I was interested to hear that a Lutheran pastor, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gave one of the talks at the Virginia Tech Convocation last week.  I guess I wasn't too surprised to learn that of the various religious representatives at the convocation (which included a Muslim, Jew, and a Buddhist), the Lutheran was the only one who failed to mention his God.  Instead, he rambled on using vague, "inclusive" religious nonsense.  (The complete text of his speech is below). 

This afternoon, I was feeling kind of down about the bad rap this guy is giving us Lutherans.  What a missed opportunity to share the Gospel!

I got a morale boost on the drive home from work.  I caught the tail end of the Michael Medved show.  In the course of a discussion about failing mainstream Christian churches, Medved and one of his callers mentioned the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) 2 or 3 times.  In each case, the LCMS was identified in a positive way as one which has held strong to Biblical principles. 

Thanks for the positive press Mr. Medved!

The complete text from the pastor's VA tech speech follows:
William H. King, Lutheran campus pastor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Va., and staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), delivered the Christian message April 17 at the Virginia Tech Convocation where students, faculty and others of the community gathered to remember the victims of yesterday's shooting on campus.  According to the Virginia Tech Web site, at least 33 people died including the gunman.
     "We're gathered this afternoon for many purposes.  To weep for lost friends and families, to mourn our lost innocence, to walk forward in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, to embrace hope in the shadow of despair, to join our voices and our longing for peace, healing and understanding which is much greater than any single faith community, to embrace that which unifies, and to reject the seductive temptation to hate," said King, who also serves as deployed staff of the Department for Campus Ministry, ELCA Vocation and Education.
     "We gather together weeping, yes, we weep with an agony too deep for words and sighs that are inexpressible, but also we gather affirming the sovereignty of life over death.  At a time such as this the darkness of evil seems powerful indeed.  It casts a pall over our simple joys, joys as simple as playing Frisbee on the Drill Field.  We struggle to imagine a future beyond this agony.  If we ever harbored any illusions that our campus is an idyllic refuge from the violence of the rest the world, they are gone forever.  And yet we come to this place to testify that the light of love cannot be defeated.  Amid all our pain, we confess that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it," said King.
     "We cannot undo yesterday's tragic events, but we can sit in patient silence with those who mourn as they seek for a way forward.  As we share light one with another, we reclaim our campus.  Let us deny death's power to rob us of all that we have loved about Virginia Tech, our community.  Let us cast our lot with hope in defiance of despair," said King, who invited the convocation to a moment of silence.