Is He a Four Letter Word?

FYI

Is 'he' a four-letter word?

by Pastor Erma Wolf Brandon - Split Rock Lutheran Parish Brandon, S.D.

By what authority does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rewrite Scripture? By what authority is it decided that the Psalms, the Benedictus, and the Magnificat can be "emended" to eliminate all masculine pronouns for God?

The final text of the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship has recently been posted on the ELCA Renewing Worship website.

The word used by the Renewing Worship team is "emended": to improve by critical editing.
Most of the Psalms have been edited. The scriptural canticles, used in morning and evening prayers, have been edited. Two of the lessons in Night Prayer/Compline have been edited.

Various techniques have been used. Sometimes it is the simple substitution of the non-offensive "God" for the offensive pronoun "he." In other instances, third person singular description has been replaced with second person direct address (examples are the 23rd Psalm and the Magnificat).

The final product is skillful, even artful. Some real “clunkers” from earlier drafts have been removed, replaced with theologically astute and poetic language. It is a beautiful job—of censorship.

For that is indeed what it is. The members of the Renewing Worship team, the worship leaders at the churchwide offices and the ELCA Church Council (which voted to approve the entire final product at their November 2005 meeting) have—whether they realized it or not—worked together to censor the sacred Scriptures. The very Scriptures that will be used for worship, prayer and teaching in the new ELCA worship resource, Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

Real Lutherans don't censor Scripture. We don't "emend" the Scriptures to make them say what we want them to say, to make them less offensive to us.

We read, translate, study, pray, contemplate, sing, are puzzled by, argue about, witness to and proclaim the Scriptures. But what we may not do, dare not do, is censor the Scriptures. Even for the very best of reasons. No one in the ELCA has that kind of authority. How can we claim the Scriptures as "the authoritative source and norm" for us in matters of our proclamation, faith and life (ELCA Constitution 2.03) if we "emend" them to fit our modern sensitivities?

Join me in writing to our presiding bishop, Rev. Mark Hanson, and to the director for worship, Rev. Michael Burk. The final stages of preparation of the new worship materials are being done under the Office of the Bishop. Appeal to them to stop the process and restore the language of the Psalms, the Magnificat and the Benedictus in all their offensive, male-oriented language for God. Remind them of the Lutheran heritage of being faithful to the Word of God as revealed in the Scriptures, even, especially, when it makes us most uncomfortable.

If you agree with me, please send this message on to your friends and colleagues. If you are unsure or uninformed, please go to www.renewing worship.org and read the texts of the Psalms and the canticles. In any case, please keep this church body in your prayers, that we may indeed remain faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate and to the Scriptures that bear witness to him.

Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Erma Wolf Brandon - Split Rock Lutheran Parish Brandon, S. D.

---Katie