Statement on Scripture

Bishop Emeritus Mocko makes reference to the Lutheran CORE statement on Scripture. This statement makes no claim to be all that can be said about how Scripture is to be understood by Lutherans. Yet, in such a time when there is much discussion as to varieties of "theologies" of interpretation, this is one attempt -- a work in progress, yet a faithful one -- to be a part of the conversation. Against the claims that those who are conservative in their interpretation of Scripture must be "fundamentalist," this statement argues instead that holding that Scripture is over us is being faithful. Rather than place it here, I will direct you to the website where it is printed in full, and if you wish you can add your name to the list of those who wish to say, in a small way, here I stand. The statement is located here: http:// www.commonconfession.net/COREscriptset.htm.

Open Letter to Mark Hanson, ELCA Presiding Bishop

The following Open Letter was recently written by the Rev. George Paul Mocko, Bishop Emeritus of the Delaware-Maryland Synod, ELCA

An Open Letter to Presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson

Dear Mark.

All my life I have been proud to call myself a Lutheran. Given my Hussite roots, I have quipped that I was a Lutheran a hundred years before Luther. That pride is not what it was, as I feel it breaking down before feelings of betrayal and alienation. This is happening as I watch my church, like a juggernaut follow the path of the ECUSA in the matters of the ordination of those openly living in homosexual relationships and the blessing and marrying of those in such relationships.

We ignore what this is doing to the ECUSA: it faces schism; it has become a pariah in Africa; the welcome mats from Rome and Constantinople have been pulled back; membership and income losses were recently described in The Christian Century as "precipitous." But undeterred, we push forward, apparently ready to accept the same sort of results.

Why? Is it because some new exegetical revelation has burst upon us? No. All attempts to claim that come up against the wall that every reference to homosexual practice in our scripture gives a clear negative judgment. Yet we would pronounce it blessed.

So next we launch into a study on the authority of Scripture, which, excuse me, early signs are, that it will tell us that we can continue to claim that Scripture is the "source and norm of our faith and life", as we clearly brush aside Scripture and turn to other sources and norms. We are preparing to sell our birthright as the foremost biblical theologians of the West for the pottage of this culture's approval, as we accommodate to its desires and demands in its extraordinary and overwhelming obsession with and worship of sex. What hubris possesses this generation to think it is qualified to rewrite the teaching of what has been the faith for two thousand years, and a thousand before that.

If we succeed in doing this, we will sacrifice the credibility of all our teaching. The very thing that has made our teaching notable has been its solid rootage in Scripture. Make that optional, take it away and who cares what we say about anything?

I read with deep appreciation the paper on the authority of Scripture produced by bishop Paull Spring, and Lutheran CORE. I hope there may still be hope for us.

In Christ,
George Paul Mocko,
Bishop Emeritus, De. Md. Synod, ELCA

Yesterday was the commemoration of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. Now, I am one of those geek types who actually read this thing years before I went to seminary. Why, you might ask, would I want to do that? Well, I was curious. I had heard about this book pastors talked about called The Book of Concord. When I would ask about it, the only answer I would get was "Now, the pastors have to study this when they are in seminary -- but it's nothing that YOU have to worry about." So of course, I wanted to see what this book was all about!

But I didn't really, I mean really, read the Augsburg Confession until I was questioning my faith, and what the Lutheran Church really taught, and if it was something that held up even in the worst of times. (And at that point in my life, it felt like the worst of times.) The Holy Spirit has quite the sense of humor, I believe, because the Augsburg Confession didn't come across as a pile of dry-as-dust teachings. It was ALIVE! And suddenly, I GOT IT! Justification through grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone was truly good news. Jesus had done it all; I really didn't have to a thing, not one single solitary blessed thing. How was I to respond to such an overwhelming gift? That was the real question, and one I am still trying to live out nearly 30 years later.

The Augsburg Confession changed my life. So, thank you, Melancthon, and Luther, and all those who were brave enough, and foolhardy enough, to trust in God's protection as they went up against all the forces of state and church in presenting this document. We are still reaping the benefits of this great gift.

A Conference and a Book

I will be gone for a few days at a conference in Northfield, MN. "Freedom and Authority in the Christian Life" is sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. Michael Root is the executive director, and it was founded by Carl Braaten and Robert Jensen. I am looking forward to hearing Ephraim Radner, whom I have read but never heard in person, as well as Gilbert Meilaender. When I get back I will have to comment on this weekend's synod assemblies, both on the tally of those that have approved the Goodsoil memorials and on the elections for bishop. (I hear there is a surprise out of Lower Susquehanna.)

Right now I am reading "The Pickup" by Nadine Gordimer. I have not read much by her in the last few years. I read her voraciously for a while. Then with the changes in South Africa, she had to adjust to the new situation in her fiction. I ran across this book in the local Barnes and Noble and was intrigued. It is the story of a young white South African woman, Julie, who becomes involved with a garage mechanic, a "colored" as they say there, who is in the country illegally (he overstayed his visa). Now he has been discovered and ordered to leave the country. Will she go with him? If she does, can she adjust to this new life that will be unlike anything she has known up to now? I am only one third of the way through the book, but I think Gordimer has found her footing in the changes that have occured in her country. With all of the discussions going on right now regarding our own inability to deal with immigration to this country, both legal and illegal, this may give an different twist on that question.

As I Was Saying. . . .

I've been gone for a while. First I was sick. Not life threatening, but it was one of those "one thing leads to another" downward spirals into fatigue (bone-deep fatigue) and not caring about much of anything because being sick was taking up all of my thought and energy. That is mostly over with now. However, after that comes the trying to catch up with life phase, including work, family, and other details of existence. No energy for writing, either on this blog or anywhere else.

I am getting back to this now, just as my church body is in the midst of synod assembly season. I am also reading some good books (well, most of them are good; funny that when I was sick my ability to read anything went right out the window. I am now trying to catch up on that, also). I haven't seen any movies in about five months; folks tell me I haven't missed much. And I am trying as much as possible to avoid discussions about the possible candidates for president: I just don't want to go there yet. (Living next door to one of the traditional "first primary" states means I get plenty of that, anyway!)

So there will be more blogging from me very soon. God is good, even if the state of the ELCA is not!

On this weekend when many synods are meeting, and many are considering resolutions that may determine the future of this denomination, I am praying this prayer almost without ceasing. And so I commend it to anyone who might (for what reason I certainly do not know) stumble across this blog: from (I believe) Cranmer, this prayer for the Church:

"Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son our Savior. Amen."

Aardvark Alley: What Is the BBOV?

Aardvark Alley: What Is the BBOV?

A thought for Ash Wednesday

"The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore -- on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe.It has been left to later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him 'meek and mild,' and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. To those who knew him, however, he in no way suggests a milk-and-water person; they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand. . . He was emphatically not a dull man in his human lifetime, and if he was God, there can be nothing dull about God either. But he had 'a daily beauty in his life that made us ugly,' and officialdom felt that the established order of things would be more secure without him. So they did away with God in the name of peace and quietness."
from "Letters to a Diminished Church" by Dorothy Sayers

Redefinitions Coming?

If you had told me ten years ago that the ELCA was in danger of redefining marriage so that it would not be between one man and one woman, or that the ELCA might be willing to discuss redefining the teaching of Scripture and tradition in order to allow self-defined “committed relationships” to take the place of traditional marriage for both same-sex and hetero-sex couples, including but not limited to those on the clergy roster, I would have said that you were being unnecessarily alarmist and irresponsible. The ELCA has a clear understanding of the authority of Scripture, and a clear understanding and respect for the teaching of Scripture on marriage. I would have said that the understanding of the ELCA -- its leadership on all levels, its seminaries, and its congregations and members -- was identical to that reflected in the above prayer of Martin Luther. Yes, we have disagreements in the ELCA regarding the role of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the church, especially regarding blessing of same-sex unions and ordination of candidates who are gay or lesbian in their self-understanding and are in or seek to be in such a relationship. But such unions are not equivalent to marriage, nor does the ELCA plan to entertain any arguments that they should be considered the equivalent to marriage. As has been stated many times over the past 20 years, Scripture clearly teaches that the only legitimate place for sexual expression to take place is within the bonds of marriage. Outside of marriage, Christians are to be chaste and refrain from sexual relations.

“But now I know the things I know, and do the things I do” as some poet somewhere has written. Part 3 of “Journey Together Faithfully” Bible study seems to make clear that the understanding of marriage as being between one man and one woman is up for grabs. It is “in play” as some would put it. And while the final proposed social statement on human sexuality may not go that far (and probably will not go so far as to propose equating committed heterosexual relationships outside fo marriage as being “good enough” in today’s culture and a reasonable interpretation of the intent of Scripture on marriage), it may be only a matter of time before the ELCA effectively adopts that interpretation.

It will happen slowly at first. It is no secret that the institution of marriage is in the process of being redefined and reinterpreted in the society at large. Couples living together before obtaining a license and going through with the legal ceremony is the rule, not the exception. Increasingly pastors are viewed as draconian in their strictness if they state that they will not officiate at weddings in which the couple is co-habiting before the ceremony. It is common to hear that while no one actually approves of such living arrangements, young people are doing it anyway, and what is one to do? Denying a large, expensive church wedding for the reason that the couple are living “in sin” (how quaint that sounds!) is seen as cruel and inhuman punishment, and for no good reason. After all, no one expects the couple to take up separate residences in the months before the wedding; most would say, what would be the point? And if the pastor enforces such behavior, most agree that the couple would just pretend; that is, lie.

There is so much wrong with this picture that it is hard to find a place to start. And certainly the churches have tried to discourage this sexual laxitude, to greater or lesser degrees. The church is not to blame for the sins of the society, especially with regard to sexuality. Or at least, anyway, not solely to blame.

But the time is coming (and in some places is already here) when marriage will be seen as one among many equally valid ways in which to have a God-pleasing sexual relationship. And those seeking to serve in the church as rostered church workers, including pastors, will not be required to be married, as long as their relationship (gay or straight) is “faithful, loving and committed” as the couple and close friends choose to define those terms.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds....” What was St. Paul possibly thinking?

A Prayer of Martin Luther

"O Lord God, who has created man and woman, and hast ordained them for the marriage bond, making them fruitful by Thy blessing, and has typified therein the sacramental union of Thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Church, His Bride: We beseech Thy infinite goodness and mercy that Thou wilt not permit this Thy creation, ordinance and blessing to be disturbed or destroyed, but graciously preserve the same; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen."

The Peace of God

It is very difficult to watch what is happening to the Episcopal Church. I have known many faithful people in that denomination, both priests and laity, faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the true mission of the Church, and I rejoiced at the time the ELCA and the ECUSA celebrated being in full communion with one another. However, now I feel like I am a spectator at a slow-motion train wreck. And the problems are not limited to the Episcopal Church in this country. Indeed, the Church of England is facing upheaval. This is far from being over, and what the Anglican Communion will look like a year or two from now is anyone's guess.
Some of the issues facing the ELCA are similar, but there are key differences. Our polity is not at all the same as that of the Episcopal church, nor is the Lutheran World Federation set up like the Anglican Communion. While we are having a tough time with issues around sexuality, especially same-sex relationships, we are not (for the most part) facing an ongoing disagreement regarding the ordination of women. And the leadership in the Chicago office hasn't said the kind of things that has gotten the new Episcopal presiding bishop in trouble with conservatives. (And I am grateful for that.)
Nonetheless, I view what is happening in our sister church as a cautionary tale for those of us who value orthodox Christian teaching and practice in the ELCA. Lutherans are a confessional church, and we need to retain that, however imperfectly. That might mean we argue theology a lot more than is always comfortable; I believe it means that we take words and their meanings seriously, and try not to allow sloppy thinking. To give that up doesn't make for peace; rather, it only delays the inevitable. The inevitable is happening to the Episcopal Church right now; the church cannot stay united when such dramatically different understandings of the faith are present within her. I pray it doesn't have to go that route for the ELCA.

A Beginning

These are the musings of a confessional Lutheran pastor in the ELCA on various matters: issues within the Church, matters peculiar to troubled Lutherans in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, idle thoughts about books, movies, and other cultural phenomena, as well as prayers and devotional words from the length and breadth of the great cloud of witnesses. As I am new to blogging, this will be a "take one step at a time" enterprise. We'll see how it goes.
"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer."