Can a Christian come down with scruples? Can a Christian disagree with some of the public teachings of the church? Are doctrines important? Of course they are, but we should never forget the central message of the Christian faith. We are saved not by getting all of the answers right, but by the grace of God for the sake of Jesus Christ.

I am a great believer in not bringing church politics into the church. The church is not only the one holy catholic apostolic church composed of those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is also a human institution, and you know what human institutions are like. I along with the pastors of our denomination received an email from the president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. One of our pastors, a theologian and teacher, was expelled from the church for disagreeing with some of the public teachings of the church. The president of the Synod said that he was appointing a committee to draft changes that such a thing would never be permitted again. He went on to say that he wasn’t as concerned with some pastors and some retired pastors [the old guys] who had scruples about some of the teachings of the church. That was the first I knew that I had scruples, and I’m told that they may be incurable.

Apparently the disciples confronted a similar situation in the Gospel lesson for today. John lodged a complaint with Jesus. “We saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not one of us.” Jesus response was “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Is the teaching of the church, the doctrine important? Of course it is. Our Lutheran understanding of Law and Gospel, of God’s judgment and grace, our catholic understanding of the sacraments are precious to me and I believe are critical to our understanding of the Holy Scriptures. Are there other areas of the church’s public teaching that I have questions about? Yes, popes and councils do err. My wife’s brother-in-law, or my sister-in-law’s husband was a gravitational physicist, always on the cutting edge of science. He was also a science fiction writer and an artist. He and I were talking one evening about the central message of the Christian faith and he said, “I can paint that.” And he did. He did a painting with the Chi Rho, the symbol of the name of Jesus, in the center and rays, blotches of color, extending outward from it. Some things are critical and essential to our faith. Some things are much more on the margins. If we draw the lines too broadly about what must be believed, even Martin Luther would not have been able to be a member of the Lutheran Church.

At this point we have to ask ourselves what is the purpose of the church. What has God called us to do? He has directed us to go into all the world, to make disciples, to baptize, to teach. Can we by ourselves reach all the people of the world? I learned long ago that some people will never hear me. I don’t use the right words. I don’t have the right style. I’m too formal, too intellectual. However, there are others who are able to communicate with them. Some people like the beauty of the ancient liturgy of the church and the structure of the service. Some find that stultifying and dead. They prefer a more upbeat music and a loser flowing service.   Who is right? Both. If the important thing is to communicate the grace of God through Jesus Christ, if the important thing is to help people understand that the problem is our own sinfulness and only God can resolve our separation from him, then the method of communication is secondary. The medium is useful to proclaim the message.

To accomplish this we have to pay attention to those who are already members of the church. We need to help each other grow in faith, to develop as followers of the Lord. We are the ones who have been entrusted with the Lord’s mission and we cannot do it by ourselves. Frankly, we need the constant empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and we need others to work with us. We need to invite them in. The Lord already has enough people in the bleachers watching the action. He needs more on the playing field involved in that which he is about.

Now, if you will forgive me, I would like to take the sermon in a rather strange direction. In the Epistle lesson we read: “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. Out of that passage grew the practice of anointing those seriously ill, which the Catholic Church referred to as Extreme Unction. Thankfully they have since changed the name to Sacrament of the Sick. You can imagine a priest walking into a hospital room with his vial of oil. The reaction of the poor fellow lying in the bed would immediately be: “My God, I didn’t know I was that sick.”

The practice had fallen into disuse in our church, but it seemed like a good idea to me, and other pastors have also resumed the practice. When I baptize a child I mark him on the forehead and on the breast with the sign of the cross in token that he has been redeemed by Christ our Lord. The child is marked for life. He is one of God’s elect. What could be more fitting when a person is seriously ill, and possibly on the point of death, to once again make the sign of the cross both on forehead and breast as a reminder that he is a baptized child of God. When Warren Leslie, whom many of you knew, was in the process of dying, I went to the hospice and anointed him. Within a few hours he was standing before the throne of the Lord. I must confess that I’m rather generous with the oil in anointing, because when Warren was standing before the Lord I didn’t want any doubt in the Lord’s mind that this was one of his.

We use words, rites, ceremonies to communicate the grace which God has bestowed on each of us.

I was sitting in a meeting as a pastor explained his requirements for acceptance in the church. I thought to myself I would never be pure enough to be acceptable. I could only rely on the mercy of Jesus Christ, but when you come right down to it, aren’t we all in the same boat? Aren’t we all totally dependent on the fact that God sent his Son into this world to die on our behalf?

Are doctrines, the teachings of the church important? Of course they are. Shouldn’t we take them seriously? Of course we should. But we can never lose sight of the sight of the fact that we are saved not be getting all of the answers right, but by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Am I infected with scruples? Yes, and they are probably incurable, but I, like you, are called to take our Lord’s word seriously and trust in his grace for Jesus’ sake. Amen.