Lutherans vs. Other Church People
Somebody once asked me, "How did you meet your husband?" Truth be told, he stuck his hand in my pocket at a hayride. It was a Lutheran hayride, of course. Everything our family did those days was Lutheran. I even went to a Lutheran university. Fortunately, they took the offspring of an immoral Lutheran (See blog "Living religiously" for "immoral" explanation), so long as he was still a Lutheran and contributing to the church.
Our family soon went into crisis mode--he, the boyfriend, was NOT Lutheran. But it turned okay. My mom saw to that! He promised her he would join the church, soon as we got married. And he did. Smart guy! He knew how to handle Lutherans, even though his brother was a Presbyterian minister.
One day I gave up and joined the ecumenical movement (I was the corrupted family member; remember?) That gave me permission to go to church ANYWHERE, whether it be my brother-in-law's parish, to church with Catholic friends while camping, and even the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
And do you know what I found out? We worship the same God! Isn't He clever? He keeps His identity, no matter what kinds of rules and regulations we persnickety churches set up. So, next time you go to a foreign church, wink at the guy who was up on that cross, to let him know that you know the secret, too!
Your friend in Christ and all kinds of good stuff,
Margaret
And you didn't even mention the different Lutheran synods! :-) that's another whole ballgame. My dad's a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor and his brother is a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran pastor. My dad would love to have a family communion service around a campfire or at a beach sometime but my uncle "can't" participate in that. I think that's such a shame. I too think of God as being 1 God with US applying the different rules. When I attended a Lutheran college too (grin) and was taking theology classes, I was fascinated learning about other religions and possibilities out there in the world. I had only been exposed to a small part of religion.
ReplyDeleteGod is so much bigger than we give Him credit for, isn't He? Yesterday's Pentecostal Bible reading pointed out that there were Arabs among the people gathered that day when the Spirit came upon the people. That was the first time I had noticed that. Some of my Christian friends are so afraid of Arabs today, thinking them all part of the destructive Jihad movement. They're so missing out on the vastness of God's kingdom in this world.
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