MNO Synod Bishop's Message

Vatican Statement a Challenge to live up to
our Inability to Live up to our Calling

According to the Vatican, we are not the one true church. It’s not something
we haven’t heard before. In fact, within our own denomination, there are
sectors that question whether we are the true church because of differing
interpretations of the Bible. Martin Luther had plenty to say about the church.
In fact, because the sixteenth church failed to live up to its calling, he
challenged the church to renew and reform its thinking, its life and its structures.

The Lutheran Confessions tell us that the church is where the gospel is
preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. In the explanation
to the third article of the Apostles Creed, Luther states that it is the Holy
Spirit that calls, gathers, sanctifies and enlightens us, that the church is
the gathering of God’s people, called by the Holy Spirit.

So, in a way, we shouldn’t be discouraged by the latest proclamation from our sister church. We could read it as an open challenge to our inability to live up to our calling, to be an instrument of God’s saving and transforming purpose for all humanity and creation. Maybe this is an opportunity to look inward and engage in thinking and talking and praying about who we are to be as the church, the body of Christ in the world. Maybe this is an opportunity for us to renew our baptismal vows and own our calling to be Christ’s presence in the world.

In some cases that is very hard to do. We have congregations who are lacking pastoral leadership so “rightly administering the sacraments” presents a challenge for those folks. We have congregations who have pastoral leadership but are in conflict with or indifferent to that leadership. Sometimes it’s leadership that does not partner with the people in doing the work of ministry. The challenge is to be a congregation that is noted for its ministry and not the conflicts.

I can’t pretend to think I know all by myself what the church should or shouldn’t be. What I can do is look for the marks of the church that are evident in the world. What I can do is work with the congregations and the leadership to assist them as they renew their thinking about their congregational presence in their communities- to be God’s people gathered in Christ’s name and guided by the Holy Spirit as the gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments are administered. What we can do together is be vigilant in our understanding of who we are as the church and recognize that the Holy Spirit will challenge us to look inward and see that ministry is about transforming the world in Christ’s name, not preserving ourselves and our congregations in a static model that is within our comfort zone.

Bishop Elaine