Monday, April 25, 2005

Join the diaper-free movement!

From the Cybercast News service we hear that the latest trend in environmentally friendly child rearing is having your baby go diaperless! I am so glad I am done with that stage of parenting so I don't have to listen to these idiots:


"There is a way to have a baby and NOT use diapers," says one website advocating diaperless babies. Parents are urged to get in tune with their infant's body signals and hold babies over toilets, buckets and shrubbery or any other convenient receptacle when nature calls.

One advocate suggests bringing a "tight-lidded bucket" along to serve as a waste receptacle when mothers take their babies out in public.


This should make you really popular with your friends and relatives.

Read the entire article by clicking the title above.

---Katie

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

We have a German Shepherd guarding the flock...

That was Pat Buchanan's comment tonight on Scarborough County regarding the new pope.

I also like what the new pope is supposed to have said:

“Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and "swept along by every wind of teaching," looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Hmmm. Reckon we could get him to have a chat with our bishops?

---Katie

Monday, April 18, 2005

Spare the Meat, Spoil the Gospel

I ran across this letter in a thread on Free Republic and I could not resist sharing it with you. I am not a vegetarian, obviously.

Spare the Meat, Spoil the Gospel

I was delighted to read the Manichaean ramblings of Daniel Paden, director of the Catholic Vegetarian Society (“Letters,” June 2003). It confirmed my theory that fanaticism in Western society alternates between nudism and vegetarianism, both of which contradict the order of grace.

As an optimist, I happily trust that Paden confines his extreme commitments to vegetarianism. Taste is one thing; it is another thing to condemn meat-eating as “evil” and permissible only “in rare and unfortunate circumstances.” Paden disagrees with no less an authority than God who forbids us to call any edible unworthy (Mark 7:18-19), and who enjoined St. Peter to eat pork chops and lobster in one of my favorite revelations (Acts 10:9-16). Does the Catholic Vegetarian Society think that Our Lord was wrong to have served up fish to the 5,000, or should He have refrained from eating the Passover lamb? When He rose from the dead and appeared in the Upper Room, He did not ask for a bowl of Cheerios, nor did He whip up a meatless omelette on the shore of Galilee.

Man was made to eat flesh (Genesis 1:26-31; 9:1-6), with the exception of human flesh. I stand on record against cannibalism, whether it be inflicted upon the Mbuti Pygmies by the Congolese Army or on larger people by a maniac in Milwaukee. But I am also grateful that the benevolent father in the parable did not welcome his prodigal son home with a bowl of radishes.

Vegetarians assume an unedifying posture of detachment from the sufferings of vegetables that are mashed, stewed, diced, and shredded. In expensive restaurants cherries are publicly burned in brandy to the applause of diners. It is not uncommon for people to submerge olives in iced gin and twist the peels of lemons. Be indignant, vegetarian, but not so selectively indignant that the bleat of the lamb and the plaintive moo of the cow drown out the whine of our brother the bean and the quiet sigh of the cauliflower. Vegetables have reactive impulses. Were we to confine our diet to creatures that lack sense and do not even respond to light, we could only eat liturgists and liberal Democrats.

Rev. George W. Rutler
New York City

I think I like this letter just because of the last sentence.
---Katie

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Who the ELCA Council is listening to.

I thought you might like to know who was influencing the synod council last week. Here is an article from the goodsoil.org page:

goodsoil in Chicago

goodsoil sent a delegation to the ELCA Church Council meeting in Chicago, April 9-11. Here are personal reflections on the events of the weekend.

Our Time in Chicago

~ by Jeannine Janson, goodsoil co-chair

Greetings all . . . . Jeannine here, just back home in S. F. after our weekend in Chicago for the Church Council meeting.

Greg Egertson, Jeff Johnson, Mari Irvin and I arrived Thursday evening.

We met with Ellen Maxon (the only out Lesbian on the Church Council) and her partner, Jane Ralph, Friday morning. This was Ellen's last Church Council meeting. She was a strong and articulate voice in all the weekend's proceedings. .

Jeff and I went to the Lutheran Center and met briefly with long-time ally Joanne Chadwick.

By dinner Friday, George Watson, Mark Engel, Karen Weldin, Bill Carpenter, and Bennett Falk had arrived. After dinner we met informally with interested council members. About 18 people showed up, other than ourselves, not all of them voting council members.

We talked about presenting the "Faith, Family, and Fairness" petition and having an opportunity speak during the council meeting. We also told those present that we would prefer an up or down vote and were not afraid of the outcome of such a vote. This surprised many and they advised this was the first time they had heard this.

When we got back to the hotel Friday evening, we went ahead with an abbreviated Soulforce nonviolence training, which, in its own way, provided a great opportunity for community and centering ourselves in the nonviolent principles. Todd Roos from Wingspan had arrived earlier in the evening so he joined the group at that time.

We concluded the evening with a prayer from Jeff.

Saturday we shuttled to the Lutheran Center, were greeted by Eric Shafer, ELCA Communications Director, given our visitors packets and shown to our tables.

About mid-morning, Dr. Childs and Bishop Payne gave the Sexuality Task Force Report after which there was initial conversation among the council regarding the recommendations.

It was at this point that Council member Janet Thompson, on a point of personal privilege, requested that Jeff and I, as Co-Chairs of goodsoil, be allowed to address the council for three minutes. The Chair was so taken aback that he treated it like a motion and asked for a vote (which, Jane Ralph advised, is not necessary to act on personal privilege). The council proceeded to vote (unanimously) on the request, and we were allowed to speak.

In less that three minutes, Jeff and I presented the petition, advising how many had signed it in 8 days and each of us alternately reading the petitions. Jeff then called upon the council to end a resolution to the assembly directing a change in the policy, and I (on advice from Ellen) told them that we are not afraid of an up or down vote on this matter and the should not be afraid for us.

Shortly thereafter, the council broke for small group discussions on the recommendations as further tweaked by the Program and Services Committee of the Council.We assumed that these groups were also open to us and each of us joined/attempted to join a group. Greg and Jane were told they could not join the small group. I was initially asked the by facilitator of the small group to leave, but all of the other members of the group indicated they had no problem with me being there so I stayed.

The same thing happened during the Bible Study after lunch. Some of us could join the groups and some were asked to leave.

First thing during the Sunday morning session, one of the council members said he'd heard about the exclusion from the Bible Study and small group and asked that an apology be extended. Lowell Almen read a prepared apology saying there was a mix-up on the understanding of whether the small groups were open or not so they would be sure to offer more clarity in the future ahead of time.

Sunday morning we joined the council for worship in the chapel. Long time council member, Kirk Havel, preached. He titled his sermon "them" and spoke of the "thems" we create. At one point, he asked,"Where is the grace in limited participation?" Hearing this, some of us were hopeful.

Sunday, the council got through recommendations one and two, which included various unsuccessful attempts to make them better for us:

The council rejected an amendment by Ellen to make sure the task force for the social statement includes bisexual and transgender persons as well as gay and lesbian.

The council began work on recommendation number three on Sunday: Mary Froehlig introduced a substitution that would direct the assembly to rescind the policy. That was defeated.

There were other attempts to make recommendation 3 better for us, all of them failed. Final action on number three was tabled until Monday.

The final vote on recommendation #3 was 30 something for and 2 opposed - a conservative voice and Ellen.

We were disappointed that during discussion of the recommendations, the council members stayed very focused on processes. They are very invested in "honoring" the three years of work of the task force, and therefore its recommendations, as well as the 19 hours of work of the Program and Services Committee of the Council which reviewed and fine tuned the recommendations.

Sitting in on the meetings, being able to listen to the things they are concerned with, was quite sobering, a peek at the institutional aspect of all of this, a solid dose of reality.

We took time to reflect on the weekend's events in one last meeting before going our separate ways, and after working through feelings of anger, disappointment, and frustration, the conversation turned positive as we reminded ourselves that the Orlando assembly can be about more than legislation, and that we have the opportunity to make the assembly a transformational experience.

Here is a quote from an e-mail from a Lutheran Freeper:

You should know that the "Soulforce"/"goodsoil" group is training hard in direct confrontation (i.e., stormtroop) tactics for the CWA. WordAlone and Solid Rock need to train in counter-confrontation tactics, or else it will be a very bad scene in Orlando this summer, and the revisionists would be likely to get their way as well. Do you know anything about counter-confrontation training (if that is even a word) for the orthodox groups? If none is taking place, it needs to be set up ASAP. I will contact those I know in these groups who are going to Orlando if nothing is taking place right now. We DO need to pray as well as to train, however.

So, I wonder, do the groups Word Alone or Solid Rock have such a willing ear in the ELCA council? Is our church doing anything to prevent the pro-gay community from having such a huge influence on the assembly in August? I have been told over and over again that there is no predetermined outcome, but it is hard to believe that when you look at what is happening.

---Katie


Liberals don't get satire.

Click on the title above to go to a Free Republic article with a picture that is hilarious. It is supposed to show people protesting Ann Coulter in New York at the GOP Convention last year. It actually shows signs from a protest sponsored by Protest Warrior , an organization that sets up counter protests to combat liberal demonstrations. One says "Criminals for Gun Control," another says "Saddam Only Killed His Own People - It's None of Our Business!" and one even says "CommunistsforKerry.com," not a real organization. You can see the original picture over at the Time site. At least you can see it until they get a clue.

I, for one, find many politically active liberals to be grim and humorless, not able to catch on when people are making a joke or even leading them on a little. They often take themselves much too seriously and thus find themselves the butt of a joke they don't get. Of course, we Neanderthal conservatives are too dumb to understand their superior brilliance.

I love that picture.

---Katie

Update: Oops, I guess Communists for Kerry is for real. Sort of.

---Katie

Here we go....

This article speaks for itself.

PENSACOLA - A minister charged with soliciting sex on the Internet from an investigator posing as a 14-year-old boy has been relieved of duties until the case is resolved.

Escambia County sheriff's deputies, meanwhile, said they are looking for other possible victims based on information found on two computers belonging to the Rev. Michael Anthony Harris, 42. He was arrested Wednesday and is free on bail.

The Rev. Edward Benoway, bishop of the Tampa Florida-Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, plans to meet over the weekend with members of St. Paul's Church in Pensacola, where Harris had been pastor since 2000.

Harris' lawyer did not return a telephone message seeking comment Friday. Harris denied wrongdoing when arrested.

This info is from an AP story from The St. Petersburg Times/State online.

Sigh.

---Katie


Saturday, April 16, 2005

And this is new?

In an article titled, Wanted: Bold, Strict Parents, Dr. Kelly Hollowell writes:

However unpopular it may seem by society standards, Rebecca candidly talks about the safeguards she uses in raising her three teenage children. None has a computer in their room. Their computers are in plain view open to the entire family for supervised use. Only one child has a TV in her room, which is rigged for viewing parentally approved videos. There is no MTV. All of this is done, in part, to monitor and limit their exposure to sex and other morally compromising behavior. Of course, she and her children discuss sex. They are simply made to understand that it is a good thing appropriate inside the confines of a marriage.

Along that same vein, I saw Maria Shriver, first lady of California, talk about similarly tight boundaries for her kids. It appears she and her husband, the Governator, are rather old-school as well. Despite the ever-trendy lifestyle of the rich and famous, their kids are monitored very closely. Their activities are well-supervised with chores, curfews and phone checks to the homes and parents of their children's' friends.

Um, I hate to say it, but this is how most of the people I know raise their kids. I was raised that way. To whom is this a revelation? Click on the title to read the whole article.

---Katie

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

ELCA Synod Council Takes the Plunge

The Synod Council of the ELCA has recommended that the Churchwide Assembly vote on a resolution which provides for exceptions to allow the ordination and the rostering of people in committed homosexual relationships.

Read the entire article by clicking on the title above.

This is sad, watching my church implode.

---Katie

Monday, April 11, 2005

Commentary on ELCA Synod Council Recommendations

Here is a news release from Word Alone, one of the main reform movements in the ELCA:

NEWS RELEASE For immediate release


Contact: Betsy Carlson
Editor, WordAlone Network
651 633-1512
New Brighton, Minn.


Churchwide assembly to vote on ordination
exceptions for homosexuals in relationships


by Betsy Carlson, editor


WordAlone leaders expressed disappointment but not surprise that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Council voted Monday in Chicago, Ill., to ask this summer the national churchwide assembly to allow persons in homosexual relationships to be ordained through a process of exceptions to present policies and standards.


WordAlone president, Pastor Jaynan Clark Egland, Spokane, Wash., commented, "Someone needs to ask the church council, 'By what authority do you do these things?' Certainly they don't believe they can un-sin sin for certain people in specific places. Do we really want to make room for that kind of practice? Talk about setting a precedent."


Under current rules, homosexuals are expected to remain celibate as pastors or professional rostered laypersons.


Recommendations from the council's program and services committee on the report of the ELCA three-year task force on human sexuality studies essentially were to pass on the task force's first two recommendations to the churchwide assembly.


These were both approved by the church council.


The first recommendation basically called for the ELCA to preserve unity by finding ways to live together in the face of disagreement.


Clark Egland responded, "I've always believed that to 'have no other gods before me' was all-inclusive, meaning even the unity of a mainline denomination. When unity becomes the trump card at every table then we "fold" on the truth and idolatry becomes the name of the game."


The second recommendation stated the denomination would continue to follow the pastoral guidance in a 1993 Conference of Bishops' statement regarding the blessing of gay and lesbian relationships.


The task force's third recommendation had not gone as far in allowing ordination of persons in same-sex relationships as the church council's action did Monday. The task force had recommended maintaining current policies, but not disciplining individuals and churches who violate denominational policies on ordination.


The council's recommendation to the churchwide assembly, while not changing policy, provides an official denominational process to be ordained or listed on the denomination's professional roster.


The difference would be that neither the new pastor nor the church that called him or her would be subject to any discipline.


"The ELCA leadership and church council are gambling with the future of the ELCA and any hope of being a mainline denomination that will move forward and yet stand firm for a faithful future," said Clark Egland.


Council member Ellen Maxon of Washington, D.C., tried with substitute motions and amendments to get the council to recommend to the assembly to vote simply on blessing same-sex relationships and ordaining persons in such relationships. Council members, however, rejected her proposals, saying they wanted to forward a document that had a chance of passing and that would provide "space" for ordination of homosexuals in same-sex relationships.


Maxon asserted several times that same-sex relationships are already being blessed. Others indicated that the 1993 Conference of Bishops' pastoral guidance had opened the door to blessings.


This summer's vote, Maxon said, will tell the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community whether the ELCA is ready to change its ordination policies or not, or whether 40% or 35% are ready. She noted the community is not going to leave the denomination if the vote goes against them.


She said that they could come back until the denomination is ready to change.


Clark Egland commented further that, "Jesus often asked his followers if they had ears to hear. Perhaps the same question needs to be directed at the church council and elected leadership who seem to be deaf to both the Word of God and the clear voice of the majority of ELCA members, churches and synods. They have responded clearly and consistently, 'No change.' Is anyone in the churchwide organization listening?"



Apparently not.

---Katie

Friday, April 08, 2005

Teen dating revisited

From the blog The Homeschooling Revolution:

When Passions Run Amok

This is awful. A pretty gal, all of 15, was murdered by her possessive boyfriend (at school, no less).

One impression: I thought it odd that this 20/20 story featured a parade of women - a pair of mothers, a female teen violence expert, a teen-aged girl, and a female teacher. Even the reporter was a femme. The only male (besides the perp) was a guy who was dealing with his own abusive tendencies.

On another note - a happier one - I appreciate how many homeschool teens, I've encountered, who are clearly seeing the g-school serial dating scene as the emotional roller coaster that it is for most adolescents. They prefer participating in group activities as opposed to pairing off, and adults are not unwelcome to their social gatherings. A preferable arrangement which will better guard their hearts.

Update: Skip Oliva remembers a memorable statement made by a former bigwig politico: "When he first took over as speaker of the House, I recall Newt Gingrich gave a lecture on education policy. He proposed 'incentives' for students to graduate high school in three years as opposed to four; his rationale was that plenty of students were capable of finishing the curriculum in less time, and that for the most part, in his words, 'high schools are government-subsidized dating.' "

I'm glad I am not the only crazy one who thinks teen dating is a waste of time....

---Katie

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

ELCA Sexuality Report gets a mention in First Things....


I am going to shamelessly copy this article from Pastor Paul McCain's blog because it is commentary regarding the ELCA sexuality study from a well respected journal to which I do not subscribe, although I have in the past, and I cannot find the article online. Here it is:


Father Richard John Neuhaus, Roman Catholic priest and editor of First Things journal, former Lutheran pastor, and to be precise, a former Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor before he became a former ELCA pastor, has this to say about the ELCA's Sexuality Task Force report. Father Neuhaus hits the nail on the head.

From the April issue of FT:

Here I stand. There you stand. But, hey, it's no big deal. Some while back I suggested that the ELCA Lutherans will try to avoid splitting the body over gay issues by avoiding a decision and thereby deciding to allow the ordination of gays, the blessing of same-sex unions, and other demands of the inclusiveness agenda. I take no satisfaction in noting that that is what seems to be happening. After three years of intense wrangling, a task force has concluded that disagreements on sexual morality are "deep and pervasive." The solution being proposed to the ELCA churchwide assembly this summer is that the body keep its formal rules in favor of traditional morality but agree not to discipline those who violate them. Lutherans Concerned, a gay advocacy group, is not entirely happy, since the recommendation falls short of the affirmation they sought, even if it meant splitting the five-million-member body.

Dr. Philip Krey, president of the ELCA seminary in Philadelphia, offers an interesting take on the recommendation: "The task force didn't want legislation. That would have created a win-lose situation. They wanted to legitimize both sides of the issue. This allows each side to be conscientious objectors, allows them to legitimately disagree and act on it and not be disciplined for it." This may be something new in the long history of strategic thinking about Christian unity. The phrase "unity in diversity" has long been a staple in ecumenical discussions. The ELCA would appear to be moving beyond that to unity in disagreement, indeed unity because of disagreement. When everyone gets to be a conscientious objector, one has to wonder what they are objecting to, other than the toleration of opposing objectors, which is the one thing to which they have agreed not to object. It is a fascinating proposal, which if generally accepted could open the way to instant unity, of a sort, among all Christians.

Although woefully wrongheaded, if not idolatrous, there is a refreshing candor in the task force's recommendation that questions of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, orthodoxy and heresy, be set aside in order to serve the Supreme Good that is preserving the institution that is the ELCA

Click on the title to see the original article. Read Pastor McCain's blog. He has truly been kind and supportive towards those of us who remain in the ELCA trying to stem the tide of revisionism.

---Katie

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Most say no to starvation

Powerline has an article about a Zogby poll that contradicts most of the polls we have been hearing about regarding starving disabled people to death:

"If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water," the poll asked.

A whopping 79 percent said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9 percent said yes.

Click on the title to read more.

It seems to me that most of the people I have talked to who support starving Terri Shiavo to death have either had to deal with that issue with an elderly relative or greatly fear being left in a helpless condition themselves. They would rather be dead than that helpless year upon year. Yet, I have to ask, if that was your child there, not your 85 year old, incontinent, comatose aunt, would you take away food and water? Especially if your child at times seemed to recognize you and others?

---Katie

Update: More info here

Tell me, again, why we are in full communion with the ECUSA?

Bishop Robinson, the openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, says that Jesus might well have been gay. He just keeps making things worse:

"Interestingly enough, in this day of traditional family values," answered Robinson, "this man that we follow was single, as far as we know, traveled with a bunch of men, had a disciple who was known as 'the one whom Jesus loved' and said my family is not my mother and father, my family is those who do the will of God. None of us likes those harsh words. That's who Jesus is, that's who he was at heart, in his earthly life.

"Those who would posit the nuclear family as the be all and end all of God's creation probably don't find that much in the gospels to support it," he concluded.

So tell me, is it just me, or are the mainline denominations, including my own, the ELCA, just determined to destroy themselves and the rest of us with them? What do they have against the traditional family? Who provides churches with their volunteers, their money? Why are we a target?

And to suggest that Jesus was homosexual when the Bible so clearly condemns homosexual practice? That is just sick. Please, please, ELCA, break the communion - don't jump in bed with the ECUSA this summer by changing or refusing to enforce our standards!

---Katie

Hurricane Charley is still with is in spirit...

We rode out Hurricane Charley here in Central Florida last August. The eye of the storm went right over our house, but we did not realize it until we saw the map in the paper several days later. We were fortunate. We need a new roof, but we needed that anyway. We only started leaking recently, and only a little bit, when it rains hard and long, like it did a couple of weeks ago. We are scheduled with our roofer for sometime in the next month. There are two houses ahead of us. Our blue roof is shredding, decorating our yard and the yards of our neighbors. I will be so glad to see it gone.

Another reminder of Charley has become evident this week as the season changes. We have never, in 18 years of living in this house, had to deal with the sun coming in through our patio and blinding us in our family room. It's happening now, late in the afternoon, for the first time ever. Winter Park lost a lot of trees and a lot of branches from the trees that remain. I can only hope that the poor, beat up trees a couple of streets over can generate enough new growth to give us back our shade.

I know I shouldn't complain, and I'm not, really. A friend of ours, hired by FEMA right after the four hurricanes that hit Florida, is still helping people get housing in areas hit by Ivan. There are people in Central Florida who still cannot use part or all of their homes. Everyday, people are moving back into their houses or apartments that were damaged and had to be redone because of the hurricanes. I am so thankful that our home stood strong, and I hope we can get everything done by the time the next hurricane season starts, just two months from now.

---Katie

Friday, April 01, 2005

Beautiful commentary on the Pope from a Lutheran view

Pastor Paul McCain says some lovely things about the Pope, while not denying the deep theological differences that still divide Lutheranism from Catholicism. He even commends the Catholics for sticking to what they believe, unlike the ELCA Lutherans in the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith:

Though I disagree, profoundly and deeply, with many of his core theological convictions, I have great respect for him and for his church. Unlike churches that share the name "Lutheran" with me, John Paul II never compromised what his church stood for. The "Joint Declaration of Justification" was a powerful witness to this reality for the Roman Church. They made it perfectly clear there was *no* modification of their teaching on justification and John Paul II was quick to make clear that the Council of Trent's classic formulations stand and are not changed. It was so-called "Lutherans" who compromised the very heart of the Reformation and sacrificed it on the altar of ecumenism.

Is ecumensim important enough for us to sacrifice what makes us Lutheran, the belief that we are completely and wholly justified by Christ's death on the cross? If so, why don't we just become Catholics? If there really is no difference, would it not be better to be in the Catholic church rather than Catholic Lite where abortions are covered in health policies for ELCA workers and we are working very hard to declare homosexual sex not to be a sin so that we can ordain non-celibate homosexuals and bless homosexual unions? If there is nothing distinctive about us and we can agree with just about everybody (except for those who take a more, um, literal, shudder, view of the Bible), then what is the point of our existence?

Sorry to go off on the rant. Click on the title. Beautiful, very Lutheran tribute to a man who has been a positive force in the world for 25 years. God bless you, Pope John Paul II.

---Katie

How Lutheran are you?

Here is a quiz from a book I am reading. See how many of these you agree with:

1) I believe I can live for 24 hours without sinning.
2) Self-esteem is a Christian virtue.
3) The public schools do the best job of instilling family values.
4) Pastors and bishops are more Christian than laymen.
5) We are going to eradicate hunger in ten years.
6) The best church is one that teaches the power of positive thinking.
7) The best sermons are relevant to the evening news.
8) When I sin, I must resolve to do better to stay in God's grace.

Agree, mostly? If you are Lutheran, I hope not. To quote the author of the book, "If you said, 'I don't think so' to every one, you may well be incurably Lutheran. Orthodox Lutherans carry their theological cautions into their public endeavors. Some would say we take a dim view of human ability to solve problems. Lutherans are inclined to say we are realistic."

The book I am reading is Is the ELCA Lutheran? I had a hard time buying this book, because I get offended when folks, like some LCMS bloggers, lump all of the ELCA membership together and say we cannot possibly be Lutheran, probably not even Christian. There are a lot of folks in the ELCA who are faithful to traditional Lutheran doctrine and practice; unfortunately it does not seem that many of them are in leadership on the national, perhaps even synodical, level. So I broke down and bought this book. It is hard for me to read, because it is making me take a hard look at what is happening in the greater church and how that will eventually affect even those of us far away from Chicago, here in sunny Florida. As I read it and digest it, I will post about the various issues the author, Christine Larson Goble, raises. She does an excellent job of bringing out what the issues are that we should be concerned about. One that is very important is governance, how decisions are made and carried out in the ELCA. You have very little say in anything, did you know that? I'll make that the topic of my next post from the book. If you are really interested, go to Amazon and order a copy.

---Katie

Are we (ELCA) Lutherans becoming too external?

Over the last couple of years, I have been becoming less and less thrilled with the direction our liturgy is taking, and with the emphasis on the, I don't know how best to say it, the *trappings* of worship. I have always loved the liturgy and the emphasis on church seasons, but it seem that those things are becoming the focus rather than Christ. This paragraph by Gracia Grindal from A Lutheran Hymnal for Church and Home says it quite well:

I’m struck, lately, by how external our religion has become. Today we have liturgical mavens who are literalists about the church year, for example, but aren’t so sure what the Bible says. We are taught to think of the Church Year in a sacramental way: as though simply by doing it right, during the right season, and right time, we get closer to the Lord. You can’t say Alleluia in Lent, even on a Sunday in Lent, which is not really Lent, since Sunday is a little Easter. So now we have all these parades where we bury the Alleluia and get people all excited about outward things. We go around with ashes on our foreheads after hearing the Scripture for the service, Matthew 6:1-6, where Jesus tells that we should pray in secret. Almost nothing is a sin anymore, but we love to parade around in our ashes. You can’t sing Christmas carols until midnight on Christmas Eve, or Easter hymns until Easter morning. I think this shows that we have decided, contrary to Scripture’s constant refrain about God’s desiring a pure heart, rather than the noise of our solemn assemblies, that some times are holier than other times. The popularity of Easter vigils is a perfect example. We save up babies for baptisms on that “most holy night” as though God is closer at that time than any other. This is not Christian, it is pagan. God has promised to be near us at all times, as close as the words in our mouth. He promises to be with us wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name. He comes where he has promised to in his word. There’s nothing in Scripture that says he is closer on the night before Easter or in special places, or times. His promises are clear: He is wherever the Word is!



I really get frustrated when we work so hard to follow all these liturgical forms, but then we say, well we really aren't sure what the Bible says about this or that, people have different views on interpreting the Bible, you know, and all of them are valid! Meanwhile, if we can just do the liturgy just so, nirvana! ....sheesh.

---Katie