The minister pastoring this Lutheran congregation is actually the retired bishop of New York. You will search the street maps of New York in vain for a Lutheran cathedral, which may be just as well since it is one less building to have to put into mothballs waiting for a buyer to convert it into condos or a recreation center or some other use that profanes Christ's sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. I guess the Lutheran idea is that bishops actually get out among the flock rather than sit in ornate chairs. Cathedral is actually derived from Greek and Latin words for seat or bench.

So far as I can tell, this Lutheran parish has actually fared pretty well during Covid though like virtually any church these days it hosts an aging congregation and faces mission uncertainty. After four years of "interim" service, this retired bishop is going to serve another congregation, continuing 50 years of ordained ministry. That's a devotion to the Christ who is the Living Word I can scarcely imagine.

One of the central tenets of the Lutheran faith, one that Episcopalians might well consider, is "sola gratia," only by grace are we saved. No ideology, no ritual, no works. Only grace. I may not be there yet, but perhaps by the grace of God I will see the Risen Christ, and not as a stranger but as the One who saved me.

David Duggan is a retied attorney living in Chicago. He is a frequent contributor to Virtueonline