Pastor Fienen:
I'm not sure that I can get you to understand my concern, Charles. As you describe it, your purpose for attending a worship service would not be to worship but to gain the kinds of information that you would need if you were preparing a news story.
Me:
Yeah, I have done that. When it was my job to do that. And I might do it again, if any news organization wants my help in covering how churches around me are dealing with the governor's order or ignoring it. If I'm not preparing a story, I probably won't do that. So you can relax. (But not yet)
Pastor Fienen:
Heaven forbid that you would actually go to an LCMS church to worship! I suppose actually worshipping in an LCMS church would threaten to contaminate your pristine faith.
Me:
Good grief! Are you so insecure and do you so enjoy making yourself a victim? I actually have gone to an LCMS church to worship. I might do so again. Wouldn't mind spending some time with Bishop/DP Benke's people. No one in the LCMS can "conntaminate" my faith; even though certain people in the LCMS can remind me of my need for charity and repentance.
Pastor Fienen:
No, you are thinking about attending because you are curious, not about what is preached about Jesus, but because you are curious about their response to Covid-19 and the governor's orders.
Me:
Yep. Thinking about it. Maybe I'll do it. Maybe not. Watch for where the lightning strikes me dead so you will know where and whether I did it.
Pastor Fienen:
You can blather all you want about respecting the LCMS as being a Lutheran Church body in which the Gospel is preached and the sacraments administered, but here you have indicated that those things that would make them a Lutheran Church do not concern you, even attending you do not intend to join in worship but to observe how they respond to Covid-19 and the governor.
Me:
See above.
Pastor Fienen:
I guess that I am simply being hypersensitive to be offended that it doesn't occur to you to maybe worship in an LCMS church rather than just be their to observe how their reaction to Covid-19 and their governor is going.
Me:
Yes, you are hyper-something, mostly about how you think you are being victimized.
Pastor Fienen:
To you, LCMS churches are less worshipping communities, much less a community in which you could to some extent worship, than they are curiosities and what would be potential stories for an active journalist.
Me:
Well, let's consider this line of thought, even though you silly statement about what I might do is wrong.
In high school one summer, I made a point of attending a different church every Sunday (sometimes in addition to the one to which I belonged). I was curious about how they worshipped, what it felt like, what I would hear and/or see. I crossed all kinds of denominational and other lines.
I went as a "church tourist." So what? Is it a moral failing to want to experience or learn about the churches not your own?
Then, of course, as a reporter I went to a lot of services and activities where my "job" - remember that? - was to observe what was going on and write about it.
I went as a reporter. So what?
Is it your opinion that the only reason anyone should ever set foot in a church is to worship?
In another arena, I am not a fan of big-time sports. Don't have much use for them, especially for attending games. But a couple of times each year, I go to a baseball or football game to be with friends and family, to have the "experience." I'm generally bored crazy by the fourth inning or the second quarter and I never care who wins, but there you are.
So, Sue me, God. Sue me, Major League Baseball. Sue me, National Football League.