Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Be rooted in Christ!
Posted on 08/19/2014 4:01:28 PM PDT by lightman
Time for another ELCA "conversation," this time regarding "who is welcome" to Holy Communion. An innocuous-sounding invitation to participate came out a few weeks ago, and and similar notice appears again in the Summer 2014 Seeds for the Parish, now appearing in snail boxes across the ELCA but not yet on its website. Resources for the conversation will be available at www.elca.org/worship "by mid-August," but so far not yet.
Over at lutheranforum.org, Paul Hinlicky will have none of this innocuousness in yesterday's post The Truth about "Radical Hospitality". At its conclusion, he invites readers (I would presume ELCA clergy and laity) to add their names to an iPetition to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Speaking the Truth about "Radical Hospitality", which appeared there last week and reads as follows:
Quote from: iPetition to the ELCA Bishops
Speaking the Truth about "Radical Hospitality"
To the Conference of Bishops of the ELCA: We bring before you our concerns regarding “radical hospitality,” which we understand to propose the invitation of the unbaptized to the Lord’s Supper as a matter of principle. We are informed that such “radical hospitality” is already practiced in some ELCA congregations and is being advocated in others by certain leaders and teachers.
1. “Radical hospitality” disregards in principle the stringent warning against unworthy reception in the Scripture, as in I Corinthians 11:27–28.
2. It further disregards in principle the repeated emphasis of the Lutheran Confessions that the sacrament of the altar is for those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and public profession—a faith and confession whose first act is holy Baptism into the Lord’s death and resurrection. See especially The Large Catechism on “The Sacrament of the Altar” and The Formula of Concord 7, “Concerning the Holy Supper.”
3. It discards the age-old rule of faith by which the church has always understood Baptism as the entry into the cross-carrying Christian life, for which holy Communion is the nourishment.
4. As such, it also discards the ELCA’s own teaching in “The Use of the Means of Grace” (1997) as expressed in Principle 37 and Applications 37E and 37G.
5. The proposal of “radical hospitality” misleads by falsely suggesting that identifying the addressee of the promise of holy Communion as the baptized is an act of anti-gospel exclusion.
6. “Radical hospitality” fails to recognize Baptism itself as the truly radical act of inclusion. All people in every nation are called by the gospel to join themselves to Christ, who “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14), by baptism into a community in which “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female” (Galatians 3:28).
7. Under the cover of inclusivity, “radical hospitality” in fact deceives the unbaptized, encouraging them to participate in the sacrament without recognizing the entailed commitment to the cross of Jesus Christ and without discerning His body, both in the blessed bread and wine and in the holy community of those who take and eat it.
8. Baptism, repentance, and faith are not legalistic preconditions for grace, but the form grace takes as the Holy Spirit draws persons into a lifegiving new relationship with God.
9. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we call upon the ELCA to remember in principle and in power the opening words of the Ninety-Five Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he meant for the entire life of the Christian to be one of repentance.”
10. We exhort pastors and laity of the ELCA to self-examination as to whether our own lives reflect the way of the cross, the life of repentance, and the joy of faith, which are our proper witnesses to the unbaptized and in themselves an invitation to Baptism.
11. And we ask the Conference of Bishops to reiterate clearly the teaching of the whole church, the Lutheran Confessions, and the ELCA: holy communion is intended for the baptized, just as baptism is intended for the world.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/speaking-the-truth-about-radical-hospitality
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Be rooted in Christ!
elca stopped paying attention to those years ago.
Officialdom did, but many faithful ELCA Pastors and teachers— such as Paul Hinlicky—did not.
I can well imagine where the ELCA would be without them (just look at The Episcopal Church for a clue) but I don’t see how they can hold on much longer.
==========================
I had never heard the term before and now I see it with the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Where have I been?
I do know that Pope Benedict has written MANY books. I haven't read them. Sigh. Too many sad things were going on in my life.
One wonders why we don’t find things like this in Scripture...
At least not in the way that THEY put it.
True enough.
First Corinthians 11:23-29.
I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with the topic at hand.
“I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with the topic at hand.”
It relates to item #7; the scripturally established basis for who may receive the body and blood of Christ, sacramentally, in Holy Communion.
Oh yes, the "conversation" on sexuality.
Whoops, my mistake. I misread what verses you’d indicated.
I guess it serves me right for freeping while half asleep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.