously the work of working together! 

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Martin Marty.  In preparation for picking him up at the airport, I have recently been reading from among his many writings (instead of writing these remarks, to be honest!!).  One book in particular, A Short History of Christianity was quite difficult to put down.  I want to share one sentence with you that really hit home with me.  Dr. Marty, speaking of the early Church seen in Paul’s epistles, says that when Paul speaks of the Church as the body of Christ, he does not make a distinction between its life as a community of the spirit and as an institution.  That bears repeating---no distinction between the church as spiritual community and as institution!!

Those of you who have served on church “anythings” know this spirit/structure tension and the difficulties that arise from this. It is for this reason that I’d like to spend a few minutes on just one item of work done by your synod council this past year. 

First off – how does the council typically work within this tension?  Well, we open every meeting with devotions (and it’s a perk of my position to get to sit next to our bishop as he leads these…he’s a wonderful teacher!).  We pray and sing hymns – well, you heard that a while ago…  We arrange ourselves with a sense of togetherness; our chairs are in a circle, lay and clergy members of the council are given equal voice and vote and that means that our leadership is a good mix of theology and praxis.  We are intentional about maintain a perspective of the Church catholic, entertaining visitors from representatives of affiliated social ministries and yearly having one of our regular meetings off-site at one of our social agencies.  This past year, we met at Kettle Run in Bucyrus and it was a great connection to this arm of LHS…several residents, noting us meeting in their fellowship area, joined our meeting for a bit---but not to long, as we can be a bit boring!  But those typical actions are not enough to really put join institution and spiritual community and, so, I want to describe one very specific action we took this year to answer that need.

Please indulge me while I return to the opening of this message.  It’s a well-known blessing which we rarely hear in its context.  Found at the end of Paul’s second letter to church in Corinth, it reminds me a bit of how I end a phone call to one of my children:  with list of instructions on how to act.  Starting at verse 11 we catch Paul’s full farwell: Rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in
peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.  That’s NASB.  Here’s my translation:

Yous rejoice!

Yous strive for perfection/completion!

Yous be comforted/encourage!

Yous think/agree with one another!

Yous be in peace!

Paul does not hesitate to tell the church---notice it’s all plural (should “yous” be “youse”? or do you get the point?) – to shape their actions by what is now possible in Christ – to rejoice, strive, encourage, and live in the agreement of shalom.  This is NOT the existential arbitrary action that shapes our essence, no it is claiming the essence of faith, of reconciled lives, which enables us to act in unity with the other.  Then, and only then, we know Jesus’ grace, God’s love, and the communion/community of the Spirit. THIS is the abiding in God’s love – although freely given, this love is not completely received without these actions on our part!

This past year, your synod council’s most important piece of work was a list of “behaviors” that help us uncover the unity that we already share by being centered in Christ. I see this as a model for how we as individuals from different congregations and backgrounds work with the tension of “in the world, not of it” of being institution and spiritual community. This document now on the screens frames how we abide in the spirit while working TOGETHER – members to members working as the ones called to serve to the one calling.   Note how it flows out of the guiding principles already reviewed in the report of the bishop…

The synod council offers this work back to you, to your councils and committees within congregations, to use as you see opportunity.  I think it’s the most important work we did this year; not because overseeing the budget, struggling with income concerns, or creating programs for global mission isn’t important.  But, think of it in terms of the story of Mary and Martha and be reminded and reassured that the most important work the Church can do is to love Jesus…and abide in that love.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion – living in the community of the Holy Spirit – be with you all.

Jeannine Grimm receives a gift of thanks for her tenure
as Synod Vice President from Bishop Lohrmann.

Agreement of Commitment
Northwestern Ohio Synod
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
and
Synod Council Members 

Because we are growing in our experience of the joy of God’s redeeming love given to us in Christ Jesus, remembering that God blesses us with gifts to share with others for God’s mission to the world, and trusting that the Holy Spirit works through the ministries of this church, we who are called to serve on this council will:

1.  Pray daily for the ministries of this church, and specifically for the work of the Northwestern Ohio Synod;

2.  Practice generous giving of our selves, our time, and our possessions as a spiritual discipline (i.e. grow to and/or beyond the Biblical standard of returning the first tenth to the Lord);

3.  Hold the synod accountable to its mission statement and guiding principles and use the goals and strategies of the synod as a model to shape all decisions and tasks;

4. Prepare for and faithfully attend all meetings of the synod council, focusing on fulfilling the responsibilities as listed in the synodical constitution;

5. Work to support the final decisions of the synod council and seek to promote the mission of the synod with those with whom we come in contact;

6.  Cultivate relationships through prayer, worship and conversation thus reflecting our unity in the of body of Christ, and;

7.  Continue to serve as active members of our individual congregations during our term of participation in the extended activities of the synod.