[Rev. Buegler's Explanation......]

[Rev. McCoy's bible study]

Veteran Layman Clyde Nehrenz Reviews And Responds
To Veteran Pastor David Buegler's Explanation To His Congregation

Jesus First Leadership of Kirkwood MO recently published a so-called "Synodical White Paper" authored by Rev. David Buegler, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Westlake, Ohio. Copies postmarked Cleveland, OH have been mailed to many, perhaps all, LCMS pastors. Jesus First Support, an organization located at the same address as Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church of North Royalton, Ohio is making copies available at nominal cost.

It is especially urgent, then, and appropriate, that when he writes as he has done in his "White Paper," and those words are distributed far and wide by others outside his congregation in an effort to support their labors on behalf of supporters on one side of the Benke/ Kieschnick/Yankee Stadium controversy, his words should receive a response that reflects another side.

What's at stake.

Rev. Buegler, first off, summarily dismisses the notion that the controversy is about what the controversy is about, namely, "the pure gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." This renders useless all the labor he expended in composing everything that follows. None of it is to the point. He talks politics. The controversy is about theology. And not just any old theology. It is about the central truth of Scripture, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." (1 Cor. 5:19)

Politics not theology?

The political tone of his paper is firmly established even before the reader leaves page one. Tearing a page out of the political liberals' play book - that's the page where "Liberal" becomes moderate and "conservative" becomes rightwing fanatic - he attempts to establish a line dividing the Missouri Synod into two camps, "conservatives" and "confessionals". This is necessary, we are told, since we're all conservatives now and there has to be some way to tell us apart.

As his political analysis of the Benke-Kieschnick controversy progresses it becomes clear that he has also established a good-guy/bad-guy sub-line. "Confessionals" are bad guys; "conservatives," good guys. There are political parties, too, sort of. The bad guys are of the Ft. Wayne Party; the good guys, the St. Louis Party. There are even party banners. The bad guys draw attention to themselves "by wearing clerical collars in most public settings." The good guys....well, we're not told how to recognize them.

There are even Founding Fathers. The sainted Robert Preus was a bad guy. The very much alive Ralph Bohlmann is a good guy. The bad guy, Robert Preus, "who didn't get the presidency of Synod," began a movement at Ft. Wayne supported later by many "confessionals." The good guy, Ralph Bohlmann, who did get the presidency of Synod, concurred with the decision to remove Robert Preus as president of the seminary. Rev. Buegler comments: "The battle was about to get nasty." About to get nasty.

One aggravating little habit that Rev Buegler has is that he often shouts as he writes: "This battle," he writes, "would not be about THEOLOGY....it would now be about POWER." It is " the POWER battle explained in the above paragraph (that) has more and more divided our church." In case the reader has a short attention span, it was the power grab of the bad-guy "confessionals" that is "explained in the above paragraph." The good-guy "conservatives" were only trying to stem the tide of evil when they fired Robert Preus, evil not being too harsh a description since later on Rev. Buegler characterizes some "confessionals" as "liturgical terrorists."

Enter now the dolts, a.k.a. the delegates to synodical conventions, which includes, I guess, pastoral delegates as well as lay. Knowing nothing, but having all power, these poor hapless souls get inundated before every synodical convention with posturing, mailings, speakers and videos, all trying to influence them to join sides. Already by this point, only half way through page 2 of 4, the reader doesn't have to be told that it is the bad guys who cause our problems since if they would just keep still there would be no problems. As it is, "confessionals" propagandize (bad); "conservatives" are then forced to go out of their way to inform (good), e.g., White Papers. (Responses?............. Bad.)

None of this worked for "confessionals" at the July 2001 convention. In spite of all their propagandizing of delegates they made the "POLITICAL mistake......of splitting their vote" while the "conservatives," who had done a good job of informing the delegates, were rewarded for it by seeing their man, Gerald Kieschnick ("Pray for him. He is a wonderful man of God"), elected president. But victory was bittersweet. "Four of the five Vice Presidents, Dan Preus, Wallace Schulz, Robert King and William Weinrich, were confessional [bad guy] candidates." Only one of the five, Paul Maier (the good guy), was supported by "conservatives."

Yankee Stadium

Is there any member of any congregation of the Missouri Synod who has not heard about the prayer service at Yankee stadium and Rev. Benke's participation in it? I doubt it. The secular media has done us a great favor in publicizing the whole affair and the way it has effected our synod. Without a doubt every pastor of every congregation has been questioned about it by his parishioners. The reactions are predictable. Conservative pastors (I will use Rev. Buegler's definitions from here on, misleading as they are) will choose to answer by referring their questioners to things like Rev. Buegler's "White Paper." Confessionals will respond by presenting Bible studies.

But what need is there of Bible studies? True, the confessionals "considered the Yankee Stadium event a worship service" but they were wrong. "This was not a worship service but a civic event." That did not deter the confessionals. They went after Rev. Benke, filing charges against him and calling for his removal from the Synod. Not satisfied with that they "went after Dr. Kieschnick and their motives now were clearly POLITICAL."

The plan was this: if the "confessionals" could get rid of President Kieschnick then the first Vice President would assume the presidency. "Of course, the first Vice President who would then take over was [bad guy] Dan Preus, who had quickly denounced the actions of Dr. Benke. This is what really escalated this battle- not a legitimate difference of opinion concerning fellowship issues, but a POLITICAL battle for POWER." So now we know: It is another member of that political-minded Preus clan who has caused all this trouble. Will they never go away and leave us alone?

It was time for action. "They were upset they lost the election for president, and here was their POWER move to remove the president." Rev. Buegler has not been keeping up with the news. He's still thinking about, and has his readers thinking about, those nasties at Ft. Wayne (his "they"s and "their"s) and their operatives working studiously to propagandize the dolts. But the ones bringing the charges were not Ft. Wayne operatives. They were pastors and congregations out in the boonies of America. And they were not concerned about politics, or as Rev. Buegler insists on expressing it, POLITICS. They were concerned about Unionism and Syncretism and --- Reconciliation.

Robert Preus revisited

Poor Wallace Schulz. Are there no conservatives anywhere who love him? All he was doing was the job the dolts at the 2001 convention elected him to do. It led him to act "to suspend Dr. Benke from his role as District President and called his actions at Yankee Stadium a sin against the First and Second Commandments, unionism and so on." How dare he. Such parochialism on the part of a bad guy is not to be tolerated. He had a higher responsibility - to the good guys over at the International Lutheran Laymen's League (ILLL) headquarters. They fired him and good for them. He "refused to heed their advice" and recluse himself from his constitutional duties in the Missouri Synod.

Don't give up the ship - yet

But there's still hope in all of this! "Dr. Benke has appealed the decision of Dr. Schulz (and) Dr. Kieschnick has 'called for review' of Dr. Schulz's decision because it goes against the resolutions of Synod in convention." There are some complications that have cropped up, like "Synod's Board of Directors (controlled by confessionals [bad guys]) putting a gag order on all parties," which they had no right to do and which Dr. Kieschnick ignored. Thanks to his efforts and the letter he sent to all pastors they are now informed and "finally getting some news."

And then there's the secular press, which, thanks to the confessionals, is having a field day making fun of us over the Yankee Stadium "event". Little do they know how deep and complex our synod's division is. "And it is not a theological division.....it is one of POWER." DID YOU HEAR, DEAR READER? THE WORD IS.... P-O-W-E-R, POWER.

Rev. Buegler makes no bones about it: he's "a proud 'conservative,'" a good guy; he "consider(s) the 'confessional' [bad guy's] stance to be a harmful movement in our midst"; he "fears for the future of our church"; does "not see at this point the possibility for compromise"; thinks there may be an organizational division one day; believes our division "is largely a clergy division"; and, finally, thinks "our lay people are much more united."

He must not have access to the internet.

Talk about division

Rev. Buegler serves as pastor, a minister of the Word, at a three-pastor parish. The congregation numbers about 2000 and seems to grow exponentially year after year. Besides its ability to draw from the exploding community around it, it is also the haven of choice for unhappy members of other LCMS congregations located in Cleveland's western suburbs.

It seems strange to me that he could produce a four page commentary directed to those who look to him and his colleagues for spiritual guidance and find not one reason to make specific reference to anything in God's Word. Copies of his "White Paper" could be laid out at the local Kiwanis Club hall for its members almost as appropriately as it was laid out for the members of his congregation, mailed to who knows how many pastors, and made available for download on the internet by the Jesus First folks.

I am a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, Wellington, Ohio, a rural community still very much attuned to agriculture. The congregation numbers about 200. My pastor is the Rev. Dale Huelsman, a powerful preacher of the Gospel of Reconciliation in all its truth and purity. He is one of Rev. Buegler's "confessionals" (bad guys) - thank God. Unlike Rev. Buegler, who senses "no division in his congregation and intends to keep it that way," producing subjective (his word) political (my word) statements to that end with not one word from the Word, Rev. Huelsman intends to see to it that his parishioners are fully informed about the Benke-Kieschnick controversy, relying heavily on God's Word for guidance yet with no objection to their reading papers like that produced by Rev. Buegler.

He has already covered the subject in detail over several weeks in his Bible class, has discussed it at length with the elders, and plans soon to discuss the matter in a meeting with the entire congregation. His Bible class used material produced by Rev. Michael L McCoy, pastor of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Emmett, Idaho, entitled Unionism and Syncretism, A Bible Study with Discussion Guide and Practical Application.

(It can be downloaded at http://www.scholia.net or viewed at http://pages.prodigy.net/cnehrenz/textunisync.html)

The study begins by defining both the general and Christian meaning of unionism and syncretism and quotes the article of the constitution of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod that speaks to the subject, Article VI.

It then launches into a 10 section exhaustive review of the subject in the light of God's Word under the heading, "Let's get the Word straight....concerning syncretism and unionism. From the Scriptures we learn that........"

The question is then asked (paragraph 11):"What should a faithful pastor of Christ and His Church do when asked to engage in a syncretistic or unionistic service?" In response the situation confronted by Rev. Kavouras of Christ Lutheran Church in Cleveland is cited and commented on. Rev. Kavouras in his capacity as chaplain with the FBI was called to serve at the Somerset, Pennsylvania 911 crash site. When asked to participate in a unionistic service "he took the Godly course and remained steadfast in his pledge and promise to God, to you, to me and to every other member of the LCMS." He declined.

Yet he continued his counseling duties and then offered to conduct a service at the Somerset crash site. "On Sunday, September 23rd, while others were giving an incomplete, confused and mixed message of the Christian faith (both in terms of context and content), Pastor Kavouras preached "In the Valley of the Shadow of Death." His sermon is quoted in full. The author of the bible study observes: "It is important to make this point quite clear - the refusal to engage in unionism and syncretism does not preclude evangelism. As it happened, the refusal presented him with the opportunity to (present a) pure proclamation of the Gospel."

The Bible study continues by posing several questions and encouraging discussion based upon the earlier study of Scripture and Rev. Kavouras' sermon. It then asks, "Where are we today?" and "Where do we go from here?" once again directing attention to God's Word for guidance in answering.

The author concludes the study by commenting, " There are many faithful men who are true pastors and who have made the kind, loving, and caring decision of politely refusing to engage in unionistic and/or syncretistic services. We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry (2 Cor. 6:3). They have also provided services of the word during these terror-filled times so that others might be able to hear the word of God preached in its truth and purity. Thus the faithful children in the Lord's Church do consider 'us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God' (I Cor. 4:1)"

The only direct reference (without naming names) to the Rev. Benke/Yankee Stadium controversy is a question asked near the end of the study: "Consider any recent unionistic/syncretistic services that have been in the news. In view if what you have read, studied and discussed is such participation sin? In view of Article VI of the constitution of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is such participation grounds for the removal of membership and office?"

Those in agreement with Rev. Buegler's subjective political analysis of the situation will answer with a resounding "No!" Those who have considered it in the light of God's Word as presented in Rev. McCoy's Bible Study will answer with a resounding "Yes!!"

We just may have to rethink bad guy/ good guy.
-

This response statement is being e-mailed addressed to the voters assemblies of all congregations that are listed with e-mail addresses on the web site of the Ohio District (the president of which recently wrote in its online newsletter, "Our synod is deeply divided and troubled over this issue. I personally am concerned and embarrassed about Wallace Schulz's decision and the effect that this will have on our unity and public witness").

As time permits between now (Sept. '02) and next summer's district conventions, it will be e-mailed addressed to the voters assemblies of all congregations in the Missouri Synod listed with e-mail addresses . It may not reach many of those voters assemblies but it will be sent nonetheless.

It is being sent immediately to the following: Luther Quest; Christian News; Reclaiming Walther; Texas Confessional Lutherans; Northern Illinois Confessional Lutherans; Confess And Teach For Unity; The Concordia Lutheran Laity; Jesus First.

Also to all members of the Praesidium; Board of Directors; Council of Presidents; faculties of both seminaries; Commissions: Theology and Church Relations, Doctrinal Review, Constitutional Matters; many pastors and laymen.

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