NOTE TO READERS: The comments section has been turned off due to hostile remarks directed toward the pastors in this post. Knock it off or I’ll write a book called “Rogue Lutherans.”
© Pretty Good Lutherans
Gay and lesbian clergy heard the mudslinging and witnessed the arrows being hurled by Lutherans ever since the August vote to “officially” welcome partnered gays into ELCA ministries.
Lutherans who do not want them as pastors issued loud proclamations of condemnation and withheld their dollars, a contributing factor in job losses for more than 40 ELCA staff members over the past few days.
Gay and lesbian clergy also heard their presiding bishop call for unity and urge the angry people hurling stones not to walk away. But when it came to standing up for gays and lesbians, all they heard was a stony silence.
Nothing was said in defense of the gays and lesbians who’d never walked away but remained faithful to Christ and the church, despite decades of often despicable treatment.
While heterosexual Lutherans debated and argued with one another, gay and lesbian clergy continued their ministries quietly and faithfully. In most cases, their voices weren’t sought out in any of the discussions; in fact, people acted like they were invisible.
But they heard. And here’s what three of them they have to say:
Pastor Megan Rohrer, director of Welcome, a communal response to poverty. She lives in San Francisco and serves with a joint call from three congregations:
“It’s kind of a strange thing that’s been happening since the assembly. It’s even weird to have this conversation as though there are no gay pastors listening or invited into the discussion. It’s been a very hurtful dynamic.
“We get how much pain the Word Alone and Luther CORE people are in because it’s how we felt for 20 years.
“Right before the vote [at the national assembly], the president of Word Alone came up to me and said, ‘Megan, I love your blog. She layed hands on me and we prayed. We both shared and hugged. We both knew good ministry was happening.
“Martin Luther was clear that mandating celibacy for clergy goes against the Gospel and bishops should never require that. But in the ELCA, gay people haven’t been allowed to be who they are.
“[Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson] has maintained public neutrality. He wants to be a fair arbiter. Neutrality makes no sense to me. He speaks out on other justice issues, but he doesn’t talk about this as a justice issue.
“One of the number one requirements of a pastor in the ELCA is that they speak in favor of justice.”
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Pastor Bradley Schmeling, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Atlanta:
“At one level, there is great joy from the changes. But on the other hand, you have people who can’t imagine being in church with me. They are willing to wound the church and leave the church just so they don’t have to be with someone like me.
“It has not always been easy and there’s certainly many times it would have been easier to transfer to another tradition.
“When I was removed from the clergy roster [and put on trial because of a committed relationship with Pastor Darin Easler], there were people in both the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ who told me that I’d have a home with them. I have always felt like God called me to the Lutheran church. My call is to participate in the life of this institution.
“When the congregation was going through the trial we refused to see ourselves apart from the ELCA or use that language. We said we will still send benevolence. We will be involved in the synod. We will serve on committees. We kind of made this conscious decision to continue to participate in the ELCA in the face of rejection. [The congregation actually increased its benevolence during that traumatic time.]
“I do understand that [Bishop Hanson] is trying to move the church through a difficult time. His words and actions have been deeply pastoral. However, I wish he would have been clearer about these changes from a Gospel point of view.
“In some ways it is problematic that we continue to allow people to say horrific things about LGBT people that are sinful and wrong. When the church decided to ordain women, the church said, ‘We are going to do this.’ We said it was wrong to exclude women from leadership.
“In a passive way, we have allowed homophobia and discrimination to have a place in the ELCA. What people call ‘radical’ change is merely a step for toleration, but not the kind of inclusivity that the Gospel requires.
“We still have congregations who are going to vote that they will never call a LGBT pastor. The ELCA has produced a paragraph for congregations that allows exclusion to have a place. The changes [voted on in August] don’t mean that congregations are going to be more open to LGBT clergy. We have a long way to go.”
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Pastor Katrina Foster, Fordham Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bronx, N.Y.
“It pains me very much that CORE seems seem to be working tirelessly to create a parallel structure when that’s not necessary. The decision made at the assembly is that no one can compel a congregation to call a gay pastor. The ELCA, rightly or wrongly, allows for discrimination in the church.
“Gay people have stayed with the church despite years of exclusion. We didn’t leave. We stayed engaged and tried to remain in righteous relationship with one another. We tried to discern what is good, right and pleasing to the Lord.
“Even when, year after year and decade after decade our views weren’t supported, we didn’t leave. We didn’t stop our faithful service or our financial giving. My congregation was the No. 1 giver, proportionally, in the entire Metro New York Synod last year.
“Part of the cost of discipleship means to be claimed by Jesus. You offer faithful witness wherever you are. You don’t get up and leave just because you’re not getting your way.
“What we’re called to is faithfulness, community, relationship with another and Christ, and not to be homogenous Christians. Christian unity in the Lutheran tradition is not reliant on sharing the same thoughts. Our unity is found in the Word, Christ and sacrament. These are the things we need for our unity. That is sufficient.
“But I understand why some people leave. I get it. It feels impossible at times. Throughout the churchwide [national] assembly, I made a very conscious effort to talk with people who were from CORE. We very much need each other.
“If anyone has a nearly impossible vocational calling right now it’s Bishop Hanson. I’ve been to three churchwide [national] assemblies. He did the best job that I think that he could do. He led us with elegance, integrity and fairness.
“He has taken definitive stances on AIDS and the war in Iraq. This is a different challenge. Lutherans are not good at talking about sex and sexuality. We would rather talk about money. But now that the decision has been made, he is the bishop of this church, and as our bishop, having been recipient of this decision, it is now his task to guide us through the fallout and blessings that will come.”
(more…)
A Pennsylvania newspaper today reports that an ELCA congregation “may become the first Christian church in the city to offer the equivalent of a marriage ceremony for same-gendered couples.”
The following individuals are known murder victims with ELCA ties killed since Pretty Good Lutherans was started in September 2009: