What kind of Lutheran are you? You see, almost like ethnicities in the US, we add a label to word "Lutheran" here in the US. Some of this comes from the different synods -- are you A Missouri Lutheran or an ELCA one, or a Wisconsin? Are you evangelical or confessional? Are you liturgical or are you contemporary? Are you pietistic or rationalist or something else? These terms are important - they tell what we are. They inform. They provide little snap shots of who we are. What word modifies the type of Lutheran you are - what word describes what you are amongst all those various folks holding to the Lutheran banner? I have one that I think works well. I am a Sacramental Lutheran. Seriously - a lot of those other titles have bits of baggage and the like. So what drives me - what thing strikes me. Well, I could say "Confessional" - but I don't have the edge for some of those circles. I'm liturgical, but I'm not super fancy. I'm evangelical, in the old sense, but no one knows what that means. But Sacramental - that hits it. I am a Lutheran who is sacramentally focused - let's be focused on Baptism, the Supper, and (dare I say) the public proclamation of the Word and see and delight in all that Christ has done for us. Everything else, if this focus is right, will come out in the wash. With increased baptismal and sacramental focus we will fight off works righteousness, tom-foolery in worship, and Pietism. When we are focused on Christ, we will not become legalists trying to make ourselves perfect nor will we fall to antinomianism. This is a good way to be. I am a Sacramental Lutheran. And we aren't this enough. A Roman Catholic friend of mine, hearing me talk, said to me, "I didn't know you Lutherans were so Sacramental." Let's fix this and see where we go. |