Seeing heresy everywhere. . .

Someone sent me a link to something called Lotuseaters from the UK only to find these conservative Roman Catholic lay commenters were talking about the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  This on top of the countless tweets and retweets and blog posts that have created quite a stir with respect to a book published by the Synod.  But it is not only or simply about the book.  The furor has gone well past even the ordinary haunts of the Lutherans and the disaffected Lutherans to be picked up by folks who actually believe that the LCMS is only about a day and a half behind the ELCA in caving into the culture, diversity, equity, inclusion, and every other woke and CRT proposition known to man.  We have become a spectacle.  We thought we might be a stodgy conservative largely Midwestern church body but now it appears we have found our fifteen minutes of fame and suffered before the eyes of the guardians of orthodoxy on the internet.

On top of that, the whole thing has gotten mixed up in everything from misogeny to racism.  The President of the LCMS was compelled to disavow such things publicly with a letter.  To some it was the desperate act of a politician, to others it was a desperate attempt to distance us from some of the more extreme voices, and to others it was a brave stand in a world which is more in love with soundbites than reasoned paragraphs.

What is someone to think?  According to the accusers, Missouri is corrupt, her leaders are corrupt, her doctrine is corrupt, and her practice is corrupt.  Though some might admit that Missouri is the last best hope of orthodox Lutheranism in America, there are others who warn she is a leaky ship not likely to make it back to port in tact.  Such is the state of the storm and the state of affairs on the good ship Missouri.  If you believe the critics, that is.  

Let me begin by saying that there is little possibility for clarity with all the shouting going on.  Nobody is listening to anybody except the people who back up your own preformed opinion.  It is a house on fire while no one is looking for a fire hose.  That is precisely the problem with our age.  We not only lack leaders of substance and consequence who can tell us to be quiet and listen, we refuse to pay attention to them if they do say anything.  The same political divisions and suspicions that are making it hard for even good people to govern are intruding into the Church until there is hardly any difference between the sacred and secular voices of outrage and condemnation.  Where there is heat, there must be fire.  But without someone to manage the fire, the flames may well consume the good with the bad.

We have become a cranky people who are deeply suspicious and intolerant.  Some of the voices out there insist that they are speaking with candor and with love but it is hard to hear the love amid the sheer delight at tearing things down.  I know we have problems as a church body.  I know our leaders are not perfect.  But I challenge you to find another church out there that is as concerned about truth and as willing to work for a full and common truth confessed before the world. We fought a battle for our lives over the issue of the truthfulness of God's Word.  We saw once venerable institutions brought to rubble only to rebuild them from nothing.  We are a church body with the great expectation that our leaders are theologians and not simply managers of an institution.  We are a church body with a structure that preserves and encourages the role and responsibility of the local congregation and their pastor to preach, teach, and give witness to the faith confessed and the hope within us.  We are a church without contempt for either the laity or the clergy -- at least we were until some of this tried to pit us against each other.  We are a church where our publishing house actually publishes theology and not little self-help books of Christianity which make it seem like Christianity is a DIY religion.  We are a church where pastors are formed not only in the theology of what we believe but in the faithful practice.  We are a church that loves the Gospel without reading it as license to do what is pleasing in your own eyes.  We are a church that is known the world over for what we believe instead of for what we do not.  You look and tell me a better place to be?

We have got to stop crying out that the roof is falling every time we have honest disagreements about what is being said or how it is being said.  The internet is at its worst when it functions as an inquisition tribunal to air out our disputes and make sure that self-righteousness always wins.  We will not be able to carry out the mission before us if we see heresy everywhere and then battle it out with a hundred words or less in quote or comment (often out of context).  Scripture pleads for us to come and reason together.  I am not talking about compromising our core truths but about talking honestly together before we tell the world Missouri is dead or woke or whatever.  I fear the meme is not the friend of truth but may very well be its executioner.  Not everything is worthless because somebody else said it or because the wrong person said or because they did not say it as you would have said it.  Christianity has enough enemies outside who seek to destroy it without those on the inside tearing it down from within.  The whole business has already occupied too many of the conversations within my parish -- much less the internet and the world.  We need to be more careful both about the tactics and the tenor of our commentary.