Yada, yada

Duane & i talked quite late into the night last night about the letter & pamphlet sent to us.  I'm not sure what we are going to do.  Probably the simplest & most expedient way to deal with this is to simply request that our names be removed from the membership list.  There is so much we want to say, but i think it is obvious that these folks can't hear it.


Duane & i are both very sad.  Not so much for us.  As i've said before, we both feel that we have learned so much & grown so much thru this.  But we are so very sad for the people we care about.



The incomprehensible letter (undated/unsigned) makes it clear that the elders either 1.  Did not read our letters (Gene called & "explained" to them what we had said & how we were so disrespectful) or 2.  They did not grasp what we were saying.  Or a combination of the two.  


There is no way to say this without sounding rude, but we don't have a lot of confidence in the intelligence of most of the elders to grasp what we were saying.  The response letter makes it clear they may not have the capacity to understand.  Regardless, the elders are the ones responsible to be sure the church stays on track.



I am offended that they think our letter indicates disrespect "to the dignity of the Pastoral office."  We put a lot of time, effort, editing, & prayer into that letter, striving NOT to show disrespect.  At this point we can't help but have disrespect for both the pastor & the elders, but we are striving not to be disrespectful.   We have re-read what we wrote & feel that no disrespect was tendered.  I'm also offended by the remarks about dissension, as that is the very thing we have worked very hard not to create.




But i'm really much more concerned by the pamphlet sent.  I so wish that had been given us before we ever joined that church.  In it embodies many of the attitudes with which i've struggled in this church.  Jessica wrote in a previous comment she hears, "haughtiness, arrogance, self-righteousness, pride and pushing people away."  and those are the very attitudes which have so greatly disturbed me for some time.  I never recognized them as sanctioned by the actual church doctrine, however.  




Part of the pamphlet was quoting the first president of the LCMS, C.F.W. Walther, who lived 1811-1887.  According to Wikipedia, he was "vigorously opposed to non-Lutheran denominations in America."  He wrote this passage, "Even one who confesses the Real Presence cannot ordinarily, except in the case of death, be admitted if he is and wants to remain, not a member of our orthodox church, but rather a Roman Catholic, Reformed, so-called Evangelical or Unionist, Methodist, Baptist, in short, a member of an erring fellowship." which i found very offensive.  


The pamphlet makes it very clear that the LCMS church practices "close communion" but SITP DID NOT as they opened communion in each & every bulletin.  That created a lot of confusion for us.   It also creates a somewhat "secret society" because we have a number of folks who attend multiple churches & still take communion at SITP.  So it comes down to, "Did we have to seek 'permission' from the pastor in order to visit other churches? And how on earth were we suppose to know that?" 



I've been studying Lutheran doctrine for the past day or so, & what i've found has made me very, very uncomfortable.  I guess i should have done this long ago, but as the risen Christ was being preached, i thought the doctrine not so very important.  I was wrong, very wrong.  I'm finding it hard to imagine that i'll ever feel comfortable "belonging" to a church again.  



The things i find disturbing in Lutheran doctrine did not originate with Luther, however.  What i've read of him indicates that he came to not even believe in a priesthood, but that each of us shares in the priesthood.  Also what i read indicates that very soon after he began trying to pastor in a healthier way there were folks wanting to take his beliefs/theories/theology, etc. & create the doctrine which has so enslaved people today.  





I remember from long ago, i used to HATE Calvin.  But in college while studying the different evolutions of doctrines, i learned that what i hated was Calvinism & what the doctrine had become.  In both the cases of Calvin & Luther, they sincerely desired for the people to live free & to not have fears about life & relationship to God.  But we also learned that within 2 generations their teaching had evolved into doctrine which enslaved the people, robbing them of the very freedoms that both Calvin & Luther had sought to insure.  




We seem to have run up against the very worst of Lutheranism without realizing it.  I'm sad.  Frankly, as i've said before, this church carries some very strong hallmarks of a cult.  I don't think it has crossed over to that status, but it is a near thing, in my opinion.  They do preach Christ died, buried, risen.  But much of the preaching does not bring the freedoms i believe Jesus came to give us.  


I have currently drafted a fairly simple letter to the church requesting our names be removed from their membership rolls.  However, i did say some things in the letter that we may choose not to say.  We may simplify it even further.  But for now i think we'll just let it sit for a week or two.  It took them over a month to respond to our request for clarification.  We don't have to jump on this.  



Anyway, just my recent thoughts on the matter.


31