2017 Fall Theological Conference
for rostered leaders and spouses, synodically authorized ministers and directors of youth & family ministry of the Northeastern MN Synod, ELCA
“From Conflict to Communion”
September 24-26, 2017
Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge
September 24-26, 2017
Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge
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Program Synopsis-Intro from Study Guide for Declaration on the Way
Let’s face the facts. No one in 1517 wanted to begin a church division that would last five hundred years. Martin Luther did not intend to break from the Catholic Church when he hung his ninety-five theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. He was Catholic, and his theses were meant to stir up a conversation that would reform the church from within. However, things did not turn out the way he had hoped, and rifts developed between the reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. Soon the divisions came to be taken for granted. Many older Lutheran adults will, no doubt, remember when Reformation Sunday was celebrated as a “we got it right” day as they sang Luther’s rousing hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Times have changed. A translation of this hymn is now included in WORSHIP: A Hymnal and Service Book for Roman Catholics. Over the past fifty years Roman Catholics and Lutherans have engaged in a number of deep and intense conversations as they sought to understand each other and address the scandal of their divisions. It turns out we have quite a lot in common - and what unites us touches the very heart of the faith. Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist lists the international, regional, and national dialogues and studies that have occurred over the last half century. A significant development was the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification agreed upon by The Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church in October 1999. By the time the 500th anniversary of the Reformation was approaching, it was clear that it was time to make the commemoration reflect the changed tone of Lutheran-Catholic relations. To encourage this change, in 2013 the international Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity issued a study document, From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017. Most recently, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops together appointed a task force to develop a new kind of text, a document of consensus identifying thirty-two theological agreements already reached in their dialogues. More tentatively, this task force also identified fifteen remaining differences. This work is titled Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist (2015). This important work was affirmed at the 2016 Churchwide Assembly. Information
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REGISTRATION TO MAIL TO RUTGER'S SUGAR LAKE LODGE
CLICK HERE “From Conflict to Communion” “Declaration on the Way” 
Presenter: Dirk G. Lange,
Associate Professor of Worship, has come to Luther Seminary from the Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia where he taught liturgy and homiletics. Dirk's ministerial experience has covered a wide spectrum of activities, but all under one umbrella: liturgy in the lives of people. During the 1980s, as a brother of Taizé, he worked with church leaders and many lay people involved with the prayer groups in the Eastern European underground. During the early 1990s, he was engaged with the prayer and songs of Taizé. After leaving Taizé, he came to LTSP to study under Gordon Lathrop and then went on to do doctoral work under Don Saliers and Mark Jordan at Emory. He is editor and contributor of "Ordo: Bath, Word, Prayer, Table" (OSL, 2006), an introduction to liturgical theology and festschrift in honor of Dr. Lathrop. With Luther and Derrida as dialogue partners, Dr. Lange queries theology, its disruption and its rewriting, through the lens of the liturgy. He has been involved with the Renewing Worship project of the ELCA, serving on the editorial board for Daily Prayer as well as participating on the development panels for Holy Communion. He has published several articles in the liturgical journal Worship as well as in several other scholarly journals. He is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) and founder and convener of the seminar group on Liturgy and Postmodern Questions. He is also a member of American Academy of Religion (AAR), Societas Liturgica and the Academy of Homiletics. He has also served parishes in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Tentative Schedule
Sunday, September 24 4-6 pm Registration - Alexander Rooms Foyer 6-7 pm Evening Meal - Dining Room 7:10 pm Welcome - Bishop Thomas Aitken 7:20 pm Holy Experiments # 1- Conference Dean 7:30 pm Worship & Holy Communion: Text: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 8:40 pm Fellowship - Lobby Monday, September 25 7-8:30 am Breakfast - Dining Room 8:30-8:50 am Morning Prayer, Text: Psalm 25:1-9 8:50-8:55 am Holy Experiments # 2 - Conference Dean 9:00 am Session I: “From Conflict to Communion: Re-forming who we are” Alexander Room: Dr. Dirk Lange 10:30 am Break 10:45-11:45 am Session II: “What Happened During the Common Prayer in Lund, Sweden?” Alexander Room: Dr. Dirk Lange 12:00pm Lunch - Dining Room 1:00-2:30 pm Session III: “On the Way: Intro to Declaration on the Way” Alexander Room: Dr. Dirk Lange 2:30-2:35 pm Holy Experiments # 3 - Conference Dean 2:35-2:50 pm Portico Update - Terri Endres 2:50-3:05 pm Catherine Anderson, Northeastern MN Synod Coordinator of Youth Ministry 3:10 pm Free Time 6:30 pm Taize Evening Prayer - Alexander Room Text: Philippians 2:1-13 7:00 pm Dinner - Dining Room Tuesday, September 26 7:00-8:30 am Breakfast - Dining Room 8:30-8:35 Holy Experiments - Conference Deans 8:45-10:15 am Session IV: “On the Way: Where Do we Go From Here?” Alexander Room: Dr. Dirk Lange 10:30 am Closing Worship & Holy Communion, Text: Matthew 21:23-32 |