“The decision at the August 2009 Churchwide Assembly split our congregation. What help can you suggest for us?”
An ELCA member asked this question of Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson at the Town Hall Forum, March 7, 2010. He answered:
“I begin from the premise not that some in this church are being faithful to the authority of Scripture and others have forsaken it. I believe that as a church we uphold, we uphold the authority of Scripture as authoritative for our faith and our life and our witness. And it is under the Scriptures that we hear and interpret those Scriptures speaking to us. Wouldn’t it be better if we came to one another and said, “Tell me how God is speaking to you through God’s word, through the Scriptures in this matter and I will tell you how God is speaking to me.” I think it’s more a matter of God being heard differently, spoken through Scripture, and how it’s being interpreted into the context of our lives, than some following Scripture and others forsaking Scripture.”
Just as “the bound conscience” is a pious veneer over “anything goes,” so the Bible, too, is “anything goes.” You hear it one way; I hear it another. You have your context; I have mine.
This is how Presiding Bishop Hanson plans to deal with the Rev. Alex G. Malasusa, Archbishop of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania (6,300,000 members), when they are together in May 2010:
“I will share with Bishop Malasusa the ELCA’s strong commitment to the centrality of the Word of God in our faith and witness.” said Hanson.
One could not blame Archbishop Malasusa for being skeptical.