The LCMS and Interfaith Prayer Vigils: A Shrewd and Innocent Approach

Over the past week, my denomination, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), has been dragged through the mud internally and externally over a very difficult issue for us.  The context is the horrible school shootings that happened recently in Newtown, CT and the interfaith prayer vigil that followed.  A pastor in the LCMS, Rev. Morris who lost one member child in the shooting, participated in the event that included Muslims, Jews and Baha’i as well as Christians of all varieties.  Following the event, a firestorm of criticism came from fellow clergy who believed that Pastor Morris was wrong to participate and should be reprimanded by the church.  LCMS President Harrison met with Morris and strongly urged him to apologize.  He did and the media went wild.  Harrison explained his actions and later apologized himself.

What’s going on here?  Why do we trip over ourselves when we come to this issue?  Among the sea of blogs I will register my humble view of scripture and how I hope future situations could be handled.  I will use 1 Corinthians 8-10 as a basis for much of this analysis, since it so closely relates to our present situation. I pray my views are thoroughly scriptural.  Please correct me if they are not.

Lesson #1: We are Free

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?  1 Corinthians 9:1 

The backdrop of the issue seems to be Christian freedom as Paul describes in his letters to the churches.  Paul asserts total Christian freedom.  In Corinth, meat was often sacrificed to idols before being sold in the marketplace.  To eat of the meat was to participate in the worship of that false god.  But Paul saw the god for what it was, false.  It’s nothing!  This meat is just fine!  Paul was fine eating the meat since it was a gift from God for his nourishment.  Since our God is everything and the false god is nothing, we have total freedom to be anywhere and do whatever it takes for the sake of the Gospel.

Application: The other gods represented at these joint prayer vigils are nothing.  We have the freedom and the privilege to declare the Gospel of the true God regardless of the religious convictions of others.  Pastor Morris was doing his best with a horrific situation and had every freedom to participate in the interfaith prayer vigil.  We should treat him with the respect that he deserves for shepherding his flock and acting according to his Christian freedom.

Lesson #2: We Limit our Acts of Freedom for the Sake of Others

 ²³ “Everything is permissible”– but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”– but not everything is constructive.  ²⁴ Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.   1 Corinthians 10:23-24 

Even though we are free to be anywhere and do whatever it takes for the sake of the Gospel, we need to be careful that our freedom is exercised in full consideration of our context.  Our goal is to communicate God’s truth for the sake of others, not ourselves.  Paul warned the believers in Corinth not to trouble the consciences of the weak believers by exercising their freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 9).  In a private setting Paul nuanced his advice (1 Cor. 11).  If nobody mentions where the meat came from, Paul recommends eating and having a good time.  If, however, someone mentions that the meat was sacrificed to an idol, the context has changed and the believer was to abstain.  Why?  Not for the sake of the believer.  Remember, the idol is nothing.  The believer abstained for the sake of the unbeliever, so that he would not get the false impression that a Jesus follower would participate in the worship of a false god.

Application:  When we participate in a worship service where both the name of false gods and the name of the Triune God are invoked, we are in a situation much like the one above where the host has informed the Christian, “This has been offered in sacrifice.”  To eat of that meat would be to knowingly participate in the worship of another god and to give a false impression of our own God to the host.  In the same way, when we knowingly participate alongside the worship of other gods, we give the false impression to those worshiping the false god that our God and their god can share the same altar.  We decline, not necessarily for the sake of our brothers and sisters in the LCMS who would bring charges or even our own sake (we are free), but primarily for the sake of the one whom we wish to reach with the Gospel.  To put it simply, I believe we can find better ways to love and comfort a grieving community in the Triune name of God than to participate in these kinds worship services.

Lesson #3: Be Shrewd AND Innocent

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9:22-23  

Jesus called his disciples to be both shrewd and innocent as they proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 10).  We do well to listen to Jesus and humbly learn from experiences like this how to be both shrewd and innocent in our culture without sacrificing our shrewdness or our innocence.  We have examples of both in our current situation.

President Harrison is a gracious man, but in his effort to preserve innocence he acted in a way that misrepresented his intent, brought undue attention by the media and a lasting impression by the public.  As I mentioned, President Harrison has since apologized, a gesture I greatly respect.  Since Pastor Morris acted within his Christian freedom, and even though he likely misrepresented our belief in that setting, it did not warrant a humiliating public apology.  Those “weak brothers” troubled by the event could have spoken to Pastor Morris directly and gone through a process of confession and forgiveness.

I have a lasting admiration for former President Kieschnick’s die-hard emphasis on reaching people for Jesus.  He too chimed in on his blog about the topic.  I’m afraid President Kieschnick may have driven off the other side of the road on this one.  In his effort to be shrewd with the Gospel, I am afraid he sacrifices the innocence.  It doesn’t matter if the overwhelming majority of people in the LCMS want us to pray at these vigils.  What matters is how God wants us to represent him in this world.  From my reading of the scriptures, our God does not play nicely with other gods.  Even though this seems like the perfect place to comfort large numbers of hurting people while the emotions are raw, participation in these interfaith prayer vigils, while “permissible,” are ultimately not “beneficial.”  I may however change my tune if we decide that at these events we would always make clear the exclusive claim of Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.  Alas, we may also never be invited back…

Instead of embarrassing ourselves publicly or urging license for the sake of the Gospel, we need to come together and figure out how best to use our freedom in a culture where every tragic event seems to be followed by an invitation to bring the name of the Triune God to an interfaith prayer vigil.  How do we love everybody while staying true to our belief in the one true God?  How can be we shrewd AND innocent?  I look forward to your comments.