a shrine of insignificance

When Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, He was standing out against what he saw was as the corruption of the intent of the bible and the addition of meaningless fluff to Christianity. Lutheranism was born out of this essence of stripping away the unecessary. However, some curious side-effects occured. What was born was a religion of only two essential tenants, 1) Jesus’s death on the cross enables our salvation through belief. 2) Everything else is just fluff. So while Lutheranism threw out the highest orders of clergy, deacons, monastic orders, ornate opulent churchs, and vows; it opened a path where if nothing other than (1) is unimportant, who cares about the gender of the clergyperson or their sexuality? Why should race, personal beliefs, or baptismal status matter either? In fact modern Lutheranism in America, embodied by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was founded on the idea that the differences between Lutheran sects in the United States were just of non-essential fluff. Lutheranism is a truly liberal and open religion where all that matters is your belief that Jesus died for your sins. This has caused, as most Evangelical Lutherans I know agree, a shift of emphasis from doctrine to the celebration of God and man in church services. Lutherans have joyous, increasingly informal, services where almost always the church gathers in a more of a party atmosphere. Why else would most Lutheran services lead into a Taco breakfast, a potluck, or donuts and coffee. This is the greatness of Evangelical Lutheranism, everyone is welcome to praise God, the joy of life, eat, drink , and be merry. Anglicans, Catholics, Baptists, even non-Christians are welcome to join in and participate as much or as little as they like. Even if I had a break with the politics of my congregation in San Antonio, I still consider myself a Lutheran because of the openness and love that the church supports.

plb

Filed under: General, Rambling on October 6th, 2004