A Rose By Any Other Name: With the characteristic journalistic flair her readers have come to expect ("The WordAlone Network is finished."), Betsy Carlson delivered the news that the April 18-19 convention (It's a New Day!) of the WordAlone Network approved a name change for the organization. WordAlone Network will henceforth be called WordAlone Ministries.
The name change signifies a shift of emphasis:
The convention affirmed that WordAlone will continue to serve congregations, groups and individuals committed to proclaiming the Word of God and to remaining faithful to the Bible, although it ended its attempts to reform the ELCA after its unbiblical decisions on marriage and family and on new standards for ministers at the churchwide assembly last August.
WordAlone President Jaynan Clark presented a new vision for WordAlone Ministries in a dynamic report that included her falling to her knees and repenting for anything WordAlone failed to do that the Lord called it to do in the past 10 years.
WordAlone Ministries will provide preaching, teaching and confessing ministries from what she called a "ministry forge."
Two ministries newly out of the ministry forge are first responders to the crisis among Lutherans: the Chaplain Corps and the Evangelical Mission Teams. These programs provide assistance and accurate information to those wanting to leave either their congregations or denomination.
The next to be launched will be Life Together Churches in June, in partnership with Lutheran Evangelistic Movement. This ministry will support house churches, cell churches and, via the Internet, a virtual parish.
Clark said she also envisions a worldwide, multi-media evangelism ministry using Internet, radio and television to preach, teach and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. She called this ministry "SALT," SAlvation, Life and Truth,” and said it will be salt and light to the world.

Bestaendig Genug: One of the most illuminating pieces of writing to come across our desk in quite a while is How Many Missouri Synods Are There? Two? Maybe even Three? (Thursday Theology #620) by Ed Schroeder of the Crossings Community. Readers will discover early on that it is about considerably more than the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Ed Schroeder's point of departure is an article by Jim Townsend in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Synod's conservatives send message in coming election. In the LCMS nomination process, a challenger (Pr. Matt Harrison) received nearly twice as many nominations as incumbent President Rev. Dr. Gerald Kieschnick. The disparity in nominations indicates some organized dissatisfaction (centered around the Brothers of John the Steadfast) with Kieschnick's presidency.
John the Steadfast (Johann der Bestaendige) was brother to Frederick the Wise and a friend of Martin Luther. His is the first signature at the end of the Augsburg Confession.
Ed Schroeder writes (quoting a portion of Townsend's article):
So what's wrong with Kieschnick? Is he not a conservative? O yes he is; no problem there. Does he deny verbal inspiration of the Bible? No, he's 100% kosher there. Well, what then calls for his replacement? Answer: He's not "bestaendig" when it comes to the Lutheran Confessions, starting right off the bat with the Augsburg Confession, signed by the very first Steadfast John. Even though Kieschnick's own family tree has roots in Lutheran Saxony, his genuinely steadfast critics decry his "postmodern approach to the church . . . a nondenominational, evangelical megachurch approach, and in the process [he] has diluted Martin Luther's theology."
This ideological strife within the LCMS, Schroeder suggests, offers some tools for interpreting the March 15 LCMS pronouncement on "the hot potato of homosexuality" (Schroeder's term): Theological Implications of the 2009 ELCA Decisions.
Ed Schroeder again:
I want to call attention to the Biblical authority notion in this document, and the (nonexistent) role of the Gospel's authority in the text. Over and over again it's all about Biblical authority. The term is hyped six times in the opening paragraphs of the original document.
Never mentioned is the authority of the Gospel, or being "grounded" there and getting "final assurance" from its Promise. "Gospel" appears 7 times in the text, but it never is USED as the foundation for any of the document's claims. It's all the Bible.
Gospel is affirmed as the center, but the Bible and its infallibility is the FIRST thing you've got to believe in.
There is (always has been?) a "thin tradition" within Missouri that claimed it was the other way around--Faith in the Gospel leads to understanding scripture's authority. That was the issue a generation ago during the mayhem in Missouri that led to Seminex. Many of them died in exile. But a new generation of thin-tradition folks is alive within Missouri, Even though also thin in numbers, they are a third option to the two major players discussed above.
And that finally is the question: where does Biblical authority come from? Is it rooted in the Gospel or is it an antecedent of the Gospel itself? Schroeder goes on to think through this issue in some detail, and we recommend that you take the time to think it through with him.

Censure Uplift: On April 21, a letter from Bishop Peter Rogness of the St. Paul Area Synod formally lifted the censure that was imposed on St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church for its role in the April 28, 2001 ordination extra ordinem of Pr. Anita Hill. Pr. Hill is rostered with Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM), and has been approved for reception on the ELCA clergy roster.
Bishop Rogness' letter reads in part:
[E]ven in the aftermath of the imposition of censure and sanctions regarding participation, St. Paul-Reformation remained engaged and supportive of the life of this church. From that time until now, St. Paul-Reformation, its pastors and members, including Anita Hill, have been steadfast in theirsupport of our life together as a church, and bold in their witness as Christ’s people in the world. Your disagreements with decisions of the church did not cause you to pull away; in this you have modeled for the whole church what it is to be united in Christ and Christ’s mission, not dependent on agreement on all things, but knowing how to embrace and affirm diversity in many ways. The whole church is stronger for your witness.
On April 6, Bishop Edward Benoway for the Florida-Bahamas Synod lifted the censure against Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale. Abiding Savior was censured in February, 2002 for issuing a call to Rev. Bill Knott who is not rostered with the ELCA.
Bishop Benoway's letter reads in part:
I am writing to announce that I am lifting the public censure and admonition that was placed upon Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in February 2002. As you will recall, this censure was in response to your calling and installing Bill Knott, who was not a member of the rostered clergy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is my great joy to be removing this censure and renewing the welcome of members of the congregation to full participation in all aspects of our life together in the Florida-Bahamas Synod...

In the very near future, I anticipate being able to share with Pr. Knott the process that he and I may follow so that he may be reinstated to the roster of ordained ministers of the ELCA.
Censure has yet to be lifted for University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley.
The actions of Bishops Benoway and Rogness are the kind of thing that drives constitutional literalists to distraction. Bishop Benoway's letter in particular makes it clear that censure was imposed because a congregation issued a call to a pastor not on the ELCA clergy roster. As of this writing, neither Pr. Hill nor Pr. Knott has been received on the ELCA roster, so technically, both congregations are still in violation of the ELCA constitution. On the other hand, it may also be the case that the ELCA constitution, no less than the Bible, derives its authority from the Gospel, and of course, the precedence of the Gospel was the point of ordination extra ordinem in the first place.

Sex is Nice in Canada: On April 15, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) released The First Draft of a Proposed ELCIC Social Statement on Human Sexuality. The deadline for providing feedback on the draft is August 31, 2001.
To its credit, the draft is brief: eleven pages including a short cover letter, the draft itself is 9 pages long.
That economy comes at a price. We believe the draft would be significantly improved by the addition of a short definition of human sexuality.
As it is, the first mention of human sexuality in the draft is:
We live in a world where sexuality is an important aspect of life. Through sexuality, the species of this world reproduce, fulfilling God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. Human sexuality is a complex, mysterious, wonderful, tempting, vital and holy dimension of personal and societal existence. Sexuality is a significant and personal aspect of identity, affecting our capacity to love and be loved. Sexuality includes the quest for, and the sharing of, companionship. Sexuality affects how we live and relate in family and in community. In local community and neighbourhood, developing an understanding of sexuality helps to develop healthy interpersonal relationships and to build healthy community. Sexuality is a significant dimension of art, culture, social and power dynamics.
That paragraph sets the tone of the draft. There are twenty-two sentences in the 9-page draft that begin "We live in a..." and go on to describe some aspect of the world or society. This is a distinctly oblique way of talking about sexuality, and indeed, this draft may be less about sexuality than it is about the etiquette of talking about sexuality.
Perhaps that is just the way it's done in Canada.

Kevin is Gay, Archie is Inclusive: On April 22, it was announced that in September Archie Comics will introduce the series' first openly gay character Kevin Keller.
Archie Comics Co-CEO, Jon Goldwater commented on the addition:
The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie's hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books.
Kevin Keller will be introduced in Veronica #202 which will be released September 1. The issue will feature a full-issue story titled "Isn't It Romantic? ":
Kevin Keller is the new hunk in town and Veronica just has to have him. After Kevin defeats Jughead in a burger eating contest at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe, she desperately latches onto him. Mayhem and hilarity ensue as Kevin desperately attempts to let Veronica down easy and her flirtations only become increasingly persistent.
It is not yet known if Kevin Keller will be allowed to go to the prom with a date of his own choosing or if his picture will appear in the Riverdale High yearbook.

Tanzanian Church Rejects Homosexuality: In his Easter sermon, The Rev. Alex G. Malasusa (picture), presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tansania (ELCT) took the Church of Sweden and the Evangelical Lutheran Chuch in America (ELCA) to task for their decisions supporting same-gender relationships:
ELCT has refused to recognize the decision to allow same-sex marriages because it is against the Holy Bible. It is in direct contravention of God's word, which has not changed. It's time Africa preached to the rest of the world and remind them of God's word because it seems they have forgotten what the Bible says.
Bishop Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, expressed the hope that he could discuss the issue directly with Bishop Malasusa:
I will share with Bishop Malasusa the ELCA's strong commitment to the centrality of the Word of God in our faith and witness. We join all Lutherans who affirm that the central message of the Scriptures as the good news of God's love and saving work in Jesus Christ.
On April 29, however, the ELCT issued a press release describing actions taken in the meeting of its executive council on April 27-28. The executive council received and approved the Dodoma Statement which was prepared by the ELCT Bishops' Council in January, 2010.
The Dodoma Statement reads in part:
Those in same sex marriages, and those who support the legitimacy of such marriage, shall not be invited to work in the ELCT. We further reject their influence in any form, as well as their money and their support.
This church does not accept reasons offered by advocates of same-sex marriage and its legitimacy unless it is based on the Word of God and Biblical teaching; therefore, we reject inappropriate and false interpretations of scripture produced to justify the marriage of people of the same gender.
This church encourages and supports all those around the world who oppose churches that have taken the decision to legalize same-sex marriage...
We urge every believer in the ELCT to be very careful, alert and discerning lest they loose their faith in the face of this strange doctrine that could easily seduce people in this age of globalization.
The ELCT and other people worldwide who support our stand on the issue of opposing same-sex marriage believe that the Bible cannot be interpreted according to people's wishes or according to other authorities or to culture. Rather, the Bible is self explanatory and is merely translated into various languages without altering the meaning.
The ELCT accepts that moral values may change among people as their situations change; however, ELCT believers know and believe that there are some things that cannot change, such as people having noses, ears and mouths.
This church believes that, based on the teaching of the Word of God, there are values that cannot be adjusted even under the pressure of changing conditions and locations. One of these unwavering values concerns the issue of marriage and its meaning.

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