The Annual Inter-Lutheran Encuentro (Encounter) for Hispanic Latino ministries, co-sponsored by Lutheran CORE, is planned for the weekend of October 17-18, 2020 (schedule to be announced). Church leaders serving in bilingual contexts and those considering entry into Hispanic-Latino ministry will find the Encuentro to be especially beneficial.

Due to the pandemic, the event may need to be presented virtually. This year’s theme: “The Enfleshed Word … El Verbo Encarnado,” will explore and celebrate the Advent – Christmas – Epiphany worship cycle. Accents will be placed on Advent traditions including December saints days, Las Posadas, Feast of the Epiphany / Tres Reyes, liturgies & hymns for the seasons.

The 30th anniversary of the Bilingual Ministry Resource Center (BMRC) will be celebrated with a presentation on the ministry, resources and hymn translations of the +Reverend Dimas Planas-Belfort (1934-1992), publisher with Editorial Avance Luterano and a co-founder of the BMRC in 1990.

A Resource Fair will offer ministry materials and fairly traded, handcrafted items.

For more information please contact Pastor Keith Forni, STS, Encuentro Convener, at keithlforni@gmail.com, 815 722 4800 or by mail c/o:

First and Santa Cruz
The Joliet City Center Lutheran Parish 55 West Benton Street 
Joliet IL 60432.

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Thank you for your generous response to our appeal for $15,000 so that we will be able to sponsor one week of NEXUS for high schoolers at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. As of April 30, 2020, $8,081 has been given towards our goal of $15,000. We are 54% of the way there!

NEXUS is designed to give high school students a chance to engage in the study of the Bible and Lutheran theology, be involved in service, and discern whether God has gifted them and is calling them to full-time Christian ministry and/or leadership in the church. In the past three years, over one hundred high schoolers have gone through NEXUS. In addition, many college-aged mentors who have participated in the program have gone on to seminary and/or full-time church work.

The cost to host one week of NEXUS for twenty-four high school students, which includes college-age mentors, teachers, activities, room and board, and materials, is $30,000. Lutheran CORE has committed half of the amount for one week – $15,000. The funds from Lutheran CORE will be matched by Lilly Endowment to cover a full-week’s cost of $30,000. The funds from Lutheran CORE will be used for a week during the summer of 2021.

If you have not already done so, please consider giving a gift to Lutheran CORE – over and above your current giving – to help fund the commitment that we have made. Please be sure to designate NEXUS on the memo line of your check.

My wife and I decided to give the amount of the financial stimulus check that we will be receiving from the federal government to five different Christian charitable causes, including NEXUS. We would like to challenge and encourage you to do the same.

Editor’s Note: Mona Fuerstenau’s conviction that all people are “wonderfully made” began in high school while working with children with learning disabilities. That led her to study Speech Pathology, Gerontology and Psychology. She worked in those fields before becoming a parent of two diverse learners; they were her post graduate education in celebrating difference, inspiring advocacy, and challenging the status quo. Her position as ministry consultant at Bethesda has led to many speaking opportunities such as the 2019 NALC Life conference. Bethesda is a nationwide 501(c)(3) charity whose mission is to “enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through services that share the good news of Jesus Christ.”  Her passion is for all people marginalized by difference to find refuge and a place of belonging in the life of the church.

Psalm 139:13-16 “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” [emphasis added]

These verses profess the sanctity of every life. Bethesda has a joint initiative with Lutherans for Life and it is a natural fit. We are all about life, in all its ages and stages and abilities. No one is “less than another” to God. God calls everyone to minister in His Kingdom. Abilities and experiences uniquely equip each of us. Our witness to and with and from people with disabilities, or suicide survivors, or post abortion, or at end of life is woven throughout and has its foundation in these words.

I encourage you to think about how your congregation, as a life affirming place, can begin to see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as also in need of that life affirmation.

There is a wonderful word picture in 1^st Corinthians 12 of the body of Christ. It talks about the place and work of each part of the body. And then we get to verse 22.

“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

Different translations say necessary, vital, without which the total is incomplete. These are the people whom we champion. Those who are marginalized because of our perceptions. But God gives them critical status, without which the body is incomplete. Without whom none of our congregations can be complete.

The world of disability is deficit based. Even the word means “without ability”. But we as Christians have our value in being a child of God. That is our foundation. We all have gifts and talents and experiences to bring that enrich the whole. Sometimes it takes work to see beyond the differences. It takes work. But it is critical work to show the world God’s love by being Jesus’ hands and feet.

In 1 Peter 4:10 we read: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” There are no qualifiers in this verse. It says each of you. Every one. Everyone is and has gifts to bring to the whole.

Creating a Sanctuary

So, if we are going to welcome all these gifts into our congregations, we first must make it a safe place. How do we create a space of sanctuary?

Some key components we have found in our work include:

• Unconditional welcome, favorable reception,
• Communicating an authentic desire to know the hopes, dreams and needs of each person,
• Seeing everyone as not “just” a person or a family with _________,
• Identifying individual gifts, talents, and experiences to share,
• Affirming all are a necessary part of God’s family.

When we do this our congregations become richer with lived experiences. And what if the Gospel message lived out and shared by all people, not “in spite of” but “because of” their lived experiences, somehow makes that message more accessible to people who will not otherwise hear it as being for them?

Resources

Bethesda has numerous resources for creating a place of belonging for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A good place to start is with disability awareness materials for all ages. Visit our website www.BethesdaLC.org and search for faith resources. We have 5 complete series and the most recent release is called Face 2 Face.

We have also partnered with Lutheran Hour Ministries to create a four-session course by the same name. Face2Face, Building Relationships with People with Disabilities. This course can be found at www.lhm.org/learn.  

Our Wonderfully Made pamphlet series are also a great place to begin to understand ways to become a more inclusive and welcoming congregation. They celebrate and share ideas for communicating and easily adapting things you are currently doing. These can be ordered along with all our resources housed through Concordia Publishing House www.cph.org/Bethesda  We are currently giving away a free copy of Unit 1 of our Building on the Rock curriculum. Just use the coupon code BUILD.

While you are on our Bethesda website check out our Home Activity Center. It’s full of ideas to do together as a family during this time of sheltering in place. And our Volunteer tab details multiple ways you can engage with the people we support and staff across the country. If you have questions about Bethesda please don’t hesitate to ask. I can be reached at Mona.Fuerstenau@BethesdaLC.org

Our teachers have been falsely accused of forbidding good works. AC, Article XX[1]

One of the charges that is often made against traditional Lutherans is that they are opposed to efforts on the part of Christians to work for peace and justice. This charge is made because traditional Lutherans criticize the emphasis on political advocacy in the ELCA. This is inaccurate. We no more forbid our fellow Christians from working for peace and justice than the Lutheran reformers forbid the doing of good works. Rather, like the reformers, we are concerned about the blurring of the distinction between Law and Gospel, Faith and Works, Justification and Vocation, and the like.

One way to get at this distinction is to focus on the concept of Vocation. The Augsburg Confession says,

It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call. (Article XIV)[2]

What does this mean? It means that although we believe that all Christians are equal in Christ, that in Holy Baptism all are filled with the Holy Spirit, and that all are called to bear witness to Christ through word and deed, no one has the right to take it upon himself to walk into the pulpit and begin preaching. No one has the right to take it upon herself to walk up to the table and preside at the Lord’s Supper. That is reserved for the person who has been called and ordained into the Office of Ministry.

Called by God

What is not as well known is that Lutherans believe there are other offices to which people are called by God. Those other offices include mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, sister, brother, and neighbor. These center around the home. In regard to the workplace, people are called into the office of employer and employee, buyer and seller, merchant and customer. People are called into various professions. As Christians, we believe that each office we hold represents an opportunity for faith to be active in love through service to our neighbor. This is what Lutherans call the doctrine of Vocation. (From the Latin word for “calling”.)

The doctrine of Vocation helps clear up the confusion that often arises around the concept of the Priesthood of All Believers. The Priesthood of All Believers does not mean that at any moment a Christian may assume any office he or she chooses. It does not mean that anyone can walk into the pulpit and preach. It doesn’t mean that anyone who feels moved at the moment can preside at the Lord’s Supper. That is reserved for persons called into the proper office.

At the same time, however, it does not mean that I as a pastor can walk into your home and assume the role of father. I cannot walk into your place of business and assume the role of owner or manager. I cannot decide that today I want to practice law and that tomorrow I want to practice medicine. My call is not yours, but in the same way your call is not mine. You serve as priest in your home, office, or place of work.

Confusion and Politics

This confusion of priesthood and vocation is most evident today in the realm of politics. When a person becomes a member of a congregation through Affirmation of Baptism, they promise among other things to “strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” Indeed, the Lutheran Church affirms that striving for justice and peace is the calling of every Christian in baptism. The confusion arises when we think that it is the calling of the pastor or congregation to do this for the individual Christian.

Christians in the United States hold many offices that pertain to justice and peace. The most important office in this regard is the office of citizen. As a citizen, you vote for those who will hold public office and have the power to set policy and administer and enforce laws. The office of citizen is one to which you have been called and for which you are accountable to God. Other offices include elected official, civil servant, judge, juror, police officer, etc.… As Christians, we are to work for peace and justice in every office to which we have been called.

Presuming to Speak

Is the Church called to strive for justice and peace? Yes. It does so through the various vocations that its members have. The problem arises when the ELCA believes that it is the primary work of the Church to do this for its members. More and more, it seems that the ELCA believes the work of justice and peace must be done by synod and churchwide office and assemblies, and through congregations led by their pastors. In effect the church has attempted to usurp the offices and callings of its members, by presuming to speak for them and by using their contributions to fund that effort.

Meanwhile, the proper office of the ministry and the congregation is neglected. While the church attempts to promulgate and administer laws, it forgets to proclaim God’s Word and administer the Sacraments. Rather than being a place of reconciliation, where people with honest disagreements about public policy are united as forgiven sinners at the Lord’s Table, the Church becomes a place of political strife, judgment, and condemnation.

The irony of this is that no one cares what I, as an ELCA pastor, have to say about public policy. I can ascend the pulpit Sunday after Sunday to lecture the governor and president, state and federal legislators, judges, and juries about how things ought to be done, but it will have little effect. They don’t really care about what I think.

Things only get worse if I lack expertise on a subject but presume to give policy speeches anyway. The teachers in my congregation know more than I do about education. The doctors and nurses in my congregation know more than me about medicine.  Engineers know more about engineering. The active and retired military people know more than I do about national defense and foreign policy.  They don’t come to worship to hear my opinion on matters about which they know more.

Called to Be Their Pastor

Instead, they expect me to use my theological education and parish experience to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments. I have been called to be their pastor. They want to hear the Law that convicts them of sin, and the Gospel that sets them free. They want to receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. They want me to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit so that they, their children, and their grandchildren may receive the salvation that God has promised. That is my office. They expect me to fulfill that calling to the best of my ability with God’s help. The ELCA is in danger of neglecting the one thing that only the Church can do, namely, preaching the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. We run the risk of being ashamed of the Gospel, thinking that our political advocacy will accomplish more. That would be a fatal error. As Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.” (Romans 1:16, NRSV)

[1] Theodore G. Tappert. Augsburg Confession (Kindle Location 141). Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid, (Kindle Location 109).

Life Was Not All It Could Be

“Well, I do watch a lot of YouTube videos.” The twenty-something young man sitting in my office said it to me with an air of pride — even conceit. We had spent the last two hours playing question and answer. He had asked me to make time in my day to talk with him personally after he had been away from the church since his confirmation, and I was only too happy to do it; pastors don’t typically get into this line of work because we have a burning passion for paperwork. It was clear from his slouched demeanor, unkempt dress, and his father’s concern for his persistent depression and “failure to launch,” which had prompted him to call me, that life was not all it could be for him.

I was concerned for him. I was happy to answer his questions, but it had become apparent after two hours of doing so that he was not genuinely seeking answers; for when I gave them or offered resources that might help him think through a question, he immediately moved on to ask a different question, seeming to hope that this would be the one that forced me to affirm without reservation the ideas he had gleaned from that modern day Oracle of Delphi, Google. He didn’t come seeking wisdom or even new data; he came seeking a reason to not change the very points of view that were giving birth to the misery that had prompted him to call me in the first place.

I began life as a youth minister. Four of the best years of my life were spent ministering to and with the youth of Zion Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I not only loved that time in my life, but I continue to have such an abiding passion for youth that even when I was the senior pastor of a church and could partially define my own job description, I chose to make work with our high school students one of my primary responsibilities. Youth is a time when we make choices whose consequences shape our future in ways we can only guess at, but equally, it is a time when we can shift our convictions more easily than in later life, when we have so much more invested in the trajectory we are already on.

So momentous are the choices we make in our youth, we cannot guess at the significance we will attribute to them in later life. Whether and who we should date and/or marry, what kind of work will make up the bulk of our waking hours, how we will spend our time, money and effort, and what kind of mark we will make on the world — at least, our little corner of it — are all things that properly consume our energy and attention at this time of life.

All those aspects of life — and many more — are areas about which our convictions about ultimate things have something to say. They are things about which the Bible in general has a great deal to say and Jesus, in particular, has even more. During my conversation with the young man I mentioned above, he made rudimentary mistakes about the very Biblical stories about which he was questioning me, and his mistakes in reasoning were even worse; yet clearly, he considered himself something of a great thinker — the intellectual equivalent of the classic self-made-man.

Enough to Be Dangerous

Now, the truth is, I deeply respect such people when they are people of genuine skill and achievement. They often bring a necessary outsider’s insight to intractable problems in their field and are catalysts for true change. But Google and its internet ilk can give us the impression that we have achieved such status when, in fact, we have simply acquired just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

The sources of information on the internet are provided to you free of cost simply because the advertisers on the pages you frequent pick up the tab. They pay for a presence on these pages, not because they hope that you will be someone interested in their product in the same way as a billboard advertiser, whose advertising is equally available to people of every persuasion in the cars that pass their location, but rather because your search history has indicated that you are likely — perhaps very likely — to be interested in their product. You are what salespeople called a “qualified prospect.”

Sold

Your search history will also direct you toward resources that are “themed” along the lines of inquiry you are already pursuing and unlikely to challenge your established convictions. Why? Because you will likely linger longer on those pages and be exposed to the advertising that drives the monetary engine of the internet. To put it bluntly, the advertisers are not simply trying to sell you a product, the pages you visit are selling you — your eyes — to the advertisers. You are the product being sold on the internet.

Serious Research

What all this means is that the internet is a lousy tool for doing serious research into an important topic. You will not be exposed to the best contrarian arguments on any topic, and your natural human propensity toward confirmation bias (our tendency to not question data that affirms our current beliefs and discount data that would challenge them) will not be healthfully challenged, for that might interrupt the predictable flow of money.

By its very structure, the internet is antithetical to a serious search for the truth… and since the most important matters of our life are at stake in our choice of faith (and its attendant worldview), let alone potentially something as significant as eternal life, we can and should take the quest for religious truth seriously.

One recent trend on the internet has been celebrity “faith deconstructions.” In these personal pieces, public personalities share their often profoundly touching reasons for leaving the Christian faith in which they were raised. Many of these include somewhat detailed recounting of their intellectual journeys out of the faith, quoting scholars and/or former pastors and Christian leaders like Bart Ehrman, Rob Bell, and Bart Campolo. The problem is that they don’t often seem familiar with the most intelligent responses to and questions of their positions, and those watching their testimonies will not be helped to find them by the internet. Besides, despite the historic use of personal, emotional testimony by some Christian groups, our sympathetic response to a charismatic person is not a reliable means of evaluating truth.

Do This

You deserve better, and you couldn’t have more motivation to provide yourself with better. Seek wise counsel, read good, substantive books, take the quest for truth — and yourself — seriously, and finally, do one more thing: spend time talking to God in worship. The late Tom Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary and priest for 50+ years, reflected on the inestimable importance of the question of God and religious truth, saying, “If you’re not sure, you stand in worship, listen, think, and address your prayers, ‘to Whom it may concern, if you’re there.’” He had recently been informed that his grandson, named for him, had at seventeen years old declared himself an atheist.

His Truth Will Make a Difference

As a young person, you live in a world dominated by memes and internet trends. It is unlikely that you will live your life without a serious challenge to the faith that the people around you have worked so hard to pass on to you and which I hope you have embraced deeply. When that challenge happens, or even better, now, before the challenge comes, take yourself — and more importantly, Jesus — seriously. He said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and His truth will make a difference in the way you live your life.

As I sit here, under Oregon’s version of quarantine, I have been reflecting on the extraordinary challenges facing American society in general, but also local churches in particular. Even with the uncertainties of how the current pandemic will be playing out over the next six to eighteen months, there are a few predictions I think we can make with a relatively high degree of confidence.

Predictions

First, no matter how quickly and efficiently local and state governments suspend legal restrictions to allow businesses, schools, and churches to reopen, this will not result in an immediate return to the life we knew before this last January. And it’s not just cruise lines and airlines who will discover that it might take one to two years to return to “business as usual”; this will also be true for small, local businesses and, I dare say, many churches. My oldest son, Jason, is CEO of the non-profit Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association. As you can imagine, the business owners he serves have seen a virtual collapse of their industry. And for many of them their restaurants and hotels will never reopen. So besides trying to help his members access limited federal and state loans to survive in the short-term, Jason is now, with his staff, wrestling with how he can advise his members when it comes to the challenge of motivating their customers to return once business restrictions are lifted. Many pastors and church leaders will be facing a similar challenge in the months ahead.

Second, until we have an effective and available vaccine, there will be on-going anxiety and uncertainty in many if not most American communities. Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, put it well when quoted in the April 22^nd issue of The Washington Post. “As a country, we’re unprepared not just logistically but mentally for this next phase.” He expressed, in this article, that most Americans do not grasp the difficult months ahead and the likelihood of repeated surges of the virus. “For a while, people were told all we need is to get past the peak. Then, they started hearing all we need is testing…The way you prepare people for a sprint and marathon are very different. As a country, we are utterly unprepared for the marathon ahead.” I anticipate that while most of the country begins “opening up”, the national media will be quick to highlight news stories of those communities which will occasionally be dealing with local outbreaks. This will result in increased anxiety in the rest of the country; even to some degree in communities that have no covid-19 patients in their local hospital. And I suspect this anxiety will be especially prevalent among older adults concerned about their own personal vulnerabilities to this virus. Because of this, pastors and lay leaders need to factor in the median age of their members when trying to anticipate the ministry challenges ahead.

The above predictions have profound implications for local congregations. And they will impact, in particular, four areas of congregational life: community service, worship ministries, member care, and financial giving.

1. Community Service Outreach It is essential, given the scope of the financial damage our nation has incurred in just the last couple of months, that Christian congregations be proactive in reaching out to those in need, especially in their local communities. Our economy is already in a new, major recession. Millions are suddenly out of work, and food banks across the country have been inundated by unprecedented numbers of people in need of emergency assistance. The local church needs to step up, for two reasons:  First, because it has always been our scriptural mandate. And second, because each of our congregations will likely be judged, by many of the unchurched and dechurched members of our communities, based on how we respond to those in need during this national crisis. Virtually every community now has significant numbers of residents who are poor, unemployed, and struggling to address their most basic financial needs. In addition, there are many people who are struggling with the social isolation that has become the by-product of this pandemic.

2. Worship Ministries  A little historical perspective: This is the first time in U.S. history that there has been a nation-wide, mass closure of churches. Not even during the 1918 influenza epidemic did so high a percentage of churches have to close. So needless to say, these are “uncharted waters.” Recently the American Enterprise Institute published, in the March 29^th issue of The New York Times, a detailed plan for what restrictions should be maintained in local communities before our return to some kind of “normal”. One particular recommendation caught my attention: That assemblies of more than fifty people be prohibited until there is an available and effective vaccine. So, let’s imagine that this becomes the norm. What would the consequences be for local churches? Well, that depends, to a large degree, on congregational size. For mid-sized and larger churches this will mean depending on a quality, on-going, weekly online worship ministry; maybe through 2021! For smaller churches, it will mean limiting the size of their worship gatherings; possibly offering two weekly services instead of one in order that neither service exceed 50 worshipers. One idea, before regular services resume, is to survey your members regarding what kind of precautions they would prefer in order to give them “peace of mind” regarding public assembly.

3. Member Care  I think it’s imperative that every congregation be even more vigilant than usual in monitoring the well-being of their members. I’m concerned that this might not be taking place in mid-sized and larger churches where it’s more difficult, even in “normal times”, to provide for the emotional and spiritual needs of individual members. And there is nothing “normal” about these current “times”! This might be a good time to organize a team of volunteers to take the lead on guaranteeing that every member is being cared for. After all, the social isolation alone is making this an incredibly difficult time for many of our people. And don’t forget your members who are health care workers and first responders. Many of them are dealing with extraordinary and unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety.

4. Finally, the challenge of Financial Giving. My guess is that a great many churches will be closing their doors over the next couple of years. The combination of pandemic anxiety, cancelled worship services, and the new economic crisis will require very proactive stewardship strategies in the months ahead. This is the time for pastors and congregational leaders to prayerfully discuss ways to encourage members to continue in the faithful stewardship of their financial resources.

Something I find very encouraging are the plans for reopening our lives, including our churches. Typically those plans include three or four steps, a delineation of the conditions that would need to exist in order to go to the next step, a warning that it would be easy to have to go back to a previous step, and a concern for the elderly, those with prior conditions, and others who are among the most vulnerable. Typically, the steps basically go in this order – from severe social distancing protocols to moderate social distancing protocols to limited social distancing protocols.

Thinking through the well-known account in John 20 of Jesus’ appearing to His disciples on Easter Sunday evening, when Thomas was not with them, and then a week later, when Thomas was with them, I find the early disciples going through very similar steps.

STEP ONE

John starts out by telling us that on Easter Sunday evening “the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.” (verse 19) Like we have been, so the disciples were under strict self-quarantine. They were inside, not because of a virus, but because of their fear of the Jewish leaders who might do to them what they had done to Jesus. And the doors were not only shut, they were locked.

What did Jesus give to them to help them move from step one to step two? Six things, and Jesus wants to and can give the same six things to us.

First, His presence. Verse 19 says, “Jesus came and stood among them.” Nothing about their circumstances – neither their fears nor the walls nor the locked doors – were able to keep Him out. And nothing about our present circumstances – including all of our fears – need keep Him away.

Second, His peace. Twice – in verse 19 and then again in verse 21 – Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” Peace is also what we need. The peace that passes understanding. The peace that the world cannot give. The peace that only God can give.

Third, unmistakable evidence of His resurrection. Verse 20 – “He showed them His hands and His side.” We also need unmistakable evidence that Jesus is alive. We need the reliable, eyewitness accounts of those who were there. We need that sure and certain hope that comes from knowing that God has defeated our greatest enemies – sin, death, and the power of the devil – even the impact of the corona virus – through the resurrection.

Fourth, a purpose and a calling. Verse 21 – “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” I know that for me – as I seek to cope with these “stay at home” days – it has been so extremely helpful to have a purpose and a calling. It has been so helpful for me to be able to be involved in ministry that I value very much. To be able to teach a Bible study that is recorded and then posted on the websites and Facebook pages of two congregations. And to be able to do my work as executive director of Lutheran CORE.

Fifth, verse 22 – “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” We do not want or need either Jesus or us to have to wear a facial mask. We are not afraid of getting the corona virus from His breathing on us. Rather we need the Holy Spirit, whom we will receive through His breathing on us.

Sixth, authority. In verse 23 Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The one who just before His ascension said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18), has shared with us His authority. We do not need to go out timid, afraid, uncertain, and insecure. Rather we are going and we are speaking in the name of and with the authority of the one who has all authority.

STEP TWO

All of that must have helped the disciples move from Step One to Step Two, because verse 26 tells us that a week later the disciples were again in the house. This time Thomas was with them. And even though verse 26 tells us that the doors were shut, it does not say that they were locked. The disciples had moved from step one to step two.

Again Jesus comes and stands among them. Again He says, “Peace be with you.” The disciples, including Thomas, are now ready to move on to step three.

STEP THREE

Jesus invites Thomas to do what Thomas had said he would need to do in order to be able to believe that Jesus is alive – “see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side.” (verse 25) But it does not say that Thomas actually did what he had said he would need to do in order to believe. Rather in verse 28 Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas became the first disciple to be recorded as actually calling Jesus God.

Thomas Was All In

I believe that Thomas (so called Doubting Thomas) has been given a bum rap. I believe that Thomas wanted to believe. With all his heart he wanted to believe. But death seemed final. The grave seemed irreversible. What the disciples were saying – “We have seen the Lord” (verse 25) – was just too good to be true. So, he could not believe.

But when he did come to believe, he went all the way. He was all in. He became the first disciple to be recorded as calling Jesus God. Other disciples had called Jesus many other things during the previous three years – Rabbi, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. But Thomas was the first disciple to call Jesus God.

And Thomas did not relapse from Step Three back to Steps One or Two. Early Christian writings say that Thomas brought the Gospel to India. The Christian church in Pakistan and India traces itself back to the evangelistic work of Thomas.

The congregation I was pastor of in southern California before I retired included a large Pakistani community. They were all related by blood or by marriage. A relative of theirs at the time was presiding bishop of the United Church of Pakistan. In February 2011 I accepted his invitation to visit the Christians and churches in Pakistan and found them to be incredible examples for us of courage, commitment, and faithfulness to Christ even in the midst of a very hostile environment.

In John 11: 16, when Jesus told His disciples that He would be going to Bethany, where Lazarus had recently died, Thomas told his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” Thomas is a tremendous example for us not of doubt but of courage and strength of conviction. Christians today who trace their church back to Thomas are tremendous examples for us of courage and strength of conviction. May we face all the challenges of today with the same kind and level of courage and strength of conviction. May we, like Thomas, be all in.  

Many of you are probably already aware that the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau’s (ALPB’s) board is reprinting its daily prayer book, “For All the Saints.” 

• The ALPB board approved the reprint of Volume One and it is now available for purchase, either by itself or in the set. 
• The board felt it didn’t have any choice but to reprint, since these books have been such a blessing to many people’s spiritual life. 
• This set of 4 pocket-sized, beautifully bound volumes is designed to be used for daily prayer and Bible reading by Christians everywhere. 
• Based on the two-year daily lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship, the volumes cover a 2-year period. 
• Each volume measures 4″ by 6″ with a gold-stamped, leather-like cover, durable sewn binding, ribbon markers, and over 1300 pages printed on high quality lightweight Bible paper.   
• Please go to our website at www.alpb.org and find out more about these wonderful books.  Then if you are still interested, please feel free to purchase them right on our website (under “Shop”, eighth book down) or contact Donna Roche at the address below.   
• While you are browsing our website, check out our newer books like Robert Benne’s “Thanks Be To God” and Carl Braaten’s “My Ecumenical Journey.”  

Donna K. Roche, Office Manager
American Lutheran Publicity Bureau
P.O. Box 327
Delhi, NY  13753-0327
(607) 746-7511
www.alpb.org

Have you ever preached the Gospel
to people who don’t care about anything but the present moment?  Or to put it differently, can you imagine
sharing the good news with people who don’t believe that the past and future
have any claim on today? 

Past, Present, Future

A Facebook group to which I belong recently shared a “Preaching Moment” video by Thomas G. Long, homiletics professor at the Candler School of Theology, in which he addresses this situation.  According to Long, the so-called “narrative” mode of preaching has become less effective in recent years because fewer people view their lives as a story with a past, present, and future.   

“The narrative mode of preaching addressed this need: the need is, I have heard the gospel; I know the biblical message, but I am not existentially engaged with it,” Long explains.  “And therefore I need to move from knowledge to delight.”  Narrative preaching seeks to move listeners from passive knowledge of the Gospel to a lively faith in it by telling stories that help listeners see themselves within the grand narrative of Scripture. 

Location on the Timeline

But you know how stories work: they
typically connect the past, present, and future, making sense of how one event
touches another.  What if the culture to
which you preach lacks that sense of time? 
That is, what if it lacks not only knowledge of the biblical narrative
but also what Long calls narrative
competence, the ability to view things in chronological relationship and
locate oneself within that timeline? 

Referencing an Oxford scholar named Galen Strawson, Long points to the rise of people who understand themselves in this “episodic” way.  People who think “episodically” know that certain things happened to them in years past, but they insist that those things don’t have a material effect on who they are today.  Moreover, they don’t view their present in light of any anticipated future. 

Instead, the present moment alone becomes the workshop of identity.  A person’s origins, experiences, and ultimate destination have no necessary bearing on beliefs and moral decisions.  “Who I am today may not be who I am tomorrow” — we’ll have to wait and see.  (You may read Strawson’s argument here.)

You and I, like Long, may disagree with this episodic interpretation of human nature.  It seems, perhaps, a bit defensive, like an argument for how someone wants things to be more than a confession of how things really are.  But now consider some of the trends that we see in our culture and churches. 

Trends and Doom

In the realm of identity politics and intersectional theory, both personal and national identities can be forged through hard breaks with the past that disavow its relevance for the present.  Perhaps the past is viewed as too oppressive or indecent for serious consideration, even to the point of rejecting the literary and artistic accomplishments of prior eras due to their supposed moral degeneracy. 

Likewise, scientific and
quasi-scientific foretelling of the earth’s future can sometimes paint such a
vision of doom as to deny any real future at all.  Ecological prophecy can leave people anywhere
from dismal about tomorrow to blithely unconcerned about it.  The future looks as impossible as the past
looks dangerous, rendering both irrelevant for the present.

Torching the Church’s Past

We have whiffs of this episodic malaise
in the church, too.  Some of its leaders seem
intent on torching the church’s past, perhaps deeming it too white, too
capitalist, or too cis.  Better, they
say, to remake the church in light of present sensibilities alone.  Others, in their radical calls for social
justice, appear almost to despair of any future change, their cries
increasingly vengeful.  Where, one might
wonder, is their enlivening hope in the advent of Christ?  You can always smell a church without a
Christ-centered vision of the future, especially if you’ve had prior experience
in smelling corpses.

How Now Shall We Respond?

So Strawson and Long may have
touched on something significant.  Their
reflections dovetail with what others have noted about the growth of a “new
paganism” in America, given that many non-traditional spiritualities also lack
a clearly linear conception of time.  
But now the question is: how shall confessing Lutherans respond? 

First, we should answer for
ourselves the basic challenges that the episodic mindset poses to our
confession of faith.  For example, speaking
of forgiveness necessarily assumes the relevance of both the past and the
future to the present.  Forgiveness only
matters as part of a story where people are otherwise responsible for their
past action and face condemnation in the future.  But why should that be?  Why should my actions yesterday have any
claim on who I am today?  Don’t Lutherans
believe in a “new Adam and Eve rising daily” before God? 

Why the Past and Future Matter

In response, Lutherans might start
with what we consider the hallmark condition for freedom and life before God: “the
righteous shall live by faith.”  Trust in
Christ justifies the sinner, Scripture says, and just a little reflection on
the nature of faith will reveal why the past and future matter as much as the present. 

Simply put, trust is necessary for
happiness.  It is trust that allows us to
form commitments that provide us with daily security and open the future to
such fundamental things as love and family.  
At the same time, trust thrives on the past and anticipates a future.  Whether it’s trust in God or trust in our
neighbor, faith in anyone depends on the reliability of that person, a
reliability that is only known through the narrative of that person’s past.  As a colleague of mine points out, you may
consider yourself as free of your past as you wish, but your boss may have
other thoughts.  A boss relies on your
dependability in anticipation of the company’s future success. 

Why Trade Freedom for Bondage?

Having reflected on those
connections between happiness, trust, and time, confessing Lutherans may then critique
the episodic mentality and answer its challenges with the renewing Word.  By way of the Law, we may press a culture
that seeks to ignore the past and future with a simple question: why would you
trade freedom for bondage?  Why give up
the necessary conditions for trust
and commitment and love (the life God would have for
you)? 

Indeed, why not acknowledge things
for how they really are, even if it means finding yourself saddled with a
history of wrong?  Facing our past error ultimately
sets the stage for greater trust, commitment, and love in the future by
exposing our unreliability and asserting that both God and we hope to end
it. 

Then, having exposed the happy
life’s dependence on both the past and the future, we may introduce the
narrative of God’s utter dependability.  His
trustworthiness, pictured through the history of Israel and fulfilled in Jesus,
not only justifies the existence of sinners now — they exist for His glory, as
it turns out — but it also opens the future with the promise of their ultimate
healing.  Preaching this faithfulness of
God starts to root a rootless culture into His narrative. 

Rise of the New Adam

It also allows us to grant the
episodic mindset at least one gracious nod. 
Inherent to episodic thinking is the desire to be continually new.  As noted earlier, some might say that
thinking episodically is good Lutheranism. 
“Don’t Lutherans believe in a new Adam or Eve emerging daily?”  Yes, it is essential to faith in Holy Baptism!   Recognizing that the past and future play a
role in shaping identity should never steal from the believer that fresh joy of
Christ. 

But now we can see what makes such joy possible.  The believer only comes to newness of life by trusting God’s trustworthiness over the sinner’s unreliability.  That is, it only comes by way of repentance, and that repentance is made possible only through trust in God’s mighty works and what they promise in the world to come.  Only through this intersection of the Biblical narrative and one’s personal narrative does the New Adam arise. 

I’m not writing these reflections to advocate a renewal of narrative preaching.  To the contrary, I agree with Long that the narrative preaching of the last century has probably enjoyed its heyday.  But consideration of how the church and its neighbors divide over one key aspect of narrative (time!) may help us speak the Gospel.  It may lead us to understand better why some people are not hearing us, and how we may overcome that divide with the good news that turns past, present, and future into a really good time.

For it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and that the sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word.

(Augsburg Confession, Article VII)[1]

Maintain Unity

One of the most difficult and important tasks of pastors and
leaders in any congregation is to maintain unity. It is no easy thing to keep a
group of several hundred people united around a common vision of mission and
ministry. Many of you have experienced how painful and destructive conflict
within a congregation can be. Friendships are broken, people become
disillusioned with the Church and therefore with the Gospel itself. Some just
drift away and stop going to church altogether. Even when things seem to be
resolved, distrust can continue to simmer below the surface.

Politics are Divisive

One of the things that seems almost certain to cause
division and distrust in 2020 is politics. The division between Red State and
Blue State, conservative and progressive, Democrat and Republican is as wide
and deep as it has been in a long time. Just begin to discuss immigration, LGBT
rights, war, abortion, gun control, religious freedom, Israel/Palestine, global
warming, and a host of other issues, and the conversation will quickly become
heated. Express the wrong opinion and you might be shunned, or unfriended on
Facebook. In some cases, you may even lose your job or be sued. This is as true
in the family and the church as it is in the workplace or social media.

As a pastor, I have always worked carefully and diligently
to make sure that people of all political stripes feel welcome in my congregation.
I encourage each person to live out his/her vocation as citizen by voting,
volunteering and advocating for those causes that he/she believes are in accord
with God’s will. However, I have made it clear that the congregation and its
ministries cannot be used as a platform to advance partisan causes. For
instance, the congregation does not pass out voting guides or endorse amendments
to the state constitution.

And yet at the Synod Level

You can understand my dismay then, when I have seen the
annual assembly of my synod used as such a political platform. Several years
ago, members of St. Paul were shocked when they listened to a report given by
our synodical VP. They expected to hear about how the synod planned to proclaim
the Gospel. Instead, they heard a laundry list of political tasks the VP
insisted the Church must undertake. To add insult to injury, the VP suggested
that those who were skeptical of or opposed to her agenda were in the same
moral category as Nazis and White Supremacists. This same pattern of behavior
has continued for at least four years, if not longer. I can imagine the voting
members to the synod assembly thinking to themselves, “But pastor said that the
Church is not to be used as a political platform for one’s favorite political
causes. Was he being untruthful when he said that?”

Where Does the ELCA Leadership Stand?

The bottom line on all of this is that it is no longer clear
whether the leadership of the ELCA agrees with what the Augsburg Confession
(AC), Article VII, says about the true unity of the Church. It seems that many
believe that the true unity of the Church is found in a common socio/political
agenda. Those who do not share or will not support this agenda are anathematized.
 

A further problem arises when we consider what the AC,
Article V, says about the Ministry:

To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel.

[2]

The Holy Spirit Gives Faith in Jesus Christ

The primary calling of the pastor and the primary mission of
the congregation is to preach the Word of God, in Law and Gospel, and to
administer the Sacraments.  The Lutheran
Church confesses that it is through these means that God gives the Holy Spirit.
It is this Holy Spirit that gives the gift of justifying faith in Jesus Christ.
In turn, it is faith that becomes active in good works for the neighbor. (See
Article VI on the New Obedience.) You might say that through the faithful
ministry of the pastor and congregation, God brings about true change in persons,
communities and the world.

Lost Confidence in the Gospel?

One of my primary concerns with the current emphasis on
political advocacy and engagement in the ELCA is that it suggests we have lost
confidence in the power of the Gospel to change the world. It is often
suggested that the mission of the Church is to be transformative. It is our
calling to change the world. And it is through engagement in the issues of the
day and in the promotion of certain political causes that the Church truly
makes a difference. This turns the Augsburg Confession on its head.

Political Advocacy Is ELCA Pastoral Duty?

Of more concern is the notion that, within the ELCA, it is the
duty of pastors to promote the political causes and agendas endorsed by the
larger denomination. Wording in the standard letter of call in ELCA synods says
that a pastor shall “impart
knowledge of this church and its wider ministry though distribution of its
communications and publications.” When the focus of the ELCA was primarily on
Word and Sacrament ministry, this was not problematic. When the majority of the
communications and publications of the ELCA focus on political advocacy,
however, it turns the pastor into a political operative or press agent.

Unity via the Gospel and the Sacraments

The current
direction of the ELCA in regard to political engagement and advocacy presents a
serious challenge to the ministry of pastors and congregations as outlined in
the Augsburg Confession. It encourages and sometimes insists that we welcome a
major cause of division into our congregations at a time when the political
divide is at its worst. It would prevent us from finding the only unity that is
necessary, namely unity through the Gospel and the Sacraments.

[1]
Theodore G. Tappert. Augsburg Confession (Kindle Locations 88-89). Kindle
Edition.

[2]
Theodore G. Tappert. Augsburg Confession (Kindle Locations 79-81). Kindle
Edition.