ELCA Bishop Eaton
Bishop's Article: Northeastern Ohio Synod
Northeast Ohio Synod, ELCA ^ | 15 December AD 2009 | Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 8:56:36 PM by lightman
From NE Ohio December newsletter - Bishop's Article:
On December third we held a special meeting of the synod council, deans, committee chairs and synod staff to take a look at the projected $250,000-$400,000 deficit for fiscal year 2010-11. Since a $400,000 deficit is a jaw-dropping number to me, I wanted advice on how to carry out the ministry that we do together as a synod. The short-term solution is to reduce hours and compensation for the entire staff. Developing a long-term solution is going to take a lot more work.
I have had many people who are quick to point out that it is the actions of the churchwide assembly that got us into this mess. I know that members and congregations are withholding mission support. It is not always clear if this is principled or punitive. When I explained at a meeting with a congregation the effects of withholding support – camps, colleges, seminaries, social service agencies all will suffer, not to mention synod and churchwide staff – one person responded, “Good. Maybe you’ll get the point.”
Well, here’s the point as I see it and it has little to do with sex or churchwide assemblies: Of course the actions of this summer’s assembly have exacerbated the current crisis, but they are not the cause. If we had never had a human sexuality study, if ministry policies remained the same, we would still get to where we are now. Maybe not as quickly, but inexorably. I am convinced that this is not a financial crisis, nor is it a membership recruitment crisis. It is a spiritual crisis. We have coasted in this church and its predecessors for generations. We cling to a nostalgic image of the church that we remember from our childhood. And since the average church-going Lutheran is twenty years older than the average U.S population, that childhood was a long time ago.
The world has changed. The church no longer has a place of privilege. Sunday mornings are no longer off limits. When planning new communities fewer places are allotted to religious institutions because they don’t pay taxes and developers have determined that they don’t add value to the community. Twenty- and thirty-somethings are absent from our pews. This reality didn’t come about in the just the past four months.
What do we do? Compete with the mega-churches? Jettison the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed to be more accessible? Preach a “health and wealth” gospel that promises people their “best life now”? Rescind every action of every churchwide assembly since 1988?
No.
In the beginning Advent was a penitential season. Only after centuries did it become a season of preparation and anticipation. For me, and especially this year, Advent is a time to cling more tightly to the gospel. When we read in Isaiah, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” We see the reality of our situation. On our own we are helpless and lost. We cannot effect our deliverance. We are, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “like prisoners who must wait for someone from the outside to unlock our cell”. The death and resurrection of Jesus has done that. That is our core belief. That is the faith. It is Christ and Christ crucified that is the unshakable foundation of the church. And it is a matter of life and death. If we as the ELCA cannot recover some of the urgency of the faith, if we are unwilling to bet our lives on this gospel then no amount of programming or hand-wringing will make any difference. But if, with God’s help, we are able to shake off our spiritual lassitude there is no power on earth that can withstand the gospel.
