We built this city.
The Lostpastors website has upset some District Presidents. There are I suppose many evangelical and “good order” reasons one could logically give to encourage men not to use the site, there is also (I suppose) recourse to the subtle use of threats. The site though is run by a layman who is well beyond the reach of any District President, and those pastors who are actively using the site have their identities password protected. The question that no District President has asked though is why such a site ever became a reality to begin with, and the answer to that question lies squarely with District Presidents: brothers you built that site; you made it possible. Without neglect, a lack of genuine pastoral care and compassion, the site would never have been even considered. In fact, it was you who actually crafted Resolution 3-10A, and have you stopped to analyze exactly why the Resolution passed with 97.3%? So before you begin a sort of witch hunt through Synod, I’d like to urge you to consider why these things have taken place.
Lostpastors is the child born from years of frustration, years of evangelical promises, and admonitions to men to wait patiently on the Lord, which unfortunately became an excuse for the absoluteness of negligence. Had you acted as shepherds to your flock of pastors, had you cared deeply-had you loved your pastors-this wouldn’t have happened. Brothers there is no logical excuse for this behavior from anyone who claims the title of “bishop.” You can’t cry “Peace! Peace!” and hold a hatchet in your hand.
We all heard a District President speak before the vote on Resolution 3-10A in an effort to explain the different statuses there were. The manner in which he explained “CRM” gave the impression that men freely elected to go onto that kind of status, which may be true in some cases; in others it was a question of a “peaceful release.” I think brothers that to argue there are no abuses of men or of power within Districts is simply to be disingenuous. How long do you suppose these things can go on, go unaddressed, promises left unfulfilled before something like Lospastors comes into existence or Resolution 3-10A? Brothers pick up a Lutheran Annual and simply look at the amount of time men have been in a “Candidate” status.
Aren’t we better than this? Aren’t we called to be better than this? In speaking of the Resurrection, Gregory of Nyssa once said that the best testament to the actual event of the resurrection wasn’t the gospels; rather it was the community who believed in the gospels; a people who lived as ones resurrected by the absolute love of God in Christ Jesus. If the best we can do as called servants of Christ is to treat our men the way they might be treated by a HR Department within a corporation, to simply watch men be “fired” from parishes, then we’ve no right whatsoever to call ourselves Lutherans, let alone followers of Christ.
It was wonderful to hear President Harrison speak of the funding for Soldiers of the Cross, but brothers it is more than simply money, and there are those qualities of personhood that money cannot buy or replace. You can’t buy a man his dignity; you can’t purchase a new soul at a Wal-Mart; and all the food in the world can’t restore the spiritual damage, to say nothing of the marital damage, done to these men. Were they all as pure as the driven snow? Of course not, no doubt some did make errors, but that error does not negate the care, compassion, and mercy due them as fellows who also bear the image of God. And what help are those who erred receiving? Are they being mentored, or is CRM like the “time out” chair we may put a child in?
We’ve all heard the stories of men who have been placed on CRM being a sort of “hands-off” commodity within Districts, as if they’ve drawn the black spot. Despite what Synod says officially in the “What About?” series, men who are on CRM are treated as if they’ve contracted leprosy, and that my brothers is an area that you have direct control over. You can stop that; will you? And may I say it isn’t simply about what may or may not happen within your own districts, you’re a Council of Presidents which means that general welfare of Synod as a whole is also within your purview. That means things can’t be great in one district if they’re not in another. St. Paul makes that abundantly clear over and over again with his images of the Body of Christ.
All these men on CRM have ever wanted is for their District Presidents to show some modicum of support for them, yet many have gone 18 months or more without so much as a phone call, and those who do call frequently end up becoming well acquainted with a District President’s secretary, or are told in no uncertain terms to “STOP.” Brothers we have men who eat only because of Catholic Charities; does this sound reasonable to anyone who is called to serve within a Synod where “mercy” is touted?
No doubt some of you will be angry with me, and I suppose that’s your prerogative. No one ever wanted a brawl, or to create trouble simply for the sake of trouble; God knows there’s enough of that in our midst. This however is an issue within our Synod that impacts real men and real women and real children now, and brothers what excuse can be made for neglect?
Will we be able to actually work together to solve these problems? I certainly hope so, but you need to understand brothers that everyone is now watching, and more people are aware of the CRM problem then were before. Your level of cooperation, your willingness to want to reach out to these men and to actually help them is going to determine the level of support that you receive.
It is indeed possible to work together to put the lives of these men back together again, but it is going to take real effort and a real willingness to want to do so, but we can’t go backwards and we can’t continue to kick the CRM can down the road. The Resolution is before us now, and there is work to be done. I’m ready; are you?
