Forty five years ago the ELCA’s predecessor church bodies took the courageous and wise decision to no longer keep women away from the ministry of Word and Sacrament. We want to commemorate such an important occasion in the life of the church by looking back to previous articles in the Journal of Lutheran Ethics dealing with the issue of women’s ordination, especially in light of March being Women’s History Month. We have invited the founding editor, the Rev. Kaari Reierson, to reflect on the significance of the event 45 years later, from the perspective of the Journal. I hope the articles will help us remember how far we have come. I hope it also reminds us how much farther we still have to go.
Carmelo Santos, Ph.D., serves as associate pastor at St. Mark’s (San Marcos) Lutheran Church in Springfield, VA. He is also a lecturer at Georgetown University.