WHAT WILL IT BE NEXT?

There are two things we know for sure about the ELCA.  First, they will always give us plenty to write about.  And second, they will always leave us wondering what will it be next.  Such was the case during the past couple months.

On August 23 the Religious News Service released the story that Nadia Bolz-Weber, the ELCA’s most famous pastor, has been installed as pastor of public witness by the Rocky Mountain Synod.  This is the Nadia Bolz-Weber who was one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 ELCA youth gathering.  She led 31,000 young people in a chant rejecting traditional views of human sexuality as a lie.  (See CORE Voice July 2018).  This is the Nadia Bolz-Weber who is known for her profanity and her bragging about the sex she is having outside of marriage.  I assume it was to accommodate Nadia Bolz-Weber that the ELCA Conference of Bishops recommended and the ELCA Church Council approved a wording in the recently revised document, “Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline,” which no longer describes abstinence from sexual intercourse until marriage as an expectation and requirement for pastors and other rostered leaders, but instead only as “the aspirational teaching of this church.”

In the past, when I have expressed concern about the pagan goddess worship at Ebenezer HerChurch in San Francisco, I was told that they do not represent the ELCA.  When I wrote to ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton regarding the “We Are Naked and Unashamed” movement, which wants to eliminate the requirement that pastors be married (by any definition) in order to be sexually active, I was told by her that they are outside of the teachings of “this church” and she does not want to give them attention and credence by commenting on them.

The news story said that the entire Conference of Bishops had to sign off on at least the creation of that position, if not also choosing Nadia Bolz-Weber for that position.  In addition, she was called to that position by the Rocky Mountain Synod and installed in that position by the bishop of that synod, Jim Gonia.  All that tells me that there is no way that the ELCA can say that this is action that does not represent and reflect on the ELCA.

Well, if that is what happened in August, what happened in September?  The ELCA again made the news.  That must be one of their greatest goals – to make the news.  This time they made the news by installing Protestantism’s first transgender bishop, Meghan Rohrer of the Sierra Pacific Synod.  There is much to be said about that action.

Of course there is much that could be said about the ELCA’s even having a transgender pastor who could be elected bishop.  The ELCA fully embraces the LGBTQIA+ agenda, even though the ELCA has never officially taken action to approve the BTQIA+ portion of LGBTQIA+.  (Transgender is the “T” portion of LGBTQIA+.)  The actions taken by the 2009 churchwide assembly only approved the ordination of a certain group of L and G persons – those that are in (PALMS) publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same sex relationships.  Even the recently approved document, “Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline,” which I have referenced above, affirms that “this church’s understanding of human sexuality is stated in its authorized social teachings” – the most recent of which is the 2009 “Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.”       

Not too long ago I received an email from an ELCA synodical staff person, who is now an ELCA synodical bishop.  She agreed that in 2009 the ELCA did not act to approve the ordination of BTQIA+ persons.  She also said that if the ordination of BTQIA+ persons had been part of the vote, it probably would not have been approved at that time.  But, she said, the Holy Spirit has revealed new things to the church.  What good timing on the part of the Holy Spirit!  To reveal new things to the church after and only after enough traditionally minded people have left that church so that these new things will not only be accepted, but welcomed and embraced.

But there is much more that can be said about the installation service for Bishop Rohrer.  I will start with the wording of the invocation given by ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.  The news story said that “congregants were invited to stand as clergy gathered around the orchid-festooned baptismal font, giving thanks as decanters poured water from the Sacramento and Garcia Rivers, Lake Tahoe and the San Francisco Bay as acolytes waved blue streamers overhead.”  And then Bishop Eaton said, “You, oh God: Parent, Child, and Holy Breath.  You are the water we crave. . . .  You, oh God: Rain, Estuary, and Sea.  You are life for us all, now and forever.  Amen.”

I assume all this is intended to be some kind of creative reference to baptism, but what is it actually?  Idolatry.  Notice the parallel sentence structure.  The first “You, oh God:” is followed by five words that identify God – “Parent, Child, and Holy Breath.”  Not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as per the ecumenical creeds and the Lutheran Confessions.  (Interestingly enough, at the ELCA service of ordination for a minister of word and sacrament – the new term for pastor – the candidate is asked, “Will you therefore preach and teach in accordance with the holy scriptures and these creeds and confessions?”  At the ELCA service of installation of a bishop, the bishop is asked, “Will you carry out this ministry in accordance with the holy scriptures and with the confessions of the Lutheran church?”  But why would we expect the ELCA to expect one of its own pastors and/or bishops to actually do what they said they would do?)

The first “You, oh God:” is followed by five words that identify that God – “Parent, Child, and Holy Breath.”  So we should be able to assume that the words that follow the second “You, oh God:” also identify God.  And what are those words?  “Rain, Estuary, and Sea.”  What is this?  Idolatry.  Invoking God as Rain, Estuary and Sea, and invoking Rain, Estuary, and Sea as God.  Worshipping the creation rather than the Creator.

And who is this said by?  No one less than the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA.  The ELCA could argue that Ebenezer HerChurch does not represent the ELCA, and the agenda and goals of “We Are Naked and Unashamed” are outside the teachings of “this church,” but I assume that what the Presiding Bishop says represents the ELCA and is within the teachings of “this church.”  Does Bishop Eaton actually believe that God is “Rain, Estuary, and Sea” and “Rain, Estuary, and Sea” are God, or is she so careless about saying what she is handed to say at the service for the installation of a synodical bishop? 

What if the prophets of Baal were right and Elijah was wrong and the gods are merely forces of nature?  Certainly rain is a gift, and water is essential for life.  I live in Arizona.  I give thanks for the monsoon rains which fell this past July and August.  The danger of fires is now listed as low or moderate, rather than extreme, and most of Arizona is no longer suffering from extreme or exceptional drought.  But if God were only the forces of nature, and the forces of nature were God, then what do I do about the fact that the forces that can make life possible can also destroy?  If God were only the forces of nature – Rain, Estuary, and Sea – then I would know nothing of a God who loves me as well as created me and who went to great lengths and paid a high price to save me.

Yes, it does matter what we believe.  It does matter how we witness.  It does matter what we say within the context of a worship service – especially one that is so publicly visible.

The final thing that I would want to comment on from the installation service for Bishop Rohrer is the way in which the service began with a “land acknowledgement” – a declaration that “the land where we live and worship in this place is stolen land.”  Participants in the ceremony, which was held in Grace Cathedral – in a historically wealthy neighborhood in San Francisco – were encouraged to “find concrete ways to make reparations to the original stewards of these places and their descendants.”

It is interesting.  For the ELCA the worst of sins are the ones that they are proud that they are not guilty of – white supremacy, racism, male dominance, and sexism.  They feel free to blast and criticize those awful white settlers who stole the land from indigenous persons, not realizing that they are doing the very same thing when they send in “woke” pastors who decimate congregations.  These congregations then close, their buildings are sold, and from the proceeds synods and ELCA churchwide finance their agenda. 

For example, I wrote in my June letter from the director about the online synod assembly for the ELCA synod in which I was rostered before I retired.   The proposed spending plan for the 2022-2023 fiscal year included income of $899,000, but expenses of over $1.2 million.  The assembly rejected the budget, not because it was not balanced, but instead because it did not provide funding for all of the favored ministries.  The attitude of the assembly was, We need to sell more buildings from closed congregations, and we need to use more of the dollars already obtained from already selling buildings from closed congregations.

The hypocrisy is amazing.  Encouraging the participants in the installation service of an ELCA synodical bishop to “find concrete ways to make reparations to the original stewards of these places and their descendants” while showing neither respect, consideration, appreciation, nor regard for the people who built and paid for the buildings which they are now selling in order to fund their agendas, values, and priorities.  

* * * * * * *

IN SHARP CONTRAST

In sharp contrast was the LCMC gathering in early October, which I had the privilege of attending on behalf of Lutheran CORE.  In the second reading for October 10 – in Hebrews 4:14 – the author of this letter urges his readers, “Let us hold fast to our confession.”  The people at this gathering were not afraid to hold fast to their confession.  They were not afraid to call God Father, believe in the authority of the Bible, see the Lutheran Confessions as an accurate statement of Scriptural teachings and relevant for us today (even though they were written by white males), and view the mission of the Church as proclaiming Christ and helping people grow as disciples of Christ.

* * * * * *

VIDEO BOOK REVIEW – “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED”

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Bill Decker for giving us a review of Erwin Lutzer’s book, We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s Assault on Christianity.  This is a book for all who are concerned about how they can and will live out their Christian convictions against a growing tide of hostility in our contemporary culture.  Picking up on the words of Jesus to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3: 2 to “strengthen what remains,” this book is written with the ardent hope that the U. S. church will wake up and “strengthen what remains.” 

Mr. Decker is an ELCA rostered lay leader who has done editorial and grant writing work for the ELCA.  Erwin Lutzer is a student of Martin Luther and pastor emeritus of Moody Church in Chicago. 

This review, as well as ten others, have been posted on our YouTube channel.  A link to the channel can be found here.

Dennis D. Nelson

Executive Director of Lutheran CORE

September 2021

Dear Friends:

The Psalm for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 12, speaks powerfully about why we need a faith, a theology, and a relationship with God that is more than just woke and latest-social-justice-cause oriented.

Verses 3, 4, 6, and 8 of Psalm 116 say –

“The snares of death entangled me; the anguish of the grave laid hold on me; I came to grief and sorrow.”

“Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, save my life!’”

“When I was brought low, He saved me.”

“You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.”

For all of us, it is only a matter of time until the snares of death entangle us, the anguish of the grave lays hold of us, and we come to grief and sorrow.  It is only a matter of time until we find ourselves being brought low, sinking into the waves, and – like Peter – crying out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14: 30)

In contrast, what do we see happening and what do we see being offered by and emphasized in much of the church today?

• In 2019 the ELCA posted a summary of actions that were taken at the Churchwide Assembly.  Many resolutions were passed against racism, sexism, and white supremacy, but Jesus was never mentioned.  Can you even imagine a church body meeting in assembly for several days but then never mentioning Jesus in their summary of actions?

• At the recent assembly of the ELCA synod in which I was rostered before I retired, hardly anyone ever mentioned Jesus.  Almost everyone gave their pronouns and advocated for diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they did not mention Jesus. 

• For that same ELCA synod, their weekly newsletter rarely ever mentions Jesus.  But they do talk about many ways in which I could fight for justice, advocate for “authentic diversity”, promote inclusivity, and combat world hunger.

• They talk about grace, but it is always grace without the cross.  It is a grace of my being more inclusive and accepting rather than a grace that tells me that Jesus paid the price for my sin and won the victory over death and the devil. 

And yet the truth of the matter is that if the Christian faith is mainly about what we do, the battles we fight, the social justice causes that we expend our energies on, sooner or later we will come to the realization that we cannot do enough.  The problems are too great.  Merely human resources are too few and too small.  Sooner or later the snares of death will entangle us.  The anguish of the grave will lay hold of us.  We will come to grief and sorrow.  It is only a matter of time until we find ourselves sinking into the waves and with Peter crying out, “Lord, save me!”

We all need a faith, a theology, and a relationship with God that tells us what God has done, what God can do, and what God will do to rescue us, and not just what we can do and need to do to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

Thank you for your prayers and financial support of Lutheran CORE.  It is because of people like you that we are able to continue to do such things as the following –

• Sponsor a week of Bible study, theological reflection, fellowship, and vocational discernment for high schoolers through the NEXUS program of Grand View University

• Provide a system of support for young adults who are serious about and want to share their faith, as well as a system of support for orthodox ELCA pastors and seminarians

• Work with congregations that are between pastors or whose pastor will soon retire or resign to take another call

• Work with and support pastors and congregational leaders who are seeking to show their congregations how the historic Christian faith is at risk

• Expose people to contemporary dynamics and movements that threaten the historic Christian faith, such as critical race theory

• Continue to challenge the ELCA to honor its commitment to also provide a place for traditional views and those who hold them

Thank you again for all your words of encouragement and your faithful prayer and financial support.  Click here for a form that you can use to let us know how we can be praying for you.  Your timely gift to Lutheran CORE will help enable us to continue to be a VOICE for Biblical Truth and a NETWORK for Confessing Lutherans.

In the Name of Jesus who will reach out and save us whenever we cry out to Him, 

Dennis D. Nelson

Executive Director of Lutheran CORE

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Several weeks ago there was considerable discussion in Lutheran CORE’s Facebook group in response to a person who questioned whether it is appropriate to call the Bible the Word of God. 

As part of that process, we posted our Statement on Scripture, which was written in 2007.

Because that statement was responding specifically to comments made by former ELCA presiding bishop Mark Hansen and to the ELCA’s Book of Faith initiative, we felt that the document should be updated to reflect our current situation and without reference to that initiative.

We are very grateful to NALC pastor Ken Kimball, who, along with Bishop Paull Spring, wrote the original statement.  Pastor Kimball graciously accepted our request to update the statement.  We are also very grateful to Dr. Mark Mattes of Grand View University for reviewing the statement. 

At its most recent meeting the board of Lutheran CORE unanimously voted to approve the statement.  You can find the full text of that document here. 

As we said in the July 2021 issue of CORE Voice, the real issue behind the issue is more often than not the authority of Scripture.  Refusing to call God Father, rejecting evangelism as part of the mission of the church, seeing faith in Christ as only one out of many ways to God, and embracing the full, radical LGBTQIA+ agenda all result from rejecting the inspiration, reliability, and authority of the Bible.  Therefore, we are glad to be able to share with you this newly updated Statement on Scripture.    

In the words of a hymn that has been set to the tune of “A Mighty Fortress” –

“God’s Word is our great heritage and shall be ours forever.

To spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavor.

Through life it guides our way; in death it is our stay.

Lord, grant while time shall last your Church may hold it fast

Throughout all generations.”

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Ethan Zimmerman for doing this month’s video review of Roland Bainton’s classic, “Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther.”  Ethan is an NALC college student who plans to attend the NALC seminary.  He is part of Lutheran CORE’s younger persons group and has been a college-aged mentor with the NEXUS program of Grand View University.  A link to his review can be found here.

In this review Ethan focuses on three events in the life of the reformer.  The first one is the time when Luther celebrated his first mass.  He was utterly terrified because he did not feel worthy to consecrate the elements.  Ethan mentions that this shows the genuineness and sincerity of Luther’s faith.  He really cared about what he was doing.  The second event is the Diet of Worms, where Luther proclaimed, “Here I stand; I can do no other.”  Having personally come under attack for his faith, Ethan was inspired by the courage and conviction of Luther as he was being attacked for his faith.  Ethan said, “I felt like I was in the room with Luther.”  The third event is the death of his fourteen-year-old daughter Magdalena.  Ethan shares how he was deeply moved by this giant of the faith and giant of history showing his humanity in his expression of sorrow over the death of his daughter. 

This review, as well as ten others, have been posted on our YouTube channel.  A link to the channel can be found here.  Many thanks to those who have made the reviews.   

Our plan is to publish a new video book review during the first week of every month.  Many of the books that are being and will be reviewed are described either in the List of Confessional Resources on the Seminarians page of our website or in the Resources for Youth and Young Adults on the Young Timothy page of our website.  Those lists can be found here and here.

When you look at a video review for the first time, please click on the Subscribe button.  As enough people do that, it will eventually help us to get a channel name that will include our organization’s name.  

I find that usually I can anticipate fairly accurately with whom I will agree or disagree.  However, there are times when I am caught by surprise.  Such was the case with a public letter written by a member of the board of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM).  

On its website this organization describes its mission in this way: “Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries organizes queer seminarians and rostered ministers, confronts barriers and systemic oppression, and activates queer ideas and movements within the Lutheran Church.”

This is not the kind of organization that I would expect myself to find something to agree on with.  So how did that come about?

A few months ago in celebration of Pride Month (June) the ELCA posted a link to the document, A Lutheran Introduction to SOGIE by ReconcilingWorks.  SOGIE stands for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression.

Pastor Suzannah Porter, an ELCA pastor and member of the board of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, responded by commenting with concern that the ELCA was giving the impression that the whole church body is LGBTQ+ affirming, when in fact it is not, since there are congregations which hold to traditional sexual ethics with the church’s sanction.  Pastor Porter supported her statement by quoting the Bound Conscience policy which is a prominent part of the 2009 social statement, Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.  That document described four different positions regarding same gender relationships, which it acknowledged that people within “this church” hold “with conviction and integrity.”  On the basis of “the bound conscience,” it said, “We . . . believe that this church . . . will include these different understandings and practices within its life as it seeks to live out its mission and ministry in the world.”  In other words, traditional views of human sexuality have the full endorsement and sanction of a social statement that was approved by no less an authority than an ELCA Churchwide Assembly. 

What happened after Pastor Porter sought to expose the ELCA’s dishonesty by revealing that the ELCA actually sanctions traditional views when it tries to give the impression that it is LGBTQ+ affirming?  Several things.

First, others replied to Pastor Porter’s comment with stories of lack of LGBTQ+ acceptance at various ELCA congregations.

Second, the ELCA deleted Pastor Porter’s comment – the only one, to her knowledge, that cited the Bound Conscience policy.  

Third, Pastor Porter responded in an angry public letter condemning the ELCA’s action.  She said, “It is Pride 2021 month, and I cannot be deleted today.” 

Here is more of what she said:

“ELCA, get back here and answer for yourself. On the post listing Reconciling Works SOGI resources (found here: http://bit.ly/elcasogipost) you deleted my comment clearly stating that projecting the image that the ELCA is welcoming and affirming of queer people without clearly stating that it is also our policy that the church can call queer people to repentance and refuse to recognize same sex marriage is misrepresentation.

“After now hundreds of people think the whole denomination is affirming, you deleted the only comment that clarified your policy. And erased the testimony of the replies of people who labored to tell their stories. But you seem to keep the reattempt when I stated my position on the board and council. This leads me to believe that misrepresentation was not just an accident, it was the goal.”

What is going on here?  A lot.

First, the ELCA sought to silence a leader in the LGBTQ+ community, in the name of being LGBTQ+ affirming.

Second, Lutheran CORE and ELM agree that honesty, integrity, and transparency are important.  What is actually done in the church needs to match what public statements say will be done and what official policy says should be done.

Third, the ELCA’s misrepresentation, as Pastor Porter calls it, is dishonest and unhelpful both to people seeking LGBTQ+ affirming communities and to those who hold to traditional sexual ethics.  It would be far better for the ELCA to be truthful and honest and consistent all across the board. 

Now, to be sure, Lutheran CORE and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries would have totally opposite purposes for raising these issues.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries would want the ELCA to eliminate language that sanctions traditional views, while Lutheran CORE would want the ELCA to keep its promise and live up to its commitment to also honor and provide a place for traditional views. 

Nevertheless, Pastor Porter’s point stands, and we agree.  The ELCA’s actions were dishonest and unhelpful.    

Click here to read the ELCA’s original post.

Click here to read Pastor Porter’s original post.

HOPE AND LIFE GIVING

I live in the Sonoran Desert about forty miles northeast of downtown Phoenix.  The Sonoran has been called the greenest desert in the world, because we normally have two rainy seasons.  There is a winter rainy season, as in many other deserts, but we also have a summer rainy season, which we call the monsoon season, when we have major thunderstorms which rival anything I ever experienced while living in the upper Midwest.

However, July and August of 2020 were the driest on record, and this past June (2021) was the driest on record.  In between we had very little in terms of winter rain.  The desert was dry, most of the plants looked dead, and the saguaros were all shriveled up.

But God in His goodness provided abundant rain during the month of July.  The desert is green again.  Plants along the road have sprouted flowers.  The saguaros look happy.  And shrubs that had looked dead have now sprouted new leaves.  It is amazing what water can do in the desert.  Water is very hope and life giving.

This past summer I have experienced two events that were very hope and life giving – a week of Nexus in July, and the NALC convocation in August.

NEXUS – “ALL THINGS NEW”

Nexus is a week of Bible study, theological reflection, fellowship, and vocational discernment for high schoolers.  It is organized by and held at Grand View University in Des Moines.  Many thanks to our friends and supporters, whose generosity made it possible for Lutheran CORE to be the sponsor of Nexus this year.  Twenty-two high schoolers and seven college-aged mentors grew in their faith and were challenged to hear and respond to God’s call on their lives. 

The theme for Nexus this year was “All Things New.”  The week centered around the question, “Can God redeem a really hard year?”  As the promotional material said, “We’ll dig into scripture to see the good news, how all things are being made new in Jesus, and how we get to be part of it!”

Morning devotions centered around the book of Ruth.  Ruth was a person who experienced all things being made new.  Leaving her homeland of Moab with her mother-in-law Naomi, she traveled to Bethlehem because Naomi had heard that “the Lord had considered his people and given them food.” (1:6)  How dangerous it must have been for those two widows to make that journey.  On the morning when I led devotions the focus was on Ruth 2.  Verse 3 in that chapter says, “As it happened, she (Ruth) came (to glean) to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.”  Ruth’s whole life changed, and she became an ancestor of David, and therefore, through Mary, an ancestor of Jesus, because she came to glean to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.  I shared with the students parts of the story of my life where God made all things new.  I told of how God directed the circumstances of my life to accomplish His purposes and to make things work together for good.  We can trust the One who led Ruth to come and glean in the part of the field belonging to Boaz.  I asked the students, “What in your life has been the equivalent of coming to glean in the field belonging to Boaz?”

The Old Testament lesson each morning was taught by Dr. Mark Mattes, while the New Testament lesson was taught by Dr. Ken Jones, both of whom are on the faculty of Grand View University.  Dr. Mattes taught from the book of Ezekiel.  Two of the points that he made that really stood out for me are the following –

• Ezekiel was a prophet.  Prophets say things that cause conflict.  In the same way leaders today will run into conflict.  Leaders need to develop skills to handle conflict.  They need to ask God to help them develop the fruit of the spirit of self-control so that they can respond well rather than react badly.

• The dry bones in the valley in Ezekiel 37 were probably from soldiers that had lost in battle.  Just like for those soldiers, we can feel defeated by the circumstances of life.  Like the house of Israel we can feel that “our hope is lost and we are cut off completely.” (verse 11)  Like those dry bones we need the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.  We need to hear God’s word of hope.  When our lives and life situations seem and feel hopeless, we need to remember that God is with us.  God is for us.  God can make all things new.    

One of the mornings Dr. Jones talked about Mark 15: 37-38, which says, “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”  Dr. Jones shared how many people interpret those verses as saying that humans now have full access to God.  Another way to understand them is that they are saying that God will now refuse to be boxed in.  God is coming after us.  He will show up in ways that we do not expect.  Dr. Jones challenged us by asking us, “What are you going to see – that you did not expect to see – when God shows up?” 

NALC CONVOCATION – “GOD THE FATHER CREATES”

The NALC Theology Conference and Missions Convocation, held the week of August 3-6 in Corpus Christi, was centered around the theme “God the Father Creates.”  At a time when many church bodies are afraid and unwilling to use Biblical language of addressing God as Father because they feel that it smacks of male dominance and white supremacy, it was so refreshing – it was hope and life giving – to be with a group of Lutheran Christians who realize what a privilege it is to be able to call God Father.

Especially powerful for me was the presentation by Dr. Eric Riesen on the language in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven.”  Dr. Riesen is president of the North American Lutheran Seminary.  He quoted Albert Einstein, who said that the most important question is whether the universe is friendly or not.  Dr. Riesen said that it is amazing that the hidden God, who has been revealed in the cross, sent His Son so that we might receive adoption as His children.  He sends His Spirit into our hearts so that we can cry, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4: 6)  The God who transcends all human understanding is a God whom we can call Father.  Being able to call God Father is a primary gift of the Spirit.  When we are united with Christ, God is also our Father through adoption.  Thinking of it in those ways – in those Biblical ways – I do not see why anyone would be hesitant to and would not want to call God Father. 

There were many other highlights of the week for me, including the following –

• Just being able to be together in person again.  That is something that we all missed last year with the convocation’s being virtual in 2020.

• The concern and passion of the NALC to raise up a whole new generation of pastors.  Realizing how many NALC pastors will be retiring in the next ten years, I was encouraged to hear the goal of raising up three hundred new pastors, the challenge to every congregation to raise up a new pastor, the challenge to retired and soon-to-retire pastors to continue to serve a congregation, and the variety of ways that have been laid out to prepare future leaders for the church.

• The appreciation, affirmation, and support that I received from so many people who stopped by the Lutheran CORE table.  I have a huge sense of the importance of the work of Lutheran CORE, and I was encouraged by the large number of people who affirmed what we do.

• The presentation on the final morning by Melissa Ohden.  Melissa is a survivor of an attempted saline solution abortion.  Author of the book, You Carried Me, she powerfully told the story of how she learned to deal with the pain of knowing that her own family had tried to kill her, and then how she learned to forgive and seek to make contact with her biological family.  She also told convincingly of the negative impact that an abortion – or an attempted abortion – will have upon an extended family.  I have tremendous admiration for anyone who is able to tell their own life story in such an open, honest, and redemptive way.  I have great respect for anyone who is able to turn their pain into a passion and their passion into a ministry.

VIDEO BOOK REVIEW – “THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE CROSS”

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Russell Lackey, pastor of Luther Memorial Church and campus pastor at Grand View University, for making this month’s video review.  His review is about the book, The Spirituality of the Cross, by Gene Veith.

In this book Veith deals with five major tenants of the Christian faith as understood by Lutherans – justification, the means of grace, the theology of the cross, vocation, and living in two kingdoms.  Veith explains them in a way that Russell Lackey describes as easy to understand and one that helps lay people talk about their faith with others.  Over the years Pastor Lackey has given copies of this book to council members, people in new member classes, and college students who grew up Lutheran but do not understand what it means to be a Lutheran.

This review, as well as nine others, have been posted on our YouTube channel.  Here is a link to that channel.

Lutheran CORE Voices – YouTube 

Many thanks to those who have made the reviews.  We continue to publish a new video book review during the first week of every month. 

When you look at a video review for the first time, please click on the Subscribe button.  As enough people do that, it will eventually help us to get a channel name that will include our organization’s name.  

Praying that you also are experiencing God’s hope and life-giving power, grace, and blessings,

Dennis D. Nelson

Executive Director of Lutheran CORE

dennisdnelsonaz@yahoo.com

Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance.  Many thanks to Maurice Lee for doing this month’s video review.  Dr. Lee is the pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Santa Barbara, California (NALC), a lecturer in theology for the North American Lutheran Seminary, and a member of the NALC’s Commission on Theology and Doctrine.  His review is about the book, Loci Communes (1521) by Philip Melanchthon.  A link to his review can be found here.   

This year 2021 represents the 500^th anniversary of the publication of this book, which can be translated “Common Places” or “Common Topics.”  This is the book that launched Melanchthon’s reputation as a theologian in the Lutheran tradition.  According to Dr. Lee, it “stands in the headwaters of specifically Lutheran theology. This work seeks neither to be exhaustive nor to draw attention to itself, but the themes it takes up — among others, law and gospel; faith and works; human nature and human sinfulness — and the ways Melanchthon explores them continue to be resonant and relevant today, 500 years after the original publication.” 

This review, as well as seven others, have been posted on our YouTube channel.  A link to the channel can be found here.  Many thanks to those who have made the reviews.   

Our plan is to publish a new video book review during the first week of every month.  Many of the books that are being and will be reviewed are described in the List of Confessional Resources on the Seminarians page of our website.  That list can be found here. When you look at a video review for the first time, please click on the Subscribe button.  As enough people do that, it will eventually help us to get a channel name that will include our organization’s name.  

Thank you to the three professors at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (LCMS), who have written powerful, definitive, Scriptural, and confessional responses to documents from ReconcilingWorks, an organization that seeks to give a Biblical basis for affirming the LGBTQ+ lifestyle and for fully welcoming LGBTQ+ people into the life of the church, including as rostered leaders of the church.

I highly recommend their articles to you.  Among the people who I believe would especially be interested are –

Those who hold to the traditional, Biblical view and who are looking for resources to help them defend and advocate for that view

Those who are genuinely seeking and wondering – with so many voices to the contrary – if the traditional, Biblical view is plausible and defensible

Dr. Thomas Egger, president of the seminary and professor of exegetical theology, has written a review of Reconciling Scripture for Lutherans: Sexuality and Gender Identity.  A link to his review can be found here.  Dr. Egger’s thesis, which he defends admirably and in great detail, can be found in the opening and closing paragraphs of his article.  “Reconciling Scripture for Lutherans does not carefully listen to and apply the Bible as God’s authoritative Word to the matter of human sexuality and gender identity, but rather offers creative ways to employ Biblical language and theological categories to confirm a set of convictions that have been arrived at on other grounds.” (page 18) 

Dr. Joel Biermann, professor of systematic theology, has written “An Evaluation and Reaction” to another document from ReconcilingWorks – Lutheran Introduction to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression.  A link to his article can be found here.  A few phrases from his article will reveal his major point, which he makes clearly and supports strongly.

“Considering the remarkable prominence given the word Lutheran on the cover, it seems clear that the intent of the document is to provide teaching from and for Lutheran Christians.  Yet after the first sentence, Lutheran appears once more (pg. 6), church makes a similar fleeting singular appearance (pg. 2), and the word Christian is absent.  Most remarkable of all, perhaps, there is no reference or even allusion to Jesus or God anywhere in the document.” (page 1)

“Another word noticeably, but unsurprisingly, absent from the document is sin.  Presumably, the discovery and celebration of one’s individual, self-identified, identity offers no quarter for an idea like sin. . . . Given the suppression of sin in the document, it is hardly surprising that Jesus makes not even a cameo appearance.  With no sin, what need is there of a savior; and with my identity and self-expression determined by myself who needs, or wants, a Lord?” (pages 2-3)

Dr. Timothy Saleska, professor of exegetical theology and dean of ministerial formation, has also written a response to Reconciling Scripture for Lutherans.  A link to his article can be found here.  A friend of Lutheran CORE wrote, “It is at once thoroughly charitable in its response, humble and honest in self-examination, empathetic to the plight of LGBTQ+ persons . . . thoughtful in genuinely trying to understand the perspective of LGBTQ+ affirming persons . . . – and yet unflinching in telling the truth about homosexuality and transgenderism from a confessional Lutheran, traditional sexual ethics perspective.”

As a retired pastor who is rostered in a Lutheran church body that has contained on the homepage of its website links to resources from ReconcilingWorks, and whose presiding bishop did not give me the courtesy of responding to my email when I asked her why the ELCA website never also contains links to resources with traditional views (thus violating the spirit and language of the 2009 social statement, “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” which acknowledged that people within “this church” hold a number of views, including traditional views, “with conviction and integrity,”) I found it refreshing and encouraging that another church body would have professors at one of its seminaries that would write clearly and compellingly in support of traditional, Biblical, moral values.

I highly recommend these three articles to you. 

A recent discussion in Lutheran CORE’s private and visible Facebook group had to do with whether it is appropriate to refer to the Bible as the Word of God.

The question was raised regarding Lutheran CORE’s position on that issue.

We are fully aware of the fact that the real issue behind the issue is more often than not the authority of Scripture.  Refusing to call God Father, rejecting evangelism as part of the mission of the church, seeing faith in Christ as only one out of many ways to God, and embracing the radical LGBTQIA+ agenda all result from rejecting the inspiration, reliability, and authority of the Bible. 

Here is a link to Lutheran CORE’s 2007 statement, which is entitled “A Lutheran Statement on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the Church.”  Although it was written within the context of the ELCA’s Book of Faith Initiative, it clearly states that “the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who has revealed himself most fully and completely in Jesus Christ.”  This document can be found on the About section of our website.  Click on About, and then on Historical Documents.

Last weekend I attended the online synod assembly for the ELCA synod in which I was rostered before I retired.  My two strongest impressions from the gathering are as follows.

First, the words that I heard most often were “diversity,” “inclusivity,” and “equity.”  That is what almost everybody talked about and what everybody seemed to make their top priorities.  After the assembly was over, I wished that I had kept track of the number of times that somebody mentioned Jesus.  I did not keep track of the number, but I am certain that Jesus was mentioned far less often than diversity, inclusivity, and equity.  I also definitely got the message that the diversity and inclusivity that they were talking about do not include people like me. 

In mid-May that synod held an online pre-assembly gathering.  Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton was one of the presenters.  She told the group, “We talk about justice; we also need to talk about Jesus.  We need to name the Name.”  Please pray with me that what she said was meant, was heard, and will be heeded. 

Second, the discussion about the proposed budget was amazing.  It was mentioned that during the last nine years – from 2012 to 2021 – receipts from congregations to the synod have dropped from $1.4 million to $800,000.  Which amounts to more than a 40 percent decline in nine years.  And that does not include the drop during the years immediately following the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

The proposed spending plan for the 2022-2023 fiscal year included income of $899,000 (the major addition to the receipts from congregations was over $70,000 from the assets obtained from the sale of a former church property), but expenses of over $1.2 million.  The assembly rejected the budget, not because it was not balanced, but instead because it did not provide funding for all of the favored ministries.  The attitude of the assembly was, We need to sell more buildings from closed congregations, and we need to use more of the dollars already obtained from already selling buildings from closed congregations.

It is astounding to me that people want to fund their agendas, values, and priorities from the sale of properties built and paid for by people whose view of the Bible, theology, moral values, and view of the mission of the church they reject.  They show neither appreciation for the past nor any concern to do their part to make the future viable.  Rather they just want to have the financial resources today to fund their agendas, values, and priorities.

It was also mentioned during the assembly that twenty-five percent of the synod’s 107 congregations (twenty-seven congregations) do not have a regular pastor, and several more are challenged because of their size and/or financial instability.

If all that is not enough to tell the ELCA that something is very wrong, what would be enough?

To read the entire June letter from the director, click here.  

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Dennis D. Nelson

Executive Director of Lutheran CORE

dennisdnelsonaz@yahoo.com

Lutheran CORE | PO Box 1741, Wausau, WI 54402-1741