Both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Church of the Lutheran Brethren voted on "big-ticket" items at their respective conventions last year. Each had been involved for years with task forces and meetings and discussions and studies and preliminary statements leading up to the vote.

In the ELCA the question was: Should the Church ordain persons who are in a committed relationship with another person of the same sex? In other words, should the Church call practicing gays and lesbians to be pastors?

The majority voted yes.

Two months earlier, delegates to the CLB convention met in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The main topic for debate here was: Should the CLB change Article III of its Constitution? That is, should we change the way our synod is structured and adopt a new paradigm to fulfill our God-given mission as his Church?

At the CLB convention, I listened intently to the discussions. To consider changing an organization's constitution is a serious matter. The usual afternoon seminars were cleared to allow extra time for debate. When the votes were finally counted and the results were read, I was unexpectedly overwhelmed. I felt "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" saturate the room (2 Corinthians 13:14). We sensed God's presence with us, and we felt his unifying peace.

The proposed change to the CLB Constitution passed by over two-thirds.

The ELCA assembly took a vote to determine a moral question. The result of that vote wasn't just a step backward; it was a headlong dive from the truth of God's law and the authority of his Word into the dark, shifting quagmire of the world.

At the CLB convention, our mission was to determine how we can better care for God's people and reach out to the lost with the message of Jesus Christ. Article III has been changed. A new structure is being implemented. But the real results of the vote are still yet to be seen.

Isn't that what vision is, though? Seeking God for the yet-to-be-seen? "Go to the land I will show you," the Lord said to Abraham. Go. Step out in faith. And I will show you.

We are a body. Jesus Christ is our head. The gospel is our heart. Our Statement of Faith (Article II of our Constitution) is our backbone. People in our local churches make up our skin. The vote cast last June was a stretching of our muscles. A limbering up, if you will. Now, with our eyes on God, we're taking a step. Heading out to somewhere God will show us. God is moving, and so we ought to be. Forward. Onward. Upward. We are authorized to go.

Randy Mortenson serves as pastor of Ebenezer LBC, Mayville, ND.

By Randy Mortenson

Randy Mortenson serves as pastor of Ebenezer Lutheran Brethren Church, Mayville, ND. He is also the author of the re:Think column.