Posted on 09/23/2009 3:51:29 PM PDT by lightman
September 23, 2009
Dear Colleague in Ministry,
"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." (Colossians 3:15-16a)
I give thanks to God for your faithful leadership and your committed partnership in the gospel. I am mindful of the varied responses to churchwide assembly actions on human sexuality -- joy, anger, hope, confusion, ambivalence, perhaps even detachment. In this letter please join me in reflecting on our witness together as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, particularly as we continue to live into the implications of assembly actions.
I am encouraged by the thoughtful and prayerful conversations of people with diverse perspectives who are gathering to discern what the assembly actions regarding human sexuality mean for our continuing life and witness.
My heart rejoices with those who are ready to live into the future of our shared mission. Many who had remained strongly engaged in the ELCA with their time, talent and treasure, despite feeling marginalized or unwanted, now feel more fully embraced.
My heart aches as I listen to the pain and distress of those who feel confused or even abandoned by others, not only in the decisions of the churchwide assembly but also in the decisions that are being made in congregations and by individuals.
I am disappointed that some are encouraging congregations and members to take actions that will diminish our capacity for ministry -- for example, to plant and renew congregations, to raise up and train leaders in seminaries and campus ministries, to send missionaries, to respond to hunger at home and abroad, and to rebuild communities after natural disasters.
Although these actions are promoted as a way to signal opposition to churchwide assembly actions or even to punish the voting members who made them, the result will be wounds that we inflict on ourselves, our shared life, and our mission in Christ. And yet, as devastating as such actions could be for our shared life and for our global and ecumenical partners, my greatest sadness would be if we missed this opportunity: to give an evangelical and missional witness together to the world.
Therefore, I urge each one of you to make this a time to engage one another with honesty and respect in renewed and deepened theological conversation informed by an evangelical, missional imagination. We have the opportunity to think evangelically and act missionally about:
* Faithfulness: Questions about whether the ELCA has become faithless or heretical are opportunities to re-examine what it is that fills a community with faith. It becomes an opportunity to rediscover who makes us full of faith. Our goal as Lutherans is faithfulness that is both evangelical and missional.
* Biblical authority: This is a marvelous moment to deepen our engagement with Scripture through the Book of Faith initiative. We can be renewed in our understanding of the authority of God's Word. It is the power to author -- that is, create -- a justifying and living faith in Jesus Christ. Again the goal is a true understanding of the Scripture's evangelical and missional authority.
* What it means to be Christ's church: In this moment let us not build walls of separation. Together let us be living stones, built into a spiritual house, with Christ Jesus the cornerstone, and proclaim the mighty deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). Both universally and locally the church is gathered around the means of grace and engaged in mission in Jesus' name. Our goal as Lutherans is a witness that the church is evangelical and missional.
* Leadership: How we serve in our varied callings and contexts as evangelical leaders of a church in mission calls for shared wisdom and encouragement rather than isolation or separation into like-minded enclaves. The church is a community of faith that is born of the Gospel promise and therefore has authority in the proclamation of the Word -- all the authority that is needed for evangelical, missional leadership.
* Law and gospel: All of these opportunities for conversation call for a renewed commitment to deepening our fluency in what Martin Luther called "the highest art among Christians," distinguishing between law and gospel. Let us be valued allies in this endeavor and not adversaries in a power struggle for control of a church body, synods, and congregations.
While we engage in these important conversations let our evangelical, missional imagination be marked by the signs of a church that lives in faith, hope, and love through:
* a continual dwelling in the Word of God and prayer * listening that is fully attentive to others, especially to those with whom we disagree * leadership committed to and focused on mission * a commitment to remain in respectful and caring relationship with one another * patient waiting on and breathing in the Spirit, remembering Jesus' command to his disciples to "stay until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49) * the creation of safe places for conversation, where it is safe to articulate deeply held biblical, confessional, and theological convictions, where it is safe both to affirm and admonish one another, and where it is safe to explore the questions that come with faithful service and witness * an elasticity rather than rigidity in our ways of supporting and carrying out ministry and mission
Specifically, I ask for restraint from decisions that may separate us from one another prematurely, for bearing one another's burdens in continued conversation, and for the long-suffering patience that frees us to remain together in mission. In his two letters to the very conflicted church in Corinth Paul repeatedly spoke of their unity in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. He also spoke of their calling to care for each other as members of one body and to use their spiritual gifts for the common good. Our attentive listening to one another and patient waiting for the Spirit's work in these conversations will be a powerful witness.
In my opening sermon and oral report to the churchwide assembly I asked, "What shall be our witness? What story shall we tell?" I believe those questions remain central for us as ministry is carried out in our varied contexts and in our life together as the ELCA.
I concluded my reflections at the end of the assembly with this conviction that sustains me in my leadership and gives me confident hope: "We finally meet one another not in our agreements or disagreements, but at the foot of the cross, where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ."
In that promise I remain your servant in Christ,
Mark S. Hanson Presiding Bishop
Find related resources at http://www.elca.org/faithfulmission, including a new video message that will be posted after 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 24.
I get the same response from my mother when I try to talk to her about this. At eighty years old, she’s not about to leave her friends and the place she “feels God’s presence”. She asked me not to talk to her about it anymore. It makes me sad. She’s a VERY opinionated woman on everything else under the sun, but won’t stand up for the Word on this one.
http://www.alpb.org/forum/index.php?topic=2320.msg118428;topicseen#msg118428
A caveat: I am speaking only for myself here. What follows is purely and simply my oppinion and my oppinion alone.
A further caveat: My congregation, as a congregation of the "ELCA" prays for "our Bishops," Mark (Hanson) and Ralph (Dunkin) every Sunday. We continue to do so, and I have no plans to stop until we either cease being a congregation of the "ELCA" or Mark Hanson no longer occupies the office on the 11th floor of 8765 W. Higgins Road.
That being said: Mark Hanson, for myself, has forfieted the right to be honored with the title "Bishop" much less the honor of "Presiding Bishop." He has not protected the faith of the flock he was entrusted with, preferring to instead be a media figure and a political campaigner. It was precisely under his watch and guidance that the "ELCA" forsook her place in the Church catholic for being merely a sect. He has not lived up to the noble calling to which he was elected.
Mark Hanson may occupy the office space, but he is not worthy of being called, in anything other than derision, "Presiding Bishop." Bishop, coming from the Greek "episcope" means "overseer." I argue that Mark Hanson has abdicated the crucial task of "oversight." I refuse to recognize his oversight any longer.
I don't know what recourse there is, but I would gladly sign a petition to recall Mark Hanson as the "Presiding Bishop" of the "ELCA." Come to think of it, that would be a heckuva memorial for our next Synod Assembly, if I'm around that long...
He can sit in the chair, he may wear the biggest pectoral cross in the room, but none of those things make the man a Bishop. He has failed and failed so spectacularly, that he is not worthy of trust and respect any longer.
And no, my friend Peter, I will not accord him sympathy. Those that care more for their "legacy" than for what is True and Right deserve to be despised rather than trusted. I believe the most pastoral response to Mark would be to gently ask him to see where he can no longer serve and step aside. But he is not interested in either being pastoral nor recieving a pastoral rebuke. Isn't it interesting that the "ELCA's" "Lutheran Center" has not had a chaplain to deal pastorally with the PB and the Churchwide staff?
To my view Mark Hanson has lost the ability to be the "Presiding Bishop" in any substantive way.
Again, just my view on the subject.
Pr. Jerry Kliner, STS
I don't think I can count on all my fingers and toes the number of times he used the leftist catch-phrase "conversation" in this unbiblical piece of excrement. It's the same word used by the homo-nazis who publish the names of those who value and want to protect marriage in its intended and God-ordained manifestation. How does one have a conversation with a blasphemy spewing, God-hating devil?
So far as I am concerned the “conversation” ended when the gavel came down after the votes on August 19 and August 21.
But pray for the hurting and confused, that they may be restored.
It should have ended much earlier than that, if indicators of unbiblical, heretical beliefs are accurate.
AH HA! Typical "progressive" (liberal democrat) speak here.
My heart aches as I listen to the pain and distress of those who feel confused or even abandoned by others
I can't believe this was even in the message. We are NOT confused by your actions. You are confused with your message bishop Hanson.
Not gonna happen as long as the E*?A continues to deny the real life of the church. All this "evangelical and missional" nonsense is a focus on ^our^ works.
They have tried to "confessionalize" Finneyism and lost the battle to the errorists. The E*?A needs to come to understand - once again - God's will regarding Christ's death (absolution) and the role it plays in our salvation.
Too many people think that “progressive” means “liberal.” A dictionary defintion of “progressive” is “doing something to achieve progress.” Progress is determined by each person’s opinions.
Well, I made that statement since the left likes to refer to themselves as “progressives” and consider us as backward hicks or rednecks.
IIRC, Finney preached that man could overcome sin through his own will, and that Adam's sin was not man's sin per se. I don't see this as the ELCA's approach here. They're saying the sin of homosexuality isn't a sin at all since homosexuals can become ordained servants of God and take the Sacraments.
I'm not that knowledgeable about Finney, but I suspect he'd still consider homosexuality a sin (i.e. moral depravity), but man has the ability to live a Godly life and can overcome sin on his own; at least that's my take of him.
The E*?A needs to come to understand - once again - God's will regarding Christ's death (absolution) and the role it plays in our salvation.
I don't see that happening. I don't see Hanson taking a step back. He has too much invested, and too many have his ear to backtrack now. The ELCA has made its bed. What hopefully will happen is that those against this heresy will break from the heretical Church and build God's house apart from the ELCA; whether through transfer into strong doctrinal bodies or the creation of their own.
by “confessionalize” Finneyism I meant that they adopted the works righteousness of Finney’s proseltyzing (go and SAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVE the heathens) and then tried to mask it with Lutheran-sounding words.
Would someone who’s going please ask the Right Honorable Bishop to explain why Jesus would make one rule in Matthew 19:4-5, and then think He’d be OK telling people:
“Jesus did in fact say that man and woman (not man and man, woman and woman, man and pet, or man and boy) are joined, and when joined by God, let no man put asunder, but we voted and decided to teach you all to ignore JUST THIS BIT of the Bible and do what we say instead.”
God may have broken many of the rules that men set forth, but He’s never broken any of His own rules.
I’d like to see what guidance ELCA is going to come out with in teaching this ‘new version’ of the Bible to children. It’s the question I’ve asked my pastors.
OK, gotcha!
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