Pastoral Letter to Redeemer Lutheran Church
By Dr. Ronald C. YergeyDear member(s) of Redeemer Lutheran Church,
As pastor of the congregation, I have been inundated with questions and expressions of grave concern for the current state of affairs within our church, both at the synod and national level. While some folks questioned recent stands on ecumenism and the requirement of the historic episcopacy, an even greater confusion has arisen now over the issue of sexuality and sexual orientation. I am pleased to answer your questions and respond to your concerns individually and in mutual conversation; I know that many of you are hesitant to ask and deeply troubled with public pronouncements of various church leaders. I write to you now to speak a clear word in response to these troubling conditions.
There are times when the words of others already spoken serve to clarify issues and so I begin by sharing these words of the German theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg:
'The Church must approach the persons concerned [i.e., gays and lesbians] with tolerance and understanding, but she must also call them to repentance. She cannot surrender the distinction between the norm and conduct that falls below it. Here stands the boundary for any Christian Church which knows itself bound by Scripture. Those who urge the Church to change the norm of her teaching on this question must understand that they are pushing the Church toward schism. A Church that allows itself to be pressured into regarding homosexual activity as no longer a departure from the Biblical norm, and to recognize homosexual partnerships as a form of personal relationship equivalent to marriage would no longer stand on the foundation of Scripture but rather in opposition to its unanimous witness. A church that takes such a step has thereby ceased to be an evangelical church in the tradition of the Lutheran Reformation."
Scripture or Feelings
That the debate within the church has moved from the foundation of God's Word to the public arena of personal feeling and emotion is a clear sign of the faithlessness that now clouds the issue. Indeed, sexuality or sexual orientation itself is not the issue where faithfulness is concerned. Consider Jesus' parable of the Weeds and the Wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). The Church of Jesus Christ is composed of repentant sinners and unrepentant sinners. It is that simple.
The sexuality discussions now clouding the mission of the church are not discussions of those who are sinful versus those who are not, for as Paul makes clear in Romans (3:23) and we confess each week, we are all sinful.
The Lord of the Church offers his gracious forgiveness to all who confess their sin, to all who are in bondage to sin, calling each of us to daily repentance that he might grace us daily with his forgiveness. There are no exclusions. All have sinned and all are in need each day of his forgiveness, his grace, his new life. That is the gospel with which the Church has been entrusted. That is the Good News which Jesus the Christ lived, for which he was executed and in response to which God raised him from the dead. The categories by which present day activists seek to divide the church, the categories of sexual orientation and practice, are simply new categories for continuing sinfulness, self centeredness, and self-fulfillment.
Just Two Estates
God's Word makes it clear that there are but two estates of human existence, both blessed by his gracious and loving presence: the estate of singleness and the estate of marriage. His blessings to each are both many and varied, and even unique. God's gift of sexual intimacy is one of his blessings to the estate of marriage between one man and one woman, a gift by which new children are conceived and the intimacy of self-giving love shared, a reflection – even in the midst of our sin – of that holy love with which the book of Revelation describes the marriage of Christ to his Church. That this gift of "one flesh" is witnessed to from Genesis through Revelation without variance cannot be made more clear. Chastity, celibacy is God's gift for the estate of singleness, and the two estates and their gifts are not to be confused.
That the human race in its bondage to sin has sought from its earliest times to violate these gifts does not justify this present day attempt to alter God's Word. That human beings throughout history have sexually violated one another in many ways is clear evidence of our sinfulness. Sexual intimacy between unmarried couples, adultery, spousal abuse, divorce, sexual intimacy as a recreational activity, self-expression, or self-fulfillment are all evidence of our self-centeredness and of our continuing self-destruction, even while God in Christ continues to call us to repentance and offer us his forgiveness and new life.
We Need More Study??
That such expressions of sinfulness need to be studied by the ELCA in order to discern God's Word is a clear denial of that Word with which we have been entrusted. Indeed, even if all the world were to deny that Word and seek to live only in self-fulfilling sinfulness while calling it the love of God, it would not change that Word. We are called each day to repent, to turn away from our sin and we are assured by our baptism into Christ Jesus of his forgiveness and of the power of the Holy Spirit to amend our ways and to follow our Lord with lives given over to his righteousness and service. Anything less condemns us to the darkness of our sin and the hopelessness of our self-righteousness.
May God have mercy on his Church and raise up faithful leaders and stewards of his Word to challenge the present day faithlessness of its sectarian ' position.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy
The Rev. Dr. Ronald C. Yergey, STD, is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Allentown, PA, and a doctoral graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. The Pannenberg quote is from the Summer 2001 Lutheran Forum, p.34
News Report: The Protestant Collapse
By Paul HinlickyCommenting on the recent findings of the Barna Research Group, Dr. Paul Hinlicky, ELCA theologian at Roanoke College, told the UPI that the survey disclosed "an absolute collapse of mainline Protestantism" in the USA. The well-known research group summarized its study as showing a "very considerable diversity within the Christian community regarding core beliefs," an erosion that disturbs Hinlicky.
Barna Research found only 21 percent of Lutherans in America, 20 percent of the Episcopalians, 18 per cent of the Methodists, and 22 percent of the Presbyterians attest to the basic Protestant doctrine that a man does not earn his way to heaven by good works. Yet this doctrine, that man is made right with God ("justified") alone by grace through faith in Christ's saving work (with "good works" being simply the fruits of faith) is the foundation of the Reformation, Hinlicky noted, and is accepted by only nine percent of Roman Catholics in the USA. "If this figure holds up it signals a complete breakdown of catechetical instruction," said Hinlicky.
His colleague in the Religion Department at Roanoke, Episcopalian Gerald McDermott, agreed: 'This happened because in the last 30 years American pastors have lost their nerve to preach a theology that goes against the grain. We are witnessing what Francis Shaeffer predicted over 20 years ago – that the American church of the future would be dedicated solely to peace and affluence."
By contrast, the Barna researchers found that in the evangelical churches like the Assemblies of God, Pentecostal/Foursquare and non-denominational groups, more than 60 percent of the members remain committed to the "justification by faith formula" of the Reformation.
Other Erosions
McDermott commented also on the gloomy parallel finding that only 33 percent of the Catholic, Lutherans and Methodists, and only 28 percent of the Episcopalians, agreed with the statement that Christ was without sin. He said that these numbers indicate "an epochal change in popular theology. This would suggest a loss of faith in the Divinity of Christ." He added, "Christ would then be no more than the Dalai Lama, an admirable kind of a guy."
Hinlicky proposed that "zero theology" in the mainline churches since the 1960's is the cause of this breakdown in the faith. It contrasts with the evangelical churches, including the Baptist denomination, where 55 to 73 percent believe that Christ is sinless.
McDermott believes that the cowardice of pastors is responsible for the tectonic changes in their members' faith. "They are afraid to preach and teach anything that challenges what people already think. The result is a belief in a meek, mild-mannered God who does not want to judge us. They have given up talking about divorce, abortion and homosexuality, and are even retreating from the Trinity." He illustrated by recounting how on Trinity Sunday "I was in an Episcopal church, where the rector stated that this was only something for pastors to think about. Ordinary people did not have to bother with it."
The Barna finding that a mere 17 percent of the Catholics, 18 percent Methodists, 20 percent Episcopalians, 21 percent, and 22 percent of the Presbyterians told Barna that they thought Satan was real, was particularly puzzling to Hinlicky. "It tells us that even the Lutherans are utterly out of step with Luther, to whom the Devil was very much a reality."
[EDITOR'S RESPONSE: How aptly these foreboding findings underline Schaeffer's prophetic vision, that the present-day churches are too timid to confront the politically correct values of the culture. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that while less than 4000 people perished in the Twin-Towers Attack on 9/11, that very day and every day before and since, more than 4000 unborn children in the US are sacrificed in abortion clinics – yet your editor at least, has not uncovered in the media, religious or secular, a single reference to this gruesome parallel. Only impulsive Jerry Fatwell found any connection, and he was mercilessly flayed by all sides for his observations on the judgments of God.]
Fightings Within . . . And Without
By Dr. James Kailas*I am proud to be a member of the Advisory Board of FOCL proud because I am convinced that FOCL is engaged in a vital and valid effort to combat that loss of a theological anchor so obvious in our parent synod. Our denominational leaders no longer know what sin is, accepting homosexuality as "an alternate lifestyle" rather than denouncing it as Scripture does, which, while it is regrettable is understandable, since they no longer know what Scripture is j the church's ultimate and sole authority.
We have an enormous problem within the church, and I applaud those leaders of FOCL who have hurled themselves into that fray! It is a struggle of epic dimensions. Thus it is with some trepidation that I suggest FOCL take on an additional struggle j one which involves a threat from outside the church.
I am convinced that Christianity is under attack to a degree unparalleled since Diocletian sought to snap the spinal column of the church. The attack today is far more subtle, but equally dangerous. We are not being bloodied, but instead mocked. Our cherished beliefs are ridiculed or despised with impunity, creating the impression that we are irrelevant and toothless, deserving of the disdain.
From the Outside
One cannot say the name of Jesus in a public school prayer, but an atheistic TV writer can use it as many times as he wants as a swear word, and not a word of protest is aroused, not even among those of us who wince when we hear it. One of the commandments instructs us not to use the name of the Lord our God in vain, and yet every one of the major
Pastors' Burdens
Charisma News Service
Researchers have come up with 16 reasons to love your pastor. That's the number of major tasks the average church leader is expected to handle by his congregationjeven though he is not trained or equipped for them all. Research director George Barna has warned that many church members are helping create "a recipe for failure" with their unrealistic demands.
"Nobody can handle the wide range of responsibilities that people expect pastors to master," he said. Trained in theology, they were also expected to be experts on leadership, politics, finance, management, and psychology and conflict resolution. Most worked long hours, sacrificed family time to help others, carried debt from seminary training and got below-average compensation for "a difficult job."
From their interviews with 1,865 senior pastors in 48 states, the Barna Research Group found that most Protestant pastors made their greatest impact in a church between the fifth and 14th years of their pastorate. Yet the average length of pastorates is only five years. "In our fast turnaround society, where we demand overnight results and consider everyone expendable and everything disposable, we may be shortchanging pastorsjand the congregations they oversee – by prematurely terminating their tenure," he commented.
Pastoral Characteristics
A third of all pastors said their congregations were "seeker-driven"– a finding the BRG researchers said was "surprising, given the lack of growth in church attendance during the past decade, and in light of the fact that only 8 percent of all pastors claim to have the spiritual gift of evangelism."'
Pastors often did not mirror their congregations – being more likely to be married, older than 40, living in rural locations, college educated, and earning less than $40,000 a year. They were also less likely to be divorced, though 13 percent had gone through a marriage break-up at least once.
The study also revealed striking differences between male and female pastors, who comprise 95 percent and 5 percent respectively of all senior pastors. Compared with the men, the women leaders were more likely to be seminary trained (86 percent to 60 percent), divorced (31 percent to 12 percent), less experienced (average ministry tenure: nine years to 17 years), and to describe themselves as theologically liberal (39 percent to 11 percent).
Principals Change their Principles
In 1969 McCovey had an unwanted pregnancy. Because she couid not get an abortion in Texas, she sought sympathy for her case by claiming falsely, that she had been raped. This means that the abortion case that destroyed every case for protection of the unborn was based on a lie. Thus McCovey has written in her own book Won by Love,
Sandra Cano was a poor mother with three young children and a husband who left them for months at a time. When she became pregnant with her fourth child her children were sent to live in foster care.
When Cano sought legal heip to divorce her husband and regain custody of her children, she was befriended by a lawyer who apparently tricked her into signing an affidavit saying she wanted to get an abortion. The affidavit was used to overturn the nation's laws banning late-term abortion.
When he co-founded NARAL, Dr. Nathanson actually invented the pro-abortion catch phrases, "pro-choice" and "a woman's right to choose." He has since fully renounced his view on abortion, as well as apologizing for the 30,000 abortions for which he personally accepted responsibility TV dramas punctuates its dialogue by doing precisely that, and not a word of protest is aroused, not even among those of us who wince when we hear it.
One cannot use the "N" word without becoming criminally liable, guilty of a hate crime. And one cannot speak disparagingly of a Jew without being accused of being anti-semitic and guilty of a hate crime. But the standard run of television and cinema can insert the exclamation "Jesus Christ!" for negative emphasis whenever it wishes, and not a word of protest is aroused.
One cannot – or maybe one can, but no one does – use the name of Allah or Yahweh or Moses as a swear word. Buddha is never uttered as if it were a curse. But Jesus is. I think FOCL ought to join in that fray, fight that fight against enemies without, with as much vigor as it has shown in courageously attacking enemies within.
Start Here
Surely there is the possibility of legal counsel being obtained gratis, some consecrated Christian barristers convinced of the centrality of Jesus, who could file hate crime accusations against those who deliberately and endlessly insult the most cherished name of our faith. To even undertake such indictment of these acts as hate crimes, even if the legal outcome did not achieve the goals intended, would be in itself an arousement and a call to arms. The suit itself, the accusation that these unrestrained writers of tripe and tarnish, are involved in an ugly hate crime of smearing the name of our Savior, would be both startling and effective as well as welcome and overdue.
* Dr. Kallas is the esteemed biblical lecturer who leads Christian insight tours to the Middle East; he is a retired California Lutheran University professor in the Religion Department, and a cherished member of FOCL's Advisory Board.
PERSPECTIVES
WHAT LUTHERANS SAY THEY BELIEVE:
It becomes clearer every day that ELCA Lutherans, both clergy and laity, are not familiar with the teachings of their faith. The definitive statements are found in THE BOOK OF CONCORD. Buy it from our publishing house, or read directly and free by accessing: http://www,bookofconcord, org. Further classic Lutheran articles on the BOOK OF CONCORD can be accessed at: http://www.iclnet.org/ pub/resources/text/wittenberg/witten berg-boc.html
THE LAYMAN'S CREED:
In a recent address to "The Covenant Network," Rev. Jack Rogers, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, (with which the ELCA has declared full communion), denounced the Presbyterian Lay Committee as a "militant fundamentalist group" that wants to seize control of the body. The denounced movement was formed to uphold the 1997 provision of the Book of Order of the PCUSA that bans the ordination of thosejnotably, gays and lesbiansj who fail to practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and woman or chastity in singleness." In his exhuberance, Rogers inadvertently stated the underlying issue for all the mainline churches today. He said the Confessing Church Movement has a rigidly worded three-point creed, which "attests that Jesus is the only Savior of the world, that the Bible is infallible, and that sex is appropriate only between married heterosexuals." It would be difficult better to frame so succinctly what the con-fessionally faithful Lutherans of the ELCA, including FOCL, want to call the ELCA back to, in a renewed respect for God's revelation of Himself and of His will, in the Scriptures. How disquietingly familiar is Roger's denunciation to that of Caiaphas who
"being high priest (moderator?) that year", said, "Don't you understand that it is expedient that one man, Jesus, should die for the people, so that the whole nation should not perish?"-He did not say this of his own accord but being high priest he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."(Jn 12). What an unwitting prophetic word by Rogers on the credal purpose for an orthodox Lutheran witnessing!
REPEAT AND REPEAT AGAIN:
According to the latest report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, nearly half the women who had an abortion in 1997 had had at least one previous abortion, and one in five of the repeaters had undergone at least two abortions or more. Abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood, the nation's primary abortorium, are increasingly reliant on repeat customers for their business. The pious idea that women turn to abortion only in circumstances of distress or dire emergency is contradicted by the fact they are using abortion rather as a backup means for birth control.
NO PRECONCEIVED CONCLUSIONS?
At its last Assembly, the ELCA adopted a time-line to dispose of the troublous question of how to respond to the Scripture's voiced flat disapproval of homosexual behavior, over against the orchestrated push to ordain practicing homosexuals. At the 2005 Assembly a select committee is mandated to present its recommendation, the vote will be taken, and forever the ELCA will know what it should think about the topic.
The Lutheran Commentator (Nov-Dec,2001) comments on the ELCA's Church Council's promise that there are "no preconceived conclusions on the content of the recommendations that will be submitted":
"The Council's claim may be technically true, but it is naive, for the following reasons: 1)Mark Hanson, the new Presiding Bishop, has a history of promoting non-celibate gay clergy; 2) At least 4 ELCA divisions have already produced pro-gay materials; 3) 12 of the 17 persons on the gay caucus' so-called 'Extraordinary Candidacy Project' already serve as pastors of ELCA congregations; and 4) The dominance of pro-gay bishops in the Episcopal Church (70 out of the 110 active dioceasan bishops allow non-celibate gay priests) will strengthen and embolden pro-gay forces in the ELLCA."
And, and, and
We can add: one retired ELCA presiding bishop who has been stomping around the church with his new gospel, along with one retired synod bishop, recently wrote a book, pushed and published by the ELCA's Augsburg-Fortress Press. They favor the ordination of homosexuals in "faithful relationships," and propose that such "holy unions" should be blessed by the Church. Add, a retired seminary president declares he will devote the remainder of his life to promoting the ordination of active homosexuals. And in the most blatant attempt by the ELCA leaders to bend the mind of the ELCA, two notoriously avowed public homosexual activist clergy in the ELCA, Barbara Lundblad and Peter Gomes, were chosen to give the "Hein-Fry Lectures" at the various ELCA seminaries this spring. One can only imagine the chagrin of Dr. CC Hein, and Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, for whom the lectureship is named, if some saddened angel reads them the latest ELCA news dispatches announcing these two nominated lecturers as giving the lecture-topic in their blessed memory, "Biblical Preaching in Babel." Hein was the stalwart theologian who sensitively guided the earlier American inter-Lutheran synodical relationships into mutual recognitions in the first half of the 20th century; Fry, the unforgettable president of the ELCA, was that world-renowned and strikingly Lutheran leader who skillfully led the reconstitution of both the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches in the latter years of the 20th Century. And that choice for the Hein-Fry lectures predicts "no preconceived conclusions?"
READER RESPONSES
From Clinton, IA.:
As the days have gone by since 9/11, many citizens have been reminded that Almighty God is speaking also to us in no uncertain terms. In the last decades of the past century, many have begun to live as if the Creator no longer exists. The Ten Commandments, once given to Moses, are all but forgotten.
What our country needs to avoid an eventual pagan culture is a religious awakening and enduring revival that will touch every nook and corner of our land. Read an Old Testament statement of this need in II Chronicles 7:14.
Dr Frederick Schoenbohm.
[Editor's note: Because this Bible passage is so critical to America's future, we print it out: "IF MY PEOPLE-not if Americans, not if the Taliban or the Terrorists, but IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE AND TURN FROM THEIR EVIL WAYSji.e., repent,jTHEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND I WILL FORGIVE THEIR SINS, AND HEAL THEIR LAND."
America's healing, our land's healing, is absolutely conditioned on the Church's own first willingness to be healed-by repentance! Luther put the issue so clearly for us in the very first sentence which started the Reformation, Thesis One of the NINETY FIVE THESES: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said 'Repent,' He willed that the entire life of the believer be one of repentance."]
From Omaha, NE:
Congratulations on another fine edition of the FOCL. You have consistently identified the crucial issues facing the ELCA and American Society at large. I am enclosing a donation of $100 to help further your great work.
I am also enclosing my Nov. 8th letter to Nebraska Bishop David deFreese, regarding Lutheran Church of the Master's Oct. 14th vote to sever from the ELCA, Feel free to use this letter in any way you deem appropriate.
John C Chatelain, Attorney.
[Editor's note: We expect to share this letter with our readers in a coming early issue of FOCL-POINT. Watch for it]
Williston, ND:
Thank you for what you are doing. I have been very concerned about what is happening in the ELCA and am considering joining an AFLC congregation. I don't know what they are teaching at our seminaries, although I know there are still some very concerned people teaching there.
Rev. David Halbakken.
Thousand Oaks, CA:
Chistmas greetings and all best wishes. I wish the enclosed check could be larger; hopefully, though, this will help you in the valid and vital work FOCL is doing. I have often felt, however, that as essential and necessary as the FOCL emphases are, we ought to expand if possible our targeted impact areas to include threats which arise outside the church. With that in mind, I am sending along an piece on the subject.
Dr. James Kallas.
[Editor's note: See the accompanying
article by Dr Kallas]
Martinez, CA:
I thank God each time I receive and read the very uplifting and knowledgeable articles that are included in each issue of FOCL-POINT. May God continue to bless the Lutheran Church through your publication.
In His service, Amy Tuff