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Ask Pastor Sophie!
Abstract: Lessons in church polity and personal hygiene.
Pr. Sophie Fortresson, our resident expert on all matters of theology, Lutheran etiquette, and social protocol, answers questions submitted by our readers and occasionally simply volunteers advice when no question has been asked. If you have questions (and who among us doesn't?) send them to pr_sophie@lutheranconfessions.com.
Dear Sophie: In the ELCA's Draft Social Statement on Sexuality the word "consensus" came up a lot when talking about queer sexuality and why the ELCA will not say anything definitive on the matter. I wonder what is the biblical precedence for decision making by "consensus?" In my remembering: prophets never needed consensus; Jesus never waited for consensus; the Reformation was not started by consensus; and the ELCA constitution says nothing about consensus when it requires pastors to speak for justice. Is the ELCA becoming as useless as Jeremiah's linen loincloth (Jeremiah 13:1-11)?
Confused Beyond Consent, The Great Lakes Synod
Dear Confused: My goodness, what an interesting question. Thank you so much for asking it. It's not often that one has the opportunity to offer advice about church polity (the troublesome business about consensus) and personal hygiene (those ruined linen panties in Jeremiah) in one fell swoop.
Like you, Pr. Sophie at first thought the draft social statement seemed to be all about consensus (or the lack of it). But when she went back to count the number of times "consensus" is used in the document, there were, to her surprise, only two (line 1117 and line 1132). Of course, both were in the discussion of "same-gender-oriented" people and relationships.
Pr. Sophie believes this is an odd use of the concept of consensus, which is actually a very rigorous standard for any group understanding: when decisions are made by consensus, anyone may veto a decision. Pr. Sophie is confident that the level of agreement in the ELCA about same-gender-oriented issues falls far short of that standard.
Alas, you are correct that the ELCA is not like the prophets, not like Jesus, and not like the reformers. You are also correct about the ELCA constitution. Not only is there no mention of consensus with respect to the pastor's responsibility to witness for justice, there is also no mention of consensus in relation to the church's decision-making.
However, the ELCA is attempting to survive disagreement, and that is all too rare in the Lutheran tradition.
Pr. Sophie suggests that with respect to the draft Social Statement, references to our lack of consensus should not be understood as either an excuse for inaction or an impossible precondition that must be remedied before any action may be taken. To call attention to the absence of consensus is in fact, a call to repentance, a call to stand humbly before God.
And that brings us back to the linen panties In Jeremiah 13. God tells Jeremiah to get some nice linen underwear and put them on. God then tells Jeremiah to hide the underwear in a rock near the Euphrates River. Sometime later, God tells Jeremiah to retrieve the hidden undergarment. Jeremiah does so, only to find that the underwear are "marred" or "spoiled" or "ruined". They are, in fact, dirty, and no one wants to wear dirty panties. We don't know much about Jeremiah's personal hygiene, but it's a safe bet that he did not need God to explain this.
God, however, reframes the whole incident:
"For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah...but they would not hear."
And so perhaps the lesson of Jeremiah, which of course no one wants to hear, is that we are God's underwear. Oh my.
