By Dan Geohagan
The Parsons Advocate
Davis, WV- This is our third installment of our discussion of the different denominations of the churches we have in our county.
So far we have shared the Presbyterian and Catholic churches. Now we are going to Pastor Ruth Bullwinkle of St. John’s Lutheran Church part of (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) who is going to share with us a little about her denomination.
“The ELCA is one of the most liberal branches of Lutheran churches there are” said Pastor Bullwinkle. “We ordain women and homosexuals. The church supports same sex marriage. Those are some of the major things as of late.”
The Lutheran church has been around since 1511 when founder Martin Luther separated himself from the Catholic church in what was to be known as the Great Reformation, which is to say that the Lutheran church is the second oldest denomination of Christianity in the world. What Martin Luther envisioned for the church was to be a rebuild of the Catholic church from the ground up. Therefore a Lutheran service is very similar to that of the Catholic origin. There are some newer contemporary services that are popping up in the Lutheran as well as Presbyterian services.
“I am a traditionalist, but I think it’s ok as long as you have certain important elements within that service,” said Bullwinkle. “We are a creed only tradition so we should have a creed somewhere within that service. I do a service in the park that is ecumenical so that doesn’t look anything like the service you would see at a Lutheran service on Sunday.”
Some look to the change of the more contemporary services to “revamp” the older denominations but that structure and order of service is what keeps the Lutheran church distinct from other denominations.
“We can’t give up our identity,” said Bullwinkle. “We follow an Order of service, which includes a public prayer and call to confession with assurance of pardon.”
Keeping their mind on Grace given my God and sharing in their order of service is what has kept this tradition alive in the church for so long.
“If someone asked I would say that we are known as the Grace church,” said Bullwinkle “We are all sinful creatures but God loves us and will forgive us. We ask for forgiveness and God says ok you are here, you are forgiven I still love you.”
