Pastor Harrison’s Definition of Talking, by Jim Pierce

(Editor’s Note: On a previous post on beer and talking I began to re-introduce Pr. Harrison’s “It’s Time.” Frequent BJS commenter Jim Pierce added the following insightful comment that helps to define what Rev. Harrison means by “talking.”)

Excellent points Pr. Rossow. I would also like to quote form “It’s Time” which indicates what Pr. Harrison means with “talking,”

“There, I believe, is the Center: A theological enterprise centered in the Scriptures of Christ. Such a Center is manifest in congregations walking together because we talk together about our shared confession of the doctrines of the Gospel. There are very few reasons left to perpetuate the Synod except that we want to bind ourselves together around these doctrines and voluntarily hold ourselves accountable to one another for the theology we preach and teach. . . . We need each other, not so much for structured work as for nurture and growth in the full Word that leads to salvation. . . . Theology can’t just “underlie”; it has to be our Center.9? (p. 7)

It is refreshing to know that Pr. Harrison does not mean with “talking” that we are going to engage in a conversation about doctrine in order to arrive at a compromise on key issues, instead, and as he states, “We must first repent, listen to the Word of God, and then begin listening to each other” (p. 14). If we can’t listen to God’s word and our own Lutheran symbols, then we can’t listen to each other; so as Pr. Harrison points out “we must first repent” and listen to the Word of God.

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