I really wish that headline writers would specify that this just one BRANCH of Lutheranism, not all of us!
BTW - the ELCA is so far from the historic Lutheran teachings, they should just give up the Lutheran title and go with something like ECA instead.
Well, let's look at that.
E-Evangelical; I'm not sure that fits. As a group their numbers continue to dwindle with fewer and fewer people clamoring to arrive early to get the prime rear of the church pews. Some congregations may be doing well or even growing; some may even be preaching the Gospel rather than tickling ears. But as an organization the numbers tell the story - few are being evangelized. C-Church; far too many think the church is the building. I suspect this is even more prevalent in congregations where they don't even understand the gravity of many of those wonderful hymns they are singing all the way through every verse. The church is the people (see "evangelical", above). A-America; let’s just not even go there.
OK, here is what we are left with that seems to apply - " ". Perhaps the solution is to change the acronym. How about the "Exhausting Liturgical Cacophony of Agnostics"?
At least there were enough bishops with their heads screwed on straight to shoot down the "report on human sexuality" ten years ago; I sadly expect that the ELCA has continued sliding farther down the slope since then.