I attended several LCA conventions (Chicago, Toronto) and one ELCA convention (Minneapolis) with Mrs. Ichabod. I heard many examples of synod worship. No one dared dissent from the infallible, inerrant leaders. The bishops, as they came to be called, were told what to do and say. In ELCA, the bishops were stripped of their power on the national level, reducing them to an advisory panel. Imagine my surprise when one of the bishops, Ken Sauer, began urging everyone to leave ELCA and join his new denomination.
The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau has always been an outfit somewhat to the right of ELCA and to the left of Missouri. Many soon-to-be Roman priests comment on the site as well. That is often a topic, but the current debate concerns leaving ELCA. Two great points have been made.
One. The doctrinal debates are making people look at the Scriptures and the Confessions. They are no longer relying on the seminary intellectuals to tell them what to think. Wide open ordination of pan-sexual couples was the final straw about the integrity of ELCA leadership.
Two. The previous crisis in forcing a doctrinal union with the Episcopal Church made one thing clear. There is no possibility of reconciling the Reformed view of the Lord's Supper with the Biblical Lutheran view. They are incompatible. Hence, no legitimate fellowship is possible. (Hear that - WELS, ELS, LCMS?) That claim was based on the Formula of Concord, argued by an ELCA pastor.
If things get worse in WELS and the ELS, their pastors and laity may be moved to study the Formula of Concord, too. Beware, the ELCA members are not looking to join another Emerging Church circus with Whoopie Worship. They had plenty of that, done better, in ELCA. They are leaving ELCA informed and aware. Synod worship will not impress them.
10 comments:
Many thoughtful people around the spectrum of Lutheranism are asking: But what's a synod for? In the pioneering days and for a few more generations, synods, it seems to me, formed common communities of faith. Access to information was limited, to say the least. Outside influences could be kept out. The pastors were the best educated people in the church.
That has changed. Information can not be restricted. Outside influences cannot be blocked out. Pastors are no longer the best-educated and, in many cases, pastors are very poorly educated in comparison to their parishioners.
These changes do not automatically mean that the faithful will renounce that for which faithfulness is worthy. It means that the clergy must respond to their parishioners. What the 'Missouri Synod position' is on this or the 'Wisconsin Synod position' is on that or what the Norwegian fathers believed about something else is not important any more.
Each idea must be studied for itself without resorting to a Brad Childress-like clipboard of orthodoxy without thought. Coach Childress calls the plays according to what the game situation demands. It's all in black-and-white according to the demands of the game.
Childress-like clipboard Lutheranism means that people don't have to think very much. It's just a matter of reaction.
By the way, Happy New Year GJ, to you and all of your readers.
Norman Teigen
ELS Layman
(now officially a spokesman for the Evangelical Lutheran Synod)
Throw ELCA on the compost heap, too, and let it rot.
"No one dared dissent from the infallible, inerrant leaders. The bishops, as they came to be called, were told what to do and say."
Substitute DPs for bishops, and you have the same thing thanks to reproduction specialists like Kelm.
Stop fighting it. Satan has laid claim to all religious orders including ELCA, WELS, ELS, and LCMS. Resistance is futile without the Lord.
"If things get worse in WELS and the ELS, their pastors and laity may be moved to study the Formula of Concord, too."
I don't know. They are very stiff necked and stubborn.
Satan has used mental addiction to synod worship to cloud and push out the Word of God.
We are not in denial!
How could such misfits ever serve in the ministry? What good could
they ever accomplish? Who would ever want people like these as teachers?
Jesus would. Jesus did. United in him, inspired by him, and on fire for him
these disciples accomplished much for their Lord.
It still happens.
Each of us is a unique individual, not only in physical appearance, in
special talents and abilities, but in temperament. Each of us has certain
personality strengths and weaknesses. We need to confess our weaknesses
as the sins they are and with God’s help seek to overcome them. We need to
appreciate our God-given strengths and, as they are sanctified by the
gospel, use them to his glory. We need to understand other people’s weak-
nesses and be forgiving. We need to appreciate other people’s strengths and
thank God for them as they use them to his glory. As Christ has made us
his own, called us to serve him, and given each of us unique personality
strengths for service, so we need to accept and appreciate one another as we
work together in the greatest cause on earth
The
Lutheran
Educator
VOLUME 32
NUMBER 2
DECEMBER 1991
"Childress-like clipboard Lutheranism means that people don't have to think very much. It's just a matter of reaction."
That is the beauty of a parochial education. Memorization is emphasized and not thinking. Let the church leaders do your thinking for you.
"The greatest cause on earth" - that is, according to the 1991 Lutheran Educator - is to put all emphasis on OUR WORKS, by ignoring any and all use of God's Word, and thereby miserably failing to accentuate the work of the Lord Jesus Christ FOR US; through which faith in the forgiveness of our sins, is alone granted us by the Father, for the sake of Christ, who died for our sins.
And that is Lutheran ? Never !
KJV JOHN 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Post a Comment