1. Listen long and hard before you speak; but do not let go the truth you have learned from God's Word.
2. The 8th commandment does not contain an exemption that makes it inapplicable to those one disagrees with - we still owe it to our neighbor, and most especially to our sisters and brothers in Christ, to explain everything in the kindest way. [That's a Randy Asburryism]
3. Listen for the key terms being used and seek to understand what the speakers mean by them - don't assume that they are operating with the same definitions as you are (they may or may not be).
4. If heresy most often is one aspect of the truth emphasized to the diminishment of other aspects of the truth, seek to discern what aspect is it that is being emphasized and WHY that aspect receives among that particular group of Christians such accentuation.
5. Don't think that you can "get" another Christian confession merely from reading books - seek to engage real people and check out what is taught and practiced in concrete parish life.
6. Don't put all your eggs in a recent convert's basket - in other words, seek to understand another confession by those who have lived under it for some time and when you consider the words of those who are new to that confession, do so with some caution - they may be right on, but they may not be.
7. Last, and most important of all: you don't have to agree with someone to love them, and to act kindly and lovingly toward them; being high-handed and arrogant in our treatment of others never serves the purposes of God. If we need to warn, let us do so as St. Paul did, with tears.
14 comments:
Thanks, Bill, and "Amen!" (even to the "Randy Asburryism" ;-)
Hey Dad!
I heard this AMAZING sermon on labor day today, Dean's pretty sure it was the same wonderful sermon as last year, at least most parts... AND to top it off...he didn't talk about the readings, at all...I believe the only bible verse/ reading he said anything on was somewhere in Ephesians. It was wonderful, you would have loved it.
not.
Great list! I especially like #4 and #6.
#4 Any decent heresy always contains a nugget of truth or it wouldn't fly. That's what the word means at it's root - a part that has become divisive.
#6 Recent converts are usually full of zeal and little else. The cradle types will give you a dose of reality. That has kept my feet from straying any number of times.
Here are a few others:
#8 Truth remains truth and falsehood falsehood no matter how nice people are or how good the food they serve you.
#9 Don't drink and debate theology (contrary to what many Lutherans say). You may think you sound brilliant, but really, you don't.
Lew,
I must have missed "Labor Day" in the LSB calendar! ;)
Bill,
Aw, shucks! Did you have to throw in #9???
Confession time: I have ALWAYS been very suspicious of anything with the name "ecumenical," even before I really knew what it meant. I remember the first time I heard the word and thinking "That sounds like a fishy thing." I'm just weird about some words like that. I love the word "orthodox" and always have, it just sounds solid to me. "Ecumenical" just doesn't sound good to me and being a new and rather idealistic (i.e. rabid Lutheran) pastor, I don't want anything if its not orthodox Lutheran. Maybe someday I'll grow out of that, but as of now, I'm not sure I want to. And just so people don't think I'm mean, I have stopped by most of the churches in the Middleville area and introduced myself to the various clergy just to be friendly.
Wonder if there are a lot of ecumenophobes out there and I also wonder if its that bad of a thing.
Rev. Weedon,
Thanks for posting these simple but often forgotten guidelines for ecumenical engagement. I've stuck to some and need to be reminded of others. As a neophyte to Lutheranism for about one year(following a year of pondering) in places where I am the minority, I have, through the grace of God, seen much growth in this area.
Rev Cwirla,
Thanks for the additions.
Heresies do indeed contain nuggets of truth. It would seem to me that Arianism for instance would, in some ways, want to protect the faithful from thinking that God could be explained in a Modalist fashion.
While recent converts can and do at times exhibit "zeal without knowledge", the most important corrective to this would be their willingness to have that zeal tempered by careful listening and reasoning; something that may well exist more among more mature converts. I for one know that at the age of 32, I am much less argumentative than I was 10 years ago and much more careful to be slow to speak. I try not to fuel the image of the over-zealous recent convert.
Cradle types can be a very good source of better insights into a particular faith community, providing they, too, are well-informed, well-read,committed to the faith and tempered by the willingness to listen. I've met this type but, unfortunately, I've also met less savory characters. So, being a cradle type does not per se mean one has stumbled upon a good, corrective source.
Pax
Pastor Roemke,
The word has certainly left a rather bad taste in many mouths - it is heard all too often as simply "agreeing to disagree" or some such, selling out the truth of God for the sake of "getting along." My intended use of the word was rather more neutral: engaging in conversation and discussion and learning from Christians who hold a differing confession than one's self.
Omar,
Amen to the cradle types not being always a sound guide. I think that many converts experience perplexity at the "ho-hum" approach of many cradle Lutherans toward their own rich heritage.
The "ho-hum" of many cradle Lutherans (or anyone else, for that matter. Lutherans have no monopoly on ho-hum) is part of the "dose of reality" one needs. New converts often are full of champagne romance for their newfound love. Champagne quickly goes flat; give me a good, seasoned Cabernet any day. It was the seasoned "ho hum" veterans who kept my feet from straying when romance beckoned to "greener pastures."
Rev. Cwirla,
I can see your point as well. good food for thought.
Pax.
I'm getting around to commenting on this at the moment (and your sanctification blog too eventually). Let me just give one word here about converts contra Pastor Cwirla:
1) the apostolic church was mad up entirely of converts--not a cradle Christian among them!
2) We are all called to be converts.
Cradle Catholics (and I expect Cradle Lutherans) are often a little uncomfortable with converts in their midst--precisely because the convert is usually better educated in the faith and more enthusiastic about defending it and propogating it. A bit like an evangelical or charasmatic Protestant at a liberal protestant convention! Of course a convert lacks the day to day tumbling that knocks the sharp edges off (a little like wearing in a new pair of shoes to use another analogy), but in terms of the teachings of the faith, they can generally be trusted.
And in today's Catholic Church there are really a very, very large number of converts. Here in Australia, two of our bishops are converts from Anglicanism. They make our best leaders sometimes.
I remember an ecumenical engagement between an Episcopalian and an RC. The wedding turned out to be in an RC church with a novus ordo "Mass", and at Communion the Catholic priest distributed Communion to the Catholics while an Episcopal priest distributed preconcescrated hosts of his own to the Episcopalians, and I think whoever else lined up.
What a riot! In case you're wondering, as I was post-Catholic and pre-Lutheran at the time, I didn't go to Communion at all.
I'm on board with your guidelines.
David,
About converts - of course, we are all converts. But my post merely noted a certain caution toward *recent* converts, acknowledging that they may be right on the money, but possibly may not.
Of course a convert lacks the day to day tumbling that knocks the sharp edges off (a little like wearing in a new pair of shoes to use another analogy), but in terms of the teachings of the faith, they can generally be trusted.
I agree with you, David. My sister and I were both raised in the Lutheran tradition, LCMS, LCA and ELCA. It's true that as a convert it takes time to absorb the "day to day" life of any particular faith tradition but converts as a rule are definitely better informed.
My sister is a highly educated person but couldn't quote you from the Book of Concord if her life depended on it. None of her three children are particularly attached to the Lutheran Church at this time but I'm hoping that will change as they grow older and put down roots. Her youngest, my niece, has been very much influenced by American evangelicalism.
I've had many discussions with cradle Lutherans and Catholics who never progressed past the basics.
Converts as a rule want more than the basics.
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