What Does It Mean, Reverend Bishop?

Jason and Brett, and whoever else might pick this up:
What does this mean? asks our Bishop. Is he reciting the Small Catechism as a child, as Luther recommends pastors and bishops do, following his example? Is he asking himself what the decline in membership in the ELCA, the decline in giving to the churchwide expression, the anxiety in the church as we continue our march to Orlando 2005 means? Or is he asking himself why every single news release regarding himself in recent months has had to do with politics and war?

No, rather this:

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The death of Yasser Arafat, the recent
U.S. presidential campaign and election, and multicultural
challenges facing the church prompted the presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to ask, "what does
all this mean?" in his report Nov. 11 to the ELCA Church Council.

What it means, first of all, is that it was a grievous error for Bishop Hanson to accept and for the Church Council to allow him to accept the Presidency of the Lutheran World Federation. This only exacerbates his peculiar temptation to believe that his primary focus is to speak as a "world leader" and advise other "world leaders" rather than to feed the bishops and clergy of the ELCA who are his charge as Presiding Bishop.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, speaking on the day of Arafat's
funeral in Cairo, Egypt, and burial in Ramallah, West Bank, said
he spoke earlier in the week to the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine).
Younan was to be at Arafat's funeral in Cairo and hoped to get
into Ramallah for the burial, Hanson said.
Hanson said Younan asked him to remind the ELCA that the
Palestinian people are more mature than is reported in the media
and some people believe. Younan also asked Hanson to challenge
President George W. Bush "to be a peace broker and to work for a
two-state solution" in the Middle East, Hanson said.

With all due respect to both bishops, I rather think that President Bush has listened to Prime Minister Blair and come out strongly on the day of Arafat's funeral for a two-state solution in the Middle East. Whether he will take Bp. Hanson's advice seriously is another matter. There are just under 5 million ELCA Lutherans who would love for the bishop to be encouraging them and listening to them, for a change.

On the U.S. presidential election, Hanson questioned
observations of election analysts that Bush was elected on the
basis of "personal moral values and fear of terrorism."
"Fear hardens lives, and fears close borders," Hanson said.
"Faith opens our eyes. Fear causes us to flee the world; faith
gives us the courage to go out into the world. Faith causes us
to see the world through the eyes of the cross."

What indeed, does this mean, in concrete terms? Is the Presiding Bishop suggesting that American Christians should not keep in mind, when choosing a leader, who best can protect them from clear and present danger to their lives? Whatever happened to Luther's insight that government, as an expression of God's LOVE for the innocent, has a mandate to protect them from those who would cause harm to them?

Hanson returned to themes he pressed during the campaign.
He asked what it meant that a president was elected who
supposedly speaks to moral values, yet neither Bush nor Sen. John
F. Kerry could address "moral issues" such as poverty, HIV/AIDS,
lack of clean water in the world, genocide in Sudan and "horrific
acts" in Fallujah.
"What does it mean for those of us who care about those
things and are dismissed as not caring about moral values?"
Hanson asked.

What it means, to my mind, is that the Bishop of the ELCA needs to be setting about articulating his views in such a way that it inspires people to follow rather than simply heaping more guilt upon them. Moreover, the Bishop, for as interested as he seems to be in politics, should be a little bit more savvy of the media "spin" that has used the phrase "moral values" to paint every Bush supporter with the fundy brush.
Or perhaps all that it means is that Bishop Hanson was not approached by an exit poller.

Religious groups that focus on what he termed
"fundamentalism" and "Pentecostalism," are getting more
attention, Hanson said, adding he was "not willing to say that in
that religious landscape we have nothing to say as Lutheran
Christians." The ELCA can "become an evangelizing church in a
Lutheran 'key,'" he said.

That is because Pentecostals and fundamentalists, for all we whine and complain about them, take each individual seriously. For Bishop Hanson, it seems as if we privileged need only be awakened to our privileged status, and all will be well. He is not interested in our healing, only in the healing of those who interest him.

Comments? Chime in. As always, I could be wrong, and as always, I pray for my bishops and for my fellow pastors.