Churchwide Assembly Day Three

Another great day in the Crescent City.

A pre-worship selfie

Before I get into today’s events, I’d like to speak (as promised) about last night. As I indicated, I did head back to the Assembly for dinner and the hearing on the Declaration on the Way.

The hearing proved to be the best moment of the Assembly for me so far. It was great to see so many Roman Catholics and Lutherans excited and eager to narrow the gaps between our churches. What I found particularly inspiring were the remarks from the floor by a pastor from the Lutheran Church in Germany, who commended the American churches for being ahead of the curve on these issues. He hopes to take the Declaration back to Germany with him and use it as a model for their own ecumenical work. I found that very encouraging.

After returning to the hotel, I went to the Pelican Bar for dessert and to watch the Olympics (Go Michael Phelps! 21 Golds.) I ran into Bp. Matt Riegel again and we had a drink together. We talked about our experiences at our Synod Assemblies. A good time was had by all.

After 15 years of ministry, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but I’m always astounded by the respect and affection of people who I respect as mentors and admire as leaders of the church. Between the time I spent yesterday with Dr. Wengert and Matt, I saw this numerous times and I always find it humbling. These people want to know how I’m doing, they want to know my thoughts, they respect my expertise and experience. There’s a part of me that still feels like the wet-behind-the-ears student at seminary, who didn’t even know enough to ask the right questions. I have to remind myself sometimes that it has, in fact, been 15 years since I was ordained as a pastor of this church and that I do know what I am doing and people recognize that. I’ve been very blessed to learn at the feet of “giants” of our church and it’s quite something to have that human and affectionate connection with these people.

On to today. We began with a presentation from the Chaplain Corps of our Armed Forces. We then moved to our first elections. The second ecclesiastical ballot for the VP was completed. We also received our ballots for all the other officers of the ELCA.

And then on to Memorials. (Things are moving apace already this morning. I can’t skip out today like I did yesterday.) The first memorial was on the divestment from fossil fuels. There was an effort to postpone this debate until after we hear from the LWF, which is in favor of this memorial. Having come from a state (and living in one now) that depends heavily on fossil fuels for jobs and a decent economy, I’m not keen on this memorial. I’m all against global warming and environmental destruction, but technologically and sociologically we’re not ready for such a bold step. This strikes me as premature and eliminates our voice in efforts to guide the industry towards better alternatives. I want to vote now, not later. But the motion did pass, so we’ll be talking about this again later.

The next memorial is to address our relationship with historically black churches and to strengthen our relationships with them. This one is a no-brainer to me and easy to support. It passed with flying colors. (99% voted yes.)

Discussion on the Black church memorial

Following is a memorial regarding justice in the Holy Land, seeking to compel our government (and that of Israel and Palestine) to find a way forward for peace, justice, and an independent Palestinian state. This is going to be a hot one. Immediately, an effort to amend the motion hits the floor, particularly over the issue of whether our government should threaten to withdraw its military support for Israel if they do not comply. (I am against using this cudgel as I find it politically unrealistic in our current climate. No government official in Washington will ever move to cut off military aid to Israel.) Debate was vigorous. I find it frustrating, since people keep blurring the line between discussion of the amendment and the whole memorial. I like Bp. Eaton, but she’s not keeping the Assembly disciplined on this. But it is definitely not boring today. Debate dragged on so long that Bp. Eaton called orders of the day without any resolution on either the amendment or the original motion.

So I then went to get coffee and some breakfast.

The morning plenary wrapped up with more introductions and greetings from various churchwide ministries. We moved from there to worship, where Pr. James Phillips, an African-American Lutheran from Washington D.C., preached. He preached a powerful sermon on the resurrection story from Mark, saying that for too long the church and our nation have been “stuck in the graveyard,” where there is no hope and no expectation of change. We are a resurrection people, yet for so many plagued by poverty, racism, and fear, we are stuck on Good Friday. When are we going to start living like a resurrection people? Powerful stuff, proclaimed in the characteristically animated African-American preaching style; he had people on their feet more than once.

Liturgical dance at worship today

I was nearly frozen to death in the course of these proceedings, since the convention hall air condition was working overtime. So I took off after lunch to return to the hotel to change clothes and then returned for our afternoon plenary. We began with singing “My Life Flows on in Endless Song,” which we sang as our recessional hymn at Canadochly on Sunday (A nice call back to home for me.)

No election so far in the VP election, so we’re to move to ballot three tomorrow. The head of the LWF, Martin Junge, then brought greetings to the assembly. Following thereafter were greetings from our sister church in Canada via Bishop Johnson of the ELCIC. And following thereafter were greetings from the Lutheran colleges and universities.

Apparently, for three such colleges and universities, the CWA acts as their highest governing body. So we get to vote on their Boards of Regents and a few other matters. Strikes me as a bit inefficient and unnecessary, but then again, I didn’t found nor do I run these institutions. So far, the votes seem perfunctory. Another time sink; I am eager to move on to the Declaration of the Way, which is next in the agenda.

The seminary presidents were introduced. Each seminary had an acclamation from the assembly, undoubtedly from their graduates among the clergy. I did my best to hold my LTSP banner high amidst all these Gettysburg scum (said with love. I am, of course, just teasing my colleagues, something not always clear in a written medium.) Following that are still more greetings from our ecumenical partner churches. Neat to learn that we are sharing NOLA with the National Baptists, who are also holding their national assembly here this week.

And that all gives us our segue into the discussion (and vote) on the Declaration. It’s clear the spirit of moment is that we WANT to vote FOR this memorial and we want to vote NOW. No discussion. No debate. We moved immediately to the vote, ran into some technical difficulties (Maybe we overloaded the poor voting system?), but I am pleased to say it passed overwhelmingly: 931-9. Woohoo! A historic moment and I got to be a part of it. When I was doing LARC (Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic) dialogues in WV Synod, we had prayed for times like these and one has come. God be praised!

I headed out for a coffee break, recognizing that I have two more hours here in this session. I returned in time to hear the discussion on the AMMPARO strategy beginning. AMMPARO is the ELCA’s proposed outreach and advocacy for migrant children. “Amparo” in Spanish means “to accompany” which is a fitting name for the initiative, as we seek to accompany and walk alongside migrant, immigrant, and refugee (which many undocumented immigrants actually are) children coming to our country. The list of people speaking in favor of this memorial is lengthy and encouraging. I didn’t hear a single person speak against this memorial, in fact, and unsurprisingly it passed overwhelmingly. We are God’s church and we stand with his marginalized children.

And now, the budget conversation begins! If you love number-crunching, this is great time for the assembly. I don’t, so pray for me (although my enthusiasm for the last two actions of this assembly will carry me far.) Thankfully, it passed with little discussion.

Following and concluding our time this afternoon were greetings from our Inter-religious partners from the Jewish and Muslim faiths. Together, we affirmed our opposition to religious bigotry, standing together as the three great faiths of “the book” against hatred in general and hatred based on religion (or lack thereof) specifically. We also celebrated the many things we have in common, including our shared regrets over our history with (and often against) one another. This is another area of great import for me. In seminary, I was pleased and blessed to be involved in more than one inter-religious dialogue with the Jewish people, the legacy of one of my mentors. This time, a pastor from my youth named Jim Hanson.

What a great day. I get a free evening and I’m pretty tired. (I did manage to get one sermon finished. One to go.) I’ll probably head to Popeyes for dinner (something simple. I know, I know, fake Cajun in NOLA is almost blasphemous, but I’m not keen on doing anything more complicated) and then play some Hearthstone in my hotel room. Quiet night to end a crazy, but fulfilling day.

Rain on the streets of NOLA