June 22, 2005

Dear Colleagues in Ministry,

Having just completed visits with several of you in the contexts of synod assemblies, seminary and college graduations, and other events, I write today to express words of concern, gratitude, and hope.

My concern is reflected in a recent conversation with a colleague who leads another denomination. We talked about how there seems to be little enjoyment for many in ministry today. In truth, ours is not a recent concern. Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century Benedictine mystic and monk said in one of his sermons, "As far as I can judge I have lived among the brethren without quarrel. I have been submissive to authority, responding to the beck and call of my superior. I do not covet goods not mine. With sweat on my brow, I eat my bread. Yet in all these practices there is evidence only of my fidelity, nothing of enjoyment. I obey the commandments to the best of my ability, I hope. But in so doing my soul thirsts like parched land."

Are we much different today? Could it be that our souls thirst like a parched land because we confuse joy with happiness, good fortune, or pleasant circumstances? Is our joy dependent on the ebb and flow of life's successes and sorrows?

A recent feature story on a rapidly growing nondenominational congregation quoted the pastor as saying his sermons are about how to reach your financial goals, discipline your children, and invest your money. "If Oprah and Dr. Phil are doing it, why shouldn’t we?" the pastor asked. He then went on to say that although he preaches forgiveness, he never talks about being transformed through struggle, surrender or sacrifice. Instead he preaches about being happier by accepting Jesus into your office, your kitchen, your backyard and your marital bedroom.

In a consumer driven culture that values a privatized spirituality and seems to confuse happiness and joy, there are great expectations and pressures for us to get our market share of members. The temptation is to offer a verbal, therapeutic massage -- Jesus whom we invite into our hearts so that we can take a bit of Jesus with us where we want him to go, hoping that he will make us happy along the way. Yet, are we not sent to proclaim a radical gospel message of the forgiveness of sin by God’s grace through faith for Jesus' sake?

We have been called to proclaim the good news that in Baptism we have been buried with Christ and raised to newness of life so that Christ may take us where Christ wants us to go in faith -- the way of the cross, the way of denying oneself, the way of struggle, surrender and suffering, not for our sake, but for the sake of the gospel. We are gathered into Christ's body and sent in faith, proclaiming Christ and serving our neighbor, for the sake of justice and peace, and the care of all creation. As we are sustained along that way by the Holy Spirit in a life of prayer, and as we gather regularly around the means of grace, we experience joy for our parched souls.

This is what the author of Hebrews declared when he wrote, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God." (12:1-2)

John Thomas, President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ, recently said, "Joy will accompany you when your ministry is marked not so much by heroic hours of work, or grim and determined attachment to good works and noble projects or even by the outward signs of success. Joy will accompany you when your ministry plunges you into the places of profound separation and deep alienation that wound and destroy our lives and communities ... when your ministry embraces with Jesus the cross that is set before us."

I am profoundly grateful to God for each of you and the ways in which your ministry embraces with Jesus the cross that is set before us. I am grateful for congregations as they share the gospel with those who do not know Jesus, and nurture discipleship in those who do. I am grateful for social ministry organizations as they bring healing, justice and hope to those whom they serve. I am grateful for this church's schools, institutions of higher learning and campus ministries as they nurture young people and prepare them to face the challenges of this world grounded in faith. I am grateful for colleagues in churchwide and synodical ministries who with wisdom and imagination undergird this church in mission.

As I prayerfully prepare for our Churchwide Assembly in August, I do so with a sense of great hope. I am hopeful because our hope is in God who by the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel creates and sustains the church. It is God's living Word that will be at the center of the assembly as we gather each day around the means of grace in worship.

I am hopeful because I believe the breadth of the decisions before us in Orlando reflect our commitment to the centrality of worship, to implementing the ELCA Plan for Mission, the expanding of global and ecumenical partnerships, to becoming a more racially and ethnically diverse church engaged in God's mission for the sake of the world. I have hope because I have witnessed in synod assemblies and theological conferences conversations on sexuality that were respectful, thoughtful, grounded in our shared commitment to the authority of Scripture, attentive to our global and ecumenical partners, open to the Holy Spirit's leading, and sensitive to the presence, the gifts, and the struggles of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Lastly, I am hopeful because I am repeatedly reminded that in individual and corporate devotions and intercessory prayers, this church and its assemblies are daily remembered.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

In God's grace,

Mark S. Hanson
ELCA Presiding Bishop