This is a note I wrote to a friend about our response to the ELCA decision on ordaining clergy who are in monogamous, long-term, same-sex committed relationships.

John,

I am convinced the church is wrong. Yet I do not plan to leave. Too many have left - time and again. How many more denominations do we need? And they are all fallen and corrupted in one way or another. I do not know if I might change my mind at some point, but when I was talking about leaving after the Episcopalian decision - which I also feel was very wrong, I was confronted one week with an Old Testament lesson that just hit me like a brick.

It is Ezekiel, in the valley of the dry bones. The question God asks, " Can

these bones live?" If God never gives up on his people - how can I?

The nation of Israel, more than once became completely separated from the word of God and the covenant. We see that in the reforms of Josiah, when the book of Law that is apparently not even known by the priests in the temple is suddenly discovered.

We see it in Elijah, when he laments that he alone is left in all of Israel.

We see it also in the history of the church as one thinks about what gospel was preached in periods when Jan Hus and Luther and others were raised up to preach the gospel to people who had never heard it before.

Luther never left the church - He was kicked out. From what I can tell, the concept of leaving the church was not something he could comprehend. Once he was kicked out he had to live from that new reality, but continued to speak to the church catholic.

Who am I to up and leave and act as if the extraordinary challenges are any more daunting than those that have been faced by God's people many times over since God first call Abraham. I do not see my little protest and preaching in these two small rural congregations as having much effect or impact either. And yet one of the things I took away from Rick Warren was the thought of preaching here with the knowledge that the proclamation of the gospel in this place makes all the difference in the world. Reminded me of Frosty Westering - PLU football coach, whose theme was often was a part of the culture of PLU at the time. "The Big time is where you are!" I think that's right, but his idea was this may not be big time college football where you play before a national TV audience - but it is what you make of it. It is not small and inconsequential. It matters.

There are still people in the ELCA - many people - who need to hear the gospel, and the denomination as a whole still needs to be challenged by the word of God. If those who believe the church has acted wrong all leave, who is left to speak the truth?

With the stories of Abraham and Sarah, and again with Mary, the theme comes through that nothing is impossible for God. It is not for us to win the battle, but simply remain faithful in the proclamation to which God has called us.

I think of Isaiah in chapter 6, after he has said, "here am I, send me" The message that he is to proclaim, and the result that he is to expect was not something to encourage anyone. His only response was, "How Long?" I feel that at times as well, but like Jeremiah in Lamentations, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness."

The battle is never lost. The church of God will never be defeated. We know the final outcome, and so no matter the forces lined against us, we stand firm and live as the faithful people of God wherever he has called us...

I would add - maybe he does call some to leave. But I also believe He calls some to stay and fight the good fight MKS

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