Synod Assembly

Many of you know that my husband is a pastor.  He spent this last weekend at synod assembly.  Our larger church, the ELCA, is divided into synods and each synod meets every year to discuss and vote on matters of the church within our synod.  I don't know if that makes sense, but it's also not the point of the post.  I posting what my husband said during the discussions on one of the resolutions that pertained to voting at the National Assembly of our church body.  I'm not posting it to make some kind of political or religious statement about what the resolution discussed, I'm posting it because it states something that is so true in many places about the brokenness of churches all over the world.  I know that we as Christians do not agree with part of what the resolution is about, but I hope you can see the truth in the larger point he was trying to make.  It was definitely the Holy Spirit that moved him.  My hubby said when he left for the meeting "I hope I don't say anything".  Well, he felt moved to say something...

I rise to speak in opposition to this resolution, not because of the validity of its point (perhaps these resolutions should require a 2/3 majority for passage.  I don’t know, I’m not really up on my ELCA Constitutional Law), but solely on the basis of its nature and the tone for debate that it encourages for this and future Synod Assemblies.  It only serves to cloud our vision of what God’s people are to be about, and misrepresents what I believe our Synod is ultimately about. 

Several members of this assembly have expressed lament that they find the ELCA unrecognizable as the Lutheran church they grew up in.  To this I say, “Thank God!”  If this church looked the same as it did just over 30 years ago, my mother wouldn’t be a pastor and neither would many in this assembly.  If this church looked like it did 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to share table fellowship with my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ from other various denominations.  If this church looked like it did just over 10 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to share meaningful agreement with my Roman Catholic sisters and brothers on the Doctrine of Justification. 

I recognize the wonderful gift of our Lutheran heritage, but I also see its flaws and the need for continued growth and reform.  I can admit that my kindergarten Sunday School teacher, as wonderful as she was, did not teach me all the various ways that Genesis can and should be interpreted.  We got to Norman Gottwald and the Historical-Critical method in 2^nd grade I believe.  I can see that my grandparents were wrong to oppose the ordination of women and open communion practices.  I can recognize that Martin Luther himself was in error when he wrote inflammatory remarks regarding the Jewish people.  And I can also recognize the marks of brokenness within the church of my youth and young adult life, for which I bear responsibility.  These kinds of resolutions only serve to continue the fruitless, unhelpful, and destructive arguments that have consumed our church and distracted us from the real work and debate God would have us be about.

And so I pray that in 10, 20, or 30 or more years our Lutheran church will be unrecognizable to me.  I pray that my son will turn to me and ask in astonishment, “Really, Dad?  You all spent all this time and energy on debating about the rules?”  I pray that I will walk into a gathering such as this and fall to my knees and weep, not lamenting what the church once had and lost, but for the overwhelming beauty of what the Lutheran church has become; that I will see, not a bunch of (pardon me for saying so) old white folks debating resolutions about procedures and majorities or supermajorities, but an assembly that reflects the true church of Christ in all its diversity debating resolutions about things like how we can confront the systemic racism present in all our communities, or how we can stem the tide of thousands of children who die each day from hunger and poverty.  After all, when Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” he didn’t go on to tell him, “Make sure you require a 2/3 majority vote on social statements.”  He said, “Feed my lambs,” and again, “Feed my sheep.” 

So, members of this assembly, my brothers and sisters, I have hope that that day will come, maybe not in my lifetime, or even in my son’s, but that day of God’s kingdom will come.  Yes, perhaps through the work of our hands, but also (and more miraculously) I trust that God’s kingdom will come even in spite of the sin within myself and the brokenness of our current church, which resolutions such as this represent.  So I urge this assembly to reject this resolution and commit itself to in the future bring resolutions to our Synod gatherings that more fully represent the true mission of kingdom work that we are to be about.  Thank you.