Gratitude

I doubt that there is such a thing as a measure of spirituality, but if there is, gratitude would be it. Only the grateful are paying attention. They are grateful because they pay attention, and they pay attention because they are so grateful.

M. Craig Barnes, The Pastor as Minor Poet

At a recent meeting of the Board of Regents of St. Olaf College Darrell Jodock, Martin E. Marty Professor of Religion and the Academy, reflected on key characteristics that undergird higher education in the Lutheran tradition. The first characteristic of a Lutheran college or university, Dr. Jodock suggested, is “fostering a pervasive sense of giftedness and gratitude.”

As Dr. Jodock spoke, it occurred to me that “fostering a pervasive sense of giftedness and gratitude” is not only a key characteristic of Lutheran colleges and universities; this is a hallmark of any (Lutheran) Christian missionary community. When we are unaware of how gifted we really are, we tend to give most of our crabby attention to what we don’t have and to believe that we have earned what little we do have. We then clutch it with a white-knuckled grip and a stingy heart. But I am convinced that a deep awareness of just how gifted we are in God’s grace gives birth to gratitude which overflows with generosity and leads to living with open hands to receive and share God’s abundant gifts.

This is as true for communities of faith, like congregations, as it is for individuals. In fact, much of the apostle Paul’s writing about giftedness in Christ was written to communities, not to individuals. Paul appears to be quite concerned that communities of faith foster a pervasive sense of giftedness and gratitude that forms disciples who embody God’s own generosity.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

[1 Corinthians 2:12]

And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

[2 Corinthians 9:8]

This time of year many of our communities are drawing up budgets and engaging in stewardship conversations, emphases and campaigns at the same time that we are making plans for family and other Thanksgiving celebrations. What if we let the latter influence the former? What if we spent time in committee meetings, worship services, council meetings, Bible studies and classes paying attention to God’s generosity with, for and among us? What if rather than spending so much time focused on what we think we don’t have we encouraged one another to pay attention to the gifts God has given us?

What if we made some part of every congregational gathering a mini-Thanksgiving, this fall and year ‘round? You know the Thanksgiving dinner routine in so many households: “Let’s go around the table and share something we are thankful for this year.” What if we engaged a similar discipline in our gatherings, helping one another pay attention to the amazing giftedness of this community of faith and cultivating gratitude to God and one another?

“Jane, where do you see God’s abundant gifts in this community?”

“For what or who in this community do you give God thanks, John?”

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

[Colossians 2:6]

Can Hoosier Clergy be Arrested for Conducting Religious Rites?

A recent spate of blogs and newspaper articles has raised questions in Indiana about the role and relationship of pastors with Indiana laws around marriage and religious rites with and for same-gender couples. Three examples follow, the first from a blog, the second from the Indianapolis Star newspaper, the third from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

http://americablog.com/2013/07/indiana-makes-crime-preacher-conduct-gay-marriage.html

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130709/NEWS05/307090098/Indiana-s-gay-marriage-debate-takes-strange-turn-blogosphere

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130711/EDIT07/307119998/0/SEARCH

After consultation with Indiana-Kentucky Synod Attorney, Josh Tatum, I offer here my perspectives and counsel for the rostered leaders, especially clergy, and the mission centers of this synod. (Josh has also written a very helpful post on his personal blog, Law meets Gospel: http://www.lawmeetsgospel.com/2013/07/how-to-get-arrested-for-marrying-same.html).

"Solemnizing" isn't defined in the statute (Ind. Code § 31-11-11-5), but it appears to boil down to doing the required paperwork for a marriage to be recognized by the state. The point where clergy serve on behalf of the state is in signing the state-issued marriage license. This is one place that it appears the americablogger and the author of the Journal Gazette incorrectly interpret the law. For example, the blogger says, "Note how solemnization is mentioned as something other than filing the marriage license." The Journal Gazette claims, “Yes, it’s still a crime for clergy to have a religious marriage ceremony for those who cannot marry legally, or civilly, such as same-sex couples…”

The solemnizing, from the state’s perspective, is not the religious ceremony or rite. It is filling out and signing the license by a person so authorized by the state, essentially as an agent of the state for documentation of a civil marriage. Everything else in the wedding rite presided over by a pastor is done on behalf of the church, not the state, and the church gets to define that. In fact, a classical Lutheran understanding of marriage would suggest that the marriage or union is done by the couple by way of their vows to one another, not by the pastor; clergy are simply witnesses to that commitment and representatives of the support and accountability of the people of God. Again, pastors act as agents of the state only in the signing and filing of the marriage license. From a First Amendment standpoint, any church has the freedom to define its own rites and call them what it will…and conduct the rites for and with whomever it will.

So the bottom line is this: As long as a pastor doesn’t try to do the state’s paperwork for a couple not eligible for an Indiana marriage license, including a same-sex couple (which the couple is unlikely to have, given the law), the pastor is not breaking the law.

As for the age of the law itself, it was passed in 1997 and likely became effective that same year. Apparently at the time, contrary to what some have suggested, the movement was bipartisan and Governor Bayh was likely the one who decided the legislation’s ultimate fate. Note that this law applies broadly to any type of prohibited marriage; in other words, nothing in this particular statute addresses same-gender relationships. Stipulations about who may marry in the state of Indiana are found in the state’s previously adopted code entitled, “Who May Marry” [see especially Ind. Code § 31-11-1-1(a)].

One thing that did change in this current legislative session was the set of classifications and penalties for various crimes. In this case, the change is to a Class B misdemeanor for a person who solemnizes, and a Level 6 felony for the falsifying applicant. Class B misdemeanors are punishable by up to one hundred eighty days and a fine up to $1,000 (Ind. Code § 35-50-3-3).

Those who are interested in a legal perspective on these laws in response to the recent public conversations will find a helpful one on The Indiana Law Blog: http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2013/07/ind_law_new_ind_5.html. This does not address specific clergy concerns, of course. However, the author does provide helpful perspective on the laws and some background on Defense of Marriage Acts that place Indiana in the group of states that define marriage around one man and one woman.

Faithful members of this church disagree with one another about the appropriateness of state-recognized marriage for same-gender couples as well as the church’s perspective on publicly accountable, life-long, same-gender monogamous relationships. As we reach across our differences, confident and calm in the promised support and guidance of God’s Spirit, to live and work together in Christ in addressing important public issues like this one, we can do so knowing that the current uproar about clergy being arrested for presiding at religious rites for same-gender couples is unfounded. Our shared commitment to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable couples who wish to have lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships is, likewise, not impacted by this statute.

+ Bishop Bill Gafkjen

Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA

July 2013

Boy Scouts and the Church: Let the Children Come

Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them.

[Jesus, Luke 18:16]

This Bible passage came to mind as I watched Noah and his family walk away after our conversation at the Synod Assembly in June. Noah and his family had approached me in front of the dais after one of the sessions in the plenary hall. His mother said Noah wanted to ask me something.

A bit sheepishly, but speaking clearly and looking me in the eye, Noah said, “I am wondering if you could somehow encourage congregations of the synod to be welcoming to Boy Scouts.”

Noah is 13 and a Boy Scout himself. His troop is sponsored by a congregation that is part of a denomination in which many have expressed dissatisfaction with the Boy Scouts of America’s recent decision “to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone.”[i] Noah also knows that his church, the ELCA and its congregations, seek to be welcoming communities in the name of Jesus. His request to me is an invitation for all of us to live into that identity and call.

As I said in an interview with a reporter from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette just the day before my conversation with Noah, to cease denying membership on the basis of sexual orientation alone is very close to the biblical values and practices that shape our life together as followers of Jesus in this mission territory.[ii]

We are not in agreement with each other about various aspects of sexuality. Yet, we have agreed to honor one another’s bound conscience around these and other issues. To do so is to offer the radical welcome of Jesus to each other.

We have also agreed that we are called to offer this radical, cross-shaped welcome to other people and groups, including and especially those whom others exclude. The ELCA’s home page on the web summarizes it pretty well: “This is Christ’s church. There is a place for you here. We are the church that shares a living, daring confidence in God's grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person — questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God's work in Christ's name for the life of the world.”[iii]

In the end, the welcome Noah invites us to embrace is not about sexuality, ours or anyone else’s. It’s about welcoming children, as Jesus welcomed them and would have us welcome them in his name. It’s about following Jesus in the way of the cross to welcome those whom others will not, to embrace those whom others won’t touch. It’s a way we offer others the same forgiving, life-changing welcome Jesus gives to us cross-marked and Spirit-sealed children of God.

Look again at your congregation’s mission statement, nearly 50 of which surrounded us on the projection screens during the Synod Assembly and during my conversation with Noah. Take a good long look at Luke 18. Then look around your neighborhood, sisters and brothers. Look through Noah’s eyes and heart. Look with eyes and hearts baptized into the crucified and risen Christ. Look for the children. Look for those people and groups that others choose to exclude or banish, Boy Scouts or anyone else…and, please, in the name of Jesus crucified and risen for the life of the world, seek them out and invite them in.

---

[i] http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/MembershipStandards/Resolution/results.aspx

[ii] http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130608/LOCAL/306089980/0/SEARCH

[iii] http://www.elca.org

Risen Indeed?

          Alleluia! Christ is risen!

When you read that did your mind go immediately to the well-conditioned response?

          Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

That grand Easter greeting has been around for a very long time. It’s a wonderful way to invite celebration of the gift of new life offered through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And, yet, I wonder if any of the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus would have immediately responded so confidently.

Think about those stories. Almost no one immediately recognized resurrection as it stared out at them from the empty tomb.

We are told in the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke, for example, that the women who first made their way to the tomb were “perplexed” by its emptiness. And the men thought the story the women then told was an idle tale and didn’t believe it.

Through the veil of her tears Mary thought the risen Jesus was a gardener [John 20:11-17]. And the despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus thought he was a clueless stranger [Luke 24:18].

Resurrection power did not burst forth like spontaneous combustion from the tomb and into the hearts of waiting believers to suddenly set the world ablaze.

It did, of course, eventually change the lives of the followers of Jesus: they found forgiveness and healing and new and abundant life. They began to draw others into the fellowship of the crucified and risen Christ and to change the world.

But this change wasn’t instantaneous. It’s as if resurrection power simmered for a while in the world, unexpected, unrecognized, unwelcomed, untapped.

It wasn’t until echoes and tremors from the empty tomb found their way into the mundane moments of every day life that the disciples experienced its transforming power.

This power rose up and transformed them through words spoken and bread broken and wounded hands extended and fish fried on the beach…all offered by the risen Jesus to eventually move those early folks who were so much like us to proclaim with power, confidence and joy: Christ is risen…he is risen indeed! [Luke 24:30-32; John 20:26-29; Luke 24:36-49; John 21:1-14]

Dear brother, dear sister, it’s not likely that every challenge in our lives will be solved, every brokenness restored, all hopelessness overcome this Easter Sunday or even in the fifty days that follow.

But the Word we proclaim these happy, holy days, the hymns and songs we sing, the fellowship and meals we share, even the pastels and the butterflies and the eggs remind us again of the sure and certain promise that because Jesus lives resurrection is afoot in the world. It simmers just below the crusty surface of our days, waiting to grab hold of each and every one of us and work the wonder of new beginnings, new and abundant life in the risen Jesus.

Look for it. Listen for it. Sense its nearness. Surrender to it. Share it.

Alleluia! Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

(You may listen to a podcast of this reflection at http://iksynod.org/podcasts/. Happy Easter!)

Whistling Alone or Playing Together?

No one can whistle a symphony.

It takes a whole orchestra to play it.

[H.E. Luccock (1885–1961), Professor of Homiletics (Preaching), Yale Divinity School]

Where did we get the idea that every local community of faith could or should whistle the entire symphony of the gospel by itself? At best, each local community of faith, each gathering of the baptized, is a section of the orchestra; it’s not the whole thing. And not a single section – no matter how big or small or gifted or well-rehearsed or disciplined – can pull off by itself the fullness of the breadth and depth and power and beauty of the symphonic good news of Jesus crucified and risen for the life of the world.

Perhaps this is why the apostle Paul wrote, “There are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” [1 Corinthians 12:5-7].

We tend to hear these words with individual members of a particular congregation in mind. That is not a bad place to begin and, most assuredly, it was at least part of what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the oft-troubled Corinthian community. But the orchestra (Paul called it the body) of Christ is much more than any one congregation, one denomination, one institutional expression. And the abundant life offered in Jesus cannot be proclaimed and lived in its fullness for a needy world by just one section of the orchestra playing its part the best it can.

Take a little time to read, reflect on, and talk with others in your local community of faith about 1 Corinthians12-13 as if Paul were writing to communities rather than individuals. What if the various parts of the body Paul writes about were imagined not as individuals so much as congregations or campus ministries or new missions or denominations or social service agencies? What if your congregation is the gospel’s trumpet section and the congregation down the road (of whatever denomination) is the flutes? What if a cluster of congregations is the violins and synodical, churchwide or global leaders and communities are the French horns, clarinets and cellos?

Perhaps this familiar passage will take on a different tone for us. Perhaps we will find the horizon of our vision broadened, the resources available multiplied, partnerships and collaborations blossoming in ways that far exceed what any section of the orchestra could ever do alone.

Your congregation is gifted, filled with gifted people who bear the mark of Christ on their brows and the power of God’s Spirit in their hearts; God has promised that. The local gathering of the baptized of which you are a part has the gifts it needs to do the work God has given it. But it does not have all the gifts needed to embody the fullness of God in Christ or to engage all the complexities and challenges of the world around you that is in such need of good news.

To collaborate is to co-labor, to work together. If there was ever a time that both the gospel and the world needed us to collaborate deeply and broadly, that time is now.

[Four key priorities have emerged from the listening posts and other conversations we have had with one another in the Indiana-Kentucky Mission Territory over the last year or so under the theme New Vision for a New Day: Listen Deeply. Think Creatively. Act Boldly. This is the third installment of brief reflections on each of the four priorities.]