Monday, May 23, 2011
Words and Actions IV
The experience of Christ the Rock shook me and my wife to the foundation of what it is to be part of the true Christian Church on Earth. After we left, most of the original nucleus exited as well. The majority of the secondary layer left as well. Pastors Jon Mahnke and Jim Radloff, who were members and have had influential roles in WELS also moved on. Since they were retired clergy, I can only fathom. My concerns with the ministry were serious enough...my only regret since there were so many issues to address was our oversight to report Pastor Doebler communing a soul prior to instruction. And when my wife Lisa confronted Doebler about this, his response was 'he has agreed to instruction'.As Lutherans we are taught to always 'put the best construction' on things. Thanks be to God Luther did not always practice what he preached. Actions do speak louder than words as my mother always taught me.
In the midst of a failing economy in February of 2010 I was released from my employment due to company downsizing. It was a rough time for Lisa and me. Our youngest son, Austin was deployed to Afghanistan and now I was out of work. But God uses these times to draw us closer to Him. For me, the extra time between job hunting and keeping my chops up for my gig (which thankfully turned into a good supplement to unemployment), afforded time to dig into Lutheran theology and church worship and practice. Thankfully I was able to secure employment on a tip from Pastor Patterson of an opening with a company where a fellow member had influence in August of 2010.
It was puzzling to my wife and I that Christ the Rock just went on as if nothing ever happened. I had 'liked' the CTR Facebook page to keep abreast of what was going on since we were in still in fellowship. It seemed that nothing really ever changed. There were many comments made on FB according to reformed sources and authors. I made comments about them. There was even a post regarding humility. I posted a beautiful quote from Luther regarding humility: "True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue." It was deleted.
As time went on during our membership at Holy Word, it started to become clear to us the reasons for our puzzlement concerning CTR as well as some developments at Holy Word...or maybe our eyes became opened.
Up next: Relaxed liturgy, music and WELS' first Deaconess...yes that is a proper noun...
