what's a lute?

above: the "luther rose," given to Martin Luther by King John Frederick, to symbolize Luther's theology ( circa 1530).


I'm sure it's crossed your mind: what's a lute? No, I'm not talking about that guitar-like instrument from Shakespearean England. And I'm not even talking about Pacific Lutheran's mascot, although with that one we're getting a lot closer. I'm talking about Lutherans. You know, US.

Okay, so you probably don't go by the term "lute," but I bet you have wondered a time or two what makes you a Lutheran and not some other "kind" of Christian. I bet you might even have asked your parents, "Why are we Lutheran? Why don't we go to (fill in the blank here) church where there is a band and a huge kids' program? Why do we do "Confirmation" when my friends over at (again fill in the blank here) church just have a junior high group that does cool activities? Well, I 'm glad you asked.

Today I want to explore who we are, what makes us "lutes," or maybe I should say "e-lutes," to be more precise since we're Evangelical Lutheran. Here's a really quick rundown for you.

We are...






Confessional. No, not the little booth in the church where you say your sins out loud (although that booth might help some of us to think twice about sinning!). I'm talking confessional in the sense that we often say "we believe" statements in church. These statements come straight from the Bible (as in the Lord's Prayer) or from historic Christian doctrinal documents (such as the Nicene Creed, the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms). We say them not to take a 3-minute mental vacation or to have time to think about "pizza or burgers for lunch?" but rather to help ourselves remember that we're standing with Christians all over this world--both long ago and now--who are saying, "You know what? In this crazy, wonderful, dizzying, messed-up world, we're people who believe certain really important, precious and life-directing things. We're not going to let ourselves be ashamed of these things or forget them, so here goes."

So if you're ever sitting by me in church and hear me emphasize certain words during the confession, no I'm not hard of hearing or trying to get my mind off pizza (I hope!) but I'm trying to THINK about what it would mean only to be forgiven as much as I forgive other people or what it would be like to welcome God's Kingdom reign right here in Skagit Valley, for example. I challenge you to join me in saying the confession this way, to imagine you are saying it to your girlfriend or your grandma or your best friend (you know, really mean it). The pizza and burgers can wait.

Traditional. So tradition has sort of a bad rap here in the good 'ole U.S of A, and especially in the West. We Americans tend to live in the now with our sights set on the future, with looking in the rear view mirror barely a thought. Out here our history is very short; what's the point in talking tradition, right? Well there are some points, it turns out. One thing that comes to mind is, Why reinvent the wheel again and again? In terms of theology, many (most!) of the doctrines that our foreparents hammered out are just as true and helpful today as they were yesterday and yester-millenium. So when we say we are traditional it doesn't mean (as it would seem by current language standards) we're old fashioned or politically conservative. We just mean, Hey, we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us (as in Luther, Calvin and even Paul and Jesus). We don't spit in their faces and change our doctrines because we want something fashionable.

While I'm on this particular point, let me say that we tend to agree with and emphasize today the specific teachings of Martin Luther, that really cool and controversial church reformer who started questioning what the Church taught about who a Christian is (a person saved by the awesome grace of God to do works, OR somebody who does good works to help get a ticket to heaven?).

Evangelical. I know; obvious since it's in our name, but thought I'd point it out anyway. Evangelical is one of those really loaded words like "Fundamentalist" or even "Republican." There are a lot of assumptions that pass through people's minds when they hear the term. And with good reason. Sometimes there's some funky stuff done in the name of evangelicalism that we wouldn't even recognize in our church let alone our lives. That said, Evangelical, in the most basic sense means "about the gospel," as in people whose lives rally around the teachings of the New Testament Gospel, especially the teachings of Jesus. The term comes from the Greek word evangelia, which is translated straight into English.

But the definition is far from straight forward, at least in the way the word lands in people's lives and in their assumptions. Evangelical means, for some, a political special interest group, a socially conservative group of Christians (those who reject abortion and go to church every sunday), or even a sub-group within the Republican party. These definitions, while not without their historical meaning, are far from helpful when we turn to the Evangelical Church and especially the Evangelical Lutheran denom, and try to connect the dots. Let's just say that Evangelical Lutheran does NOT denote a political group (you can be Democrat or even Independent and be one!), nor does it (I hope) allow for a lot of social stereotyping. Evangelical Lutherans come in both "red" and "blue," believing a wide range a things about social, fiscal and political issues. That said, they tend to rally around the Gospel and be about social justice and mercy for all peoples.

Well, I'm sure there are other things that Evangelical Lutherans are. Why don't you log in a give me some other ideas--your ideas. And of course, your questions are always welcome.

Kelli