Are we having fun yet?

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Mollie

A wonderful friend of mine told me a few weeks into this whole mess:

We’re in this for the long haul. We probably won’t “win” but that’s okay because we’ve already won.

I completely agree. Having received faith in Christ through the waters of baptism, and receiving the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith in the sacraments, we’ve already won. We are blessed among all Christian throughout history to have the right to worship freely. We have wonderful confessional pastors who sacrifice earthly fame and fortune in order to give us the Word and Sacraments. We have an untold number of informed laity that actually know what it means to be Lutheran. We have many things to be thankful for.

Because I served in the mess of the bureaucracy of the LCMS, I could have written these statements from the COP and SP in my sleep. I hoped they might emulate Luther and take a stand instead of passing the buck, using bizarre corporate language and completely missing the point. But they didn’t. I’m not surprised.

I’m also a bit thankful that the SP and COP acted as they always do because it shows us precisely how corrupt the bureaucracy is. Everyone is focused on preserving the image of the synod over our confession of faith.

If you thought we could trust the Board for Communication Services, Council of Presidents, Praesidium or Synodical President to correct what is on its face a horrible wrong . . . well, now you know.

They lack fortitude to deal with this matter as churchmen should. The question is, then, what should we do?

In my next post, I plan to reveal what I’ve learned about the Synodical President’s proposed restructuring plan. Let’s just say that if you like how The Episcopal Church deals with its governance, you will love the new LCMS.

Filed under: Updates

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6 Responses to “Are we having fun yet?”

  1. Bob, on April 24th, 2008 at Said:

    Mollie,

    Excellent thoughts!

    ‘I hoped they might emulate Luther and take a stand instead of passing the buck’

    Actually I was thinking about this the other day…how did the ‘beloved’ LCMS go from its founder with all his earth-shaking boldness, to a bunch of lawyer-mesmerized, nearly faceless bureaucrats?

  2. Tim Kuehn, on April 24th, 2008 at Said:

    Would any proposed restructuring would make any difference if “the powers that be” continue to act the way they are now?

  3. A quick peek at 2010 and beyond » Territorial Bloggings, on April 24th, 2008 at Said:

    [...] of responsibility. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to check out the usual suspects (Augsburg1530 & Weedon’s Blog for good [...]

  4. Disgusted, on April 24th, 2008 at Said:

    We got a ‘’sneak peek” from our Pastor. It seems that we less populated districts are proposed to lose delegates because we don’t represent enough people. (Actually we represent too many Confessionals). Hold on to your hats folks! One of the next moves is to silence districts that won’t play ball in the sulphorous smoke of Ablaze! and to give more delegates to those who will. (Legalized “Gerrymandering”). These items for review for the next convention should be arriving soon at your local Church if they haven’t already. Be sure to request a chance to read them! If we think it is scary now, just wait!

  5. Bob, on April 24th, 2008 at Said:

    Gerrymandering?

    No. Jerrymandering.

  6. Jonny, on April 25th, 2008 at Said:

    Read these two documents in the order they are linked below.
    I am sure Molly will be basing her analysis on them.

    http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/Office%20of%20the%20President/Blue_Ribbon_Task_Force_for_Funding_the_Mission_Report_2006.pdf

    http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/Office%20of%20the%20President/Congregation-Synod-Church.pdf

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