Friday 16 January 2009

Yesterday, Bertram, noted that some confessors started giving in to the notion that some things instituted by human being "should be observed uniformly." Today we follow up on this:

It was this sort of manipulating the Augsburg Confession against its own intention, for the sake of an easy church unity without paying the price of protest, that the Formula of Concord eventually intervened to protest. On the one hand, the concordists freely acknowledged that "we can with a good conscience give in and yield to the weak in faith in...external matters of indifference" (FC X,9). So far the Formula is simply reiterating the stance at Augsburg. there, "in this very assembly," as Melanchthon reminded the opponents, "we have shown ample evidence of our willingness to observe adiaphora with others, even where this involved some disadvantage to us." For, he adds, "we believe that the greatest public harmony, without offense to consciences, should be preferred to all other advantages."

I can go round and round on this one. I had a colleague tell me that the reason he cannot go along with complete inclusion of gay and lesbians in the mission and ministry of the church is that we must be watchful of those "weak in faith." In the sense that such controversy within the church would confuse and discourage them. Well, I wonder if people who think this way are willing to tell those who are against such complete inclusion that they are the ones of "weak faith" and that we are doing what we do with our limits for an interim time - until they mature. Hmmmm.
I would also agree that "the greatest public harmony, without offense to consciences, should be preferred to all other advantages." And yet, this is often used as an excuse not to offer an evangelical confession. We are too often willing to back off the witness to the Good News, in favor of a peace that is not the peace that is promised in the Reign of God. Unity must come about through a constant conversation about what is central to our life together in Christ. We play with the boundaries. We challenge what is and boldly enter into what is not yet - but what appears to hold the graciousness of God's Reign. We are people within constant dialogue and living within the nuances of the day that demand pastoral attention and loving kindness.

Connection: What if we stated that our categories of sexuality (homosexual/heterosexual) would only be ways of adding description to who each of us is? After that, we are all the same within the body of Christ and we are invited into a life that is as new as God's Reign that transforms and brings new life.

Lord, God, you abide with us in the middle of all the chaos of our lives. And there...among us, you are the power of life that creates reconciliation, peace, and an abiding love that never stops seeking the healing of all our brokenness. We give you thanks for continuing to light up our lives with new ways of understanding how we come to live within the Reign of our Lord Jesus. Amen.