A Word About The Picture

I was thrilled to see the picture of these people launching their boat as an option on this typepad blog. One of the beautiful things that Tim Lull spoke of before his untimely death was about the "jewels in the Lutheran crown". His main point, which I took to heart and am carrying with me to this day, was that the Lutheran Church has built an amazing and beautiful boat. The theology is dead on, the craft would be able to hold the whole world if the flood were to return. And yet, and yet, we have never, as a Church, figured out how to get the thing out of the boathouse. Endless debates on trivial matters have held us back from transforming the world into a ragtag army of forgiven sinners out there serving our neighbor regardless of our own status, reputation or standing. I think the world likes us to remain mired in the litmus test debates because that keeps us safely in our boathouse. The world "likes" this and thus "likes" us. But we need to get into the business of being hated. How dare we associate ourselves with the least, the lost, the lowly, the excluded? Who do we think we are? I want to get the dang boat into the water and start fishing. How about you?