The 10 Commandments: Freedom and Community

            Picture it, a people enslaved for a generation, now freed. 

Their bodies and souls stretch, 
experiencing expansive empowered joy 
after the cramped constraints of every decision being made by another. 
They are autonomous, 
they can make choices, 
determine their own fate, for both good and ill… 
they are free… 
and, and there is a whole community of ‘em. 
They weren’t freed alone, but as a people, 
a people who will have to travel together, 
make decisions together, 
and live together.

            That’s where these folk find themselves, and I would maintain, 
every time we reflect upon the 10 Commandments, 
that’s where we find ourselves as well… 
the great tension between freedom and community. 
That great Lutheran maxim, 
that we are “Slaves to none, and servants of all,” 
is central to a decent understanding of these commands. 
They explain to a whole community, 
our community even, 
what we are freed from, 
and what we are freed for.

Prayer.

 

            You shall have no other gods before me.

            We are freed from every idol, every false God. 
Consider what things you fear, love, or trust
—do you give them more honor or worth than they deserve?
if so, those might be your idols.

            Freed from any small-if/then-god
—anything or anyone saying, 
“If you do this that or the other, 
then you will find freedom, 
you will have dignity and self-worth, 
you will matter.

 

            We are freed for relationship with our Liberator
—the Because/Therefor God
Because I am God all by myself, 
I AM that I AM
Therefor, you all are my people
You are made in my image
You are my Children.

            Yes, freed to worship the God who is God.

 

            You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

            We are freed from the dangers of the finite speaking of the infinite
—freed from speaking false gods into existence. 

Freed from the abuse of religion.
Freed from superstition. 
Freed from clouding our words and world with pieties, 
to hide evil intentions.

 

            We are freed for good and gentle God talk. 
Prayer, praise, thanksgiving
—cascading from our lips, 
and seen in our lives.

 

            Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.

            We are freed from hard labor and ceaseless production; 
the impossibility of more, more, more, 
until we are all no more. 

Freed from restless hearts and bodies, 
enslaved, purchased and parched.

Freed from the false worship of those small gods I mentioned before. 
Transactional If/Then worship of all sorts.

            We are freed for rest, liberation, and worship
—braided together these three 
are the single sacred strand that is Sabbath.

            Freed for a day good… for nothing
—the world will keep spinning without you!

            Freed for acts of kindness and justice.

            Freed for worship
—that experience of the restless heart resting in God.

 

            Honor your father and mother.

            We are freed from authority figures fashioned in the likeness of idols. 

            Freed from dishonorable family entanglements 
and threats of abandonment.

            Freed from the harsh wallop of absolute freedom
—a Lord of the Flies 
feral version of being human.

 

            We are freed for honoring all authorities that reflects God’s authority
—leading with humility and vulnerability.

            Freed for care in old age, 
a hard thing even today, 
but terrifying in the ancient world.

            Freed for learning trustworthiness and life lessons 
from good mentors and parents.

 

            You shall not kill.

            We are freed from the fear of violence, 
the normalization of maiming the image of God through murder, 
even anger and curses, 
are challenged by God’s liberation.

 

            We are freed for what Luther calls the work of a lifetime, 
being a life-giving community.

            Freed to help and to honor our neighbors, 
especially when they are in need.

 

            You shall not commit adultery

            We are freed from second guessing 
and never knowing where you stand, 
from sneaking around and STDs.

            Freed from abuse, exploitation, and unhealthy relationships of all sorts.

 

            We are freed for relationships that 
uphold trust, 
build up both partners, 
and strengthen sexual integrity.

            Freed for honoring and helping 
those who struggle to love and trust one another for their whole life long, 
through ups and downs and everything in between.

 

            You shall not steal.

            We are freed from every type of theft 
and the ways they warp individuals and communities.

            Free from loving things and using people. 

            Free from the ceaseless acquiring of things, 
after all that country song isn’t wrong: 
“I never seen a Herse with a trailer hitch.”

 

            We are freed for protecting our neighbor’s property 
and working to better their livelihood.

            Free for loving people and using things.

 

            You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

            We are freed from lies 
and the exhaustion of having to keep track of them.

            Freed from walking back what we didn’t mean 
or leaning into an untruth forever.

            Freed from words wielded like weapons
—defamation and dishonor, 
libel and perjury. 

 

            We are freed for truth, 
defense of neighbor, 
and interpreting actions in the best possible light.

 

            You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or household

            We are freed from covetousness resentment, strife, and jealousy.

            Freed from commandments broken in our hearts
—the insidious festering of wounds hidden from view 
but eating away at you… 
freed from the last cough of self-righteousness.

 

            We are freed for contentment and harmony.

            Freed for assisting neighbors in keeping what is theirs.

            Freed for gratefulness and thanksgiving.

 

            The 10 commandments carry within them 
a memory of slavery, 
in the boundaries they set out. 
They contain as well, 
a community’s hopes and dreams
—the why of freedom. 
What we’re freed from and freed for.

 

            Take a moment and look around the sanctuary at one another, 
this community gathered today…

            We are slaves to no one, but servants of all.

Hold in tension freedom and community.

            A high calling
—this Christian Freedom Luther bequeaths to us.

            God has liberated us
—love each other.

Amen.

Pieces of the Reconstitution Puzzle

 

Back in June I wrote an initial post about the denomination I am a member of and which I serve as a Pastor, the ELCA, preparing to reconstitute itself. I started off thinking about what had changed since the ELCA was founded three and a half decades ago, namely developments around Synodically Authorized Worshipping Communities (SAWCs) and Deacons. I noted that that Synodically Authorized Worshipping Communities are sometimes treated as communities struggling to become congregations and wondered what it would be like if we flipped that on its head and re-imagined every congregation as some sort of Authorized Worshipping Community. I also wondered if a secondary type of ministry community could grow up around Deacons, Authorized Service Communities. Then I offered a few models as alternatives to our current Three Expressions One Church way of being a Denomination.

I thought that was a one off post, but I was moved by the possibility of the ELCA, after 35 years of saying we’ll grow into our new identity, taking some time to ask fundamental questions about the nature and task of Church, Worship, Ordination, etc, look at the world as it is and understand the world we minister to and are church in, and reconstitute ourselves to be faithful going forward. These lines of thought have spawned more than a few posts, and will likely spawn a few more before I’m done.

 

What is the Church?

Know thyself, so that changes you make are done in an intentional kind of way. Having looked at the question from a few different angles in a previous post, I landed on the following definition:

The Church is a body of diverse and fallible people who are stewards of God’s grace.

That grace is found most completely in the person of Jesus Christ, who is our crucified Lord, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

Our acts of stewardship consist of proclaiming the good news of Jesus as both crucified and Lord in word and deed, and worshipping together in ways that allow us to continue to trust in Jesus.

 

The Tasks of the Laity

While an outmoded amount of time gets paid to ordained folk, especially those ordained to word and sacrament, our first calling is always that of our baptism, and for that matter layfolk make up the vast majority of the denomination. As such, having a good sense of what a communal baptized life looks like is incredibly important. Below is my articulation of that life:

Gather in community around Word and Sacraments.

Cultivate hearts of forgiveness, thanksgiving, and generosity.

Go out in Christ’s name to witness, do justice, and serve your neighbor.

 

Ordained Being and Doing

This post was maybe a little more personal; it is the combination of an old post I’d written for friends who had just entered seminary and wanted to know concretely what the tasks of ministry looked like, and a much more recent set of reflections prompted by several ministry and life milestones all happening at the same time. From that I created 10 aspects of pastoral ministry that I think most every pastor has to grapple and come to terms with. Unfortunately, I titled the post 10 “rules” for Pastors, which came off as unsolicited advice, aka criticism, instead of the distillation of my heartfelt experience of ministry. So, in my reflection on the ordained life I've named 10 tasks that Pastors should wrap thier head and heart around:

Be a Person of Faith, Know your Calling and be Grounded in It, Have a System for Ordering Your Ministry, You are the Most Responsible Person in your Ministry Context, Care for God’s People, Protect the vulnerable, Be Present Throughout your Parish, Play Well with Others, Think Globally and Act Locally, Be involved with the Wider Church

 

A Way to Describe the Liturgy

These days many faith traditions describe the effects of their practice upon a person; Buddhist mindfulness, Hindu Yoga, etc. Now that about 15% of our neighbors have never experienced Christian worship, it might be worth describing what we’re up to when we say we “worship” on a Sunday morning. Not only that, but what it does to you. As such, this is what I have experienced Christian worship to do to me.

            Because of Christian worship I:

value and can navigate community,

have an increased sense of self-worth,

have tools to get over slights and make sense of life,

and am more content, generous, and gentle.

 

Centralized and Decentralized Church

In these two posts I lay out a few ideas of what a more Centralized ELCA might look like, and push back a little on the idea that centralization is the only way to organize people that is anti-racist, progressive, and non-coercive.

 

Issues facing the Church

Finally, I wrote a little bit about an Atlantic article about the emptying of the Church that was getting some buzz. At base, when the church is meaningful and a community, people are more likely to stay.

 

So, that’s where we’ve been in this blog regarding the Reconstitution of the ELCA. I’m going to be re-reading Trexler’s book on the creation of the ELCA as well as a few other books on the subject that folk recommended to me. I think I’ll also do a post on Deacons, Racism and Diversity in the ELCA, and the Purpose Statements of all three expressions of the Church.

What other topics should be I thinking and writing about regarding the Renewed Lutheran Church?

A Centralized ELCA

I’ve made no secret that I am inclined toward decentralization in most things, including reimagining the ELCA. But let’s give the other end of things a try, a more Centralized ELCA. What might that look like? 1, 7, 9, 22.

One: The complete disassembling of Synods, and the ELCA would function as one church, two expressions. I imagine in this model Candidacy and Directors of Evangelical Mission would become part of the nation church’s prevue and most other ministries of the Synodical expression would either disappear or be reconstituted using the parish option in congregational constitutions, depending on local situations.

Seven: This model would consolidate synods around seminaries. As I said in one of my other iterations of this line of thought, this could make some cool connections between Professors, Seminarians and the wider church, it could also give a focus to each Region/Seminary. Of the options of centralizing the ELCA this seems most promising to me. A danger, I suppose, is the culture of academia could overly influence the culture of the Synod.

Nine: Alternatively, the nine regions of the ELCA, geographic boundaries already in place, could become the middle expression of the ELCA.

Twenty Two: We could consolidate approximately every three Synods into one. For example, my New Jersey Synod could become part of the Ben Franklin Synod. Franklin famously said the state was a keg tapped on two sides, NYC and Philly. What if we lean into that assessment and merge the New Jersey, Southeast PA and Metro New York Synods?