24th Sunday after Pentecost, November 15, 2009
Grace be into you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for all your many blessings upon us, especially the gift of your Son, Jesus the Christ, your incarnate and living Word, who came among us to reveal your will and grace for our lives. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, enable us to receive your Word with joy, and to conform our lives to your will. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
Since Pastor Blair will be utilizing our Gospel lesson for this morning in his sermon that he will deliver in a couple of weeks when I am on vacation, I have chose to take a different approach with my sermon this morning. This past Tuesday evening, I shared with council that I continue to find a number of persons in our congregation to be troubled over the decisions reached at our church-wide assembly in regard to human sexuality. I also shared with council that I would like to utilize this time to share with you some perspectives that I have gained through recent mailings and email, in regard to options that are unfolding.
First, I would continue to stress the need for patience. Like so many of you who have spoken to me about the assembly action, I do not agree with the decision. For me, it is not simply an issue of what the church views as permissible sexual behavior, but more importantly an issue of the interpretation of the sacred Scriptures to direct the life and norm of the church. With this in mind, I must admit that the church’s decision has presented me with a crisis of faith. Can I continue to serve a church that takes such a philosophical view toward Scripture, as to totally ignore the role of tradition in discerning meaning.
As David S. Yeago, a professor of Biblical studies at Lutheran Southern Seminary points out on his blog on his web page, “According to the Formula of Concord, which is one of our confessional writings included in the Book of Concord, the “Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments” are “the pure clear fountain of Israel, which is the only true norm by which all teachers and teaching are to be judged.”
But that is not where Dr. Yeago ended his lecture. He also went on to state that in order to truly interpret the Scriptures and to do so in a true and faithful manner, we must also come to wrestle with the context of when they were written, and the context of interpretive tradition throughout the years. I can with Ralph, state that I have not left the Church, the church has left me. But I am not ready to bolt, or to lead you, these people whom I love, into something we might later regret.
Thus, that adage that, “Patience is a virtue,” has some legitimacy in this situation. I would like to share with you thoughts that were expressed in the November issue of Forum Letter, published by The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. In his opening article, entitled “At the foot of the cross,” Richard O Johnson, editor of Forum Letter reported that the site of the September 25 convocation of the Lutheran Coalition for Reform, or Lutheran CORE, had to be moved. Normally, Lutheran CORE would have 200 to 300 delegates in attendance at their convocation. Following our church’s national assembly, the number of registrations were shut off at 1200, the largest venue able to be secured at that time.
According to Johnson, “There were lots of speeches, and lots of emotion. The speeches came from retired bishops Ken Sauer and Paull Spring, Pr. Challa Baro (representing African immigrant churches), Pr. Eddie Perez (representing Hispanic pastors from Florida), and Mark Chavez, vice-president of Word Alone Network, to name a few. Passionate ovations followed each presentation.
Lutheran CORE’s plan, as it was presented, is to form what they are calling a “free-standing synod.” This synod would be open to any of the congregations who have already chosen to leave the ELCA, as well as Lutheran congregations who have, (at least for now), have chosen to stay with the ELCA.
Johnson then reported a few pertinent excerpts Bishop Spring’s speech. “We’re not forming a new church body,” he said. “We’re forming a new synod.” The idea is that this “free-standing synod” would assume, for its members, many of the current responsibilities of the geographical synods of the ELCA. Not only would this free-standing synod provide a sense of refuge for maintaining a solid confessional and theological stance, It would also provide resources, support global mission, provide theological education, foster new congregations, assist in the call process, etc.
Those in attendance at the convocation were asked on Saturday morning to approve a temporary constitution that would be a charter for CORE. The plan is to hold another convocation next September, which will adopt a more sophisticated structure, including a fiscal plan of action. And here is one of the most interesting facts. This convocation is scheduled back to back with a theological conference on the crisis in contemporary Lutheranism, being arranged by one of the most leading theologians of the Lutheran church, Carl Braaten. It sounds exciting.
But then, Johnson adds the following. “There were plenty of folks present who were not so interested in waiting a year or so to do something. The CORE leadership, however, are people of wisdom and discernment, who recognize that if this thing is going to fly, it must be designed carefully and conscientiously.” Thus the need for patience.
And if I might add my own two cents worth of concern to what is now under foot, I would stress having that patience. After all, there are some practical issues that may or may not come into play, if a congregation chose to leave the ELCA to join another Lutheran church body. The most important issue might be a challenge as to who owns the building that we are now sitting in, these facilities that we have built and call home.
According to our constitution, although these facilities belong to our congregation, in the event that our congregation would leave the ELCA, the synod and the ELCA have the right to determine the disposition of our property. Even though I doubt that the synod or the national church would want to take on the burden of maintaining our building and grounds. After all, church buildings are not that much in demand these days.
In addition, there could even be a question about the security of clergy pensions for those who leave the ELCA. Several pastors have raised the question that, even though our pensions have been vested since the day that we were ordained, the ELCA does not allow a pastor to withdraw his or her pension. If we formally leave the church, the question has been raised that we could lose our pension, perhaps even the extra money we ourselves have invested.
Now I realize that there has already been several congregation that have withdrawn their membership from the ELCA. More importantly, however, is the number of congregations who have taken other steps to express their opposition to the assembly decisions on human sexuality. As Richard Johnson points out, ‘Right on the eve of the CORE convocation in Indianapolis, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson issued and I quote, “a pastoral letter to those attending the CORE convocation, reflecting on the state of things in the ELCA in the wake of the recent actions the assembly took on human sexuality.
“I am disappointed,” Hansen wrote, “that some are encouraging congregations and members to take actions that will diminish our capacity for ministry… as a way to signal opposition to churchwide assembly actions or even to punish the voting members who made them.” End quote.
Johnson then concluded, “I’ve read and listened to a good bit of the rhetoric from CORE and other dissatisfied Lutherans, and I can’t say that I’ve ever heard even one person talk about “punishing the voting members.” As for the rest of Hansen’s lament, most congregations I have been in contact with, are taking measures to redirect their benevolence giving, sending it directly to mission and ministry projects. That may result in more funds going to projects that ELCA members actually support. Bishop Hanson can call it diminished capacity;” others might call it “faithful stewardship.”
The truth is, benevolence contributions to the ELCA have fallen off drastically, in light of the national assembly’s decisions. Although I don’t wish to make any political statements in my message, there is something to be said about being out of touch with your mainline constituency.
There is no doubt that there are a lot of people throughout the national church, who are extremely upset about what has taken place at our church-wide assembly this August. And so, I ask you to do a couple of things for the church, and for our congregation. First of all, pray. Pray for God’s guidance. Pray that God would lead us as a congregation, that in time, we might make the right decision for the future of our church.
Secondly, I ask you to pray for me, as your pastor, that I might remain open to the possibilities that lie before us, and provide leadership that will enable us to make the proper choice for the future.
Amen.
