It was reported that Pastor Rob Morris, and LCMS pastor,
apologized to his church for participating in a memorial service or vigil for
the children killed in Newtown. He apologized
for not only participating in the memorial but for pronouncing the
benediction. Pastor Morris was not a
casual bystander, but had experienced the grief of a member family by
officiating at the burial of their child who was one of those who been shot and
killed. What puzzles me is what he has
done that requires an apology?
President Harrison of the LCMS stated that even though
Pastor Morris had made it clear that the event was not a religious service it
was clear to him that it was. He wrote:
Nevertheless, the
presence of prayers and religious readings, as well as the fact that other
clergy were vested for their participation, led me to conclude that this was in
fact joint worship with other religions (as previously defined by the Synod). I
could draw no conclusion other than that this was a step beyond the bounds of
practice allowed by the Scriptures, our Lutheran Confessions, and the
constitution of our Synod, which seeks to uphold both.
He went on to state his reasons for demanding an apology.
I asked Pastor Morris to apologize for taking part in this
service. I did this for several reasons:
1.
I believe his participation violated the limits set by
Scripture regarding joint worship, particularly with those who reject Jesus
(Romans 16:17), and was thus a violation of Article VI of the LCMS
Constitution.
2.
Pastor Morris’s participation gave offense in the Synod,
something we are to avoid, even if we are doing something we believe might be
appropriate (1 Corinthians 8).
3.
I most sincerely desire to avoid deep and public contention
in the Synod. Our mission is too vital, our fellowship too fragile for a drawn
out controversy.
Pastor Morris apologized and President Harrison stated, I accept his apology. Here
is my first problem with this process.
It would appear that the language used by President Harrison simply
attempts to fudge the issue. If Pastor
Morris is truly guilty of violating Scripture as President Harrison claims,
then he needs not to apologize but to confess his sin. We do not apologize to God when we sin, we
confess our sin and then seek God’s forgiveness not God’s acceptance of our
apology.
After the apology how was the relationship between Pastor
Morris and the LCMS and President Harrison changed? The demand of President Harrison for an
apology apparently addresses a deeper issue, namely that Pastor Morris was “disobedient.” He had disobeyed Scripture, the policy of the
LCMS and the President of LCMS. Apologies
have different significance depending on whether it is in response to a demand by
an authority or to a genuine concern to heal a relationship. This requirement that Pastor Morris apologize
was a call to acknowledge his disobedience and was therefore a call for an act
of submission to authority. This apology
is a demand by an authoritarian hierarchy for a member to tow the line, come
back into the fold as an obedient servant, not of God, but of the organizational
structures. The concern is not for the
person, but for the so called integrity of the institution. Submission that requires obedience to
authority whether it is the Church or the President of the Church has no place
for grace. This type of submission is
very different to submission to the Gospel.
Even though President Harrison has not used the word “faith,”
his statement implies that the underlying issue is a matter of faith. If this analysis is accurate, then the LCMS
is on the slippery slope to becoming a pre-reformation church. The reformers were very clear that they could
not accept the Roman Catholic understanding of faith. The Roman Catholic Church focused on faith as
assent. This view raised the question, who informs the Christian what he or she
has to assent to? For the reformers the
logical answer was the Church and by extension, the Pope. Luther
faced this understanding of faith as assent when he was called upon to recant
his statements. When he refused to obey
and assent to the authority of the Church and Pope he faced the wrath of the
church and was seen as a heretic. For
Luther faith in the New Testament was a relational word that simply meant
trust, trusting God in Jesus the Christ.
As trust faith was a gift. Faith
as trust was evidenced in the submission to the gospel which brings joy and
freedom. Submission to the authority, even that of the church, only leads to
humiliation, the loss of self and bondage as Paul so eloquently states in his
Epistle to the Galatians.
My concern is that the action of the LCMS and its President
comes dangerously close to what Luther and the other reformers rejected. What is needed is not an apology from Pastor
Morris, but rather a new Lutheran reformation of the Lutheran church.
