The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

At the beginning of this portion of his Sermon 293, St. Augustine of Hippo notes why this Festival celebrated on June 24th is so unusual. Part of what captured my fancy when I read it -- this is the fourth reading for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in For All the Saints, and also a reading in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours -- was the confession of this Doctor of the Church that his explanation may not really be up to the occasion. Another part is the theological respect he offers to his hearers as he begins. And it fit very well with the Gospel appointed for this Festival Day, St. Luke 1:57-80.

The Church observes the birth of John as a hallowed event. We have no such commemoration for any other fathers; but it is significant that we celebrate the birthdays of John and of Jesus. This day cannot be passed by. And even if my explanation does not match the dignity of the feast, you may still meditate on it with great depth and profit.

John was born of a woman too old for childbirth; Christ was born of a youthful virgin. The news of John's birth was met with incredulity, and his father was struck dumb. Christ's birth was believed, and he was conceived through faith.

Such is the topic, as I have presented it, for our inquiry and discussion. But as I said before, if I lack either the time or the ability to study the implication of so profound a mystery, he who speaks within you even when I am not here will teach you better; it is he whom you contemplate with devotion, whom you have welcomed into your hearts, whose temples you have become.

John, then, appears as the boundary between the two testaments, the old and the new. That he is a sort of boundary the Lord himself bears witness, when he speaks of the law and the prophets up until John the Baptist. Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the new era to come. As a representative of the past, he is born of aged parents; as a herald of the new era, he is declared to be a prophet while still in his mother's womb. For when yet unborn, he leapt in his mother's womb at the arrival of blessed Mary. In that womb he had already been designated a prophet, even before he was born; it was revealed that he was to be Christ's precursor, before they ever saw one another. These are divine happenings, going beyond the limits of our human frailty. Eventually he is born, he receives his name, his tather's tongue is loosened. See how these events reflect reality.

Zechariah is silent and loses his voice until John, the precursor of the Lord, is born and restores his voice. The silence of Zechariah is nothing but the age of prophecy lying hidden, obscured, as it were, and concealed before the preaching of Christ. At John's arrival Zechariah's voice is released, and it becomes clear at the coming of the one who was foretold. The release of Zechariah's voice at the birth of John is a parallel to the rending of the veil at Christ's crucifixion. If John were announcing his own coming, Zechariah's lips would not have been opened. The tongue is loosened because a voice is born. For when John was preaching the Lord's coming he was asked: Who are you? And he replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The voice is John, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word." John was a voice that lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal.

Here ends the reading.

Canoga High's Rudy Lugo Retires

I just discovered today this June 8 report by Eric Sondheimer in the Los Angeles Times that Canoga Park High School's Rudy Lugo, about whom I blogged last fall, is retiring:

Rudy Lugo, the football coach at Canoga Park since 1986 who has been associated with the program since he was an assistant coach in 1969, has announced his retirement as a teacher and coach. Assistant Ivan Moreno will take over for Lugo.

Lugo, a Canoga Park graduate, has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for lung cancer. He has been so closely tied to Canoga Park that his battle with his illness has deeply affected current and past students. His late wife attended Canoga Park, along with his two children.

Athletic Director Jo Ann Heller said the school is hopeful Lugo can help with the football program again once he regains his health.

"It's a big loss emotionally and support-wise," she said. "He's been a pillar of Canoga Park High and will never be replaced."

My 10th grade Phys. Ed. teacher, Coach Lugo was also Assistant Coach for both Hunter baseball and football teams when I was in high school 1974-77. His wife, Nancy, who was a year behind me in school, died very suddenly last March as he was recovering from and building up strength after a prior series of treatments.

Father's Day

Oh, I wish I had known about this earlier.

I have almost from the beginning of my ministry had the practice of reading, at Zion's Thanksgiving Eve service, the Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of the President of the United States. But Thanksgiving Day is not the only holiday that comes with a Presidential Proclamation.

Sunday was Father's Day, and the President issued a proclamation. You may agreee or disagree with much that President Bush does and says, but his speechwriters are clearly familiar with the Scriptures and Christian teaching. Yes, they use them for political purposes, but that has a long tradition in our Republic. Besides, as a friend and colleague, Pr. Brian Hughes has noted elsewhere, this years' Father's Day Proclamation has Luther's fingerprints all over it.

Father's Day, 2007
A Proclamation By the President of the United States of America

On Father's Day, we reflect on the many ways that fathers contribute to the lives of their children with spoken words and unspoken kindness.

Fathers are one of the most important influences in the lives of children, and their unconditional love is an indispensable anchor of certainty and strength. By placing their family's well-being above their own, fathers provide children with an example of what it means to be a responsible person. Through unwavering devotion and daily sacrifice, fathers work to create an environment where children are protected and encouraged. Fathers instill in their children an understanding of right and wrong and help them to grow in confidence and character. These dedicated men strive to give their sons and daughters the necessary foundation to make good choices and lead lives of purpose.

On Father's Day and throughout the year, we honor the men who have taken on the great joy and responsibility of fatherhood, and we celebrate their extraordinary impact and influence. All Americans are especially grateful to the many fathers who are serving their country as members of the Armed Forces, and we lift them and their loved ones up in prayer.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 17, 2007, as Father's Day. I encourage all Americans to express admiration and appreciation to fathers for their many contributions to our Nation's children. I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on this day. I also call upon State and local governments and citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Study after study shows that the role of fathers in the church and in our society cannot be underestimated. The decline of the church and of our society is directly related to the diminishing of fatherhood in both. Not just the Fatherhood of God, but the fatherhood of Dad.

At Zion on Sunday our Fellowship team presented lapel roses to all fathers -- the first time we'd done something like this. And I called my Dad long-distance on Father's Day afternoon, which later he celebrated with the rest of family at my sister's home. "Through unwavering devotion and daily sacrifice," the President proclaims, "fathers work to create an environment where children are protected and encouraged. Fathers instill in their children an understanding of right and wrong and help them to grow in confidence and character. These dedicated men strive to give their sons and daughters the necessary foundation to make good choices and lead lives of purpose."

I'm thankful I was able to do what I did. But I wish I'd used those words, too, for both. Thanks to those faithful Zionite dads. And thanks to my Dad.

The Holy Trinity

This Sunday is the Festival of the Holy Trinity, which in the Western Catholic Church has been observed on the first Sunday after Pentecost since 1334. It is commonly described as the only festival devoted to a doctrine, but I find that a rather short-sighted description. The day (as well as the doctrine) is about how God has revealed himself to man, so that we might know him and be in relationship with him. That's no dry academic thing, though we often treat it that way.

A liturgical tradition for Holy Trinity Sunday, one that we follow at Zion, is for the congregation to speak the "Athanasian Creed." According to the Lutheran Confessions, this Creed ranks with the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, all three of which appear at the beginning of the Book of Concord -- in front of the Augsburg Confession and the other Confessions. It is named after St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria from 328-373, the most steadfast of the defenders of the Creed of the Council of Nicea in 325 against the Arians, who nonetheless frequently controlled the Church (including exiling Athanasius several times) until the Council of Chalcedon in 381, from which came what we now call the Nicene (or Niceno-Constantinopolitan) Creed. The Arians were the initial evangelizers of Western Europe and remained strong there well into the 5th Century, the latter part during which the Athanasian Creed emerged in Gaul (France) as a meditation (or even hymn) upon the Nicene Creed against the Arians.

The congregation at Zion will be reading it antiphonally following the Sermon, using this elegant translation from the Lutheran Book of Worship -- which is by Prof. Ralph Quere and under the LBW copyright (and not ICET/ELLC as the ELCA website erroneously states). For purposes of this Blog, here is an older version (not under copyright) as found in the (current) 1979 Book of Common Prayer. (Don't need Augsburg Fortress' copyright department coming after me for this!)

To begin to "understand" the Holy Trinity, I recommend that you meditate on this, for it beats all those modalistic children's sermons Pastors (and, yes, I did it myself a couple of times) keep foisting upon their congregations. And Lutherans really do (or at least we have officially said so for 427 years) believe this!

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.

Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.

The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.

As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.

And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.

And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,

So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.

The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another;

But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;

God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;

Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood;

Who, although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;

One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;

One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.

For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead.

At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works.

And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Ex-gay?

One sure way to fan the fires of the homosexuality debates in the ELCA and other, uh, "mainline" churches is to start talking about repentance or healing for gay men and lesbians. Yet here's a rather sympathetic book review reprinted from The Christian Century, which is about as "mainline Protestant" a periodical as there is.

The books reviewed are Be Not Deceived: The Sacred and Sexual Struggles of Gay and Ex-Gay Christian Men (Rutgers University Press, 225 pp., $23.95, by Michelle Wolkomir) and Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement (University of California Press, 293 pp., $19.95 paperback, by Tanya Erzen).

The review is timely not only in the midst of the debates in which we have been engaged since the ELCA's formation, but in the light of last March's Related Leaders Conference, "Homosexuality & the Church," which I attended (the Bishop of Quincy, 4 Quincy priests, and I were the only ones dressed in "clerical" attire) as one of some 250 Central Illinois church leaders. The Conference was offered to help us "understand how we should respond to those dealing with homosexuality and minister with the love and compassion that Jesus would" and is well-described on local Pastor charlieDEAN’S Blog.

Oh, you can find the review here, too, but thanks to The Christian Century's generous Electronic Reproduction policy, I'm putting the entire review here.

Copyright 2007 CHRISTIAN CENTURY. Reproduced by permission from the May 15, 2007, issue of the CHRISTIAN CENTURY. Subscriptions: $49/year from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. 1-800-208-4097

Formerly gay?
by Amy Johnson Frykholm

In the aftermath of New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard's fall from grace amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, a subtle controversy emerged among conservative Christians.

Three weeks after the Colorado Springs pastor left for an undisclosed treatment center to grapple with his sexuality, pastor Tim Ralph announced that Haggard had emerged from those meetings "completely heterosexual." Among those who questioned this pronouncement was Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, an umbrella organization for what is called the ex-gay movement. Chambers politely contended that Ralph had possibly misunderstood the dynamics of sexuality involved in the Haggard case. He was quick to caution that Haggard's story is not typical of people involved in ex-gay therapy and that "recovery" from homosexuality is a long process.

The ex-gay movement is controversial and misunderstood. Essentially, ex-gay leaders argue that homosexuality is caused by a particular kind of home environment and that homosexuals can change their behavior with the help of therapy and through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Two recent books help make sense of the ex-gay movement and its complexities through careful research. Tanya Erzen wrote Straight to Jesus after spending a year at New Hope Ministry in California, a residential treatment program for men who hope to change their homosexual behavior. Erzen interviewed both participants and leaders, attended group meetings, worked in New Hope's office and helped design the ministry's Web site. Her book draws on a wealth of personal relationships.

At the heart of Erzen's analysis is a point about ex-gay ministries that the media often miss: most ex-gay ministries are skeptical about their ability to "cure" homosexuality. While many people involved in these ministries have heterosexual marriage and biological children as their ultimate goal, and while they idealize heterosexual relationships, most ex-gay people find themselves part of a third category.

Ex-gay people believe that they will still experience homosexual desire and maybe even occasionally "fall," but that through gradual religious conversion, sexual conversion can happen as well. "Sexual identity is malleable and changeable," Erzen writes, "because it is completely entwined with religious conversion." Religious conversion and sexual conversion are so linked that participants don't change their sexual orientation so much as commit to a life of "following Jesus." As one ex-gay woman put it, "First I considered myself a lesbian, then a woman who struggles with lesbianism; now I consider myself a woman of God."

Erzen offers some of the nuances that we miss when we are focused on the black-and-white politics and the pronouncements of organizational spokespeople. One such nuance is that while heterosexual marriage and biological children are touted as the ideal by many in conservative Christian politics, ex-gay communities actually provide alternative family structures. Ex-gay people build networks of relationships within the ex-gay community, and these relationships provide the friendship, encouragement and spiritual support that many ex-gay people long for.

Another important nuance is that a repeated pattern of "fall" and "redemption" is considered a normal part of the recovery process. People involved in ex-gay ministries accept accountability for such private parts of their lives as sexual fantasy, crushes and fleeting sexual feelings. While the media seem scandalized by the failings of ex-gay people, publishing reports of members being discovered in gay bars or returning to "the gay lifestyle," many ex-gay people take such happenings as part of the reality of their attempt at "recovery." Within the social and religious system to which they are committed, homosexuality is just one sin among others. They expect failings, confession and return as part of a lifelong process.

Erzen not only makes possible a better understanding of the ideas that motivate the ex-gay movement, she also offers important portraits of ex-gay individuals. We meet a young man for whom New Hope provides an opportunity to explore his identity and eventually to choose to live as a gay man. "New Hope taught me how to think, how to look inside myself," he says. We meet a much older man, "Paul," who lived with the house leader "Hank" as his lover for many years. Paul calls New Hope his refuge and tells Erzen that he will die outside of the program. During the year that Erzen spends at New Hope, Paul goes to Ohio on a business trip, and news reaches the house of his death. These portraits give a compassionate picture of ex-gay people that could perhaps be attained in no other way than through engagement with their stories. Disagreements with New Hope's methods, ideology, theology and practice are complicated by an encounter with ex-gay people's experiences.

The richness of Erzen's research is not matched in Michelle Wolkomir's Be Not Deceived, but the latter has a significant story to tell as well. Wolkomir documents the theological and practical methods of two men's Bible study groups. One group is a part of the Metropolitan Community Church and helps men to live as gay Christians. The other is an Exodus International group that tries to lead men out of homosexuality. Wolkomir is primarily focused on these more limited contexts, and she does not bring individual men's stories to life in the same way as Erzen.

Her important contribution is to take us beyond the two groups' oppositional political positions. She underscores their common religious heritage, a version of Christianity that emphasizes personal salvation and the centrality of testimony. Both groups retrain men in their understanding of what it means to be a good Christian, and they direct participants' emotional lives in very focused directions—one toward openness and acceptance, the other toward a particular understanding of morality that includes falls and redemption. Moving between these two different perspectives helps to overcome the simplistic and divisive language that we often use to discuss homosexuality.

Wolkomir also includes a fascinating chapter on the experiences of women whose husbands are involved in ex-gay ministries. She attempts to understand how these women make sense of their marriage, their religious commitment, and their husband's attraction to other men. Wolkomir's approach and her subsequent account are both compassionate and dispassionate, providing much vital material for challenging stereotypical assumptions.

Books like Erzen's and Wolkomir's are increasingly important as Christians struggle with questions of sexual identity. They should be widely read by people who want to understand the political positions not only in the light of theological pronouncements, but also through the textures of individual lives and experiences.

Amy Johnson Frykholm, author of Rapture Culture, teaches at Colorado Mountain College.

The 9.5 Theses

The disputes one finds today in the ELCA are nothing new for us. In Lent of 1995 a group of pastors sent to every ELCA pastor what they called 9.5 Theses Concerning the Confession of the Faith in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Over 700 ELCA pastors signed them, but the hoped-for discussion was quashed from the ELCA's highest levels. I'll confess that I never got around to signing them, but from these 9.5 Theses emerged the Society of the Holy Trinity, whose Rule I subscribed to at the first opportunity.

As a participant in several venues in the continuing debates that rage over the Scriptures, the Ministry, worship (both liturgical language and styles), marriage and sexuality, etc. in the ELCA (and other churches), I find that the 9.5 Theses continue to speak a powerful, even prophetic, word to us. And far more eloquently than much of our discourse today. I commend them to you.

---

9.5 Theses
Concerning the Confession of the Faith
in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Preamble

To the people of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood," and to their pastors: "May grace and peace be yours in abundance" (1 Peter 1:2).

The ELCA is in a crisis—a crisis of faith. The critical question is whether this church will prove faithful to the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures and the catholic creeds and evangelical confessions, or fall into apostasy—a fall which could go either to the right or to the left. Many in the ELCA tilt toward the right—the ideologies of enthusiasm, fundamentalism, nationalism, and pietism. Many others lean toward the left—the ideologies of activism, feminism, advocacy. This results in the appearance of a conservative versus liberal struggle, but this appearance is an illusion. The real struggle is for faithful adherence to the Scriptures, creeds and confessions over against their subordination to these social or religious ideologies.

Whenever such ideologies prevail, the Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church, and our people, left to their own devices, are deprived of that true consolation which comes from "the Gospel of God . . . concerning his Son . . . Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1ff).

Praying for the Church, rejoicing in the Gospel, convicted by the Word of God, we offer the following theses, that our confession of the Faith might address the current crisis directly and honestly. Our pastoral office compels us to speak.

1. The Revelation and Name of the Holy Trinity

"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf." (John 15:26)

"Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims, praises, worships" no other God than the LORD God of Israel, revealed in and named by Jesus Christ as "the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Te Deum; Matthew 28:19; Augsburg Confession—Article I).

We reject the false teaching that the naming of God as Father is a human construct to be understood on the analogy of human fatherhood; that it designates Israel's God as male; that the Trinitarian Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is inherently oppressive to human beings in general or women in particular; or that substituting triadic terms is adequate.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is ignored, minimized, marginalized, suppressed or altered in the Church's preaching and praying, baptizing and confessing.

2. The Bondage of Humanity to Sin

"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned." (Romans 5:12)

The Church confesses "that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves" (Lutheran Book of Worship—Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness; Augsburg Confession—Articles II, XVIII, XIX).

We reject the false teaching that would place ultimate hope in human goodness and self-fulfillment, that would confuse sin with failure or lack of virtue, that would exchange confession of our sin before God for self-analyses of perceived human problems.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever we sinners are not held accountable before the holy and righteous God.

3. The Person and Work of God the Son

"Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory." (1 Timothy 3:16)

The Church confesses and believes in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, "the eternal Son of the Father," crucified and raised for the salvation of the world, "worthy of all worship" (Te Deum; Augsburg Confession—Article III).

We reject the false teaching that would separate the man Jesus from the risen Christ, and diminish his particular identity by "re-imagining" him as female, speaking of him as androgynous, or using him as a "Christ-principle." We also reject the false teaching that Christ is for Christians only, that he is but one savior among many, that faith is salutary apart from the particular work of Christ.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever, under the guise of a false pluralism, we do not boldly proclaim the man Jesus Christ, the Jew from Nazareth, as the unique and universal Savior, the One for the many.

4. The Proclamation of Forgiveness, Life and Salvation

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

The Church "acknowledges one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins," in which God has justified the ungodly and promised salvation from sin and death, from devil and hell, and from God's own law and wrath, "and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers" (Nicene Creed; Te Deum; Augsburg Confession—Articles III & IV).

We reject the false teaching that would replace God's eschatological salvation with therapeutic rejuvenation, material well-being, social transformation, the spread of provisional human justice, or other good and desirable effects in what unbelief would label "the real world."

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church when the singular and specific promise of  the Gospel is traded for the promise of some worldly good or the plans and pleas for human betterment.

5. The Holy Spirit and the Means of Grace

"So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

The Church confesses and believes in "the Holy Spirit, Advocate and Guide," who "calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church" through, and only through, God's means of Grace, which is the preaching of the Word—i.e. through Scripture, sermon, Baptism, Absolution, and Communion (Te Deum; Small Catechism—Creed—Article III; Augsburg Confession—Articles V, IX-XIII).

We reject the false teaching that the Holy Spirit is given apart from the preached Word and sacraments, that the Holy Spirit is evidenced by human enthusiasm or activism, that the Holy Spirit is to be equated with the dynamic of social, political and spiritual movements. We reject the false teaching that the Church grows through human ingenuity and energy. We reject the false teaching that God's liturgy is a tool for the advancement of political, cultural or therapeutic programs. We reject the elevation of organizational success, growth in numbers, and political and therapeutic activity to the status of marks of the Church.

The Word of God is silenced among  us and driven out of the Church when the true means of grace "the preaching of the Word and the sacraments" no longer
defines, structures and centers the ministry and mission of the Christian congregation.

6. The Vocation of the Baptized and Good Works

"For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, to be our way of life." (Ephesians 2:10)

The Church confesses that the faithful are "bound to bring forth fruits—that is, the good works mandated by God" in the Ten Commandments, and done for God's sake alone (Augsburg Confession—Articles VI, XVI, XX).

We reject the false teaching that would elevate advocacy for self-chosen high-visibility causes above the common participation of Christians in the life of the world as husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, employers, workers, artists, teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever the daily vocation of Christians is denigrated.

7. The Unity of the Church Catholic

"For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13)

The Church "believes in one holy catholic and apostolic Church," "the Body of Christ," which is the congregation of the faithful gathered by the Holy Spirit to hear the preached Word and sacraments (Nicene Creed; Romans 12:5; I Corinthians 12:12ff.; Augsburg Confession—Article Vll).

We reject the false teaching of a North American liberal Christianity that would substitute a politically-devised multi-culturalism or inclusivism for the Church's true catholic unity in the preached Word and sacraments. We reject the false teaching of a North American conservative Protestantism that would substitute an invisible, spiritual experience of fellowship for the concrete reality of the preached Word and sacraments.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever the visible unity of the churches is not actively pursued in terms of the true God-given unity of the Church in Word and Sacrament.

8. The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

"For 'no human being will be justified in his sight' by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law, comes the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)

The Church teaches that both law and gospel must continually be preached in the congregation of the faithful: the law to convict people of sin and to promote God's temporal justice, the gospel to forgive people of sins and to Proclaim God's eternal righteousness (Apology of Augsburg Confession—Article IV).

We reject the false teaching that would identify God's law with achievable human goals rather than as the call to repent from sin and to amend one's life before the holy God. We reject the false teaching that would re-define God's gospel as a freedom which allows individuals to fulfill themselves and to do whatever pleases them.

The Word of God is silenced among us  and driven out of the Church whenever it is no longer held that God Almighty who created everything and gave us his law is the one God who redeemed the creation and renews it through his Holy Spirit.

9. The Holy Ministry

"Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries." (1 Corinthians 4:1)

The Church teaches that the holy Ministry is the divinely instituted public office of  preaching the Word and sacraments in the congregation of the faithful (Augsburg Confession—Articles V, XIV, XXVIII; cf. Occasional Services—Ordination).

We reject the false teaching that would define the holy Ministry as a "helping profession," and so turn bishops and pastors into psychological counselors or social activists. We reject the false teaching that would fragment the one divinely instituted Ministry into so-called specialized ministries, as if the circumstances of ministry determine its content and practice. We reject the false teaching that ordained ministers are not subject to an exemplary standard in their conduct and relationships, or that they may excuse immoral behavior by an appeal to privacy or gospel freedom.

The Word of God is silenced among us and driven out of the Church whenever the holy Ministry becomes a loosely defined service to people rather than the specific divine call to serve the Word of God, and whenever bishops and pastors are not encouraged to adorn the holy Ministry with holy lives.

9.5.

"We believe that you will come and be our judge. Come, then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting." (Te Deum)

Almighty God, grant to your Church your Holy Spirit and the wisdom which comes down from heaven, that your Word may not be bound but have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ's holy people, that in steadfast faith we may serve you and in the confession of your name may abide to the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Lutheran Book of Worship—Matins & Vespers)

Signed:
          Pastor Louis A. Smith, Collingswood, NJ
          Pastor Phillip Max Johnson, Jersey City, NJ
          Pastor Linda Sue Larson, Cresskill, NJ
          Pastor John David Larson, Cresskill, NJ
          Pastor Richard F. Niebanck, Delhi, NY
          Pastor Beth A. Schlegel, Trenton, NJ
          Pastor Mark A. Hoffman, Moorestown, NJ

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For other copies of the 9.5 Theses on the web, see here (this includes the cover letter), here, here, and here.

Each of the above signing pastors were among the founders of the Society of the Holy Trinity in 1997. Lou Smith was the Society's Vicar when he departed from this life in November 2004. Phillip Johnson, our first Senior, was received into the Catholic Church last summer. The others still hold the fort in the ELCA.

ELCAers Invited to Sign Statement on Scripture

Three weeks ago I posted A Lutheran Statement on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the Church, which had just been posted by Lutheran CORE - Coalition for Reform as the ELCA begins Book of Faith: Lutherans Engage the Bible, a five-year "initiative to deepen and broaden engagement with the Bible for all ages, all cultures, and to draw on our heritage of faithful ways to let the Word engage us." CORE has now made available a two-page print-friendly version of the Statement.

Lutheran CORE is also inviting ELCA clergy and laity to add their signatures to the statement by sending their name and address by email to L-CORE@charter.net. CORE intends to send the statement along with the signatures received by the end of June to ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, the Rev. Stanley Olson (Exec. Director of the ELCA unit on Vocation and Vocation), and the Synodical Bishops in July (in time for the Churchwide Assembly in August). With a goal of 2000 signatures, as of this moment 157 persons (including at least 61 pastors and one AIM) have signed on. I've signed it. How about you?