Pr. McCain: I’m deeply troubled by this and the implication that by showing mercy Pastor Morris must apologize to anyone. Further that there are individuals”…who are contemplating action against Pastor Morris in the Synod’s reconciliation system ….” disturbs me even more. Pr. Harrison’s letter says that Pastor Morris’s actions gave offense. To whom? I’m just one lay person but I find that the need to sanction a Pastor for showing mercy to a community in a time of unspeakable horror and suffering is offensive. I repent daily for my sins — and I pray for our Pastors, all of them.
But this process is wrong and I commend Pastor Morris for showing such compassion to his suffering neighbors while knowing that he risked the sanction implied in this letter. God be with us all!

Pr. McCain’s reply is totally correct! Perhaps Mr. Kauzlarich does not realize the distress it causes our fellow-believers when they think that our beloved Synod endorses other faiths, especially non-Christian faiths, by participating in any public worship event with them. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderfully-pastoral President, who wrote a truly inspired letter concerning this matter, and is handling it in a truly pastoral and faithful (to the Scriptures, Confessions, and Constitution of Synod) manner. May GOD bless Pr. Morris and his flock as they reach out in acceptable ways to the hurting people of their community!

It is absurd to think that anyone witnessing a clear testimony of Christ and His gospel, akin to that offered by Pastor Morris in Newtown, would recoil in the horror that the once stalwart and confessional LCMS now officially endorses the teachings of Baha’i, Islam, and other religions.

“I’m glad to see those Missourians have finally conceded that ‘all religions lead to the same God.’” –Said and thought by NO ONE, ANYWHERE

President Harrison’s handling of this situation was fraternal and entirely appropriate, given his stance that Pastor Morris committed the sin of unionism/syncretism. I happen to disagree, and can’t say that I would not have done exactly as Pastor Morris did, were I charged with giving faithful witness in a parish going through the aftermath of such a demonic attack. Remember that a parish is more than the members on the roles; it includes the lost, heathen, and other Christians within a territory. If we refuse to stand up and proclaim the Gospel, Satan wins. I believe he would like nothing more than to keep our ministers cloistered in their chancel, their study, and members’ living rooms, afraid to utter even a word of the Gospel on the public stage.

We have a message, and it’s actually a good one. Now, it’s time for us to have some practical guidelines that allow us to share it without fear of being blasted online, becoming the subject of “breaking news” reports, and targeted for public humiliation by supposed brothers in Christ. The handling of this situation by certain blog sites is obscene: an embarrassment to our church, and a vulgar corruption of what it means to be a confessional Lutheran. If anyone ought to be subject to action under the Synod’s reconciliation process, it’s those who take it upon themselves to act as another’s judge, publicly spewing vile and hate at a Christian brother.

(I’m not referring to Cyberbrethren in that regard. Though I disagree with Rev. McCain, I don’t fault his handling of the subject.)