by Bishop Bill Gohl
Read Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective in its entirety here.
by Bishop Bill Gohl"Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective" articulates the teaching of the ELCA on the church's relation to society and its public presence and responsibilities. The statement begins with the claim that the witness of the church in society flows from its identity as a community that lives from and for the gospel. It sets forth the basic affirmations that structure how faith is active in a love that calls for justice in relationships and structures of society. The statement also identifies as basic commitments the church's institutional witness in society, the baptismal vocation of individual Christians, and the church as a community of moral deliberation. This documents was the first social statement, adopted by the ELCA in 1991. Read Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective in its entirety here. Pastor Roger Willer, Director for Theological Ethics in our churchwide organization, speaking to the Women of the ELCA, introduced our Social Statement on Church in Society (1991) by telling this little vignette: "My mother used to talk about a good Lutheran boy she knew while growing up who had, 'can you believe it, gone into politics?!' When I asked her why that was hard to believe, she said that she had been taught in church that it was misguided, even shocking, that Lutherans would get involved in that 'messy' business." It was part of a "kingdom" with which Christians should have little to do; a reference to Luther's idea that God governs the world through two different kingdoms or governances. The first is the kingdom of Christ while the second is the kingdom of the civil realm. God governs both, but in different ways. This leads to a question: What is the appropriate way for Lutheran Christians to be active in society where the idea of talking publicly about politics and religion is verboten?
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by Bishop Bill GohlI am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:19 The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41: A state senator and the senior pastor of Emanuel, he was married to Jennifer Benjamin and the father of two children, Eliana and Malana.
Cynthia Hurd, 54: A 31-year state employee who managed the Dart Library for 21 years before heading the St. Andrews Regional Library, which is now named in her memory. The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45: A mother of three, she was also a speech therapist and high school girls track and field coach. She was a ministerial daughter of Emanuel, and was a licensed local clergyperson serving the congregation. Tywanza Sanders, 26: a then recent graduate from Allen University; Ty, he had worked in sales at Macy’s and Belk department stores, but had higher aspirations. Ethel Lance, 70: from 1968 to 2002, she worked as a custodian at Charleston's Gaillard Municipal Auditorium; her daughter remembered her as "funny and a pleasure to be around. And she was a wonderful mother and grandmother." Susie Jackson, 87: Lance's cousin, she was a longtime church member and was described to me as "the queen of the Mother Emanuel dining room." Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49: The mother of four sang in Emanuel's choir. She had previously directed a community development program in Charleston County and was, at the time of her murder, a proud admissions coordinator at the Charleston campus of her alma mater, Southern Wesleyan University. The Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74: Simmons survived the initial attack but then died in a hospital operating room. He had previously been a pastor at another church in the Charleston area, but was known to say, "there was no retiring from the call." Myra Thompson, 59: She was the a wife and stay at home mother, she was not a member of Emanuel, but a friend who came for Bible Study from Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston. by Bishop Bill GohlTherefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... - Romans 5:1 I had originally prepared a longer address for this Assembly. In the interest of making time in the agenda for the worthy resolution and memorial still before this body, I will refer you to my written report in your Bulletin of Reports, and I will amplify that report with four brief words: a word of gratitude, a word of struggle, a word of challenge, and a word of hope.
Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. "While salvation is a free gift of God, discipleship costs everything." – Bishop Bill Gohl
Our final assembly day was filled with business before our closing worship. Some highlights include:
The Rev. Bernard Barber (All Saints, Baltimore) sent us off with a powerful word at our closing service, reminding us to remember whose hands we are in. "Two loaves of fish and bread in my hands are a couple of fish sandwiches...in God’s hands, they feed thousands." Thanks be to God for our gathering this week! Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. What a beautiful day in Ocean City, Maryland!
Dr. Cheryl Pero introduced us to the 38 Theses from the Conference of International Black Lutherans. The first is that "cultural diversity is a gift of God, that there are a plurality of cultural ways of being Lutheran, and this diversity/plurality enhances rather than compromises the unity all Lutherans have in Jesus Christ." When one person in the community is broken, the entire community is broken. Pastor Stuart Luce, our Leadership Development Director, is called to be the "light, salt, and yeast in the area of leadership in our synod." Find the videos he's been creating over the past year on our website. Candy Maxwell, our synod’s new Lay Leadership Development Director, shared her BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal): that the church is a place for individuals to receive the master class on leadership and is the place of raising up effective Christian leaders not only for the church, but for families, workplaces, and communities. We adopted a Resolution on Ecological Justice that encourages congregations to practice energy conservation, educate our communities, and equip individuals to advocate for ecological justice issues, and designate an annual Ecological Justice Sunday. Let's make the earth great again! We adopted the 2018 Faith Spending Plan with one friendly amendment, to change the designation from Gettysburg Seminary to United Lutheran Seminary. Pastor Russell Fink reflected upon his 65 years of ordained ministry, reminding us that "we are here to live." Pastor Bettye Wolinski, our new Assistant to the Bishop for the Eastern Cluster, taught us a new way to look at the Lord's Prayer, through the eyes of several 13-year-old young women in her congregation. Pastor Albert Starr brought us greetings from the ELCA Churchwide Organization. "We must make sure that every culture, race, and ethnicity has access and opportunity to be a part of the life of this church ... thank you for your commitment to support this whole church." We elected several people to synod council and other leadership roles in our synod. Thank you to everyone who is willing to serve in this capacity! And we have some news - Synod Assembly is moving! Following a resolution at last year's Assembly to consider new locations, the Synod Assembly Relocation Task Force looked at several different venues, and eventually settled on the Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley. Look for more information about the 2018 Assembly in the next few months. The closing of Second English Lutheran Church in West Baltimore and the sale of their building sent appreciable gifts to many active ministries including $650,000 to our synod to be dispersed among the Forward in Faith Capital Campaign, our synod's Campus Ministries, and Augsburg Lutheran Church in Baltimore. Thanks be to God. After the business of the day, we gathered at St. Luke Roman Catholic Church for a service commemorating the 500th anniversary of the reformation. It was a beautiful service led by Bishop Gohl and Bishop Malooly (of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington) and assisted by clergy members of both traditions. It was especially meaningful to repent of our sins together and recite our common creed. Finally, a group of youth and young adults gathered for a time of evening prayer on the beach led by Pastors Mark and Christine Parker and Pastor Tim Jahn. Our synod is blessed by their commitment to making sure young people are lifted up as leaders. Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
Synod Assembly 2017 is finally here! As I made my three-hour journey here this week, I reflected on the many, many times I've made the drive. Starting from the time I was born in 1990, my family would make the drive from Baltimore to the beach for a week every summer. Eventually, I began to think of Ocean City as a place of faith formation when the town hosted RoadTrip, our synod's high school youth event, and then our Synod Assembly. I began to think of this town as not just a beach town, but as a holy place where deep relationships are formed and members of the Delaware-Maryland Synod gather at least twice every year to continue our work together. We began the assembly in worship. We were greeted with a powerful vignette sermon by Pastor Judy Cobb, interim Assistant to the Bishop, and were treated to wonderful music led by Jeremy Grenhart. Some highlights from today's business sessions:
See you tomorrow! |
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