The article below speaks of one bishop saying that despite falling attendance numbers, he will not welcome lukewarm Catholics into his parish with open arms. He says that he doesn’t need people in the pew who truly do not know, accept, or live the faith? And while I would disagree with much of what the Roman Church believes, I must say that this man’s boldness is admirable.
Revelation 3:14-16 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
I think his struggle is one that is becoming all the more relevant for us as Lutheran’s as well. Do we simply keep people in membership in our churches because they show up (or even when they don’t) if they all along publicly make clear that they do not know, believe, or live the faith the scriptures reveal and we confess? When they don’t even care to know what we believe, judging from their refusal to attend to any study of the faith? When they believe in things we boldly confess as falsehoods, such as the teaching of evolution or the denial of the importance of the sacraments? When they live as the world, gathering wealth and embracing licentiousness? Do we do them or the church of God any good by allowing them to remain in the pew? Would we not be better off with only Christians in the pew who have “bought from God gold refined by fire, so that they may be rich, and white garments so that they may clothe themselves…and salve to anoint their eyes, so that they may see,” even if that means fewer overall butts in the pews?
I am not calling for a thoughtless or loveless purging of the pews. And I am well aware that there are no perfect Christians. I am not looking for them. But I am looking for those who seek by receiving the gifts of God regularly to know, believe, and live the faith.
Perhaps the others we should spit our of our mouths. Or at least push them out of the pew. Or at the very least open our mouths to rebuke their and our own lukewarm tendencies.
Minn. archbishop: No ‘lukewarm’ Catholics welcome
ST. PAUL (AP) — The Catholic archbishop for the Twin Cities defended his right Monday to speak to fellow Catholics on social issues, and said a shrinking Roman Catholic church is no reason to consider a more liberal stance.
“We’re part and parcel of the culture, so it’s important for us to be involved with those discussions and have our say,” Nienstedt said. He said Jesus Christ directed his followers to “either be hot or cold, but if you’re lukewarm, I don’t want that. So we want people who live their faith.”
Still, Simonson did not take issue with Nienstedt’s conviction that smaller isn’t necessarily less desirable for the Catholic Church.
“That’s what I was taught in seminary,” Simonson said. “If you don’t want to be Catholic, then get out. The archbishop is right about that. Human nature being what it is, you’ll always have some who think they can be half in and half out.”
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