The Lutheran, December 2008

A monthly column by Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson

 
Thriving in a pluralistic world
ELCA is evangelical, missional in its witness

When I hear the Christmas Gospel this year, I will pause to reflect upon all the varied contexts in which it is being read—from the diminishing number of Palestinian Lutheran Christians who will gather in Bethlehem to those who will worship in the rapidly growing Ethiopian Evangelical [Lutheran] Church Mekane Yesus to the millions who will gather in the ELCA’s 10,440 congregations. The story of Jesus’ birth is a reminder that God in Christ gives us the gift of unity.

Unity, however, is not only God’s gift but also our task. The ELCA seeks in its faith and life to “manifest the unity given to the people of God by living together in the love of Christ and by joining with other Christians in prayer and action to express and preserve the unity which the Spirit gives” (ELCA Constitution 4.02.f.).
We bear witness to our unity in Christ in varied ways ("Toward church unity"). Gathering with other Christians for Bible study, prayer and conversation nurtures faith as you experience a spiritual ecumenism. Joining with local churches in a neighborhood food pantry, housing project or community organization expresses Christian unity in service to the neighbor.

Theologians meet for years in ecumenical dialogues to explore both our differences and our common faith. Their work has led to the adoption by the ELCA of full communion agreements with three Reformed churches — Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ; the Episcopal Church; and the Moravian Church. The 2009 Churchwide Assembly will vote on full communion with the United Methodist Church. In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

Together we are planting new congregations, expanding campus ministries and training global mission personnel. Together we can respond to issues from poverty and hunger to immigration and HIV/AIDS.

In a world in which unity too often becomes the demand for uniformity and diversity becomes the occasion for distrust and divisions, we are bold to declare that both unity and diversity are God’s gift.

God grants unity in diversity. That is the biblical message: from the creation story of many life forms and Paul’s image of the church as one body with many parts to the description of a variety of gifts and callings given by one Spirit for the sake of the gospel and common good.

At this time of uncertainty and unrest, we are tempted to withdraw into enclaves of familiarity, to tend to our own needs, and to seek to preserve our own identity.

Such times, however, call for evangelical missional imagination. As the ELCA, we are what our name declares: evangelical. As ambassadors for Christ, we are sent into the world, God making God’s appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are sent to be engaged in God’s mission for the life of the world. That vocation, however, is not given only to Lutherans; it is our shared calling with the whole body of Christ.

Therefore, let us with prayerful imagination build upon our deepening ecumenical and global relationships. In every context throughout the ELCA, let us ask, “What can we be doing with others for the sake of the gospel and the life of the world?”

My experiences throughout this church convince me that we remain evangelical and missional in these our ecumenical and interreligious relationships by witnessing to the heart of our Lutheran-Christian faith. Whether around national interreligious dialogue tables or serving in local communities, we have opportunities to witness how our faith is nurtured in the good news and how our theological capacity for being both bound and free, both daily dying and rising in Christ, both interfaith friend and committed Christian, allows us not only to exist in a pluralistic world but to thrive there.