The Vote ....

It is election time but this post/blog is not about the up-coming elections. Instead, it is about me to briefly mark down on my blog that we as a church (Christ the Savior) will be having a vote in the near future (20 days to be exact).

We are going to vote on whether we should leave the ELCA and join the newly formed NALC or wether we should remain in the ELCA.

Before, I came (back in January), the church did vote on the social statement and "rejected" it and wanted to remain with the more "conservative" point-of-view.

That vote was a "simple" vote and the majority of the church agreed with.

I did not think that the decision to leave the ELCA or stay with the ELCA was going to be a big issue (in all honestly). I thought it would be more focused on this is what we are about as a church/congregation and not which denomination we are apart of.

The vision/mission of CTS is what brought me here.

Our Mission
Reaching people to know, love and serve Christ.

Our Vision
It is the vision of Christ the Savior Lutheran Church to be AWAKENed, united and growing in Christ


A lways serve
Worship Christ
A bundantly give
K now scripture
E ncourage other and
N ever cease praying

However, I am hearing that many believe that this vote is going to be ugly and I have heard many say that this vote is going to be "catastrophic". To that, my heart breaks and I cry out.

I, as an individual, am one that leans to more of unity. I understand that many say that is not impossible with such a different interpretation of scripture.

It is my hope and prayer (which ever way the vote goes) that in the end, people will be unified. They will look around and see that this is a church/place that they love and that we can be unified and strive for the "end in the mind" which is our mission and vision and the theological difference that we have do not effect the 9 items in the mission or vision. Hopefully, we can have a large umbrella instead of small umbrella's.

Yesterday, we did a class on the Apostle Creed and how "creeds" can unify us. That is my wish and dream; that we can be unified because I believe that we do believe in the creed:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary: suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead: I believe in the Holy Ghost: I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints: for the forgiveness of sins: the resurrection of the body: and the life everlasting. Amen.

So, on the 9th and 10th we will have congregation meetings and then we will vote on the 21st. The vote on the 21st is not going to be the end-all. There will be more that occur after that - maybe more on that later.

As a church, I hope that we can follow James advice: quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.