Posted on 08/23/2007 10:14:33 PM PDT by Coleus
HAVE WATCHED my church – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – debate sexuality for 20 years. A key concern has been the role of gays and lesbians in the pastoral ministry. We allow gays and lesbians in our pulpits, but have expected them to abstain from sexual relationships, even if in a committed relationship comparable to marriage. Earlier this month, by a vote of 538 to 431, the highest decision-making body of our denomination urged bishops to exercise "restraint" in disciplining clergy who violate that policy. The action by our churchwide assembly did not change the policy, but clearly means that some of our pulpits will be open to gays and lesbians who are in committed relationships.
There are those predicting this action will split our church. I disagree. The decision is new; the practice is not. In what has been a "don't ask, don't tell" practice, homosexual pastors have served Lutheran churches for a long time. Last week more than 80 pastors, including several from New Jersey with distinguished careers, officially announced that they were gay, some of them in long-term partnerships. Behind the vote lay years of Bible study and doctrinal conversations. We have discussed the experiences of gay and lesbian Lutherans and considered psychological and medical research on sexual orientation.
A 'middle way'
Church leaders such as Bishop Roy Riley of New Jersey see the decision as a "middle way," allowing congregations who – with the approval of their bishop – want to call a pastor in a same-sex relationship to do so. A difficult hearing in Atlanta this year defrocked a gay pastor against the wishes of his congregation, and churches have been ousted from the church because they ordained a gay or lesbian pastor who was not celibate. We don't all agree, but we have studied, debated and prayed. At our meeting, discussion halted every 20 minutes for a minute of silent and hopefully unifying prayer.
The suggestion that we not discipline all gay clergy has angered some in our 4.8 million member church who contend that homosexual acts are proscribed by the Bible. But discussions at the Chicago meeting stressed the need for us to stay together in the church even if we hold differing views on sexuality. It is clear that some individuals and congregations may leave the church because of the decision. Congregations have withdrawn for other reasons, such as the declaration of "full fellowship" with Episcopalians, an agreement that allows pastors to serve either Lutheran or Episcopal churches.
It is also clear that acceptance of gay and lesbian clergy is growing in the church. (Another denomination, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, firmly rejects gay clergy.) While some of our regional units asked that the policy not be changed, 21 synods scattered across the country petitioned for a more complete acceptance of gays and lesbians in the pastorate. The central doctrine of Lutheranism is not biblical literalism, but the teaching that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That teaching, rather than a particular interpretation of the Bible, is called the "doctrine on which the church stands or falls."
The Chicago example
Some say our church will split or collapse into warring factions. But in Chicago, I saw people who disagreed holding hands and praying together each day and before each critical vote. I assume these people will go back to their local churches and do the same. And we seem to love our church. The more than 1,000 people in Chicago voiced strong enthusiasm for the work of the church, reelected Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson by a large majority, approved a sweeping statement on the church's role in education, endorsed a new initiative for Bible study and opposed expansion of the war in Iraq. We want to increase our program combating world hunger from $20 million annually to $25 million each year.
As a pastor and journalist, I've watched dozens of Lutheran conventions deal with difficult subjects over the past 40 years. We have had serious disagreements before. But up to now we have usually been able to pray, sing, preach the gospel and serve the world together in spite of them. I think we can keep doing that. Charles Austin is a Lutheran pastor and a former newspaper reporter. He is currently interim pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Savior, Paramus.
Sad. Missouri is the way to go if Lutheran.
I think a Missouri Synod Church would make us all go through Catechism again before they would accept any of us.
I’m too old to re-memorize Luther’s explanations of doctrine....
ELCA will be gone within ten years.
Leni
I think a Missouri Synod Church would make us all go through Catechism again before they would accept any of us.
Would that be a bad thing, just to make sure the refugees are up to speed?
“Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.”
- Martin Luther
“don’t ask, don’t tell” practice
If a church has to have this policy, the problem isn’t with the congregation.
My belief is that Satan, not God, uses secrecy to work his ways.
This opinion makes me sick to my stomach, and is indicative of the sickness in my once beloved ELCA. I would like to have been in on those Bible studies that put the word of man above the word of God. On second thought, not.
I’m in an LCMC church right now that I love, a church organization that has taken in a lot of former ELCA members. It is much more mission oriented and not so narcissistically internally focued as representatives like these of the ELCA are.
The ELCA seems to be under the control of satan.
There’s a big difference between intending to be a celibate pastor and commiting a sin, and openly advocating homosexuality through one’s own actions. The problem is that the ECLA didn’t define “restraint,” and, in the climate of the United Church of Christ and The Episcopal Church’s turmoil, it’d be very easy for “excersizing restraint in diciplining” to be taken as “condoning anything.” Let’s not forget that the ECLA is in communion with the UCC and the TEC.
The vote seems not to be about exercising actual restraint, but rather boiling frogs: “We’ll allow the more liberal diocese in the ECLA to chose to permit anything they want, until their takeover is complete, and they can force actions apon the other dioceses, like we did in Episcopal Church.”
Some quotes make Luther seem duplicitous or not to smart. That he couldn’t foresee “a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ” is pretty shabby. Anti-nominalism was rife in his day in Germany, and he said much to fan its flames.
My guess is it'll merge with The Episcopal Church. They've already got federated (joint) congregations in Michigan and Florida, and have hot-swappable bishops.
No, ELCA will still be around. Following the 2009 Assembly blessing homosexual behavior among pastors and bishops, the revisionist homosexual lobby will breathe a sigh of relief and carry on as if nothing has happened. After the bulk of traditionalists leave, ELCA like TEC will be much reduced in number—but their concern is buildings and trust fund assets, not membership or evangelism.
“We allow gays and lesbians in our pulpits, but have expected them to abstain from sexual relationships, even if in a committed relationship comparable to marriage.”
One of Satan’s main goals — to counterfeit every good work of God.
That’s the point. I’m probably not going to be “up to speed” again. One of the things about growing old that I’m not too happy about...
Nominalism is a mathematical term? I can't figure out whether it means you're for or against the idea that there are no sets, functions, etc. [truths?]
If I was sure I’d be around in ten years I’d take a bet on the ELCA being around still, too.
I think it’s more likely that FreeRepublic will bite the dust before this branch of the Lutheran church in America gives up its “Lutheran” designation.
They mutate names every few decades, but they always retain the doctrinal foundation and name of Martin Luther.
LOL! I'll bet it seemed that way...
I understand the quote to mean, that much to his surprise, he was seeing it at the time.
Probably, there will be some review but I doubt there would be a complete Catechism. That was not my case, at all but then I went through Catechism before the American Lutheran Church became part of the ELCA.
Please contact your nearest LCMS. We did and couldn't be happier. This also seems to be the prevailing attitude of those former ELCA members who have gone to LCMS.
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