July Update from Pastor Mark
At this year’s Synod Assembly (June 6-8), voting members adopted two significant resolutions that I want to draw to your attention. Go to https://lacrosseareasynod.org/synod-assembly-2025 and scroll down to “Assembly Documents.” I spoke to, and voted in favor of both of them. (I invite you to ask me why.)
The first concerns Becoming a Creation Care Synod: Affirming Climate Justice as Core Mission of the La Crosse Area Synod. Please read this resolution carefully. According to my notes, paragraph 3 was removed (see paragraph 6), and – more importantly – the motion from the Synod Council was amended to forego a “year of education” and begin action now. After all, what are we waiting for? While this resolution relates specifically to the work of the synod, the last RESOLVED highlights a number of actions congregations might take in support of this resolution.
1. Becoming Creation Care Congregations: signing a congregational care-for-creation covenant and assigning a liaison to connect with the Lutherans Restoring Creation organization; committing to practices of sustainability, such as digital bulletins, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and eco-faith education.
2. Conducting Energy Audits Congregations and synod properties conduct energy audits to assess and improve energy use.
3. Church Lands for Life Church lands are used for ecological healing, such as gardens, compost sites, and native habitat restoration.
4. Affirming Food Justice as Gospel Justice To reframe hunger ministries (food pantry) from charity to justice, addressing systemic causes of food insecurity and promoting sustainable agriculture in alignment with gospel values.
5. Reducing Food Waste as an Act of Faith: to minimize food waste, model sustainable consumption, and partner with local food recovery networks.
6. Divesting from Destructive Industries: to divest from fossil fuels and industries that degrade creation, aligning financial practices with gospel integrity and environmental responsibility.
7. Investing in Renewable Energy: transition to renewable energy sources, embodying care for creation and responsible stewardship of resources.
8. Sustainable Worship and Fellowship Practices: to eliminate the use of Styrofoam, single-use plastics, and other harmful materials, fostering … practices that reflect our ecological values.
9. Prophetic Advocacy for Policy Change Advocate for public policies that promote environmental justice, support sustainable development, and protect vulnerable communities from climate harm. (emphasis added throughout, mwb)
The good news is that here at Our Redeemer, we are doing a number of these things already. But I think we can do more / better (always!). I propose that this resolution and these RESOLVEDS (and/or other statements from Lutherans Restoring Creation), might serve as “values statements” as we make decisions about our life and work as a congregation. How might we do that? Too often we imagine that money/the budget is the bottom line, the most important thing to consider. It is not. Neither is time. True, we may need to reprioritize things. In fact, the bottom line is the welfare of this planet, God’s good creation which is our home. As we make decisions, across the congregation, how do they reflect these values (above)? If not us, who? If not now, when? At synod assembly, we heard from parents and youth and others that our children are watching us and what we do in this critical moment. One thing we can consider doing is organizing a Creation Care Team here at Our Redeemer to guide us forward in this important work. Perhaps you feel the Holy Spirit’s nudge to participate in such a group.
The second important resolution concerns the La Crosse Area Synod entering a Time of Discernment towards Becoming a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Synod. This resolution, endorsed by the voting members of the synod’s West Conference (of which Our Redeemer is a part, meeting in caucus) and others, was adopted without amendment. Please read this resolution carefully, too.
You may recall that a year ago at a First Sunday Forum we hosted members from Peace Lutheran in Tomah, who shared their journey towards becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation. The fourth RESOLVED of this resolution welcomes congregations to discern becoming an RIC congregation alongside the Synod discernment process. This does not mean that ORLC will necessarily become a Reconciling in Christ congregation. The motion invites us into the process of discernment.
I recommend that Our Redeemer invite and appoint members of the congregation committed to this work of justice to an RIC Discernment Team, who will lead us in careful study, conversation, reflection, and in an open and honest discernment process as a congregation to ascertain whether or how we might become an “explicitly welcoming, affirming, and inclusive body.” This team would lead us in the coming year in the educational opportunities and discernment activities offered by the Synod RIC Team. Perhaps you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you to be part of this team.
I imagine that some folks may wonder why we might want to join the synod in this time of discernment related to hospitality. Adapted from Reconciling Works (reconcilingworks.org):
Q: Perhaps you think, and even say: “All people are welcome in our faith community. Why should we single out lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) people and a commitment to antiracism?”
A: Here is the truth. Many LGBTQIA+ people have learned by experience they are not welcome in faith communities (victims of “church hurt”), even in those that state, “All are welcome here.” A general statement of welcome is often heard as meaning “everyone but me,” so it can take a special effort to communicate an authentic welcome to LGBTQIA+ people. RIC communities find their journey of discernment extending a welcome to people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions, and commitment of anti-racism opens them up to other people or groups who also need a clear invitation to know the community has truly prepared for them. This ministry of welcome must be intersectional (that is, mindful of the interconnectedness of such social categories as race, class, ability, gender, sexual orientation, and more) in order to truly see, name, and care for those God names as beloved.
A welcome statement is a public document created to specifically welcome “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) people or “people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions” and a “commitment to racial equality” or “anti-racism.” We do this because too often, in too many places, by too many people – and congregations – these beloved children of God, our sisters and brothers in Christ, have been unwelcome and treated not lovingly but hurtfully.
As I have been asking you recently, “are the decisions we are making for us or for those who are not here yet?” I hope you will encourage one another, and join me, in seeking ways to make creation care and the discernment of an authentic, explicit, and fully inclusive welcome, part of our life together as we launch into the next 75 years of ministry as Our Redeemer. + Pastor Mark