The quick and easy way to end disputes. . .or maybe not.

One of the great pleasures in life for some of us is a good game of Scrabble or – my favourite – Upwords.  A dear Aunty of mine and I are keen players, and the main house rule is about whether a word can be played is simple: if ‘it’s in the book’ (specifically The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary: Seventh Edition) then we can play the word and get the score!  It it’s not, tough luck!!

There’s a similar phrase we’ve probably used or heard in our Christian communities: ‘it’s in the Bible!’. If all Christians agree on the ‘house rule’ that the Bible is the ultimate authority on everything, then theoretically one would hope things would be quite straight forward, and there would only be one Christian denomination in the world in full agreement on every word in the Bible. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be that simple – Google lists multiple sources indicating there are approximately some 45,000 Christian denominations!  I find that quite mind-boggling, given we all hold on to the Bible as the key source of our faith!

Even though our own LCANZ church ‘house rules’ do refer us to the Bible, while we might be talking about the same book, there are now multiple translations in use, AND different ways of interpreting the same scripture. Looking back at our own history, we can see a whole series of disagreements and splits that occurred because of disagreement over theological issues and how to best interpret scripture!  Ouch.  It’s something of a miracle we got to Union in the first place … but by the grace of God, we did!

What has both surprised and relieved me is discovering that we are not the only ones to have a struggle with different interpretations of scripture! This includes our current wrestling regarding the ordination of both women and men. For example, if we look to the history of our fellow Lutheran churches in the United States, we find that differences in interpretation have been an issue there as well. Using Wikipedia as a source, a quick trip through history shows both similar progress to ours in terms of progressive mergers occurring between multiple smaller Lutheran churches and synods. However, around 1975, there was something of a glitch (see the Seminex – short for ‘Seminary in exile’ – listing in Wikipedia¹).

Wikipedia tells us that:

“at issue were foundational disagreements on the authority of Scripture and the role of Christianity… Professors at Concordia Seminary [in St. Louis, Missouri.] had, in the 1950s and 1960s, begun to utilize the historical-critical method to analyse the Bible rather than the traditional historical-grammatical method that considered scripture to be the inerrant Word of God … The after-effects of the controversy were vast. Before the split, the LCMS had both liberal and Evangelical wings. After Seminex, 200 liberal and moderate congregations split from the LCMS to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC), leaving the LCMS a more conservative body than it had been in 1969. The AELC itself would later merge with other liberal and moderate Lutheran churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).”

I include this information NOT to point the finger at any one Lutheran body, but as an example outside our own LCANZ of how difficult it can be to manage different approaches in interpreting the same scripture.  It’s not just us!

It is worth noting here that the LCMS and LCANZ in the past have had a long-shared history:  scholarships to study at the same Concordia Seminary as mentioned above were available to students from the Luther Seminary/ALC, and shared international mission projects are two examples of how we have worked together despite our differences. However, the LCMS is against the ordination of women, as indicated in their response to the motion from LCANZ Synod 2023, and the more recent establishment of Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A; independent and separate of the LCANZ), sees the LCMS partnered with them in both training LM-A candidates for ministry and investigating the establishment of a new (non-LCANZ) seminary in Victoria.

Nonetheless, our LCANZ Bishops have written the following:

“The LCANZ receives LM-A as sisters and brothers in Christ who are faithful to the Scriptures with us, and who preach, teach and confess the doctrine of the Lutheran Confessions with us, but who are now a separate Lutheran church body.”

The same document quotes Pastor Matt Anker, President-Elect of the LM-A, as responding:

“I am grateful for the way in which Bishop Smith and other LCA leaders have assisted me during this time of transition and for their commitment to peaceful and godly engagement with LM-A into the future.”

To me this indicates that even if we end up with different Lutheran Churches in Australia (and there have been other smaller breakaways since Union), then we can STILL continue to engage and work together in sharing the Gospel of Jesus!

This pattern of engagement despite our differences is also seen when we ‘travel’ further and explore a global perspective. The Lutheran World Federation is the largest ‘membership organisation’ for Lutherans in the world, and according to its website:

“LWF membership represents over 78 million Christians in the Lutheran tradition in 99 countries across the globe [with] 151 member churches”.

Of these, 82% of the LWF’s member churches ordained women. This indicates it is still an issue for some. Once again, we’re not alone!

HOWEVER!!!  What gets me more excited than winning a game of Upwords here is that DESPITE not all their member churches agreeing on the ordination of women, some 78 million Lutherans have nonetheless been able to find a way to walk together and operate collaboratively! What enables this is an agreement on a similar principle to that underlying the Way Forward proposal:

“While stating this shared goal, all the Assemblies have also underlined that there should not be any imposition on the question of women’s ordination, neither on those requiring more time to decide, nor on those already ordaining women or ready to do so. An ethos of mutuality and solidarity undergirds this journey as a communion of churches.”

This gives me hope.  If 78 million other Lutherans can do this and manage to work together to undertake a vast array of missional and social justice undertakings, then surely, surely, our much smaller LCANZ can manage to do the same!

 It is reassuring to know the issue of the ordination of women has been wrestled over with care and attention to scriptural and theological detail by such a significant body as the LWF, just as it has in our own, AND that our The Way Forward proposal is underpinned by a similar ethos.  It allows us to agree to disagree and keep moving forward as a church to seek and to save the lost, and fellowship together along the way.

The alternative is to keep on arguing, and using the un-winnable ‘it’s in the book’ approach, because within our church, we interpret scripture differently on the ordination issue.  We could, of course, waste another 20 years arguing about ‘the right way to interpret scripture’, I don’t believe that’s a fruitful way forward given that others Lutheran bodies have clearly demonstrated that we CAN walk forward and work and fellowship together despite disagreeing on this.

Let’s go back to Scrabble for a moment.  My Aunty and I are both very competitive! BUT as much as the game is about ‘winning’, we also play for the fun of it and enjoyment of each other’s company!  It’s as much about relationship as it is about playing Scrabble.

 ‘Being church’ is about relationships as well as our core beliefs.  If we continue to argue ‘it’s in the book’ we are in danger of missing the point of ‘synod’: of walking together. We risk breaking existing relationships.  The Theses of Agreement, the covenant that enabled Union, set out its guidelines on this, in Section 1: Principles governing church fellowship, Point 4 (available on LCANZ website).

This is the choice that lies before us. Keep on arguing and risk breaking relationships, or walk forward together in fellowship.

It’s not going to be easy!  But that’s part of being human and living on this side of eternity. And we have a Way-Maker who goes before us to show the way.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”