One of my dearest friends from my college days was a religion and philosophy professor of mine, Dr. Robert Benne. Dr. Benne not only introduced me to the Lutheran Church but helped me to see and appreciate a church which embodies the acceptance and love of a God who became flesh and dwelled among us. So imagine my hurt when I read the following excerpt from an article he wrote concerning last summer's vote by our Churchwide Assembly to allow for gays and lesbians in committed relationships to be ordained.
"The decision to allow the blessing and ordination of gays and lesbians in partnered relationships was the flash point for those who had observed these deep-running liberationalist trends operating in the church for many years. That flash point, however, illuminated the deeper problem of authority in the church. Scripture and its Lutheran confessional interpretation seemed to have been cast aside for the voting process of a Churchwide Assembly that was shaped more by contemporary experience, highly-organized interest groups, and the scarcely veiled agenda of ELCA headquarters".
According to Robert Benne, if you are in support of last summer's vote, you are neither Biblical nor confessional. Instead your faith is reduced to the whims of contemporary culture, politically-minded interest groups and hidden agendas of the Holy Mother Church in Chicago.
With all due respect Dr. Benne, you are wrong. You, my friend, are making assertions based not on fact, but on your own intolerance of those who would challenge the system with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. A system, which in my lifetime did not allow for blacks or women to be ordained. And all the while claiming Scripture and tradition in its corner.
A long time ago, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a congregation in Rome that was caught up in the question of who is in and who is out. Who is righteous and who is not. In the first chapter of Romans, Paul lays out a laundry list of who is on the "outs" with God. I can just picture some self-righteous pillars of that Roman congregation exclaiming with glee, "You see, I told you those people were out!"
And who's on the list? Folks who covet and are envious. Those who like to fight. Those who murder. Those who lie. Those who rebel against parents (I like that one). Those who are crafty. The foolish. Those who are boastful. Those who gossip. (Darn, why did Paul have to include the fun one?). The heartless, the ruthless and the faithless and even those who "applaud others who practice them". Oh and that part about men committing shameless acts with other men? I cannot help but believe that Paul is condemning the practice of sexual orgies that were extremely prevalent in the Greco-Roman world of his day. For those orgies, much like pornography of today, exploited and dehumanized and promoted worshipping the creature instead of the Creator.
But Paul doesn't stop here. For on the heels of the "sin" list comes Romans chapter 2 verse 1: "Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things." Paul is not saying "anything goes". Rather he is telling the Roman church, stop trying to be God. All of us are on the list. Deal with it. But that's okay for God has taken care of things. If you are on the list in chapter 1, which all of us are, then chapter 3 of Romans applies to you:
"Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith." And by the way, in the original Greek that final word "faith" may indeed be translated as God's faith. Come on Paul, can't I take credit for anything?
Oh and about that part where you suggest that those who favor last summer's vote are not in keeping with the Lutheran Confessions. I know folks who are passionately in favor of that vote who still confess that redemption comes through the atoning death of Christ on the cross; it is God who calls, gathers and enlightens; Christ is truly present in the Sacraments of Holy Baptiism and Holy Communion and that we are justified by grace through faith.
So Dr. Benne, the next time you make such unwarranted statements about those who stand on the opposite side of the aisle from you, please try to acknowledge that life in Christ is not black and white. That life is lived in the tension of paradox. That all of us are both saint and sinner. And that in Christ there is no longer Greek or Jew; slave or free; male and female.
So maybe it is possible to be faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions while at the same time advocating for radical inclusion, which the last time I checked was pretty important to Jesus.
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