Here's a rather lengthy tome in answer to a 23 year old who emailed today asking me why I'm a Lutheran. As I've been working on my book about the life of the mainline after the death of the mainline, I took this as a good exercize to help me clarify why I'm still what I was forty nine years ago. Yes, I am a Lutheran, but I may not be one long. For this moment in history, here's my thoughts. I'll include my young friend's questions at the bottom, along with a psuedonym to protect his privacy:
Hey Peter,
Thanks for filling me in on a bit of your journey. You have a passion for an authentic faith, and God will lead you. "They will seek me and they will find me if they seek with their whole heart..."
You asked what it is about Lutherans that led me to pledge my allegiance to this church? I have been ordained in this church, but God help me if I pledge my allegiance to anything but Christ! I was born a Lutheran, but why am I still a Lutheran? That's a question I've asked myself regularly. It may have something to do with this:
Lutherans have a motto (that many of them do not follow) that goes all the way back to Luther: Grace alone, faith alone, God's Word alone.
Grace Alone - It is nothing I've done that merits or buys me anything from God. As Paul said, everything we bring to the perfect God is crap! It is Christ's perfect righteousness, his perfect life, his perfect death, his perfect love. And for some amazing reason, he offers it in our place, knowing we'll never measure up. He went to hell for you, so you wouldn't have to. That's a friend. And he'd do it again even if you spit in his face.
That's grace.
Faith Alone - In response to this amazing love, I accept the God who has already accepted me. I put my now, my tomorrow, my forever in his nail-pierced hands. I can't exactly explain it (Luther said, "I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ or come to him, but the Holy Spirit calls me through the Gospel, enlightens me with His gifts, makes me holy and keeps me in the true faith...") I cling to the cross, trust in his love, and live day by day in the joy and humility and faith in the One who gave it all to me.
That's faith.
God's Word Alone - Oprah's got her opinions. Jerry Springer's got his opinions. I've got my opinions. The pope has his opinions. God may guide and direct some people to speak his will to the world. But there is nothing - NOTHING - nothing that can form our final basis for decisions, directions or life choices except God's Word. It is wisdom. It is strength. It is a sword - the only offensive weapon we have against what Luther would call "sin, death, and the power of the devil." It is the guide. It is life. It is how the living Word - Jesus - comes to feed, make, break, and remake us in God's image. It is holy. It is pure. It will go on forever.
That's God's Word.
Now, to the problem of hypocrites in the two denominations you've known.
If you meet any perfect Lutherans on this side of eternity, give me a call. I've yet to meet a single one, although my mom who died last summer might have come pretty close.
There are Lutherans who sing "The B-i-b-l-e, yes that's the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God..." and haven't cracked a Bible in decades.
There are Lutherans who teach others about the grace of God but won't give their neighbor a break.
There are Lutherans who have more faith in their bank account than their God.
But, as Luther said, "We are at the same time saint and sinner."
We are saints in God's eyes as we ask Christ to clothe us with his righteousness. Our filthy rags disappear in God's sight, and he sees not us, but his perfect love.
We are sinners in the world's eyes. There is a stain that we can't remove, try though we might. We can only shout with Paul "The good that I would do I don't. The evil that I would not do, I do. Oh wretched man that I am, who can save me from this body of death?"
The answer? Jesus.
And that brings me to the final thought on this late Monday night.
The answer is not Luther. It is not Wesley. It is not Calvin. It is not the pope.
A good Lutheran would say: "I'm a Christian first, I'm a Christian second, and I'm a Christian who happens to worship in the Lutheran tradition third.
Don’t go looking for your answers in a 500 year old man, although his example might make you a bit bolder and more focused. Don't go looking for your answers in a present-day church (there are two major Lutheran bodies in the US today, and both of them are having political and cultural problems right now to the point of possible schism).
Go looking for some Christian friends - and if they happen to be Lutheran, great. But look for authentic people - your spiritual gift of discernment will help you here. People who are not afraid to say, "I'm not perfect, but I've got an amazing Jesus who was perfect for me. I hurt others, but I have an amazing healer who died to take my imperfections away. I don't have all the answers, but I'm seeking the Word and the Will of God in prayer, in Scripture, and in the still, small voice God has placed in my heart."
Then commit yourself to a journey toward the cross; toward loving people who don't act so loveable; toward giving to people who couldn't hope to pay you back; toward being gracious to people who you know won't appreciate it; and toward being the kind of person of whom others will say, "I don't know what he has, but I want to find out."
The early church didn't win converts by the thousands through clever argument. They simply modeled love.
And there was nothing their enemies could do to stop them.
Blessings on your night. And on your days and on your journey.
Rich
PS - Here's a fun little bit of trivia: Luther forbade his followers from naming a church after him. "Why should you name a church after me, filthy maggot that I am! Call it the evangelical church!"
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter (????)
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 9:39 PM
To: Rich A. Melheim
Subject: Seeking...
Dear Mr. Rich Melheim,
I greatly appreciate your attention to my email. I am very honored that I received an email from the founder of Faith Inkubators. Your question of “what’s on your mind?” feels like an open door, so I believe that I will take it as an invitation and walk through the door (if you don’t mind…).
I am sure that you read my email, so I guess my real question(s) are along the lines of how can I be involved or find out more about your organization? I am also very interested in your denomination. I have very little knowledge of Lutherans, and there are not many Lutherans here in the South. I came across the Faith Inkubators website via the movie site for the movie “Luther.” I was so moved by the movie, that I started researching Martin Luther and the Church that bares his name. It seems that Luther had such a passion for Christ and for the Word. I felt ashamed of my Christianity after watching the movie, for I feel that I have been horribly uncommitted to my God.
When I read about what Faith Inkubators was about, I was very impressed with the ideas of making youth groups work better. But it was your story that really hit me. How you saw that the traditional forms of conformation were not working, and that you stepped out in faith to find a way to reach teenagers more effectively. What you did is part of a dream I have had for some time now.
To give you a little information about myself, I am 23 and working at a local department store. I just recently graduated from a Baptist University last May with a B.S. degree. During my last two years at college, God really spoke to me and turned my world upside down. I had been very focused on my career, but I became very involved in discipling some of the younger students. They were Biblical Studies majors that had pornography addictions. I was amazed at how spiritually immature these soon to be pastors were. It shocked me, and hit a nerve deep down inside of me. I felt hat something had to be done to help these guys. I sacrificed my grades and time to meet with these guys and tried to think of creative ways of breaking their pornographic addictions. We fasted from the computer; we meet daily in the morning and had nightly check in. They were instructed to call me whenever they messed up or were in temptation and needed support. In serving these young men, I found a purpose and essence of life that I had never felt before. I woke up each morning praying for them and seeking answers in the Word. I grew closer to God in those two years more than I had in my entire spiritual life. At that point, I realized that I could do discipling the rest of my life and truly be happy. I also realized the need for a spiritual mentor to be present in these young men’s lives. I spoke with a local pastor who told me about the practice of spiritual direction. He gave me the book “Soul Friend” by Kenneth Leech. I have yet to read the book, but I do feel that I have a place in God’s work as someone who disciples others. And it seems to me, that your organization has effectively done this.
As for you being a Lutheran pastor, why Lutheran? What is it about the Lutheran denomination that you felt able to pledge your allegiance to? To be honest with you, I have been very disappointed in what I have seen of the two primary denominations of the South. I was raised a Methodist, and educated in Southern Baptist school systems. Methodist do not seem to know what they believe in, and Baptist cannot decide on how to believe in it. Their youth groups are shallow and weak. The teenagers that are graduated into the world are lost as to what it means to live out their faith.
Hypocrisy runs rampant. My heart is so burdened…
For the past two days, I have tried to research Lutherans; and as I type this email, a copy of “Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings” sits beside me.
I am open and here to listen. I am seeking our Father’s Face, for I truly have a desire to serve. It just seems that I have not found a place. I realize that God’s timing is perfect, and not ours – but I wish that there was something.
Again, I would like to think you for your precious time and attention that you have given me. I hope that this email is useful and not a waste of your time, for I realize that you are very busy. I would greatly appreciate your wisdom and advice. Thank you in advance for you time and help. God bless you!
Sincerely,
Peter
Well said Rich! Christendom in the West is due for a radical shift - back to the early church! I would reccomend Peter take a look at the Fifth Church Web Site and consider what the Post Modern Church should be - I would propose that Fifth Church thinking is exactly what the Lord desires for His church as we progress into the 21st century.
Coram Deo
Gene Sherman, Trinity Church, Beaver PA
Posted by: Gene Sherman | February 07, 2005 at 09:58 PM