Tidings of Peace
Pastor Johnson’s Message: Challenges
Dear friends,
At our recent Synod Assembly,
there were some resolutions passed that were quite controversial. As often
seems to be the case these days in most every denomination, the controversy
centered on the church’s teaching and policy regarding sexuality.
In theory, the entire Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America is supposed to be engaged in a study of these
issues, as we move toward some definitive proposals at the Churchwide Assembly
in the summer of 2005. That is why many of us felt that it was inappropriate
for our Sierra Pacific Synod to be jumping the gun by making statements and
expressing opinions in advance of the rest of the church.
The Synod approved one resolution which
endorsed marriage of same-sex couples as a "civil right" (it did not
include any reference to, or encouragement of, the church itself having a role
in such policies). Obviously that’s a hot political issue right now, and one
that, in my opinion, the Synod should have refrained from addressing.
The Synod also invited the two
congregations in San Francisco which were expelled from the ELCA some years ago
to apply for readmission. These congregations had called openly gay pastors who
were not officially approved by the ELCA to be their pastors. Whatever one
thinks about the ELCA policy, it is troubling to me is that the Synod would
call for an action which is simply improper under the present provisions of the
ELCA constitution. A constitution is really covenant, an agreement about how we
will live together as congregations in this church. A constitution can be
changed, and there is a process for doing that. But it violates the covenant,
it seems to me, if congregations or synods simply ignore the constitution.
Doing so breaks faith with other congregations.
On one level, I’ve learned through
the years not to take very seriously what Synod Assemblies do. These are made
up of people who don’t necessarily reflect the beliefs and opinions of the
majority of Lutherans in our congregations. Most of the time Synod Assembly
resolutions are approved, and that’s sort of the end of it.
On another level, I think there are
serious problems with a Synod which won’t abide by the policies and standards
of the church as a whole. It particularly concerns me when a Synod tries to
short circuit the process by which we have been trying, for some years now, to
resolve some very serious differences of viewpoint about what the church
teaches about sexuality, and particularly about homosexuality.
There are quite a number of
congregations and pastors who were very upset by the Assembly’s actions—perhaps
the most widespread negative reaction in the fifteen year history of the Synod.
Again, this reflects the fact that we as a church are not of one mind about
these issues. Few congregations—including ours—are of one mind. Many of us find
our own feelings conflicted and contradictory. There are no doubt members of
our congregation who are homosexual. There are certainly many who have family
members who are, and nearly everyone has friends or neighbors who are gay or
lesbian. So it is not a matter that can be considered only in the abstract, or
that can be ignored.
We’ve talked about this at some
length in the Council, and we’ve decided that one thing we need to do as a
congregation is to take part in the study that the whole ELCA is doing. We will
plan to do this early in the fall, and we hope that you will be part of it. By
taking part in the study, we have an opportunity to express our feelings and
beliefs to the task force that will be making recommendations to the Churchwide
Assembly next summer.
In the meantime, one Council member
suggested that it might be helpful, in preparation for the study, to have a
look at the Biblical texts which address, or seem to address, the question. The
deeper issue, of course, is how we understand and use the Bible? What does it
mean to say that the Bible is authoritative for us? There’s certainly a lot in
the Bible that we don’t believe applies literally to Christians, but how do we
determine that? Those are questions that we will need to talk about.
But however we understand those
questions, the Biblical texts are important for us to read and understand, and
so I am happy to list them and encourage you to reflect on them prior to our
study this fall. They are few in number; the Bible doesn’t say nearly as much
about this topic as it does about greed, envy, and a variety of other things.
But if you want to review the texts in question, the primary ones are these (in
the order they appear in the Bible): Genesis 19; Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13;
Judges 19; Romans 1.26-27; 1 Corinthians 6.9; 1 Timothy 1.10; Jude 7. I will
add that not all scholars agree that every one of these texts is relevant to
the question at hand, but that we will get into as we study them together.
What I desire most of all is that
the conversation we have about this be honest, prayerful, and charitable.
That’s not always easy, of course, but I think it is always what we should
strive for in the family of Christ.
Peace to you,
Pastor Richard O. Johnson
Classic Prayers
Forgive
us, Almighty God,
For
camping on the periphery
And
living on the border,
Never
facing the central sins of our lives.
Made
for Thy truth,
We are deceptive and untruthful.
Blessed
with intelligence,
We seek Thy wisdom sporadically.
Capable
of deep caring,
We want to be congratulated
and
cared for.
Created
for fellowship,
We are too busy to pray.
Endowed
with plenty,
We hoard the best part.
Intended
for the deep,
We court the trivial.
These
circles of folly
Surround
our sin of rebellion
against Thee;
What
we were made to enjoy
in abundance,
We
reject with pride.
Pardon
us, we pray.
Sin
confessed looses its grip on us.
Therefore
strengthen us
in Thy mighty hand
And
center us through faith
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
--E. Lee Phillips
20th century Baptist
Liturgy Notes: Hymns Old and New
Recently
we sang a hymn that was new. Well, the words were new; the tune was familiar.
After church someone commented that they preferred the "traditional"
words (and we put "traditional" in quotation marks, since those
particular "traditional" words really only date to 1969: not a very
long tradition!).
But
perhaps you’ve wondered about how or why "new words" are sung to
"old tunes." So here’s the answer!
Let’s
begin by saying that using familiar tunes to introduce new texts is a very old
practice in the Christian Church. Usually in popular music, we think of a text
and its tune as being firmly stuck together. But in worship, we often "mix
and match" tunes and texts.
Sometimes
we see this in the hymnal itself. Take the text, "My Hope Is Built on Nothing
Less." In the Lutheran Book of Worship, it appears twice—once to the tune
known familiarly as the "Navy Hymn," and then again to a rather
sprightly tune by William Bradbury, a prolific 19th century American hymn
writer. Bradbury’s tune was actually written for this text, and was very
popular in American churches. Lutherans who were more recent immigrants didn’t
find it "dignified" enough, and so often set the text to different
tunes—the "Navy Hymn," and at least three others that one can find in
various Lutheran hymnals.
The
point is that different groups, for whatever reason, knew and liked different
music. Immigrant groups especially often took an English text, and sang it to a
tune that was familiar in the "old country." When the Lutheran Book
of Worship was published in 1978, it was a hymnal designed to serve several
different "ethnic strains" of Lutherans. Sometimes the editors chose,
for example, a German tune and dropped the one the Norwegians liked. Sometimes
they put both tunes in.
Sometimes
a writer will write a very wonderful text, but for some reason the tune he or
she had in mind just doesn’t make it. It takes someone with a better idea to
try singing the words to a different tune—and then often people just love it!
Many of the hymns we love the most were originally sung to a tune different
from the one we know.
One
of the great advantages to being able to "mix and match" tunes and
texts is that often it is a good way to introduce new words. If the tune we are
singing is familiar, it makes it much easier to use the text—only one new thing
to learn at a time! Of course the advent of computers has made it much easier
to "mix and match."
Maybe
there’s a text that fits perfectly for the theme of the day, but in the hymnal
is matched with an impossible—or at least unfamiliar—tune. Mixing and matching helps us make good use
of many more hymn texts than would otherwise be possible. So if you find us
singing "new words" to an "old hymn," try not to worry
about it! We’re not tossing out the old words at all; we’re just introducing
some new ones in a way that will help us all sing them easily the first time
through. And that’s something that churches have been doing for just about as
long as they’ve been singing hymns!