He had scarcely gone a short league, when Fortune, that was conducting his affairs from good to better, discovered to him the road, where he also espied an Inn. Sancho positively maintained it was an Inn, and his master that it was a castle; and the dispute lasted so long that they arrived there before it was determined. Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote
Since WordAlone and Lutheran CORE share headquarters in New Brighton, Minnesota, one wonders if the two are really one, especially since both camps reek of the same anti-ELCA manure. The separate websites of the two organizations exhibit significant cross-fertilization.
Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what thou art.
The latest stink comes in a WordAlone blog post from Pastor Steven King who is listed as WordAlone’s Education Director, but his articles also appear on CORE’s website. In his post, King accuses certain ELCA bishops of “non-constitutional policies”, “heavy-handed attempt”, “misleading congregations”, “misconduct”, and “unconstitutional meetings”. He urges those who promote congregational ELCA exit votes to prepare for legal proceedings in the event they lose at the ballot box.
Fear has many eyes.
And what is this egregious misconduct of the bishops that warrants harsh condemnation and is grounds for legal action, according to King? It seems certain busy bishops have the temerity to send a representative (bishops’ assistant?, synod staff?) instead of appearing personally for consultations with congregations in the midst of the process of withdrawal.
Once a literalist, always a literalist. Once a legalist, always a legalist.
Don Quixote: Dost not see? A monstrous giant of infamous repute whom I intend to encounter.
Sancho Panza: It’s a windmill.
Don Quixote: A giant. Canst thou not see the four great arms whirling at his back?
Sancho Panza: A giant?
Don Quixote: Exactly.
From the Man of La Mancha
Last Sunday we had a presentation by LCMC at our church. I asked what it meant to be an Orthodox Lutheran. The presenter’s answer went around for a bit but ended up by saying that Orthodox Lutheran was “your grandmother’s church”. Well, I’m 72 and one grandmother was born in Norway in 1864. My other grandmother was German and was born in 1882. Things have changed a bit since then. I think he was really trying to describe the old ALC because we are getting some of that locally here.
I would have liked to ask if that meant we could have Christmas on Jan. 6 and take advantage of all the sales. (But I didn’t want to be that much of a “heretic”.)
The presenter who gave the answer “your grandmother’s church” as the definition of “orthodox” seems to be living in another century! When the Norwegian grandmother was born in 1864 there was a Civil War going on in the USA, between both the free Northern states and the slave holding Southern states, and within the American churches. EACH side in the churches claimed to be “orthodox”. Yet who today would dare to defend slavery as “orthodox” either within society or any church?
To answer my own question: Apparently those who pine for the “good old days”! It sounds like the toxic elixir of fatal nostalgia has gripped anyone who would flip off such a definition of “orthodox” as being “your grandmother’s church.” Well if that’s what they are selling, as Yogi Berra used to say, “Include me out!”
Besides, let me tell you about one of the Grandmothers on my father’s side of the family. Many decades ago it was the common practice to bury suicides outside the cemetery fence. The clear implication was that they were damned anyway, so why should they be buried in consecrated ground? Well, it happened that a hired girl was impregnated by a local farmer and his sons. Everyone suspected something was going on, and when she hung herself, and the autopsy revealed the pregnancy, she was buried just outside the cemetery fence. Not a word was said about punishment for those men who had abused her and driven her to despair. Grandmother flew into a rage at this obscene perversion of the Gospel, rounded up her husband and adult sons, went to the cemetery, ripped out the fence and hauled it away. No one dared put the fence back. This Grandmother’s understanding of the church was far more ORTHODOX (true believing) than those who had buried the poor young woman outside the fence. When she got done, EVERYONE was included in the cemetery!
The point is … be careful in wishing for nostalgia and grandma’s church, because there are Grandmothers in our past who would rip out any fence that excluded anyone from the love of Christ. May their spirit live on and flourish!