A Christian Positioning System: Navigating by Faith and Reason

From the Gettysburg PO
by Michael L. Cooper-White, Seminary President
mcooper@ltsg.edu www.Ltsg.edu

A greenback I’ve saved for several years now was defaced by some prior possessor, who crossed out “God” on the dollar bill’s backside and wrote in “reason.” “In reason we trust,” was this anonymous (and perhaps agnostic or atheist?) spender’s creed.

Theological debates over the appropriate boundaries of faith and reason date back centuries, and are associated with the names of some of the great thinkers of earlier times. Often the debates are cast in either/or dichotomies. One either trusts reason, scientific facts and the laws of physics OR one places faith in a Divine power and doesn’t worry much about the reasonableness of conclusions reached. These debates have not lessened in intensity across the centuries.

Today’s contentious struggles over the teaching of evolution vs. “creationism” or “intelligent design,” for example, continue unabated. Often the polarized parties talk past one another and do not really enter into deep dialogue that just might alter perspectives all around.
Lest we raise our eyebrows over “those other folks” engaged in tension-filled faith/reason discussions and even diatribes, it must be acknowledged we “mainliners” have our own squabbles, which often degenerate rapidly into name-calling and other unchristian behaviors. As the ELCA prepares for important decisions related to human sexuality and ethical conduct—first in synod assemblies and then at the Minneapolis Churchwide Assembly in August—one hears and reads a variety of statements. Sadly, some assert that those who come to different conclusions are not just wrong, but unchristianly wrong in their convictions. Some are convinced that the Bible is unequivocal about how we must steward our sexuality; others see ambiguities and conflicting scriptural “vectors” that point one in various directions, with considerable need for reasoned communal discernment.

Surely, people of faith must heed Jesus’ mandate that we not be conformed to commonplace convictions that appear entirely reasonable. Clinging to faith convictions, perhaps especially in times like the present, is not altogether reasonable. The resurrection of a crucified dead man cannot be proven by the regular rules of science, which among other things demand repeatability and external verification. Regardless of one’s conclusions on the timing of the original creation (whether in six 24-hour days as we know them or through prolonged eons of prehistoric periods), is it reasonable to cling to promises of a New Creation that God holds in store at the end of time as we measure it now?

Luther and other theologians have suggested (wisely in my judgment) that the faith-reason dialectic is just that—a pulsating rhythm back and forth on a spectrum whose opposite ends may not be all that far apart. If a good God created the universe, as we confess in our creeds, would such a loving Creator stack the deck in unreasonable and indecipherable ways so as to cause us human ones to always be in a state of confused chaos? On the other hand, wouldn’t the one who surprised the whole creation on Easter morn not be holding some cards yet to play that we cannot begin to imagine and must anticipate in faith?

To determine a precise location and reliably chart a course toward an intended destination, Global Positioning systems must locate and receive signals from at least 3 different satellites orbiting high in outer space. The great “catholic” tradition claims that revelation comes to us through the Scripture (Word of God) as we embrace the Bible and broad Christian tradition with reason in communal discernment. By means of receiving and reading signals sent to us from the Bible, backed up by the wisdom of the ages and our best reasoning, however stormy the current environment, we can navigate our way toward a faithful future.

While I will be attending several Region 8 synod assemblies, I’m eager to hear reports from others far and near on what transpires, and how you find the “state of the church” in your corner. Would you send along some brief reflections?

Response to Reed's "The Difference"

An alumnus, Jim Brandis, writes:


Kathleen, I appreciated your comments in the Alma Mater News. I was a bit surprised that you recalled one Dr. Ridenhour’s bold expressions. I graduated a few years before you but I was part of the same era. I am a ’75 graduate. As for an incident, I remember visiting with Dr. Bengt Hoffman. I was already in the parish and was in a difficult situation at the time. I visited with Dr. Hoffman, looking for some wise, fatherly guidance and support. We were in his office. It was in the summer. At the close of the visit, Dr. Hoffman offered prayer. There was something about his prayer that was unlike other experiences I have had.

Through his simple words and his humble presence I felt as if Dr. Hoffman had just invited the Holy One to be with us. There was a sense in which Dr.Hoffman, like Moses, was speaking with God face to face. Dr. Hoffman ended the prayer as simply as he began it, but something unusual happened in that brief moment. A few years ago, I filled out a student recommendation form. One of the questions on the form was, “Is this person intellectually curious?” I thought to myself, “This is a wonderful question.” This is a rare quality to be found in individuals, even among those who commit themselves to the academic rigors of seminary. So many, it seems, stop learning as soon as they graduate from seminary.

I think the seminary experience is designed to create an atmosphere for the discipline of study of a wide variety of topics related to ministry, but also to invite people into the process of being perpetual students whose curiosity never ends. How our American culture today has squelched the love of learning and the intellectual disciplines. After completing the M.Div. degree I went on to complete an S.T.M. at LTSG, completed clinical training and became board certified as a chaplain. I also appreciate the seminary’s integration of spiritual formation into the curriculum. That is so important for the task and process of ministry. That is what Dr. Bengt Hoffman embodied in his teaching and in his personal life. I must say that after 30+ years of ministry, I find myself saying, “Now I understand what my professors were trying to teach me!”

Gratefully yours, Pastor Jim Brandis

The Difference An Hour Makes

Reprinted from ALMA MATER NEWS
by Kathleen Reed ('80)

The Difference An Hour Makes It was the first month of my first semester 32 years ago. I can still hear the tremolo in a classmate’s voice as he said to the professor, "Dr. Ridenhour, I have to admit that I have some days when I am not sure that I believe in the Resurrection." To which Dr. Ridenhour responded: "You’ve had days? I’ve had weeks! I’ve had months! I’ve had years!"
I don’t recall how the classmate took that comeback, but for me its implicit permission to risk raising fundamental questions in matters of faith without fear of being silenced or condemned was a revelation.

To this day, whenever I enter a room as a teacher, I strive to extend to others the same hospitality of authentic inquiry that Dr. Ridenhour extended in that hour to all of us. My list of the memorable seminary hours which continue to shape my ministry is pretty long. I won’t bore you. Instead, I invite you to start making your own list. Whether you graduated recently or 60 years ago, it is possible to see how the number of lives touched by one such hour grows exponentially, according to a kind of "loaves and fishes" math.

As these memories occur to you, consider sharing them! Send me a note, an e-mail, or pick up the phone, and we will print them here for appreciation and thanksgiving.

Kathleen Reed, Director of Advancement: kreed@Ltsg.edu.

ON VALENTINES AND CHURCHLY MATCH-MAKING

by President Michael L. Cooper-White


Little cellophane-wrapped boxes of valentines in the late 1950’s came in standard lots. Each contained 20 or so small roughly 3-inch square cards printed with an endearing message on one side, leaving room on the other for one to sign before inserting in the envelope and addressing to a classmate. In our grade school classrooms, “mailboxes” created by covering common shoeboxes with colorful paper awaited the delivery of valentines from all the classmates. Each box of valentines also included a couple of special cards. One was for the teacher, which required no deliberation, unless one was on the outs with her (few men taught elementary school in those days in our parts) and contemplated tossing the teacher’s greeting in the trash. But the other was an oversized card quadruple in size to all the rest. Therein lay the delicate decision. Upon whom should I bestow the special valentine? And will s/he reciprocate or leave me embarrassed by bestowing hers/his on someone else? Ah, the anguish of childhood infatuations or lack thereof . . .

Well, it’s the annual season of multiple “match-making” processes that I’ve discovered spreads an unusual level of anxiety here on campus and around the church. First-year students await their selection for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) summer assignments in hospitals, nursing homes and other settings. Our “middlers” or second-year theologs are about to plunge into the internship matching workshop. This brings to campus several dozen pastors and lay leaders from congregations that will serve to mentor future pastors during a crucial portion of their ministerial formation. And our ELCA seniors, of course, now await assignment to regions, synods and ultimately call by a congregation, while our ecumenical students likewise may be wondering where they will serve post-graduation.

By and large, the church and our seminary seem to do fairly well in these important match-making processes. When I served as the ELCA’s director of synodical relations, the churchwide unit then responsible for the first call assignments, a survey revealed 90% of the newly rostered leaders had landed in a setting of their preference, albeit seldom the “ideal call” (there really are none!). Likewise, the vast majority of internships proceed rather seamlessly to mutually satisfying conclusions. While an intense growth-producing CPE is seldom without some measure of challenge, again most students return to campus in the fall saying something like, “If I had it to over again, I’d choose the same place.”

There are, of course, both modest and glaring exceptions. Sometimes a candidate, bishop, call committee or others involved in churchly match-making processes “read” one another wrong, and favorable first impressions give way to the reality that this is not a match made in heaven. If important information is withheld in a process of mutual discernment, disillusionment can set in quickly after a ministry or learning covenant is actually set in motion. And for some there’s the inevitable disappointment of “unrequited love” akin to that experienced back in grade school when the beneficiary of a scholar’s big valentine failed to reciprocate. A half-dozen classmates may desire the same internship. Congregations perceived as “plum calls” (I’ve discovered there really are none of those either—every place has its challenges and problems) are sought by dozens of rostered leaders whose annual reports to their bishops indicate “open to a new call.” In a bishop’s election or other “selective/competitive” process, many well-qualified candidates make themselves available, and only one finally can be chosen.

How one responds amidst all this flurry of ecclesiastical and academic match-making may depend on the operative theology of call or vocation. If you believe that there are perfect matches made in heaven, then the failure to land a place of preference may cause a theological and even existential crisis. Personally, I’ve always thought God has bigger things to deal with most days than my personal preferences or search for a perfect parking place; in most big lots there are a lot of them! Likewise, given a measure of openness and flexibility, in a church with more than 10,000 congregations, a host are places of good and vibrant ministry where one’s gifts may fully flourish and a good time may be had by most on most days. If disappointment comes, one must also allow that in very human selection processes, human errors are made with some regularity. If you feel you would have been a “better match” than the one ultimately chosen for that perceived “perfect” internship or call, you’re probably right. But rather than wallow in bitterness or languish in regret, move on and embrace the place and people who did recognize your gifts and are eager to embrace you. A few decades down the road, you’ll probably not even recall the names of most places and people who caught your fancy in a moment of infatuation. You will remember those who gave you the big valentine and invited, “be among us.”

Signs of Spring in South America

From the Gettysburg PO

By the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, M.Div., D.D.
www.Ltsg.edu   Mcooper@ltsg.edu

 

Here in mid-August, for the third time in the past year, it is my privilege to sojourn for a few days among the saints of Argentinas Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida (United Evangelical Lutheran Church).  IELU leaders and executives of the ELCA’s Global Mission unit have kindly invited me to serve as consultant or "coach" for an ongoing process of strategic planning and ecclesial restructuring--part of a comprehensive effort to achieve long-term sustainability amidst a challenging context of limited financial and human resources.

 

With all genuineness, I conclude each session with our Argentine sisters and brothers assuring them that I receive far more from these encounters than I could possibly contribute.  Such is the nature of the ELCA’s approach to global mission, encapsulated and summarized succinctly in one unusual word: "accompaniment."  We accompany one another on the journey of faith, as Luther put it, "showing one another where to find bread."

 

South of the equator, where the seasons are reversed from the northland cycle, my "summer sojourn" occurs late winter, on the verge of springtime in Buenos Aires.  As I ponder all I have seen and heard over the course of the past 13 months since first coming back to South America (after a hiatus of more than three decades since I interned in Chile), I am struck that "springtime" is an apt metaphor for much that is occurring, both in the churches and wider societies.

 

Both Chile and Argentina are ahead of the global curve, served by women presidents.  Unthinkable in societies dominated by "machismo" just a generation ago, what many thought impossible seems to be working out quite well.  This societal embrace of women’s leadership is mirrored in the churches, with Pastor Gloria Rojas the Lutheran bishop in Chile, and women a majority in the lay leadership gathering I co-keynoted here in Argentina with ELCA colleague Raquel Rodriguez, who heads the Latin America work for Global Mission.

 

Church leadership has shifted in just one generation from being "foreign missionary dominated" to indigenous and contextual.  Whereas I served my South American internship in the mid-1970s surrounded by American and German pastors, today the churches leadership is solidly in the hands of South Americans.  Yet these are by no means mono-cultural faith communities.  The clerical cadres in each country contain the names of pastors from other Latin American nations.  And students from all over Latin America, as well as "overseas" study here at Argentinas ISEDET seminary, my base of operation while in Buenos Aires. 

 

Just as they have swirled among us in the ELCA and broader North American scene, so the Spirit-winds of liturgical and evangelical renewal are blowing in the southern hemisphere.  In every IELU arena where I have been privileged to observe and interact, I hear and see signs of renewal and a passionate mission-mindedness.  The questions raised in the leadership development retreat for congregational presidents and treasurers were exciting ones: "How can our parochial schools develop a greater sense of evangelism and community outreach?  What concrete steps can we take to welcome spiritual seekers from our neighborhoods and broader communities?  What changes do we need to make in our parish life in order to deconstruct barriers that are keeping non-members from crossing the threshold? 

 

In this one short P.O. piece with a Buenos Aires "postmark," it’s simply not possible to share all I’m seeing, hearing and feeling.  Upon my return to the U.S. and LTSG campus, I will seek opportunities to share further my “learnings” from this South American sojourn.  Suffice it for now to pass along these few reflections and glimpses into the signs of impending springtime, hoping that as the fall season is upon us in the northland, you too are seeing many signs of ever-greening Gospel!

 

P.S. When you see me, ask about my encounter with the world’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist, followed in short order by my first tango lesson . . .

 

A Marriage of Seven Decades

A Marriage of Seven Decades

From the Gettysburg PO by Michael L. Cooper-White

Gettysburg Seminary President
www.Ltsg.edu

 

At the end of the service, the pastor offered an addendum to Jesus’ long list of parables in Matthew 13 concerning the nature of the Realm and Reign of God: “The Kingdom of God,” Kirk Anderson declared, “is like a couple married for 70 years!”  The couple to whom he referred are my parents, Alice and Bennie Cooper, married in Milbank, South Dakota on July 30, 1938. 

 

A GOOGLE search reveals the nature of the times in that year when Time Magazine concluded Adolf Hitler was “man of the year” who most influenced the world for good or evil.  War was on the near horizon.  That the Great Depression still lingered was evident both societally, with unemployment at 19%, and personally, with my folks “hiring out” together to a local farmer for $450 per year.  Their early decades together were ones of perennial hardship.  Their stories still abound with recollections of scarcity, back-breaking farm labor on summers’ most sweltering afternoons and winters’ coldest mornings, and periods of prolonged prairie isolation for a teen-age bride and her young husband.

 

On occasions like the one we celebrated the last weekend in July, it is only natural to pose questions to and seek wisdom from the actors at center stage.  “So tell us the secret to staying married for 70 years.”  “What were the hardest times?  How about the best?”  As the years have gone by since we celebrated Mom’s and Dad’s 50^th two decades ago, I have noticed each has gradually become a person of fewer words.  Often the response to our queries these days is only a smile, a nod, or a sigh.  “We just kept on loving each other through thick and thin,” is about the essence of their testimony.  Perhaps Alice offered the most profound witness at Emmanuel Church when prayer concerns were invited by the assisting minister: “I want to thank God for our 70 years together,” she said simply, then added, “I have thanked God every morning for this man named Bennie.”

 

Among the cardinal virtues long espoused by Christians and others are the tandem pair of constancy and fidelity—“staying put, hanging in there, keeping on keeping on”—however you wish to define them.  They can, of course, be exercised to a fault and exploited to an unhealthy or even dangerous degree.  No one should stay in a relationship that has become abusive or death-dealing.  Even a vociferously anti-divorce theologian/professor once said to a group of us seminarians about marriage and divorce, “We promise ‘til death do us part and if it’s killing you, you may need to get out.”  Perhaps it is because they recognize a long-lasting marriage is more gift than something merited or even earned by fidelity and constancy, my parents have long been among the most understanding and accepting of others whose relationships end painfully.

 

In this year’s Summer Institute at the Seminary, Roy Oswald reported on the decades-long research he and others of the Alban Institute have conducted surrounding “long-term pastorates.”  “We learned of their value for vital, thriving congregations,” would be a succinct summary of a far more complicated conclusion.  Rome was not built in a day.  Significant pastoral and leader-follower relationships do not deepen to the point of fostering long-term systemic congregational health and vitality in even a few years, the typical duration of a vast majority of pastorates.  “Go and plant your feet with a commitment to constancy,” is the advice of the Alban folks, many bishops, and this seminary president who in one fashion or another tries to include that message in almost every annual commencement address.

I am fully and humbly cognizant of the extraordinary gift my brother and I and our large extended family enjoy in the continuing presence among us of Bennie and Alice (now—following our sister’s death a decade ago—known to us alone as Mom and Dad).    Given life expectancies in his era, of course Jesus did not include in his laundry list of “like-the-Kingdom” parables one about a couple married for 70 years.  But if he knew back then, what Dave and I and a small minority of other children whose parents reach such milestones in marriage know now, I suspect our Lord might have added Pastor Anderson’s example to his declarations about mustard seeds, yeast, pearls, nets and hidden treasures . . .     

 

 

You Were Really Good!

From the Gettysburg PO
by Michael L. Cooper-White,
Seminary President
www.ltsg.edu

In a baccalaureate sermon to the Gustavus Adolphus College class of 1980, the Rev. Richard Quentin Elvee, GAC chaplain at the time, recounted a hurried graduation week encounter with another member of the college staff.  “Only Thursday, on my way to the Barn, after declining to come with me, Hamrum shouted after me, ‘Padre, tell them that they were good’!” *

Undoubtedly, it could be said of the student body of each and every one of our Seminary’s 180 years, “You were good!”  For so indeed they all have been.  Each year has been marked by many days full of grace and goodness.  Amidst the inevitable tensions and conflicts, challenges and difficulties that arise within any Christian community, every year there are the healers and helpers, those whose calm steady presence encourages others when times are tough, when the waters rage turbulent.  As we once again welcomed so many alumni back home to campus for our Spring Convocation and Alumni Banquet, I caught glimpses into just how good were their classes, even those who sojourned here in the turbulent times of the 1960’s and 70’s. 

But this year, you were really, really good!  In classroom, coffee shop and quiet one-on-one conversations that occur on a daily basis, you listened and learned from our faculty, but also from one another, and most of all, from God.  There seemed to be a special measure of fellowship in some quarters, extended to others last fall in the touch (well, by the end more mud-wrestling!) Lutherbowl tourney.  It continued throughout, manifested again at year’s end in another Crump-crowned croquet contest. 

When faced with disappointment at the announcement that the campus pastor position will be suspended at least for a while as Pastor Kathy Vitalis Hoffman concludes her marvelous tenure, student leaders went to work with the dean and others to find new ways of providing pastoral care and mission-mentoring.  In the aftermath of last summer’s multiple retirements coupled with painful “downsizing” and increased workloads for continuing staff and those newly hired, everybody pitched in and kept us marching full swing in our mission.

Theologically, of course, we acknowledge that all goodness comes from God.  Properly humble, we are appropriately reticent to claim too much credit for our feeble efforts to foster community, encourage one another spiritually, lead vigorously and at times even courageously.  But, dear friends of this great and growing Gettysburg Seminary community, remember those times when Jesus said to one or another of his followers, “Good job!  You got it right this time!  Not perfect, but good enough to offer up to God.”

So in this final P.O. entry of the 180^th academic year, allow me as your president to offer this benediction on the LTSG community of 2006-07: You were good.  You were really, really good!  Thanks, and have a great summer.

 
^* Richard Quentin Elvee, Kingdom of Identity, Gustavus Adolphus College 1987, p. 125

The Search for Words

By Christine Reimers

As a member of the seminary staff I had the privilege to meet and get to know [Gettysburg Seminary's late 10th President] Herm Stuempfle a little over these last four years. Today, the day after the tragic shooting at VA Tech -- as on other days when I have been at loss for words and filled with emotion – I found myself at my piano looking through Stuempfle hymns for one that spoke to the pain, grief, and violence of these recent events. I found two. On Emmaus’ Journey is a wonderful witness to our human struggle to meet the risen Christ: “Who are you who walk in sorrow down Emmaus’ barren road, Hearts distraught and hope defeated bent beneath grief’s crushing load?’ Nameless mourners we will join you, we who also mourn our dead, We have stood beside graves unyielding, eaten death’s bare bitter bread.” This is, of course, only the first verse and Stuempfle moves from this poignant description through to the resurrection appearance and in-breaking of new hope. The second text is for choir, A Christmas Dialog and brings to life the power of the incarnation in the midst of the violence of the world: “Where nights are torn by siren’s wail an din of blaring horn, on streets where threats of violence lurk, the Child again is born. . . where life is harsh and hard, he comes with love for all.” This text is in dialogue through the piece with the vision of the Peaceable Kingdom where beast and humans alike will “all live in peace.” I give many thanks for the poetic gifts and vision of the Gospel in the world expressed by Herm Stuempfle in many many beautiful hymn and anthems.

The Rev. Christine E. Reimers, Ph.D.
Advancement Associate
Lutheran Theological Seminary Gettysburg
 

New from the Faculty

See New Faculty Publications Case for recent additions:

Congratulations to

Jack Lundbom has a new article "The Lion Has Roared"
Gil Waldkoenig has four entries in a massive Encyclopedia of Appalachia
Lutheranism A to Z is now in paperback (Gassmann, Larson, Oldenburg)
      (and more affordable, too)
Church Administration by Bacher and Cooper-White hit the streets this week.

____________________________
The Rev. John R. Spangler