There was a time when I applauded the work of ecumenical conversations. In particular, the Lutheran and Roman Catholic dialogues produced some solid work engaging each other in what we believe, teach, and confess. While not every one agreed with the fruits of this long standing theological engagement, it was serious, deliberate, and scholarly. For the Lutheran side, most of this ended when the ecumenical chairs ended up in the hands of liberal Lutherans who did not take their own history or confession all that seriously much less the positions of their dialogue partners. Now, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America finds itself in the odd position of being in fellowship with nearly anyone and everyone except any Lutherans who do take their history and confession seriously and who believe these inform and set boundaries for faith and practice. It is no wonder that the ecumenical conversations have become difficult -- difficult at least for those who want to take theology seriously but easy for those who don't.
Sadly, I confess that today it is probably not worth our time and effort to sit down and engage anyone in official theological dialogues. For one, the ELCA and Missouri are not speaking. For another, the conservative Anglicans are still wedded to some of the same liberal positions they had when they were playing well together so I am not sure how far we can expect to get with those who insist that the ordination of women, for example, is not going to change. Finally, even once rather solid partners (the Lutheran Church of Australia) have set their course away from historic Lutheran confession and identity and it might be that the SELK in Germany is not that far behind. So who is their left to talk to?
The answer seems to take us to Africa. There we find churches more willing to sit down with solid and deliberate conversations about faith and life. There we find some churches whose clergy are being formed within the seminaries of the LCMS. There we also find a vibrant and and larger presence to the Lutheran identity than seems to be left across the West. If there is anywhere we need to be going to talk, it is probably Africa. There are some small and mission provinces offering us hope but by and large the once vaunted Lutheran institutions of the West (i. e. Lutheran World Federation) are probably not worth the conversation and will not offer much hope of any serious debate much less future unity.
Yesterday afternoon, as I was walking around the senior apartments nearby, and passed a pond on the way, a vehicle driving away from the apartments stopped me. Pulling alongside, two lovely young ladies sitting up front motioned that they wanted to speak. The lady in the passenger seat gave me a big smile, and said.” Hi, we just wanted to invite you to our church?” “What is the name of your church?” I asked. “ It’s the Church of Latter Day Saints,” I resisted the impulse to engage in a full debate. One lady retorted, “Just wanted to say anyway, you are always welcome to come to our church!” “Well, “ I said, “ that would be very unlikely.” I remarked that they really have a need for Christ, to which they agreed. They drove away. For them it was an unproductive encounter, for me it was an affirming one. Sometimes false teachers come in attractive ways, two lovely and smiling young women, ready and able to share a dead faith and heresy, all the while believing they are doing a good thing, even serving God in sincerity. But like the ecumenical movements striving to blend Catholicism with Lutherans, burying the Reformation in the process, or drawing near to ELCA seeking common ground, such efforts are not merely fruitless, but sinful as well. Most ecumenical causes require compromises for the sake of symbolic consensus. This may seem to work in the minds of some who want everyone to get along and “coexist,” but in my humble view, the Lord views this as spiritual adultery. When the children of Israel tried to blend with idolaters and pagans, the Lord corrected them. We stand warned as well. Soli Deo Gloria
ReplyDeleteJapan Lutheran Church (JLC) was started by and in fellowship with the LCMS for nearly 75 years before JLC sank into the liberal abyss.
ReplyDeleteAfter breaking fellowship with the XXXA, the 6.35 million-member Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) has been in "formal discussions" with the LCMS for over a decade, despite the fact that in 1997 the EECMY voted to ordain women.