I have yet to see personally the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Yet I suspect that most people are aware of the leaning campanella and the image it leaves. Apparently the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. My wife and I have just returned from a five week study holiday trip to England, Wales and Ireland. We visited many standing cathedrals and many in ruins. In variably they were built on site that afforded in most cases a solid footing attested to by their present existence and usage. Foundations are critical for building lasting structures - if it is a structure you wish to build. I have been a Lutheran all my life and I now find in my 73 year of life that I am likely going to leave the Leaning Tower of Lutheranism. This does not come easy for me considering I have been preaching in the Lutheran Church for a period lasting almost fifty years and for the last sisteen years have served as a lay pastor three rural churches east of where we live. I have a daughter who is a Lutheran Pastor and my wife is an Anglican priest. I in my own right have four degrees, two undergraduate and two graduate, one being the Master of Divinity. In future issues I will expand on the thesis that the Lutheran Church as I experience it and as I see it is in a serious condition of leaning.
Grace and peace,
Jim
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