The Authority of the Church

One of my classes this semester is Lutheran Confessions with Dr. Wengert. He is one of the academic heavy weights at the seminary and was one of the editors of the most recent edition of the “Book of Concord.” He’s been teaching at the seminary for over twenty years, has been involved in quite a few agreements between different church bodies, is currently working on a Lutheran-Catholic commentary on the 95 thesis to be published before 2017 (500th anniversary), and has gotten quite a bit of flack recently for the “bound conscience” idea that is in the 2009 church wide human sexuality statement. He also really enjoys what he teaches, has great stories, and answers every question with “Why do you ask that question?” I sit in the very front row, right next to where he stands to lecture, and I’m usually involved in all of his lecture illustrations. Last week, I drowned in wine. It was very sad.

Anyways, part of the class requirements is to write five short essays. Each essay is two to three pages in length. We are given eight topics and are to chose five. I’ve so far done three out of the four assigned so far. Another one is due on Thursday. Dr. Wengert does not care what we think about the topic but is asking us to break through early Lutheran documents in the Book of Concord and explain what Luther, Melanchthon, and other early Lutheran reformers thought. I will admit that I was nervous when I first entered the class. I wrote a paper for him last year that was pretty embarrassing and so I didn’t know what to expect. My first paper was okay but my second paper (the one I felt very weak on), I did really well. I am use to Dr. Wengert to write complete essays in the margins of my essay or at the very end. He is very good at telling a person what he disagrees with, what they should focus more on, and what problems the person could run into. So that’s what I was looking for but I didn’t get that. Instead, I received a half a dozen one word margin notes and a one line response at the very end. Sometimes, less is more.

I have yet to receive back my third paper on “Why does the Lord appear in the Lord’s Supper?” I found it ridiculously hard to expand that answer into two pages without resorting to size 13 font or 1.25 inch margins. I was able to but it was a stretch. And it’s possible that the 2nd paper made me a little cocky – let’s see if the third paper brings me back down to earth.

What the Church expects of its Seminarians

Last Tuesday, the bishop of the New Jersey Synod delivered the Tuesday convocation at LTSP. His one hour long presentation was centered on the question of what the church expects of its seminarians and especially of its seminarian graduates. The senior class at LTSP had learned the week before which region of the country they had been assigned to and they did make up the majority of the audience. They were followed in numbers by the first years, a handful of second years, and then the professors. The bishop packed the house.

The bishop began by discussing a book he had recently read while on a three month sabbatical, “American Grace.” I haven’t read it but, from my understanding, it is mostly a book of sociologist statistics and analysis about the religious like in the United over the last fifty years. The bishop focused primarily on two things: the rise of those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious (they are now 17% of the US population and are called the “nons”) and the discrepancy between the religious principles between the clergy and the laity. Some of this information was enlightening though I noticed that several questions I would have asked were not answered in the presentation (specifically what lay members expect their clergy to believe). The audience seemed to enjoy the vast gulf of doctrines held by LC-MS clergy and LC-MS lay members.

The last third of the presentation was devoted to a survey that the bishop sent to his clergy and lay leaders. He then compiled the results and shared them with the audience. The general conclusion seemed to be that graduates should be better trained in learning how to train leaders in the congregation, to continue learning church history and confessions to educate lay members (education that lay members were asking for their professors to teach them), and help in understanding the use of technology and social networks. There was also a fourth point made but I, sadly, forgot it. There was also one set of questions shared with the audience where the beginning of each question was “Can we expect a masters-educated graduate to…” This was probably the most poignant, and over-dramatic, part of the presentation and the phrase “can we expect a masters-educated graduate to…” will become one of my many seminary related in-jokes.

But by the end of the presentation, I was very annoyed though I couldn’t put it in words at the time. There was just a tone to the presentation that irked me – though maybe my lack of sleep due to a paper I wrote the night before that turned into a rant against online-media church consultants had me on edge. Anyways, it took several days for it to stew in my brain and it wasn’t until I was actually at my internship church today that it finally hit me. The problem was that, half-way through the presentation, I knew that the presentation had nothing to do with me. Rather, it was ABOUT me – in the sense that part of the solutions/rhetorical questions were directed to what the bishop called “counter-cultural.” Me. The bishop was talking about me.

I know that I can’t fully adequately explain what it was in the presentation that made me feel off-putted – I just got a sense that by me being my very self, I was somehow a problem that the church was now struggling to deal with. And I wish I could write it better – and pinpoint where that happened – but I can’t. And I find that frustrating too. It just felt very strange feeling like I was being talked about, dissected, diagnosed, and identified as a “problem” that the church, and the graduating seminarians, are going to have to fix. There must be a better way to talk about the changing church.

Brothers

A recent conversation with my brother went as follows. After complaining to him that I might have to role play in my Introduction to Pastoral Care class (sexual harassment, listening, pre-marital counseling, listening, and other such things) my brother immediately interrupted and said: “Pfft. You are a great actor.”

There was then a short pause.

“Your entire life is a lie.”

Mud Pit 101: Welcome to the Spring Semester

I realize I have not updated this in awhile. I also realize that I have yet to finish my report on the Holy Land Experience nor have I reported on my first semester at LTSP or the start of my second. With a brand new schedule, five new classes, and a new travel schedule between NYC and Philadelphia, I have yet to figure out a study/work/church/family schedule that works for me yet. And I’m already behind in my reading (but just so). I will write more later but I would just like to say that I am enjoying the fact that the snow piles are finally melting and mud pits are filling the seminary campus. It almost feels as if spring is actually coming soon.

My first impression, however, of this new semester is that it will be harder than my last. I am in class quite a bit more, my responsibilities at my Field Experience site has increased, and the classes are quite a bit more challenging because we are covering areas of study that I am just not well grounded in. And I think one of the most obvious signs of this, in terms of language, is how often the phrase “in confirmation class, you did ” is used in sermons and in lectures. My first thought is always, always, “I never went to confirmation.” It’s a fun phrase that is used, usually, to ground the community in a common experience but it can also be a tad alienating. It highlights a common experience that I do not have. That is not necessarily a bad thing but it’s a reminder that I’m not just learning the language of scriptures, the language of theology, the language of pastoral care, but also the language of the “ideal” common Lutheran experience. And it’s an interesting experience especially when thought of in regard to doing ministry to people without that same faith language. It’s quite easy to get stuck in that language unconsciously. And I think I fall into that trap more than I should.