Pastor's Message

November Spirit Steps 

I’ve heard it in a couple of different places now, “We need to teach our young people what it means to be Lutheran.”  Now while I haven’t checked it out, what I suspect is meant by that statement is that we need to teach our young people the way that we were taught when we were in Sunday school and confirmation classes --- we need to have our young people memorize Luther’s Small Catechism.  Now if this is what is meant, I can certainly respect it, but I am not sure that this is what it means to be a Lutheran.  Lutheranism encompasses such a wide range of theological understanding that it is probably as broad a term as “Christianity”.   On the one end there are the fundamental teachings of the Wisconsin Synod Lutherans and on the other there are the more liberal teachings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Both the WELS Lutherans and the ELCA Lutherans use the same Catechism, both read the same Bible yet there is a vast difference in their theological understandings.  Is it more important to teach our young people “right doctrine” or is it more important to teach them about allowing a loving God to be revealed to and through them.

As I write this, we are about two weeks away from a mid-term election and the air waves are filled with campaign ads.  Each candidate trying to convince the voters that they have the “right doctrine”; that they have the solution to the problems with the health care delivery system, that they have the answer to our economic difficulties, that they have the way to provide more services, cheaper fuel, and will be able to do so in a way that will put money back into the pocket of each person who gives them their vote.  It seems that it is the part about putting money back into their pockets that resonates with a large number of the voters.  Questions about health care services for the disadvantaged, the impact of cheaper fuel on the environment, the global impact of our continued economic growth are easily ignored in favor of reduced taxes (more money in our pockets).  It doesn’t appear that it is even necessary to spell out the “right doctrine”.  It is only necessary to convince the voters that the opponent has the “wrong doctrine”.  Millions of dollars are spent in this pursuit.  Could not these millions be better spent in finding ways to work together to better deal with the problems that face all the peoples of the world?

Could it be that the church’s focus on “right doctrine” contributes to the kind of polarization we see on the political scene?  Is it time to focus more on what it is we have in common than what divides us?  Is it time that we stop fighting about who is right and struggle to find away to work together to deal with the problems that are gripping our world?  Is it time to shift our focus to a Creator God who loved creation to the point of entering into it in order to redeem it and reestablish a broken relationship with it?  Could it be that ‘judgment’ is our “original sin” that which separates us from the other, cuts us off from love?

Could it be that to be a “Lutheran” is to struggle to find answers to these questions?  Could it be that to be a “Lutheran” is to embrace the diversity that exists within the body to such an extent that being a Lutheran is not what is important?

May you have peace in your day.

Pastor Bob