I AM

From today's Gospel reading, the Passion according to St. John:

Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When he said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.    St. John 18:4-6 RSV

St. Augustine writes:

With no other weapon than his own solitary voice uttering the words "I am," he knocked down, repelled, and rendered helpless that great crowd, even with all their ferocious hatred and terror of arms. For God lay hidden in that human flesh, and eternal day was so obscured in those human limbs that he was looked for with lanterns and torches to be slain in the darkness. "I am," he says, and throws the wicked tothe ground. What well he do when he comes as judge, who did this when giving himself up to be judged? What will his power be like when he comes to reign, who had this kind of power when he came to die? And now even at the present time Christ is still saying through the Gospel, "I am." And . . . the resut is the same, as people go backward and fall to the ground because they have abandoned what is heavenly in favor of what is earthly.

From Tractates on the Gospel of John, as found in the Ancient Commentary on Scripture, New Testament IVb: John 11-21.

A Lutheran Perspective on the Obama Mandate

I first met Pastor Matthew Harrison in the spring of 2007, at the Conference on Mercy sponsored by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod World Relief/Human Care for which he was Executive Director. I was quite impressed by him not only as a driving force in the LCMS' relief efforts, but as a theologian who both understood and taught why the Church is involved in such things. In the summer of 2010, Pastor Harrison was elected President of the LCMS.

Here President Harrison addresses the current controversy over the Obama Administration's chilling mandate that all forms of "birth control" be fully covered by medical plans, including those of churches and church agencies that have always taught that it is grave sin to take the life of a child in the womb:

Hi. I’m Pastor Matthew Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, a denomination of some 6,200 congregations across the United States. We also have many institutions, which care for the needy and also 10 universities.

In response to President Obama’s announcement Friday concerning an ‘accommodation’ to a previous mandate that health plans must cover all forms of birth control (even those that can kill the unborn), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod remains deeply concerned. We strongly object to the use of drugs and procedures that are used to take the lives of unborn children, who are persons in the sight of God from the time of conception. Drugs such as Plan B^® and Ella^®, which are still included in the mandate, can work post-conception to cause the death of the developing child, so don’t be fooled by statements to the contrary.

We see President Obama’s action Friday as significant, in that it appears to have been prompted by the many voices united in concern over an infringement of our religious liberties. But the ‘accommodation’ did not expand the exemption for religious employers, nor did it restrict the mandate in any way. It simply described a temporary enforcement delay and a possible future change—a change that, unfortunately, would not adequately protect religious freedom or unborn lives.

We remain opposed to this mandate because it runs counter to the biblical truth of the sanctity of human life. We are committed to working to ensure that we remain free to practice the teachings of our faith, that our religious rights are not violated and that our rights of conscience are retained. Freedom of religion extends beyond the practice of our faith in houses of worship. We must be free to put our faith into action in the public square, and, in response to Christ’s call, demonstrate His mercy through our love and compassion for all people according to the clear mandate of Holy Scripture.

The government has overstepped its bounds. This controversy is not merely about birth control and the Catholic Church’s views about it. It’s about mandating that we provide medications which kill life in the womb. And moreover, and perhaps even more ominous, it is about an overzealous government forcing coercive provisions that violate the consciences and rights of its citizens. We can no longer expect a favored position for Christianity in this country. But we can, as citizens of this great nation, fight for constitutional sanity against secularizing forces. As we have vividly experienced in discriminatory state legislation with respect to homosexual adoption, we and our institutions (and those of other religious citizens of good will) are being robbed of the right to the free exercise of religion absent government intrusion or threat. The next assault will come upon church-related retirement facilities. How much longer will it be legal in this country to believe and act according to the dictates of biblical and creedal Christianity?

We in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pray for our president and his administration every day. In fact, I personally pray for the president every single day. We have had members of our church body serve in very significant positions, including attorney general, also chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and many other significant positions. We have and have had senators and House of Representatives members. We’ve contributed to the well being of this country in countless ways. In fact, the most highly decorated living veteran is a member of the LCMS.

Jesus bids us, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mark 12:17). We will pray for and support our government where we can, but our consciences and our lives belong to God.

Thank you.

And thank you, Pastor Harrison.

Curing Breast Cancer or Keeping Abortion?

Yesterday I "shared" a cartoon on my Facebook page got lots of "likes" and positive comments. It showed a funeral chapel with lots of empty chairs and a woman whispering to the man next to her, "He had over 2,000 Facebook friends. I was expecting a bigger turnout." I can't recall that last time I got this much response.

Today I "liked" "Komen Get It", today's "Best of the Web" by James Taranto over at the Wall Street Journal's WSJ.com [tip o' the hat to my Facebook friend, Pr. Rich Heinz]. I expect this one will not get so positive a response, but it's worth reading anyway. Taranto begins:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure actually is what Planned Parenthood advertises itself as being: a charity whose main concern is women's health. Komen was founded in 1982 by Nancy Brinker and is named for her sister, who died of breast cancer two years earlier. Until this week, it was probably best known for its fund-raising runs and walks known as Race for the Cure.

Now Komen has provoked the fury of Planned Parenthood, whose self-description as a women's health organization is at best tendentious. In truth, Planned Parenthood is America's leading provider of, and one of its most zealous advocates for, elective abortion. It is also a recipient of government largess; federal funds it receives are not supposed to pay for abortions, but they make it a political lightning rod all the same. And it is one of the most powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party. In last spring's budget deal, funding for Planned Parenthood was the one subject on which President Obama refused to compromise.

Taranto has more to say, then concludes,

Planned Parenthood's bitter campaign against Komen--aided by left-liberal activists and media--is analogous to a protection racket: Nice charity you've got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it. The message to other Planned Parenthood donors is that if they don't play nice and keep coughing up the cash, they'll get the Komen treatment.

There's one crucial difference, however. In a real-life protection racket, the victim never pays voluntarily. The threat is present from the get-go. By contrast, Komen presumably was not under any duress when it made its grants--and it could have avoided all this nasty publicity by never dealing with Planned Parenthood in the first place.

Thus smart prospective donors--especially ones that are apolitical, like Komen--are getting the message that supporting Planned Parenthood is a trap. Give once, and you will give again--or else you will pay.

Following the Komen-PP controversy of the last couple of days -- the mass media are either actually or playing ignorant of just how controversial that relationship has been for years -- I keep thinking of this past Sunday's Gospel (St. Mark 1:21-28), which begins:

²¹And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²²And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God."

That's the thing about the Devil. He'll say anything to entrap you in his lies and deception; he'll even say the truth or do good works, when he can say it in a way to lead you away from the truth and good. And that's been my experience with Planned Parenthood, both nationally and locally here in Peoria; they will say and do anything -- even very good things -- as long as it profits and protects the abortion business. Threaten that, and watch out.

Thomas Peters, who blogs as the American Papist over at CatholicVote offered this comment just a little while ago to reports this morning that "Komen caved" in to the PP blitz. "No, they didn’t," he begins.

I’ve received a crash-course education in the foundation over the past couple days and I can say without doubt that one thing motivates their President Nancy Brinker: ending breast cancer. That’s why she decided to cease funding Planned Parenthood, because they are about the lousiest group to help if you are serious about ending breast cancer. Second, that’s why their President is worried about the damage to the Komen brand being done by Planned Parenthood and it’s pro-abortion allies. President Brinker knows if Komen is weakened it will be less able to pursue it’s objective of ending breast cancer. She’s not throwing pro-lifers under the bus, she’s trying to save an organization she built to honor the memory of her sister (who died from breast cancer) and prevent it happening to others.

That’s why we need to make common cause with Komen and support their pro-woman goals. That’s why we need to expose Planned Parenthood’s scurrilous move to destroy Komen.

I mean, just pause for a moment: if Planned Parenthood is so serious about protecting women’s health how does it justify leading a crusade to destroy the world’s leading breast cancer research foundation over these past days?? It’s simply incredible, and we need to make sure it’s never forgotten!

One last thing: we need to remember the big picture. Over the past 48 hours, not only did Planned Parenthood reveal itself as willing to seriously damage and attempt to destroy the pro-woman Komen foundation, but also, thousands and millions of people potentially learned for the first time that Komen doesn’t believe Planned Parenthood is an ideal provider of health care for women. So even if Planned Parenthood wins this battle (an outcome very much in doubt), I would argue they have seriously weakened themselves for the wars ahead. This will be a long fight, so take the long view.

Here’s what you can do to continue to support Komen in the short term:

1) email news@komen.org and say “Thank You for Defunding Planned Parenthood” and promise to buy products bearing the pink ribbon. Encourage them directly in other ways.

2) sign the petition at www.IStandWithKomen.com (this is not an effort to harvest emails, you only have to supply your name and location) and invite your family and friends to do the same.

3) blog/facebook/tweet/email/write op-eds about this. Get the word out any way you know how.

In a few moments, this blog post will make it to my Facebook page. My (currently) 859 Facebook friends really are all over the place on faith, morals, politics, and philosophy, as are those who regularly read Pastor Zip's Blog. We'll see what kind of reaction this gets.

[See comments for update. Zip+]

Sermon for "Good Shepherd Sunday"

The Early Church Father St. John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), Bishop of Constantinople, was noted for his orthodoxy, his eloquence, and his attacks on Christian laxity in high places. Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is also known as "Good Shepherd Sunday" because the appointed Gospel is from the 10th chapter of St. John, where Jesus teaches that he is the Good Shepherd.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. St. John 10:1-6

Bishop John preaches to the Church on the cusp of the 4th and 5th centuries:

Observe the marks of a robber. First, that he does not enter openly. Second, he does not enter according to the Scriptures, for this is, "not by the door."

Here also, Jesus refers to those who had been before and to those who would come after him: antichrist and the false christs, Judas and Theudas [see Acts 5:35-38], and whoever else there have been of the same kind.

And he rightly calls the Scriptures "a door," for they bring us to God and open to us the knowledge of God. They make us his sheep. They guard us and do not let the wolves come in after us.

For Scripture, like some sure door, bars the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire and not allowing us to wander.

And, if we do not undo Scripture, we shall not easily be conquered by our enemies. By Scripture we can know all, both those who are and those who are not shepherds.

But what does "into the fold" mean? It refers to the sheep and their care. For whoever does not use the Scriptures but "climbs up some other way," that is, who cuts out for himself another and an unusual way, "the same is a thief.". . .

When our Lord further on calls himself the door, we should not be surprised. According to the office that he bears, he is in one place the shepherd, in another the sheep. In that he introduces us to the Father, he is the door; in that he takes care of us, he is the shepherd.

From St. John Chrysostom, "Homilies on the Gospel of John 59:2-3", as found in The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT IVa: John 1-10 (p. 338).

Bishop John preaches to the Church on the cusp of the 20th and 21st centuries: "[I]f we do not undo Scripture, we shall not easily be conquered by our enemies. By Scripture we can know all, both those who are and those who are not shepherds." But if we in the Church undo Scripture, . . . hmmm.

Granger: The Publication of the King James Bible

"At the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, held between the English bishops and Puritan leaders and presided over by King James the First, Dr John Rainolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and the leading Puritan divine, suggested that a new English translation of the Bible be prepared.  Richard Bancroft, the Bishop of London, concurred, and King James ordered the translation be prepared.  A body of translators was formed, including professors of Hebrew and Greek in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and other leading scholars of the day, some fifty in all. Both churchmen and Puritans were represented. The translators were organized into six companies, two which sat at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. Their instructions were to take the earlier Bishops’ Bible as their basis, to consult all earlier versions, including the (Roman Catholic) Douay-Rheims New Testament and the (Reformed) Geneva Bible, to retain the old ecclesiastical terms (such as “church” for “congregation” and “baptism” for “washing”), and to exclude all marginal notes, unless required to explain some Hebrew or Greek word...."

Read it all here at For All the Saints.

And for more about the Kings James Bible as English-speaking Christians around the world celebrate its 400 years, see the the fine King James Bible Trust web site.

Haircuts

I got a haircut this evening.

Which brings to mind a question that I've wondered about for several years:


Is there something to the story of Samson and Delilah?

Samson and Delilah by Cranach the Younger, 1537

The "Inerrancy" Question

What follows is a slightly edited version of a statement I wrote last week for a Facebook group of folk who, in the light of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly's actions, are wondering about what's next for Lutheranism in North America.

I begin by recalling that "inerrancy" was a matter of significant debate in the 1980s during the discussions that led to the formation of the ELCA. In part because the word was included in the ALC's statement of faith in its constitutions and it was not in the LCA's. This is not a new question.

Here is how the Epitome of the Formula of Concord begins (using the Tappert edition):

We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged, as it is written in Ps. 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." And St. Paul says in Gal. 1:8, "Even if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed."

Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with Holy Scripture. Every single one of them should be subordinated to the Scriptures and should be received in no other way and no further than as witnesses to the fashion in which the doctrine of the prophets and apostles was preserved in post-apostolic times. (Epitome, intro 1; p. 464f.)

And further to paragraph 3 of the intro,

In this way the distinction between the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments and all other writings is maintained, and Holy Scripture remains the only judge, rule, and norm according to which as the only touchstone all doctrines should and must be understood and judged as good or evil, right or wrong. (p. 465)

The Solid Declaration reads,

We pledge ourselves to the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments as the pure and clear fountain of Israel, which is the only true norm according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated. (SD, intro 1; p. 503f.)

If you a looking for a *Lutheran* description of the Holy Scriptures, that's it in the Formula of Concord.


This is reflected in the ELCA's Statement of Faith (much like that of our LCA and the ULCA predecessors):

This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.

"Inspired" comes from the Scriptures themselves, "source and norm" from the Lutheran Confessions.

So, whence "inerrancy?"

19th Century American Evangelicalism and its encounter with modernism, science, the mass immigration of Roman Catholics, and -- as the 19th was turning into the 20th -- Darwinism. "Inerrancy" didn't enter American Lutheran lingo until WWI and the use of English in Lutheran theological discourse. It was first formally adopted with the formation of the "old" ALC (1930) and the LCMS soon afterwards.

What are the problems with asserting "inerrancy?" As Wartburg Seminary's J. M. Reu argued during the discussions the led to old ALC, it goes beyond what the Bible claims for itself. If that isn't enough, it goes beyond the Lutheran Confessions themselves (see above).

Furthermore, as was pointed out in a comment on [this group's] Wall, one indeed finds factual errors in the Bible. The usual solution to this is to define the idea further as "inerrant in the original autographs." That may help some people, but the original autographs of the biblical books are, like unicorn horns and Atlantis, neither available nor recoverable.

More to the point, it is not the original autographs, but the Holy Scriptures as we have them that are the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.

Finally, the idea comes from a stream of protestantism that rejects such things as baptismal regeneration and the bodily presence of the risen Christ in the Holy Communion -- both of which are taught directly in the Scriptures and which are central to the catholic faith, particularly as Lutherans teach it. Which ought to raise the question of what "inerrancy" actually protects us from.

Forgetting Who You Are?

Pastor's Zip's web browser opens to Google News and he'll read the headlines there. In the last day or so, one of the headlines was about a ruling in another part of the nation declaring that Bibles could not be given away on a public school campus. Naturally, I can't find that headline today (so maybe I imagined it?), but the search raised up controversial new law in Texas requiring that "Bible literacy" be incorporated in school curricula.

The controversy neglects discussion of something that, to my way of thinking, is more than a mere historical tidbit. Namely, that public schools were started in these United States for the purpose of teaching children how to read the Bible. Not simply to read, but read the Bible.

Meanwhile, in my car stereo I'm giving my first listen to the Verve CD re-issue of the classic Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book album, which I acquired earlier this summer for practically nothing while trying to burn up my accumulated points with the now-closed BMG Music Club. (Oh, am I enjoying riding in Sebastian -- yes, my 2002 Golf TDI has a name -- right now!) It would be hard to say what Irving Berlin's most popular song is, but it would be hard to top "White Christmas" and "God Bless America."

The latter song is sometimes looked at curiously, for while his father had been a cantor in a Jewish synagogue, Irving Berlin himself was not a particularly religious man. He was, in fact, another immigrant product of New York's public schools (albeit only to the age of 8) and streets (where he hawked newspapers and, later as a teen, even lived). One of hundreds of thousands. Berlin's lyrics reflect the language and thinking of the "average American" of his era, which was the first two-thirds of the 20th century.

And so, listening to Ella sing (with Paul Weston's marvelous orchestra), the seventh cut begins, "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan." A song I'd never heard before. And an Irving Berlin lyric that makes no sense at all apart from a Biblically literate society.

The Church's Bible

Robert Louis Wilken, author of one of my favorite books, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, is the General Editor of The Church's Bible, a new series of Bible commentaries that I was turned on to last month by R. R. Reno's article on First Things' On the Square.

Three volumes have been released thus far: The Song of Songs, 1 Corinthians, and Isaiah. Prof. Wilken's "Series Preface" helps us understand why this new series is so important for the Church today:

The volumes in The Church's Bible are designed to present the Holy scriptures as understood and interpreted during the first millennium of Christian history. The Christian Church has a long tradition of commentary on the Bible. In the early church all discussion of theological topics, of moral issues, and of Christian practice took the biblical text as the starting point. The recitation of the psalms and meditation on books of the Bible, particularly in the context of the liturgy or of private prayer, nurtured the spiritual life. For most of the Church's history theology and scriptural interpretation were one. Theology was called sacra pagina (the sacred page), and the task of interpreting the Bible was a spiritual enterprise.

During the first two centuries interpretation of the Bible took the form of exposition of select passages on particular issues. For example, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, discussed many passages from the Old and New Testaments in his defense of the apostolic faith against the Gnostics. By the beginning of the third century Christian bishops and scholars had begun to preach regular series of sermons that followed the biblical books verse by verse. Some wrote more scholarly commentaries that examined in greater detail grammatical, literary, and historical questions as well as theological ideas and spiritual teachings found in the texts. From Origen of Alexandria, the first great biblical commentator in the Church's history, we have, among others, a large verse-by-verse commentary on the Gospel of John, a series of homilies on Genesis and Exodus, and a large part of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. In the course of the first eight hundred years of Christian history Christian teachers produced a library of biblical commentaries and homilies on the Bible.

Today this ancient tradition of biblical interpretation is known only in bits and pieces, and even where it still shapes our understanding of the Bible, for example, in the selection of readings for Christian worship (e.g., Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 read at Christmas), or the interpretation of the Psalms in daily prayer, the spiritual world that gave it birth remains shadowy and indistinct. It is the purpose of this series to make available the richness of the Church's classical traditional of interpretation for clergy, Sunday school and Bible class teachers, men and women living in religious communities, and serious readers of the Bible.

Anyone who reads the ancient commentaries realizes at once that they are deeply spiritual, insightful, edifying, and, shall we say, "biblical." early Christian thinkers moved in the world of the Bible, understood its idiom, loved its teaching, and were filled with awe before its mysteries. The believed in the maxim, "Scripture interprets Scripture." They knew something that has largely been forgotten by biblical scholars, and their commentaries are an untapped resource for understanding the Bible as a book about Christ.

The distinctive mark of The Church's Bible is that it draws extensively on the ancient commentaries, not only on random comments drawn from theological treatises, sermons, or devotional works. Its volumes will, in the main, offer fairly lengthy excerpts from the ancient commentaries and from series of sermons on specific books. For example, in the first volume on the Song of Songs, there are long passages from Origen of Alexandria's Commentary on the Song of Songs, from Gregory of Nyssa's Homilies on the Song, and from Bernard of Clairvaux's sermons of the Song. Some passages willa be as brief as a paragraph, but many will be seeral pages in length, and some longer. We believe that it is only through a deeper immersion in the ancient sources that contemporary readers can enter into the inexhaustible spiritual and theological world of the early Church and hence of the Bible.

It is also hoped that longer passages will be suitable for private devotional reading and for spiritual reading in religious communities, in Bible study groups, and in prayer circles.

Using this sort of commentary fits completely in line with what Dr. Gold taught me about biblical exegesis my first semester of seminary. Curiously, it doesn't fit the practice of the exegetes published most often in today's ELCA for the use of parish pastors, which focusses almost exclusively on the historical-critical method through a progressive/liberationist perspective — the main reason why I've stopped using the "latest" ELCA exegetical resources in recent years.

The volume on the Song was first published in 2003, 1 Corinthians (a 2006 Touchstone review had intrigued me to the series), with the third volume (Isaiah) published in 2007. Hopefully, Eerdmanns will be publishing upcoming volumes more quickly.

The Dull of Hearing Church

As Thursday turned into Friday last week, I was in the Palanca Chapel of the Peoria Cursillo Center for an hour of prayer and meditation for the men's Cursillo weekend that had started that evening. That is something I've tried to do every possible Cursillo weekend since I began my Fourth Day in September 1994.

Drawing upon my experience from January, when I found myself reading out loud (I was by myself that time) the entire book of Ephesians, I decided this time to focus the hour on reading through the book of Hebrews. So I brought my Ignatius Bible, which uses the superior RSV translation and read — silently, this time, as I had company.

The edition I have breaks each book into pericopes, that is passages that are brought together that form a single thought or idea or "story." And being caught up (perhaps too much so?) in the internal debates about the teaching of the church body in which I am a Pastor, this pericope struck me (emphasis added):

About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food; for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:11-14

Reading the Bible in Church

The context isn't that important, but the following snippet from an ALPB Online Forum post by Marie Meyer evokes for me a wonderful image. Mrs. Meyer is reflecting after having just returned from five weeks with her husband working among pastors, seminary students and deaconesses of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church:

In the midst of millions of non-Christians are fellow Lutherans who, against obstacles we could not comprehend, are teaching, baptizing and making disciples. We worshipped in thatched huts that followed the liturgy with which I grew up. No matter what the size of the congregation, everyone brings their Bible to church and follows the lessons. One practice that captured our attention is that the first person, man, woman or child, who finds the announced lesson stands and reads the text. The on-going LCMS discussion about whether the pastor is the only one who ought to read the lessons seemed so trivial as we watched the devotion with which the lessons were read by members of the congregation.

Hmm. Perhaps adopting that practice would not only save Zion the cost of bulletins with the lessons pre-printed, but we could also stop worrying about getting people to sign up as Lector. (We haven't that particular LCMS discussion in decades.)

Reminds me of a story my mother often told about when Pastor Eddie Spirer, the first pastor I actually remember, was Vice-Pastor (now we call them "Interim Pastors") of our church. (I was 4 at the time, and I remember being part of a group of children running down the aisle to excitedly greet Pastor Spirer.) Pastor Spirer wanted worshipers to bring their Bibles with them to church. (Seems Lutherans didn't do that any more than we do today.) So he promised that every person he saw carrying a Bible into worship would get one of his famous jelly rolls (you did notice the sub-title of his biography, no?). One Sunday, Mom managed -- between getting us home from Sunday School and coming back to church -- to bring her Bible. Yup, Eddie noticed! "I don't know her name," Mom remembers his announcement beginning his awarding her of a jelly roll.

Of course, no one would have dreamed to ask her to then read the lessons in the service. It was 1963 and that was the Pastor's job, even in the "liberal" LCA. We didn't start having lay readers (lectors) until the mid-'70s. So I'll just point you to Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth and that's enough for tonight..

News from Lutheran CORE - August 2008

CORE Connection -
News from Lutheran CORE - August 2008

[Note: Additional links by Pastor Zip]

Headlines:

• ELCA Synods renew their commitment to Scripture


• Lutheran CORE Steering Committee makes plans for future


• Article by Lutheran CORE leader printed by Lutheran magazine


• Bishop permits pastor to preside at same-sex marriage


• Newspaper: "A New Wave of Gay Seminarians"


• German Lutherans do not elect gay bishop


• Texas ordination defies ELCA teaching and policy


• New California bishop challenges ELCA teaching and policy


• Resources available to help in responding to sexuality draft

A PDF version is available online here. You are encouraged to copy the newsletter and to share it widely.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ELCA Synods renew their commitment to Scripture

Nearly two-thirds of the ELCA's 65 synods reaffirmed their commitment to Scripture and to reading and studying the Bible at their 2008 Synod Assemblies.

These reaffirmations came in response to a five-year initiative approved by the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible."

Through a resolution approved by their synod assemblies, 41 synods made a commitment to become a "Book of Faith Synod."

Synods have committed themselves "to live in and from the Word of God in all our meetings, assemblies and events, so that as we regularly and increasingly hear, read, study, share and are engaged by God's Word, we lead by example in faithful service and holy living." The synods also asked their congregations to make similar commitments.

Synod assembly voting members were asked to "covenant together to begin a regular practice of Bible study and prayer, gathering with others in their congregation and/or community to speak and hear the Word from one another."

The resolution explains the purpose of this effort is "in order to become more fluent in the first language of faith &mdash the language of Scripture &mdash that we might live into our calling as a people renewed, enlivened, empowered, and sent by the Word."

"This is an initiative and not a program," explained Dr. Diane L. Jacobson, director of the Book of Faith initiative and professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. "It's really a matter of you taking the vision and deciding as a congregation how you're going to have Scripture become more a part of the culture of your congregation."

"The enthusiasm for the Book of Faith initiative is palpable," Jacobson said. "There is a groundswell of interest in this initiative. It's an enormous opportunity that we have."

Lutheran CORE is very supportive of this effort and all efforts to recommit the ELCA, its synods, congregations, and members to Scripture and to regular Bible study. Lutheran CORE's mission is to seek to preserve within the ELCA the authority of God's Word according to the Lutheran confessions.

The ELCA has a strong commitment to Scripture in its Confession of Faith which is included in the churchwide, synod and congregational constitutions: "This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life."

As the source of the Church's proclamation, faith, and life, Christians draw their understandings for faith and life from the Bible. As the norm of the Church's proclamation, faith, and life, Christians look to the Bible to define what is a faithful interpretation of the Christian faith.

Lutheran CORE offers resources for studying and discussing the authority of Scripture that may be helpful to ELCA members and congregations especially during the "Book of Faith" emphasis.

These resources are available at www.lutherancore.org in the education resources section:

A Lutheran Statement on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the Church explains the significance of the debate on the authority of Scripture in the ELCA and Lutheran CORE's commitment to the authority of God's Word.

Rightly Explaining the Word of Truth: A Bible Study on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture, a five-session Bible study by Pastor Steven King of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Maple Lake, Minn.

Lutherans Approach the Bible, a summary of the confessional Lutheran approach to the authority and interpretation of the Bible by the Rev. Dr. Roy A. Harrisville III, pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Menomonie, Wis.

We encourage members of ELCA congregations to use these resources as a part of their continued study of Scripture and its authority.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lutheran CORE Steering Committee makes plans for future

The Lutheran CORE Steering Committee met July 15 at Zion Lutheran Church in Brentwood, Pa.

Steering Committee actions included:

+ Reviewed the five emphases of Lutheran CORE and efforts in each area.

+ Discussed Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality and importance of submitting responses by Nov. 1.

+ Discussed the need to encourage congregations that have stopped attending synod assemblies because of frustrations with the politics and theology of more radical synods to re-engage in their synod and the ELCA and to support our efforts.

+ Planned to encourage Synod Councils to request that any change in ELCA ordination standards require a two-thirds vote.

+ Received report on ELCA Church Council meeting and plans to have a Lutheran CORE representative attend Church Council meetings.

+ Received reports from member organizations including WordAlone and LC3.

+ Discussed fund-raising and need to coordinate fund-raising with member organizations.

+ Received reports from Lutheran CORE Synod Coordinators.

+ Received report on Lutheran CORE Advisory Council meeting. Advisory Council suggested consideration of a "confessing movement." They also recommended drafting an Open Letter on sexuality draft. The next Advisory Council meeting is March 9-10.

+ Discussed Lutheran CORE table at ELCA Global Mission Event in La Crosse, Wis.

+ Discussed concerns over reductions in ELCA missionaries. A group is being formed to send missionaries. Lutheran CORE will work with both the ELCA and with alternative mission organization.

+ Asked the Rev. Paull Spring to prepare a "pastoral letter" to Lutheran CORE constituency.

+ Discussed plans for 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

+ Discussed plans for Lutheran CORE gathering Sept. 25-26, 2009.

+ Endorsed Sola Publishing and will encourage the use of its materials.

The next meeting of the Steering Committee will be Sept. 23 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Abington, Pa.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Article by Lutheran CORE leader printed by Lutheran magazine

An article by the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of the Lutheran CORE Steering Committee, was printed in The Lutheran magazine for August.

Spring, the retired bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod, responded to a question that asked, "What's at stake for Lutheran CORE and the ELCA?"

"My reply was that we in Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) are concerned for the interpretation of the Bible as God's word of law and gospel and for the confessional integrity of the ELCA as a Lutheran church body. I added that what truly troubles us in Lutheran CORE is the question, ‘Who's in charge of the church?' Is it private opinion and the relativistic mood of the times &mdash does the world set the agenda for the church or is it Scripture and the confessions of our church?"

"Biblical authority as God's word of law and gospel is CORE's chief concern. We hope Book of Faith, the current ELCA initiative to study the Bible, will move our church toward a more Lutheran approach to the Bible," Spring wrote.

He also highlighted Lutheran CORE's efforts to uphold the standard for marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman, traditional Trinitarian language for God, evangelism, and global mission.

"We in Lutheran CORE pray regularly for our church and our synodical and churchwide leaders. We are neither liberal nor conservative &mdash but centrist. We focus on the role of Scripture and confession. Most of all, with the Spirit's help, we seek to lift up the work of Christ and his word for our church.

We could not obtain permission from Augsburg Fortress to reprint the entire article. It can be read online at http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article_buy.cfm?article_id=7316.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bishop permits pastor to preside at same-sex marriage

An ELCA pastor in California will preside at a same-sex marriage with permission of his bishop, reports the Ventura County Star.

"In a fight where Scripture is often used against gay marriage, the Rev. Brian Elster says God is calling on him to preside over the wedding of two men," the article says.

The July 4 article &mdash headlined "Same-sex unions divide faithful: Pastors struggle to reconcile law with Scripture" &mdash highlights the debate between traditional Christians and those who believe God supports same-sex sexual relationships.

Elster, 54, is the pastor of the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Oxnard, Calif., near Los Angeles.

"Knowing he would be asked by two of his congregants to perform their marriage, he asked for the approval of higher-ups. He said Bishop Dean W. Nelson gave his OK as long as Elster's own congregational leaders also approved it. That council met twice and voted to sanction Elster's involvement in the wedding. It wasn't unanimous," the article reports.

"What it says is that there is a division in opinion in the congregation that reflects the division of opinion in the community."

"I'm going out on a limb. There are people who firmly disagree with what I'm going to do," Elster told the reporter. "When it comes to two people who say they want to enter into a covenant of faithful commitment to each other, what should we do but stand up and applaud."

Elster told the reporter "his role as a pastor is to recognize God's presence in people's lives. And if that presence is nurtured by the union of two people, it's his job to bless that union."



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Newspaper: ‘A New Wave of Gay Seminarians'

In a July 16 story headlined, "A new wave of gay seminarians prepares to take the pulpit," City Pages, an alternative newspaper in Minneapolis, told the stories of four students from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. &mdash the ELCA's largest seminary.

The story says that Lauren Wendt heard a voice in church saying, "Go to seminary" and "You're gay. Get over it." Wendt later pursued a same-sex relationship and became a student at Luther.

Margaret Kelly is seeking ordination through Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries because she refuses to abide by the conduct standards for ELCA pastors. She is serving an internship at an ELCA congregation in Washington, D.C.

Brenda Froisland, a woman in a same-sex relationship, is serving as a lay minister at an ELCA congregation in Minneapolis. The 2005 graduate's approval for ordination has been "postponed indefinitely" by the Minneapolis Synod awaiting a change in policy regarding the ordination of practicing gay and lesbian persons.

Also featured was Dustin Nelson, a Master of Arts student who is not seeking ordination.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

German Lutherans do not elect gay bishop

The Rev. Horst Gorski, a gay activist, was one of two finalists to be the Lutheran bishop of Schleswig in northern Germany.

The election attracted significant media attention in Europe and North America. News reports suggested that the election of Gorski could result in a division in the Lutheran World Federation similar to that in the Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Gerhard Ulrich was elected bishop of the Schleswig Diocese, one of three dioceses of the Northelbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church. Ulrich defeated Gorski 77-56 in the July 12 election.

Even though news reports showed opposition to Gorski based on his sexual behavior, Gorski told reporters that homosexuality played no part in the vote. Rather, he said it was more of an urban-rural debate.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Texas ordination defies ELCA teaching and policy

Lura N. Groen &mdash a woman who was not approved for ordination by the ELCA because she refused to abide by ELCA standards for pastors &mdash was ordained Saturday, July 26, at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas. The congregation voted to call Groen on April 27.

The Rev. Arnold Tiemeyer, a retired ELCA pastor from Audubon, Pa., presided at the ordination. The Rev. Dr. Stephen Ray, a United Church of Christ pastor and professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., preached.

"Calling someone who is not on the ELCA clergy roster is in violation of the congregation's constitution (C6.03.c). It is also a breach of their covenant with the other ELCA congregations," Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Bishop Michael Rinehart wrote in a June 13 message to synod leaders. "Calling a pastor who is not on the ELCA clergy roster could open them up to disciplinary action."

"She will not be considered an ELCA pastor . . . she would not be ordained into this church or any other church we are aware of." Rinehart wrote.

"Accepting this call could jeopardize a future application to be on the ELCA clergy roster," he said.

"We don't know how the bishop will respond," Groen said in a TV interview. "He has the freedom to not discipline us or to discipline us. That is his choice. He has spoken to me personally on a personal level and been very warm and welcoming.

"He has told the congregation not to expect discipline," she said.

The ordination was planned as a media event with "a designated area for the press at the service" and time scheduled for media interviews. A $100/plate fund-raising dinner was held following the ordination.

"To be quite honest, availability for press interviews just prior to the event and preferred seating for the press left me and others with the feeling of a publicity stunt," Rinehart wrote.

This was the second unauthorized ordination of a person who refused to abide by ELCA standards for ordained ministers this year.

Three former ELCA bishops &mdash the Revs. Darold Beekmann, Lowell Erdahl, and L. David Brown &mdash were among the ELCA pastors who participated in the unauthorized ordination of Jennifer Nagel, a woman in a same-sex relationship, Jan. 19 in Minneapolis.

The participants in these ordinations have acted in ways that violate the ELCA constitution. The ELCA constitution states that "Ordained ministers shall be subject to discipline for . . . willfully disregarding the provisions of the constitution or bylaws of this church" (C20.21.01).

Neither woman was approved for ordination in accordance with the standards and process outlined in the ELCA constitution (C7.31.13).

Groen, a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, was "approved for call" by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, an organization that "approves" the ordinations of individuals who refuse to abide by the ELCA's standards for the sexual conduct of pastors.

Vision and Expectations &mdash Ordained Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America explains: "The expectations of this church regarding the sexual conduct of its ordained ministers are grounded in the understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God and that ordained ministers are to live in such a way as to honor this gift. Ordained ministers are expected to reject sexual promiscuity, the manipulation of others for purposes of sexual gratification, and all attempts of sexual seduction and sexual harassment, including taking physical or emotional advantage of others. Single ordained ministers are expected to live a chaste life. Married ordained ministers are expected to live in fidelity to their spouses, giving expression to sexual intimacy within a marriage relationship that is mutual, chaste, and faithful. Ordained ministers who are homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships."

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries reports that it "credentials and rosters qualified candidates of all sexual orientations and gender identities for ministry." Its web site reports 38 "rostered clergy," five people "approved for call" and three seminarians.

Some ELM-rostered clergy are serving as pastors in ELCA congregations in violation of ELCA constitutional standards. ELM reports that there have been 14 unauthorized ordinations of pastors in the ELCA's 20-year history and one ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran in Canada.

The ELCA has more than 17,000 pastors and 10,000 congregations.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

New California bishop challenges ELCA teaching and policy

A newly-elected ELCA bishop has been publicly challenging ELCA teaching and policy regarding same-sex sexual relationships since being elected bishop.

The Rev. Mark Holmerud was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod on April 26 and was installed as bishop on July 12.

Holmerud spoke at the Lutherans Concerned Assembly July 3-6 in San Francisco. Lutherans Concerned is one of the organizations advocating change in ELCA teaching and policy on same-sex sexual relationships. Lutherans Concerned is working for the acceptance of the sexual behavior of "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people.

The Lutherans Concerned Assembly included worship and workshops led by individuals removed from the ELCA clergy roster for misconduct and those ordained in defiance of church policy and procedure.

Holmerud also was a part of the Lutherans Concerned entry in the San Francisco "LGBT Pride" Parade on June 29. The parade is well known for extravagant displays of homosexuality.

"Bishop Holmerud and his wife Debbi rode on the back of a convertible leading a group of 45 Lutherans Concerned supporters," reported an internet blog that posted a photo of the bishop in the parade. It is believed to be the first time an ELCA bishop has participated in the event which celebrates LGBT sexuality.

In a June 13 letter regarding same-sex marriages in California, Holmerud explained that even though he understands that ELCA teaching and policy does not allow an ELCA pastor to preside at a same-sex marriage, he does not "have intentions to bring charges for discipline against a pastor who chooses to solemnize a same-gender marriage."

At his installation service, Holmerud promised to "discharge (his) duties in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church and in harmony with the constitution of this synod."

According ELCA synod constitutions bishops are to:

+ "Preach, teach, and administer the sacraments in accord with the Confession of Faith of this church" (S8.12a).

+ "Practice leadership in strengthening the unity of the Church and in so doing:

"1. Exercise oversight of the preaching, teaching, and administration of the sacraments within this synod in accord with the Confession of Faith of this church;

"2. Be responsible for administering the constitutionally established processes for the resolution of controversies and for the discipline of ordained ministers, other rostered leaders, and congregations of this synod" (S8.12h).

Vision and Expectations: Ordained Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America &mdash the document that articulates the ELCA's expectations of its pastors &mdash explains that individual pastors, congregations, or synods must be faithful to the teaching and practice of the ELCA:

+ "Pastoral identity carries with it expectations and accountabilities that are determined by the whole Church and not simply by a given congregation, synod, institution, or agency served by the ordained minister.

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has high expectations for those who serve within the ordained ministry of this church. It does so because it recognizes that when offense is given by an ordained minister, the witness of the gospel may be impaired and the ability to carry out public ministry is threatened."

+ "It is essential for an ordained minister to be able to understand and faithfully interpret the Scriptures and the Christian tradition. In this question the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America asks that its ordained ministers assume responsibility for upholding this church's doctrinal tradition through faithful preaching and teaching. All who have been ordained and who serve as pastors in this church are expected to accept and adhere to the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. . . .

"In identifying specific documents as normative for preaching and teaching, this church expects its ordained ministers to understand that the faith of the church is corporate, not individualistic; catholic, not sectarian; orthodox, not heretical. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expects that its ordained ministers teach nothing ‘that departs from the Scriptures or the catholic church' (Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession)."



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resources available to help in responding to sexuality draft

Lutheran CORE has provided resources to assist ELCA members as they respond to Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality. Lutheran CORE encourages ELCA members to submit a response to the statement by the Nov. 1 deadline.

Links to detailed reviews of the draft statement and to other helpful documents on human sexuality are available at www.lutherancore.org in the marriage and family educational resources section.

An Open Letter calling for major revisions to Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality was prepared by Lutheran CORE. ELCA members are invited to add their names to this Open Letter as a part of their response to the draft social statement.

The first draft of the social statement was released in March. You may request a copy by calling 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2996. Members of ELCA congregations have the opportunity to respond to the draft until Nov. 1. A response form is provided in the draft document. A link to the draft and to the ELCA's online response form is available at www.lutherancore.org.

Links to these resources are available in the marriage and family resource area of www.lutherancore.org:

+ An Open Letter to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality and the ELCA Church Council and Conference of Bishops

+ Lutheran CORE's summary response to Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality

+ A Response from Lutheran CORE to Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality by retired ELCA bishops Kenneth Sauer and Paull Spring

+ "Some Questions and Answers about the ELCA Sexuality Discussions"

+ "Keeping Faith" &mdash arguments that support upholding the biblical norms for sexuality

+ "A Critique of the Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality" by the Rev. Dr. Carl E. Braaten

+ "A Sexual Ethic for Teletubbies, or Lutherans Embrace a Formless World" by Dr. Robert Benne

+ "Some Critical Observations on the Use of Scripture in the ELCA Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality" by the Rev. Dr. Stephen Hultgren

+ Open Letter to the ELCA sexuality task force and the ELCA bishops about the Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality" by the Rev. Dr. Stephen Hultgren

+ "What Are They Talking About?" two reviews of Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality by the Rev. Jonathan Jenkins

+ "A Pastoral Letter on the Continuing Discussion in the ELCA Concerning Homosexuality" by the Rev. Tom Renquist

+ "The Bible and Sexual Boundaries" by the Rev. Dr. Craig R. Koester

+ "New Testament on Homosexuality: Denying God's Purpose" by the Rev. Dr. Walter F. Taylor Jr.

+ "Law and Sexual Behavior" by the Rev. Dr. Gerhard O. Forde

+ "The Normative Character of Scripture for Matters of Faith and Life: Human Sexuality in Light of Romans 1:16-32" by the Rev. Dr. Gerhard O. Forde

+ "Is Orientation the Issue?" by the Rev. Dr. James H. Burtness

+ "Is it lawful to marry?" by the Rev. Philip Nesvig

+ "The Authority of Scripturein the ‘Homosex' Debate" by the Rev. Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon

+ "How Bad Is Homosexual Practice According to Scripture and Does Scripture's Indictment Apply to Committed Homosexual Unions?" by the Rev. Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon

+ "The Bukoba Statement" by the Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania

+ "Sexuality: Some Common Convictions," ELCA Church Council Message (1996)

+ "Vision and Expectations &mdash Ordained Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America"

+ "Sex, Marriage and Family," A Social Statement of the Lutheran Church in America (1970)

+ "Human Sexuality and Sexual Behavior," a Social Statement of The American Lutheran Church (1980)

+ "Teachings and Practice on Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage," a Social Statement of The American Lutheran Church (1982)

---

CORE Connection
News from Lutheran CORE

Published monthly by
Lutheran CORE - Coalition for Reform
2299 Palmer Drive, Suite 220
New Brighton, MN 55112

The Rev. David J. Baer, editor
editor@lutherancore.org

Please copy and share this newsletter widely.

The Holy Innocents

Friday was the Festival of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the baby boys of Bethlehem as martyrs:

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more." (St. Matthew 2:16-18, RSV -- which is also part of the Gospel reading for today, the First Sunday of Christmass.)

Holy Innocents' Day was also the occasion of the following letter from the Rev. Dr. David H. Benke, President of the Atlantic District, Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:

- - - - - - - - - -
Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus, saints of the Lord!

This word of encouragement is being sent to pastors, teachers, deacons, and parish leaders in the Atlantic District, LCMS. During 2008 it is my plan to send six such letters to you on specific church festivals or saints’ days that I have selected. These include:
  December 28, 2007 — Holy Innocents, Martyrs
  March 25, 2008 — The Annunciation of our Lord
  May 5, 2008 — Commemoration of Frederick the Wise, Christian Ruler
  July 28, 2008 — Commemoration of Bach, Schutz, Handel, musicians
  September 16, 2008 — Commemoration of Cyprian of Carthage, Bishop, Martyr
  November 19, 2008 — Commemoration of Elizabeth of Thuringia, renewer of society

In the midst of the onrushing celebrations and family duties compressed into the twelve days of Christmas, we are stopped short on the 28th day of December by the remembrance the first martyrs of the Christian era. These are the holy innocents slaughtered by King Herod as told in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 2. It is a cautionary story, with the added tension of the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt under the threat of death by the sword.

Here, in “The Massacre of the Innocents” by Guido Reni, we see the horror of the spectacle unfolding:

Mouths open in horror, mothers and children hope against hope for their redemption. And it will not come on this side of heaven. These baby boys (from estimates of six to 144,000!) under the age of two are called Innocents for obvious reasons.

We might be tempted to reflect differently on their holiness or their martyrdom from our Lutheran perspective on original sin. But our Missouri Synod is in agreement with the Church through the centuries, in calling these baby boys both Holy and Martyrs (Lutheran Service Book, xii). Declared holy by the blood of the One who fled with his parents and later died for them. Declared martyrs because their lives were taken for the sake of the Infant King.

What is the call of God upon us today in our parishes and ministries when it comes to the most vulnerable and fragile in society? What is the call of God upon us today when it comes to those in full flight from terror and injustice? What is the call of God upon us today from the relative safety of our parish bases in New York, USA, to those who are being left behind and led as lambs to the slaughter?

My own reflection always begins with the way I spend my time and energy, the resources I have been given by God. So I would encourage us first of all to fervent prayer, private and corporate:

For an end to abortion on demand in the United States of America. Here the unborn, most vulnerable of all, die by the millions each year.

For refugees and asylees and those agencies seeking to place people who are forced to run for their lives because of unjust and violent governments.

For orphans and foster children and those agencies seeking to place them. Their compelling and urgent need for love in family breaks open our hearts.

Secondly, I am led to ask us to seek to do more. I know of the efforts of many of you to support crisis pregnancy centers. I am a founding board member of one of the most active centers, Pregnancy Help, Inc. Come to our Epiphany celebration on January 12 on West 14th and 8th Avenue and see infants, babies, toddlers and children who are here on this planet because of the intervention of wonderful counselors who follow the Wonderful Counselor.

I know how many of us reach out to the youth in our communities who are in such need of an active and joyful faith community. When we set a District goal of raising up 200 homegrown mission leaders from among our youth and young people, it is precisely to engage with the Jesus who hit the streets every day, bringing the Gospel to those who are vulnerable to the currents of a secular age. I know that we have tremendous and active confirmation, first communion and baptismal classes. Let’s pray and work to expand them in 2008! I know that we have missionaries and mission field developers, as well as many congregations working with those who have had to flee from their homeland in fear of their lives due to political and religious pressure. Are we able to reach beneath the cracks and into the seams of those lives with hope, with immigration assistance, with the Jesus who began his life with his parents as one of the disenfranchised asylees, heading purposefully to a pagan land in order to avoid terror at the hands of his own earthly king?

Finally, I would challenge us each and all to be convicted and convinced of the directions we will take in 2008 from God’s Word and God’s Church. We are called to lead, serve and engage in the here and now. We are called to lead, serve and engage not from a position of weakness, but from the position of ultimate strength and courage given us by Christ whose precious blood shed, whose innocent suffering and death for us leads us to state with assurance – “that I may be His own, and live under Him in His Kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.” We poor miserable sinners are then and always declared Holy Innocents in being, living and serving. Have a wonderful 2008!

With love in Christ,
Dave Benke

- - - - - - - - - -
Thanks to President Benke, who posted this on ALPB Forum Online. This is the kind of letter one hopes to receive from his Bishop, which Dr. Benke is in everything but formal title.

The Episcopal Church Crisis...

...and the ELCA Is Rushing to Catch Up

Fr. Jonathan Millard, rector at the Church of the Ascension, Oakland, Penn., offered this diagnosis of the crisis in the Episcopal Church as a defense for the Diocese of Pittsburgh to depart TEC and realign with another province within the Anglican Communion. You can read his entire statement here, but what he describes is all to familiar for those of us in the ELCA since at least the "Call to Faithfulness" free conferences in 1990 and 1991. Lutheran CORE has been founded so we will not have to reach the point of having votes to leave in order to be part of a faithful church body.

Ten examples of how the essentials of the Christian Faith are being eroded, challenged, or contradicted by The Episcopal Church:

1. There is confusion concerning who God is:

Over the past 40 years there has been a drift away from orthodox ways of speaking about God. In some places in TEC instead of God being referred to as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, He is addressed only by function as creator, redeemer and sustainer, and not in personal ways. The problem with this approach is that it makes God more remote and the fact is God has revealed himself to us through the Scriptures not just by function, but in personal terms as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Another example is when the name LORD is replaced with "God." So instead of the Liturgical greeting: "The Lord be with you," you may encounter in some parts of TEC "God be with you" or even "God is in you" with the response: "and also in you." The word LORD apparently is perceived as too male, and too authoritarian. The earliest creedal statement was simply "Jesus is Lord." And yes, it was meant to be authoritarian. I was very sad when I attended the Interfaith service at Calvary last week, to see precisely such a change had been made to the liturgy. When it came to share the Peace, the wording was not: "The peace of the Lord", but rather "The Peace of God."

2. There is a lack of clear teaching about the divinity of Christ:

In answer to a question referencing the divinity of Jesus, in an article published earlier this year, the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Shori, said this: "If you begin to explore the literary context of the first century and the couple of hundred years on either side, the way that someone told a story about a great figure was to say ‘this one was born of the gods.’ That is what we’re saying. This carpenter from Nazareth or Bethlehem – and there are different stories about where he came from – shows us what a godly human being looks like, shows us God coming among us."

At best that is ambiguous or confusing, and at worst it is false teaching. Jesus was much more than someone who "shows us what a godly human being looks like." And the Church does not say that he was "born of the gods." The biblical witness and the faith of the church is that Jesus is the Son of God: fully God and fully man. The Word became flesh (John 1). We proclaim this truth weekly in the Nicene Creed.

3. There is a lack of clear teaching about Salvation and Sin:

Questioned about selfishness and falleness, the Presiding Bishop said this: "The human journey is about encouraging our own selves to move up into higher consciousness, into being able to be present in a violent situation without responding with violence ..." and in the same interview she went on to say: "The question is always how can we get beyond our own narrow self-interest and see that our salvation lies in attending to the needs of other people."

This is not the Gospel story of sin and redemption. The Scriptures teach that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23). The Scriptures teach that salvation is not through our works, or our efforts to move up to a higher consciousness, or even through attending to the needs of others. Our salvation lies in Jesus, "who while we were still sinners, died for us." (Rom. 5:8); and all who believe in the LORD and call upon his name will be saved. (Rom. 10:13)

4. There is a drift towards universalism:

The Presiding Bishop says of Jesus: "we who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box" (Time Magazine: July 17,2006). Jesus said: I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).

When, some years ago, I first heard Bishop Duncan speak of us living in a time of Reformation of the Church throughout the world, I confess I wondered if that was a little grandiose. I now believe, without a doubt, that he was right. This was illustrated for me, once again, just last week. I was deeply saddened to hear Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu deny the particularity of the Christian Faith, mocking the idea that Jesus could possibly be the only way to God, and declaring that all religions are worshipping the same God, just by different names. The archbishop is a great man who has done wonderful work for reconciliation and peace. I salute him for all the good he has done, but I am sad and troubled that he would be so dismissive of the supreme work of love and salvation that our Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

5. There is a loss of confidence in the Gospel as Good News for all:

The official teaching of the Anglican Church on the issue of human sexuality is that which has been set out by the Lambeth Conference in 1998 (Resolution 1:10). But here’s the key point concerning the Gospel that I want to make:

[The Conference] "recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships." [emphasis added]. It is that confidence in the transforming power of God that the actions of TEC now challenge. So instead of welcoming and loving all into the church so that they might experience transformation, TEC simply welcomes and affirms people just as they are – denying them the healing and hope and transforming power of God.

6. There is erroneous teaching and practice regarding human sexuality:

Over the past couple of decades there has been a serious rejection of the clear teaching of the Bible and the Church on human sexuality and marriage. The clear teaching of Scripture and tradition and of the one, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church is that sex is for marriage. The only sexually intimate relationships that are good and holy according to Scripture and tradition are those between a man and a woman, within an intended life long, faithful covenant of marriage. That means that pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, gay sex, any sex outside of marriage is all contrary to God’s will. This is the clear teaching of the Bible and of Jesus.

7. There is a seemingly ‘social justice only’ view of the mission of the church:

I have struggled to find any clear statements from the Presiding Bishop about the basics of the faith. From her inaugural sermon through to all kinds of talks and sermons and interviews that I’ve seen or heard extracts from she seems to be concerned primarily with a political and social gospel. She seems to be concerned principally about the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. There is much to be commended about these goals and much to challenge us – but they are by no means the same thing as the message of salvation for those who are perishing. (John 3: 16). If the Millennium Goals are our gospel message it falls seriously short of the message of proclaiming "Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

8. There is contempt for the Authority of the Bible:

Bishop Bennison has said: ""The church wrote the Bible, and the church can rewrite the Bible." No, that is a serious error.

9. There is failure by Bishops to defend the faith:

The role of a bishop in the words of the 1662 ordinal is: ‘‘to banish and drive away from the church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to the Word of God." – Here in the States, the very opposite is true. Rather than drive away false teaching many of the bishops of TEC embrace it, celebrate it and declare to be good and holy that which God declares to wrong. To ordain an openly gay, non-celibate man – when the rest of the world urged TEC not to do this – is not only contrary to Scripture but is also an arrogant display of American intransigence.

10. There is a lack of respect for truth or unity:

There seems to be a cavalier spirit among many in TEC that disregards the mandate for unity with the one holy, catholic and apostolic church. Claims are made by ‘progressives’ that they are putting truth ahead of unity. However the ‘truth’ they claim is that it’s a matter of social justice and Christian virtue to bless same sex unions and permit practicing gay and lesbian people to hold any office within the church. This is, of course, is contrary to the truth as revealed in Holy Scripture. And the only unity they secure is among a tiny minority of the church worldwide.

Sounds an awful lot like the direction the ELCA is being led, doesn't it?

You probably know that the Diocese of Pittsburgh's vote to begin leaving the Episcopal Church passed by a wide margin.

Thanks to Shrimp over at the Shellfish blog for bringing this to my attention.

Ministry: A Call from God to become Holy

Thanks to Professor (and ELCA Pastor) Karl Donfried (he's the guy who came in second in the last election for ELCA Presiding Bishop) for calling attention to this from Luke Timothy Johnson:

Particularly for those called to a life of ministry within the church, 2 Timothy poses some powerful challenges. It proposes that ministry is not a career choice, but a call from God to become holy. Neither is ministry a body of lore to communicate or a set of skills to exercise, but a matter of living in a certain manner that expresses one's deepest convictions in consistent patterns of behavior. Transformation of character or, if one prefers, continuing conversion is the very essence of ministry, as it is of discipleship. Carrying out acts of ministry without the corresponding affections is a form of counterfeiting, to "have the form of piety while denying its power" (3:5). Ministry, furthermore, is not measured by success, but by fidelity. Ministry demands witnessing to uncomfortable and unpopular truths in the face of indifference and disagreement. Ministry inevitably involves suffering if the gospel is truly lived and rightly proclaimed. The minister labors in a hope not of reward or recognition in this life, but in a hope of sharing in the resurrection life. Not one of these truths is supported by present-day culture. Few of them are supported by the church. The voice of 2 Timothy is not a voice that lulls Christians into a comfortable security, but one that speaks with the urgency of prophecy, calling for witnesses to truth in an age that prefers teachers who cater to its desires (4:3).

From The First and Second Letters to Timothy: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Luke Timothy Johnson, Anchor Bible, Vol. 35A, New York, Doubleday, 2001, p. 330.

++Mark Hanson on the Assembly

From ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson:

August 15, 2007

Dear colleagues in ministry:

I greet you in the name of our crucified and risen Christ. Amen.

The 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly ended last Saturday afternoon. Some of you were voting members. Others were present as congregational observers, volunteers, or visitors. Many followed the assembly via the Internet. Most of you have heard a variety of reports through the media. Thank you for your interest, involvement, and sustaining prayers.

As I approach the beginning of a second term, it is in a spirit of humility and gratitude for the honor of serving as your presiding bishop. But it is also with the deep conviction that we are called to share leadership for this church as we are sent into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the promise of the Gospel.

As ELCA leaders we share responsibility for understanding and interpreting the actions of the assembly. Both the assembly's work and how we describe and discuss it become part of our witness to the world. What do we want our testimony to be?

I want it to be that the living Word of God was at the heart of the tenth ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The assembly's life and work each day was centered in worship around the means of grace. We engaged Scripture through Bible study, prayer, and moments of "dwelling in the word" -- personal stories about what the Word of God means to individual members. Paul's invitation in Colossians to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" became a refrain woven throughout the week.

In fact, one of the assembly's most significant decisions was to call the entire ELCA to a five-year initiative, "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible." As a church body, we are committed to becoming fluent in the first language of our faith -- the language of Scripture. We know the power of God's Word not only to convict and free, but also to reform the church and transform the world. Let us now build upon the strong foundation of engagement with Scripture that undergirds this church. We are delighted that Professor Diane Jacobson will coordinate the project as she continues teaching half-time at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.

The "Brief Summary of Assembly Actions" (see link below) provides an overview of the primary actions of the assembly, which included the election of a new secretary for this church, Mr. David Swartling of Seattle, Wash.; adoption of the ELCA's tenth social statement, this one on education; a call for a strategy on HIV and AIDS; reaffirmation of the "Peace Not Walls" campaign; and commitment to the funding of this church's mission and ministry as outlined by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Mission Funding.

We were energized and encouraged by the presence of 100 young rostered leaders and nearly that many young people. We heard the witness of partners from around the world. We pondered and deliberated, we prayed and sang, we listened and laughed, we worshiped and heard God's Word. There are vital stories of faith and commitment, many of them overlooked by media reports, woven into each of the assembly's decisions. They deserve to be told throughout this church.

It is important that we accurately describe the assembly's various decisions regarding our current studies on sexuality and standards for rostered ministries. It is significant that the tone of our discussions was thoughtful and respectful, reflecting the commitment made by the 2005 Churchwide Assembly that we "concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreements ..." The following summary may inform your discussions:

* The ELCA Churchwide Assembly rejected resolutions that would have changed ELCA policy and practice to permit persons in same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders.
* The assembly affirmed the study process that will lead to the development of a social statement on human sexuality, voted to share with the study's task force the synod memorials on this matter, and directed the task force to address current policies precluding "practicing homosexual persons" from serving as pastors or rostered leaders as part of the recommendations it will bring to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.
* While voting on several occasions not to change the ELCA's constitution, bylaws, or policies, the assembly did take action to pray, urge, and encourage the leadership of the ELCA to "refrain from or demonstrate restraint in disciplining" pastors and other rostered leaders who are "in a mutual, chaste, and faithful committed same-gender relationship" and are currently serving in this church, as well as congregations that call such otherwise qualified candidates.

Let me underscore that this third action is not a change in the official documents or policies of the ELCA. Attempts to make such changes were rejected by the assembly.

However, the assembly offered the advice and counsel described above to bishops and others in positions of authority as they make pastoral decisions on matters relating to discipline as issues of human sexuality are being studied throughout the church prior to action by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. The third action does not bind bishops to follow this requested course; rather, it expresses the sense of the assembly to encourage restraint in discipline during this time of deliberation.

As we prepare for a social statement on human sexuality in 2009, it is essential that leaders of this church invite ELCA members to participate in the current phase of the ELCA Studies on Sexuality. The development of social statements is participatory in nature. Responses to the third study are welcome until November 1, 2007. Watch for the first draft of the social statement in March 2008. Please encourage thoughtful response to it. You will find more information at www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.

On an afternoon in the middle of the assembly, voting members participated in a "committee of the whole" discussion. I want to share with you the compelling image of that discussion from Bishop Peter Rogness of the Saint Paul Area Synod. He described the long lines of people at every microphone and then wrote, "Since [assembly] rules indicate we alternate speaking pro- and con-, a set of two microphones stands at each station -- one green, one red. I looked at the microphones closest to me and saw Saint Paul Area Synod voting members standing in both lines. I was proud of that. We've been together enough to enjoy and respect each other, and we went to different lines. And then we worshiped together, ate together, did other work together. This synod -- and this church -- is not simply a red line synod or a green line synod. We are church together. We can commit ourselves to living together, faithfully."

You will soon receive in the mail the "Brief Summary of Actions" from the assembly. The ELCA Web site provides information and photos from the assembly at www.elca.org/assembly . In addition, the links that follow will provide more information about the Churchwide Assembly, which you are invited to use as resources for your leadership in this sent church:

Brief summary of actions: www.elca.org/assembly/summary
MSH sermon: www.elca.org/assembly/worship/
MSH verbal report: www.elca.org/assembly/video/070808.html#bishop

I close with deep appreciation for you, for your ministry, and for our partnership in the mission we share. Yes, we are "marked with the cross of Christ forever, claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world." Thanks be to God!

Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop

Observations from the CWA

Greetings from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly floor. Okay, the photo is from the floor, me on duty as a microphone page. Right now we're in a recess and I have a few moments of internet access.

As I've written, the best sources for what's happening are the ELCA's own website and Forum Letter Editor Dick Johnson's reporting over at ALPB Forum Online.

Hopefully they'll offer it seperately as a video/DVD, but in this morning's (plenary session six) webcast you will find retiring ELCA Secretary' Lowell Almen's final Report to the CWA and it is a very personal, powerful tribute to the Church and his work in it. Recommended viewing.

Yesterday in his Report, Presiding Bishop Hanson spoke of visiting a dying aunt. While standing watch, he noticed her lips moving and trying to speak. Quickly he figured out that she wasn't in any distress, however. Rather, she was reciting from memory Paul's Letter from the Philippians. The whole thing! Turns out she had memorized much of the Bible as a youth. Later when she was more lucid and they were conversing, she told her Presiding Bishop nephew that he should be making sure that ELCA pastors where having their youth memorize the Scriptures, for the comfort it would bring them at times like this (when they were unable to read).

"Oh," he replied, "the Presiding Bishop doesn't have that kind of power or authority in the ELCA. That's the responsibility of Synod Bishops."

As the CWA laughed, by my microphone Bishop Eaton from Ohio stood up at her chair and started pointing at the pastors in her synod's delgation: "You, you, you..."

Also yesterday afternoon in one of the "Dwelling in the Word" moments, former Bishop Marcus Miller, now president at Southern Seminary, told a wonderful the story of the family going through his father-in-law's things after his death, and finding a beautiful, leather, King James Bible, well-worn especially in the Psalms and New Testament. "What should we do with this?" his wife asked. Bp. Miller kept it, and uses it daily in his morning devotions, conscious that he is not doing them alone, but that he is praying with the Church, his Father-in-law, and all the saints of the past and present. Try to catch that in yesterday afternoon's session, just prior to the Quasi-Committee of the Whole discussion on memorials related to homosexuality.

But then there's the "Justice for Women" report, that sounded like it came out of 1972. The director fairly demanded that all sort of theologies, including "womanist," be part of the ELCA's "Mainstream."

All in all, I'm having a good time working, meeting and re-meeting old friends and colleagues. But the major controversies have yet to be discussed much. Now, back to my station for the afternoon.

Keep praying for us.