This year, from 4 to 7 February, Rev. Ieva Puriņa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Abroad and Aļesja Lavrinoviča, editor of the website of the Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians’ Association, took part in a conference organized by German women theologians, which took place in Goslar, Germany.
Goslar
On 4 February the German women theologians’ conference began with a shared dinner, followed by the first joint meeting, prayers and getting acquainted. The German women theologians’ association has about 240 women, most of whom are pastors; there are also hospital and care-home chaplains and theologians. The head of the association, Margit Baumgarten (photo on the right), revealed that, despite the membership of 240 women in the theologians’ association, about 60 participants come to the annual conferences – each year the contingent of participants attending the conference tends to change. On the very first evening of the conference the LELWTA representatives happened to become acquainted with the very interesting stories of two German pastors. We will publish the stories of these two women in the later part of the review.
The morning of 5 February began with a shared song and a short devotion, followed by Cornelia Richter’s lecture on the congregation (read a summary of the lecture at the end of the article).
The lecture was followed by a discussion, during which the German pastors and ministers asked questions both about what they had heard and general questions about how to keep in step with the reformation that still continues.
Cornelia Richter
On the afternoon of 5 February, a short devotion was held in the chapel attached to the Goslar guest house, which concluded with prayer and the singing of Taizé songs.
On the evening of that same day, an ecumenical fellowship took place, in which the LELWTA representatives spoke about Latvia, its history and the situation regarding the ordination of women. The German pastors were quite well informed about the 2016 decision of the ELCL Synod to no longer ordain women. Some of the pastors had even been present at the fateful ELCL Synod. Nevertheless, the pastors present asked many questions and did not hide their indignation at what had happened. They tried to understand the situation, the direction of the ELCL and, in their view, this peculiar “spirituality” in Latvia. There were also questions about the relations, interaction and communication between the ELCL and the ELCLA. In this context the LELWTA informed those present about events in the Irish Lutheran church, namely that in 2009 the ELCL broke the mutual agreement between the ELCLA and the ELCL regarding territorial jurisdiction by establishing an ELCL congregation outside Latvia – in Ireland.
Rev. Ieva Puriņa with an interpreter
Given this course of events, in the spring of 2016 the ELCLA decided to begin registering ELCLA congregations in Latvia, which has provoked reprisals by the ELCL and litigation over properties belonging to the churches, with which the ELCL historically had no connection. After the LELWTA representatives, a pastor from Estonia spoke and informed those present about her country. The Estonian pastor said that, similarly to the situation in East Germany, Estonia’s history too is secular and Lutherans are in the minority. A positive event in 2017, alongside the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, was also the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women, celebrated in the Estonian Lutheran church. The pastor explained that the ordination of women in Estonia began when, during the Second World War, many pastors left Estonia, and thus in the post-war period there was a shortage of pastors in Estonian Lutheran churches. At that time the archbishop was still not convinced about whether women should be ordained. After some time, however, he did ordain a few. Finally, the archbishop had said that, studying this question independently, he had concluded that the ordination of women benefits the church. There are not many women pastors in Estonia, and so this fellowship with the German pastors is very important.
The pulpit of the Goslar church, the altar of the Goslar church
On 6 February, after the morning fellowship and discussions, all the conference participants went to see Goslar – a small, beautiful and important medieval town. In the afternoon the German women theologians elected a new board. It was decided that the current head, Margit Baumgarten, would remain in her position, but changes took place in the rest of the board’s composition.
The evening of this day was dedicated to the region. First there was a regional dinner with dishes typical of Goslar and the local area. Afterwards a “regional evening” took place, which began with an address by the bishop of the Braunschweig region, Dr. Christoph Meyns.
Bishop Dr. Christoph Meyns and the head of the German women theologians’ convention, Margit Baumgarten
In addition to the office of bishop, Dr. Christoph Meyns is also the official representative for maintaining contacts with other Protestant communities. Bishop Meyns spoke at length about the region’s history, the main historical events, occupations, inhabitants and the church. The Braunschweig region has 360,000 inhabitants; the region is famous for steel and also for the production of VW automobiles. The regional church is currently celebrating its 450th anniversary since the Reformation took hold in the region. The 50th anniversary of the ordination of women had also just been celebrated. After the bishop’s address, the most active women of the Braunschweig regional congregations organized a quiz for those present with questions about the region’s history. The atmosphere was truly pleasant and warm.
In the further part of the programme, representatives from the Evangelical Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland) presented a retrospective of the events marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation that took place in Germany in 2017 and of the gathering of women pastors in Wittenberg on 12 August 2017, during which women pastors and bishops were photographed in the symbolic courtyard of the Wittenberg church, as well as a women’s meal in the central square of Wittenberg, in which more than 500 women took part. It should be added that LELWTA representatives also took part in the aforementioned events – emerita bishop Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga and evangelist Rudīte Losāne; both of them took part in the Reformation anniversary group photo “Here I stand” together with women pastors and bishops from various countries of the world. The Reformation events were also attended by the editor of the LELWTA website, Aļesja Lavrinoviča, who depicted the journey through the sites of the Reformation in several articles on the website.
On the morning of 7 February a wonderful worship service took place, in which only women participated and four women pastors served. At the close of the service the women present decided to support the work of LELWTA with donations. Such a gesture was truly unexpected, but powerfully reflected the solidarity of the German women theologians with the Latvian ministers, who are denied ordination. The German women, both all together and individually, sent greetings and encouragement to their sisters in Latvia.
A review of Cornelia Richter’s lecture “ecclesia semper reformanda – where shall we go?”
The lecturer began her presentation with statistics. Studies of church attendance have shown a decline in congregation attendance, as well as the ageing of congregation members; people do not talk about religion, faith, the meaning of life. Cornelia Richter points out that this kind of research reflects the numerical difference but does not help answer the question of why the number of congregation members is decreasing. Richter believes that the wrong questions have been asked. Surveys should also include questions such as, for example, what is the meaning of life? Indeed, in Western Europe the decline in the number of congregation attendees is a phenomenon that is not so starkly widespread elsewhere in the world. And the question is whether the decline in attendees is a fault or problem of the congregations, or a broader phenomenon. Both yes and no. In recent years the number of attendees and members has fallen in various organizations, institutions and community associations – fire brigades, sports clubs, music groups, etc. The church as an institution has been very popular in our society, and so it is much talked about in society, but smaller organizations are not talked about. Richter’s central points on the topic of what is happening in the church and how to move forward were as follows:
= What has caused this problem?
= Who knows what to do?
= What is the “congregation” in Protestant theology?
= Who are you? Where are you?
= What is happening here?
Finally, Professor Richter introduced her thesis – ecclesiology is situational. This means that the congregation is oriented to the situation (the needs) and to the place where a person is in life. From this it follows that dogmatics too is situational. Life is multidimensional, and so is dogmatics. Consequently, the church, life and dogmatics deal with the “phenomenon in between” – not with the most fundamental questions of life (what is a human being?) or ethical conflicts (abortion, homosexuality), but with existential situations in everyday life, with many dimensions and forms: anxiety, aggression, depression, mania, the loss of a loved one, grief, as well as humility, trust, hope, friendship and responsibility. Thus – the church, according to this point of view, is just as situational as life, and the church must be there.
LELWTA