Time Well Wasted

Our seminary’s president, Rick Bliese, spoke before our first week orientation worship service. What was his advice for the incoming students? Waste time. Waste time with your fellow students arguing about theology. Waste time with your professors discussing your questions. Waste time hanging out with your seminary community because this isn’t really wasted time. Just being together, learning together, wrestling with the problems and dilemmas of our time, together, is perhaps an underappreciated facet of seminarian life.

This past weekend while I was in the thick of completing my endorsement essay (a question & answer assessment that candidacy committees use to see if one is ready for a parish internship), my friend, Tim, and I sat out front of Bøckman Hall, smoking cigars and hashing through our theological quandaries. We came to a few conclusions from this time well wasted:

We feel that the time of timid and obtuse theological declarations must end. Luther started the Reformation with strength in his theological convictions and publicly opposed those who held incorrect views. He concluded his testimony before the Diet of Worms saying,

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or by clear reason, I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand; may God help me. Amen.”

Parishioners, pastors, and bishops of the Lutheran church ought to engage in public debate and explanation of the truth of Gospel, justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Lutheran leaders ought to speak up in the media, radio talk shows, newspaper editorials, and television forums to combat erroneous doctrines and practices.

In order to enable folks to engage in this new public witness, pastors and bishops must emphasize the catechism in education and preaching. Every member of a Lutheran congregation ought to know and defend the Gospel message as summarized in the catechism. Luther lifted up the catechism as the tool by which every Christian might become an informed judge of doctrine. Knowing the catechism will allow youth and young adults especially to fully understand the gifts of God they’ve been given and intelligently answer the questions and accusations of their increasingly apostate peers.

(Check out Luther Seminary President Bliese preaching about the same topic this past Monday.)

We call for a new courage to solidly proclaim that through faith in Christ, God has exchanged our sin, death, and damnation for righteousness, life, and salvation.