Sonia C. Solomonson

Sonia was managing editor of The Lutheran and executive editor of The Little Lutheran and The Little Christian until fall of 2009. She served the magazine in one form or another since 1987.

She grew up on an Iowa farm, spent five years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea, many years as a clergy spouse, raised her three sons in Wisconsin and now lives in Chicago.

She loves stories and loves to write. She never met a bookstore she didn't like, and is guilty of always adding "just one more book" to her shelves. Her reading runs the gamut from theological/spiritual to historical to fiction.

She says All Saints Lutheran Church, Palatine, Ill., and the bright, engaging women in its Chapter One book club gets her read some books she might not otherwise pick up. A recent continuing ed program, Grace Institute, added lots of new readings in spirituality and theology. This wonderful spiritual formation program was a real gift and blessing in her life.

• ELCA health-care costs jump
  Rate increases will vary congregation to congregation
• ELCA Church Council discusses homosexuality
  Members use moral deliberation techniques to engage the issue
• Methodists keep status quo on homosexuality
• Ecumenical hospitality
• Church Council moves CCM ahead
  Actions include room for future joint discussions on exceptions to CCM for ordination
• 'We can't just be spectators'
  Juvenile prostitution and the sex industry are flourishing. But we can protect our children.
• A family affair
  Lutherans and Moravians renew ties in full communion celebration
• ELCA health-care cost-sharing approved
• Council seeks reconciliation with CCM opponents
• A 'light-bulb ministry'
  Overseas medical facilities thrive because Global Health Ministries begs
• What's up down on the farm?
  Because you eat, you'rw affected by what happens to Illinois farmers Verle and Janice Jacobs
• Bega kwa bega
  When a load is too heavy for one person, several people will stand shoulder-to-shoulder (bega kwa bega) to carry it
• ELCA gathers in the Rockies
  Assembly voting members will focus on ecumenical agreements, economic life, hunger and other issues
• Can we cancel developing nations' debts?
  Jubilee 2000 gathers support and raises questions among Lutherans
• Cradled in God's hand
  Rituals remind us that all of life rests in God's care
• 'Join us in historic episcopate'
  'We appreciate our differences with Anglicans,' the Swedish archbishop says
• ELCA Church Council seeks clarity
• Celebrating diversity
  Diversity isn't a new direction for the ELCA
• Churchwide assembly next stop
  ELCA-Episcopal proposal ready for next step
• Reclaim Advent
  This creative exercise will help you 'prepare the way'
• Dakota farmers protest
  Are U.S. trade agreements and policies fair to our farmers? Some don't think so.
• Global events communicate hope
  Through stories, song and drama, participants span the globe
• If you're divorcing ...
• I needed hugs and hot dishes
  Divorce is death but the corpse is still alive
• ELCA campus, churches pick up the pieces
• Good news for a singing church
  New hymnals and supplements build on the riches of the Lutheran Book of Worship.
• The ties that bind?
  ELCA programs help people with relationships from pre-marriage to divorce and beyond
• Aging successfully
  Pennsylvania's Lutheran Affiliated Services offers creative ministry for seniors based on a view of aging as a positive part of the life cycle
• A huge network with heart
• 'Option of last resort'
• Ministry to 'forgotten people'
  Lutherans link with others to serve refugees in Thailand
• 'A brick wrapped in velvet'
  ELCA leaders call Addie Butler a gift to the church for a new era
• Liberian pastor: 'We need to forgive'
• Building churches, making friends
  Whatever your gifts, you can use them as a Mission Builder
• Valuing families
  People are finding ways to nurture families no matter their make-up
• Partnership in Patrocenio
  You are connected to farmers in Mindanao, the Philippines, a nature-lover's island of paradise
• Lutherans will gather in historic Philadelphia
  The Churchwide Assembly faces history-making decisions on three ecumenical proposals
• 3 Reformed churches say 'yes' to full communion
  The next move is the ELCA's at its Churchwide Assembly Aug. 14-20
• 'The last word' in Liberia
  Disarmament and election's promise bring cautious hope to Liberians
• Creating a 'salad bowl church'
  Retiring Division for Outreach head hopes for a church inclusive of culture and class
• ELCA Vice President Magnus resigns
  Campus ministry efforts to be reviewed
• Place of peace, place of struggle
  A Southwestern Minnesota Synod farm creates space for rural conversation
• Can't we all just get along?
  A look at the ELCA reveals a good news/bad news report
• Bible sales down in some stores
• No farming
  Cambodian farms yield deadly harvests of land mines and unexploded ordnance, not rice and vegetables
• Zeroing in on Advent
  An ELCA camp helps families prepare for Christmas
• New life in Liberia
  Liberian Lutherans maintain their faith and hope in the face of war's atrocities and failed peace accords
• Liberia's war explodes, Lutherans evacuated
• Daily bread for Bosnia
  Lutherans are veterans in helping war's survivors
• Beardstown Ladies: "Do your homework"
  Investment clubs make learning easier and spread the risk

• It's been great
• Forgiveness is tough
• God and gardens
• A role to cherish
• What's ahead?
• The lost and least
• Reaching out
• Grace happens
• Memorial Day revisited
• Drenched in grace
• Celebrating freedom
• Embracing change
• Ministries Aplenty
• Everyday prayers
• Prayers from the workplace
• Paths of least resistance
• What do we want?
• Children and faith
• Songs of life
• Legacy
• Price points and faith
• Make 'em count
• Kentucky: Ice storm adds to economic woes
• Relentless
• Shishmaref in trouble
• Gifts of Advent
• A prayer life
• In all things, give thanks
• Staying healthy
• Food for thought—or fertilizer?
• Peace in these days
• Passing the crozier
• Nurturing faith in children
• Service Part II
• Is service dead?
• Patriarchy
• Harvesting
• Family values
• Memories
• Experiences of depression
• Depression
• Vocation and ministry
• Mary and Martha
• 'Foretaste of the feast to come'
• Where are they?
• Making a life transition
• Imago Dei
• Why Mother's Day?
• Final decisions
• Leading with fear