S is for Sent

III. This is an era of apostolic mission for the Church of Jesus Christ.

What will our Lutheran tradition bring into this world that God loves? The only way we can be faithful confessors in such a time and place is to be in apostolic mission. And the only way we can serve the mission to which we are called and sent is to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ. How will our confession of the Gospel be faithful in this time given by God? How will the ELCA be an evangelical Lutheran church in America?

With gratitude for the treasures that the ECUSA brings to our praise of God in this land, let me briefly identify four classic Lutheran convictions which, in repentance, may strengthen our common mission in every place.

1. Our evangelical conviction has long announced, "Let God be God," and we continue to declare that "Jesus means freedom!" At times, this bold witness will disturb those who are invested in obedience to holy church, the saints, holy office, or sacred tradition. Listen to Martin Luther's comments on the New Testament canon when he identifies the criterion, was Christum treibet: "Whatever does not teach Christ is not apostolic, even if Peter or Paul teaches it. On the other hand whatever preaches Christ, that is apostolic, even if it is done by someone like Judas, Annas, Pilate or Herod."

   But this is more than a polemical argument among Christians. God's apostolic mission promises freedom for those still far off who have not yet heard. In Christ Jesus, God has a promise for them and for their children. If we grasp only the intra-Christian debate, we may argue endlessly about what is or is not apostolic and faithful to our confession of freedom. But God's mission also means freedom for others. We are free to go where the twelve and James are reluctant to enter. We will bless the houses of the new Gentiles, deeply respectful that the Holy Spirit has preceded us, alive to their hopes for the future, and eager to share God's mercy and justice.

2. Our affirmation of "the priesthood of believers" is more than a protest against a clerical captivity of the church. This teaching affirms every Christian can bear the mercy of Christ to the neighbor. The priesthood we all share also empowers public mission, serving God's work in the day to day world of human affairs, on the left hand. This conviction, therefore, testifies that God made and loves the world. God is at work calling faithful and good people to make a trustworthy world through their lives in business, family, politics, labor, and education. God does not need my good works to save me, but God sends us to our neighbors in missions of mercy, love, and justice.

   Therefore our confessional convictions about the vocations of the people of God are not mere banners of our righteousness. No, these are apostolic affirmations about the God who calls and sends us into the world. In vital churches, Lutheran, Episcopal, Evangelical or Roman Catholic, the American laity is not awaiting permission from the clergy to lead in mission. The great irony may be that the ministry of the laity may be strongest right now in the Roman Catholic congregations who are short of priests. Imagine if the great Reformation witness to God's vocations to all the baptized could be let loose in the world. That is the apostolic mission of the risen Christ.

3. The 16th century debates about Christ's presence in the sacraments led the Lutherans to a remarkable affirmation of God's faithful promise and presence at work in, with, and under the physical elements. The phrase, finitum capax infiniti, or "the finite is capable of bearing the infinite," was never a compelling metaphysical argument, but it was a testimony of faith. It was taken, of course, from Paul's testimony in 2 Corinthians 4, "We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us."

   This too is a confession that will transform a church in mission. It is not in our control, but this witness to God's incarnate love and power means that all human cultures can bear Christ. Every effort to sacralize Christian tradition must beware of opposing God. God uses the music of the people, any people's vernacular language, even the religious practices of those formerly outside the faith. This may be the most radical challenge for both the Lutheran and Episcopal traditions, lest our strengths be barriers to faith.

4. Finally, the Lutheran tradition bears witness to God's justification of the ungodly as the confession by which the church stands or falls. This is rightly the standard which accommodates no compromise. But it too, is a peculiar principle because it remains beyond our control. The justification to which we refer is God's, not our righteousness. Whenever we say, "Here we stand!" we must do so in repentance and faith. We have no right to boast. Together we cling in faith to God's good gift of grace in Jesus Christ.

And together we bear this word of hope and promise to a world that is lonely and unforgiving. In a world where our value is increasingly judged by our achievements and possessions, we stand together as those who know our worth is not of our own making. This too is repentance for Episcopalians and Lutherans who have acquired much and achieved success.

We know we cannot enter the kingdom of God as rich rulers. We are included because we too are forgiven sinners, making no claim of worth or achievement. Our confession of God's mercy in Jesus Christ is the word we have to share with the world. Our apostolic preaching, teaching, and healing bear the love of Christ. Nothing is so desperately needed in our time. Even our children are marketed to as consuming units and the spiritualities of the age are commodified. Who will save us from this body of death?

1. A moment of crisis has come for Christendom.
2. This is a time for amendment of life for our churches.
3. This is an era of apostolic mission for the Church of Jesus Christ.

"In Christ," declares the apostle, "God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Cor 5.19). In words, in the palpable signs of the sacraments, and in the earthen vessel of the church itself, God gives us repentance that leads to life and entrusts the message of reconciliation to us. With the early apostles, we pray for our calling in the world to be restored.

The mission of the triune God continues, and we shall be changed. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord declares: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isa. 49.6)

So also in Luke's account of the last words of the resurrected Jesus, the church's apostolic mission does not end with restoring the kingdom to Israel or dominion to the church. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit will come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1.8) Now that is a calling to common mission! Thanks be to God!

david tiede