Pastoral letter from Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson
Posted by Brit Windel on July 2, 2009
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!
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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
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Ben mason said
I, Like the Bishop, am passionate about unity. There is one body of Christ, period. There is one bride of Christ, period. When Christ prays for the Church, He prays for unity, and as the Bishop points out, unity is of great concern to the Apostle Paul. Another great example for us as Lutherans is Luther himself, who had no desire to separate from the Catholic Church, but Luther ever longed to reform the church, to mold it more into the church that God would have it be. I think that is where we should be. Along with Luther we must stand as a beacon of reform, firmly founded on the Word of God.
Luther said, “Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” What I fear, is that we in the ELCA would rather have truth if convenient, and peace at all costs. We must not forget that Christ also told us that He has not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). What Christ is telling us is that the Gospel is offensive to the world. What better example of this than the current debate in our culture where anyone who takes a conservative stance on the homosexuality debate is labeled a bigot? What we have to ask as the ELCA is whether or not our collective conscience is still held captive by the Scriptures. If it is not, we are not longer the Church in the Lutheran sense, and we are no longer a part of that one Body of Christ, and our unity becomes a mute point.
The beauty of the redemptive work of Christ in the Church is that we ARE unified in Christ, even when we are divided by denominational lines. All those who are marked with the blood of Christ are the body of Christ, irregardless of our denomination. We need to find unity in amidst these divisions, but we must do so without compromising who we are in Christ; peace if possible, truth at all costs. If we lose the truth, we lose also our unity. If we are to be the Body of Christ that Bishop Hanson writes about, we must regain and cling to our Scriptural integrity.
Elizabeth Pugh-Ruiz said
After reading the Bishop’s letter, I was actually very unsettled. I do believe that we as a church of Christ need to be unified, however, I don’t think that we can be unified if we are not following the guidelines provided for us by our Holy Father in His Word. To attempt to be a unified church without following the unifying commands as stated by Adonai will only cause division, which is what we see happening right now.
Homosexuality has been a very controversial thing for thousands of years so it makes sense that it would still be a controversial thing. But what makes it controversial is that God explicitly said “no” to it and the world said “yes”. Whether or not the ELCA or any Christian denomination condones it, God will and always has said “no” and it will still be a matter of controversy. it doesn’t matter what we say about it in the end, God has obviously not changed His mind. The difference being it will now be within the church, therefore the controversy won’t be against Church VS. World. It will be Church VS. Church, and isn’t that precisely what satan wants? Our churches are becoming divided amongst themselves and division will cause us to fall. How can we be unified within that? It’s impossible.