A living hope Assembly should bring us together
In recent months I have been speaking and writing about living and leading, serving and worshiping at the intersection of fear and hope. Although it has been important to name our fears and recognize what they do to us, we cannot let them define us and even risk becoming our fears.
Rather, it is time to bear witness to the source of our hope and its signs among us. Hear the source of our hope from the apostle Paul: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (
Romans 8:24-25). Hear the source of our hope from the apostle Peter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (
1 Peter 1:3).
This living hope gives us confidence that is received from faith. Here are some of the signs of this living hope that I see as we approach the
Churchwide Assembly (see "
Twin Cities welcome '09 assembly") this month.
We go forward in confident hope because in the 50 days leading to the assembly, ELCA members are reading the Scriptures that will be read at worship during the gathering and are responding to the invitation to pray for the assembly and our life and work as a church.
We go forward in confident hope because at the Churchwide Assembly, in the middle of each day, voting members will leave the business sessions and enter a place of worship. They will pass by the baptismal font, and sit side by side, knowing that in that room we are one in baptism, one in faith, one in the Spirit. Together we will hear the living word of God proclaimed as law and gospel and hear Christ’s promise of forgiveness as we commune at the Lord’s table.
We go forward in confident hope because throughout the assembly we will hear stories of congregations growing as centers of evangelical mission engaging their communities through proclamation and service.
We go forward in confident hope because as we consider full communion with the
United Methodist Church — a relationship where we share a common confessing of the faith, a mutual recognition of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, a common commitment to evangelism, witness and service — we continue to grow into our ecumenical and global relationships, more fully exhibiting the unity we have in Christ.
We go forward in confident hope because as we engage in the movement against diseases intensified by poverty, such as HIV, AIDS and malaria, the assembly will be asked to authorize fundraising to implement the
ELCA’s HIV/AIDS strategy and to engage with
Lutheran World Relief,
the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and the
U.N. Foundation in a
Lutheran Malaria Initiative.
We go forward in confident hope because in these past eight years we have matured as a church body in our engagement with questions of human sexuality and now we have the opportunity for faith-filled witness to the larger human family that struggles with division and yearns for healing and wholeness that is real and true. We live in a polarized culture that equates unity with uniformity and sees differences as a reason for division. We have the opportunity to offer the witness of our unity in Christ — diverse, filled with different-ness and differences, broken in sin, and yet united and whole in Christ.
We go forward in confident hope because our hope is grounded in Christ. For we finally meet one another not in our agreements or disagreements but at the foot of the cross, where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us and where by the power of the Spirit we are one in him.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (
Romans 15:13).