Final Project

My final project for my online class was to create a website for a congregation without a web presence. So I created a website for my friend Margaret's church, Shobi's Table.

What is Gospel (again)?

A. Hanson (Denver, CO 2012)

For my Gospel and Global Media Culture class we were asked to reflect again this week on Gospel and how that interfaces with our varying contexts, in particular, digital contexts.  If anything, after twelve weeks of discussing Gospel, I am even less clear about what this means.  Although I am not sure that is necessarily a bad thing.  

If you ask most people what "Gospel" means, if they have any answer at all, they will tell you that it is confined to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Which is not wrong.  

If you ask a Lutheran seminarian, they will probably try and demonstrate their knowledge and show off and talk about law and gospel in preaching and theology.  Also, not wrong.  But confusing to anyone not in seminary.  

You might also get some variations on “good news” or “salvation” when asking about Gospel. 

I guess after all this discussion this semester I have settled on Gospel as promise.  We call Matthew, Mark, Luke and John “gospels” because they tell the story of the life and work and saving action of Christ.  We speak of law and Gospel throughout the Bible because the promise of God is not confined to these four books.  Gospel is the most basic promise made by God that your sins are forgiven and you have been given new life.  Gospel happens not only in preaching, but also in the way that we interact with one another.  If we are living out of the Gospel promise we are not going to condemn another person for their identity or actions, because we are all redeemed in the same way under Christ. Gospel means that our past sins do not define us and that we are a new creation. 

What does this mean for digital cultures?  It means that we have an even wider, deeper, and more expansive world.  It means that our words and actions have greater reach and greater consequences.  It means that more is at stake and more is possible.  I think that is also means that we need to rethink how we look at what it means to be and do church. 

In my Holy Spirit, Church, and the Triune God (Pneumatology) class we have been spending a lot of time talking about Church.   I have figured out that my definition of church is the place where the Gospel is heard and where we are equipped to take that message into the world.  So I guess that means a discussion of where the church exists.  I do not believe that church should be contained within the four walls of a building.  I believe it is anywhere people are gathered.  For convenience sake, sacraments and preaching often happen in a church, but what would it look like to take church out into the world? 

My teaching congregation here in St Paul, Humble Walk Lutheran Church, is planning on moving church to the park for worship this summer.  It will probably be a little clunky and there will be some things to work out, but it also has the potential to be really great.  Taking church out into the world also means engaging in digital conversation.  How can we create safe digital spaces for exploring matters of faith? How can we foster the same hospitality online as we do when we take church into the park?  I came away from this semester with far more questions than answers, but maybe that is the point.  

Creativity in Faith Communities

Credit Humble Walk Lutheran Church

This is a take off from yesterday's post.  I am pleased to announce that Humble Walk Church has launched a Kickstarter campaign this morning, with the intent of recording a compilation CD of all the original songs that have been written for our community this year.  We intend to make this resource available to our mission partners and others at no cost.  But we need to get start-up money from somewhere.  So if you have a few extra dollars and the desire to support a funky little collection of musicians and an even stranger little church...follow the link below:

Humble Walk Lutheran Church Kickstarter Campaign

Fair Use of Intellectual Property in Faith Communities

The first encounter that I had with creative licenses was back in College when I was on Chapel Staff.  We would plan worship and use the Chapel's CCLI  (Christian Copyright Licensing International) account to select songs.  Many faith communities prefer to do this because it takes away the administrative nightmare of obtaining usage rights.  I did a little research on this, and the licensing fee is $261 for a basic license for a congregation between 200-500 people.  It goes up quickly from there.  This must be renewed on an annual basis.  In congregations with tight budgets, this is an expense that probably is considered frivolous.

In traditional Lutheran Congregations, we do not spend much time thinking about creative use because we have hymnals in which all the legal legwork has already been done for us.  But faith communities that want to reframe how worship is done together need to be aware of the potential ethical and legal implications.  Artists/Composers deserve to be fairly compensated for their creative contributions.  It is their life's work and livelihood and I don't think anyone would argue that point.

There are a variety of copyright issues at play, no doubt compounded by our culture's litigious attitude.  Americans (or westerners in general) believe they have a God-given right to financial compensation if they suffer any losses or potential losses.  Fair use refers to the use of copyrighted material without permission under some circumstances, especially when the social benefits of the specific use are predominant.  It is debatable as to whether or not worship resources fall under fair use.  In the digital context, the potential for improper dissemination of intellectual property is far greater than a music director copying hymn sheets in the church office.  We literally cannot afford to be sloppy in citing where we obtain our music/photographs/ etc.  So we need to do everything in our power to properly obtain usage rights and sometimes that means purchasing a CCLI (or similar) license.  

But better yet, why don't congregations encourage their members to make their own creative contributions?  My home congregation in Denver has several professional photographers who use their gifts for publicity, graphic designers who made the church logo and publications, and other artists who contribute their gifts as a tithe to the church or for a very nominal fee.  My teaching congregation here in St Paul has set aside a line item in the budget to support artists in residence who sign up to coordinate worship music for an entire liturgical season and are compensated for original songs that they compose for the worshipping community.  The Church of the Beloved in Edmunds, WA has produced their own  musical album with worship resources, which is fantastic and nurtures the gifts of their own members.

Credibility of Information

A. Hanson
Paris 2009

For my Gospel and Global Media Culture class this week we were asked to reflect on credibility of information with regards to authority, authenticity, and agency.  We used the case study of criminal justice and how it has been portrayed in the media.

My undergraduate degree is in Communications, so I approach pretty much all mass communication with a hermeneutic of suspicion.  I am always thinking about the source of a message and the intended outcome of the message.  Communications do not happen in a vacuum and they cause things to happen.  The easiest examples of this are advertisements.  In particular, look at those for prescription drugs.  

It becomes a little more insidious when we look at propaganda campaigns.  Propaganda is a dirty word to some people, but I am using it in its most genuine sense right now, the presenting of only one side of an issue in order to gain support for a certain viewpoint.  One of my favorite examples of this that I studied during my undergraduate years was the documentary, Atomic Cafe, which is a collection of film clips produced by the US government to assure citizens that the atomic bomb was not a threat to them and to quell some of the hysteria around it.  The documentary is offered without much commentary from the filmmakers, but archival footage from the government is interspersed with coverage of the actual effects of the nuclear arms race on humanity. It is a fantastic film.  I highly recommend it.  But I digress.

 For our case study this week, criminal justice, I am going to posit that the United States is engaged in propaganda.  As a nation we like to use military terms to show that we are really serious about something, "War on Terror", "War on Poverty", "War on Drugs."  Our country is one that likes nothing more than to rally around a cause, particularly one with patriotic overtones, and be righteously indignant about it.  The War on Drugs was said to have started with Richard Nixon in 1971, who was concerned by drug use among returning Vietnam war vets.  Of course substance abuse is a major issue and no one is going to argue that. It destroys lives and communities.  Drug use brings catastrophic damage to communities, including property crime and violent crime such as rape and murder.

But where we went wrong was in our own telling of this story.  Drugs and crime are systemic problems, rooted in racism, inequality with regards to healthcare and education, and generational poverty.  Locking up offenders for drug offenses is merely putting a bandaid on an arterial bleed.  Yet as a nation we are locked into the idea of "progress at any cost" and getting "tough on crime" fits into the mythology that we tell ourselves.  If we get one low-level drug dealer or gang kid off the streets and into jail, we feel like we have done something great.

And the media tells this story over and over again.  Which is why we need to be critical about the places from where our information comes.  Who is putting it out there and why?  And where is the money coming from?  And in a context collapse such as with the advent of social media, we need to be ever more careful about what Rheingold calls the "echo chamber effect" in his Crap Detector Chapter in Net Smart or repeating only that which agrees with our own personal convictions.  We want to believe that our world is getting better and safer and more prosperous.  So we repeat only those things that affirm that.  We want our communities to be safe, so we look at what might contribute to that and getting offenders off the streets seems to fit with that. So we repeated half-hearted success stories to convince ourselves that something is really improving.

The Charlie Rose Interview on Incarceration tells a different story.  Not only is mass incarceration (incarceration as social control rather than criminal justice) not effective, the problem is FAR bigger than we ever could have imagined.  There is an entire industry built up around prisons (privatization) and systematic racism is rampant.  Our propaganda is all lies.

So what do we do as people of faith?  We speak truth to power just as we have been called to do all along.  The ELCA draft Social Statement on Criminal Justice (set to be voted upon at the churchwide assembly in August 2013) outlines some moves forward.  It outlines the problem and calls Christians to "confess that we, as individuals and in our common life together, have fallen short in responding to criminal justice--both in respond to crime's harm and to problems in the justice system."  It outlines four responses, hearing cries of injustice, showing hospitality, offering accompaniment and engaging in advocacy.  It calls to renewed ministry on behalf victims and their families, the incarcerated and their families, affected communities and those who work in the system.

Because Jesus says it best in Matthew 25:36, "I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me.  I was in prison and you visited me."

God is among the least of us.  Meaning God is most surely present with those in prison.  The second that we start drawing lines between ourselves and the other, God is always on the side of the other.

Digital Divide

For this week's reflection in my Gospel and Global Media Culture class we were asked to reflect on the key question:

"How can communities of faiths draw on denominational/theological statements to advocate for easing or even erasing digital divides?"  

This bears breaking down a bit further for clarification.  What is a digital divide?  A digital divide is best defined by Susan Crawford as she talks about her book Captive Audience, which refers to the chasm that exists between those who can afford to purchase access to the internet and the devices needed to access it, and those who cannot.   Crawford remarks that this is an issue of justice, because so much of our economy revolves around being connected via the web.  Job applications, applications for benefits, etc, require one be connected.  And this is not just about getting onto social networks, online shopping, and catching up on cat videos. This is the very engine that powers our economy and is the thing on which self-sufficiency is built.

To break this down even further, I would like to share some of my personal experiences from my past work in human services.  In order to get food stamps or other benefits, you can only apply online.  Okay.  You do not have a computer at home.  You go to the library.  In order to use public computers you must have a library card, which probably requires that you prove your address with a utilities bill or get a statement from your case manager that states that you are homeless.  If you don't have an ID card, you won't necessarily be able to get a library card either.  At any rate, you won't be able to get onto the computer that day.  If you manage to get that information you go back to the library and find that you can sign up for a one hour time slot.  But there are several people ahead of you and the wait is three hours.  In your one hour time slot you start an application, but since you don't know much about computers, it is pretty difficult to accomplish anything.  You leave vowing to come back the next day.  Except you don't have any bus fare.  Or childcare.  In order to get assistance with your utilities and stay in your home, you have to call at exactly the right time, which is 9:00am.  Except you have an appointment at the food bank this morning which you have waited for two weeks to receive and can't stay near your home phone (which is funded by a grant from your city as an emergency-only service). You don't have a cell phone because you cannot afford one.    So you have to make the difficult decision of feeding your family right now or getting help with your gas bill.  These are just two examples of things I encountered over and over again.

Your sense of digital divide is further exacerbated when you try and apply for jobs or even if you are offered a job, you must have computer skills.  Maybe you have been incarcerated and have very few computer skills.  Maybe you are a senior citizen with little reason or desire to use computers, but now that you are facing unemployment and debt in what should be your retirement years, you have to learn in order to continue working.  Maybe English is not your first language.  Maybe mental illness, post-traumatic stress, or other health concerns cause you anxiety about being online.  Even if you have a laptop, computer skills, and the desire to get online, most places that advertise "free wi-fi" are coffee shops and you must actually purchase something while you are there.  So if you cannot afford your own access at home, you still have to pay for it somewhere.  I agree with Crawford, access to the internet is not a luxury.  It is a necessity and it is an issue of social justice.

There are many excellent non-profit organizations providing computer access and computer skills classes, I used to work for one, Denver Urban Ministries, teaching computer classes and job skills.  I do not think it is the responsibility of faith communities to duplicate services already being offered elsewhere.  I do think the answer for communities of faith is to direct their resources (financial and volunteer) towards organizations who are already doing excellent work.

But I think it is the responsibility of communities of faith to look at their stated convictions and act accordingly with their time, talents, and treasure.  At the very minimum, this means setting aside the free-market mentality that dominates our culture and realizing our responsibilities to one another in the interconnected body of Christ.

 In my research, I discovered two social statements from the ELCA that could be applicable here.  Both are a little dated, particularly with as quickly as our wired world progresses.  The statement on Economic Life: Sufficient and Sustainable Livelihood for All (1999) recognizes that increased prosperity for some has the flip side of increased misery for more vulnerable people.  It also acknowledges that not all benefit from capitalism, and boldly states, "we affirm that God promises a world where there is enough for everyone, if we would only learn how to use and share what God has given for the sake of all."

The other social statement from the ELCA that applies is the statement on Education (2007) which advocates for equal and quality access to education for all people as it relates to the command to serve out one's vocation.  To the glory of God we are to fulfill our role in the priesthood of all believers, and education allows for this to be actualized.  This statement makes a commitment to ensuring high-quality education for all children as a justice issue.

All that is to say that the problem of digital divide is systematic and complex.  And I am not at all convinced that churches are poised to take the lead in lessening or erasing it when we are still having hotheaded debates about whether or not the church newsletter should be electronic and if churches should have an account on Facebook and if the pastor has a twitter account.  The ELCA has already made some powerful statements about social justice, but I fear that we are too entrenched in our own fears about technology to effect any real change on a level of justice.

Any thoughts?

Promise

HFASS 2012 Community Art Mural, "The Last Supper"
(Credit M. Nickoloff for photo)

What is Gospel?  Let me tell you a story…

This past Saturday during the Easter Vigil at my home congregation I had the honor of being the baptismal sponsor for my good friend Sherry.  I invited Sherry to worship last spring with me.  She has no experience whatsoever in a faith community, although I did not know this until she did not come up for communion for several weeks in a row.  I asked her if she wanted to take communion with me one Sunday, and she remarked that she was too afraid that she would be turned away from the altar (click through to explore what this means) because she had not been baptized.  

I repeated what our pastor says every Sunday, “This table belongs to the Lord.  All are welcome.”

That is it. 

Not, “All baptized believers may come forward to partake in communion.” (Which is a common refrain in many congregations.)  Sherry says that every time she communes, she feels closer to God and knows that she is loved and belongs to this community and to God.

Fast-forward about 8 months.  Sherry is still attending church, volunteering to take on projects in the congregation, and participating in a Lutheran Catechumenate class.  Our pastor asks if Sherry wants to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, which is a traditional time for baptism in the church.  Sherry is overcome with emotion when she says, “Yes.  I want to belong to God.”  THIS is Gospel. 

On Saturday evening I had the privilege of holding Sherry’s hand as I presented her for baptism.  And together we witnessed the pouring out of the waters, along with 148 other people.  And as she was anointed with the sign of the cross, “sealed and marked with the cross of Christ forever,” I felt tears well up within me too.   I am the Godparent for a 60-something woman and I could not be happier.  In her baptism, Sherry experienced a death like Christ in that she might also experience eternal life in him.  And that is pretty awesome. 

We are already beloved children of God.  All of us.  No matter how kind or mean or ridiculously smart or decidedly dumb any one of us might be.  Our baptism and regular partaking of the Lord’s Supper remind us of this Gospel promise. 

The Gospel is a promise that endures in spite of whether or not we understand how or why or when or where.  It is God claiming us to be God’s own regardless of our past, present, or future actions.  The Gospel is a continuing conversation that is alive in our relationships and conversations. It is God working through, in, with, and among us. 

The Gospel is the completely ludicrous idea that God loves us apart from anything we do to deserve it.  And says, “You are mine and that is all that matters.”  

Prayer in Digital Media

              (Baby Jesus Prayer-Talladega Nights, clean version in case anyone is easily offended)

I am pretty sure that I am not the only person who immediately went to thinking about the Prayer to Baby Jesus in the Will Ferrell movie Talladega Nights when we started talking about the representation of prayer in digital medai, and in particular  Joe Nelms' prayer as referenced on the IC2643 course site.  I'm not convinced that Nelms' prayer is really a prayer at all, it seems more like an advertisement/shout-out to sponsors and a joke referencing the Talladega nights video.  Enjoy!

Moving along, there seems to be three major representations of prayer in digital media.

First, the sort of prayer that desires to be as inclusive as possible, such as Gene Robinson's prayer at 2009 Inauguration.  Gene Robinson is a retired Episcopal Bishop, and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, and his appointment in 2003 was a source of much controversy in the Episcopal church.   This prayer begins with an address of "God of our many understandings"and includes petitions for social justice, as well as support for the LGBTQ community, and ends with a petition, "every religion's god judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable."  Robinson seeks to create an open space for prayer and emphasize that the role of a leader (both in prayer, and on behalf of President Obama) is not about dividing people, but bringing them together.

There is another sort of public prayer, the kind that does not necessarily forcefully advocate for a specific religion, but makes assumptions about the religious convictions of those present.   Rick Warren's prayer, also at the 2009 Inauguration, is an example of this.  He stated scripture, said that all people and nations would be subject to God's judgment, and pleaded for forgiveness for the sins of all. His use of language carries a set of assumptions about the Christian faith.  An interesting observation from this video is that Rick Warren called for all to pray the Lord's prayer, and yet, when the camera panned the crowd, very few people, including President Obama, were praying along.

The third type of public prayer appears to operate from a position of defensiveness and a desire to prove one's religion as above others.  Bradlee Dean's prayer to Minnesota House Chamber is a representation of this. Bradlee Dean used the address "father God" at least a dozen times, and only referenced Christians in his prayer as being people of faith, as well as closing the prayer with the statement "Jesus is the head of the denomination, as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged", a not-too-subtle dig at President Obama.  As a side note, if I was Mr. Dean and invited to pray on behalf of the MN House of the Representatives, I would have worn something besides a rumpled nylon tracksuit.

With regards to my own personal prayer practices in digital cultures, the most important takeaway is to remember never to make assumptions about your hearers/digital congregation.  I think this applies to real life as well.   My pastor has referenced her work as, "I am not responsible for what people believe, but I am responsible for what they hear."  Therefore, clearly communicating your prayer is important.  If you are going to make bold theological claims about the identity of God in your prayers, do so unapologetically.  This is why I respect Rick Warren.  Additionally, while prayers are not a time for advancing a particular agenda (I'm looking at you, Bradlee Dean), there should be a forum for discussion, clarification, or deeper prayer.

Just as a pastor might pray for a specific need in the congregation, and members can follow up, digital prayers should provide space for commenting.  All of the prayer videos except Bradlee Dean's had comments enabled.  While looking at comments is usually tiresome for me, I rather enjoyed it this time around.  In the midst of all the typical anti-Christian rants and pro-Christian diatribes, there were people who were raising their own prayers and advancing the prayers in each video.  That is a beautiful, organic outgrowth of digital media.

Empowering Communities of Care

A little bit of life fighting
through an interminable season of
cold and darkness. 

This week in my Gospel and Global Media Culture class we were asked to look at the site Caring Bridge as a case study for engaging in community care by way of digital media.  We were asked to think missionally about our presence in such sites and what that means for our ministry in empowering communities of care.

Caring Bridge provides an opportunity for people experiencing a serious illness or injury to share regular updates with their communities of support. In their own words or the words of those closest to them.  It allows for a centralized location to disseminate updates so that everyone who cares about a certain individual has access to correct information, and that the person experiencing illness or injury does not have to tell their story over and over again.  It also provides a place for friends and loved ones to leave messages of support in a location that does not demand an immediate response.   In my experience in social work and in CPE, I have learned that having agency on any level with regards to one's personal situation in a time of crisis can be hard to come by.  Caring Bridge allows someone to tell their own story in their own words.  They can choose what to share and what not to share.

For all of these reasons, Caring Bridge is useful for the minister to begin a dialogue of pastoral care, but the nature of public church leadership demands that we go beyond merely keeping updated on Caring Bridge posts or occasionally making comments in the guestbook on such a site.  Ministry is tremendously relational, and as church leaders, we as ministers must take initiative to reach out to those in our communities of care.  Caring Bridge is a useful place to start conversation, but it cannot be where the conversation ends. Many people feel vulnerable and ashamed to ask for help when they are experiencing illness or injury.  It falls to the pastor to ask if this individual wants to have a visit, then, there is an option to exercise personal choice in a situation where there are so many things outside their control.  It is not possible for the average pastor to be on top of every conceivable pastoral care concern, but this is where the body of Christ comes in.  If a community knows that their pastor cares deeply about them, they will come to her/him in time of need and encourage others to do the same.  It becomes a missional activity.  Social Media is particularly advantageous in helping pastors keep abridge of what is going on with their people.  Best practices for all social media usage by minsters still apply to utilizing Caring Bridge.  But above all, Caring Bridge provides the opportunity for the minister to have a jumping off point in the caring relationship, as well as have a better idea of what the individual's larger support network looks like.  I think it is a very useful tool when utilized to enhance traditional pastoral care relationships, but definitely does not replace them.

Additionally, I received a very interesting piece of advice from a pastoral care professor about a year ago in a funeral praxis.  He suggested setting an alert in your phone or electronic calendar about one month, six months, and one year after the death or serious diagnosis of a congregation member/their close family member.  Caring Bridge sites can help you keep track of these dates.  You can just send a short email or note by mail, but having this very simple outreach can make a world of difference in a time of unbearable grief.

Testimony (ugh, I totally hate that word)

Is this testimony?  What is?

Testimony:
1. A formal written or spoken statement

2. Evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of something.

Synonyms: evidence, attestation, witness, proof

Common parlance for Christian testimony:  the story of how one became a Christian.

Ugh.  I think I hate the word "testify" in a Christian context.  Mostly because it is usually equated with things like this...

This is what I think about when I usually hear
about Christian testimony.

What can it mean it witness to Christ, to testify, in the midst of digital cultures?  

My immediate reaction about Christian testimony is telling.  Part of me does not even want to get near the idea of Christian testimony, digital or non, because I find it to be so obnoxious and off-putting.  And in digital cultures, it just means that you have a much wider reach for your hateful rhetoric.  Take for example, Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church (note when navigating to this website, the title is NSFW, and you will be offended if you are a reasonable human being).  This could be considered digital testimony.

On the other hand, you have such things as Unvirtuous Abbey, a twitter account that describes themselves as "holier than thou, but not by much.  Digital monks praying for first world problems."  This is the sort of testimony that I can get behind.  You can tweet your prayer requests and Unvirtuous Abbey retweets or responds.

There is also Lent Madness, a digital movement that is also a Lenten devotion, in which saints of the Christian church are put into a March-Madness like bracket and people read about the saints and vote for their favorite.  This is also the sort of testimony that I can get behind.

What both of these things have in common is that they do not take themselves too seriously, they are fairly inoffensive and the process of testimony is participatory.  In many ways, Christian testimony in a digital context is reflective of the wider change in communication with the advent of social media.  Christian testimony in digital cultures is no longer the model of a speaker/writer disseminating information about their religious experience in one direction to an eagerly receptive audience.   Digital witness to Christ must provide for an exchange of information, story, and experience.  It should be participatory.  Digital testimony must not be aggressive, but rather open and hospitable.  It is not about being right or wrong, but about sharing experiences and being willing to learn.

So what can it mean to witness to the Gospel in digital contexts?  I think it means being real, being open, and sharing one's experience of being a Christian.  Without expectation for a certain response (conversion, repentance, etc) or judgment.  This blog is actually testimony.   But I still experience a visceral recoil at the idea of "Christian Testimony."  Yuck.  I guess I am afraid of being lumped in with all the crazy Christians who give the rest of us a bad name.

What is Gospel?

7 ft lobby Jesus at the hospital where I did my CPE

The reflexive Lutheran answer that I have to the question of “what is Gospel?” is to immediately say, “a promise, given FOR YOU.”  This probably has something to do with the fact that I am currently in Lutheran confessions class, but the idea of what the Gospel is can be summed up using the idea of “because…therefore…” as opposed to “if…then…”  The Gospel is a promise received not because of anything that we do, but because of who we are. It is the promise of God fully entering into this broken world and redeeming us all through the death of Jesus Christ. 

So what does this mean for communities of faith?  I have always considered ministry to be highly contextual, and that my preaching and pastoral care is for a specific person (or people) at a specific time for a specific reason.    Context matters.  You have to know your people in order to preach to them, and they have to know you in order to hear the Gospel from you.  This is the “FOR YOU” essence of the Gospel. 

Social media provides an opportunity for us to know one another.  I have said before that the Facebook wall posting or quick response to a tweet is essentially the post-modern version of running into someone in a grocery store aisle or in line at the post office.  They are quick ways to connect in a community of faith outside the church walls.  I think social media is the party telephone line, or small-town café, or general store conversation of the post-modern era. 

For me, pastoral authority is derived from relationships with others, it is not something that is bestowed along with a seminary degree or as a result of wearing a clerical collar.  In order to preach, provide pastoral care, forgive sins, and preside over the sacraments, one must be in a community and in relationship with other people.  This is why Lutheran pastors are only ordained while they are in a specific call, not ordained in perpetuity like some other denominations. 

Interpersonal connections are absolutely essential to the body of Christ.  The very root of what the Gospel is, Jesus Christ, exists in relationships.  The promise of the Gospel is that God became incarnate to dwell among us, to be in relationship with us, that we might be saved from sin, death, suffering, and all misfortune and continues to do so.  This is not to say that we will never experience these things, because we absolutely will, but to say that these things will not have the final word in defining us and that we have a God who will bear through them with us, and commands us to bear with one another as well. 

This is what we affirm each time that we celebrate the Eucharist.    That God is fully present in and among us.  This is why the sacraments are communal for Lutherans, that we baptize and provide communion in the presence of one another.  Gospel needs community and the community needs the Gospel.