Confessional Lip Service

This is the eighth post in a series looking at the reasons why some Lutheran pastors left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. The first seven posts focused on an article written by the Reverend Thomas L. Palke in 1999 entitled “MY JOURNEY TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY JESUS CHRIST: A Son of the Reformation Enters the “Mighty Fortress” of the Orthodox Church.”

The next three posts will examine the article "My Journey Home" by a former LCMS pastor named Ezekiel who converted to Orthodoxy a few years ago.

Every week on the Steadfast Lutheran website there are articles about the serious problems in the LCMS. Many are putting their hope in Rev. Harrison and praying that he becomes the next President of the Synod. However, I don’t know if a new president can fix the problems in the LCMS.

The problems in the Synod are theological. One problem is the often massive gap between the Lutheran Confessions and actual practice in the local LCMS congregations.

Ezekiel states:

“However, within Lutheranism, particularly the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, the Confessions of the Church were given lip service, while practically speaking they were abandoned. Although Confession and Absolution were part of what Lutherans confess, the official church body didn’t require the practice. Increasing, any semblance of the historic western liturgy gave way to “pick and choose” when it came to worship. Rather than seeing improvement in these things, or any sort of repentance, things were glossed over. A number of my colleagues and I became very much concerned that Lutheranism, in particular the Missouri Synod, was akin to the Titanic. Everyone was always waiting for the next convention or the next administration to “fix” things, but it didn’t get better.

It couldn’t get better because when one asks wrong questions, one gets wrong answers. And where truth is obscured or made relative, there can be no freedom, but only a constant movement here and there. Prayers and Liturgy are replaced by high sounding doctrinal discussions which leave the people behind and which are aimed only at scoring points. And this is not what the Nicene Creed means when it says “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” That phrase of the creed has always been very important to me, and to a number of my colleagues. We believed that this Church was visible (not invisible, some idealistic hoped for reunion), alive, well – and as our Lord Christ says: the gates of hell did not prevail against it.”

The “Lutheran Church” is the consequence of a failed attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. Luther did not set out to start a new church. Lutheranism is more of an “idea” than a “Church”.

Ezekiel states:

“We wrestled with the fact that seriously reading the Confessions of the Lutheran church indicated that there really shouldn’t be a “Lutheran” church at all: for the Reformers were demonstrating that they were actually one with the ancient church. Indeed, it is clear that they would hold to the ancient fathers, to that which the Church had handed down. Their claim was that Rome had ceased doing that – thus a call for Reform!”