Mixing

Thank you, Pr. Rick and Bernie Paquette for providing a wonderful service and education hour last Sunday, while I was up the road worshipping with the United Church of Underhill. Pr. Jen and I were joking about how many denominations we could cram into one service - a Lutheran UCC minister, a UCC Methodist minister, a bunch of Franciscan kids, global worship videos from the Disciples of Christ and UCC. But the truth is, almost any Sunday morning has an even broader representation of denominations, just from the diverse backgrounds of our membership.

Is this something our mainline Protestant churches planned? Certainly not. That’s why I wonder if it could be the work of God. The mixing of religions that has happened in America somehow serves the greater glory of God. Likewise, diversity has become a feature of global Lutheranism. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) consists of 154 Lutheran denominations in 99 countries representing 78 million Lutherans. With a membership of just under 3 million members, the ELCA consists of just 3.8% of the total membership of the LWF. Over 96% of Lutherans live and worship outside of the United States.

Last week, Bishop Nathan Pipho called upon the New England Synod to renounce the idea that to be Lutheran is to be of European ancestry: “To be Lutheran is a theological concept, not a cultural concept. Being Lutheran has nothing to do with ethnicity, culture, or language. To be a Lutheran today, is to be a Christian of any ethnicity, culture, or language, whose starting point for theology is the belief that we are justified by grace through faith apart from works of the law. To be Lutheran is to be global and diverse.” That gave me something to chew on this World Communion Sunday.

with love, Pr. Chelsea