Hello Pastor Jackson
I would like to comment on your September 7 blog post in which you presented the video of a Lutheran congregation singing “Hal la la la la lu ia” as part of their Divine Service.
I followed the link to YouTube and watched the video there. My first thought was that this must be an ELCA congregation. I checked the church's website and found that it belongs to “Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ” (LCMC). According to Wikipedia:
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) is an association of Lutheran congregations located primarily in the United States. ... It began in 2001 in response to some liberal views of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). ... The group describes itself as "centrist" or "mainstream", noting that it stands between the more liberal ELCA and the more conservative Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) ...
So they see themselves as centrist, mainstream Lutherans.
Most of the congregants in the video appeared to be aged 50+, some looked to be in their sixties or seventies. I didn't see any children or teenagers. I was struck by the fact that these mature/senior citizen Lutherans were OK with standing up and singing a silly kindergarten song as part of a Divine Service.
A few weeks ago, you posted the video of an ELCA congregation reciting the “Sparkle Creed”. Most of the congregants there also appeared to be mature/senior citizens. Therefore they were catechized in the late 1960's and the 1970's, long before the rot had set in that we see in the ELCA today. Nonetheless, these Lutherans were OK with reciting the theological gobbledygook of the “Sparkle Creed” as part of a Divine Service.
It appears that the theological underpinnings of many American Lutherans is a mile wide and an inch deep.
This is pure ELCA, from their Edina, MN congregation.
