October 2015 Volume 42 Number 4 The Vocation of Lutheranism in North America: Toward the Next 500 Years CURRENTS in Theology and Mission Currents in Theology and Mission Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in cooperation with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Wartburg Theological Seminary Editors: Kathleen D. Billman, S.D. Giere, Craig L. Nessan Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Copy Editor: Connie Sletto Editor of Preaching Helps: Barbara K. Lundblad Editors of Book Reviews: Ralph W. Klein (Old Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0773) [email protected] Craig L. Nessan (history, theology, ethics and ministry) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) [email protected] Troy M. Troftgruben (New Testament) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0303) [email protected] Design and layout: Kathryn Brewer Circulation Office: 773-256-0751, [email protected] Editorial Board: Michael Aune (PLTS), James Erdman (WTS), Robert Kugler (PLTS), Kristine Stache (WTS), Vítor Westhelle (LSTC). CURRENTS IN THEOLOGY AND MISSION (ISSN: 0098-2113) is published bimonthly (every other month), February, April, June, August, October, December. Annual subscription rate: $24.00 in the U.S.A., $28.00 elsewhere. Two-year rate: $44.00 in the U.S.A., $52.00 elsewhere. Three-year rate: $60.00 in the U.S.A., $72.00 elsewhere. Many back issues are available for $5.00, postage included. Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, a nonprofit organization, 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60615, to which all business correspondence is to be addressed. Printed in U.S.A. CURRENTS is indexed in ATLA Religion Database, Elenchus, IZBW, NTA, OTA, Religion Index I (formerly IRPL), Religious and Theological Abstracts, and Theologische Literaturzeitung. MICROFORM AVAILABILITY: 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm, 105mm microfiche, and article copies are available through NA Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Unless otherwise noted scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Contents Taking Stock of the Lutheran Witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in North America S. D. Giere 260 The Lutheran Vocation in America: Past, Present, and Future Sarah E. Ruble 265 Believing, Teaching, Confessing: A Vision for North American Lutherans Robert Kolb 273 Challenges for North American Lutheranism: A View from Canada Gordon A. Jensen 279 The ELCA at the 500th anniversary of the Reformation Maria Erling 286 2517 AD Kip A. Tyler 293 Living Together in Sacred Time: North American Lutherans and the Liturgical Year Amy C. Schifrin, STS 298 Faithfulness In-Between: Reflections from within Lutheran CORE Steve Shipman 304 Book Reviews 308 Preaching Helps Dissonant Calendars: From Ordinary Time to Happy New Year! Barbara K. Lundblad 316 Lectionary 27/19th Sunday after Pentecost – First Sunday of Christmas Joanne Engquist, Mark Hanson, Wilk Miller, Bradley Schmeling, Bonnie Wilcox 318 Currents in Theology and Mission 42:4 (October 2015) Taking Stock of the Lutheran Witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in North America Family reunions can be quite interesting. Aside from the awkwardness of getting reacquainted with cousins you haven’t seen since you were a chubby- cheeked toddler and the quirkiness of an odd uncle, it can happen that those gathered in the present take stock of the past with arms open to the future. This taking stock, at least in part, revolves around narrating the family tree. Origin stories. Immigrations. Marriages. Divorces. Births. Adoptions. Deaths. Just to name a few of the themes that run through these narrations. Most fam- ily trees, after all, are not symmetrical but rather gnarly — more like a burr oak than a Norway spruce. My own family had a reunion recently. Two branches of it, anyway. There was plenty of reminiscing as we recalled stories that decorate our particular family tree. Over meals, card games, and an occasional beer, we caught-up with one another. We took stock. In a quiet moment with one of my uncles toward the end of our time together, he reflected on the convergence of past, present, and future that had happened over these days. In his 80th year, he interpreted this gathering as a sign of hope. His focus was on the future, on the relationships built over those few days between the youngest ones — the children. His hope, I think, was in building connections that would, in essence, foster the tree’s health and growth beyond simply sharing a common root system and a common surname. In a real way, the authors of the essays in this issue of Currents are all cous- ins who can trace their theological and Confessional roots back 500 years to the Protestant Reformation and a particular Augustinian monk in Wittenberg who was calling the church to repentance. We all share the theological surname “Lutheran.” In North America, we are all children of immigrants, and we have Confessional cousins now around the globe. While the Lutheran family tree is far bigger than the little gathering that is this issue of Currents in Theology and Mission,1 this particular gathering of cousins represents a good chunk of the North American branches of the global Lutheran family tree. Were the Wiscon- 1. For the fullest sweep of Christians of a Lutheran theological/Confessional heritage worldwide, we would need to include member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, the International Lutheran Conference, and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Confer- ence. sin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to have participated, all of the most significant Lutheran groups would be included.2 Lest we foolishly assume that family and harmony are synonyms, it is important to acknowledge that families do not always get along. In part, this is what makes reunions so very interesting! Disagreements and discord can persist sometimes for generations. So it is in our rather motley Lutheran family in North America. (This is to say nothing of the global Lutheran family or the wider Christian church around the world!). I consider it a gift that we have the voices in this issue that we do, and I trust that you, the reader, will notice some of these differences as well as some profound similarities as you read the essays. The focus of this issue is not on differences and disagreements. Rather, the focus of this “family gathering” is on the future of our common theological, Confessional witness in North America.3 What does a Lutheran witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in North America sound like and mean today and tomor- row? (It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, after all, that is persuasive.) If someone is perusing the religious smorgasbord available in contemporary North America, why is a Lutheran offering desirable? I would bet that we are all in agreement that a simple reliance on the attractive qualities of the Northern European ethnic cuisine of choice is no longer sufficient. In fact, it may well be that the misguided coupling of Lutheranism with these particular ethnic dishes (con- sider lutefisk and sauerkraut as just a couple fragrant examples) throughout recent decades has undermined the clarity and persuasiveness of Luther’s foci of justification by grace through faith and the theology of the cross. Admonishment may not be welcome at family reunions, but it does seem sound to suggest that within our gnarly (and interesting!) Confessional Lu- theran family muddling the clarity of the gospel is actually worth an argument at the dinner table, whether the gospel be replaced by ideologies or judgement- alism, good works or cheap grace.4 We all fall short and stand in need of God’s forgiveness. It is not necessarily a bad thing that we work together as collegially as possible to hold one another accountable to the heart of a particular 2. Efforts were made to include a voice from WELS in this issue regrettably without success. Also, it is important that we acknowledge that there are a number of smaller Lu- theran church bodies in North America, e.g., the Association of Free Lutheran Churches, the Lutheran Brethren, etc. - SG 3. I commend to you the most recent history of the Lutheran movement in America: Mark Granquist, Lutherans in America: A New History (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015). 4. As one of those responsible for forming preachers, the winds of North American pop-Christianity blow strong–perhaps as much in Lutheran pulpits as elsewhere. A distinct contribution that Lutheranism offers to the wider church is clarity about the gospel. Worth reengaging are C.F.W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, W.H.T. Dau, trans.; (St. Louis: Concordia, 1928), and Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr., Preaching Law and Gospel (Ramsey, N.J.: Sigler, 1990). Lutheran articulation of the gospel. Yes, there are divisions. Yes, we have legiti- mate disagreements among us about the interpretation of the Lutheran witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, we have done plenty of admonishing of one another. At the same time and when at our best, our disagreements are impor- tant because what we disagree about is what is ultimately important — God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ for the sake of the world. The thing about this particular family reunion, however, is that its focus is not merely backward and inward. I invite you into this reunion to consider what it means to be of a common Lutheran Confessional family for the purpose of taking stock of the vocation of the North American branch of the global Lutheran movement — a particular tradition within the broader Christian witness within God’s oikoumene5 — as the ticking of time shuffles us all into the start of the next 500 years.