New ELCA secretary installed, assembly closes with worship

PITTSBURGH (ELCA) -- William Chris Boerger, a member of Christ the
King Lutheran Church in Snohomish, Wash., was installed as secretary of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Aug. 17 during the
closing worship of the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
The 952 voting members and others of the 4-million-member ELCA met
Aug. 12-17 in assembly at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center here
under the theme, “Always being made new.” The churchwide assembly is the
highest legislative authority of the ELCA. The denomination is
celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Boerger was elected Aug. 16 and will take office Nov. 1. Previously
he served two six-year terms as bishop of the ELCA Northwest Washington
Synod based in Seattle.
In her sermon, the Rev. Jessica Crist, bishop of the ELCA Montana
Synod and chair of the Conference of Bishops, used the image of a
Virginia creeper vine and its branches to describe the work of this
church.
“With Jesus as our stem, our root, our source of being, we branch
out. We climb, we twine, we go forward. We find different places to
hold on to, different connections to make. Sometimes we go out on a
limb, literally. We are the church, the body of Christ, the ones called
on to bear fruit because we are connected to the source, the vine,
Jesus."
Crist spoke of the relationship of the vine to the branches and the
branches to each other, comparing it to the interdependence of this
church and the impact the 4-million members have on one another.
“The branches are wholly dependent on the vine. But the branches are
also dependent on one another. We talk about that as interdependence.
No member of the body can declare itself independent of the others. No
member is self-sufficient. And no member is superfluous. This tent is
big enough for everyone. Everyone is welcome in this church,” she said.
Crist said the “branch would not be what it is without this deep
presence of the vine. And the vine would not be what it is without this
deep presence of the branches. And that’s what it takes to bear fruit”
in emphasizing how the church can grow and sustain members.
“While we bear fruit at different rates and in different settings,
what we do matters. If one member of the body of Christ suffers, we all
suffer. If one congregation or synod is going through strife or grief,
we all suffer. We are in this together. A congregation splits, and the
pain is felt across the body. A new congregation comes together, and we
rejoice across the body,” she said.
Crist said that because the members of this church serve in many
different locations and situations, not all ministries would grow in the
same manner.
“These different circumstances are going to produce fruit
differently. We don’t always remember that when we are talking about
congregations, ministries. Some bear fruit and some do not.”
She said “it is God who does the pruning, not us. It is God who
decides what bears no fruit and has to be eliminated, and what bears good
fruit and has to be pruned.”
In her sermon, Crist spoke of finding surprising fruit -or renewal-
in unexpected places.
“My husband and I decided to celebrate an anniversary by planting a
tree in our front yard. It was an ornamental crab apple, the kind with
kind of purplish leaves. One year when we weren’t paying attention a
green-leafed shoot came up. And while we debated what to do with it, it
just kept growing. Pretty soon we had a two-toned tree in our front
yard. But a funny thing happened. We started to get apples on the green-
leafed part of the tree. Real apples, not the inedible ornamental
ones.”
Crist said the churchwide assembly provided members an opportunity
to “encourage one another, to share our stories, to watch the fruit
growing.”
“We are here, my friends, to talk about growing apples. We are here
to talk about growing fruit on the vine. We are here to encourage one
another, to share our stories, to watch the fruit growing. And we are
here to share the joy of being part of this great web of being that is
this ecosystem of vine and branches. We are here to be reminded again
and again of our deep rootedness in and dependence on Jesus, the Vine,
the source and origin of meaning and purpose for us. Jesus, the Vine,
whose life gives us life, whose strength gives us strength, whose energy
gives us energy, whose centrality focuses our lives.”