My view
and suffered the rest of his life because of it. I pray that the mental torments of what he saw and smelled at the libera- tion of Auschwitz was not done in vain because it was an “unjust” war. Evil is
very real. Larry Miller Camdenton, Mo.
Can’t avoid judgment How is it possible to speak of “deeper understandings” of “end-times” (November, page 18) and not say a word about the final judgment as wit- nessed in Scripture, the creeds and the confessions of our church? Some peo- ple attempt to mitigate the severity of a final separation between “sheep and the goats” with philosophical specula- tion about a universal salvation. Such conjecture is “not according to the scriptures,” as St. Augustine pointed
out centuries ago. The Rev. Wayne W. Niemi Youngstown, Ohio
A whole new light “Faith: The power of the Lutheran word” (November, page 20) was a perfect companion in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I read it by candle- light and was delighted with the theme of “plugging in.” It’s easier to under- stand what power and light the word gives us when we see how elusive, how untrustworthy and how inconsistent the powers of this world (in whatever
form) can be. Wayne Olsen Ridgefield Park, N.J.
Send “Letters” to: Letters to the Editor, The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631-4183; fax: 773-380- 2409; email
lutheran@thelutheran.org. Please include your name, city and state. Your letter will be considered for publication unless you state otherwise. The Lutheran publishes letters representa- tive of those received on a given subject. Be brief and limit your letter to a single topic. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Letters must be signed, but a re- quest for anonymity will be honored if the subject matter is personally sensitive.
“My view” submis- sions should be 400 words on a societal event or issue or on issues in the life of the ELCA. All submis- sions are subject to editing. Send to: “My view, ” The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631; email: lutheran@
thelutheran.org; fax: 773-380-2409.
Christian, a retired ELCA pastor, is a member of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Fairfax, Va. He was formerly an assistant to the bishop of the Metropolitan Wash- ington, D.C., Synod and former director of Lutheran Housing Services.
By Ronald F. Christian
Why do they leave? Church defections a puzzle
W
hen The Lutheran arrives in the mail, invari- ably I read the obits first (I am a retired pastor). Recently, however, another page has been of great interest—the list of congregations that voted to leave the ELCA. Many of the congregations are well known to me. Many of the pastors who lead these congregations are well known also. So I’ve been asking “Why?” Why do they leave? There is no real cause for departure—just a desire, it seems, to “take a stand.” The ELCA requires nothing of congregations. A con- gregation will not be removed from the roster for lack of giving, lack of diversity in membership, lack of a youth ministry, lack of mission activity, lack of social work in its community, lack of Bible studies, wrong vestments or secular music on Sundays. It is possible to be removed if a congregation votes to disavow the constitution of the ELCA and the congrega- tion’s own documents of affiliation with the ELCA. But then it has removed itself from the family. So, again, why?
Congregations voted to leave over civil rights issues in
the 1950s and ’60s; it was the “word alone” in the ’60s; the Vietnam War in the ’60s and ’70s; merger and pension dis- investment in the ’80s; sexuality in the ’90s and beyond; phobias (Islamic and homosexual) in the ’00s. Now it’s marriage and ordination.
But no church was required to join a civil rights cause, agree with the six-day creation story, support the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, agree to divest its pension funds, study sexuality and learn about others (Muslims and your gay neighbor). Now no church is required to marry some- one it wishes not to marry. And no congregation is man- dated to accept a pastor not of its choosing. So with total freedom, why do congregations and pas-
tors depart from the broad and global Lutheran family? Might it be related to the ego needs of the leader(s)? Could it be the all-consuming “I” showing up? Is it the need to be somebody more than to do something? Or is it a closed theology (Jesus, you and me)? Is it false teaching (“truth is found only with me/us”)? Paul’s caution applies: do “not think of yourself more highly than you ought ...” (Romans 12:3). As a pastor in the Washington, D.C., area says when he closes his daily one-minute radio broadcast, “Not a ser- mon, just a thought.”
January 2013 49
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