From the Pastor: What’s Ahead for the ELCA?

Dear friends,

The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will meet in Orlando, FL, August 8-14. The Churchwide Assembly is the highest decision-making body in our church, and it consists of about 1,000 members elected by the various synods throughout the country. About 2/3 of the voting members are lay people, the rest clergy.

The "big issue" this year will be action on the recommendations coming from the task force which has been considering for the last few years the church’s attitude toward homosexuality. The task force’s work has been debated by the ELCA Church Council, and they are making three recommendations to the Assembly.

The first recommendation is an acknowledgement that there are very diverse opinions about this subject within the ELCA, and expresses resolve to continue to find ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreement.

The second affirms a statement made several years ago by the ELCA bishops which found no basis in Scripture or tradition for establishing an official ceremony for blessing same-sex relationships, but expressed confidence in pastors and congregations as they seek ways to provide pastoral care for all people, including gays and lesbians.

The third recommendation, and the most controversial, maintains the ELCA’s current standards for ordained ministry (which expects ELCA pastors to refrain from any sexual relationship outside the bonds of heterosexual marriage), but provides a process for exceptions to be made to this expectation in the case of homosexual persons who give evidence of being in a life-long, faithful same-sex relationship. The process would require approval by the bishop, the synod council, and the Conference of Bishops, as well as a congregation willing to extend a call to the person.

These are recommendations, of course, and it’s anybody’s guess what the Churchwide Assembly will do. My own guess is that the third recommendation, at least, will not be approved, particularly since it requires a 2/3 vote to pass.

There are other significant issues on the agenda, including a proposed restructuring of the national ELCA organization, a recommendation to proceed with a new book of worship, and a proposed ecumenical agreement with the United Methodist Church. Most of those will probably get lost in the furor over the sexuality issues, which is unfortunate.

I am going to attend the Churchwide Assembly, not as a delegate but as a reporter! Some of you are aware that I do a little writing for an independent Lutheran newsletter called Forum Letter. The editor is unable to be at the Assembly this year, and so he asked me to cover the event; much of the October issue of Forum Letter will be devoted to discussing the Assembly.

Part of my responsibility will be to make daily reports for Forum Letter’s website. If you are interested in reading those reports and have internet capability, you can log on to www.alpb.org, and then click on "Online Forum" and follow the link to Churchwide Assembly Reports. You can also get regular reports, and even listen to the debate online, by going to the ELCA website at www.elca.org and following the appropriate links.

David and Gloria Baker will also be at the Churchwide Assembly as visitors, and so between the three of us, we’ll be able to give you a complete report of what actions are taken and what they might mean. I’m tentatively thinking of doing that in the Sunday School hour on August 21.

My request of you is that over the next days you be in prayer for our church, for Bishop Hanson, for all those who will make up the Churchwide Assembly, that they might clearly discern God’s will and make decisions that are wise and faithful about all these things.

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

A Prayer for the Churchwide Assembly

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it. We pray especially for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and for its Churchwide Assembly, that in their deliberations and decisions they may be guided by your Holy Spirit; for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son our Savior. Amen.

From the Associate Pastor

Confirmaton camp was such a great experience, again. It is amazing how powerful it is for so many of the kids. During my teaching time each day we would ask for a rose and a thorn from each camper; the rose being something good that happened the day before and the thorn something bad that happened. Well, on Friday the day we returned home from camp, the thorn for all 10 campers in my group was leaving camp. None of them wanted to go. One camper wanted to stay another week. The kids had really bonded with one another and they had each grown closer to God. One of our own campers said that it was the greatest week in his life. Thanks to the members of Peace Lutheran Church for supporting this incredible ministry.

Speaking of another incredible experience that member of this congregation make possible, from August 5-11, some youth and adults will be in Mexico building homes, teaching VBS, and working at an orphanage. Please keep us in your prayers: for safety in travel and work, for spiritual growth, for compassion for the poor and for making a difference for those we serve.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Dean

Liturgy Notes: Hymns

Lutherans are a singing people. From the time of the Reformation, Lutherans have loved and insisted on congregational hymns as one of the most important parts of the liturgy.

It is not exactly correct to say that Martin Luther “invented” the hymn; there were certainly many hymns written and used in the church long before Luther. The gospel account of the last supper, for instance, reports that the disciples “sang a hymn” before they went out to the Mount of Olives. But as the church developed, hymns were primarily sung by a choir, and not by the people. The reason for this is simple: prior to the invention of the printing press, there was no way for the average lay person to have a copy of the words being sung (and of course most people couldn’t ready anyway!). What congregational song there was generally was limited to very simple refrains that could be learned by rote.

Luther’s Reformation, however, came just a few years after the invention of the printing press, and indeed was in many ways dependent on that invention. Luther was anxious to give the laity a greater role in the service, and one way to do that, he saw, was through the use of hymns. The earliest “Lutheran hymnal” was printed in 1524, just a few years after the Reformation began. Many of the earliest Lutheran hymns were written by Luther himself. Often these were paraphrases of the Psalms or the ancient liturgical hymns. In other instances Luther took a “folk hymn” and enlarged it, giving it more “meat.” In most instances, Luther himself composed the music for his hymns, sometimes basing them on German folk melodies and at other times providing an original composition (among his other gifts, Luther was a competent musician).

Each nation where Lutheranism spread contributed its own flavor to Lutheran hymnody. When we think of “Lutheran hymns” today--and when we actually examine the contents of a book like the Lutheran Book of Worship--we see many strands of our tradition. We find Luther’s own hymns still loved, such as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” or “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word.” We find examples of the next generations of German hymn writers, such as “Now Thank We All Our God” (Martin Rinkhart) or “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (Paul Gerhardt). We find wonderful Norwegian hymns like “In Heaven Above” (Laurentius Laurinus); Danish hymns like “O Day Full of Grace” (Nicolai Grundtvig); Swedish hymns like “Children of the Heavenly Father” (Caroline Berg). These are all what we would properly call “Lutheran hymns”--hymns written by and for Lutherans; but many of them have become part of the treasury of hymns common to all Christian churches.

Of course that “treasury” is open to us, as well. In America especially, Lutherans have freely borrowed from other traditions. Many of our most beloved hymns come from other Christian groups such as “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (by Joseph Scriven, a member of the Plymouth Brethren) or “Rock of Ages” (by Augustus Toplady, a Presbyterian). And hymn writing has continued even to the present day. Each new generation feels compelled to “sing a new song to the Lord”; and while it sometimes takes the church time to catch up to the “new songs”, when we make the effort we find it worthwhile. How rich we are for the inclusion in our worship of contemporary hymns like “Earth and All Stars” (written in 1964 by Herb Brokering, a Lutheran) or “Have No Fear, Little Flock” (written in 1973 by Marjorie Ann Jillson, a Presbyterian) or “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart” (written in 1977 by Omar Westendorf, a Roman Catholic).

The revolution in computers has enabled us to expand our treasury immensely. We now have available to us many thousands of hymns which can be easily printed and used in worship on Sunday morning. This includes contemporary hymns, but also older hymns that weren’t included in the Lutheran Book of Worship. It enables us to take wonderful new texts and match them with old familiar tunes. Expanding use of copyright licenses makes all of this increasingly easy. We are currently in a time when the expansion of available hymnody is greater than any era since the Reformation.

Yes, hymns are a vital part of our Christian life and worship, and in our hymnal we find the witness of faithful men and women from every century and many different nations and cultures.