Most of you are probably wondering about neck pumpkins: Neck pumpkins (cucurbita argyrosperma) are native to North America, perhaps domesticated in Mexico 7,000 years ago. They look more like butternut squash on steroids that round orange Halloween pumpkins, and Pennsylvania bakers prize them because they make the best pies.

I still had some left when Lent came around. Our congregation had a Lenten tradition of Wednesday night soup suppers followed by Evening Prayer, and one week I decided to make cream of pumpkin soup. Walter was a regular at those soup suppers, so I made sure to tell him the soup was made from one of his own neck pumpkins.

Later, Walter came over to my table. I’ll never forget his words: "I am 90 years old. Before tonight, I had never had cream of pumpkin soup. Tonight, when I write in my diary, I will say, ‘Today I had cream of pumpkin soup, and it was very good.’"

There was Walter at 90, trying something new, something probably far removed from the pumpkin breads and pies his mother and wife had made. He tried the new soup, liked it, told the cook he liked it, and when day was done, recorded his enjoyment.

Every time I make cream of pumpkin soup, I am a little wistful — not just for one of Walter’s neck pumpkins, but for the receptive spirit that allowed Walter to try something new and to celebrate it.

Women of the ELCA will stagnate and die if we fail to embrace that receptive spirit. We need to be open to new possibilities. We need to take some risks, to move beyond the familiar vegetable soup and try the cream of pumpkin. The flexibility to try new things is found in our governing documents; we need only embrace it.

I’m not talking about change just for its own sake. I’m talking about change for the sake of our organization’s mission, that is, mobilizing women to act boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ.

Join with me as we begin a new program year, and try at least one new thing each month. It might be as simple as a new hymn, a new meeting night or time, or a new service project. It can be as invigorating as inviting a different new woman to your group each month. It can be as energizing as discerning God’s latest call to you to act boldly.

There’s a little café down the street from our house near Chicago. About this time each year, they add some special fall items to the menu. My favorite is pumpkin pecan pancakes served with cinnamon butter. I’m pretty sure Walter would have enjoyed them.

Linda Post Bushkofsky is executive director of Women of the ELCA.


Article published in Lutheran Woman Today, September 2006