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ECUMENICAL EXPERIENCE

An interested observer at a Lutheran assembly

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Upstate New York Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, held in Rochester. 

St. Mary's Church in Amsterdam, where I am pastor, and Trinity Lutheran Church work closely together sponsoring Bible studies and ministry to the poor. It was Pastor William Hodgetts Jr. of Trinity Lutheran who secured an invitation for me to the Synod Assembly. I went as an official observer, carrying a letter of greeting from Bishop Howard J. Hubbard to Bishop Marie Jerge, who presided over the Synod Assembly.

In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a synod is the equivalent of our concept of a diocese. The Upstate New York Synod encompasses the entire state of New York outside of the Metropolitan New York City area. 

The voting membership of the annual Synod Assembly is composed of pastors and lay delegates from each of the parishes in the synod. Resolutions passed in the Synod Assembly are then brought before the Church-wide Assembly of pastors and lay delegates from each of the synods. 

In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has a very different form of church government in which lay people not only participate in church policy-making, but also have a majority vote in the process.

The theme of this Synod was "Celebrating our Differences," taken from Revelation 7:9. The keynote speaker was the Rev. Rani Abdulmasih, a Palestinian Christian by birth who is currently the pastor of a Lutheran parish in Michigan. 

Pastor Abdulmasih said that celebrating our differences means first being able to accept them. He said that the Gospel is "radical" news that has the power to transform human hearts, but which we have made all too familiar and tried to tame in an effort to maintain the status quo in our lives. 

The Gospel continually challenges us to leave behind our comfort zones and come face to face with our brothers and sisters who are unique expressions of God's creative love. When we do, we will discover that our basic Christian identity as beloved children of God is far deeper than all of our differences.

During the celebration of the Eucharist that was presided over by Bishop Jerge, the bishop spoke eloquently in her homily of the need to look for signs of hope in our daily lives. 

She recounted an experience from a retreat for church leaders that she recently attended: The retreat master asked each participant to list all of the signs of hope that they could think of. Bishop Jerge humbly confessed that, at that time, she could not list one sign of hope in her life. 

When the participants were asked to share their signs of hope with the group, another person said that he could not think of one sign of hope, either. But he went on to list 18 such signs in his life! 

From that moment, on Bishop Jerge made it a regular practice to look for signs of hope in her life. Often, these signs came in the form of the goodness of people in response to difficult situations. Even ice-covered trees glistening in the sunlight during a winter power outage were a sign of hope! 

Looking for signs of hope does not change the external circumstances of our lives, but it represents a drastic change in our own perspective. In conclusion, the bishop invited each member of the congregation to turn to his or her neighbor and share with that person one sign of hope. 

A Lutheran pastor turned to me and said that my presence as a Roman Catholic priest at the Synod Assembly was a sign of hope for her. This was a particularly touching moment for me! 

My experience of the Synod Assembly was both powerful and humbling. I was warmly accepted by a group of Christians whose church has a different name than my own and yet we share common ground in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I experienced a church embracing openness and a spirit of inclusion and also grappling with moving out of its comfort zone toward new horizons being pointed out by the Spirit. 

It was Pentecost weekend in both of our churches. In the midst of the hope and tedium of the Synod Assembly, I felt a new breath of the Holy Spirit blowing through our midst!

(07/02/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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