We are church.

We are Lutheran.

We are church together.

We are church for the sake of the world.

 

When Elizabeth Eaton was elected presiding bishop of the ELCA in 2013, those were her words to describe what it is to be the ELCA. She expanded on each of the four emphases, but they have remained central to her leadership and ministry for the past twelve years in the role of presiding bishop. (Bishop Eaton has three months remaining on her term before Yehiel Curry takes his place as the newly elected presiding bishop on October 1. After that, may she enjoy all the blessings of retirement!)

Last week, I attended the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Phoenix. I’ve shared before about that and what it means, what it’s for, all that. Today, I want to share a reflection on the experience of attending and participating in Churchwide Assembly (or CWA, for short.)

Our church has people all over! Lifelong Midwesterners might think that Lutherans are most common in our neck of the woods, and it’s certainly true that we’re quite dense throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota. Pennsylvania seems to have the very same self-perception, though, as the state boasts seven geographic synods and many congregations of our one non-geographic synod. Our vice president is from Atlanta. Our current presiding bishop is from Ohio, and our new presiding bishop is from Chicago. Our current secretary is from Decorah, Iowa, and our new secretary is from New York. I met my uncle’s pastor from Olympia, Washington, just an hour before I ate lunch surrounded by Nebraskans. (Okay, Nebraska is not so very far away.) At dinner, I chatted with a pastor from Las Vegas. The assembly was interpreted simultaneously into Spanish for the members of our denomination whose first or only language is not English. (In case you don’t know, there are five hundred or more congregations in the denomination that worship in Spanish.)

It wasn’t just the diversity of people, this “we” that makes the church, that impressed me. The fact is, we all care about this church. We don’t always see eye-to-eye; some votes were settled by the slimmest of margins. Sometimes we’d argue about the best way forward, or the top priorities, or the ideal candidate for an elected position. But I have learned that people who care deeply about an institution, whether it’s a local congregation or a national church body, tend to be willing to pick a fight.

Now, I don’t mean the kind of fight that is rooted in mean-spirited aggression, nor a disagreement just for the sake of hearing one’s own voice. However, I have found that when we are committed to a group, we care about its decisions and actions. When we say we are “church for the sake of the world,” does that mean only that we fund ELCA World Hunger effectively? Does it also mean evangelism so that more people can hear about Jesus Christ? Does it also mean advocacy at local, state, and national levels so that all the world may live in health and peace? These are questions we have to answer, and we don’t always agree on the correct answer!

Just the same, I feel hopeful whenever I see people who care enough to speak their mind. I feel hopeful when we listen to people whose conclusions might be different from ours, even as our commitment is shared. I feel hopeful when we pick a direction and move toward it together, even if it wasn’t the direction each individual had hoped for. Above all, I feel hopeful when we pray and sing together– all in one accord to worship our God in the life we find from Jesus Christ, our living Lord.