Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Why can't we all just get along? Ever hear that question? I have, again and again, even within the past week. 


Like many of you who read this blog, I have friends and relatives in various Lutheran congregations and synods. I have classmates who graduated with me from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. who since have become pastors of the ELCA. The ELCA is made up of more than 10,000 congregations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. These congregations are divided into 65 synods in 9 regions.  


A large group of congregations once affiliated with the ELCA have left to form new Lutheran synods. Some have even joined the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Here's the published reason Pastor Jeff Cottingham of First Lutheran Church, Paxton, Illinois, gives for his congregation's leaving to join the NALC.

The trigger point was a vote almost a year ago, at the ELCA’s biennial national meeting, to open its clergy roster to gay and lesbian ministers who are in committed, same-gender relationships. Previously, homosexual clergy had to remain celibate to keep their jobs.

Unfortunately, that all too often has made the issue, and that’s not the issue,” Cottingham said. “I mean, there have been homosexual pastors in the ELCA from Day 1, and by and large, it’s never been a problem.

“It really comes down to the authority of the Bible and how the doctrines of the law and gospel really apply to our lives. .. It really comes down to a lack of direction and a lack of uniformity when it came to the authority of the Bible. ... The primary issue is the authority of scripture: Does the Bible have authority for the life of a Christian or not? And if it does, then we have to actually practice what we preach.”

Traditional versus progressive ministry viewpoints have been at odds for years. Lutherans have been debating gradual changes that include things like more liberal interpretation of scripture and a revision of the hymnal that made it more gender-neutral.

Cottingham explained that the “fundamental issue” for his church leaving the ELCA is the ELCA trying to make changes so that “the Bible’s authority for members and for congregations has really been watered-down, to where it really becomes something that is open to a great deal of interpretation, is interpreted in a lot of wrong ways, to say things that it has never said. And as a result, the ELCA has become increasingly irrelevant when it comes to the Christian faith, because there are too many leaders and too many people who make proclamations about things that are not part of the faith.”

First Lutheran Church has joined the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), a Lutheran synod or denomination that has been in existence for about 11 months and has already gained 250 congregations, most which left the ELCA. The NALC grew out of the rejection of the ELCA's decisions and was sponsored by the Lutheran CORE as it formed.  



Other former ELCA congregations have joined together to form Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). This group of congregations reaches across the United States and has a conservative Lutheran statement of faith.


Why can't we Lutherans all get along? Why must we once again divide? The answer to that question rests with the issues outlined above. Lutherans have traditionally said that we have but one authority for faith and teaching—the Holy Scriptures. Thousands upon thousands of pages have been written and published about that question. In later blogs I'll make my own attempt to outline those issues and point you to resources as you struggle with your personal beliefs and how they impact your relationship with family members, former members of your congregation and personal friends. 


The links above will open you to many other resources for personal study. 

Shibboleths - Notin' But Natan

When we named our second son Nathan my father could not pronounce the name. He said, "Natan? I can't say notin' but Natan." This failure on his part was because he was raised as a little child to speak German and his formal education only went to the eighth grade. The German language does not have a 'th' sound, as in thing or thought. Consequently he could not pronounce a name with a 'th' sound, like Nathan. This inability continued throughout his life. He was never able to overcome it. 

This relates to a story from the Bible about the word 'Shibboleth.' The Book of Judges, chapter 12, relates a story about a civil war between the tribes of Gilead and Ephraim. Gilead defeated Ephraim and secured the fords of the Jordan River between the two tribes. when the Ephraimites attempted to cross over to their homeland the Gileadites put them to a simple test.

". . . whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time."

This Hebrew word 'Shibboleth' has come to stand for a principle, belief or practice that distinguishes one particular group or class of people from another. We are surrounded by shibboleths, some innocent and some not so innocent. Teens work hard to distinguish themselves from their elders and to identify with one another. Thus, for some teen sub-groups wearing a gold ring or stud in your nose, eyebrow, or even tongue has become a shibboleth. Its easy to give many other examples.

In the 1930s, the decade in which my novels are set, people with Germanic background and roots were the largest ethnic group in the United States. They had many shibboleths as well. If they grew up speaking only German, like my father, there were many words they could not pronounce. Likewise many preferred certain so-called German foods such as sauerkraut and bratwurst.

All this got me to thinking about what shibboleths distinguish us Christians from our unbelieving neighbors. One such belief is that Jesus of Nazareth is both God and Man, united in one person. A deep and abiding respect for marriage is another belief. This belief is under great attack today by the culture in which we live where sex outside of marriage is common and no longer considered immoral. Another is the definition of marriage as a legally recognized bond between any two people, regardless of sex.

Its beginning to look like there is no river between our two tribes and it makes no difference whether we say 'shibboleth' or 'sibboleth.'