The metaphor of shaking the dust off one’s feet and moving on appears in the synoptic gospels and also in one passage of Acts when Paul and his entourage are not well received in the synagogue of a Phrygian city.
If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Mark 6:11
Nearly a year ago, well-known author and Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, the bane of many conservatives, dusted off his feet.
I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate “reparative therapy,” as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired. I will no longer talk to those who believe that the unity of the church can or should be achieved by rejecting the presence of, or at least at the expense of, gay and lesbian people. I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality “deviant.” I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that “we love the sinner but hate the sin.”
Recently, former ELCA Presiding Bishop Herb Chilstrom dusted off his feet.
I am both sad and relieved that you [ELCA defectors] are leaving. Sad, because this was not what we hoped for when the ELCA was formed some 22 years ago. We believed we could be a church where we held to the essentials and allowed for differences on non-essentials.
But I am also relieved. Now those of us who remain in the ELCA can get on with our primary mission of telling everyone — everyone — “Jesus loves you. You are welcome in this church.”
Today, blogger and ELCA pastor Justin Johnson writes about the decision of Lutheran CORE to post, and thereby endorse, the repugnant comments of one ELCA defector who wrote, among other untruths,
But the education, worship and other materials provided by the ELCA for use in congregations are shot through with an alien agenda, most of the pastors and ministers it now trains are not competent to preach the gospel, and its home and global missions are in captivity to a false gospel.
Pastor Justin has dusted off his feet.
I think I am done with them. If this is how they feel about me and my ministry and my friends who are also in the ministry, I too am going to have to take the stance and say “I’m glad your gone.” I never wanted to feel this way and never wanted to say such a thing honestly, but if your stance is to be insulting and demeaning, then goodbye, I’m done.
Lutheran CORE, can you disagree without being disagreeable? Can you say, the ELCA is becoming too liberal, and as conservatives, we are uncomfortable? Nah, it’s better to accuse ELCA folks of becoming “unchurched” who have “officially renounced the Lordship of Christ” and now are “committed to false teaching and immorality”. Can you say, I respectfully disagree with your Biblical interpretation? Nah, it’s better to accuse ELCA folks of being “unbiblical”, pursuing a “false gospel you have chosen for yourself”.
Lutheran CORE, you’re gone and you’ve formed your own little denomination, the North American Lutheran Church (NALC); please get on with the business of being a church and get over bashing the ELCA to which you no longer belong. Or, is that your business, your raison d’être?
Maybe we all need to shake the dust off our feet.
I have to agree with Justin. The kind of sniping he talks about is so small-minded; so catty. I can’t really say I have seen this type of endless whining from LCMC churches, at least in my area. If they made a decision to leave, we are all sad, and they move on, and we move on, and wish each other well. It takes some adapting, but life goes on.
When I am not cantoring at my parish (I am fortunate to have several cantors) my family and I attend an LCMC church in our town (it voted to leave the ELCA last year). It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that the pastor and I have known each other for many years. He respects my views and my decision to stay with the ELCA, and I respect his to leave. There is no “hassling” back and forth. He has been a good pastor to my family in a time of health issues. To me, he has modeled a way to move on without the acrimony that is apparently front-and-center on CORE’s website.
Lilly has said it here before – there is way too much work for the people of God to be doing for us to waste time clawing at each other.
“Maybe we all need to shake the dust off our feet.”
Considering your previous two paragraphs, it might be good advice.
Thanks for the inclusion in the blog post! It is so hard to be supportive, prayerful, and allowing others to be, when they take swipes. It was the inclusion of the article on the main Lutheran CORE website that got me, otherwise I would have just written it off.
I have chosen the way of Spong and Chilstrom and have shaken the dust from my Hush Puppies. I will not respond to another blog about homosexuality, nor engage in another argument. We have more important issues to address like poverty and homelessness and war, just to name a few. For those of you who have left or are leaving, good luck, I hope things work out for you. For us in the ELCA the discussion is over, you all have simply put it off for another time, maybe another generation, but you will do it again I assure you.
Admittedly, shaking the dust off one’s feet is tempting — no matter which of those perspectives one’s conscience is bound to call right. It’s kind of hard, though, to “stay in the conversation,” as certain church leaders have been inviting the opposition to do, while shaking off the dust and walking away in any direction. We’d settle for a moratorium on name-calling (by/at/on all sides) as a start.
@Church Grandpa and Grandma I know there are times when people have to agree to disagree and I truly felt that with the new NALC, that was the time. We could pray for one another and move on. Some would choose to stay in the ELCA and raise their voices and have people like me, even though I don’t agree, support the raising of those voices, but the constant swats have started to get to me. For me, this was the final swat. By posting it on the Lutheran CORE’s main site, they were essentially saying this is what CORE stands for. The 5 comments (as of writing this) all support this author too. I wrote a comment and surprisingly, it never showed up. This was about the 3rd time I tried to write something that happened to be in opposition to what they were writing. So, I wouldn’t lay the entire walking away at the ELCA’s feet nor would I lay it entirely at the NALC/CORE’s feet, but both are doing a good bit of dust shaking as well as fist shaking. To me, I am like Ray, it is over there are groups to serve both thoughts, let’s move forward finally, but some are stuck in insult phase still, as shown by that blog on CORE’s main site, which is sad.
@Mary
Unfortunately in the Clintonville-Marion area there is still ELCA bashing. One pastor is facing a hearing by the synod but his churches have voted to pull out. An elderly couple in one of the churches is using the local newspaper to bash the ELCA yet this week.
It seems to me that this issue should not be to bash the whole ELCA because quite a number of folks voted against CWA09. It is almost as if there is an informal split in the remaining church – RIC LC/NA and the more moderates What do the rest of you think ?
I am glad I have been in this discussion. Yesterday, my grandson visited me – he goes in the army today. He had some concerns about whether trans-sexualism could be inherited and was worried that the army would find out about his dad. I asked him a few questions and laid out the situation the way I saw it- knowing the history. Then I asked him- do you like girls ? He brightened up and said “Very much”. There are a lot of hurting people out there including the Biblical second, third, and fourth generations. This boy has acted out his family situation with being somewhat wild and rebellious. Let’s not forget to minister to the families.
A couple observations:
I agree that for those who have left or are leaving that speaking ill of the ELCA or her leaders is not helpful, and it is also unbiblical. One of the commitments we made as we approach our second vote in November is that we would speak well of all. Our Bishop has been gracious, and so have we. So on that count, I would say that CORE and others who have left or are leaving need to focus on mission and ministry, not the ELCA.
However, the point this raises is one that concerns those who remain in the ELCA who are traditional in their outlook on this issue, as well as others. While CWA 2009 bandied about “bound conscience”, what I am hearing is that traditionalists are being shunned by bishops, ignored for calls, and looked down on by their peers.
Not in all cases, to be sure. But it does seem that there is a bit of a note of “we are right, you are wrong, tough luck”. There are many who cannot leave ELCA for a variety of reasons, but who deserve to have their voices heard, at least according to the will of the last assembly.
Last, the shaking of the dust “off the feet” was related to those who rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Last I looked, this issue isn’t the gospel, so it seems to me like any social issue , there should be room for debate.
Sure, let those leave who must leave, and let them not speak ill of ELCA, but for those who remain who may not agree, are they to be treated with contempt ?
Brian McLaren once wrote “Extreme liberals are just fundamentalists with different beliefs”. No conservative himself, something to think about….
Well written, Jeff. Thank you.
I agree, Jeff. Treating anyone with contempt, at any end of the spectrum, is NOT gospel behavior. To be sure, that can be quite a challenge in our various places, but I firmly believe that it is precisely that behavior – treating one another with love and respect – that may be what ultimately attracts people to our communities. They can find acrimony everywhere they look – we have so many opportunities to be counter-cultural simply by how we treat each other.
@ Jeff … you said it better than we did. Thank you!
I believe Obie’s interpretation of the metaphor of shaking the dust off your feet, is valid, but perhaps he should have used Matthew rather than Mark. Mark’s version of it, sticks to the proclamation of the Gospel. Matthew adds the welcoming of the disciples. “If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words…”
Jeff you raise an interesting point, which is why a traditionalist should be angry with Lutheran CORE. This was my original point. There are people in the ELCA who are staying, there are people like me, who may not agree with the stance, but feels the voices are needed and have also been praying for those who chose to leave.
What the Pastor who wrote the article that was posted on the CORE’s main website was that if you are in the ELCA, you are “not competent enough to proclaim the Gospel.” This is what got to me. There are people who support CORE’s feelings and it is a big slap in the face, not only to the ELCA, but to them and no one is speaking up asking them to remove the article, which makes people like me think this is the feeling and official stance of CORE.
@Justin
I concur, and it is inappropriate. I have many friends (and many pastor friends) who remain in the ELCA and while I will most likely be leaving soon, being nasty is never helpful.
I have never used the words “heresy” or “evil” to describe the actions of last year, which some have. I simply disagree with the scriptural interpretation, and while that disagreement is deep, it is one thing to disagree, and other to question motives or faith.
While I might use a word like “heterodox” (being of two minds), to describe the actiions of CWA 2009, to me it is uncharitable to demonize others.
Of course, the same is true of those on both sides of the equation. What I have seen so far in the ELCA is that the concept of “bound conscience” has not been honored in many instances.
In other words, the question will be whether those who remain in ELCA who are traditionalist can still feel enough a part of things to participate, and participate fully. I have heard of some synod assemblies where traditionalists have been shouted down and/or shunned.
So, for both sides, it behooves us all to practice what we preach. CORE and others should not disparage ELCA-move on, focus on mission and the Gospel. Those in the ELCA should accord each other respect……..and honor each other.
A couple of weeks ago I might have been able to agree to “shake the dust off our feet.” But I don’t think I can today. It has been driven home once again that the issues of sexuality are not abstractions of theology or church administration, but about real lives. Not lives as a metaphor for how a personal biography unfolds or how pleasant that story might be, but literal lives. The last few weeks has witnessed 4 well-reported suicides of teens (Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi being the most recent and most widely reported) who were bullied and harassed for being gay or perceived as gay. This bullying and harassment does not come out of a vacuum. Make no mistake about it. It is built on a chorus of voices that denounces and reviles homosexuality, and devalues gay and lesbian people. It is clear from this last month alone, that this is a chorus that endangers lives for it gives reason and excuse to the prejudice, harassment, and bullying. The passive sacrifice of our young people (through their own hand) at the altar of sexual “morality,” “Christian faith,” and “family values” must stop. The continued drum beat of the so-called “traditionalists,” “Christian conservatives,” and “family values” crowd against gay and lesbian rights, relationships, and, finally, persons themselves, betrays how bankrupt the phrase “family values,” as they use it, really is. It certainly isn’t valuing the lives and health of real people who happen to be gay, and it is killing our kids.
So, I wonder, can we really shake off the dust from our feet here? I can’t. At least not so easily. At least not today.
Oh but bashing liberals _is_ the conservatives reason for being. Nothing gladdens their hearts as much as ‘correcting’ the wayward. That they have no attractive ministry of their own is evidenced by the multiplicity of conservative sects who cannot agree. I see this in my own, Presbyterian, context, but you see it in Lutheran, et al. I agree, shake off the dust and move on, leaving them to their endless complaints.
@Mark C. Christianson
You are absolutely correct that we cannot “shake the dust off our feet” regarding advocacy for LGBT youth. All politics and all church politics aside, this is a fundamantal question of the well being of our fellow humans. While the danger zone for bullying is in our public institutions, especially our schools at all levels, as churchfolk we have an obligation to be a postitive rather than negative influence in our world. The question persists, to what extent are Christians and Christian churches part of the problem or part of the solution? Herb Chilstrom’s recent question begs an answer, “What will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?”
@Obie Holmen
A serious thought, a not so serious one, and a question.
I know you don’t like this, and I can see how you found much of Sorum’s response disparaging. However, I think that his 7th paragraph, beginning “Finally, you ask us, “What will you say to your sons and daughters…” answers that pretty effectively and honestly from my perspective.
You put Chilstrom in the same camp as Spong … and you call us nasty? 🙂
Should I look for you at Golden Valley?
TS
@Tony Stoutenburg
So your response is that gay teens can change if they want.
FYI: you are part of the problem.
@Ann
That is not what Sorum says, unless you are claiming that people who have such desires are utterly without self-control.
@Tony Stoutenburg
My only hope is that you and your colleagues will find a way to minister to the LGBTQ people and/or their families who show up in your congregations even if you do not approve of their being in the ministry.
@Lilly
That is a hope I share Lilly. TS
This is the relevant portion of what Sorum says:
“It may also be true that, in our present fallen condition, they experience sexual desire primarily toward those of the same sex and that this is not something they have chosen. But these feelings do not constitute an identity, to which they must conform. Instead, Jesus gives them their true identity as children of his Father and shows them the way of life in his Word. Perhaps that way will include sufficient healing for marriage to be possible. But if they must go the single way, then Jesus will be enough and more than enough for them and will fill their lives with love and every good gift. Sex, after all, is not the end-all and be-all of life.”
So the LCMC & CORE/NALC party line for LGBT youth is: change – pray for “healing” because you are sick – or never experience romantic love, a relationship, or sex.
If you consider Sorum’s response an “effective and honest” answer for LGBT youth, my previous comment stands – you are part of the problem. I promise you – there are LGBT youth in every single church in the LCMC. Every single one of them. And you are not ministering to them in an effective, honest, life giving, life affirming way.
I will pray for you.
@Tony Stoutenburg
Thanks Tony. LGBTQ is a big controversial issue for the church. We all have our experiences and our opinions. I for one, would like to let Christ be the judge of our hearts and minds. Peace be with all of you.
In almost any other instance, I would refrain from being harsh. But we are talking about young people who are in such despair that they choose to take their own lives, or to harm themselves in other ways. Tony’s response is not one that helps the vast majority of LGBT youth, and that’s inexcusable to me. They deal with enough trouble without their churches adding to the problems they face.
For a lot of LGBT folks, the church is the single institution that condemns them the most, and destroys their self-worth the most. That makes me sad and angry because it doesn’t have to be that way. There are young gay and lesbian kids at my church who learn that they are God’s children and God loves them. What a gift that is.
@Ann
Blessings on you Ann that the young people can feel accepted as they are in your church.
I find that it is unlikely that the average church can be all things to all people. First of all, old attitudes and beliefs are hard to change- especially in rural areas where there are a minimum of college educated people. TV doesn’t help that much with the many raunchy stereotypes of sexuality of all kinds. Then, are the pastors really trained to be good counselors for people’s problems ? Some are naturally good listeners but I have found some others who would rather give you a 10 minute sermon on what they think rather than suggest solutions to your problems or give you some sympathy.
The whole area of mental health and wellness needs to be addressed more seriously.
Homosexuality is not considered a mental illness yet many of them need good counsel to be able to live with a lifestyle and inclination outside the rules of the church. Maybe it is time to realize that the church isn’t equipped to do this and see that our secular social service facilities get the funding they need.