The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), which found itself at the center of a national controversy last week, released a detailed statement over the weekend clarifying its apology for taking part in an interfaith prayer vigil following the Newtown school shooting. Though LCMS president Matthew Harrison does say that the media “distorted the facts of an admittedly nuanced situation,” he takes responsibility for the controversy in the statement. “I naively thought an apology for offense in the church would allow us to move quickly beyond internal controversy and toward a less emotional process of working through our differences, well out of the public spotlight. That plan failed miserably.” The apology stemmed from the participation of Newtown pastor Robert Morris in a prayer vigil attended by President Obama and area faith leaders in the days following the tragedy. Church rules prohibit Lutheran pastors from taking part in joint worship services … Discuss

A Lutheran pastor has issued an apology for taking part in an interfaith prayer vigil following the Newtown school shooting. The vigil was attended by President Obama as well as leaders in the Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i and Christian communities in the days following the tragedy. Pastor Rob Morris, who leads Christ the King Lutheran Church in Newtown where one of the victims was a congregant, says that he violated a local denomination rule prohibiting pastors from taking part in joint worship services. The synod's president, Pastor Matthew C. Harrison, issued a statement that said that “there is sometimes a real tension between wanting to bear witness to Christ and at the same time avoiding situations which may give the impression that our differences with respect to who God is, who Jesus is, how he deals with us, and how we get to heaven, really don't matter in the end" … Discuss