Open Letter to KTTC

Dear KTTC television –

Last Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to join with Lutherans from all over the Southeastern Minnesota Synod as we gathered at the Mayo Civic Center for our annual assembly.

The theme of the weekend was God’s Work, Our Hands, God’s Family.  We spent a lot of time pondering ways to pass our Christian faith from generation to generation.  We spent an entire morning on Saturday learning new ways to help people al ALL ages grow in faith and impact their communities.  It was good stuff!  You seem to have forgotten to mention that when you put our assembly on your newscast.

During the ‘business’ portion of the assembly we voted to kick off a fund appeal to raise at least $50,000 to combat malaria.  Over 800,000 people die every year from this disease that is completely preventable and treatable.  We will work with people all from over the globe with the goal of eradicating this horrific disease.  In a poignant moment of the discussion, one of our South Sudanese immigrants came to the microphone and talked about his history with malaria.  “I used to get malaria about 10 times every year.  We would go out into the bush to hide from the people with guns, but when we went to the bush the mosquitos (that carry malaria) would find us.  We had to choose between guns and malaria.”  I think that his comments would have ‘played well’ on the nightly news!  He brought a southeast Minnesota connection to a world issue.  I’ve heard that you like to do that.  Yet somehow you missed out on all the malaria discussion.  Perhaps it was an oversight?  $50,000 will save many lives.  That seems newsworthy to me.

In the midst of a two day assembly, we had a one hour discussion about the proposed ‘Minnesota Marriage Amendment.’  As you know, this is the amendment to the state constitution which would define marriage as ‘between one man and one woman.’  If you stuck around for the discussion (and it seems that you did) you heard people who deeply love the Lord and Scripture disagreeing on these matters.  As ELCA Lutherans, we’re OK with this.  Throughout the discussion people were able to debate this topic with respect and dignity.  In a society that is pretty good at vilifying the opponent, I think this was remarkable.  In the end, after much conversation, the assembly voted to pass a resolution which opposes the ‘Marriage Amendment.’  This one hour discussion made it into your newscast.

I resent that you chose to caricature the ELCA church that solely focuses on matters of sex.  We are open about the fact that we do not agree on issues of homosexuality.  It’s no secret!  While we acknowledge the importance of these conversations, they are a mere sidelight to our core: we are a people of faith, seeking to change the world through the love of Jesus Christ.  We do not find unity in our stances on social issues.  We find our unity in Jesus Christ.  Your newscast attempts to fit us into the 'right-wing vs. left-wing' politics of our day.  God's church is much more complex than that.

I can’t expect you to get excited about the inspiring worship or some of our internal workings.  I get that.  But other newsworthy things…positive things…happened at the Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly.  In your rush to talk about controversy and sex you completely missed them, and in doing so, gave a false impression of what we are about.

I’d love to see you at our assembly next year when we prayerfully elect a new bishop.  You will again see people of faith wrestling with challenging issues that they disagree on.  It’s what we’re good at.

Sincerely,

Rev. Peter Reuss

Peace Lutheran Church
Eyota, MN

The newscast can be viewed here.