Charles Austin wrote:
As noted above, in this forum I hear only hostility or suspicion for the ELCA and its policies, laments that we are abandoning the Lutheran Confessions, and attitudes suggesting that virtually all discussion on major issues of sexuality is hopeless because all matters under discussion are already closed, settled, decided and explained once for all. I do not hear a love for the church or our part of it, a desire to "live together" despite differences or a willingness to consider that what some here call the "orthodox" position might need some reinterpretation or re-thinking.
I muse:
I mostly lurk in these discussions, occasionally attempting to comment, and sometimes experiencing the aforementioned hostility you reference, Charles, even from you! And that's alright. For me the ultimate frustration is the difficult, and perhaps nearly impossible task for those of us raised in what has become such a visual culture, to communicate clearly iwith the written word sans the benefit of vocal inflection, facial and bodily cues and such.
I hear (because what one "hears" even in the written word, is largely a matter of choice) considerable love for the Church and our part of it in most of the posts in this forum. Explicitly, no. But the passions that are aroused would not be as intense, it seems to me, if such love, commitment and dedication were not present in those participating in this forum. The shape of that passion may be misguided, neglected or abused, but it is present. Or so it seems to me.
Tim Christ