Full Text for Dogmatics 4- Volume 11 - Are public prayer services a problem when other clergy are involved at annual events? (Video)

No. 11. >> Thank you, Professor Biermann, for tackling such tough questions. I hear you saying that I can serve the left hand realm appropriately in a baccalaureate event, especially if I'm the only clergy involved. I'm wondering, however, if it matters that other clergy were involved in previous years and will be involved in future years. >>DR. JOEL D. BIERMANN: That's a good question, Joshua. Very good follow-up. And it's one of those concrete examples of what about. Is it possible some people will say: Hey, wait a minute. The LCMS guy did this last year. This year we've got a Methodist. Next year they are actually going to invite the lady UCC pastor to do it. And I guess that means Joshua agrees with all of that stuff. Yeah, you might have somebody who comes to that conclusion. You might have somebody in your congregation that comes to that conclusion. I say the guy who comes to that conclusion is a moron. That's a little harsh. But I don't think that's a legitimate situation. You're always going to find -- if you are trying to avoid offense, you will always find at least one person who will be offended by anything you do. You probably have experienced that already in parish ministry. You can't make everybody happy all the time. So sometimes you need to say: This is the right thing to do. And if Grandma Kline-Schmidt takes exception to this, I'll go to talk to Grandma Kline-Schmidt and work things out. But I need to go ahead and do this. Now, I think you should also do this in conversation with your congregation, with your Board of Elders, with your church council. They should know you're doing these things. And they should be supportive of you. If you have your whole Board of Elders that says, "No, Pastor, don't do this," you better pay attention and figure out what's going on and either educate them to the need or maybe change your plan. If, however, you've got a situation where it's only one person who is always grousing about everything, no, you can't stop your behavior because of one person and the potential concerns. And I don't think a year-to-year change in venue or change in leadership is enough of a taint to make you not do that.