The Lutheran Church of Australia - Beyond
the Crossroads?
Back in 2002, I wrote a little piece on ‘The LCA at the Crossroads’, detailing
some of the observed weakness in her theology and practice and reflecting on
some of those from the position of the Lutheran Confessions.
I am moved to add a little to that as time has passed on, and in these few
lines will endeavour to contribute some further reflections on conditions in
the church as I see them. Many others have written about the situation we
face at present and together with me wonder at the future before us.
A case of individualized development.
What we are seeing at present, in a large degree in the LCA, is each
congregation, Pastor, each District, each District President, seemingly going
their own way as they seek to do the work of the Church in their place.
Now this is probably true of most, if not all church bodies today, but it
is surprising that it should be happening in the LCA which has been in the
past, and still publicly claims to be, a confessional body, i.e. all things
being governed by the Lutheran Confessions. We tend these days to see
congregations and Pastors picking and choosing what they will do, determining,
without reference to any other congregation, how they will worship, what they
will sing, whether they will follow the Church Year, whether the Pastor robes
for the Service, emphases in doctrinal matters, prayer, the celebration of the
Lord’s Supper, and many others. It seems as though Pastors and people
simply buy into what they like, regardless of the church body they belong to,
choosing what is deemed suitable for them and rejecting what is deemed
inappropriate for their setting.
It is not simply a matter of practice, but also a matter of theology, for these
are inseparably united. What matters, it seems, is one’s personal
theological convictions, no longer the public confession and teaching of the
church. And yet these people would be horrified if it were suggested that
their position puts them in a camp other than that of the Lutheran Church.
No, they are perfectly good Lutherans and perfectly justified in holding
membership in the clergy roster of the LCA.
We see this also in the functioning of our District Presidents who have become
very influential in determining the directions of their part of the church.
During vacancies the placement of locums with a particular
theological bent; in call meetings where the pastors placed on the list are
chosen with a particular goal in mind, i.e. bringing into the District the kind
of Pastor, and therefore the kind of theology, that they believe will best grow
the Church. The end result is a District that reflects the particular
theological bent of the President, the Missions Director and their supporters.
Currently, (but for how long we don’t know, for who knows what the next big
thing will be), it is Reformed Evangelicalism that motivates many among us.
This philosophy is revealed by the emphasis given to outreach through ‘The
Alpha Course’, and ‘40 Days of Purpose’, (by the way, referred to so warmly in
a recent edition of ‘The Lutheran Women), and conducting a
service reminiscent of a Charismatic event, rather than the liturgical
Divine Service of the Lutheran tradition. In contrast the number of
Pastors and congregations that are using Lutheran material to study such
essentials as grace, and faith and ‘spirituality’ seem to be fewer in number.
The Lutheran Church and the ‘churches’
We are so surrounded by the public perception of ‘church’ in our day, so awed
by the seeming growth and outreach vitality of the Reformed Evangelical and
Charismatic churches, that we no long really believe in the truth and power of
the great Lutheran verities of Law and Gospel, Word and Sacrament,
justification by faith for Christ’s sake through faith.
Some of us are caused to wonder where our theological leaders are who will take
a stand and both support the Lutheran Confessions and boldly resist the
incursions of generic Protestantism.
Some LCA leaders, pastors and people see the decline of historic Lutheranism,
also in our country, and argue that if we remain too concerned about our
confession we will separate ourselves more and more from the culture, including
the Christian culture, around us. What we should be doing therefore, it
is argued, is to become more flexible, more modern, catch up with what is
happening and what is working in with the other churches. As the brochure
for the up and coming ‘National Lutheran Prayer Summit’ puts it, ‘We want to
join in with what God is doing in our cities and nation’.
I would argue that that is exactly the opposite to what we should be doing.
We are losing ground and becoming increasingly sidelined because we no
longer stand with confidence on our confession. We are timid and unsure,
trying to ‘mix and match’ different theologies. Instead, we should
be thoroughly and unmistakably Lutheran if we are going make our mark and earn
our place in the wider church and in the world. If we continue to be
unduly influenced by current culture - of the world and the Protestant
churches- effectively we alter our identity, our self-understanding, and our
appreciation of God¹s work for us in Christ, and all that that means for our
practice. What we confess we believe is no longer enacted in our
liturgical practice, and to alter our liturgical practice is essentially to
alter our theology.
So many are casting out the strong Biblical and Evangelical liturgy of the
Church where we know God is working to bring us his grace and blessing in the
Word and the Sacraments, in favour of entertainment worship focused on the
band, the lead- singer, the item, and the preacher walking the floor working
the crowd. In many cases congregations have put aside the Lutheran
hymnody with its treasury of chorals and confessional music in order to
persuade the attendees to love mind-numbing choruses repeated ad nauseum, and
painful ditties reflecting the rhythms and culture of the world. The end result
is that we become like salt that has lost its saltiness and like a light which
is hidden and useless.
We are being brought in our time to the harsh reality that the LCA is no longer
the church we once knew and loved, and, good folks, it is a very distressing
and painful thing to be finally brought to that realization. But we need
to face up to the reality that today we are a Lutheran Church largely in name
only. Yes, thank God, there is a remnant still in existence, but in many
places our confession is dishonoured, our once treasured unity is shattered,
and there are major divisions among Presidents, Districts, Pastors,
congregations and individuals.
What to do?
1) Avoid with everything we have the playing of the political game in the
Church. Power and control and the numbers game is the stuff of the
political process, but that is not the way of the People of God, the Church.
We are not interested in gaining power over others through such
processes.
2) Rather, we need to take up the Scriptures and the Confessions and determine
our theology and practice solely on that foundation. The doing of
theology is by far the more difficult road, but it is the only way for the
Church. It requires meticulous and earnest study, reflection, debate and
contemplation, but that is what the Lord calls us to if we are going to
believe, teach and confess the will of God and the truth of his Word. In
all matters of faith in Christ, in life with God and in the worship of his
Name, it must be the Word that informs and the Confessions which guide our
path. And this not only by the CTICR, but by every President - National
and District, every Pastor and each congregation, and we pray many of the pew
sitters in the churches. We have tended in the recent past to refer far
too much to the CTICR as if here and here alone theology is done. True,
items have been addressed to Pastors’ Conferences, but usually in a limited way
with little time for genuine study, and often with significant pressure to
assent rather than debate.
I am grateful that the pending debate on Women’s Ordination appears to be being
based essentially on the Scriptures, rather than on current culture and certain
expectations, and we trust that will be the case. But the same criterion
needs to be laid for issues such as worship, sex and marriage, divorce,
hymnody, liturgy, abortion, homosexuality, aged-care, education. Indeed,
nothing can be excluded from the task of theology and the understanding of all
in life as related to God in Christ through his Word.
Only the Word of God can bring life from death. If the LCA is to be
resurrected and be again a church of the truth, it will only be through the
Word of God.
During a recent visit (July 2004) to the Berlin Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral,
I saw a visual of the situation I believe the LCA finds itself in. Inside
the wonderfully presented sanctuary with its altar and crucifix and works of
great Christian art, high above are a number of statues - Luther and
Melanchthon, but also Zwingli and Calvin. It is truly distressing to see
the Lutheran Church compromised thus in her public confession. The
hymnbook in the pew likewise contains not only the Lutheran confession, but
also the Reformed Creed. It was this situation caused by the Prussian
Union that brought about the immigration of many Lutherans, causing them to
leave their homes and seek a new life in a new land (including Australia),
where they were free to worship according to their conscience.
The LCA does not display its compromises so outwardly as was seen in the
Berliner Dom, but it is clearly there and it is equally distressing. Seeing
the Lutheran and Reformed reformers together - the theologians of the cross and
the theologians of glory, how vigilant we constantly need to be as Church,
congregations, Pastors and people. It is incredibly quickly that we too
can be seduced by the empty promises of the theology of glory and how quickly
we can lose the truth of Christ the crucified and risen one.
Just how large the confessional remnant of the LCA is only the Lord of the
Church knows, but no matter. The call before us is loud and clear - to
remain faithful to Christ and his Word, to be prepared to do the hard biblical
study and theological reflection to ensure that what is believed and taught and
confessed is true and clear and honest and, dare I say it, according to the
confessional paragraph of our constitutions- church and congregation alike.
We will not seek political power as a group, although we will support
each other by all means available to us. And we will speak the Word with
boldness and accept the consequences, whatever they may be.
Conclusion
May our confession of faith be solely grounded on the Word of God and its
faithful witness in the Lutheran Confessions. In the face of external and
internal opposition to this basis, may the LCA boldly and courageously defend
the truth, and with humility and pride clearly make it known.
May our worship be consistent with our confession, and that means that
everything in the Divine Service, all hymns, prayers, liturgical responses,
Word, sacraments, will truly confess the faith once delivered to the saints.
May the Divine Service in the LCA be no more and no less than simply what
it is - God in Christ serving us through his Spirit; his people truly hearing
his voice and receiving his blessing in the Holy Absolution, the reading and preaching
of the Word, and in the receiving of the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the
Sacrament of the Altar.
May our prayers ascend to the Lord to grant us forgiveness for our failures in
standing firm in the face of the many temptations that confront us in our day,
and strength for the future as we answer the call to remain faithful to Christ
and the truth concerning him as revealed in the Word and as witnessed to in the
Lutheran Confessions.
For Christ and the Church and the world.
Robert Hamann
Sept. 2004