Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pre-Convention Blogging

Four years ago, at ABT synod convention, before the meeting even started, a retired pastor went to the microphone and denounced the agenda as “pelagianism.” Today, I feel like standing up at the microphone to denounce the agenda, not as pelagianism, but something far worse: being boring and irrelevant to our church’s needs.

Flipping through the convention’s Bulletin of Reports, and it looks like standard, church governance, corporate, fare. Nothing spectacular or special. Same old, same old.

But is this what we really need as a church? Especially in these times when Lutheranism in North America is in serious decline?

While I have great admiration for National Bishop Susan Johnson, and I deeply believe that God has put in her in this position, we need more for our beloved church than good housekeeping. We need a church that burning with joy and passion for the kingdom of God. A church that’s alive with love. A church bustling with creativity.

I think God wants more from us than what we're doing.

Yeah, I know. I need to take the redwood out of my own eye before I start whining about the stick in someone else’s.

More on this later....

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