Living with an Ozzie and Harriet mentality in an Ossy and Sharon Osbourne world...

A new web site and a new movement in Missouri was born.  It is called On Word.  It has some old and familiar names behind it (Norb Oesch, Dave Buegler, etc.).  It banters about the term missional a lot.  It has some good and some things I am concerned about.

A couple of things....  It speaks of missions from the vantage point of a shrinking LCMS instead of confidence in the Gospel and in the means of grace.  Because of this, it is mostly concerned with things like process and practice than doctrine and faith.  This is not something unique to this group but it is an issue I have with many groups where guilt and shock are used to call us to do what joy and confidence alone can do...

It complains about a clericalism in the church that is crippling the mission.  I have heard this before from different folks and I really do not understand it.  We have more lay folk in short term and long term missions than ever.  We live in the heritage of "everyone a minister" and a church structure that is less and less directed toward or by the Pastor.  Our members do not sit in awe of the Herr Pastor's knowledge or experience.  They are just as educated, just as experienced, and they have opinions they are not afraid to express.  We have more "lay offices" (like deacon) doing things once reserved for Pastors than we ever have.  We have congregations being served by these folks as virtual Pastors.  If anything, we live at a time when clergy are seen as less essential to the life and work of the Church than ever before.

It insists that we do not know the world around us, that we live in a past that is long gone, guided by a theological language, musical style, and liturgical identity that no longer sells, and we have missed the fact that our culture is no longer Christian. Who is he talking about?  We have sung liturgy, weekly Eucharist, and strong teaching (catechesis).  We also know the world around us is unfriendly to the faith, suspicious of the moniker Lutheran, unchurched, and lost.  Yet we also know that what reaches them is not a Christian imitation of their culture, music, or message.  What reaches them are the means of grace.  Period.  Word and Sacrament.  Not some with it Pastor or lay leader who mimics the look and lingo of the day and plants churches that have little or nothing in common with those paying the mission tab.

I don't know a lot of things.  If I were smarter or wiser I would not be blogging my meandering thoughts.  I would get people to pay for them.  But I think our problem is not that we are behind the times.  I think that we have lost confidence in the means of grace, lost confidence in the Lord to do His work through the Word and Sacraments, lost confidence in the promise that where we preach and teach the Word of God faith will be born (in God's time).  Instead, we have given up on the Gospel and now we think that we can do something to reach the heart of the lost.  We have the technology, we have the skill, we have the wisdom, we have the tools -- we don't need liturgy or hymnal or theology.  We barely need the Spirit.  All we need is networking and cash and we can get the job done.  We don't need St. Louis and we don't need oversight and we don't need someone second guessing us.

You listen to the video and tell me what you hear and what you do not.... What I hear is passion and desire but mixed in with disdain for St. Louis (code word for theology, confession, practice, and doctrine).  Sure I hear them talk sacramental but it is not a sacramental faith and identity borne of and shaped the means of grace.  It is a nod toward the confessional identity but the emphasis is clearly on what we are doing, how we are connected, our success, and our refusal to be ignored.  Maybe I am over reacting.  You tell me....