David W. Preus Funeral Will Be at Central Lutheran Church, Where a Tornado Was Less Than Affirming about The Vote

 

 Read the ELCA News Report

David W. Preus' Celebration of Life will be held at 

Central Lutheran Church.

"The first buildings on the downtown side of I-94 are the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran. The tornado severely damages the convention center roof, shreds the tents, breaks off the steeple of Central Lutheran, splits what’s left of the steeple in two...and then lifts." 

The Tornado, the Lutherans, and The Vote.

 WELS was not far behind ELCA, its Thrivent partner in ministry, celebrating the Fire Island video by plagiarizing it, frame by frame, with a little extra touch.

Reactions - Mine and Theirs - To David W. Preus

 

ALC President David W. Preus in his later years.

The ALPBers are explicating the Preus saga for everyone. One issue is - "Would David Preus have been better than Herb Chilstrom as the first ELCA bishop."

For them, everything is a matter of management, politics, and where someone was born. No one there wants to say that two national synods (plus Seminex) merged into one crippled, radical cage of birds.

The answers are really theological. Business mergers do not ask about church affiliation, so church mergers should not be obsessed with business theories. The LCA was modeled after General Motors.

The three candidates for ELCA Bishop were ALC Bishop Preus, LCA Bishop Crumley, and Minnesota Bishop Herb Chilstrom, who won in 1987.

• I met Preus at a convention and heard him speak, 
• had dinner at Ad Fontes with Crumley, where he asked me about WELS, and 
• had dinner with Chilstrom at a Michigan pastors' event. He asked about my dissertation, since A. D. Mattson was his Augustana Seminary professor. "With Lowell O. Erdahl, he is the author of Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old." Wiki.

Chilstrom died last year, about age 90. Crumley died in 2015, also at the age of 90.

I wrote to David Preus about his enthusiasm for Reformed-Lutheran communion. He was all for it and mocked the Real Presence (which Calvinists deny) in his letter back to me. He quoted the previous ALC President, which he must have imagined authoritative.

Preus' ALC was also the church body that endorsed Lutherans Concerned. Irony alert - the other Lutheran in the Yale Biblical program (STM, PhD) was Stan Olson, who became a professor at Luther Seminary (ALC), got gendered out of the seminary to pastor in New Ulm, then became bishop of the SW Minnesota Synod, then onto NYC to hold one of the top positions at headquarters, then short interim stays at Cap Seminary (Trinity, Columbus) and Luther Seminary, Decorah. Obviously the grand merger of ELCA was falling apart - largely due to the ELCA leaders flaunting and repudiating Biblical norms.

The ELCA merger was a strengthening of union with the Calvinists (LCMS-WELS, too, via Thrivent), Roman Catholics, and dying sects like the United Church of Christ, which really had no doctrine except to work with everyone. Various leaders of the ALC and LCA figured that success meant following the pressure groups with the biggest clout and the most to gain.

Faithless people are not going to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit, and church bodies led by those who hate Biblical doctrine will never prosper.

 ELCA published both photos, so I was happy to show how Olson looked when he was called up to do his political duties at an ELCA convention. Mark Hanson was the ELCA Bishop at that time.

Garden of Borage and Buckwheat

 

 Borage - or bee bread - seeds itself.

Soon after the old berry patch was removed and covered with mulch, the strands of grassy weeds began appearing through the mulch. We did not have enough cardboard to cover all the ground, so the living plants below the layer felt the warmth, call, and opportunities of sunshine.

Note - everyone has enough cardboard until an area needs to be covered.

I did not want to add anything to that area until the fall, so I decided to use two cover crops - borage and buckwheat. Both germinate and grow quickly. Both drop seed and start a new crop when given the time.

I scattered white borage first, and sprinkled berry patch afterwards. I was skeptical about the 50% rain for Saturday night. Buckwheat arrived in the mail, so I scattered those seeds over the same mulch. This borage grows fat leaves and buckwheat grows up, so they should get most of the sun and deprive the greedy grass weeds of energy. The ultimate plant is to have bully plants there exclusively, so grassy weeds will be thwarted without a lot of effort:

The front row is already well planted with Joe Pye. 

The next row could be clethra, which will be Pye high in later years.

Back rows could be hosta, which can be eaten easily by rabbits but also very good at producing big leaves and tall flower spikes loved by hummingbirds.

 Bees love buckwheat.

Former ALC President David W. Preus, Age 99, Died August 1. Minneapolis Star Tribune Obituary

 

 David W. Preus, 1922-2021

Minneapolis Star Tribune obituary

Review of Pastor and President, a book written by David Preus.

Preus family history - a small sample.

Preus, David Walter David Walter Preus, loving husband and father, Lutheran bishop and pastor, civic leader and World War II veteran, passed away peacefully on Friday, July 23, 2021, due to complications from heart failure. Three of David's major themes in life were "Jesus, Justice and Joy." He came from a long family line of church leaders. 

He was born May 28, 1922, in Madison, Wisconsin. He spent most of his boyhood in Decorah, Iowa, where his father was a pastor and president of Luther College, and his mother was an accomplished musician and created a joyful and welcoming home. He studied and played basketball at Luther College where his Coach Hamlet (Pete) Peterson called him his "bread and butter man." 

David graduated from Luther College in 1943. He and his four brothers enlisted in the U.S. armed services. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence until 1946 where he learned the Japanese language with overseas duty in the Philippines and Japan. 

Following World War II, he went to a year of Law School at the University of Minnesota and completed Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul; he was ordained in 1950. David took post-graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1951-52. 

As a pastor and President/Presiding Bishop of the American Lutheran Church (ALC), servant leadership infused his life's work. He served as a parish pastor for 23 years in Brookings, SD, Vermilion, SD and Minneapolis, MN. During his 15 years as Presiding Bishop of the ALC he also served as Vice President of the Lutheran World Federation and as a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. 

In 1988, he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at Luther Seminary and Director of its Global Mission Institute. During his later retirement he continued to engage in preaching, writing, and other forms of service. Long an advocate of participation by church members in civic and community affairs, David was a member and chair of the Minneapolis School Board, the Minneapolis City Planning Commission, and other civic organizations in the Twin Cities. He actively supported equal opportunities in housing, civil rights and civil rights legislation at city, state and national levels. 

One of his special attributes was his ability to actively seek out people from all faiths and backgrounds to work together toward a common good. He was at home speaking with and working with local leaders, church leaders from all faiths, four presidents of the United States of America, and leaders from other countries. For example, he met with John Paul II about ecumenical opportunities, worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. to address social justice topics at a Lutheran youth event, and joined Vice President Mondale on work trips abroad. 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune named him one of the 100 most influential Minnesotans of the 20th century. Over the years David received recognition from a wide variety of sources, including many honorary doctorate degrees, the Commander's Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, the Torch of Liberty award from the Anti-Defamation League, the St. Thomas Aquinas award from the College of St. Thomas, and the Pax Christi award from St. John's University. Friends established an annual David W. Preus Servant Leadership Award. Friends and neighbors remember his love of nature, stewardship and joyful spirit. 

With a cabin in northern Minnesota, David enjoyed tending to the land. Every summer one heard his chainsaw humming and saw his newly planted pine seedlings growing. At his home in Minneapolis he planted colorful tulips each fall, with hope for beauty in the spring. He literally whistled and sang while working outdoors. He loved a good game of golf. 

David cherished time with his family. He enjoyed playing various outdoor and indoor games, doing crosswords, and making blueberry pancakes for his grandchildren. He is survived by his beloved wife, Ann Margaret Overgaard Madsen Preus, whom he met and married 70 years ago in Brookings, SD, and five children, Martha, David A. (Carmenza), Stephen (Martha), Louise, and Laura (Michael), nine grandchildren, Natalie (David John), Christian (Robekkah), Katharine, Andrew, Daniel, Brita, Johan, Nathan, and Annabel, two great-grandchildren, Raegan, Ryder, and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. 

A service and inurnment will be held at 2:00 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Laporte, MN, on Sunday, August 1. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Central Lutheran Church at 333 S. 12th Street, Minneapolis, 2:00 pm, on Thursday, August 5. There will be a visitation at 1 pm, and fellowship and refreshments after the service. Livestreaming of the 2:00 pm service on August 5 will be available at: centralmpls.org Memorial Donations may be made to Luther College or donor's preferred designation. Washburn-McReavy.com Hillside Chapel 612-781-1999

Published on August 1, 2021

ALPB Online Forum - Suspicions Confirmed. ALC President David W. Preus Died at Age 99

 David Preus, on the far right, died August 1, 2021, at the age of 99.
Cousin Jack Preus is on the far left.

Preus craved attention. He came to an LCA district conference, before the merger, and spoke to a lot of the pastors informally. When he was left stranded with no one to talk to, he looked lost. Note the lopsided, ambiguous smile.

The ALPB Online Forum features a curious collection of grumpy old men, who get even pricklier when described. 

They confirmed their nettlesome nature when someone started a discussion on "Lutheran Levity," which turned into a hissy fight with no theme or substance. Picture this - the entire directory was filled with "Lutheran Levity," but the contributions showed no levity at all.

Apparently someone realized they sounded like a bad day at the bingo parlor, so they switched to "Lutheran Creationists."

One frequent contributor is Floyd Luther Stolzenburg's co-pastor in Columbus.

 Herb Chilstrom became the first ELCA Bishop in 1987, and the Left took complete control of the leadership and assets. David Preus would have been just as bad.