1. As heaven and history would have it, effective Dr. Carter G. Woodson's Black History Month-I (General Focus) February 2016 just past, the ADLA-Chicago reorganizing committee reached and exceeded the critical mass of 10 registered and annual dues paying members needed to be officially recognized as a Chapter in good standing-albeit still reorganizing-(according to both the National ADLA Constitution and Executive Board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church America's (ELCA'S) ethnic specific multicultural ministries apostolate-denomination wide).
2. The ELCA'S Metro Chicago Synod Assembly is the collective governance body of the Synod and, according to its website, "is the highest legislative authority in the Synod and meets annually." MCS ostensibly understands its role as one of urban and suburban Chicago "support, facilitation, and partnership" both among the 190-200 ELCA congregations and worship communities of the City on the one hand and on the other a partner of the 65 Synods as well as the denominational head quarters that together constitutes the national structure of what has become the largest and most liberal national body (at 3.8 million members) of the Lutheran traditions within U. S. society.
3. Officially unfolding since February 15, 2016, this year's MCS assembly is being held June 10-11 at Tinley Park Convention Center. As heaven and history would have it, the MCS 2016 theme is "TRANSFORMED & TRANSFORMING (Metropolitan Chicago Synod-ELCA 29th Annual Synod Assembly)." More, its scripture reference is from the Apostle Paul's Book of Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God..." that was, incidentally, also a favorite passage of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
4. The Baltimore resolution-dubbed "African Descent Lutheran Lives Matter-" that ADLA-Chicago has been asked to shepherd to the floor of this year's MCS Assembly, does not fall from the sky. Rather, it is a part of the new ADLA national executive group's strategy to put the burning issue of African American/African descent equitable inclusion on the front burner of the ELCA agenda. It is a part of a strategy to systematically intervene in the denomination's network of synod assemblies that serve as the penultimate structure leading to the highest church-wide legislative body-the ELCA
church-wide assembly.
5. Finally, the Baltimore ADLA resolution we have been asked to shepherd (despite its obvious limits) dramatically raises in sharp relief the issue of institutional racism within the ELCA. More, it also advances three key suggestions on how to begin addressing said structural racism and move objectively to what this writer has learned to call an "Ethics of Sharing" resource (using the language and logic of the Kawaida Afrocentricity philosophical approach, founded and advanced by Seba (Moral Teacher) Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor & Chair of Africana Studies at CAL State U, Long Beach, that fully informs the writer's ministry and is referenced consistently throughout this blog).
Respectfully submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Lead Pastor of Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's sanctuary for community organizing") and Secretary Pro tem of ADLA-Chicago Chapter, 4-16-16.
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