TO RESIST OR NOT TO RESIST?

Luther Johnson

 

In the upcoming bishop's election, the big question is, "Will the next elected bishop agree to the laying on of hands or not?"  It's unfortunate, but CCM has degenerated church governance into a fancy, institutionalized form of peer pressure; not all that different from the teenage temptation to accept an invitation to a beer party for the first time and then actually imbibe.  It's fun while you are there, but eventually you realize that you have to go home and answer to a higher authority.

The form of the installation service is not the only issue facing a newly elected bishop.  But it will be the first decision to appear under the public microscope:  To comply or not comply, to follow the crowd or follow one's conscience? 

It's one thing to join WordAlone and "pledge to resist and not comply with the ELCA imposition of a mandatory historic episcopate upon ELCA members" (WA membership form) and then blend into the ranks.  But it's a different ball game to risk becoming the focus of the whole ELCA by "resisting the hands."  Try to put yourself into the shoes of a bishop-elect who wonders if risking one's career, health insurance, and earning power is the best way to follow one's conscience. 

The Synod needs to do more to make it possible for a bishop-elect to follow his or her conscience in this matter - perhaps passing a resolution which promises the full backing of the Synod rather than just memorializing the Churchwide Assembly to consider the issue.

PRECEDENTS:  There are precedents in this synod which pave the way for continuing a traditional Lutheran understanding of the office of bishop.  They are:

   1) The Bible and the Lutheran Confessions.

   2) Resolutions at 4 of the last 5 Synod assemblies which support rejecting the historicate episcopate. 

    3)   Seminarians now have the option of rejecting the historic episcopate. The next logical step is for bishops to ask for this option.

   4)  Interim bishops seem to be automatically exempt from the requirements of a  mandatory historic episcopate.  Consider our interim bishop, Pastor Paul Ranum: Under his leadership good order has prevailed and the Gospel is proclaimed. The church survives yet another "unusual circumstance."

With all of these precedents, it should come as no surprise when nominees for bishop are asked about their opinion of CCM and the historic episcopate. It should also come as no surprise when the Synod passes a resolution promising to support a resisting bishop, and when people encourage the next elected bishop to seriously question the wisdom of complying with CCM.