I had an unusual experience this week. Pastor Jenswold moved up to Fox Valley and out of the parsonage where we once lived. A member found an entire box of memorabilia that belonged to us. When we moved, some boxes did not fit in the trucks or car, and I asked several times for those boxes to be shipped to us at our expense. Two members and the congregational president promised to do that. Nothing happened.
That box sat in the parsonage for 17 years, but no effort was made to send it to us. The Jenswolds certainly knew it was not theirs, because our names were all over the inside, in personal letters, greeting cards, photo calendars from my father's doughnut shop, etc. They did not take the box along, but they did not do anything with it, either. A member found it in the parsonage, looked inside and contacted me, very friendly and helpful.
The contents involved some of my wife's favorite or most personal memories. For example, many people wrote us letters when Bethany was diagnosed with a terminal neurological disorder. One letter of comfort came from Yale professor Nils A. Dahl, now enjoying eternal life. Another came from my old-fashioned vicarage supervisor. Others were written by family and friends.
The photo calendars are rare and personal. The oldest one shows my cousins as young children. It is 66 years old. Others show me and family members at various stages, from the childhood of the Jackson kids to displaying our own children.
Who would keep these personal materials from their owners for 17 years? Would a pastor and his wife think that the parents of two children who died might enjoy Christian letters of comfort? However, Jenswold apparently derived his perspective from VP Paul Kuske's expert opinion - that I was crazy. (In WELS, crazy is defined as "someone opposed to clergy adultery and Church Growth," because WELS adores both.)
I am mentioning this incident because it illustrates the basic attitude of the WELS clergy. They glory in being petty, vindictive, and destructive, even though they howl with outrage about someone being "unbrotherly" or "unloving." I know from many other conversations that the WELS pastors glory in their dirty tricks, which are not harmless pranks.
WELS clergy behavior is based upon their sacred doctrine of forgiveness without faith. That is why they are so legalistic and Anti-nomian at the same time. They have no grasp of the relationship between Law and Gospel. They have programs to manufacture love and friendliness, but what is that without the Gospel itself?
WELS clergy can hardly choke out the words "Means of Grace," and they certainly cannot articulate the effective Word. They spend their energy attacking faith supporting a cowardly Universalism.
I hear from people abused by the Wisconsin sect. I try to comfort them by suggesting the WELS did them a favor by hating them away. The problem is that WELS was the universe for most of them. Once they were hated away, either as laity or church workers, most stopped speaking to them. I find the experience funny, when I attend an event and someone makes a point of seeing through me, glaring at me with laser eyes, or walking by. Missouri does it too. I am sure the ELS ministerium-- what's left after Pope John's messianic leadership--has pledged to shun me too.
I think it is funny because WELS, Missouri and the Little Sect on the Prairie are not my universe. I am not related to their bigshots and ex-convicts. But I do understand how the excommunicated feel.
I became a Lutheran through the Word, especially by experiencing the Word in a liturgical service. The actions and teachings of the LCA, Missouri, and WELS have been a crushing disappointment to me. Sometimes I wonder if it is worthwhile to address people who would work with ELCA while pretending to look down on them.
If I gave details about who has contacted me about the abuse they have experienced in WELS (especially) and other situations, readers could figure out who those people were. I remain vague for a reason. The present and past synodical leaders have a lot to answer for, in their abuse of church workers and members.
The ideal stunt in WELS gives away nothing. The idea is to leave the recipient seething and yet not able to say anything. No matter what the clergy claim, they do not listen to anyone talking to them about their imperious attitudes. They retaliate, especially if it involves criminal behavior. When one pastor discovered a district official having a merry affair, the result was a hate campaign against the pastor who found out and responded, while the adulterer was rewarded.
Write a letter? The WELS SP does not respond certified letters. Nor does Jenswold. Nor does his brother-in-law. Instead, their ELCA pastor friend responds!
In this case--the Babylonian Captivity of our possessions--Pastor Jenswold can claim innocence. How can anyone prove why he did do anything about the memorabilia?
The Captivity ended up being the perfect stunt, because someone displayed the kindness and consideration so often lacking in the WELS clergy. Mrs. Ichabod was able to enjoy a concentrated feast of memories, many from people who have now died. I doubt that the box, as packed, would have remained intact and unscattered from our many moves.
