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February 4, 2010
Ms. K---- M-----
Congregational Council Secretary
Faith Lutheran Church
1611 41st Street
Moline , IL 61265
Dear Ms. M------ and Congregational Council members of Faith Lutheran Church :
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I find the request to meet with me from the Congregational Council of Faith Lutheran Church to be inconsistent with your past behavior.
I have made offers to meet with members of Faith Lutheran Church but they have either been ignored or refused. I have even suggested dates and times when I would be available.
I have written your pastor on several occasions and my letters for the most part have not been answered.
An attorney from Faith Lutheran Church has attempted to limit my contact with congregational members even though I serve as the pastor of the Northern Illinois Synod.
When the properly instituted Northern Illinois Synod Consultation Team was scheduled to conduct interviews at Faith Lutheran Church they were refused access to the Church building and were threatened: “This team will not be allowed to enter our property and will be removed by the Moline Police Department if they attempt to do so. “
I have also been accused by members of Faith Lutheran Church of being a liar and denying the basic tenants of the Christian faith as confessed in the Apostles’ Creed. These accusations are absolutely false and are a clear violation of the Eighth Commandment and Luther’s meaning:
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
“What does this mean?” ‘We are to fear and love God so that we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way.’
Now, if you still wish to meet with me, I will need some explanation of the above behavior. Then we will need to agree on the purpose of said meeting and the agenda. After this is accomplished, I am willing to receive Congregational Council members only, at my office at 103 West State Street , Rockford . An appointment may be made through my administrative assistant, Ms. Julie Lewis. You may reach Ms. Lewis at (815) 964-9934.
In Christ,
Bishop Gary M. Wollersheim
Hard copy mailed to:
Ms. K---- M-------
Faith Lutheran Church
1611 41st Street
Moline , IL 61265
Bishop Gary M. Wollersheim
Northern Illinois Synod
103 W. State Street
Rockford, IL 61101
Phone: (815) 964-9934
Fax: (815) 964-2295
Email: bishop@nisynod.org
16 comments:
More games. More games. Don't fall for it. Accept this as you consultation response, and get on with your vote to leave the ELCA.
I have followed your agonizing effort to leave the ELCA. Whereas the other Wollershiem letters had great anger in them, this one seems to be an attempt to state a case against you. Too bad it is a false case. And then he lectures you about the 8th commandment after he has broken it himself against you at an earlier time. May he wish you peace and love as you go on your way to the LCMC rather than war and strife. We will be know by our fruits...and letters.
Some consultation! He lectures you on the 8th commandment. Interesting move for an ELCA Bishop, since the ELCA has walked away from the commandments and has decided they can change whatever they want. But I guess Gary's letter states that he has bound conscience from the ELCA, for which we better respect because he must know what sin is and he knows that throughout this process he has not sinned. Gag me now.
The Churchwide, Synod and (ELCA Model) Congregation Constitutions REQUIRE the bishop to consult with a church after the church takes a successful first vote and before a second vote. In a few cases, bishops have waived the consultation or conducted it by mail. In many cases, congregations are asked to jump through multiple hoops and provide extensive documentation as a prerequisite for the consultation.
Assuming that what you asked for was the consultation in the letter Gary is responding to, he does not seem to be willing to consult with the congregation. He demands some sort of repentance on his terms, and then offers to meet only with council members.
I would suggest that you may want to consult your attorney, and possibly seek a ruling from a judge regarding his unwillingness to consult, and that you have fulfilled your responsibilities.
Remember, no matter what sort of pseudo-ecclesiastical crap they through at you couched in legal sounding language, as a matter of State Law, leaving the ELCA is simply a matter of two independent corporations, using orderly and corporate constitutionally mandated procedures, to terminate a business relationship between them.
Peace
Agreed with other posters. Consider this letter to be your consultation and move on with the 2nd vote.
You will receive to such explanation, Gary.
We were merely fulfilling our constitutional obligation in requesting the meeting. Congratulations. You've answered with a Winnebago county petty challenge of fuel economy, sans the "neener neener neener" that customarily accompanies such rhetoric.
Our obligation to request comes from the same constitution that calls for one-third of active member signatures for the undermining consultation you claimed you were wrongfully denied. How are those coming along? Oh, that's right, after several requests to comply after making that assertion, you haughtily parried by calling it your "sole discretion" to intervene. Also, in your future copious free time from lost ministries, you might wish to brush up on fractions. 100 signatures is not a third of our congregation.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2TDWbUmo9Co/SyfK8LKDCVI/AAAAAAAAAHg/U9ts_G8QZlA/s1600-h/Dec8wollersheim.jpg
May I suggest cutting your teeth on smaller fibs? People tend to believe those more often. Only then can you move your way up to telling whoppers, like "I have 100 signatures" or slanderous defamatory statements to destroy the career of good and thriving pastors who don't buckle to your political and financial whims.
In this hilarious recent letter, we as poor unwashed ignoramuses are supposed to mistake your eloquent transposition of "council" and "members" as if they were interchangeable. Semantics are important in these times; I'm fairly certain you know the difference and this is the best retort you could sadly structure. But, for the sake of argument, I'll get out the crayons and spell it out for you.
"Council" (draws small circle) is who you have been obligatorily asked to meet with prior to our secession. "Members" is a larger group (draws bigger circle) you claimed to have hundreds of signatures from and an insubordinate right to meet with through subterfuge. Well, turns out you have the confidence of neither. By the way, how are those hundreds of signatures seemingly written in disappearing ink coming along? Just checking. You kinda dropped off on that bluff awfully quick.
Ha Ha Ha. You are truly a master manipulator of words, a real silver-tongued orator who must think the Word of God was composed on an Etch-a-Sketch. "Wait, this passage doesn't serve our narrative...shake shake shake...now no one will know the doctrinal difference lest they dare challenge the pointy piece that moves diagonally on a chessboard!"
Bye Gary. I'll miss the laughter the most.
Signed, anonymous
P.s....Hey Gary, look, a signature! 299 more to go! You can do it!
All powerful, all mighty Wizard of Oz, Toto has pulled the curtain back and we can see you manipulating legal words and pretending to have more power than have. We will once again click our heels together and vote that we want to go home, home to a place that we never wanted to leave. The tornado that stirred though Minneapolis and bent the cross over and may have sent some to a place where they are following the yellow brick road of cultural happiness to the Mighty Oz, but we just want to go home. It has been a really bad dream, and we can't wait to be back into the arms of the sole authority of Scripture.
Gary wants you to explain yourself. He wants you to explain your behavior. Just tell him you were following that best selling book called the Holy Bible. Maybe you should just send him one and encourage him to read it.
Soon you will be free of the harassment of the synod. No more bishops! There are plenty of reasons to leave the ELCA, bound conscience, the reduced authority of Scripture, and having a cultural agenda rather than one motivated by Christ. Add to those good reasons the treatment of the synod. One bad thing leads to another. Soon it will be all good. Soon and very soon.
Bishop does not always take pawn. To him you can say, "Check Mate". Because any move he seems to make is not one that leads to the abundant life promised through Christ. His diagonal moves don't cover the whole board, it is only a repeat pattern of effort leading no where. He does not defend the undefendable moves of the ELCA. Instead he simply goes on playing trying to impress his board, justifying what he has done for his turn. Good luck with the game you play Gary. Obviously you have not played by the rules. Shame on you. In this game Christ wins, and even pawns can participate in the victory dance.
Gary, just let them go. It is clear that they want to remain Lutheran but not be the ELCA Lutherans or New Agers or whatever you call the remnant of the ELCA. They want to respect their constitution, Biblical authority, the 10 Comandments, and sound doctrine. Just because you do not desire those things does not give you the authority to interfere with their synod approved process. You can't agree for how they are to decide and act and then say you have supreme power and override their orderly process when their decision does not go the way that you want it to go. It is their decision, not yours. Stop being selfish. Play by the rules as the leadership of Faith has done all along.
I have long defended and supported Bishop Gary. But in reading what he has done to you at Faith I have decided not to send any more money to the ELCA and send it instead to a LCMC church in my area and become a member of that church. How can I follow someone who has lost my respect. I thought Bishop Gary was a man of faith but now I see that he is a man of anger. Thank you for helping me to see the truth about Bishop Gary. I don't like what I see. It makes me sad, but I know I have no other choice but to leave the ELCA now. I am ashamed that I have defended Bishop Gary so long.
"I have also been accused by members of Faith Lutheran Church of being a liar and denying the basic tenants of the Christian faith as confessed in the Apostles’ Creed."
Don't you mean "tenets" Gary? Either you were granted your ordination from DeVry Community College's English Department, or you fancy yourself the landlord of my church. Which is it?
You make me laugh as you put that Gary look-a-like picture up of the pontiff himself. Be bold and courageous for the Lord our God is with you.
I have heard from a high ranking synodical leader, "We can change the Commandments any time we want to. We have done it before and we will do again."
The wheels of the bus of the ELCA are coming off. Sad but true. Because the lugnuts, the Commandments, were holding things together, and now they are removing some of the Commandments and the wheels will come off. Jump from the bus now while you still can before it crashes ahead.
Now that we voted in a full slate of Council members who support us being LCMC, one more domino has fallen against Wollershiem's efforts to interfere. The stronger he pushes the more determined we are to be one.
Bob T. would like to offer a suggestion to the ELCA to bring up this gay preacher issue for a vote of the ELCA members right down to everyone that is able to vote or wants to vote and then we will go from there. I don't believe GOD wants mortal man to redefine the Holy Bible.
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