Tag Archives: ELCA

Lutheran Core Convocation: 1st night report #ELCA & #CWA09

Late yesterday, the Core Convocation convened at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Fishers, Indiana with an estimated 1200 persons in attendance. Substantive matters were not addressed except for the speeches offered by Core leadership. “Should we stay or should we go?” was the question that hung in the air, but the answer will not likely be determined this weekend but only after a year long process of deliberation and organization.

The speeches soared with the conviction of the self-assured, often harsh and critical of the ELCA with sarcastic jibes sparking their comments. For instance, one speaker scoffed at the ELCA 2009 assembly approval of a $75 million Malaria initiative, calling instead for a church, “where the appreciation for overcoming malaria does not replace the passion for preaching the gospel and administering the sacrament. We must stand for both Law and Gospel, not Gospel alone. Battling AIDS, hunger, poverty does not replace Word & Sacrament.” Another labeled the ELCA’s call for unity and Scripture study hypocritical, as if only Core’s interpretation of scripture was valid. The call for “Churchmanship” from former ELCA presiding Bishop Herb Chilstrom was mocked. Still another, in a thinly veiled comment, contrasted the holy remnant of Core to their opponents “we are here to represent those who have not bent the knee to Baal.”

Maybe just a little self-righteous.

The criticism of the ELCA was not restricted to the recent actions approving gay clergy and moving toward marriage equality, but went all the way back to the original merger, mirroring the view of dissenting theologian James Nestingen, the subject of earlier blog posts here and here. In particular, the ELCA policy of giving strong voice and vote to the laity, at the expense of clergy power, was criticized.

Last night speeches. Today?

(Note: since I was not present, the above information is derived from various “tweets” and especially the comments on ALPB forum.)

Lutheran Core Convocation commences #ELCA #CWA09

Lutheran eyes are on Indianapolis this weekend and the Convocation of Lutheran Core, the organized opposition to the recent ELCA convention action approving gay clergy and moving toward marriage equality. Will Core breakaway or choose to remain within the ELCA as the loyal opposition? Perhaps we’ll know more on Monday.

In August, the ELCA national convention in Minneapolis approved the ordination of persons in lifelong, monogamous, same gender relationships and also opened the door for congregations to support and recognize such relationships (gay marriage?). Lutheran Core maintained a hospitality room at the convention and served as the organized opposition to the various LGBT ballot measures. Defeated at the Churchwide assembly, Core has called for a Convocation this weekend to consider their options.

While serving as host for the 2009 convention, Minnesota is also home to 800,000 Lutherans, about 1/6th of ELCA Lutherans nationwide, according to an article appearing today in Minnesota’s leading newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The article quotes several Minnesotans who will be among the 1200 or so who will gather at the Core convocation, and they express a wait and see attitude.

There are mixed signals coming from the Lutheran Core camp. On the one hand, they have counseled patience and encouraged persons to stay in the ELCA—for the time being. Lutheran pastor Dave Glesne of Redeemer Lutheran in Fridley is quoted in the STRIB article: “I wouldn’t expect any major decisions for at least a year”, he said. According to the article, Glesne “thinks that the short duration [of the Core Convocation agenda] is an advantage because it’s enough time to discuss an action plan but not enough time to implement one.” On the other hand, the harsh rhetoric that sounds from the Core camp raises questions how Core could remain within the ELCA as the loyal opposition while shouting (from their website):

The ELCA is the one that has departed from the teaching of the Bible

We just voted out the Word of God, sound reason, and the good orders of creation

We can no longer in good conscience participate in this relationship with the offices in
Chicago

It is going to be very hard for faithful Lutherans to support the ELCA when the ELCA is willing to reject the clear teaching of Scripture

and their unofficial spokespersons, retired theologians Carl Braaten and James Nestingen, pen articles accusing the ELCA:

[of] “heresies and heterodoxies now rampant and tolerated in the institutions of the ELCA” [Braaten]

“the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America effectively declared that it is no longer a church” [Nestingen]

And then there is the matter of money. A cynical view suggests that the ELCA pastors who flirt with Core yet remain in the ELCA are unwilling to sacrifice their ELCA pension and benefits unless and until Core is a viable financial alternative. In a controversial move criticized by many, CORE has urged a financial boycott of ELCA ministries, and mission congregations ask CORE to consider who and what is really hurt by such actions. ELCA presiding Bishop Mark Hanson has posted a web video in which he says,

I am deeply concerned when ELCA members and congregations are being encouraged to signal disagreement [with convention actions] by withholding financial support because the unintended consequence is to diminish our capacity for mission.

Blogger Susan Hogan asks:

Is the bishop being smart by going public about the money situation just before the Lutheran CORE meeting? Or is he playing into the dissenters hand, giving them more weight and power than they deserve or have?

Finally, on the eve of the Lutheran Core Convocation, former presiding Bishop Herb Chilstrom invites “churchmanship”.

In response to CORE’s intent to seek other avenues for how it may relate to the ELCA, Chilstrom said the consequences of such action “would be corporate, personal and immediate. We would see the mission of the ELCA in this country and around the globe hobbled and maimed.”

For years many Lutherans had hoped for the kinds of change that came at the assembly, Chilstrom wrote. “During all that time we never tried to organize another church body or some kind of independent entity within the ELCA,” he said. “We never withdrew or reduced our support for the mission of the church. We never changed our wills or estate plans to cripple the seminaries, global missions, or other ministries of the church.”

He ended his statement by asking, “Can we think of a better resolution than the one we reached at our recent assembly, one that allows us to live with diversity in matters that are not central to the proclamation of law and gospel? This is the time to think and think and pray and pray again — as the church did at its assembly — before taking action.”

Will Lutheran Core and its supporters rise to the call for churchmanship?

Dissident ELCA theologian Nestingen update: #CWA09 & #ELCA

Erik Samuelson Yesterday’s post was about professor emeritus James Nestingen’s negativity regarding the ELCA, past and present. This morning, a blog post from Pastor Erik Samuelson offers another view of Nestingen.

Pastor Erik is of Norwegian ancestry, and his roots are in the old American Lutheran Church (ALC), which was one of the major partners in the ELCA merger twenty some years ago. Professor Nestingen has the same background, and Pastor Erik suggests that Nestingen still resents the merger and the diminished influence of conservative, Norwegian Lutherans in the merged church.

Dr. Nestingen gets to the heart of it: The #ELCA was a bad idea all along. Three cheers for the Old ALC! Hmm…

What I found as I analyzed the way he uses the documents [Lutheran Confessions] is that he often intersperses American political philosophy and highly preferences one particular historical branch of Lutheranism which my family shares with him. It’s a straight line from the German Reformation to it’s adoption in Norway (subscribing to the Augsburg Confession and Catechisms) to the United States via the Norwegian Synod (and some Haugean pietists thrown in from time to time) that kept Norwegian [language] in worship long into the 20th Century, who formed the core of the ALC and had their stronghold in Luther Seminary (and St. Olaf and PLU). Nestingen again and again seems to refer to this as the “true Lutheran” heritage. This works great for Norwegian American Lutherans (who held a great deal of power in the ALC and less since the merger in 1988), but I just don’t see how he can claim this as the predominant form of Lutheranism, or the mainstream of Christianity.

Pastor Erik’s blog also offers a detailed rebuttal to Nestingen’s assertion that the ELCA violates the letter of the Confessions. Check out his post if interested in the esoteric minutiae of Lutheran orthodoxy.

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

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.

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.

BAM and Bistro are back at Bethel Lutheran in Northfield

Wednesdays are busy at Bethel Lutheran church in Northfield. Busloads of giddy kids from kindergarten through fifth grade are picked up after school and delivered to Bethel for BAM (Bible, Arts and Music). After a summertime hiatus, the popular program was in full swing yesterday.

The August phone call received by the Bethel receptionist was typical.

“We don’t belong to Bethel, but can I sign my third grader up for BAM?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Every Wednesday last year when my wife picked our daughter up after school, she saw these screaming kids hollering, ‘Yay, we’re going to BAM! Yay, we’re going to BAM!’, and our daughter began to plead with us that she be allowed to go with her friends. I guess when kids beg to go to church, you must be doing something right.”

Here is a full description of BAM from the Bethel website.

The B in BAM – Bible
Our weekly schedule includes a 30 minute video session for all students. We use the Nest Family Video series. Each video is a beautifully crafted telling of a basic Bible story. We begin the year in the old testament and conclude in May in the new testament. We see this as a learning experience for our children and know from past experience that our children are more knowledgeable about basic Bible stories due to their exposure to this video series. In addition, it gives our children a much needed quiet time in a very busy day.

The A in BAM – Arts
At Bethel Lutheran Church, we are blessed with many members who are gifted in a wide variety of the arts. Many of these wonderful folks are willing to share their time and talent with our children. Therefore, we are able to offer several art/activity choices throughout the year during our TNT (Trying New Things) time.

The M in BAM – Music

Alleluia Choir
Singers in kindergarten through 2nd grade participate in the Alleluia Choir. The Alleluia Choir is designed as a preparatory program with less emphasis on performance and more emphasis on music skills development through songs, games, and movement.

Carol Choir
3rd through 5th graders sing in the Carol Choir. This group participates in worship services generally once or twice per month.

The Bethel Orff Ensemble
The Orff Ensemble uses a variety of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments to improvise music, perform composed “Orff” anthems, and accompany choirs. Members participate in church services throughout the year. The Orff Ensemble is available for BAM students in grades 3, 4 and 5.

Handchimes
1/2 Steps and Grace Notes are our handchime ensembles. Handchimes are a precursor to learning handbells. Children do not need to be able to read music to begin. The experience is available for children in grades 3,4, and 5. The group rehearses once a week during BAM and performs four to five times during the year in worship services. The children learn how to read music, learn how they can use their talents to serve God and nurture a love of music at the same time.

BAM Chapel
Friends and family are invited to join us for BAM Chapel each week. During Chapel we will utilize our older students as ushers, readers and acolytes and we expect that our choirs and chime ensembles will regularly contribute an anthem or lead us in singing. Chapel will begin shortly after 5:00 each Wednesday. We look forward to closing our BAM experience each week in this worshipful setting.

Right after BAM comes Bistro, a weekly supper prepared under the loving leadership of volunteer Ruth Bolstad and a rotating crew of volunteers.

Bistro currently serves, on average, 200 people each week. Many families make it a time for a simple family meal during a very busy day. Bistro is also a great opportunity to enjoy fellowship with other Bethel members. Bistro is much more than getting a meal on the table. It’s about working together, teaching and learning, fellowship, catching up, laughter, AND nourishment.

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?

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.

A 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

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