The history of Lutherans in North America is the history of the tension between the impulse to divide and the drive for unity. For those of us who are Norwegian, like the founders of Eidsvold and First Lutheran churches, immigration to this continent began with the ship “Restauration” which sailed from Bergen to New York in 1825 with a load of dissenters from the Church of Norway. It was a harbinger of things to come.
In the broader Lutheran picture the immigrants not only separated from one another along linguistic and ethnic lines but on doctrinal and piety lines as well. Eventually there were dozens of Lutheran groups across the country, but in every group there were those who had the dream of Lutherans living, working, and worshipping together in one denomination and giving a united witness to the enduring principles of the Reformation. The members of Eidsvold saw the United Evangelical Lutheran Church formed in 1890, only four years after Eidsvold began, in an attempt to bridge the gap that separated Lutherans from one another. In 1917, just one year after the organization of First Lutheran Church in Karlstad by people who did not wish to worship in Swedish in the church down the street even though it was evangelical Lutheran, a merger produced the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which, like First Lutheran Church, had the word “Norwegian” in its legal name for many years. In 1960 for the first time our forbearers crossed ethnic lines to join Germans and Danes in forming The American Lutheran Church, but that still did not include the church down the street. And then in the 1980s another drive towards unity produced the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Finally we were in the same organization as our Swedish neighbors as well as most Germans except for the Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Wisconsin Synod. (WELS).
With every merger there were those who would not come along. They formed their own little rump groups separate from the majority. This happened again after the 1988 merger. As the years rolled along there was always the temptation to break apart over some disagreement or vote or practice. A fair number of people gave in to this temptation after the 2009 ELCA churchwide assembly. The tension between the impulse to divide and the drive for unity continues to this very day in arguments over how much diversity is permissible, how much uniformity is critical, and with whom to fellowship or affiliate.
There is an old saying, often quoted, that goes back to some of the fierce intra-Lutheran controversies in Germany, that is still worth considering today: In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity. But of course, the debates often hinge on what is essential and what is not.
Being part of a large denomination is much like being part of a large family. There are tensions that exist between some members of the family who disagree rather strongly. There is often one member or another who is a bit different from the rest, who doesn’t seem quite like “one of us.” And from time to time there is going to be a scandal that brings shame on everyone. But it is still a family. The odd one is not ostracized. Those who seem to be going down the wrong road are guided, if possible, onto the right road. There are frustrations. And there are things you’ve just got to live with, like it or not. But good families do not give up on each other.
That being said, the family that we call the ELCA is one of which I am proud to be a member. Back in June I wrote in this space about going to the 2012 NW MN Synod assembly and encountering people wearing buttons that said “Proud to be ELCA.” Humble understated Lutherans don’t often say this, but maybe we should. Maybe we should lift up the good things that happen among us and be proud, but not too proud. Maybe we should focus a little more on the faithful members who get little press and focus just a little less on those who grab a headline or generate a controversy. And maybe we should love those with whom we disagree as well as those with whom we agree and talk to those who puzzle us as well as those we think we understand.
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