Central Lutheran Church phone: (360) 734-7180 fax: (360) 734-0788
925 North Forest St., Bellingham, WA 98225
email: office@centrallutheran.net
website: http://www.centrallutheran.net
119 years of Sharing God's love in the heart of Bellingham
WORSHIP SCHEDULE 8:30 AM traditional, 11 AM contemporary, 9:45 AM fellowship and Sunday school for all ages
“Orthodox”:
Part 2 — continuing the look at what it means to be Orthodox:
The Reformation and its effects
The sixteenth-century
Formula of Concord may have ended the 30 Years War between the
Bishop of Rome’s supporters and the “Protestants,”
but it certainly didn’t end the controversy of defining
the true faith. The peace established a cessation of hostilities
only between the two main combatant groups. There were several
other variations within and beyond those two groups that were
not included in the peace by either side. In continental Europe,
aggression and hostilities occasionally flared up against those
groups for the next 100 years.
Rome continued
to define the true faith by deciding “according to the
whole” (in other words, by meeting in councils representing
the whole church), meeting in a General Council in Trent beginning
in 1546. By the time the Council had completed its work (it
lasted for nearly 11 years and met in over 20 sessions, during
which time the Bishop of Rome changed three times), most of
Luther’s original complaints had been addressed. One of
the greatest flukes of language translation is that the phrase
“according to the whole,” now transliterated into
American English as “catholic,” was often translated
as “universal,” when in fact the findings of these
councils represented only Rome’s interpretation of events.
Beginning in the 800s, most Councils met under Rome’s
control, and Rome limited and eventually excluded representation
from the Eastern bishops altogether. It was a dark day of history
when each side claimed to be the only true church. Only by excluding
each other could either side claim to be the only true and universal
(whole) church. A better word for the whole church of Christ
is “ecumenical” (from the Greek oikoumene); it means
the whole household or inhabited world, though its common usage
is often in the context of seeking unity of the whole church
of Christ.
The legally
sanctioned “true Protestants” were defined by the
Book of Concord (which, as I noted last month, included the
Formula of Concord—a listing of what Luther’s understanding
of the true church was, as understood by the princes who supported
him—and a couple other of Luther’s commentaries).
“Orthodox” Lutherans fashioned their faith around
these writings. However, how one fashioned one’s faith
around these writing was generally seen as open to individual
interpretation. Luther himself said that some differences were
adiaphora (from Greek philosophy, meaning “things indifferent”)—that
is, they weren’t theologically critical. Such matters—matters
that are neither prescribed nor proscribed by scripture, but
are valuable for the sake of form and order, or are simply matters
of choice and conscience—may be accepted or rejected as
best suits the circumstance. Orders for worship, building adornments,
and other, similar matters of tradition all fell under the title
of adiaphora. However, grace alone, faith alone, word alone,
the presence of Christ in the sacraments, the three ecumenical
creeds, the Trinity—these matters were essential truths
of the gospel and thus, for Luther, were nonnegotiable.
Among the
many shifts caused by Luther’s rediscovery of the gospel
of scripture was that faith became an individual relationship
with God and not simply a crowd following the church. Knowledge
and understanding of the gospel, and the responsibilities of
society and the church to provide means to gain that understanding,
became primary in Luther’s rebuilding of society and set
the pattern of a just society ever since. With the new technologies
in printing making books more affordable, the required primary
education of all children, and the freedom for science to develop,
the challenge of the Protestant churches quickly became to proclaim
a call to faithfulness of heart to the freedom of the gospel.
Luther believed that given the choice of good and evil, the
faithful would always choose good, with “service to God
and the prince” being the measure of good. Luther died
a very discouraged man, because the freedom of the gospel did
not create the natural Christian response he had hoped for.
The task of convincing hearts to live in the discipline of faithfulness
given by the freedom of the gospel belonged to the generation
of preachers who followed the primary reformers.
The challenge
in that next generation was between an “intellectual”
faith that understood the precepts of the gospel, and a “pietistic”
faith that lived the precepts of the gospel. The original controversy
of works righteousness against righteousness by grace had found
new language. Orthodoxy was claimed by both sides—that
is, both sides claimed true allegiance to Luther’s teaching.
The intellectuals understood orthodoxy to be a true knowledge
of the gospel by the study of scripture, as expressed through
proper worship. Study of the original languages of the Bible
was very important to this group, because such study was thought
to be the key to understanding the gospel. Worship was stripped
of frivolous actions, and a great emphasis was placed upon the
proper preaching of the gospel so that all would know the good
news. Theological language and disciplines were carefully developed
so as to prevent any expression of works righteous or humankind’s
“partnership” with God, which might lessen the true
force of salvation by grace alone.
What Luther had hoped would become the knowledge of every person
risked becoming an intellectualism reserved for the highest
of the educated elite. In good Lutheran fashion, the rebellion
to come was swift and powerful. Against the intellectuals arose
a movement that was distinctively non-clerical, non-intellectual,
and non-church. Calling for lives changed by the gospel, this
movement was often based in homes and led by laypeople, and
it emphasized preaching that convicted heart and soul and called
for the reformation of one’s lifestyle. Named for its
emphasis on correct or dutiful (pious) living as opposed to
intellectualism, “pietism” was at first a derogatory
name (like King Henry calling the followers of Luther “Lutherans”)
used by people who were afraid that the new movement would instill
a teaching of works righteousness. Pietism answered a critical
need in the Reformation, however. Pietism claimed orthodoxy
because it understood the gospel as the source of God entering
into relationship with humans, a perspective that was intended
to free humans to live in faith by honoring God through their
private and public lives. Service to others was understood as
an expression of love returned to God for the gift of the salvation
given in Jesus Christ. According to pietism, it was God’s
Holy Spirit that convicted one of sin, called one to forgiveness
of sin, and empowered one to share God’s love in the world.
It was from pietism that missionaries and missionary societies
arose to take the gospel to the whole world. Pietism at its
best provided the means of living Luther’s intellectual
orthodoxy; at its worst it became the simple kind of legalism
that caused the Reformation in the first place.
Although
the pietistic movement had spread to all expressions of the
church by the 1700s, Orthodoxy was yet to be defined; now it
was caught between intellectualism and pietism. This division
was soon to be complicated by two events: the dawn of the modern
scientific era, and the pioneer settlement of the New World.
[To be continued …]
See you in Church,
Pastor Tim
Lunch
Bunch (Seniors) Thanksgiving Celebration
The Lunch Bunch has some money that we are going to use to
fund a Thanksgiving luncheon for ourselves. It will be held
November 16 in the Fellowship Hall, at noon. We will definitely
need to know how many are coming, in order to purchase the right
amount of food, so please sign up on the sheet in the narthex.
If more people sign up than we have money for, we will ask for
some items to be brought in, potluck-style. We will keep you
up to date as more information is known.
—Nelda
Attention, Veterans!
All Central Lutheran veterans will be honored at a special
coffee hour on Sunday, November 8. Please plan to attend!
If you have a favorite military hat, bring it along that day.
Mailbag
Dear Central:
My name is Rebecca Rayner and I run a furniture bank through
the Whatcom Volunteer Center. The “bank” provides
free furniture and household items to people who were homeless
and recently housed through the Whatcom Homeless Service Center.
Our bank is virtual, meaning that we have no storage space –
when a donor contacts me with an item to donate, I assign a
volunteer to pick the item up from the donor and deliver it
to the customer’s new home. This furniture bank model
is the first of its kind in the country. We would like to get
more community organizations involved in our bank, and I think
it would be great if Central Lutheran could be a part of that.
[Individuals with furniture to donate can call me at the number
below.] —Rebecca Rayner, Special Projects and Events Coordinator
VISTA; Furniture Bank phone: 360.224.7185
Dear friends and members of Central:
I would like to let you know that I am recovering very well
so far from my two recent major surgeries. I am having to relearn
so many things that we all take for granted in our everyday
life. Gaining the strength in my legs to walk again is probably
the hardest part of my P.T., but I am continuing to try my hardest.
I am now looking forward to moving back into my new apartment
at Spring Creek. Thanks to each and every one of you for your
thoughts, concerns, and most of all for the prayers.
Love and God's blessings to you. — Mary Wickler
Mary is at North Cascades Health and Rehabilitation Center
on the corner of Tremont Ave and Cordata Way, room #211. If
anyone would like to visit, afternoon visits are best; evenings
are not good.
Dear Linda [Callendar] and the Central Lutheran Parishioners:
On behalf of Whatcom Hospice I would like to thank you for your
donation of 37 handmade quilts to be given to our hospice patients.
These quilts will provide comfort to those who are facing difficult
and challenging end-of-life issues. Knowing that these were
lovingly made by all of you makes them a very special and heart-felt
gift. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Sincerely, Mike Kirkland,
Executive Director, Whatcom Hospice Foundation
From
the Council President Randy Senf
Dear Friends in Christ:
Following the August churchwide assembly of the ELCA and the
September convocation of our partners in Lutheran CORE, your
Church Council here at Central, with input from many of you,
has engaged in a discussion of “What should we do now?”
Many of you participated in the Sunday forum we held following
my return from the Lutheran CORE convocation. The Council asked
that I write to our synod bishop expressing our feelings. I
want you to be fully aware of what we are saying and the actions
we are taking as we try to be an orthodox (traditional) Lutheran
church, so here is the letter that was sent, appropriately enough,
on Reformation Sunday:
Dear Bishop Boerger,
I am writing at the direction of the Central
Lutheran Church Council to express our sadness and dismay
concerning the actions taken by the ELCA assembly in Minneapolis,
actions which our own synod has promoted, endorsed and supported
by various resolutions. We believe that with these actions,
to quote James Nestingen, “the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America effectively declared that it is no longer
a church.” So what does a church congregation do when
the other expressions of the church with which it has been
aligned cease to be a Christian church? That is the question
with which we now struggle.
I’ve previously communicated to you
that Central, by congregational vote, has joined the WordAlone
Network and Lutheran CORE reform movements within the ELCA.
Recently I attended the Lutheran CORE convocation in Fishers,
Indiana. This gathering of 1,200 orthodox Lutherans unanimously
directed Lutheran CORE to work toward a reconfiguration of
North American Lutheranism and Central will be as active as
possible in this effort.
For now we continue to be a part of the ELCA
and Northwest Washington Synod, but we will not provide any
financial support. I recognize that this doesn’t make
much of an impact as our support has been pretty negligible,
and the members we’ve lost because of the actions of
our synod and churchwide expression will result in further
strain to our budget. We will continue to support, as able,
the good and valuable ministries of the ELCA, either directly
or through Lutheran CORE.
We have not directed, but we have discouraged,
the participation of our pastor in synod and cluster activities.
Finally, we will work to organize, into a free standing cluster,
those congregations in this synod who, like us, feel the ELCA
has abandoned Lutheran teaching and tradition as well as a
majority of its members.
Bound to the Word,
Randy Senf
President
If you would like to see the full text of Dr.
Nestingen’s article let me know and we’ll get you
a copy. You can read his article and others at Lutheran CORE’s
website: www.lutherancore.org.
—Randy
ELCA “Good Gifts”
You’ll soon begin to think about Christmas gifts
for family members and friends. Here’s something new to
consider: instead of giving conventional presents this year,
give ELCA “Good Gifts.” As examples, in countries
served by the ELCA World Hunger program, your $50 gift could
buy a goat or provide adult literacy training or immunize a
child against preventable diseases such as measles and tetanus.
Depending on the interests of your gift-recipient, you could—in
that person’s name—give a donation that would provide
access to safe drinking water, supply books and other school
supplies, or pay a doctor’s salary for a day. To see all
the possible “Good Gift” ideas, look at the blue
catalogs bound with The Lutheran in Central’s narthex,
or check out www.elca.org/goodgifts. Visit www.elca.org/goodgiftscards
for cards and creative ways to announce your gift.
Another Christmas idea: Lutherwood!
Christmas is right around the corner … give the gift of
camp! Santa loves camp! (The summer brochure will come out in
early December.)
Interfaith Coalition News
Film screening to raise funds for homeless housing: “Where
God Left His Shoes” is an award-winning film that portrays
one family’s struggles with homelessness. To raise funds
for its homeless housing program, Interfaith Coalition will
show the film on Saturday, Nov. 14, at First Presbyterian Church,
1031 North Garden St. Doors open at 6 p.m., with music by Cabin
Fever NW beginning at 6:15 p.m.; the film begins at 7 p.m. Tickets
are available at Village Books, Community Food Co-op, and Interfaith
Coalition for a suggested $10 donation. Call 360-734-3983 or
visit www.interfaith-coalition.org for more information.
Seeking volunteers to staff severe-weather shelters: Can you
offer a night’s comfort and relief to people living on
the streets? Volunteers staff Interfaith Coalition’s severe-weather
shelters in shifts from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Last winter we were
open for two straight weeks during the snowy weather. We need
many volunteers to help at our two sites. If you’re interested
in learning more about the program and volunteering, please
attend one of the two upcoming training sessions: Thursday,
Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church, site of the men’s
shelter, 2750 McLeod Road; or Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
at Garden Street United Methodist Church, site of the women’s
and children’s shelter, 1326 North Garden St. —Laura
DeRose Harker, 734-3983
Whatcom
Chorale Concert
On Sunday December 13 at 3:00 P.M. the Whatcom Chorale will
present Carols and Lullabies from Two Continents at First Congregational
Church on Cornwall in Bellingham. Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony
of Carols” and Conrad Susa’s “Christmas in
the Southwest” will be performed by the ninety-voice Chorale
and distinguished guest instrumentalists. Tickets ($15, Seniors
$12, Students and under eighteen $5) are available at the door
and at Village Books, Piper Music, Everybody’s Store and
Downtown Renaissance.
The mission of
Central Lutheran Church
is to be a church so deeply and confidently
rooted in the gospel of God's grace,
revealed in Jesus Christ,
that we joyfully give ourselves in witness and service.
Bishop's Message
Go! —by The Rev. Wm Chris Boerger, Bishop
Go therefore and made disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew
28:19-20 NRSV)
This is one of the Bible verses that those of my generation
got to memorize in confirmation.
The Great Commission is still one of the marching orders texts
for the church. As I look at this text again I find the verbs
to be powerful challenges to our understanding and work. The
first verb, go, is the one I want to pay attention to in this
reflection.
The disciples who in this story are both worshipping and doubting
are commanded to go. Jesus is not saying if you build it they
will come. Jesus says go. Get up and move on this command. There
is a sense of urgency about this command. Jesus is ascending
and the followers of Jesus are to get to work. That same message
is coming to us today with renewed urgency.
The statistics are impossible to ignore. In the last eight
years we have closed or consolidated seven congregations. Seventy-five
percent of our congregations have reported a drop in their average
worship attendance. The average age of our members is on the
rise. The symptoms are alarming and yet the future is open to
numerous possibilities.
First, the call of God still remains. We are about God's work.
It is true that recent surveys suggest that our reputation as
the None Zone may be changing. The fact remains that the majority
of our friends and neighbors still do not participate in the
work of Christ's church. We have a theology that knows the power
of God in the reality of daily life. We bring the message of
grace in a world bound in sin and self centeredness.
Second, the message of the gospel is a message to be shared.
You do not hide a lamp under a basket. We say to every baptized
child of God, "Let your light so shine before others that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
God is still calling others to faith through the word and the
witness of each of us. This is God's urgency, not our institutional
angst.
Jesus word to the disciples was and is go. Be witnesses, teachers,
baptizers, carriers of the message and know that I am with you
always. The age has not come to an end.
We live in one of the most obvious mission fields in the world.
Now is not the time to study, now is the time to go into our
homes, workplaces, playgrounds, markets, or schools and share
the truth that is in us. In Jesus Christ God is at work in the
world bringing life, hope and the reason for being. Go!
—from Soundings, news for the Northwest Washington Synod,
November 2009
Newsletter Deadline
Please note that the deadline for submission of articles,
letters, information,
or reports for the church newsletter is the 20th of each month.
Central Lutheran's Fall
Bazaar
November 7th, 2009 from 9:00am-2:00pm
A wonderful mix of our past heritage and local culture; featuring
lefse, timeless treasures, lunch, goodies, crafts, and several
local crafters and artists.
Mark your calendar to come do some early Christmas shopping
for original, hand-crafted items, get your lefse-fix, and have
lunch! No admission charge. Proceeds go to Central Lutheran
Women's outreach and mission programs. Matching funds provided
by Thrivent. For more information or if you are available to
help, please call or email the church office.
Kids' Central Preschool
Kids’ Central
is in full swing and Preschool Sunday is November 8th! Please
join us at Contemporary Worship for a short program. We are
an all-year open enrollment school and there are a few spaces
left in the Tuesday/Thursday class! Please share the good news
as we begin teaching the Good News in this special ministry
of love and outreach.
Ways YOU can help enrich our preschool:
Prayer! Please remember the students, Miss Angie, and the
mission of Kids’ Central Preschool in your prayers.
By Saving Your Garbage: Well, okay, not quite. Just cardboard
egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, crystal light/wal-mart juice
containers, old wash clothes, single-serving, black plastic
frozen entrée trays, and metal juice can lids. These
items can be left at the church office.
Change is Good! Drop your spare change in the 5 gallon bucket
in the narthex on Sundays and watch your investment grow!
Magazines Make Great Gifts!: You can help KCP by buying,
renewing or extending your favorite magazine subscriptions.
40% of you purchase amount will go directly to Kids Central
Preschool. For more info, go to www.magfundraising.com/CentralLutheranPreschool.
Bring in your ink/toner cartridges and old cell phones
to recycle: drop them in the designated box in the narthex.
It’s that easy!
Online Shopping: Make sure to logon to OneCause.com before
shopping online. KCP will get a percentage of your online
purchases at hundreds of online stores including Gap.com,
Shoes.com, Amazon.com, and Orientaltrading.com. More info
at www.onecause.com
Scholastic Book Club Orders: shop online for books and
KCP will receive bonus points and one free book with each
internet order. This is great for Christmas gifts. Book order
forms are NOW available in the narthex (next order due Nov.
6th) or go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. User Name: kidscentralpreschool,
Password: central .
Donate your Family Ministry Builder stamps: These are free
stamps given to you each time you shop at Family Christian
Book Store. For every 20 stamps, we receive $5.00 off. Drop
yours off in the designated narthex box.
Kids' Harvest Festival
November 7th, 2009 from
4:00pm-7:00pm
Come join us for a fun evening of food, games, prizes, and a
second chance to wear your Halloween costume! There will be
face-painting, lots of fun games with prizes (don't worry parents-
it's not ALL candy), bounce-house, and more, all in a safe and
family-friendly environment. For kids pre-k to 6th grade. Admission:
$1.00 or FREE with a non-perishable donation for the food bank;
5 FREE tickets if you wear a costume, 10 more FREE tickets if
your guardian wears a costume, and additional tickets can be
purchased 10/$1.00. Food will be available, so come hungry.
All proceeds will go to the Lighthouse Mission for their Thanksgiving
Dinner. For more information, contact the church office.
Tired of solicitation phone calls—on landlines
and cell phones? You can register yourself on the
Do Not Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov and can list up to
three numbers.
