Big Church

Photo by Daniel G DeBlock - Leiturgia Communications Inc.

The Southwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly has been going on for 24 plus hours now. Our Cokato church could have had several people here as "voting members" and others could have come as visitors. But I'm the only one here. The "only one" that is, among about 6-700 others who did take time to come.

Every time at these events I think about why people could, or should, come to these things. And I think about why they don't. Sure, we've had folks down through the years volunteer their time to come, and, yes, most times they're glad they did, but the numbers are always small.

Why "should" people come? It has to do with a wider and deeper and longer vision of the Christian community. Usually we think in terms of what we can see and relate to day in and day out. But we're affected by things beyond our local place and immediate time.

The sexuality study, for example, will affect us in the future. Today I got up at a hearing and said some of the things I wrote about in my previous post. The decisions our "big church," the ELCA, makes will affect us in the future. The decisions we make influence what is taught at the seminaries (where pastors are trained) and at the colleges. They influence the worship materials produced by our church body. What the church decides about a specific issue may not change my mind or yours, but it does have influence.

More later.