I have to begin with an apology for the delay in posting this blog. For those of my congregation who are eagerly awaiting news from the floor these important proceedings, I hope the delay has not been too frustrating for anybody.
This day has been truly amazing. It began with Holy Eucharist with an absolutely riveting sermon by Rev. Cathy Ammlung. She preached on the texts of the Sunday before (as is the custom at midweek Eucharist services), reflecting on how Jesus’ right way of doing ministry results in the woman who had been bent over being able to stand upright and praise God. Get that pattern? Right practice of ministry leads to the right praise of God. Right praise of God is what this whole week is about; right praise (and proclamation) of God in the Lutheran church. How we can do that better than we have been so that we may be better disciples than we have been so that our churches would not be in the condition they are. The message was clear: If we hope to reform the church, to name, be claimed by, and praise God as the Bible and the Apostolic Tradition teach us to do, we must be willing to reform our practices of ministry to make them right.
Following that worship, after much good-natured wrangling to get the wording right, the Seven Marks Society adopted a constitution and became a real group. I am proud to be part of a group committed to the renewal of the Great Tradition within the Lutheran church. In the Reformation, Lutherans did not set out to form a new Church but rather to purify and recall to its heritage the one holy catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ. To be faithful to our heritage requires us not only to know that heritage, but to live it by doing the things that catholic Christians—even Lutheran ones—have historically done.
After lunch (at every meal I have been involved in meetings with colleagues where not only networking but important information has been exchanged) we began the theological conference. At most conferences, some of the lectures are good, some less so. At this one, the presentations have been uniformly excellent, all of them so far ending in a standing ovation by the gathered assembly. These ovations have been more than mere formalities by the like-minded. They have been responses to the excellence—and challenge—inhering in each of the presentations. I am excited because I have heard that these presentations will soon be available for you to hear or see on the internet, so you will have the opportunity to have your mind renewed as mine is being.
There have, of course, been a few moments that have been disappointing. These have usually involved uncharitable comments being made about “the powers that be” in the ELCA. They have been rare, and corrected quickly by a bystander, but still lamentable. One such person, after receiving the correction of a brother pastor, agreed that he had been out of line, but added, “I have been called a Nazi from the microphones of my synod’s assembly. It is wrong to be bitter, but it is hard not to be.” As I have met pastors from all over this week, the story of his mistreatment has been repeated in different ways by pastors from all over America. Most common are stories of pastors with strong track records of faithful service being told by a bishop’s staff—presumably afraid that they will stir up trouble for the unity of the ELCA as an institution by preaching according to their “bound consciences”—that there is simply “nothing available” for them. They are told they are too controversial, and that no congregation wants to interview them. Can this be true? Does truly no congregation want to interview them? God forgive me if I slander anyone here, but it seems unlikely. In any event, it makes such comments, though perhaps remarkably rare, more understandable, though no less lamentable.
I will wrap this reflection up now and plan to post my reflection on today’s proceedings later this evening, following tonight’s presentation by the Reverend Doctor Gemechis D. Buba, Director of African National Ministries in the ELCA.
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