[lightman]

Ironically, on October 1, the beginning day of the Conference of Bishops meeting, the daily lectionary of the ELCA (and Episcopal Church) had as its First Reading the passage from 1 Kings in which the holy prophet Elijah is denounced as the "troubler of Israel".

It appears as though ++Mark, ever quick to bend the knee to the modern Ba'als, is accusing faithful of CORE as being the "troubler of the ELCA"

[lightman]

Lutheran (EL C S*A) Ping!

* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.

[hinckley buzzard]

He called for members to engage in "respectful, charitable, honest conversation."

Con men know that when the "mark" figures out he's been had, he can become very angry, even dangerous. Therefore the good con artist will go back, or send a collaborator, back to the mark, soothe, sympathize and subtly embed responsibility in the mark's own decisions, and get him to cool off.

The ELCA is frantically trying to cool out the traditionalist marks so they will not take their financial support and leave. All this palaver about "conversation" is designed to keep the money coming in. Nothing more nor less.

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

HEY—isn’t it time for another letter from Herb Chilstrom? It’s been more than a week since his last one!

[RobinOfKingston]

... publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships ...

All bedrock, valid, human relationships can be described in one word -- two at the most. Mom, Dad, son, daughter, gramma, grampa, uncle, aunt, cousin, great grandmother, etc. Even girl-friend and boy-friend.

I wonder how long it will be before the first "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationship" blows up and drenches bystanders with the dregs.

[so_real]

The Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) and some congregations have threatened to withhold or redirect mission support funds away from the ELCA. Hanson said such actions would adversely affect many ministries, such as planting and renewing congregations, grants and mission personnel assignments to global partner churches, and grants to Lutheran partners, agencies and institutions.

That's kind of the point. When an organization misuses the tithe God provides, the tithe should dwindle. Meanwhile, the good Christian folks responsible for withholding those tithes will place them in God's service elsewhere. I have a hard time seeing this as bad news for anyone other than the ELCA ...

[Redleg Duke]

"I still remain convinced that we in the ELCA have a particularly unique moment to give an evangelical and missional witness together to the world."

Quite correct, Bishop Hanson. I am reminded of the picture of the shipwreck with the bow sticking out of the water and the caption to the effect that, "Perhaps you only serve as a warning to others!"