When the ELCA was formed in 1987 as the result of merger, the first Presiding Bishop was Herb Chilstrom, and he shepherded nearly five million Lutherans during the formative years of the ELCA’s life.  Herb is now retired and resides in St. Peter, Mn, the home of Gustavus Adolphus College.  My wife and I were in St Peter yesterday visiting our dear friends, Alan and Gretchen Bray.  Alan was our pastor for a decade in the 90’s in Upsala, Mn, and he has been Herb’s pastor since leaving Upsala.  While visiting, Alan shared an email that Herb had circulated following the recent ELCA 2009 Convention, which he entitled Reflections on the Minneapolis Churchwide Assembly.

With the permission of the gracious retired bishop, I reprint portions of his email here.

The final votes had been taken.  On Friday evening many of us gathered to worship and reflect on what had happened.  The room at the Minneapolis Convention Center was filled to near capacity [Goodsoil Central].  We were a mixed group: a synod bishop, straight couples like Corinne and me, straight and gay singles, gay couples, clergy and lay, young and old—a microcosm of the ELCA.

There was no shouting, “We won!”  There were no banners proclaiming, “Victory at last!”

The mood was one of quiet and calm.  We began with a simple plainsong:

Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ,

Come, pray in us the prayers we need this day.

Our hope, our homing ever in your grace.

We’ve come this far by faith; we can’t turn back.

We listened to words of healing from the Bible … we had prayers for healing and hope … we sang.

At the end of the evening, I was invited to share a few thoughts before I pronounced the benediction.  Here is what I said.

I have been asked many times since the voting ended, “What are your thoughts?”  I could only come up with one word: “Bittersweet.”

This is surely a moment of sweetness, of thanksgiving at the end of a very long struggle.

But there is a also a heavy stone at the bottom of my heart this night.  I realize that words I have written and spoken almost surely have contributed to the decision of some to leave our dear church.  Along with so many others, I poured my heart and soul into the formation, birth and early years of our ELCA.  I do not want even one to leave.

But over against this heaviness is the memory of those—and their family and friends—who have already left our church.  And I am also thinking tonight of all those—and their families and friends—who would leave in even greater numbers had they heard another word of exclusion from this assembly.  The door has been opened.  We can’t turn back.

Now, nearly a week later, that same mixed feeling persists.  Here are some of my most poignant memories from the assembly:

**I remember with admiration the words of former Minnesota governor, Al Quie.  He was opposed to the proposals.  But like the statesman and churchman that he is, Quie reminded those on the losing side that the church is bigger than this decision and that we must all remain loyal.

**I take some encouragement from the vote on the final recommendation, the call for implementation of the actions that had been approved.  That it passed by nearly 70% tells us that many who were disappointed by the outcome also realize that we must move on, living out the implications of the decisions.

**I was impressed by the youth who spoke.  I don’t think I would have had the courage to speak at such a huge gathering when I was a teenager.  The word we heard from them was that the issues we were debating were not at the top of their list of concerns.  They want a church that does not exclude any who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Where does all this leave us?  Here is my hope:

That all of us will take a deep, deep breath, asking the promised Holy Spirit to be our Guide, Helper, Counselor, and Friend in the days to come.

That we will give ourselves the time we need to live into this new reality.

That we will pray earnestly for those who lead us.

That will we will concentrate on evangelism, accenting that we are now, more than ever, a church that invites all to share in our rich treasures of Word and Sacrament.

Amen.  Thanks again, Herb, for your graceful leadership.

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) was an invited guest at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly last week.  However, during his address to the convention, he chose to admonish the ELCA:

The decisions by this assembly to grant non-celibate homosexual ministers the privilege of serving as rostered leaders in the ELCA and the affirmation of same-gender unions as pleasing to God will undoubtedly cause additional stress and disharmony within the ELCA. It will also negatively affect the relationships between our two church bodies. The current division between our churches threatens to become a chasm. This grieves my heart and the hearts of all in the ELCA, the LCMS, and other Christian church bodies throughout the world who do not see these decisions as compatible with the Word of God, or in agreement with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality. Simply stated, this matter is fundamentally related to significant differences in how we [our two church bodies] understand the authority of Holy Scripture and the interpretation of God’s revealed and infallible Word.

Now, on the LCMS website, he acts as cheerleader for ELCA dissent, and he offers “appropriate support” in a thinly veiled invitation to defect from the ELCA to the LCMS.

We recognize that many brothers and sisters within the ELCA, both clergy and lay, are committed to remaining faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, and strongly oppose these actions. To them we offer our assurance of loving encouragement together with our willingness to provide appropriate support in their efforts to remain faithful to the Word of God and the historic teachings of the Lutheran church and all other Christian churches for the past 2,000 years.

Whether ELCA conservatives are willing to embrace the Biblical literalism of the LCMS or the overt patriarchy that does not allow women clergy remains to be seen (in some LCMS congregations, women are not even entitled to vote).  More likely, I think, are the inchoate organizational impulses of WordAlone and Lutheran Core.  What comes of this alliance of ELCA rebels remains to be seen.  WordAlone has long been a conservative voice crying in the ELCA wilderness dating back to their formation as the opposition to the full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church a decade ago.  The big question for WordAlone and Lutheran Core is whether they will merely seek a loud voice as the loyal opposition within the ELCA or whether they will foster a splintering away.

The latest missive on WordAlone’s website pulls no punches:

The ELCA assembly has now voted against the authoritative Word of God. The assembly has swapped His Word for human words that are neither based on sound reason or good order. In fact, the assembly voted against the Word of God, sound reason and the good order of creation.

That is not only not Lutheran, it is not Christian and it is not the work of the church but of a misguided , shrinking, sideline denomination whose leadership’s ears cannot hear and can no longer even discern or recognize, let alone revere, God’s direct warning and intervention.

God will not be mocked.

The article also references the tornado that touched the Convention Center and Central Lutheran Church in a tone reminiscent of the infamous right wing evangelist John Hagee blaming sinful New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina (comments that caused candidate McCain to run away from Hagee’s endorsement as fast as he could).  If WordAlone chooses to engage in such silliness, at least they could be honest and point out the tornado was before the vote, and the sun came out after the vote.

The pontificating of Lutheran Core is no less confrontational:

“Lutheran CORE is continuing in the Christian faith as it has been passed down to us by generations of Christians. The ELCA is the one that has departed from the teaching of the Bible as understood by Christians for 2,000 years,” said the Rev. Paull Spring of State College, Pa., chair of Lutheran CORE.

“I am saddened that a Lutheran Church that was founded on a firm commitment to the Bible has come to the point that the ELCA would vote to reject the Bible’s teaching on marriage and homosexual behavior. It breaks my heart.”

Breaks your heart?  Why do you sound so gleeful in your invitation to schism?

“We can no longer in good conscience participate in this relationship with the [ELCA] offices in Chicago,” Spring said.

“We are encouraging individuals and congregations to join us in Indianapolis to discuss what the future for faithful Lutherans in the ELCA might look like and how faithful congregations and individuals can work together,” [former] Bishop Spring said. “It is crucial that those ELCA Lutherans who uphold the authority of Scripture work together. We need each other. We urge people to come to Indianapolis.”

“We intend to gather the largest possible body of faithful Lutherans so that we might collectively plan a united common future. For that reason it is important that congregations and individuals not make hasty decisions about their future in the ELCA,” Spring added.

Would you like to be bishop of your own church, Rev Spring?

Last week, I bumped into several other folks who were live blogging from the ELCA 2009 Churchwide Assembly and I also came across other Lutheran (and Lutheran friendly) bloggers from around the country.

You may check their blogs by clicking below:

Inside Nancy’s Noodle

Idle Ramblings of the Lutherpunk

PeacePastor

Rev Dawn

Father Jake

Goodsoil Central

Friends of Jake

Asterisk

Sexuality and Religion

BayaThread

Dallas Morning News