Category Archives: Religious News

Are ELCA Lutherans now unchurched? One theologian thinks so. #CWA09

James Nestingen Retired professor of church history and storyteller James Nestingen speaks with a folksy country drawl befitting his North Dakota upbringing as a Norwegian Lutheran pastor’s kid.  I once heard him speak as a Bible study leader at an ELCA synod assembly, teaching the twenty first chapter of John.  When Peter and other disciples had empty nets on Lake Galilee, Jesus told them to try the other side of the boat: So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  “And they were big fish too,” Nestingen said with eyes sparkling, “fat walleyes, eight pounders every one.”  His Minnesota listeners laughingly approved.

“Church history” in Lutheran seminaries seems to assume that the church was born in 1517 on the day that Luther nailed his 95 theses onto the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, as if the first fifteen centuries after Christ are a mere footnote.  And so Nestingen, the professor emeritus of church history at Luther Seminary in St Paul, is an expert in the life of Luther and the confessional writings that encapsulated the insights and teachings of the Lutheran reformers.  As professor emeritus, he taught a course entitled Lutheran Confessional Writings.  His seminary students were required to memorize Luther’s small catechism. 

“This is the document that saved the Reformation,” he points out. “In the 16th Century, it was printed up for people to hang in their kitchens and to use in the instruction of their children.” Many older parishioners have memorized its wisdom, and Nestingen believes that young pastors must “have on their tongues the words that are in the people’s hearts.”

Quite apart from his storytelling and teaching, Nestingen has long been a critic of the ELCA and an irritant to its leadership.  Ten years ago, the hot button issue in the ELCA was the ecumenical agreement with the Episcopalians entitled “Called to Common Mission” (CCM).  The opponents of CCM formed the WordAlone Network, and Nestingen offered the keynote address at the first national gathering of WordAlone in 2000.  His speech is sprinkled with jibes at the ELCA and its leadership:

  • This is supposed to be a merged church; in fact, to many of us it looks much more like a hostile takeover.
  • The merger process that produced the ELCA was hijacked by special interest groups
  • It has gotten the feeling of betrayal.
  • our church developed and has been maintained on a paradigm of coercion.

Nestingen’s speech was especially critical of then presiding Bishop George Anderson and ELCA Secretary Lowell Almen and presumed back room political machinations that disenfranchised the worthy in favor of the uninformed but easily manipulated.  In the intervening years, Nestingen’s folksy but strident voice has continued to sound the alarm at his perception of the ELCA’s retreat from the 16th century Lutheran Confessions.  He has continued to provide the theology of WordAlone’s opposition, speaking at subsequent WordAlone national gatherings on several occasions.  Now, he has published a rambling rebuke of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly’s actions in approving gay clergy and perhaps gay marriage; his article, entitled “Joining the Unchurched”, appears on WordAlone’s website.

In its August assembly in Minneapolis … the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America effectively declared that it is no longer a church … The ELCA has redefined the Word of God … In a naked power play by the privileged—the few allowed some actual voice in the proceedings—this mighty consensus fell to a bogus, prefabricated ambiguity crafted to disallow it.  With the action taken in the Minneapolis assembly, the ELCA has made such power mongering official procedure and policy.

At least Nestingen is consistent.  In his initial address to the 2000 WordAlone gathering, he criticized the official ELCA policy mandating the inclusion of women and minorities as voting members of ELCA assemblies, and he harps on the same sour notes in his latest harangue.

From his 2000 keynote address:

The positive value of the quota system overall can be debated … There have always been people who would have traditionally been a part of the decision making processes of the church who had to eliminated to make room for others.

From his 2009 website article (emphasis added):

Positive aspects of quotas can still be argued. After 20 years, the ELCA remains 97 percent white. Some significant departures after the August assembly may make the church even whiter. Still the quotas may have brought some people forward who had been otherwise excluded. That would be a matter of thanks. Yet there’s another side to it.

Quotas include but in order to do so, they also eliminate. In fact, they do so arbitrarily, fastening on characteristics like race and gender but not necessarily putting an equal priority on characteristics, like wisdom, fidelity and zeal. In fact, while the evidence has been difficult to come by, extended experience with the system strongly suggests that those most likely to be included are the manageable, those eager to please, no matter what their race or gender, while those most likely to be eliminated are the gifted and challenging, those most likely to make waves.

Nestingen’s elitism is offensive when he suggests that the women and minorities who were voting members due to ELCA quotas were less likely to be infused with “wisdom, fidelity and zeal”, less “gifted and challenging”, and “eager to please” and “manageable”. Ugh. Unseemly name-calling is unnecessary and diminishes the debate.

Should white men be making the decisions for the ELCA?  Give Nestingen the benefit of the doubt and allow that he is neither racist nor sexist. But, his implication that voting members are hand-picked stooges of ELCA leadership is patently false and smacks of conspiratorial paranoia—a minority that believes it should be the majority imagines an ill-defined conspiracy as the explanation.  The reality is that voting members to the 2009 Churchwide Convention were themselves selected by the ballot at either the synod level or the conference level, elected by persons selected by local congregations.  I recently blogged about a gathering of synod clergy in which normally placid SE Minnesota Bishop Huck Usgaard railed at suggestions that voting members were hand picked or were incompetent.

Carl Braaten is Nestingen’s counterpart in Lutheran Core, a professor emeritus of church history with expertise in the life of Luther and the Lutheran Confessions.  Just as Nestingen is the theologian on call for the WordAlone Network, Braaten provides the theological underpinning of Lutheran Core’s resistance to the ELCA.  In earlier blog posts (here and here), I critiqued Braaten’s look back, not forward approach.

With feet planted squarely in the sixteenth century, octogenarian and retired theologian Carl Braaten has assumed the intellectual mantle as defender of Lutheran orthodoxy … Braaten argues that ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson is wrong, our ELCA unity is not in Christ, as Hanson suggests, but in our Reformation era Confessions.

So too, Nestingen:

And this is the importance of the confessions. We tell the story of Luther not because his experience is normative, but because as we have heard the promising word confessed, it has become definitive for our community. Some of the Lutheran confessions were written by Luther, the catechisms and the Smalcald Articles. Others were written by a colleague of his at the University of Wittenberg, Philip Melanchthon-the Augsburg Confession and its supporting documents. Still another was written by Luther and Melanchthon’s students. But whoever wrote them, each of the confessions became a public document, summing up Catholic faith in terms suitable to ongoing confession, witness.

As such, the confessions are like the Magna Charta or the Declaration of Independence. They are declarative.

With the symbolic gesture of nailing his theses to the door, Luther unloosed a torrent of reform that washed over northern Europe.  Luther and the reformers challenged the Roman Catholic church, challenged the institution of a celibate clergy (even the very notion of the evil of sexual expression), challenged the basic theological premises of the day, and even challenged scripture itself by offering the doctrine of a “canon within a canon” and disputing the authority of the books of James and Revelation.  The spirit of reform blew like the wind, sometimes uncontrollable as with the ill fated peasants war, and the reformers felt the need to write down boundaries and definitions, to domesticate the unruly spirit.  Thus, there were two parts to the reformation: the doing of it and the writing of it, known as the Confessions.

This brings to mind the saying of Rabbi Abraham Heschel: Concepts are second thoughts. All conceptualization is symbolization, an act of accommodation of reality to the human mind.  By taming the wind of reform, by defining in written word the meaning of it all, by penning the Lutheran Confessions, did the reformers lose something?  Did a reforming church become a reformed church?  Did we lose the timelessness of a reforming spirit in favor of the time centered Confessions?

I find the attitudes of Nestingen and Braaten to be revealing.  While ignoring the spirit of reform—the flux doing of it—they focus on the Confessions—the static writing of it.  The radicalism of Luther, who flaunted convention, is lost in their resort to the sixteenth century written word, which has itself become a convention.  Should we not apply Luther’s own challenge, his own hermeneutic to the writings of the Confessions? “Whatever does not teach Christ is not yet apostolic, even though St. Peter or St. Paul does the teaching.”  Dare we say, even though Luther or Melanchthon does the teaching?  Hear me well, I am not suggesting the Confessions be abandoned or diminished, but should not the spirit of reform interpret these 16th century words?  A hermeneutic that allows us to hear the spirit and not merely the letter?

To the majority of voting members at the ELCA 2009 convention, the ELCA continues to be a reforming church.  To Nestingen and WordAlone, to Braaten and Lutheran Core, the ELCA has ceased to be a church of the Reformation era Confessions and thus no church at all.

Hindu Temple in Lake Wobegon

Minnesota is home to more than ten thousand lakes; the Twins, Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, and Gophers; five synods of ELCA Lutherans with nearly a thousand congregations; a Roman Catholic diocese in each corner of the state, one in the middle, and a metropolitan archdiocese; and the fictionalized Pastor Inqvist and Father Emil of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon. 

And the largest Hindu Temple in North America.

St Olaf College of Northfield is one of four ELCA private colleges in Minnesota.  Not surprisingly, it has a robust religion department with over twenty professors plus another half dozen faculty emerti. 

And the chairman of the department is a Hindu.

Along with jello salads, tater tot hotdish, and sausage with kraut, Minnesotan’s ethno-religious meals now include vegetarian curries.

Earlier this month, religion reporters from around the US were invited to tour the new 43,000 square foot Hindu temple located in the Twin Cities suburb of Maple Grove.  Thus, we see excellent articles about the temple and the Hindu faith popping up in major newspapers around the country.

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world behind Christianity and Islam, but the vast majority of Hindus remain in their Indian homeland.  Barely a quarter of one percent of all Hindus reside in the United States, and most of them have arrived since 1965 following a change in US immigration law.

Christina Capecchi of the New York Times reported on the Temple’s grand opening earlier this summer:

Perhaps the greatest diplomacy was needed among fellow Hindus, managing the tangled politics of religion. They come from various parts of India, where favored deities vary as widely as the dialects and cuisines. Temple planners decided to embrace that diversity, so they incorporated 21 hand-carved minitemples that replicate real Hindu temples across India into the building.

Reporter Julia Duin of the Washington Times reported:

As we walked about the place, we heard priests chant prayers in Sanskrit and saw offerings of grains, turmeric powder and betel nut leaves. In one shrine, we saw the goddess Saraswati sitting on a peacock; in another was Lord Krishna in pink silks. Ganesha, the elephant god, had the most plates of fruit offerings in front of him.

Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe blogged:

This temple is unlike anything you would see in India — there, temples are typically centered on a single deity, but because this is the U.S., where the Hindu community hails from all over India as well as the Hindu diaspora, the temple opted for a variety of shrines to meet the needs and devotional practices of a diverse group of worshipers. When we visited, there were families and individuals bringing offerings of food and money to various shrines, there were worshipers praying silently, touching their foreheads to the floor or lying fully prostrate for a while, there was a large group praying collectively as a priest performed a ritual at the shrine of Lord Vishnu, and there was a group of adults and children silently circling a group of statues intended to represent the planets.

Anant Rambachan Following the tour, three Hindu scholars participated in a panel discussion, including Dr. Anant Rambachan, the chair of the religion department at St Olaf.  Dr Rambachan is of Indian ancestry via Trinidad.  Blogger Paulson moderated the panel, and he reported:

The biggest challenge, of course, is transmitting the faith from immigrants, most of whom grew up in a predominantly Hindu society, to their children, who are growing up in a predominantly Christian society. Temples are launching religious education programs, modeled after those in churches and synagogues, but Rambachan said there are other issues – for example, Hindus will have to decide what language to use for worship, and, he asked, “can we visualize English being a liturgical language for Hindus?” He called Hinduism “the least understood among American religious traditions,’’ noting Judaism, Christianity and Islam which “are all suspicious about imaging the divine” and emphasize the oneness of God, whereas Hinduism offers a plethora of iconography and “celebrates a multiplicity of divine names and forms.’’

Capecchi concluded:

“Even in India you don’t have a temple like this,” Ms. Chari [the Temple president] said. “But because all of us are immigrants who came here years ago, we were each yearning for our own parts of home.”

Now the same place feels like home to many Hindus in the area.

“This is home — the sounds, the smells, the colors,” said Vidya Subramani, 48, a banker who lives in Minnetonka.

A moment later, she cupped her hand above a flame to absorb Ganesha’s divinity. In a year of layoffs and foreclosures, this temple is imperative, she said. “This gives you a sense of hope that a door will open,” she said. “When you bring in good spirits, they will vibrate all around.”

Post ELCA Convention Musing by the Christian Century #CWA09

The Christian Century is a non-denominational biweekly magazine that has long been recognized as the preeminent independent publication of mainline Protestantism.  Its prestigious status is reflected in the list of esteemed contributors to the magazine’s pages.  Recognizable names from the past include Jane Addams, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard John Neuhaus, and Albert Schweitzer.  More recently, the list includes Martin Marty, Carol Zaleski, Walter Brueggemann, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Will Willimon.

The magazine also offers a blog of similar high repute called Theolog:

Welcome to Theolog, the online community of the Christian Century, a biweekly journal of news, commentary and opinion. At the Century we believe that the Christian faith calls Christians to a profound engagement with the world. We think Christians can and must articulate their faith in a way that is meaningful and intellectually compelling to those around them.

Theolog will allow conversation between writers and readers to take place at the speed of the Internet. Although some of this conversation will be in response to articles in the magazine, Theolog will also offer original material—material that does not appear in the magazine or on the Century’s Web site.

Since the conclusion of the ELCA churchwide assembly in Minneapolis last month, Theolog the blog has offered a post and Century the magazine has offered an editorial on the convention actions which approved gay clergy and possibly gay marriage.

First, the editorial:

Leave it to Lutherans to address the issue of gay clergy with repeated references to a “bound conscience.” The term echoes the words of Martin Luther, who when he was put on trial for his critique of the Catholic Church declared that he would not recant, for he was “bound in conscience by the word of God.” Respect for the bound consciences of opponents helped foster a civil debate last month in Minneapolis, where the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow noncelibate gays on its clergy roster.

The editorial ponders the delicate balancing of opposing views and wonders whether the two camps will stay together.  Don’t we all.  I have recently blogged on the view of conservative theologian David Yeago that those who disagree with the Convention actions should nevertheless stay close and also on the upcoming Convocation of Lutheran Core that sounds the ominous drum beat of internecine warfare.  Based on the harsh rhetoric spewing from the Lutheran Core / WordAlone camp, it is doubtful that they would agree with the concluding comments in the Century editorial:

The church has not abandoned moral law; it is saying that the crucial biblical standard for sexual relationships is faithfulness (“lifelong, monogamous”), not heterosexuality. So let that standard be applied. Given the sometimes nonexistent legal status of gay relationships, that may be no simple task.  As for gospel: the church will need to demonstrate in a compelling way what Lutherans are good at asserting: that Christian identity is based neither on sexual orientation nor on one’s convictions about sexual orientation or any other moral issue, but on the promises of God made known in Christ. Drawing on their rich tradition of law and gospel, Lutherans can make a unique witness of love and justice toward gays.

The blog entry veers from the Convention action and ponders the question whether there is a Protestant bias toward married clergy, quite apart from the issue of gay or straight and marriage equality.  Blogger John Dart notes that the resolution fine print makes “a commonsense allowance that not everyone can be expected to have found a compatible true love by the time they are educated and ready for professional ministry.”  From this, Dart muses about the veiled skepticism toward single clergy that may be present during the call process to a Protestant congregation:

Does the (stereo)typical congregation desire a pastor and spouse who will be models of married love? Or do they fear that an attractive and vivacious pastor who is unattached might alienate the affections of some married people in the pews? Or that a single clergyperson raises the risk of scandal?

Catholics require their clergy to be celibate single men. Protestants require their pastors, it seems, to be happily married.

Lutheran Core and WordAlone: A new Lutheran Denomination? #CWA09

According to the website of Lutheran Core, 1200 persons have registered for the Convocation scheduled for Indianapolis Sept 25-26.  This convocation begs the question, “What is Lutheran Core and what are their intentions?” I am certainly not privy to any informal discussions or behind the scenes plotting, so I can only draw inferences from their published statements. 

According to the headline on their website, they intend to form an “Alternative church fellowship for Lutherans.”  Alternative.  Alternative to … The ELCA?  The LCMS?  The Wisconsin Synod? Church Fellowship.  What is a church fellowship? I’m guessing it’s more than coffee and cookies after Sunday services.

The Core press release dated September 15th states they intend “a change in focus from efforts to reform the ELCA to an effort to enable traditional Lutherans to work together whether within or outside of the ELCA.”  So, they are transitioning from being a voice of the loyal opposition within the ELCA to … what exactly?

What is Lutheran Core and what are their intentions?  According to the aforementioned press release, their self description is variously noted as:

A confessional and confessing movement

A churchly community

A free-standing synod

An umbrella group for other Lutheran reform movements

A coalition of synods, congregations, individuals, and reform movements

Yet, they seemingly cling to the ELCA with the words, “within or outside”.  Lutheran Core has previously counseled patience and due deliberations, suggesting withdrawal from the ELCA to be rash.  Which is it, “within or outside?” 

What is Lutheran Core and what are their intentions? What can we glean from their proposed constitution posted on their website?  The constitution again refers to Core as a movement, a churchly community, a free standing synod, an umbrella group, and a coalition, but under Chapter 3, entitled “Nature of the Church”, the second paragraph refers to itself, Lutheran Core, as the church.  Whoa! That’s pretty revealing. 

But then, more ambiguity when it suggests as potential members of Core: individuals within the ELCA, congregations of the ELCA, and even whole synods of the ELCA.  And, as the constitutional statement of purpose, to “Cooperate, wherever possible, with synods and other units within the ELCA.”

Within or outside?

The ELCA constitution allows 65 regional synods across the United States.  When Lutheran Core suggests it will be a “free standing synod”, do they expect to be recognized as the 66th synod within the ELCA?  A super-synod with powers greater than the other 65?  Presumably, they are sage enough to understand such a restructuring would require amendment of the ELCA constitution.

Does Core really expect an ELCA  constitutional amendment creating an alternative power structure in open opposition to the adopted policies of the church and in open opposition to the existing leadership?  An alternative power structure with a seat at the table  “regarding the candidacy process, the calling process, and in disciplinary procedures; and in the resolution of congregational and other conflicts?”  An alternative power structure with a seat at the table to “provide alternative resources for congregational life in worship, Christian education, and youth ministry?”  An alternative power structure with a seat at the table determining which Synodical and ELCA ministries are worthy of financial support? 

These and other power sharing items are mentioned in Core’s draft constitution.  Do they seriously believe the ELCA will vote by the 2/3 majority required to amend its constitution to restructure itself along these lines?  When?  Only the churchwide assembly can amend the constitution, and the next churchwide assembly will be in two years.  Does Core intend to spend the next two years getting it’s ducks in order for a constitutional assault in 2011?

What is Lutheran Core and what are their intentions?  Is this statement from Core sincere?

Now is not the time to make rash, hasty decisions. Most people make serious mistakes when they make decisions under pressure. We do not want to make this mistake now. Our relationship with the ELCA is a serious matter for us.

Or, is this “within or outside” merely a subterfuge? In an August 21 press release, Core renounced its relationship with the ELCA, and also urged ELCA members and congregations to redirect funds away from the ELCA national church body with a veiled invitation to redirect the funds to Core. Their number one talking point is “We are not leaving the ELCA. The ELCA is leaving us.”

One ELCA pastor’s blog suggests Core is hanging around the ELCA for awhile for purely financial reasons. 

Ask people to move their funds and then later on down the line decide to leave.  The answer as to why they are not leaving yet is finances.  Now, this may not be the only answer, but think about it for a second.  If a pastor were to leave the ELCA and join another group what would happen is that pastor would leave all medical insurance and they would leave their pension behind.  This is what happens when a pastor leaves the ELCA.  Also, they would not be a recognized member of the clergy, so that status would be gone.  This is why they need funds to set these things up.  Licenses cost, insurance costs, pensions cost, all of these things cost money.

Does Lutheran Core (and the WordAlone Network, their fellow travelers) intend to remain within the ELCA or is their long term intention to become an entirely new and separate Lutheran denomination?

Daring to Believe, Inspired to Act for Presbyterian General Assembly 2010

MLP Masthead Michael Adee, the executive director of More Light Presbyterians (MLP), offers his report on the recent “God’s Whole Family” gathering in Nashville on the MLP website.

Presbyterians from 24 states and the District of Columbia came together for worship, inspiration, spiritual growth and Christian community.  From California and Oregon, Arizona to Connecticut, New York to Florida, Presbyterians came together to celebrate God’s love for all of God’s children and creation, no exceptions.  Guided by the conference Biblical text of 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love God has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are,” conference participants reflected upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ that embraces, not excludes.

It seems the conference kindled enthusiasm for the Presbyterians (U.S.A.) General Assembly scheduled for the summer of 2010 in Minneapolis.  LGBT issues will be front and center on the agenda.  The MLP website also speaks of specific plans for GA 2010 that came out of the MLP board meeting that immediately followed the “God’s Whole Family” conference.

The key matters for discernment, discussion and decision included preparations and overture development for the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) July 3 – 10, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN.  Being inspired by the extraordinary collaboration during the Amendment 08-B Campaign, we are grateful to continue working with Covenant Network, Presbyterian Promise, Presbyterian Welcome, TAMFS and Witherspoon Society-Voices of Sophia.

MLP continues its absolute and passionate commitment to the achievement of spiritual equality, ordination equality and marriage equality for LGBT people and their families in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA). 

Presbyterian Pastor Janet Edwards offers her perspective on the recent MLP events in her blog, A Time to Embrace.  She speaks of the “radical hospitality” of the Biblical message:

Radical hospitality is a consistent theme in Scripture from Abraham and Sarah feeding the three strangers, to the destruction of Sodom for not receiving those same strangers with hospitality, to Jesus’ repeated use of the wedding feast as an image for the Kingdom of God.

And as practiced by the congregation that hosted the MLP conference, 2nd Presbyterian of Nashville:

Second Presbyterian not only showed that hospitality to us, but clearly lives the Gospel message of radical hospitality every day. That they are well practiced at such radical hospitality was obvious in how effortlessly they served as our host, with questions quickly answered, spaces for good conversation and for quiet prayer, and volunteers always at hand to help us get what we needed. The building, too, reflected the spirit of the people, as it should in the Church; it was user-friendly, handicapped-accessible, bright and open.

Most of all, the Sunday worship service at Second was truly inspiring in its combination of stateliness and warmth. The congregation and the participants in the conference passed the peace with palpable joy to one another. By opening its doors to the GLBT faithful as a More Light church, Second Presbyterian has clearly learned to embody the welcoming spirit of the Gospel, serving as an example to us all of how to be the Church, the people of God in Christ.

May we all follow the example of Second Pres in meeting the stirring challenge to incarnate the Gospel message whenever we greet another, wherever – and whomever – that may be.

Yet another perspective of the MLP conference comes from the Witherspoon Society, an allied association of progressive Presbyterians:

Several times it was noted how constructive the diversity of organizations has been, reaching people through different networks and highlighting the many reasons people have for supporting the removal of obstacles to ordination.  The conference was designed to be participatory, and there were various workshops around the theme of “God’s Whole Family.” It is difficult, then, to convey the richness of what the participants brought, experienced, and took away with them.

Will Minneapolis be the scene of the next breakthrough for gay marriage and gay clergy in 2010 as it was in 2009 with the ELCA convention?  Will the Presbyterians be the next mainline Protestant denomination to recognize and support same-gender relationships, joining the United Church of Christ (UCC), Episcopal Church, and the ELCA?  Stay tuned.

Hat tip to Pastor John Shuck for collecting these links.

ELCA Convention aftermath: Is the Dust Settling? #CWA09 & #Goodsoil09

It is now over three weeks since the ELCA 2009 Churchwide assembly adopted provisions allowing gay clergy and possibly gay marriage.  In my own congregation, I have heard that a few may be leaving as a backlash, but a couple of my friends who earlier voiced disapproval of the ELCA actions are still there—yesterday, one served as communion assistant and one will be leading the men’s group that reconvenes next week after a summer hiatus.  Another said, “I will never agree, but so long as I am allowed to disagree, this is still my church, and I won’t leave.”  Last week, our synod bishop hosted a meeting that I perceived as hopeful, an indication that fallout may be slight.

The organized opposition, Lutheran Core / WordAlone network, will be hosting a gathering of the disaffected next week to consider options; for now, their website counsels patience and avoidance of rash decisions.  It appears that Lutheran Core may lean toward creating an alternate power structure within the ELCA, a formally organized opposition synod. On the other hand, they also speak very harshly about the ELCA actions and urge withholding of financial support of churchwide activities.  Last week, I linked to Lutherpunk’s blogpost that rejected the idea of a financial boycott because the ministries and missions most in need of funds would be harmed by blocking the monetary pipeline. 

Professor David YeagoA new blog entitled Lutherans Persisting has appeared as a voice for the “traditionalists” within the ELCA, and I earlier commented on theologian Carl Braaten’s missive that appears there.  Over the weekend, professor David Yeago of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of South Carolina offered his own musings entitled, In the Aftermath.  It is pretty thick reading, as theological writings often are, and laypersons may find his essay difficult to probe.  Yet, his tone is conciliatory and directed toward the traditionalists who disagreed with the actions of the voting members at the Churchwide 2009 Assembly. 

He calls on the traditionalists to offer grace rather than judgment toward those with whom they disagree.  “Is this the point at which we must judge that this branch of the church has died and withered?”  Yeago answers the question with another:  “How could it ever be my place to make the judgment that God has rejected a fellowship of his baptized children?”

Rather than pointing judging fingers at the ELCA and those who support gay clergy and gay marriage (he calls them “revisionists”), Yeago tells the traditionalists to look inward, not to revisit their deeply held opinions, but to engage in fellowship despite disagreement, “the wrong of another is not seen as a reason to separate but a reason to draw near.”

Yeago gives theological voice to the sentiment of my friend … “as long as I am allowed to disagree, this is my church, and I won’t leave.”

For myself, I cannot see that these decisions prevent me from continuing to do what I have been charged to do as a seminary teacher. If someone in authority were to tell me that I must suppress what I teach about marriage or the law of God because of these actions, then the situation would change. But that has not happened yet, and I do not know that it will ever happen. Likewise, I do not see that these decisions prevent me from hearing the gospel in my local congregation and being formed there as a disciple. Indeed, if I attend to what Luther says, the Assembly actions give me a great if painful opportunity to learn discipleship, to practice love. It seems rather a distraction to speculate about leaving when I have barely started to learn what I could about following Jesus right where I am.

How, then, shall the traditionalists live and act within the ELCA?

Let us traditionalists be the ones who live most deeply in the Scriptures, who bring forth the bread of life most richly from the Scriptures, who let themselves be most drastically challenged and remade by the word of God, who live most intensely in prayer, who are able to teach prayer to others. Let us traditionalists be in the forefront of ministry among the poor, the apparently hopeless, the despised; let us be the ones who volunteer to go to the hard places. Let our revisionist brothers and sisters, let homosexual persons in the church, be conscious when they meet us mostly of how much we care for them, how far we are willing to go for them, of the respect and honor with which we treat them, despite our clear disagreement with aspects of their teaching and/or life.

I encourage you to read and ruminate on Professor Yeago’s thoughts.  Of course, as a “revisionist” according to his definition, I disagree that the ELCA’s actions were wrong, but I think he expresses the Christian love behind the “bound conscience” provisions of the various assembly resolutions.  Though platitudes often seem trite, they sometimes are the simplest expressions of the truth; and so it is with the admonition that “we must agree to disagree”.  

As one of the commenters to Yeago’s essay suggested, his call “to be the ones who live most deeply in the scriptures,” … etc., should be everyone’s calling—the traditionalist’s and the revisionist’s–the Christian call.  This is not a time for judgment but for grace.

ELCA Social Statements including Health and Healthcare

Bishop Hanson breaking bread With the adoption of the Social Statement on Human Sexuality at the recent ELCA 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA now has ten social statements.

Social statements are major documents addressing significant social issues. Typically, they provide an analysis and interpretation of an issue, set forth basic theological and ethical perspectives related to it, and offer guidance for the corporate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its individual members . . . . In all cases social
statements are the product of extensive and inclusive deliberation within this church, a process that is an integral part of their educational purpose. Because of the considerable resources and care that this church invests in them, and because of the participatory process used in their development, social statements are the most authoritative form of social policy and are adopted only by the Churchwide Assembly.”

Here is the list; each statement may be reviewed and downloaded from the ELCA website:

  • Abortion
  • Church in Society
  • Death Penalty
  • Economic Life
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health and Healthcare
  • Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust
  • Peace
  • Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

The 2009 Convention also called for the study process to begin on another possible social statement entitled “Justice for Women”.  The process of study and creation of a social statement takes years and resources (about a million dollars).  The recommendation that was adopted calls for Churchwide assembly action in 2015.  Two other study processes are already underway based upon earlier Churchwide authorizations—Genetics and Criminal Justice.

As I write this, Air Force One is approaching the MSP Airport about 40 miles up the road from Northfield.  The President is on board, and he will take his campaign for health care reform to a local venue later today, which begs the question for me: “What does the ELCA say about health care?”

At the 2003 Churchwide Assembly, the voting members passed a social statement on Health and Healthcare by a margin of 935-34.  The full document extends for 32 pages, but the sense of the document is set out in the introduction (emphases are mine):

Health is central to our well-being, vital to relationships, and helps us live out our vocations in family, work, and community. Caring for one’s own health is a matter of human necessity and good stewardship. Caring for the health of others expresses both love for our neighbors and responsibility for a just society. As a personal and social responsibility, health care is a shared endeavor.

And, in the statement of crisis:

Health care in the United States, its territories, and Puerto Rico suffers from a prolonged crisis. People unnecessarily endure poor health. Rising health care costs leave a growing number of people without adequate health care. Health care resources often are rationed based on ability to pay rather than need. Finding access to quality health care services is difficult for many. The growing number of elderly people adds another stress on health care resources. Fear and self-interest defeat social justice in the political processes of health care reform.

The stress on individuals and families because of society’s inability to fashion an adequate health care system makes action increasingly urgent. The breadth and complexity of the challenges require serious conversations and bold strategies to establish the shared personal and social responsibilities that make good health possible. The health of each individual depends on the care of others and the commitment of society to provide health care for all.

For the ELCA, as for many religious groups in the US, health care is a matter of right and justice and not merely a scarce market commodity allocated by ability to pay rather than by need.  It is first and foremost a moral issue and only secondarily economic.  The social statement is constructed around the concept of “shared endeavor”. 

Hear the words of Ted Kennedy, in his death bed letter to President Obama as reported by the President in his recent address to a Joint Session of Congress:

He repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that “it concerns more than material things.” “What we face,” he wrote, “is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

A few weeks ago, Lavonne Neff offered commentary on T.R. Reid’s book, The Healing of America in a blogpost on Sojourner’s website.  Here is what she says about the book:

“The primary issue for any health care system is a moral one.” If we believe no one should die for want of access to health care, we can find a way to provide care for all. If we believe health care is a commodity like TVs and automobiles, we can continue to exclude those who can’t pay. “All the developed countries I looked at provide health coverage for every resident, old or young, rich or poor. This is the underlying moral principle of the health care system in every rich country — every one, that is, except the United States.”

A shared endeavor.

Who bears the burden of withheld funds? #CWA09 #Goodsoil09

This is a repost from Pastor Robb Harrell who blogs as Lutherpunk.  Pastor Harrell’s parish is a multi-ethnic mission church in Georgia.

An Open Letter to Lutheran CORE and all those Redirecting Benevolence Funds

Dear Friends in Christ –

This is a difficult time for us to be the church together. Whether we like it or not, the ELCA changed on August 21 when changes in ministry policies were approved by our Churchwide Assembly. Some see this change as the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, a sign that God is still speaking in favor of justice. Others see this as the ELCA officially endorsing a sinful, disordered lifestyle and a departure from universal witness of the Church Catholic through the centuries. I do not write to you today to speak either in favor of or against the changes. I write to you today to tell you about my parish, St. Luke Lutheran Church in McDonough, Georgia.

St. Luke is a redevelopment church in one of the fastest growing areas in the region. The church is the result of two churches merging to form a new mission congregation. Sadly, church mergers are often difficult and rarely prove to be successful. Like many other mergers, St. Luke found itself embroiled in conflict. The once promising mission lost more than half of its membership and its founding pastor.  A little over two years ago I was asked by our mission director to come visit the mission, which meets in a storefront location in a multicultural neighborhood. We are nestled between an Asian nail salon and a Caribbean bakery (the bakery supplies us with the most wonderful communion bread each week). I fell in love with this little wounded church and its people, and moved my family from a place where we were very content to this new call. It is a rich place to be in mission and ministry together.

In the last two years St. Luke has made great strides and shown signs of stabilization. We average a little over 60 in worship each week. We are engaged in our community, with ministries that focus primarily outside of ourselves. Our primary ministries revolve around food during these tough economic times. Not only do we distribute meals around the holidays, but we feed the residence at a shelter once a month, we maintain a “Food Angels” ministry that identifies people in the community who lack necessary items such as food, baby formula, and diapers. We also maintain a small emergency food pantry in our storefront so that we can feed those who may wander in, which is a regular occurrence. All of the items we distribute are donated by our members and friends. We know can’t do everything and we can’t help everyone, but what we can do is make sure no leaves our church hungry.

While we are committed to this sort of ministry, our real joy is what occurs here on Sunday mornings. A diverse body gathers. Some are wealthy, some are barely subsisting on state assistance. We are the descendants of Europeans, Asians, Africans and Middle Easterners. We are young and old. When we gather, we are one. Our voices join together in singing praise to God the Holy Trinity as we gather around Word and Sacrament. All in all, we are a typical small church. We love one another, we love our neighbors, and we love God.

In order for us to find the stability so desperately needed, the Southeastern Synod has provided us with over $100,000 in funding over the course of three years. Because of this funding, St. Luke was able to call me to be their full time pastor. This funding also allows us to be present in the community in a way that allows us to share the Gospel with a broken and hurting world. All of the money St. Luke has received find sits origins in benevolence money sent from local churches to the synod. New mission starts and mission redevelopments like ours are dependent upon the generosity of local congregations and local Lutherans. Most of us are teetering on a financial edge that established churches cannot even imagine.

I know you are angry and hurt at the outcome of the Churchwide Assembly. I know you need to find a way to make sure your collective voice is heard. Redirecting your benevolence money away from your Synod and the ELCA seems like a good way to demonstrate how hurt and angry you are. I would ask you to reconsider. It is not the “people in Chicago” who will ultimately suffer from your withdrawal of funds. It is small  mission churches like St. Luke and the people we serve that will suffer. If we lose our funding – even a portion of it – we may well not be able to continue in ministry in the same way. This deeply saddens me, not as a pastor who would have to seek another call to support his family of five, but as pastor who sees the look on the faces of the hungry as we fill grocery bags with food and diapers, providing a glimmer of hope and sign of love in this broken world.

I pray that God will bless you as you gather for the Lutheran CORE meeting in September. I also implore you, in the name of Christ, to find another way to protest than withdrawal of funds from our Synods and the ELCA. Nothing less than the spread of the Gospel itself is at stake.

Your Servant in Christ,

Pastor Robb Harrell

Bishop Huck calls an ELCA synod meeting #CWA09 & #Goodsoil09

ELCA banner I’m new to Northfield and the Southeast Minnesota synod of the ELCA, one of sixty-five synods spread around the country.  Each synod has a chief administrator and “pastor to the pastors”, a bishop.  In Southeast Minnesota, that would be Bishop Huck Usgaard.  On Wednesday the 9th, Bishop Huck invited the clergy from the 185 congregations of the synod to come together to discuss the recent ELCA Churchwide assembly actions approving gay clergy in “publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous” relationships and allowing congregations to recognize and support same gender couples.  I was pleased to be present.

The bishop began by reminding the assembled that the ELCA and its predecessors have a history of conflict over issues of inclusion as old as Paul and his Gentile churches against James and the Jerusalem church.  Closer to home, he shared the story of the two Lutheran churches of his home town in Iowa that had a vigorous dispute over the theology of predestination in their early days, but when they celebrated their centennial, those gathered couldn’t remember which congregation took which side.  Then there was slavery and some churches were quiescent and others were activist, then women’s ordination divided congregations, and now policies of LGBT inclusion.“We’ll get through this, too,” was the implicit message of assurance.

Each of the clergy who had been voting members at the ELCA convention in Minneapolis in August were asked to share their impressions.  Six or eight spoke.  All, save one, were positive, even though some acknowledged they had voted “no” on the key resolutions.  The one was quite negative and accused the ELCA of going against the word of God.  He quoted extensively from the assembly address by the president of the Missouri Synod (LCMS), which in turn quoted from the 16th century Reformation era Formula of Concord.  He fit the pattern of the Lutheran Core / WordAlone response, and he echoed their talking points … rejection of the Word of God … reference to Reformation documents … strong rightward tilt toward the LCMS.  See my earlier posts here and here.

A question and answer session was followed by small group discussions.  How were voting members picked?  From conference meetings.  The Bishop reported hearing suggestions that voting members were hand picked and/or were incompetent and/or were pressured, and for the only time during the day, he showed his irritation as he rebuked such suggestions.  Have any congregations notified the bishop of an intention to secede?  Not one, not yet.  There was appreciation expressed for the pastoral leadership of presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, during the assembly.

We broke bread and drank wine together.  Spontaneous hymn singing, a capella, broke out.

In closing, the bishop expressed hope that no members and no congregations would leave the ELCA, but he also said those staying should not be motivated by revenge or ill will—better to leave than fester.  He quoted Gamaliel’s speech to the Sanhedrin after Peter and others were arrested:

keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!