The Day the Church Changed

This day has been so long and full I hardly know where to begin or what to write. Perhaps I should start at the beginning.

At 7:22 this morning, Pastor Steve Dow and Kevin Rogers, two of our voting members, were kind enough to meet me at the front door of the convention center to carry the gift bags for our friends from Pennsylvania from the trunk of my car into the assembly hall. We can all rest easy now that our partner synod has its gifts. By the way, we gave each of their voting members an official Northern Illinois Synod coffee mug and a package of fair trade coffee.

Throughout this week the assembly has viewed videos that were submitted by congregations across the ELCA, which highlight “God’s work. Our hands.” Today we saw the work of our own Trinity Lutheran Church in Rockford. It was great! I must say that most of the videos we have seen have been very, very good and each one has been unique.

The assembly worked very hard today on the four ministry recommendations. As you know, fifty days of prayer preceded this assembly. In the discussion of the recommendations, Bishop Hanson paused every 20 minutes for prayer. Also, before each significant vote, the assembly was either led in prayer or invited to pray with someone close by. I have to believe that the Holy Spirit was at work.

In the end, all four ministry recommendations were adopted. I did not have a good sense of how any of the votes would turn out beforehand. Good arguments were made by faithful folks on both sides. Bishop Hanson guided the discussion in a fair and gracious way. I beg you to read, or better yet,view his pastoral remarks at http://blogs.elca.org/assembly/2009/08/21/bishop-hansons-message/.

The adoption of these four recommendations was a source of great joy for some and deep pain for others. It was, no matter how you look at it, a momentous day for the church. As a pastor of this church, I invite and encourage you to continue praying. Your bishop and synod staff will need God’s help in the work that lies ahead. Some congregations and pastors will need God’s guidance as they live into a different way of thinking. Most importantly, we must respect each other and our individual points of view.

At one point this afternoon, I was standing against a side wall with a seminary classmate of mine, who happens to be a member of the Church Council. As I looked around the room, I told him that I was looking at 1,700 exhausted people. He agreed.

I needed to speak with our bishop before going to the ballroom for dinner, so I was just a little late arriving. After I got my plate, I walked to the far end of the room and sat down with a man I did not know. He was sitting alone so I thought I would befriend him. He had actually chosen to sit alone, needing to have some quiet time to ponder the implications of this afternoon’s actions. He was solemn; deeply troubled; perhaps even fearful. He did not agree with the majority. John and Esther Prabhakar joined us at the table and we all had a good conversation. The Holy Spirit was at work here too. This pastor thanked us for the company we had provided.

Peter Mayer was in concert this evening. He is the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett, but he is also well known in Minnesota and does Christian solo work. The concert was wonderful, but I did not stay to the end as I had some other work to do. Bishop Wollersheim offered to meet with any of our voting members who wanted to have some time with him tonight over at his hotel. I know at least a few took him up on his offer.

Now it is time to rest. If there is anything that we have heard consistently in our synod, it is our bishop’s words, “This is God’s church.” I will rest tonight in the certainty that this is God’s church. I pray that our voting members have a restful night too. May God bless us all.

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