I begin by wishing that everyone could be here with us in Columbus, Ohio. This day has proven to be one of the most humbling of my life and ministry. I mentioned in my entry from yesterday (posted earlier today, when I got the internet issues resolved), that the presentations have been uniformly excellent here in Upper Arlington. You will, of course, in the near future have the opportunity to assess them for yourself, so I will not belabor that point. What the upcoming internet broadcasts and book are sure to fail to convey, however, is the sense of hopeful expectancy that characterizes these proceedings. The Spirit is definitely doing something amazing, as seemingly just the right people with just the precise expertise needed to tackle the issues before us a church have been assembled from the disparate corners of North American Lutheranism. Not only has this been an immensely satisfying—though extremely challenging—couple of days intellectually, it has also been so emotionally and spiritually.
Simply put, it is humbling to be here.
Today’s presentations by Drs. Jenson, Paulson, Benne, and Hultgren were too detailed and complex to be reviewed well here, at the end of a long day of thinking. Suffice it to say, I will be returning to Christ Hamilton United with much about which to speak and preach. Dr. Jenson’s presentation gave a much-needed intellectual justification for why the language we inherit from the Scripture for God is the only language we can properly use to talk to, about, and for God. Dr. Hultgren helped us understand how understanding the Bible’s plain meaning as authoritative without steering into an unreflective fundamentalism is one of the hallmarks of classical Lutheranism. Drs. Paulson and Benne had for us perhaps the most challenging words of the conference, calling us (as did Dr. Hinlicky last night) to repentance for the way we have mishandled, ignored, and even denied clear teachings of Scripture in many aspects of human life in recent epochs, including but not limited to the proper use of human sexuality, especially heterosexuality. Most challenging of all was Dr. Paulson’s reminder of Dr. Martin Luther’s blunt statement of fact that “it is a characteristic of love to be easily deceived.” There is no space here to elaborate on what he meant by quoting Dr. Luther in this way; that is a topic for extended face-to-face discussion in the future. I will leave you with this to stimulate your little gray cells: How much evil have we as a culture and a church done or permitted to be done in the name of love? Is love the Gospel or is it a form of the Law? (Give Romans a careful read before you answer that last one too quickly.)
I close by noting that in his pinch-hitting banquet speech, I got a lesson on how to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with conviction and utter clarity from the Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba. Born in the crucible of communist oppression of the faith, he learned from his father—who suffered in prison for six years because he would not deny Christ just to secure his own freedom—that if we are truly and deeply Christian, we must be willing to suffer persecution and even expect it. “Where the Church’s witness is visible, it will be attacked,” he reminded us, for God is not unopposed in this world, as some futilely imagine. “The persecutions of Christians in China, Russia, Somalia, … and the Sudan are passing,” he warned us with the voice of an experienced and widely-traveled sufferer, “and now they are coming here to this country.”
He did not say this with a sense of hopelessness or fear. Rather, he said it to remind us of our true identity. “The Church without persecution is an anomaly,” he said, quoting the second century Church Father Tertullian. I would add to this quote a more famous one by the same theologian: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
I do not desire martyrdom. I would rather live for my Lord than die for Him. However, if the martyrdom of this pastor is what the Church of Jesus Christ needs to grow strong and flourish once again, so be it. To borrow from the American patriot Patrick Henry, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my Lord and His Church.” To quote a brother in Christ, “so then whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Yet I will not end this day, which has been so marvelous, reflecting on death but life. “The world,” Dr. Buba reminded us, “can take away your home, your clothing, your career, and your life. “But,” he shouted triumphantly holding aloft his Bible, “if you cling to the Word of God, the future belongs to you.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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