The Lutheran sects of America are overwhelmingly Calvinist and Papal, blended together in their hatred for the Biblical Reformation of the 16th century. As Chemnitz wrote in his Apology of the Book of Concord - the non-Lutherans who broke from Luther were not Reformers but wannabees! The copycats feigned fidelity to the Bible but they wanted a copyright for their strange and contradictory claims. Thus Zwingli established the foundation of Calvinism by rejecting the efficacy of the Word and the Means of Grace.
The orans or angel pose seems to have spread its infection to the quasi-Lutherans. One historian called it "sinuflecting toward Rome," sneaking and snaking toward Roman Catholicism while tugging along the denomination. That was the plan of Cardinal Newman, and it worked fairly well. After all, he wrote "Lead Kindly Light," a hymn suited for all religions. The Lutheran Church in America promoted the sisterhood first, awkwardly at first. At the Ad Fontes Holy Communion service, Synod President James Crumley looked strangely at the female pastor using the extreme orans pose, bowing toward the communion elements. Christina and I did not participate, but wondered afterwards how much wackier worship was going to be in the future. We saw the same sort of Romanizing at Ft. Wayne, with David Scaer marching down the aisle in a big ceremony, as if in a trance. When two WELS pastors side-stepped over to the LCMS, one posed in his pink cope - or was it rose? WELS finally abandoned their Geneva (black) gowns in favor of Vogue gowns. Progress? At an ELS installation, the pastor genuflected toward the elements. Missouri began using incense. ELDONA regressed from Eastern Orthodox threads down to Almy Roman Catholic costumes - enhanced by EO haybale beards. Lutherans have been buying Roman Catholic Bibles and promoting the Apocrypha for decades. Let's face it - the Apocrypha is boring and uninspired. "Ask the Pastor" should be banned until Lutherans have exhausted the treasures of the Bible and repudiated the detritus of the Revision. No words - they even found a way to top Liz Eaton, with ELCA's United Not-Lutheran Seminary. "Oh, I could sing a sonnet About my bishop's bonnet If I had some donuts At the ELCA parade." |