Ethics and the Church

Christian Ethics paper, 2016. 

A woman in my congregation recently approached me to discuss a matter that has been troubling her. She has been working for a defense contractor for some 25 years and recently learned that her company sells defense products to oppressive governments. She is concerned that working for this company is incompatible with being a disciple of Christ. In this paper I will outline my conversation with her as I assure her that we are all guilty of sin, offer her a time of confession and forgiveness, and encourage her to seek the counsel and support of the congregation. 

In beginning my conversation with this individual, I would emphasize that she is not alone. Her hands are not the only ones whose hands have blood on them from this company or from outside of this company. Our economic and politic system allows and encourages many people to continue in companies that separate them from the people who are actually affected by the companies. There is virtually nothing we can do to have our hands completely clean from the atrocities of the world. Luther’s explanation of the Fifth Commandment affirms that we are truly not free from these sins as we allow our sisters and brothers in Christ to perish at our own weapons. “For although you have not actually committed all these crimes, as far as you were concerned you have nevertheless permitted your neighbor to languish and perish in his misfortune.” We are captive to sin — even sin of which we have been ignorant for so long — and cannot free ourselves. I would assure this individual that she is not alone in her struggle and call toward a holier life. 

Following this assurance, I would invite this individual into a brief order of confession and forgiveness. We recognize confession as a means of grace as it allows us to name the powers that hold us captive and confess the truth of God’s forgiveness and grace through Christ Jesus. “Although we are set free to live in love and faithfulness, we continue to turn away from God and from one another.” It is commendable that she is mature enough in her faith to recognize that her career is not compatible with Christian discipleship. In confession I would invite her to explain how she discerned that. I would also invite her to be specific and detailed in her confession, including naming the powers that we renounce in our baptism. Confession is the beginning of being set free from sin. In confession we move toward the center, who is Christ, unlearning our sinful ways and learning habits of holiness. Confession shows us that salvation is truly a gift because despite our confession and sanctification, we will continue to sin and be unworthy of God’s forgiveness apart from Christ. We can begin the process of penance and reconciliation upon being assured of God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus. It is an invitation back into the reconciled communion of the body of Christ. 

Finally, I would discuss with this individual the next steps toward reconciliation and penance. I would agree that she may want to consider leaving the company as a form of penance since she does not find it compatible with Christian discipleship. However, I would assure her that this is not a decision she must make immediately or alone. Discernment and sanctification are long processes that should be taken seriously in our community. In the discernment process we are beginning to move toward Christ, we are not instantly made better. It is like being checked into the hospital; we must diagnose the sin (in confession) then discern the appropriate remedy for that sin (penance and reconciliation). Sanctification does not happen immediately but is a long, slow, and sometimes painful process. I would encourage her to seek the counsel of those in the community and the saints of the church. The community will help her identify her gifts and her calling as a baptized child of God. The community is called to “bear one another's burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and promised in her baptism to “support and pray for [her] in [her] new life in Christ.” Part of this bearing of burdens and support consists of praying and confessing with her, and seeing how God opens our lives to new ways of living and faithfulness. We are called to new lives in Christ, a cruciform way of living that points toward Christ with a long, bony finger, whatever the cost.

If the communal discernment concludes that she is called to a new vocation and she quits her job, the community will support her in that decision. It should set her free from burden and bondage, allowing her to live according to the new age in Christ Jesus, but this does not mean it will not be difficult. Christ instructs his disciples to deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow him (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). However, ultimately she will gain so much more from this discernment and decision. As Bonhoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship, 

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man (sic) must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.

The community will assist her financially, emotionally, and spiritually during this time of transition. We will walk with her in discernment, assist her financially while she is in between jobs, work on establishing a scholarship fund for her children, or work to provide child care for her as she looks for a new job opportunity. The entire community with this individual is called to trust the Spirit in this vocational discernment and be receptive to the ways that God might surprise us by opening up new ways of living.

By affirming her feelings of uncertainty about her vocation, providing an opportunity for confession and forgiveness, and encouraging communal discernment, I hope to provide this individual with theologically sound pastoral care in a time of great trial and discernment. Through this communal discernment process, she will be empowered and held accountable in her new life in Christ through the body of Christ and communion of the saints. 

Sources: 

 Dr. Daniel M Bell, “Lecture 18B Counting Blessings, Capitalist Theology and Christian Economics,” Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenior-Rhyne University, assigned November 17, 2016.

 Kolb, Robert, and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical

Lutheran Church, “Large Catechism,” Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000.

 Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, “Confession & Forgiveness,” 95. 

 Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, “Introduction to Individual Confession and Forgiveness,” 243. 

 Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, “Profession of Faith,” 229.

 Dr Daniel M Bell, Lecture 7 - “A People of Character,” Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenior-Rhyne University, assigned September 22, 2016. and “Lecture 10 Vocation,” assigned October 6, 2016.  

 Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, “Presentation, Holy Baptism,” 228.

 Dr. Daniel M Bell, “Lecture 10 Vocation,” Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenior-Rhyne University, assigned October 6, 2016.

 Matthias Grunewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, 1912-1916, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar: France.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Gerhard Leibholz, The Cost of Discipleship, New York: Macmillan (1958).