Eriksson, Paul C. E.

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Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 13Issue 1 Perspectives on Evangelism/Fundamentalism/Neo-ConservatismArticle 75-1-1987A parish pastor's perspective on neo-conservatismPaul C. E. ErikssonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationEriksson, Paul C. E. (1987) "A parish pastor's perspective on neo-conservatism," Consensus: Vol. 13 : Iss. 1 , Article 7.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol13/iss1/7A Parish Pastor’s Perspectiveon Neo-ConservatismPaul ErikssonDirector of Field Education and AssistantProfessor of Functional Theology,Lutheran Theological Seminary, SaskatoonI believe that the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canadahas people in its congregations who represent every part of thecontinuum from one extreme theological position to the other.Our task as parish pastors is to work with these people so thatthey become a church—believers gathered around the Wordand Sacraments, a blessing to the community in which theylive, an expression of the love of God in the world. As weexperience the love of God in Christ Jesus we in turn sharethat love with the people around us by loving them as theyare.A parish pastor has to deal with a congregation in a commu-nity. In that congregation there are many different groups ofpeople with different beliefs. There are some who have a clus-ter of beliefs which they consider fundamentals of the Chris-tian religion. They may find common ground with people inother denominations who hold these same beliefs. A problemarises when these congregation members are unable to copewith other people in their own congregation who may differin some of these beliefs. The problem is one of coping withdifferences.People are different. They want different things. They havedifferent motives, purposes and aims. They believe differently.Nothing is more fundamental than that. Ways of acting andfeeling, governed as they are by wants and beliefs, follow suitand differ radically among people.Differences abound and are not at all difficult to see. Thesevariations in behavior and attitude trigger in each of us a com-mon response. Seeing others around us differing from us, weconclude that these differences in individual behavior are ev-idence of madness, badness, stupidity or sickness. In other90 Consensuswords, we rather naturally account for variations in the behav-ior of others in terms of flaw and affliction. Our job would seemto be to correct these flaws. That is one way of coping withdifferences, and it is commonly followed in religious circles.I would show you a more excellent way, the way of love.Someone is quoted as saying, “Whom you would change, last-ingly and for good, you must first love.” I am suggesting thatwe learn to think of those who differ from us not in terms offlaw and affliction but rather think of them as doing the bestthey can with what they believe at the moment. In lovingthem and seeking to discover what it is they believe we maycome to understand them. If they come to understand theirown beliefs they may decide to change.The nature and mission of the church is to be a worship-ping. learning, witnessing, serving and supporting communityof believers gathered around the Word and Sacraments. Theministry of the Word is one in which we discover the meaningsand understandings that bind a group of believers together. Itis a ministry to root Christian conviction.The ministry of worship nourishes our response. Throughcommunion and celebration we stay in touch with God’s good-ness and keep naming it.Learning what it is to be Lutheran Christians, with peoplewhom we trust, calls us to a response in which we become aministering community. A ministry of healing results as thatministering community attends to the brokenness of life.The problem we have is that of forming a community ofChristians trying to move to ever greater faithfulness to thegospel. Seeking a comprehensive ministry which meets peoplein their totality is difficult enough when every one is presentand committed to the task. A ministry to the person in heror his total life and a ministry which draws that person intoa worshipping, healing, guiding community centered in fidelityto Jesus is hindered when some in the group are frightened bychange.I believe that to walk in the light of God’s love is to beopen to one another, sharing the reality of our lives with oneanother. When this kind of sharing occurs, fellowship results.The closed, separating kind of thinking destroys fellowship,and the blood of Jesus is not allowed to keep us from sinning.A Pastor’s Perspective 91that is, “missing the mark” with one another. Too often, thosewho are neo-conservatives tend to withdraw and will not sharetheir lives and their thinking. They in effect, say, “It’s no usetalking to you. You have a different philosophy than I have.”When that happens the fellowship is broken. There is then nodialogue, and any change for mutual understanding is gone.I have a son who is a fundamentalist. Sometimes he says tome, “Dad you are wasting your time. Those people, Lutherans,will never respond to your ministry.” My reply is, “These arethe people I am called to serve. It is to them that I bring themessage of God’s love in the moments of crisis in their lives.Some of them hear it and change to become messengers of lovethemselves.”One of the most painful experiences for me is when my soneven questions my place in the family of God. He doubts if Ican be Christian since I do not believe just as he does. Whatmakes it even harder is when he is not willing to talk aboutour differences in beliefs.People in the congregation sometimes have a life-changingexperience and, like my son, they become impatient with thosewho might not have had the same experience and they leavethe congregation. Others see their role lying within the con-gregation and willingly become one of us.A friend of mine once did some research on Lutheran con-gregations which had in them people with a charismatic expe-rience. Some of the congregations had divided because of thecharismatic phenomenon. Others had stayed united, enrichedby the people who had that experience.As my friend did his study he found two groups of peoplepresent in all the congregations under study. One group expe-rienced the charismatic phenomenon and did not think muchof those who had not had such an experience. The other grouphad not had such an experience and did not think much ofthose who had. He found that congregations having only thesetwo groups present suffered schism.The congregations which stayed together, he discovered,had a third group present. This third group consisted of peoplewho had respect and understanding for both the other groups,the charismatic and the non-charismatic. This third groupprovided the glue which held the congregations together.92 ConsensusIt seems to me that the same kind of “glue” is needed inevery congregation. People who respect and understand eachother rather than judge one another are needed to unite con-gregations. Differences need not divide us; they can provideopportunities for witnessing to our faith and challenges forlearning and growth.There is room for many understandings, as many as thereare people. Together they build up to a completion of ourunderstanding of God’s greatness. Some speak of people aspassing through stages of faith. If their understanding is cor-rect, w'e may be growing in our faith and understanding and weare no more to be rejected for being where we are than a childis to be rejected for being a child. Just as in physical devel-opment one is not at fault for not being maturationally readyfor the next step in growth, so too, no one is to be rejected forbeing at a certain stage of faith development.Pastors are confronted by people in all these continua withtheir separate demands. The challenge is to unite them inone purpose—to be Lutheran in the community, to be a bless-ing. The membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church InCanada is one percent of the population of Canada. Whywould God want us around? My thought is that God wantseach Lutheran Christian present as evidence of what God cando wdth people who live by grace. Each Lutheran congrega-tion is to be living evidence of the blessing God’s grace can bewhen people accept it and join together to live by grace in acommunity.The Lutheran Church has had a long history of division.Much of that division has been on ethnic, linguistic and geo-graphical lines. In recent years there has been a coming to-gether in mergers in Canada. It has not been easy, and I seemuch of the division as coming from the problem of copingwith differences. Some are questioning the merger and that isalright. My plea is that they would give the merger a chance.Let us not seek to divide but rather be present with ourbeliefs and struggle with those who may believe differently.Let us as brothers and sisters in Christ seek to find how Godwould have us be a blessing to Canada.My father was a pioneer pastor. He used to say, “I hopeI live to see the day wTen there will be one Lutheran Churchin Canada.” My father has been dead for fifty years and I amA Pastor’s Perspective 93beginning to say, “I hope I live to see the day when there willbe one Lutheran Church in Canada.” It will only happen ifLutherans are willing to trust God to unite us in spite of ourmany beliefs.Whatever the label we put on one another—fundamentalist,conservative, liberal—let us recognize that there is one labelthat fits us all—sinner. It is time we confess our own sin ratherthan that which we perceive in others. For us sinners God’sgrace is sufficient.

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