Promoting beauty or creating conflict. . .

Most of what we do in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as far as media is concerned (official and unofficial) seems to revolve around more parochial concerns than more generally toward those outside the faith.  Yes, I know that there are plenty whose appeal is beyond the LCMS and plenty of those who have both kinds of conflict.  What I am more concerned about is that we often create as much conflict as we report and muddy the waters as much as we clarify them.  In so doing, we miss the more important use of the media available to us and that is to speak of the sheer beauty and grace of who we are, what we confess, and how we live (both liturgically and vocationally).  That is a missed opportunity.

Think, for example, of the last round of the presidential voting in the LCMS and of the media that has either officially or unofficially promoted a position or a candidate in that election.  What do those outside the faith hear and see in this kind of content?  It may be thoroughly relevant to the issue at hand for us inside the LCMS but is it going to help them to know us or Christ through us?  That is probably not the case.  The best use of media is not to air our grievances but to promote our position.  I know that you can do both at the same time but too much of what we do (maybe me included) is stirring the pot more than offering the world a taste of the goodness we offer.

I have heard others speak about this in particular with respect to Rome.  Roman Catholics have a great deal of positive media presence.  It is remarkable how easily they speak with deference and honor to their church, of the beauty and power of the liturgy, of the nearness of God's presence in the Mass, of the ordinary prayers common to most (the Rosary included), and of their unapologetic devotion to the practice of confession.  They seem to do this not because such things are the domain of Rome and its discipline but because they truly appreciate the beauty of their church and its life that encompasses their being and their identity as people.  Of course, as a Lutheran I cannot and do not always agree with the things they laud but I cannot help their admiration for they way they speak and of the positive nature of their witness.  These seemed to abide even through the tumultuous years of Francis.  I wish we knew how to be so positive in our display of our faith to the world.

One of the people who seems to do that so easily and powerfully is Pastor Will Weedon.  I have long promoted his visits with someone interested in Lutheranism and how positive that conversation was.  It remains, in my estimation, a high point of our social media presence -- even though it was done by someone outside our circle.  I have attached the videos here below for you to review if you have not seem them before or to watch again if you have.  This is how we need to speak to the world -- of the beauty of our confession, of our life together around the Word and Table of the Lord, of the catechism as prayerbook as well as explanation of the faith, and of our good works done not to impress anyone but because of Christ's good work to us upon the cross.  We can and should address the problems among us but we dare not forget to speak even more of this beauty and the profound character of God's life among us through the means of grace.  Beauty is not our enemy or even optional but intrinsic to our confession and our liturgical life.  In art and music, architecture and hymn, ceremony and rite, beauty is our ally and a medium for our message.  Why not online?