Complaints
Complaining is a difficult thing to do in a blog, at least if you take seriously the “best practices” that are given for building readership.
After all, no one wants to hear/read silly whining, do they?
But yet, groaning under the weight one feels can be salutary. After all, the entire therapy industry is built around it. And while unburdening oneself to God in prayer is ultimately better & more productive than doing so in a blog, I’d like to think that they aren’t mutually exclusive activities.
In light of all that, then, here are a few things I need to complain about…
Waltherian Polity — It may be heretical for someone who’s a LCMS “lifer” to say, but I really am starting to think that the innovation that C.F.W. & the Saxons loosed upon American Lutheranism might not have been all that great. Like many/most innovations, the supreme voters assembly was well-intentioned, but it has been deformed over time by the ethos of American individualism. Doctrine cannot be done by majority vote. Over the past 160 years, however, Missourian/Waltherian polity has been thoroughly infected by the emotionalism of American Evangelicalism (aka ‘Methobapticostalism’) such that it’s all too easy for an emotional tsunami of ‘felt needs’ to overwhelm any chance that logic and appeals to true stewardship & historic confessional Lutheranism might have to even be heard.
Frankly, this is more distressing to me on the congregational level than it has been on the district or synodical levels. On district & synodical convention floors, there is a greater chance for diverse & opposing views to be heard than there is on the congregational level. The emotional appeal of the “majority” can wash over the floor of a voters meeting such that cowards are made of any who might think of voicing alternative and/or dissenting views. The chilling effects of being (and I know this is a strong word) demonized by those in your own “family” are undeniable and severe. I’m ashamed of the effect that they have had on me.
The Mistake of “Faith in God” trumping “Sanctified Stewardship” — Folks, a blind leap of “faith” without the due diligence of common sense stewardship is no virtue. Doing things just to say you did something is not a a show of “faith”, not unless/until proper consideration has been undertaken. Impatience should never be mistaken for “faith”.
The Denigration of the OHM — I’m constantly amazed & saddened just how folks seem to willingly mix up teaching that derives its authority from the 4th Commandment parental authority (e.g., the teaching of children in day school & sunday school), and that which is done publicly under the authority granted by Christ to the OHM (e.g., Divine Service & adult instruction like Bible studies). The Priesthood of All Believers doesn’t trump the charge given to the OHM. We certainly do not need a priest/pastor to read & study the Bible ourselves. If it’s a group activity in a public setting, though, then that certainly does need to be done by one trained, called & ordained to undertake public teaching & preaching.
Oddly enough, I now feel a little bit better. Nowhere near being free of my burdens, mind you, but still a little better…
-ghp
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