Synodical Sighs: When Complaints Meet Clarity

While browsing online, there was this time when I stumbled upon a post featuring seven tenets from a self-proclaimed "millennial theologian." The author(s) were lamenting the fact that they were "tired" of the state of their Synod, craving for practices they prefer—or are familiar with—to be universally supported.

The sentiment in the post is understandable: in every generation there is growing weary of the status quo and yearning for change. This cycle has been around for a long time, so it’s only fair that this generation has its turn. However, I felt these tenets could benefit from some “real-meaning" translation for clarity.

1) We’re tired of the political games.
Meaning: "When my side plays the game, it’s about being confessional and scriptural. When the other side plays, it’s politics."

2) We’re tired of so many parading around practising as evangelicals only dressed up as Lutherans.
Meaning: "We possess an evangelical-detector under our Book of Concord that works flawlessly. Also, we prefer resorting to traditional practices only rather than incorporating contemporary elements that might resonate with different people. Our preference leans toward practising as Roman Catholics only dressed up as Lutherans."

3) We’re tired of being told that Word and Sacrament ministry is secondary to neighbourhood meet-and-greets because mission is all that matters and the church is going to die.
Meaning: "We resort to this mostly strawman argument to contrast our preference for focusing on temple-office routines and serving existing members over other possible activities, and especially over working hard on outreach. ‘Pastors don’t generate sheep; sheep generate sheep,’ as the saying goes. If the church dies, it’s because members became unfaithful, or it was the Holy Spirit’s will (even though we constantly preach that the Holy Spirit enlightens and gathers people through our preaching). Then, if the congregation we are serving dies, we take a call and go elsewhere. (Though we all know the Church of Christ itself can’t die—only Synods or local congregations.)"

4) We’re tired of being told that being uniquely Lutheran is offensive and narrow-minded.
Meaning: "Hardly anyone actually finds Lutheran identity offensive or narrow-minded; some simply emphasize ‘Christian’ over ‘Lutheran. But we’ll frame it this way to underscore our comfort with sticking solely to practices we feel more comfortable with, rather than exploring how insights of variety might be helpful to tradition."

5) We’re tired of the Divine Liturgy being watered down or even completely replaced for moralistic, therapeutic deism.
Meaning: "When it is our service, our preaching and our leading, it is Divine Service, the one God has as His #1 go-to place on Sunday morning. When is other people's Service, especially those who do it differently than us, it is MTD (Moralistic Therapeutic Deism)."

6) We’re tired of altars unfaithfully being left open.
Meaning: "This one needs little translation. On this point, all confessional Lutherans would agree: altars and pulpits should reflect shared confession - as long as "confession" doesn't require all pastors to kneel before the host, to lay down on the floor during mass, to count the number of wafers and similar local and personal practices."

7) We’re tired of pastors unfaithfully remaining on the roster only for their insurance and pension, thus setting up men who are recently graduated from seminary for failure or burnout.
Meaning: "Here’s one example where we might be playing politics our way, but calling it 'zeal for the Kingdom and the Ministry.' "

"We are tired."
"We're still in baby steps of the learning process of what ministry looks like in the real world. By The Grace and power of God, we pray that that He will lead us to growth in understanding of the relationship between unity in diversity according to His Word, for the benefit of His Kingdom among us."

Amen.