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Adventures in La-La Land Lutheranism

Matt Kennedy, an Anglican traditionalist, says he’s astonished to find that this “womanist” Lutheran parish in San Francisco is not part of TEC, but fears that a liturgist will import their womanist revision of the Our Father: Our Mother who is within us we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come. Your will be done, […]

Matt Kennedy, an Anglican traditionalist, says he’s astonished to find that this “womanist” Lutheran parish in San Francisco is not part of TEC, but fears that a liturgist will import their womanist revision of the Our Father:

Our Mother who is within us
we celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come.
Your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits
and we let go.
You support us in our power
and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us
the empowerment around us
and the celebration among us
now and for ever. Amen.

The church’s website explains what it’s about:

The liturgy, community and ministry of the congregation reflects diverse thealogical [sic] works and voices hoping to be a part of the prophetic voice of the divine feminine that will deconstruct Christianity and other patriarchal religions so that both a new paradigm and worldview may emerge that truly creates egalitarian just society and eco-sensitivities that tend to mending the web of life.

They are in the middle of painting the church, an ELCA parish, purple and periwinkle to give form to their convictions. Seriously.

Below, check out their pastor’s video introduction to this parish. Without any belief in authority or doctrine, why is any of this wrong? It is wholly un-Christian and heretical, not to mention gobsmackingly silly, but you can only declare it wrong if you believe there is a such thing as orthodoxy. If religion, though, is only about therapeutic goals, then this is what you get. This goes beyond a more liberal expression of the Christian faith into creating another faith entirely — and yet, this parish is still a member of the Evangelical Luthern Church of America. Is there anything that an ELCA parish can do that will get them kicked out? I’m not asking in a snarky way; I really want to know. And if there’s no doctrinal content to the faith, no “thou shalt nots” that define what it means to be a Lutheran Christian, then what is religion except content-free emotionalism? I would ask liberals who think this stuff is okay to explain on what grounds they would dismiss, say, an interpretation of Christianity incorporating white supremacist ideology? If this church can baptize feminism at the expense of classic Christian doctrine, why can’t white supremacists do the same, and claim that they’re still on board with the overall program?

 

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