Inter Lutheran matters: Keeping the Doors Open

The Luther Institute (TLI),a pan Lutheran organization, always applauds commitments to inter Lutheran cooperation between church bodies. The ability to work together, even when disagreements arise, is a responsible course in keeping the public good in mind. In this case, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod are keeping the conversations going. TLI board member Ralston Deffenbaugh was among those providing encouragement along these lines.  – John Spangler

ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 1, 2009 

ELCA, LCMS Leaders to Continue Cooperative Ministries, When Possible

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     BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) agreed they would do all they can to continue their longtime cooperative ministries, despite decisions made by voting members of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly regarding human sexuality.

     The ELCA is a 4.6-million member church based in Chicago. The 2.4-million member LCMS is based in St. Louis. The ELCA and the LCMS do not have "altar and pulpit fellowship" with each other because of doctrinal disagreements.

     Meeting as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) Sept. 28-29, the leaders spent most of their time discussing the future of their present work together. Meeting with them were leaders of three such ministries: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America, which provides a variety of human services through social ministry organizations, and Lutheran World Relief, an international relief and development agency, all based here.

     At the center of the discussion were ELCA assembly actions taken in August. Assembly voting members adopted a social statement on human sexuality and a series of proposals to change ELCA ministry policies, including a change to make it possible for Lutherans in lifelong, publicly accountable, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

     The Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, said the decisions were incompatible with the Word of God, and do not agree with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian teaching about what Scripture says regarding human sexuality. He also repeated words from his address to the ELCA assembly in Minneapolis that the actions of the ELCA would "negatively affect the relationships between our two churches," and that the current division between the LCMS and ELCA "threatens to become a chasm."

     Setting the stage for the discussion on cooperative ministries was Ralston B. Deffenbaugh, former president, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). He reviewed the history of Lutherans' response to global human need and said the capacity of Lutherans to respond is considerable. "The world is crying out to Lutherans to continue this response," he said.

     The church leaders also met in groups to discuss the ministries. Most agreed that despite differences over human sexuality, the churches should continue working together as much as possible when it can be done without compromise. "I have a great concern for the ongoing ministries in which we do have a joint interest -- and there are many of those," Kieschnick said to the ELCA leaders, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).

     Kieschnick shared correspondence he has written to LCMS leaders, advising them that the LCMS president and vice presidents will continue to monitor the relationship with the ELCA. He offered suggestions to LCMS district presidents about how to respond when working with the ELCA in joint ministries when matters arise concerning the ELCA assembly decisions.

     Kieschnick told the ELCA leaders that "we do have a real concern as the LCMS for doing everything we possibly can to deliver ministry" to people in need. "We don't take this lightly. We believe that working

together with other partners can enhance the ministry that's delivered to the recipients," he said. Cooperative ministry relationships with the ELCA will certainly be a topic to be discussed at the 2010 LCMS

convention in Houston, Kieschnick added.

     Hanson expressed gratitude to Kieschnick for his comments. "What you have said is very clear (and) honest," the presiding bishop said. He said Kieschnick's remarks would be "well-received" when Hanson reports to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, meeting Oct. 1-6 in Chicago.

     Others echoed the comments of the two church leaders. The mission of the cooperative ministries is bigger than both church bodies, said the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration. "We've made a commitment to serve 'the least of these' and a commitment to work with people at the margins. Now is not the time to walk away from the mission we've been given," she said.

     The Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig, LCMS secretary, said it may be difficult to work together in some cases, "but it doesn't mean the other 90 percent are not possible." He asked leaders of cooperative ministries

here to help while the churches "sort this out."

     "We believe, teach and confess some things that bind us together such as our common understanding of Baptism," said the Rev. Samuel Nafzger, director of church relations and assistant to the president. He

expressed hope that the churches could pledge to each other "to do, in good conscience, what we can do with integrity and in faithfulness to our respective doctrinal positions."

     The leaders also reported key information about their denominations:
     + Hanson said ELCA leaders continue to have conversations with global and ecumenical partner churches regarding the assembly's actions on human sexuality.

     + The LWF Council will meet this month in Geneva, and it will elect a new general secretary, Hanson said. The current general secretary, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, plans to leave office next year.

     + The International Lutheran Council (ILC), which met in August in Seoul, South Korea, unanimously adopted a statement on same-gender relationships and the church, Nafzger said. It said Scriptures

testify "that the lifelong committed union of one man and one woman is the place the Lord intends for human sexuality to be lived out," and it said the ILC believes the practice of homosexuality violates the will of

God. He also reported that the Rev. David Mahsman has been asked by the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), a joint project of the LCMS and its partner church in Germany, the Selbstaendige Evangelish-Lutherische Kirche, to serve as its managing director. The ILSW will seek to work together with other Christians in Wittenberg, including the ELCA Wittenberg Center, whenever possible," Nafzger said.

     + Both churches reported income declines for 2009 and struggles to meet budget goals, mostly due to current economic conditions in the United States.

     Attending for the ELCA were Bullock and Hanson, plus David D. Swartling, secretary; the Rev. Donald McCoid, executive, Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations; Carlos Pena, vice president; and the Rev. E.

Roy Riley, bishop, New Jersey Synod.

     Attending on behalf of the LCMS were Hartwig, Kieschnick, Nafzger, plus the Rev. William R. Diekelman, first vice president; the Rev. Joel Lehenbauer, executive director, Commission on Theology and Church Relations; and Ronald Schulz, chief administrative officer.

     Also present were Deffenbaugh; Anne Wilson, LIRS executive vice president; the Rev. John Nunes, president, Lutheran World Relief; and Jill Schumann, president and chief executive officer, Lutheran Services

in America.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org

http://www.elca.org/news

ELCA Advocacy Director Speaks to Reporters at Health Care Rally

This news release from the ELCA NEWS SERVICE, offers a voice
in the moral and social public debate going on surrounding the need
for health care reform. We believe that it is an important debate
and worth the time of our readers -- John Spangler

September 18, 2009

ELCA Advocacy Director Speaks to Reporters at Health Care Rally
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WASHINGTON (ELCA) - The August recess of Congress had a volatile
atmosphere surrounding the health care debate, according to the Rev.
Andrew Genszler, director of advocacy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) Washington Office, in response to a question from a
Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News reporter.
"All people should be heard, but opinions should lead to
constructive discussion by people of good faith, and I think we're still
getting there as a country," Genszler said.
In conjunction with a "National Health Care Affordability Day" rally
here Sept. 16, Genszler was interviewed by Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly
(PBS) and CBN News.
"People of faith care about health care because Jesus was a healer,
and God cares about people in poverty. For Christians, those two
scriptural values converge in this public issue," Genszler said. "Through
congregational and health ministries, Lutherans also know the front lines
of what living with marginal or no health care can do to people and
families."
Regarding cost, Genszler said, "Uninsured people, struggling
families, small-business owners, and the very rich probably look at
affordability differently. All can be asked to be responsible, each
feeling like they are contributing to their own well-being. But many
people will need help to afford even basic care."
The Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly story will air Sept. 20. CBN News
aired its story Sept. 16.
In a joint statement presented at the event, several organizations,
including the ELCA, wrote, "We believe it is essential that the
responsibility to purchase health coverage come with strong consumer
protections and adequate subsidies that make it possible for families
to obtain quality coverage at a cost they can afford.
The rally included testimonies from families and remarks from U.S.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. "I have heard their stories ... about the
current unstable system ... and the interruptions they have in their
lives, in their ability to plan, because of the way our health insurance
system works, or maybe, to put it another way, the way it doesn't work,"
said Bennet, holding a book of testimonies presented to him at the event.
National Urban League, American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network, American Heart Association, Community Catalyst, Consumers Union,
Families USA and People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO)
National Network sponsored the news conference.
The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution committing
the church to advocate that "each person should have ready access to
basic health care services that include preventative, acute and chronic
physical and mental health care at affordable cost."
The ELCA Washington Office has been working with faith-based
coalitions for health reform legislation. One such collective effort was
in a nationwide faith call-in held Sept. 15. More than 20,000 calls were
made to members of Congress, urging support for health care legislation.
---
The joint statement on health care affordability is at
http://tinyurl.com/lkm5rg on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

A Sower Whose Sowing Saved Millions

by Michael L. Cooper-White, Seminary President

______________________________________

Almost exactly 40 years ago, I first became aware of a modest man whose obituary appeared in newspapers a few days ago. During my freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus College, Norman Borlaug was on the program of one of that institution’s early Nobel conferences. Back then, the enormity of his ultimate influence was only beginning to be recognized. By the time of his death, it is estimated that the “father of the green revolution” may have saved the lives of as many as a billion of his fellow human beings. And all he did was sow and grow some wheat!

A scientist by training, Borlaug’s breakthrough came by breeding new strains of wheat that had shorter stalks, and produced an amazing increase in per-acre yield. Equally, if not more important, was his recognition that farmers—especially so-called “peasant farmers” in “third world” countries—needed a bit of coaxing and coaching to try something new. Country by country, he traveled around the world to introduce new strains of grain, and to demonstrate how production might be increased in order to raise both profits for the growers and food for consumers.

In recognition of Borlaug’s incredible contributions to our planet and its people, he was honored by The Luther Institute a few years ago, receiving one of the prestigious Wittenberg Awards granted to a handful of Lutheran luminaries. Since that time, the Institute has come under the Seminary’s umbrella. So in a certain sense we might say of this saint, whose contributions have saved more lives than that of any other person who has ever lived, “he’s one of us.”

Throughout his lifetime, Norman Borlaug neither sought nor received widespread public acclaim. That’s evident in the fact that as I’ve mentioned his passing among friends and associates in recent days, my comments have been met with blank stares or the expected question, “Norman who?” He worked quietly in laboratories and in the fields, just doing his thing day after day, year by year, decade following decade. He never received a “letter of call” from the Church, yet was not his work of growing seeds and filling hungry stomachs around the globe among the highest and holiest of vocations?

Several of my favorite hymns sing of grain and growth. As I sing them from now on, I’ll think of Norman Borlaug, and give thanks for a simple sower who saved millions.

Student of the Senate EMK: A Lifelong Learner

A reflection on a public servant August 31, 2009

by Michael L. Cooper-White
mcooper@ltsg.edu

---

I found myself surprised at the depth of emotion that welled up as I joined millions of others around the world watching the funeral of Edward M. Kennedy. My generation and younger ones have never known an American political theater without one or another Kennedy playing a major role on the stage. Hearing of so many common folk whose lives were touched in a personal way by the gregarious Senator from Massachusetts, I could readily identify. For 35 years ago, when I was a seminary intern serving with the besieged Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile, we knew that Ted Kennedy’s office was closely watching and monitoring human rights abuses at the hand of the Pinochet dictatorship. After I returned to the U.S. and the Seminary, when Lutheran Bishop Helmut Frenz, by then exiled from Chile, had difficulty traveling to Washington for an event LTSG helped sponsor, Kennedy’s office intervened and a visa was approved in short order.

Thousands of such vignettes are being told across the nation and around the world in these days when many of us must adjust to the changed landscape of the United States Senate, where one named Kennedy loomed so large on the horizon for nearly four decades. Not without continuing critics, who are surely justified in continuing to hold him accountable for sins of youth that took a woman’s life and damaged reputations and careers of others, Kennedy is nevertheless remembered as a champion for the poor. There can be no full and complete redemption short of the resurrection, in which “Teddy” clearly believed fervently. His words and actions in later years gave evidence of true repentance and deep remorse, thereby rebalancing in some measure the lifetime record, which will, nevertheless, on this side of eternity continue to bear huge stains.

Beyond the many memories shared by his family, friends, colleagues and constituents, however, I think what has most surprised me is learning of his recent efforts to establish a study center that will encourage political scientists, historians and others to engage in ongoing serious scholarship about the evolution and current work of the United States Senate. As the second-longest serving senator, didn’t Ted Kennedy know all there was to know? By his own testimony, surely not. And therein may have resided the secret of his enormous influence, including his unequaled ability to introduce and garner votes for legislation he deemed critical. He remained a lifelong learner! He recognized that even a small community of 100 souls is an endlessly fascinating place, with a history that informs its present modus operandi, and a future that will be shaped by those who take seriously its current institutional dynamics and the lives of those who are the players on its stage.

While many in churchly circles tend to look askance at “politicians,” I think we who serve in the sphere of divine things might learn a great deal from this and other servants whose callings are amidst the hurly-burly of the public arena. Pastors who think they have grasped all there is to know about a parish after a couple years or so may quickly grow out of touch with their faith communities. Among other traits, teachers and professors who stay “ever-green” in their teaching and mentoring do so because they really believe they learn more from their students than the other way around. “Burnout” is less likely to occur if one is always on the hunt for new intellectual fuel and fodder, which can be as nearby as a next-door neighbor or new colleague across town.

I’d like to learn from your experiences as a lifelong learner. Where do you find new insights? What in your community’s history helps you offer creative leadership and get things done today? Are some new “laws” or rules for relating to one another needed in your place, and if so how are you going about getting them enacted?

Holy Conversation with a Member of Congress

by Michael Cooper-White

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Daddy, what would you like named after you when you die? A building perhaps—or maybe a plaza somewhere?” Answering his daughter’s question, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, said, “No, if they want to do anything, I’d like to have a bridge named after me. It’s a symbol of connecting, helping people get together. That’s what my life has been about.”

At the conclusion of an awards luncheon during the annual gathering of Lutheran Services in America (itself a “bridge organization” which links together some 300+ Lutheran social ministry organizations around the country), Pastor John Spangler and I accepted a spur-of-the-moment invitation to join in conversation with the congressman in whose Baltimore district LSA was meeting. A roll call vote on the floor of the House of Representatives made Mr. Cummings too late to address the gathered assembly. So LSA president, Ms. Jill Schumann, hurriedly convened a half-dozen folks to join her and another LSA staffer for private conversation with the congressman. What we expected to be a 15-minute polite formality turned into an hour-long in-depth dialogue about our mutual commitments to live out callings of servanthood and public ministry.

A transparent person of faith, Congressman Cummings repeated several times that our calling is to “enable people to be all that God intends them to be.” This son of southern share-croppers who moved north so their yet-unborn children could get quality educations, shared his assessment that the gap continues to widen between rich and poor, the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Remaining a resident of Baltimore’s inner city while he serves in the halls of Congress, Cummings’ face showed obvious personal pain when he lamented, “Most of the fellows I grew up with right around here are either in prison or dead.”

Encouraging those who work in social ministry and are faith-based advocates for greater justice, Cummings said, “The things you’re doing are so important. And for the most part, you won’t be thanked. Most people won’t even know you are doing it. So I want to offer you a word of encouragement and appreciation.”

Interspersing stories of life in congress and personal vignettes with recommendations of several books that have influenced his thought recently, this Phi Beta Kappa congressman clearly has embraced a role as a “public theologian.” Anguished at the federal government’s slow response in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this contemporary Elijah did not shy away from a prophetic pronouncement to President Bush: “God would not be pleased, Mr. President, God would not be pleased.”

Summing up his sense of urgency and commitment to his calling, the congressman concluded, “Life is like a basketball game. You keep playing and the clock is always ticking. We don’t know when it will stop for us. While it’s still tickin’, let’s try to make the world a better place.”

“Where was the Chaplain?”

Chaplain CPT Glenn Palmer, a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and a distinguished pastor and Army chaplain, offers another perspective, with equally hard questions, on the health care offered by Walter Reed Hospital. This entry comes from one of his recent CHAPLAIN’S CORNER letters. Both this post and the previous one share some real energy that comes from a sense of biblical justice: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me”. Matthew 26:40

___________________________
“Where was the Chaplain?”

That is the question I have been asking myself as the situation at Walter Reed unfolds.
That was the question asked of me when the Abu-Ghraib scandal broke. Our little operating base during OIF I was located a couple of miles down the road from Abu-Ghraib prison. I share with folks who ask me that question that the Chaplain for the section of the prison where the “events” took place was a strong introvert whose 2nd language was English and who when told to stay in the office; did so. That Chaplain failed the soldiers, the inmates, the system and God.

A good, strong, confident Chaplain who loves Soldiers and who loves the Army and practices a random ministry of wandering around can be used by God to make all the difference in the world. A couple of quick examples: In the summer of 2003 when it was 125 degrees I could sense some of our soldier teetering towards the edge in their treatment of detainees during the nightly run to Abu-Ghraib prison. I made it a point to randomly ride on this detainee runs so as to remind our Soldiers of God’s light in a dark place and also to protect tired, angry, overworked young men, transporting IED makers RPG shooters, rapists, and killers; from their own worst instincts.

On one occasion in May of 2003, one of our nightly foot patrols was regularly stopping at a brothel in the neighborhood. The Iraqi prostitutes charged $5.00 a week and provided the condoms. One night before patrol, I showed up at the 1st SGT’s office and said “make this stop now, or I’ll take it higher”. He made it stop.

During our second tour to Iraq, a soldier came to me and shared with me that his platoon leader (2 Lt.) and platoon Sgt. (E-7) upon detaining suspected insurgents would beat detainee’s up until they got one to confess; then let the rest go rather than bring the detainee in for questioning. I approached the Company Commander with this issue. He wasted no time in taking the young platoon leader and the platoon Sgt. to task, threatening them with legal action and the ending of their careers. The Company Commander made the abuse stop. He did the right thing. My experience in Iraq was that the times when someone did the wrong thing was the exception rather than rule. There is no room for the exception however.

At the risk of sounding “holier than thou”, why do I share all this with you?

Because, a good Chaplain, one who gets out of the office and goes with the soldiers and who knows the Soldiers, one who knows the leaders, one who knows what’s going on in the unit and one who practices “incarnational” ministry can be such a strong force for all that is right and good and true and moral; often intercepting, addressing and rectifying dangerous practices at the lowest level possible.

I have been following the scandal surrounding the conditions that some of our wounded Soldiers have been living in at Walter Reed hospital. The unit I went to war with twice suffered 13 KIA and 100 WIA (my Chaplain Assistant being among the WIA). It astounds me to think that any of them would have to live in such unsanitary conditions.

What astounds me even more is that I have not heard a word about the Chaplain in the midst of this situation. Why did it take a news organization breaking the story for something to be done? (I’m glad they did break the story). Why was there not a Chaplain willing to risk losing his or his career over the way these Soldiers were being treated? Why was there not a Chaplain standing on someone’s desk and falling on his or her sword to make sure these Soldiers received the treatment and conditions due someone wounded in the service of his or her country? I don’t know which is worse, that the Chaplain maybe didn’t know or that the Chaplain knew and neither did or said anything.

With one glaring exception I have never had a Commander shoot me, the messenger because he or she did not like the message. Most Commanders know that a good Chaplain and good Chaplain Assistant “on the ground” are moral multipliers and know what’s going on in the unit. Most Commanders want to know if something needs to be fixed. The Army expects the Chaplain to be the voice of reason and conscience and goodness and morality in the unit.

It can be gut wrenching to share serious morale, moral and ethical deficiencies within a unit to the Commander, but it is the “hard right thing to do” and any Chaplain worth his or her salt takes the call to be pastoral, priestly and prophetic seriously and holds them all, with fear and trembling, in delicate tension.

Any Chaplain worth his or her salt is called to love the Army and Soldiers and their families enough to speak the hard truth and to make sure the hard truth is heard and received; “even if the hearer and receiver of that truth has a clear preference for one and only one comfortable answer”. (Paraphrase from Bill Moyer in an address at West Point)

And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me”. Matthew 26:40

God be with you all.
Chaplain CPT Glenn Palmer

News Coming out of Walter Reed Hospital

The Rev. Henry Morris, New Haven, CT
takes a look at the Walter Reed health care injustices -- vents with some hard questions about our assumptions about public and private sector solutions. -ed.

____________________

The news coming out of Walter Reed Hospital is so offensive it is hard to know where to begin denouncing it. Americans are outraged to learn that our wounded soldiers are treated so shabbily, and shocked that our leaders, who never tire of making pious speeches about “supporting our troops”, could allow this to go on undetected and unremedied.

Well, pardon me for saying so, but who are we trying to kid? Were we sleeping through 2003 when the soldiers were sent to Iraq without body armor and deployed in unarmored trucks? Did we not notice that folks in small towns and large cities across the country were taking up collections to buy used bullet proof vests to send to their loved ones in Iraq? Did we not care that our under supplied, under armored, under protected troops were deployed without any attempt by the government to raise the money to support them?

The horrible news coming from Walter Reed Hospital is not limited to that hospital. It is news about our entire system of health care for military personnel and veterans. I should say systems. There is one system of health care for military personnel and a separate system for veterans and they are not in sync. Navigating the military health care system is one thing, navigating the veteran health care system is quite another.

One would think that a soldier who had a traumatic brain injury would be able to count on careful and consistent health care, but one would be mistaken to assume so. The Congress, which until this week seemed largely undisturbed by the huge holes in health care for soldiers and vets, now is falling all over itself to “take action”. They will investigate. They will legislate. And then what?

Perhaps one good medical outcome of this scandal will be Congress having its spine restored. Don’t hold your breath.

Before this moment passes and all the outrage is assuaged by some band aids and a promise to reform the health care systems sometime real soon, let’s allow our anger to motivate us to rethink a few things.

There is a long list of things that need rethinking but I am starting with one that I think is causing us a lot of grief, including a lot of the grief we are hearing about at Walter Reed.

I refer to the assumption that public services are best provided by the private, for profit sector which is among this Administration’s most fervently held beliefs. This Administration want s to “privatize” everything starting with Social Security and public education and continuing through all the essential government functions, even including military services. Most people are not aware that the Army is not supplied by the Army but by Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation.

As the smoke clears over Walter Reed, it will become clear that the hell-hole housing we now know so much about was outsourced to a private company formed by a group of – I kid you not – former Halliburton executives. Through the miracle of privatization, we can provide essential services much more efficiently and at substantial savings to the tax payers. So goes the theory. Behold the results.

There is no problem this Administration will not address with a hearty transferal of public funds to private corporations. And look at how successful it has been! Behold Walter Reed, the latest poster boy for this insane approach to public service.

Henry E. Morris

Welcome to the Luther Institute's Blog

A Blog for The Luther Institute (TLI)

Welcome to the Faith in the Public Square, a web log sponsored by the Luther Institute, a pan-Lutheran, non-partisan educational organization, the Institute serves Lutherans and others in and from the nation’s capital. The Luther Institute (tLI) promotes the exercise of faith in the public square through civil discourse, theological reflection, and attentive listening. TLI takes an approach that is both critical and constructive in its pursuit of thoughtful attention to the way faith interacts in the public square. We expect a team of “bloggers” to offer insightful and lively commentary and observations from a variety of perspectives. We invite you to read along and explore the faith in this context.