Learning Spanish

I've studied Spanish as a child and as an adult. I've taken classes as continuing education and studied in an immersion setting in Cuernavaca, Mexico. But, I haven't practiced much and I live in an area where speaking Spanish is not a day to day necessity. I've come to believe that in our environment in Southern California, speaking Spanish is at least a courtesy, and a means for showing respect for a huge number of people we have had mixed results in reaching. Just re-reading that sentence tells me that my view of "us" and "them" is an indication that we haven't been too successful in reaching and integrating people for whom Spanish is a primary language.
So, and I believe God is leading me here, I've recently decided to review and improve my Spanish. One thing I remember from my earlier continuing education studies is that a knowledge of and respect for Latino culture is more important than speaking Spanish for shared ministry. However, I think it is helpful, if not an absolute necessity, to at least have some ability in Spanish. And, when I ask myself as an "Anglo" (though I'm more of a "Scandi"), "what languages would Jesus speak" I have a strong sense that one of them would be Spanish in our context.
Following is a list of resources for personal study that have either been recommended to me or which I have used and found helpful. I'm starting with some Spanish language background, but these have also come recommended for the raw beginner who doesn't have the time or access for classroom instruction, and wants to learn at their own pace.
Plimsleur Quick and Simple Spanish - tapes or CD's A very slow and basic intro to conversational Spanish
QuickStudy Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards - also comes in a laminated sheet version
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions - a workbook for concentrated grammar and vocabulary and written Spanish
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses - same as above
Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 - CD's, Vol. 2 also available
501 Spanish Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barron's Foreign Language Guides)
Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary
VOX Super-Mini Spanish and English Dictionary - a smaller handier but less comprehensive dictionary than the Merriam-Webster
1001 Most Useful Spanish Words (Beginners Guides)
Are there others that you know or have heard that are helpful?

Heresy?

In an ELCA press release regarding the recent meeting of the ELCA's Churchwide Church Council, Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson is described as saying the following:
"+ Hanson identified four challenges for the ELCA: building trust throughout the church, creating awareness by telling the ELCA's "story," raising expectations for what the Holy Spirit is doing, and lowering anxiety about sexuality as the church prepares a social statement on human sexuality for consideration at the 2009 ELCA assembly. "We cannot let that social statement define solely the life and work of this church or our leadership," Hanson told the council. "That's going to take shared leadership. If we become so preoccupied with 2009, we are conveying a message that sexuality defines this church, and (because of) sexuality, this church could potentially be divided. Frankly, that's heresy. That's absolute heresy. The gospel of Jesus Christ defines this church." "I think this (the social statement) is hugely important work for us in these next two years. I'm committed to it, but I will not let it solely define my leadership of this church, because I think that's not responsible," he said."

The gospel of Jesus Christ defines the Church. What is that Gospel, and what does a life lived in that Gospel look like? The latter questions are closer to our points of disagreement. How we answer them, and our source of authority for answering them are crucial to how the sexuality statement is received and acted upon by congregations.
Do you think that congregations that leave the ELCA over issues related to Biblical authority are composed of heretics?
Do statements like this contribute to building trust?

National Lutheran CORE Gathering

Click "Comments" for news of the recent Lutheran CORE national gathering, a group of which the EMN is a part. One of our EMN members attended and it will be good to hear his views as well. BTW, you'll see that at one point the group was asked to move into "three working groups, depending on whether they perceived their synods as being strongly orthodox, moderate (inconsistent in positions and practice) or strongly revisionist." Where would you put our synod?
Also, check the resources section below. I've added a list of links to web sites with info on the reliability of the gospels from the current edition of Christianity Today. Maybe we should have another one with a list of sites that address the issue of Biblical authority in general. What would you suggest?

Irreconcilable Differences?

There is a good article from the NY Times about a book published by Professor James L. Kugel, formerly of Harvard and now teaching in Israel, called "How to Read the Bible". The book runs 800 pages but the article is a nice description of the professor's belief that modern scholarship has resulted in a focus on "the raw materials that made up the Bible", an approach that misses the point of the "real Bible". While the professor points to how we approach the Bible as being more important than the raw material, Christians would add that the basis for an approach to the Bible that is "real" is the Holy Spirit. That is, that the Bible is not interpreted, instead it's message is discerned. At any rate, the thing that interested me is the notion, already raised in the early stages of the ELCA's Bible reading initiative, that modern scholarship's concentration on "the raw materials" and orthodox views of the Bible based on the active presence of God through the materials are, as the title of the article states, "Irreconcilable Differences in Bible's Interpretations". It's worth thinking about and discussing. You can find the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/us/15beliefs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Bible and Homosexual Practice

I would guess that most of us are as tired of talking about homosexual practice issues as I am. However, they are not going to go away. And, their root issue, Biblical authority, is the NEXT BIG THING coming down the road with the ELCA's Bible initiative. For that reason, I'm sharing with you today's email from Robert Gagnon.

Evangelical Diversity

Today's New York Times electronic edition has an interesting article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/us/22church.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin) focusing on congregation in Georgia that has adapted to the demographic transformation of the area it serves. It includes the following observation:

"The transformation of what was long known as the Clarkston Baptist Church speaks to a broader change among other American churches. Many evangelical Christians who have long believed in spreading their religion in faraway lands have found that immigrants offer an opportunity for church work within one’s own community. And many immigrants and refugees are drawn by the warm welcome they get from the parishioners, which can stand in stark contrast to the more competitive and alienating nature of workaday America.

Indeed, evangelical churches have begun to stand out as rare centers of ethnic mixing in a country that researchers say has become more culturally fragmented, in part because of immigration.

A recent study by the Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam underscored the practical complications of diversity. In interviews with 30,000 Americans, the study found that residents of more diverse communities “tend to withdraw from collective life,” voting less and volunteering less than those in more homogeneous communities.

The study noted a conspicuous exception.

“In many large evangelical congregations,” the researchers wrote, “the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed.” "

Our truly pathetic attempts to become an ethnically and racially diverse denomination over the decades seem to me an indication that we, for whatever reason, don't really have our heart in diversity. We are rushing headlong into defining ourselves as a liberal protestant mainline denomination. As a result, we talk a lot about diversity. What would reclaiming our evangelical protestant theological heritage do to setting us on a path that would make the ELCA look more like heaven, "a place for people of all nations"?

"Book of Faith" Initiative

The 2007 churchwide assembly endorsed the ELCA's "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible" initiative. Discuss it here.