The Main Thing

"Keep the main thing the main thing."

Those were the words of Ryan Schwarz of the Lutheran CORE steering committee to the Churchwide Assembly last August. As he stood addressing the voting members during the election process for the position of Vice-President of the ELCA, he emphasized that his role would be to help the ELCA in keeping the main thing the main thing.

Here, this week, we are all called to do that. And this is a reminder, to myself as well as to whoever reads this blog, of what the true main thing is. It is Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world so that all people might be saved. And we, if we are to indeed keep the main thing the main thing, must follow him, watch and wait and pray with him, have our feet washed and be fed by him, stand in silent horror as he is crucified in our place, take his broken body down from the cross and place it in the silent tomb of the dead, and roll the stone over the place where he is laid. And then we must wait, for what God may choose to do with what is so really, truly, sincerely dead.

This week, above all else, it is about Jesus. It is not about us. It is not about the problems and works and disagreements of this time in the life and history of the ELCA. It is not about our issues, our needs, our triumphs and our losses. Those are real, and they must be dealt with, lived with, worked with. But not this week. Not in this hour.

This hour belongs to Jesus. We must set aside all else, and ponder what our Lord does for those who do not know him, do not recognize or receive him, who instead spitefully and deceitfully use and abuse him. Our Lord prays forgiveness for those who betray, torture and kill him. And you and I and all those we love and all those we hate and all those we fail to recognize as part of the Body (and all those who fail to recognize us) are among those who our Lord receives, as his arms are opened wide upon the cross.

This week, Jesus finally and decisively turns his back upon all the temptations presented to him by Satan -- to be relevant, to be spectacular, to be important -- and he enters Jerusalem to what he knows will be his death. And nothing that we in the Church do is more important than following him as he goes to carry his cross to that lonely hill outside the city walls. The world will never understand why we would do this, why we waste so much time, treasure and energy on the liturgy and ritual involved in the observing of Holy Week, the Three Days, and the Feast of the Resurrection. Imagine all the practical things we could get done, all the good that could be accomplished, all the political agendas that could be set in motion with all that wasted time and energy and finances! And that is the temptation we must resist, to think that somehow serving our own agendas and priorities are more important or can take the place of silently, prayerfully, being witnesses to the death of our Savior.

For this is where we as the church belong. We who are the Body of Christ, we are, to the world, a dead criminal hanging on a tree. We are an enormous waste of time, and talent, and treasure. We are those who are better off dead, and buried, with Jesus. We are better off in the grave, which we entered through baptism, than running around attending to our lists and causes. For when we are dead in Christ, we are promised resurrected life with him as he, the first-fruits, rises again.

So set aside all your plans, all your itineraries. For these next few days, if only for them, sit with all those other sinners, known and unknown, who are marked with the cross of Christ. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Your sin. My sin. Taken away.

And know the gift of God's peace.

March "CORE Connection"

CORE Connection - News from Lutheran CORE – March 2010 is now available.

Here is what you can read in this month’s newsletter:

+ Reconfiguration proposal receiving positive responses.
Proposal recommends new Lutheran church and continuation of Lutheran CORE.

+ Synod won’t let Florida congregation leave ELCA
In spite of two unanimous votes to leave ELCA, Synod Council refuses to let them go.

+ “Charitable Behavior” by Pastor Mark C. Chavez.

+ “Seeking New Directions for Lutheranism” is the theme of Lutheran CORE theological conference.

+ “I Think I Finally Get It” by By Pastor Erma Wolf.

+ LCMC, WordAlone Network to host events in April.

+ ELCA churchwide funding reaches “historic low.”

+ Conference asks that Lutheran CORE members be prohibited from holding offices in NE Iowa Synod.

+ ELCA releases draft of revised standards for pastors.

+ Bishops moving quickly to receive persons in same-sex relationships ordained in defiance of ELCA standards; Synod has already approved prominent proponent of changing ELCA teaching.

+ ELCA Board of Pensions approves benefits for same-sex couples; ELCA council to act in April.

Synod won’t let Florida congregation leave ELCA

The members of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Fort Pierce, Fla., voted unanimously in two required votes to end their affiliation with the ELCA. But their synod won’t let them go.

The Florida-Bahamas Synod Council decided during its Feb. 26-27 meeting that it will not allow the 105-member congregation to leave the ELCA. St. Peter received notification of the decision on March 11.

The synod is exercising its authority under a provision in ELCA constitutions that requires congregations which were affiliated with the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) prior to the ELCA’s formation “to receive synodical approval before terminating their membership” in the ELCA.

This is believed to be the first time that a synod has refused to allow a congregation that has followed the required procedures and attained the necessary votes to leave the ELCA.

The Rev. Ted Rice, pastor of St. Peter, said he thinks the actions of the synod council show the desperation of ELCA leaders in responding to congregations that are leaving the ELCA. “I think the synod and the national are saying, ‘We better try something,’” he said. “If the ELCA wants to keep us on the rolls, let them keep us on the rolls. It won’t affect us.” St. Peter has already joined another church body, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC).

ELCA Secretary David Swartling has announced that the ELCA will not allow congregations to be members of more than one church body. It is not known how St. Peter’s dual affiliation will be handled by ELCA officials.

The Rev. Edward R. Benoway, bishop of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, said that the Synod Council’s decision was made for reasons of mission, given the potential for mission in the area where the church is located. “We’re hoping to build a relationship. It’s going to be a difficult road, no doubt,” he said.

Revised drafts of ELCA standards for pastors are released

The ELCA has released proposed drafts of its revised standards for pastors and other rostered leaders. The drafts amend the ELCA’s standards to allow pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex sexual relationships, implementing the changes in ELCA teaching and policy made by the ELCA’s 2009 Church-wide Assembly.

The changes to the documents — called "Vision and Expectations" and "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline" — are expected to be approved by the ELCA Church Council at its April 9-12 meeting. The drafts were reviewed by the ELCA bishops at their March 5-9 meeting.

Marriage no longer normative setting for sexual relations

A sentence which stated that “the biblical understanding which this church affirms is that the normative setting for sexual intercourse is marriage” has been deleted from “Definition and Guidelines.” Also deleted was a sentence which read: “Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the ordained ministry of this church.”

No Christian ideals of marriage?

A sentence in “Definitions and Guidelines” that asked pastors to uphold “Christian ideals of marriage” has been changed to read “this church’s ideals of marriage, family and relationship.” This may be an acknowledgment of divisions in the ELCA about what constitute “Christian ideals of marriage.”

Marriage vs. Same-gender relationships?

The “Vision and Expectations” draft tries to make a distinction between “marriage” — “between one man and one woman” — and “publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.” The draft includes the proposed definition of a “publicly accountable lifelong, mono-gamous same-gender relationship.”

Clear changes in ELCA practice but provision for dissenters?

The “Vision and Expectations” draft illustrates the difficult situation facing the ELCA as a result of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly actions: The document enacts changes in official teaching and practice but includes an acknowledgment that the ELCA “also has committed itself to make provision in its policies to recognize the conviction of members who believe that this church should not call or roster people in such relationships.”

Required political positions and pastors care?

The “Vision and Expectations” draft also includes this paragraph that may prove difficult for pastors who uphold traditional Biblical teaching on homo-sexual behavior because it is open to wide interpretation and may be interpreted as requiring pastors to take certain political stances or to exercise pastoral care in ways that may violate their “bound consciences:”

“This church is committed to opposing all forms of harassment and assault based on sexual orientation and gender identity and supports legislation and policies to protect civil rights and to prohibit discrimination. An ordained minister is expected to welcome and provide pastoral care for all, including same gender couples and their families,” the document states.

Faithfulness to Scripture, Lutheran Confessions and Christian tradition?

The proposed draft retains the wording of the current “Vision and Expectations” entitled “Faithfulness to the Church’s Confession” without changes. Some have called attention to the following statement as challenging the ELCA’s new teaching and practice regarding same-sex sexual behavior:

“Ordained ministers of this church are to confess and teach the authoritative and normative character of the Scriptures ‘as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life’ (ELCA Constitution, 2.03). The ecumenical creeds are to be taught as true declarations of the faith of this church. The Lutheran Confessions are to be acknowledged as true witnesses and faithful expositions of the Holy Scriptures.

“In identifying specific documents as normative for preaching and teaching, this church expects its ordained ministers to understand that the faith of the church is corporate, not individualistic; catholic, not sectarian; orthodox, not heretical. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expects that its ordained ministers teach nothing ‘that departs from the Scriptures or the catholic Church’ (Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession).”