“Pastoral Letter” vs. “Presidential Leadership News”

February 10, 2006 · Filed Under theology

Nothing like a little synodical politics to make one feel all warm & snarky…

So I finally read the February Pastoral Letter from the President of the LCMS, (NOTE: I’m not a pastor, but I do subscribe to the email distribution of this letter, as it is made available at the synod’s website and I like to know what’s being said for official/public consumption…) and I must say that I was struck by the sectional titles:

“President’s Leadership News”
“What do your people know of Ablaze!?
“For what it’s worth…”
“Our public face”
“St. Valentine”
“A parting word of encouragement”

Now, this might seem rather innocuous, and it might very well be just that; however, I just found it interesting that the lead section was a reminder of the fact that there wasn’t a January Pastoral Letter, but that there had been a printed copy of a new “President’s Leadership News” distributed instead. Personally, the change in tone from “Pastoral Letter” to “Leadership News” is more than a little off-putting to me — I don’t like the coporatization of the church, not one little bit. The pastor is the pastor, not the CEO who dazzles us with his visionary leadership!

The second section, about Ablaze!, is just too funny because it reads to me like a bit of a scolding for everyone who isn’t touting the party line. I’d love it if he asked me what I know about Ablaze! — 1) It was originally developed for the Methodists, who ended up not wanting it, 2) It focuses on numbers & measuring what we do, 3) It’s got a hokey counter on a cheesy webpage, and 4) For all the previous reasons (and so many more) it’s neither Lutheran, nor theologically sound.

The third section, “For what it’s worth…” isn’t worth all that much, as it is based on some Barna Research Group “research.” I put research in quotes because George Barna tends to make some rather dubious claims based on his polling data (i.e., theologically suspect & decidedly non-Lutheran claims…). This section is lobbing some grenades to no real stated purpose, and I’m not sure that’s anywhere close to being a good thing.

The fourth section, “Our public face”, is probably ok. But there’s definitely a danger in worrying too much about external appearances, and too little about internal theological integrity & consistancy. [much sarcastic text removed by ghp's New Adam...]

Anyway, at the end of a long week, there was something about this “pastoral” letter that just set me off a little. There’s so much that’s disingenuous about the political hierarchy within the LCMS these days that it’s unfortunately hard for me take things at face value (I mean, when “disingenuous” is truly believed to be the best construction…)

-ghp

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Tags: ablaze, church, lcms, politics, theology