There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
There’s nothing like variety to keep things interesting!
Last Friday and Saturday I joined with Curt Olson, Davina Knuth-Sorom, and Sara Knuth (FYI, her name does NOT end in an ‘H’!) at our Synod Assembly** in Rochester. We spent two days with over 500 other Lutherans from southeastern Minnesota (and around the world). As we met, I marveled at the wonderful diversity in the body of Christ!
We joined with people from large, urban churches … and small, rural churches. We talked to people who preferred worshipping with organs … and people who prefer guitars and drums. I saw pastors who are comfortable wearing full robes and stoles for worship … and pastors who are comfortable in jeans. We chatted with people passionate about caring for the poor… and people passionate about proclaiming Jesus to people with no church homes. We heard from people from Sudan … Norway … Tanzania … Colombia … and even a man from Guyana! There were moments that were quite serious … and moments that were very light hearted and goofy (guess which ones I was in charge of!).
We do not live a cookie-cutter faith. The Assembly brought together people who live out their lives faith in a wide variety of ways. God doesn’t make all people exactly the same, so why should God make all churches exactly the same?
It can be tempting to see the world only through our own eyes. Sometimes we assume that everyone should think like we do. If something is good for us, then it must be good for everyone. That’s not the case! God has created us with different passions, different abilities, different interests, and different preferences.
Our Lutheran heritage proclaims this. One of our basic Lutheran documents (the Augsburg Confession) proclaims:
For it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and that the sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word.
I thank God for the amazing diversity of our church. I am a part, not just of a congregation in Eyota, but of a wide body of believers with a wide range of styles. I long for the day when Christians can celebrate that diversity without demanding that others do things the ‘right’ way.
**What is a Synod? It’s a fancy word that means “A bunch of churches together.” I have no idea why we use such odd words…I guess we prefer ‘churchy’ words because they sound impressive! A Synod Assembly is an annual meeting of all the churches in the synod (in this case, the Southeastern Minnesota Synod).
thanks for your insights on assembly, Pete. It is a funky and diverse bunch of folks we're a part of. And I'm grateful to God for that. Just a quick note about synod, it's a churchy word that literally means "walking together". I like that image because it is not only what we do because we are churches that are in relative proximity to one another, it also reminds us of our call to move together as the body of Christ.
ReplyDeleteNice post, and a reminder that Christ's church is a whole lot bigger than the church we identify with. There has to be room for me, right? By the way, the odd word synod comes from the same Greek root that gives us synagogue and synonymn. It means together, or a walk together.
ReplyDeleteSo can we translate it 'a bunch of churches WALKING together'? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insights.