A Q & A and a Quote

1 - MUSICIAN FELLOWSHIP: Q & A
Q: I was recently offered a competitive wage to be a musician for a Catholic church service. As a professional musician and confessing WELS member, is it right for me to take this job? Second, if it is not right, how do I go about telling the church without confusing them, offending them, or giving the appearance that the people in my church are "stuck up"?

A: I suppose you could rationalize that you are not participating in the worship, but you are just being hired to play the music you are told to play as a janitor is hired to clean the church or a contractor is hired to build it, but is it so easy to convince yourself of this? You will be a direct participant and support of worship which will often include elements that dishonor God's Word or mislead people, such as the veneration of Mary and the sacrifice of the mass. Do you want to be an active support of such worship? Can you really say you are not participating?

If you are treating this as a job offer, all you have to say is "No thank you." No one ever has to give a reason why they are not interested in a job. No one has an obligation to accept an employment offer.

If you want to give them an explanation of the difference between the Catholic and Lutheran church and that you do not want to participate in worship or support worship which is against your own convictions, you can do that.

SOURCE: WELS Q & A

COMMENT: This can always be a sticky situation for a pastor as he advises those who have musical talents in his congregation. We aren't just pianists, organists or trumpet players, we are Christians, we are Lutherans. God gave us his talents for his glory. In all the work we do, whether we are pastors or farmers, teachers or factory workers, we are being called by God to put our gifts to work for the good of mankind and to the glory of God. We cannot dissect the earthly purposes and uses of our gifts from their spiritual purpose - for the good of souls, being a light to the world, using our gifts in a morally correct fashion... not simply in the way that best serves us or sidesteps confrontation on important spiritual issues.

2 - OLD LCMS REPUDIATION OF UNIONISM: QUOTE
We repudiate unionism, that is, church fellowship with the adherents of false doctrine. It is important to point out again and again that in all Scripture there is not a single text permitting a teacher to deviate from the Word of God or granting a child of God license to fraternize with a teacher who deviates from the Word of God.

SOURCE: Pieper. The Brief Statement
cited by: Brug, John F. The Synodical Conference and
Prayer Fellowship, pg. 38
Winter, 2005. Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. 102, No. 1

COMMENT: To this day the LCMS continues to struggle, because many have let go of the above concept.

1 - BRITISH FELLOWSHIP BROKEN OVER ATONEMENT - OLD NEWS (Example)
Three of Great Britain's most prominent Christian groups have ended their 14-year conference partnership, scuttling the annual Word Alive youth event. At issue was disagreement over a speaker, the Rev. Steve Chalke.

…“The Word Alive committee, in good conscience, just didn’t feel it would be appropriate, during that week, for Steve Chalke to be given a platform,” said UCCF communications director Pod Bhogal. “Steve Chalke has made his dislike of penal substitution really, really clear, and … we didn’t feel the nature of the atonement was one of those things you could agree to disagree over.”

Chalke’s theology first came into question in 2003 with the publication of his book The Lost Message of Jesus. In it, Chalke, the senior minister of Church.co.uk and founder of Oasis Trust and Faithworks, compared the prevailing Protestant view of the atonement to divine child abuse.

“[W]ouldn’t it be inconsistent for God to warn us not to be angry with each other and yet burn with wrath himself [against sin and sinners]?” he later wrote in an article defending his position. “I, for one, believe that God practices what he preaches.”

SOURCE: Trammel, Madison. Cross Purposes
July 2, 2007. Christianity Today

COMMENT: The WELS is not the only Christian group which has to wrestle with the question on whether or not to allow speakers with poor doctrine to present issues at their conferences. I would like to know how Chalke understands the crucifixion of God's Son. What about all of God's statements about his anger and repulsion toward sin. The cross is the only way that justice and mercy are executed without either being denied.

2 - DEMOTING FALSE TEACHERS - OLD NEWS
Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, proposed that groups within the Communion that adhere to views that are not widely shared by Anglicans, such as gay ordination, accept a lesser status within in the Communion.

SOURCE: Reynolds, Diane. Defining a faith
July 3, 2006. Carroll County Times – Religion

COMMENT: Now that’s a different take on Fellowship… It's not exactly “watch and avoid,” but rather demotion. Admonition, if not accepted, must turn to expulsion - "treat as a pagan and tax collector."

ILLUSTRATION

“Why do you turn out for every road hog who comes along?” she asked rather crossly. “The right of way is ours, isn’t it?”

“Oh, undoubtedly!” her husband replied calmly. “As for turning out, the reason is plainly suggested in the epitaph which appeared in a newspaper recently:

Here lies the body of William Jay,
Who died maintaining his right of way;
He was right, dead right, as he sped along,
But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong!”

SOURCE: UNKNOWN

COMMENT: We pride ourselves in knowing right from wrong... but that pride can be deadly to fellowship. It stomps over others lovelessly, exerting 'truth' over patience. For the sake of our brother, we don't give up the truth, but we progress with love, so that we walk with our brother, not over him.

1) STRENGTH IN UNION - illustration
A visitor to an insane asylum noted the patients sitting about the buildings and grounds with only a guard here and there to watch after them. A number of these were young girls who seemed to have no fear whatever.

“Are you not afraid these inmates may become violent and do you bodily harm?” a visitor asked one of the girls.

“Not in the least,” was the reply.

“Suppose they should organize themselves and at a prearranged moment should attack you, what would you do?”

“Organize! Organize!” said the girl contemptuously, “if they had sense enough to organize they would not be here!”

SOURCE: Unknown

COMMENT: It's sad if our congregations are so lacking in unity that nothing gets done. Are we a house of the Lord or a house of the insane?

2) UNITY: IT'S UNIVERSAL CALL - quote
Unity… It is the last word with which an athletic coach sends his boys into a game, the slogan with which an industrial leader seeks to put his staff on their toes, the insistent demand of politicians as they gird themselves for the battle of votes.

Reim, Edmund. The Strength of Christian Unity, p. 11
Essays on Church Fellowship (1996)

COMMENT: What better place should there be a call for unity - then within the community of saints.

1) LIVING STONES, NOT BRICKS - quote
Living Stones, Not Bricks - Bricks are all the same; same size, shape, texture, color. But stones are different. Look at that person next to you; different, heh? We’re not bricks . . . that’s OK. We’re stones; all different but a beautiful mosaic God brings together. (cf. I Peter 2:4-12)

SOURCE: Hunter, Randy K. A letter of hope – answers
May 2006. Forward in Christ – Series on I Peter, Vol. 93, No. 5

COMMENT: My daughter and I were recently walking through the woods. I marveled to my daughter, "Isn't God great! Not only did he make all sorts of animals and all kinds of plants, but he also made lots of different rocks." God is a great artist, making beauty everywhere. We are all different living stones, used by him to make a beautiful mosaic called his Church.

2) MY PEW - one-liner
Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited… until you try to sit in their pews.

SOURCE: Unknown