Albert Mohler looks at a recent event where three lesbians are welcome as members of the clergy in, surprise!, the Evangelical Lutheran Church: What Would Luther Say? — A Church Apologizes for Church Discipline. What was interesting was not the welcome they received, it was something else that happened…
The most interesting part of the “Rite of Reception” was a confession voiced by the congregation. Look closely at this:
We have fallen short in honoring all people of God and being an instrument for that grace. . . .We have disciplined, censured and expelled when we should have listened, learned and included.
That’s right — the church actually confessed the “sin” of having once stood on biblical ground and the “sin” of exercising church discipline.
There are many things the church has to confess and repent of. Not embracing sin is not one of them.
I am not in total agreement with the model of church discipline that is common in conservative traditional churches and is espoused by leaders like Mohler. Clearly though there is Biblical warrant for those in unrepentant sin to be disciplined by the church through the breaking of fellowship. There is no way to read the Bible and come away with a picture of the church that tolerates and celebrates open sin. The number of Christians willing to point that out seems to be shrinking every day.
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