Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

I had heard that the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) is the conservative brand of Lutheranism in America. Unlike Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who tends more towards liberalism and all-inclusiveness, LCMS people are very strict about their religious doctrines. At Hope Lutheran Church which is affiliated with ELCA, the pastors always emphasize before Communion that anybody regardless of denomination is welcome. Once, a doctor (who has been a Hope member for over 20 years) told me that's not the case with LCMS and they don't offer Communion to non-members. And they're very strict about other things also. And immediately, I felt like visiting an LCMS church some day to see how they look like and how they perform compared to ELCA. But again, the same problem of lacking a car and difficulty with access to known LCMS churches in far away places.

I was looking through my church roster this Wednesday and I preferred to attend a Lutheran Church. I had forgotten about the LCMS issue and I just picked up Gloria Dei Lutheran Church as one of the churches that had a Wednesday afternoon service and was not so far away. When I arrived there, I saw nobody around. I doubted whether they actually had a service. It had occurred to me twice to visit churches just to discover what I'd seen on their website had not been so accurate.

Then, as I was exploring the empty sanctuary, the pastor emerged from his office to see who's there. I introduced myself and explained about my research and then asked out of the blue whether they were an ELCA church. I was answered no. So, it was my first chance to observe an LCMS service and make a comparison.

Gradually, the members appeared and the service started. And another wrong assumption went away. I had assumed that Wednesday afternoon services have to be contemporary as opposed to the traditional ones at Sunday morning. This one appeared to be completely traditional in style without a single note of music. It just had a few rituals less than Sunday service and the rest (including the sermon) were exactly the same as the one on Sunday. However, the pastor told me that the traditional service on Sunday would have some music accompanying the hymns. This service was very low-populated and people left just after it was over. It appears that Wednesday afternoon service here is merely a complement to the normal worship for people who for whatever reason cannot make it on Sunday (or maybe for people who need another dose of worship in the middle of the week).

I continued with my questions and found out that LCMS doesn't ordain homosexual pastors (a difference with ELCA where they are split over the issue). Not so surprising given their very orthodox stance on Communion (which was mentioned in their prayer bulletin also and visitors were advised to consult the pastor before the service). But they don't even ordain women as pastors. Now, this is a big difference with many denominations as ordination of women has become a common practice long after the emergence of feminism movement.

My other inquiries revealed that the church and its pastor are conservative as goes the reputation of LCMS. For example, they believe in Biblical innerancy (i.e. every single word in Bible is the word of God and should be followed as such). Or they don't accept practicing homosexuals as members; they may be allowed to attend the service as visitors in the hope of being corrected by God.

He also explained why they don't offer Communion to non-members (actually, non-LCMS visitors). According to LCMS doctrine, Communion is not just a remembrance of Jesus and his Last Supper, nor is it consuming bread and wine as merely disunited symbols for the body and blood of Jesus; rather, it's a deep thoughtful sacrament of unification with Jesus as a whole and they don't offer Communion to other denominations (even ELCA) as they don't seem to understand the rite the way they do. I mentioned that at ELCA churches (even Hope with their all-invited policy), I've heard exactly the same wording as his over Communion and that suggests they probably understand it the same way as LCMS. Well, he was not convinced.

But in the end, I got a surprise. Concluding my ad-lib interview (which he patiently answered) I asked about his education, the question I ask every pastor to match their religious and ecclesial views against their college background before attending seminary. And voila, I found this conservative pastor who seemed to have similar views as mine (as far as I could probe over that limited time), to have trodden exactly the same path as me.

He has been an electrical engineer and even after getting his Master of Divinity, he has continued with his engineering career for some more years before settling in the Lutheran Church as a pastor. And his motives behind this change of career? Just like me, he had been drawn to math and physics which led him toward engineering as a job. However, since childhood, while attending church, his utmost passion has been religion and serving God and eventually that landed him in his current job after so many years in engineering.

After Dr. Rubin Patterson (one of my professors at UT), he's the second electrical engineer I've discovered here who has made such a career change. Well, I'm aware of other engineers who've switched to non-engineering careers, but being around electrical engineers who've done so, sounds and feels different. I'm looking for more.