Those who have left. . .

Not a few Pastors have left Lutheranism for Rome or Constantinople.  Most of them were good and faithful men and they left less because of Lutheranism than because Lutherans were not being Lutheran.  A few of them were women who were ordained but who felt the nagging fear that this novel practice was not in keeping with either classical Lutheranism or the catholic tradition.  Many of them left because they grew weary of a Lutheran expression that bore only passing resemblance to the Lutheranism of our confession, early history, hymnody, and early practice.  Some of them left bitter and angry.  More of them left with great sorrow and regret over the Lutheranism that won them and the unLutheran practices that drove them away.  Many of them have left Lutheranism but remain shaped by their Lutheran faith long after they found another home.  Jaroslav Pelikan (Obedient Rebels) went to the Orthodox Church but died listening to Bach.  Richard John Neuhaus (Freedom for Ministry) went to Rome but died without repudiating his Lutheran identity -- which he believed found fuller expression in Rome than it could in the ELCA).  Many others who have left seem unable to keep from commenting on what happens in their former Lutheran home as if somehow unable to fully shake off that old Lutheran identity.  Some remain bitter enough that they feel compelled to write expose' pieces to justify leaving and prove they acted faithfully.

The truth is I know no one who has left because they did not care.  The people who left cared deeply about the faith Lutherans have and do confess and the liturgical shape of that faith.  That said, they are gone.  We cannot and should not be preoccupied by their decisions to leave and neither should we ignore that causes that left them to make this choice.  If we listen to them, we will find from them still an encouragement for us to be real Lutherans and not the generic kind of Protestants (or evangelicals) we are sorely tempted to be.  If there is a bland and tasteless Lutheranism, it will appeal to no one and will certainly die.  The better Lutheranism is that which is full bodied and faithful.  Where we find this, you will almost always find a vigorous community of people gathered around the Word and Table of the Lord.  If we learn anything from those who have left it should be that a Lutheran lite version is the last thing the world needs.  Both in terms of congregational identity and practice and the ecumenical endeavor, we need real Lutherans.  Not those who are embarrassed or ashamed of what it means to be Lutheran but those who are convinced despite the current shape they see in practice that Lutheranism is catholic, apostolic, and thoroughly evangelical.  No, if their leaving matters to us at all, we will not spend our time proving they were wrong but proving that we are truly Lutheran in confession and in practice.  What a breath of fresh air that might be for all Lutheran jurisdictions!!