{"id":10198,"date":"2024-08-21T15:08:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10198"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:12:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:12:32","slug":"yoked-to-a-dying-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10198","title":{"rendered":"Yoked to a dying horse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The ELCA is yoked to the Episcopal Church USA through <em>Called to Common Mission<\/em> (CCM), which the ELCA adopted in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ELCA leaders sold CCM as a gesture of unity, but it came at an exorbitant price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ELCA had to give up its Reformation heritage of gospel-freedom. Gone was the Reformation\u2019s one office of ministry shared equally by pastors and bishops <a href=\"#_ftn1\" id=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> . Gone was gospel-freedom to alter structures for the sake of mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ELCA had to <strong>change its constitution<\/strong><a href=\"#_ftn2\" id=\"_ftnref2\"> <\/a><a href=\"#_ftn2\" id=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> and adopt a hierarchical priesthood \u2013 three ranks of clergy, each rank with distinctive powers and plumage. It was to happen gradually over twenty years, and that is exactly what did happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward to 2024. At its June General Convention, the Episcopal Church adopted a resolution acknowledging that the ELCA has fulfilled CCM\u2019s requirement to have ordained deacons as a third rank of clergy <a href=\"#_ftn3\" id=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Episcopal General Convention also elected a new Presiding Bishop, Sean Rowe. Though young and cheerful, he rides a dying horse. Read about it <a href=\"https:\/\/virtueonline.org\/general-convention-elects-youngest-episcopal-presiding-bishop-record\"> here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/virtueonline.org\/belshazzar-could-not-read-hand-writing-wall-and-neither-can-episcopal-presiding-bishop-elect-sean\"> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" id=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>&nbsp; It is said five times in the Lutheran Confessions that pastors and bishops equally share one office of ministry: Augsburg Confession 28: 30, 53, 55, Treatise 61, Smalcald Articles 10:1-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" id=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a>&nbsp; ELCA Constitution \u00b610.81.01.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" id=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a>&nbsp; In 2019, the ELCA adopted \u201cordination\u201d as the rite for deacons, making them a new rank of clergy. In June 2024 the Episcopal General Convention adopted Resolution A048, \u201c\u2019the last piece of <em>Called to Common Mission<\/em>,\u2019 which would bring all orders into alignment.\u201d (Melody Woerman, \u201cProposed Resolution would allow exchange of Episcopal, Lutheran deacons,\u201d Episcopal News Service, May 1, 2024).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ELCA is yoked to the Episcopal Church USA through Called to Common Mission (CCM), which the ELCA adopted in 1999. ELCA leaders sold CCM as a gesture of unity, but it came at an exorbitant price. The ELCA had to give up its Reformation heritage of gospel-freedom. Gone was the Reformation\u2019s one office of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10198"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10207,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10198\/revisions\/10207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}