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Distancing Zombie

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Divine words, time etched in the hearts and minds of men, demanding obedience, speaking of love and the rights of all, document, spoken, memorized, repeated as in prayer,

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soon to become the written symbols of God's love, breathing the spirit of truth between man and men, document, banner of change, celebrating victory over tyranny, needing only the loom of time to weave its greatness and stitch it to history,

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document, words of protest leading to reform and building a new freedom, strong Latin words nailed to a church door, clearing the air with the echoes of a strong hammer, document, testament of courage, when men feel as brothers they proudly sign one under the next,

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pledging today to tomorrow, document, folded time-stained thoughts unfolded for eager eyes searching for freedom or equality or just happiness, document,

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treasured for its face, revered for its meaning, for behind the document stand the ethics and the beliefs of man.

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Early Lutheran life in America was simple and rugged. A man was concerned as much with survival as with grace. Comforts would come, but later. Now there was time for work and little more.

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A man built his barn and his house and grew things, made things by hand. On Sunday he folded his arms in rest and in prayer. Homesteads, here, there, isolated and farther yet from the town.

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Families working together build, till, grow, sow in homes, in fields, in small shops. Good times brought the harvest. Children loving, learning, laughing, growing, growing up, growing old.

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Homely pleasures. There were bad times too. Ever-present threat of illness staying busy hands while untended work increased hardship. Natural disasters, drought, flood, failure.

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Where to turn when adversity struck? There was no social welfare, no government funds, no insurance. Only the helping hands of friends and neighbors. Church collections. Men proved themselves their brothers' keepers.

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Lutheran compassion. One day the giver, another day the given. Give, Luke said, and it shall be given unto you in good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. All men hope to walk in dignity, earned by time and toil and faith. None wish to ask or beg.

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How the land grew. As wilderness yielded to cold steel and to fists full of seed. How the land grew. Trails became paths and then roads. Homesteads became communities. Fields became towns.

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People spread far and came close, linked by more than streets and roads. They came together in churches out of common belief and common need. If a man faltered, he turned to his brethren and he fell not so far and not so hard.

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As membership grew, need deepened to purpose, purpose to program, for protection and self-help, leavened with Christian fraternalism, family assurance and insurance.

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In 1902 it was formed. It was called AAL, Aid Association for Lutherans. Objectives, mutual benefit through mutual action. To turn financial growth to Christian good. Lutheran spiritual and material values.

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Phenomenal results. In 1902, 607 certificates and $759,000 of insurance. In 1905, 2,119 members. 1923, 33,329 members. 1952, 449,036 members. And currently billions of dollars of insurance.

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From the original 33 branches have grown 4,000 branches. The sapling has become a forest.

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This is the home office in Appleton, Wisconsin. Contemporary. Reflecting the forward look of today. Looking to tomorrow. Housing people. Active and devoted men and women. Dedicated to service.

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A pervasive Christian spirit spurred to the dynamic movement of successful growth. Each person part of something bigger than themselves. Lutheran Christians doing things together that alone they could not do. AAL is people helping people.

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They are headed by a dynamic executive group. Skilled in sound business practice. Experienced managers in finance and investment. Imaginative planners. Leaders in church work. Charting the course of AAL growth. Today, the largest fraternal benefit society.

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AAL officers, directors, administrators, staff personnel. All concerned with and responsible to the membership. To the people and their families. Their files and records. Carefully administered. Servers to keep current with the lives and hopes of each member.

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Enormous investments in time and equipment. Keeping pace with over 1 million certificates of membership.

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We should first think of where we fit into the organization here at AAL. We are part of the insurance operation division. We are called the issue services subdivision.

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But the real bridge to the member is the AAL field force. The district representative. Trained to aid individual members in planning insurance needs. To be a district representative or a general agent, one must answer to AAL standards. This means thorough training. At the home office, there are courses in progress to develop and maintain high professional qualifications.

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Harold, a question please. What is the effective date of a non-medical case?

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This is simply sort of a blueprint or a diagram of your total financial picture. And with your permission, I'd like to proceed.

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Glenn, how old are you?

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Thirty years old.

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And Betty, how old are you?

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Twenty-eight.

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Now, some of these questions are a little difficult to answer and we're going to...

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Insurance counselors. Nurtured by Christian Lutheran ideals. Service to church and fellow men. Helping to form branches, bringing people together for social and fraternal activities.

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Serving as counselor and friend. Awareness that the fraternal work of AAL is never ceasing and goes on moment by moment, month by month, year by year.

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For good reason then, in the very midst of this hubbub of business and training, there is a quiet spot for meditation, which is open at all times for communication with God.

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This is the chapel. Symbol and reminder that the work of men should help the love of God and man in the world. Should lead to the kind of benevolence that has made AAL world renowned.

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In the quiet hush of this small room, the bond of fraternalism is confirmed in the word of God.

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The certificate of membership in AAL is like all of man's great documents. The stated objectives on the face. The deeds unwritten beyond the paper.

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For behind the certificate is the true Christian fraternal work of AAL.

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It begins with people. Helping each other in time of need. The give and take of mutual concern. Celebrating the moments of happiness. Sharing the periods of stress.

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Caring. Comforting. Cooperating. Lightening the impossible burden.

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In the archival files in Appleton are stored the moving events of many human dramas. The objectives of AAL realized in vital daily acts.

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These are a few. Scholarship grants to young students. Awarded to AAL members and other fellow Lutherans served by the association.

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Each year, 100 Lutheran high school seniors win scholarships to any accredited college or university in the nation.

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The largest privately sponsored scholarship program in the United States.

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I received the AAL scholarship last year in the spring of the year. I applied for it through my minister in my church in Minnesota.

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My choice of schools varied but I finally in the end decided on the University of Chicago because it is a very very fine political science department.

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A graduate student reaching into society with new awareness. Relating to people with deeper insight.

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Valpo scholarship winners become leaders in their chosen field. In their churches. In their communities.

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This scholarship to helping me to come to Valparaiso University. It being a Lutheran University and Christian has helped me in a lot of ways to prepare myself for the life that I'll be meeting when I get out of school.

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Through the courses that you take here and just living in the dormitory life. You come to an understanding of people and how they function.

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And just the various ways that to get along with them and the types that you'll meet out in the world.

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It's not supposed to be the world because a lot of people complain about the regulations here but it's a gateway to the world.

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And you're sort of learning what it's going to be like away from your home.

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The foundation for reformation research. Gathering and preserving on microfilm and microcards.

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The epic chronicle of reformation writings. Making available materials found only in European depositories.

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Study of ancient documents. Prophetic statements of the past. Keeping alive the history and the doctrine.

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I'm a professor of Old Testament theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

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Interested during the last 19 years in the languages of the Near East and since 1960 interested also very much in the archaeology of Bible lands.

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Project Teltonic. AAL financial assistance making possible three excavations to uncover and bring to light of day and the eye of man.

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The remains of events that shaped the minds of men in the times of the great prophets.

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Enforcing and enriching biblical disclosures with artifacts of history.

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Supporting magnificent libraries. Collecting, cataloguing, confirming the past and present interest in music for the singing church.

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The inspiration of bygone cultures. Preserved and distributed in books and films.

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The art, the skills, the ideals. Giving man a perspective of his place in the continuum of God's work.

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I'm the director of the Australian Lutheran Hour.

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The Lutheran Layman's League. Recipient of AAL grants. Conducting workshops for foreign representatives.

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Printing, distributing booklets. Inspiring belief and faith. Answering questions of concern to Lutherans.

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The Lutheran Hour. Carrying the doctrine and philosophy to listening ears across the land and sea.

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Extending the bonds of brotherhood beyond arbitrary national borders.

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Linking men in their common history and common future.

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When I was pursuing for my master's degree in theology, at that time I was in need of financial aid.

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And through the recommendation of our seminary in St. Louis, I had the pleasure and also honor to receive one of the scholarships provided by AAL.

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Extensive AAL loans to congregations to build Lutheran churches across the country.

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For members who spread far and grow in numbers to come closer in the house of God.

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For expanding the facilities to accommodate church-centered secular activities.

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Edifices constructed with loans made at preferential interest rates, yet consistent with AAL policy of sound financial practice.

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Grants for printing books and booklets to inform, to educate on many subjects.

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To extend the religious message of the church. Or relate to a broad range of branch projects and events.

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Grants are made to welfare institutions. Sometimes directly from AAL. Sometimes directly from the branches.

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Other times they are combined grants. Co-op grants by AAL. Supplementing group branch donations. Made for many needs.

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Homes for the aged, the indigent, medical care and considerate attention retaining dignity for the individual in the dependent, declining years.

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Institutions for the handicapped, the retarded, the deaf, the blind. Giving care, treatment, training and aid so desperately needed.

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Bolstering hope and faith with acts that speak and with words that speak by touch.

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Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Grants in support of Lutheran hospitals in the cause of healing. To camps for recreation for the young. To schools for learning.

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To projects like the blood donor program that started as a branch activity. Grew in response to increasing demands and with AAL cooperative grants.

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Now a nationwide program answering to sudden crises. Carrying the fluid of life to AAL members or Lutheran congregation members.

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An AAL mobile unit makes periodic trips to local churches where blood donor club members give their unique gift to be used by a brethren in need.

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Deposited in the blood bank. Withdrawn to sustain a life.

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And how it happened that I was burned is there was gasoline and the gasoline can started on fire.

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And I picked up the gasoline can and carried away from the fire and I tripped and fell and it spilled on my legs and my back. My arms.

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A boy burned over 40% of his body. 129 pints. An open heart surgery patient. 11 pints. A bleeding ulcer patient. 9 pints.

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An ammonia victim. 13 pints. Bond of mutual concern symbolized in the fluid of life. Freely given one to the other.

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I needed 6 pints myself and having been secretary of our blood bank at church since 1959 I felt that here I was getting a chance to use the service which I had been giving to others.

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Give, Luke said, and it shall be given unto you in good measure.

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Press down. Shaken together. And running over.

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Branches do their benevolent work in many ways. A pancake fest to raise money for a stricken family.

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A plowing party to assist a hospitalized farmer. A rummage sale for school equipment.

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A branch picnic brings members together in a day of family fun. Fun with a purpose.

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A time for games. A time for music. A time for refreshment. A time for talk. A time for relaxation.

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And time for branch business.

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The next order of business is new business. Mr. Jensen?

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It is customary that the collection received at the Vesper service from the combined branches picnic be used for a useful and charitable cause.

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I move that we make a donation to the wall camp at Kingston, Illinois.

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I second the motion.

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One day the giver, another the given.

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For those who have gathered here know the comfort and security of the large and growing family of AAL brothers and sisters.

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People imbued with the love of Christ to love a fellow man and by Lutheran tradition to involvement in Christian deeds.

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On such principles, concern with human values, AAL builds the future.

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From God and from Christ came the seed of love carried by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to his sons and daughters.

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That gift shall flower in the love of men for each other and it is to a rich future to our children and their children and beyond that our heritage of love belongs.

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Thank you.