Problems with the Unity!

So I posted the Letter that Presiding Bishop Hanson wrote to pastors explaining his prayer for unity of the churches and that we ‘remain’ unified. As I said in my post here, sadly we are already being divided because of this whole thing. Which isn’t surprising and actually is why I’m writing.
I found it interesting that we preach unity when we are heading in a direction that for more than 2000 years has been unacceptable. We are going against foundational teaching and practical history for the human race for several 1000s of years. I have issues with playing the Unity card for this reason.

“This is what God wants to happen and to be unified you have to agree with us” ~ unity card

“We are heading this direction and we hope and ‘pray’ you stay with us, even though we are going against ‘common’ Christian practice for 1600 years” ~ Unity Card

The leadership, it seems, of the ELCA have decided what the voice of God is telling the people of the ELCA and that we need to head down this road. For the record this issue has been addressed before and was shot down then, ‘maybe we didn’t pray hard enough then’ or ‘maybe those voting just aren’t close enough to the heart of God to know this is what should happen’! What I don’t understand about meetings and deliberations like this is, why if something doesn’t get passed in favor of something, that maybe shouldn’t be visited again, gets brought back with more force the next time.

I’m not going to get into the Human Sexuality talk about how right or wrong it is….at least not yet…. I wanted to talk about the use of the word Unity and use some biblical passages that talk about it.

Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in
Unity!

John 17. 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in
you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have
sent me. 22  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as
we are one: 23  I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let
the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved
me.

ROM 12:4  Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these
members do not all have the same function, 5  so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to
all the others.

1 Cor12 12  The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all
its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Now with this verse here I wanted to point out something… in 13 where it says we were all baptized in by the one Spirit, this is not a Unitarian statement meaning that all have been baptized by the Spirit. Paul is speaking to a group of people and explaining to them why they should be and remain unified as they have come under the common love&belief of their Savior, whether they be Jew, Greek or Slave or Free, they all belong in that same commune!

Now I could put several more up, but thought I would just go the big Unity verse found in Ephesians 4.1-16. You can read it here! A beautiful reminder of how we are called to grow and that we do grow together in unity. What I find very interesting and something to call everyone to a reminder is 14-31!

These verses call to mind how we are not called to live. Unity means that some are called to lose some aspects of their SINFUL diversity! We cannot just simply say yes we are unified and clean and continue to live in sin! Ephesians 4. 19Having lost all sensitivity; they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more… we are called in unity to give things up. Christ in His Unity with God gave up His very life to unify us, to purge us and make us clean….

Ephesians4.22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

In calling people to repentance and to put off the ‘old self’, to be ‘made new’ how is this unity we are calling the ELCA to really any of the above. If we hold the Bible to be true and to be Gods story and love to us, we cannot pick and chose those verses that simply help our cause and case. Anyways I’m starting to get into my thoughts on the whole issue so I’m going to back off.

We need to be careful in how use the Unity Card. Just as the Jews got in tremendous trouble with whom they unified themselves with the OT we too have to be careful with how and who we are unified with people… God does call us to be of closely the same mind… if we have brothers and sisters who are not following or believing in the same Kingdom and love of God… we SHOULD not be unified with them

We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation to the world through Christ, just as Christ wanted all to see His Father and experience the true Shalom-Kingdom of God… some walked away (Matthew 19.16-22) there is a price in coming a giving up of things/ lusts, desires. The completion of Matthew 19.22-30 explains more on that

Pastoral letter from Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson

The below is a letter ‘beautifully’ crafted for pastors and congregations helping them understand the goal and vision/ & hope for ‘unity’ amongst the ELCA. If you are unaware of what is going on in the ELCA, there is a vote coming up in August in regards to how the ELCA will be defining Human Sexuality. The Human Sexuality Statement can be read here for more information.

This is a great song here I would love you to listen to while reading the email below

The song is called Clarity by Shawn McDonald and I think the lyrics of longing for clarity and truth to be filled with love with that said… my only comments that I will give currently in regards to Presiding Bishop Hanson’s letter is the naive hope that this will not cause division amongst the ELCA. There is no difference between the ELCA & the Episcopal Church nor the PCUSA! Just as the Episcopal church and the PCUSA were thrust into the muck about their Human Sexuality statements so will we. And just they had a massive Exodus from their denomination, so too shall the ELCA. The difference will be, how we divide! Division has already occurred and will continue whether this goes through or does not. Whether you are pro Gay Marriage or against in the ELCA if your party loses you will not be happy.

I think a prayer for hope & unity is something beautiful… I think a prayer and hope in calling to the repentance of sins holds a slightly higher place on the mind of God more than man deciding what should and should not be brought under a blessed unity… thats God’s place not ours… I will be blogging later this week about my ‘partial thoughts’ on the whole ordeal. But in the mean time hope you enjoy and are enlightened on what the hopes and aspirations of the ELCA are in the Human Sexuality Movement.

I did put hyperlinks on the scripture references so that one might want to look up the ‘actual’ quoted scripture piece to read in context. The Romans 15.31 farewell needs to be 15.13

You can read the Bishops remarks here or below

Would love to hear your thoughts on the whole ‘movement’ and statement!

————————————————————–

Dear colleagues in ministry,

As we approach the churchwide assembly, I am thankful for the thoughtful and respectful discussion at synod assemblies of the proposed social statement on human sexuality and the ministry policy recommendations. I am mindful, however, that we remain a church body that is not of one mind about these decisions, and that these continuing differences have raised concerns among some about whether we are headed toward a church-dividing decision.

I am writing to express my shared, heartfelt commitment to the church’s unity, and, even more, my deep confidence that this unity will not be lost. For this reason please join me in reflecting on the unity of Christ’s church that is the foundation both for our life together in the ELCA and our relationships with other Christians throughout the world.

The unity of Christ’s church is God’s daily work through the Holy Spirit calling, gathering, enlightening and sanctifying us with the gospel. Sometimes, when I hear concerns about division in the ELCA, I worry that they express a fear that unity depends on the actions of church leaders or assemblies. Our unity, however, comes to us because God gives it freely and undeservedly in Jesus Christ. Although everyone in leadership shares responsibility for stewarding our unity in Christ, it will not be won or lost at the churchwide assembly in a plenary session vote. Rather, it will be received as a gracious gift from God when the assembly is gathered each noon by the Word and Sacrament through which God gives us unity, making us one in Jesus Christ.

We hold in common this confession that God makes us one in Jesus Christ, but it is not making this confession that makes us one. Rather, because God unites us to Jesus Christ in Baptism we are also united to each other in one body that transcends any other difference. Paul states this clearly. “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27).

A marvelous insight into this unity was made recently during a Bible study as members of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Executive Committee took turns reading Paul’s familiar words about the body of Christ in their own languages. The differences were fascinating. Several read, “all the members of the body, though many, are one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12). Others read, “all the members of the body, being many, are one body.” Our Bible study leader suggested that “though many” implies that our “many-ness” (that is, our diversity or differences) is a problem that compromises the unity of the body of Christ. But, “being many” within the Body of Christ implies that diversity is unity’s strength, not its weakness. The witness of Scripture is that both unity and diversity are God’s gifts. There is one Spirit, one Baptism, one faith, one Lord of us all, but a variety of gifts and callings are given for the sake of the gospel and the common good.

God’s gift of unity in Christ informs our life and witness together in the community of Christ’s church. Rather than approach the assembly apprehensively, I invite you to see it as an opportunity for faith-filled witness to the larger human family that struggles with division and yearns for healing and wholeness that is real and true. We live in a polarized culture that equates unity with uniformity and sees differences as a reason for division. This moment, and our witness as a church body in the midst of it, deserves something better from us. We have the opportunity to offer the witness of our unity in Christ─diverse, filled with different-ness and differences, broken in sin, and yet united and whole in Christ. This moment deserves the witness of a community that finds and trusts its unity in Christ alone, engages one another with respect, and seeks a communal discernment of the Spirit’s leading.

In recent weeks I have been re-reading Bonhoeffer’s Life Together where he writes, “God already has laid the only foundation of our community, because God has united us in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ long before we entered into common life with them.” He says that other Christians who may be different and yet live by God’s call, forgiveness, and promise are a gift and a reason to give thanks. He continues with this remarkable insight about all of us and the unifying power of Christ’s forgiveness:

Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the common life, is not the one who sins still a person with whom I too stand under the Word of Christ? Will not another Christian’s sin be an occasion for me ever anew to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Therefore, will not the very moment of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome for me because it so thoroughly teaches me that both of us can never live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and deed that really binds us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ? (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 5, pp. 36-37.)

Some may question why I am writing and wonder if this letter is advocating for a particular position on the questions before the churchwide assembly. It is not. Rather, it is an honest expression of my conviction that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s mission for the life of the world, and the members of this church deserve this witness from us: In Christ we are members of one body serving God’s mission for the life of the world.

As we approach the Assembly, I invite you to join me in confident hope, grounded in Christ, where we meet one another not in our agreements or disagreements, but at the foot of the cross. We meet as we hear the Word, confess our faith, receive Christ’s presence in bread and wine, sing our praises to God, make our offerings, and then go in peace, to share the Good News, remember the poor and serve the Lord.

God is faithful. Christ is with us. By the power of the Spirit we are one in him. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:31)

In God’s grace,

Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Books, Camps, & Thinking

Well I am heading off at noon today to take a group of middle schoolers to Sky Ranch, in Colorado. I am praying for a great experiencing with our kids. We had a great year last year but our numbers for going are down slightly this year, for several reasons I won’t go into at this moment! But I am excited none the less and it will be a great time. Will have no phone or internet for 5 days hopefully I can survive without my Twitter & Mac

I will be using this time for a lot of things…mainly thinking! the beauty of this camp is it puts me in the mountains and the kids are with staff and leaders the entire day. Giving me time to relax and enjoy my kids and get some personal time in as well. couldn’t ask for more.

I have a lot on my mind at the moment: Master Program at Spring Arbor, creating a healthy and vibrant-reproducing Discipleship/mentoring program, re-thinking our Mission projects and our youth Mission Ministry, bringing my youth leaders back together after a real big busy year (and the summer hasn’t even started yet), friends, family & relationships. so prayers for all of that would be great! I only have 5 days to figure my life out so clarity and purpose would be great.

Three books I will be reading while up there that I wanted to share with you all that might be helpful for your ministries.

• Disciple-Making Teachers: How to equip Adults for Growth and Action, Josh Hunt & Dr. Larry Mays
• They Will Know Us by Our Love: Service Ideas for Small groups
• The Equipping Church: Serving together to transform lives, Sue Mallory

I also have picked up two more books I hope to have read by July. One is for a reading challenge my youth ministry friend Dane has issued in reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and finding new ways to be open to the divine Love that God lavishes on us. Really looking forward to doing this with him.

The other book I have several parents waiting for a review of and I hope (if the book is good) to have it on a reading list for all of our families. The book is called the Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance, by Polly Young Eisendrath! doesn’t that book just sound amazing for youth ministry and parents??? I will let you know how that one turns out!

my pursuit for discipleship&mentor’s

i am on journey looking for good strong discipleship&mentoring material. primarily for youth 8-21yrs old!!! i know a wide range. we are wanting to utilize small groups and mentors in our youth’s lives. we are launching a small group/host home ministry for our High School this fall, and hoping to instill a mentorship for our 8th grade confirmands and for our high school students as well in the spring of 2010.

This is very new ground for me, and i’m out of my element with the size of our church and number of youth and families we have! we are looking right now with the mindset we have complete room to do what ever. our foundation is in Christ and Family community… so the possibilities in my mind our endless

I am have some resources but i am looking for some more. I will be using this summer to research and study different forms of mentoring and great discipleship programs. Currently looking at doing a merge of Faith Inkubators and Tom Schwolert’s resources here for some family based discipleship and mentoring.

But i am wondering what ‘you’ use.

who you follow?

what resources/programs have you found to be useful?

do you have any good books on the topic?

any good theology concepts on the reasoning for discipleship and mentoring? Titus 2 i find for great biblical new testament teaching… but what else

any advice and wisdom you could give would be gratefully appreciated  in this neck of Gods Kingdom in Colorado

the problem of pain&healing

“But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but SHOUTS in our pain!” ~ the Problem of Pain CS Lewis pg91

i have had a lot of things to be praying about lately. Our church has an amazing Prayer Network where our members receive over 15 prayer concerns every day. Some of theses prayers are to lift up family, some a pain and hurt, some a sickness, some for friends, some for people across the world. It really lifts my spirits seeing how rooted in prayer our church is… even as i type this I received a prayer request from Mark Matlock to pray for his wife’s uncle who is fighting cancer. the world is never not in need of prayers and things happening! i become overwhelmed when i stop and think about how much pain there is in it

I am surround by times to pray… and i pray…but its hard for me to pray. its hard because i want to see immediate remedies. i want to see these men and women healed. We have a youth worker who is battling lymphatic leukemia, this man is fighting so hard for his life…he is in pain… then i think of a dear friends dad who is dying from drinking himself to death… he is in pain… my youth worker wants to be made well… this father… doesn’t seem to care… the problem with pain is as CS Lewis says… it attacks us all, the kind and caring & the loveless and harsh. it does not judge the character of a man or women it simply enacts its job… to test and trail and bring forth its pain unto the person and family.

the problem i have with pain… is that i feel i can’t help… it is so hard for me to see hurting people.. it breaks my heart it pains me to know that there is nothing i can do… i want to take their hand and pray for healing… and then most often in my case…nothing happens for them (in the physical). why can’t i be blessed with some gift of physical healing? i feel become jaded sometimes because i know my King and Savior can heal and make whole. i have seen him do it… i just dont understand why he doesn’t always do it… i dont have answers for it… but am reminded of a great book by Pete Greig called God on Mute. this book changed my way of thinking about prayer. and there is so much to go into it all. but the mysteries of prayer and why some are answered and some are not falls into the greater scheme of Gods story for His Kingdom. where the healing of one person is a miracle, the healing of all people becomes ordinary and normal… our God is neither ordinary nor normal…

i find some comfort in God being miraculous but not as much comfort as i would like honestly… i still want hurting to stop…pain to be no more… i want the promise of Revelations that there will be no more tears or pains… i pray for that kingdom now… this is why i believe Christ taught us the piece of the Lords prayer

Our Father in Heaven (greatest of fathers in the greatest place of peace) Hallowed be your name (perfect and never ending of praising) Your Will (the will which is perfect and beautiful and merciful and caring) be done here on Earth (our Hell and torment) as it already is in Heaven (no pain, no tears, love abounding)… this is why we pray this prayer… it is a hope and love that we rest in… Father your kingdom of healing and love come to this place. sweep our land and make us well!

my problem with pain and healing… is that i can only inflict pain… i can not heal. God is the healer, may we hear his shouts for restoration and hope through our Pains… i may never know what my touch might do for the hand of the hurting… it might be to simply calm and love that may be the best i can do…

Father if you deem it not an act of healing the physical help us heal the spiritual and use our hands that hurt to be hands that help the hurting…father continue to soften us through what ever means so that we may know and love you and trust in your plans

reflections of birth!

ok well so today is my 25th birthday! hooza and hooray for me! I love all the birthday wishes and what not. its kinda amazing to step back and look at my life thus far. i wanted to reflect with you all and call you all to reflect on your life as well

• born in an amazing country
• amazing loving parents
• was washed in the blood of my Savior at age 15
• have had the blessing of learning more about my King for 10 years
• getting to work with 6 amazing youth groups in just 8 years, Blackburn, TCABC, Fellowship, CCF, Killyleagh, the F.C.
• have lived in another country for 2 years
• graduating from an amazing college with a degree in Youth Ministry & Biblical and Theological Studies
• being gifted to play the bass with some amazing musicians over the past few years, Michael Bleaker, Austin & Ross, Kyle, the Shanes
• having four of the best mentors someone could ask for over the years Kevin Pruitt, Jason Lanker, Galen Johson, Wes Windel (my Dad)
• Just being Blessed to alive and do what i do with ministering with youth and families

there is so much more i could go into but it is just amazing to be alive. This morning as i was driving through the rain i realized that we really celebrate the person of birth…but i began to think and pray about all those who have helped in my birth-ing process. from my family and God to all my friends and those little encounters along the way that have helped shape me into the person i am and the person i am becoming Thank you! Thank you for your love and affection, wisdom and guidance, discipline and correction. lets hope and pray for another 25 and even more things to praise God about