Late Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is preparing to file for bankruptcy. This news comes on the heels of Frontier Airlines, a rival carrier, ending discussions about a merger. If that merger had come to fruition, Long Islanders would have benefited from expanded travel options out of Islip’s MacArthur Airport, where Frontier currently operates nonstop flights to eight destinations.
Corporate mergers are common today, typically involving the voluntary combination of two or more companies to form a new entity that aims to maximize strengths. Through mergers, companies strive to achieve economies of scale and scope, workforce synergies, risk diversification and accelerated strategic goals. Notable mergers in various industries are familiar to most consumers: AT&T and Time Warner, American Airlines and Trans World Airlines (TWA), Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, Disney/Pixar and Marvel, Exxon and Mobil, Heinz and Kraft, and United Technologies and Raytheon Technologies.
Mergers are not limited to large corporations. While faith communities may often focus on their schisms, the church itself has a long history of mergers. Today, November 14, we commemorate one such merger within Lutheran churches in 1918. In honor of the 400th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, three German-language synods—the General Synod (founded in 1820), the General Council (1867), and the United Synod of the South (1863)—united to form the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). The ULCA became the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States throughout the first half of the 20th century. As part of the merger process, the three bodies collaborated to adopt the Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, which became the standard for leading worship in the new church body.
The ULCA was a predecessor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), of which St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lindenhurst is a member. The ELCA itself emerged from additional mergers, a topic we will explore tonight during our Thoughts on Theology session on Church Structure. We invite you to join us in the sanctuary this evening, November 14, at 7:00 PM, to discuss the heritage, including these historical mergers, that has shaped our current worship community.
We also warmly welcome you to “merge” with us for worship this Sunday, November 17, at 9:30 AM, as we gather to praise the Lord together in unity.
Blessings,
Pastor Marc
Rev. Marc Herbst
Pastor
