Tension within the church body { ELCA }

The largest Lutheran church in the country decided last summer to welcome gay pastors to the pulpit and two local churches are learning what that decision means for their congregations.

The decision came during the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) held in Minneapolis in August. The Assembly voted to direct changes to ministry policies that would allow gays and lesbians to serve as clergy and professional lay workers as long as they were in, “publicly accountable, lifelong, monogomous, same-gender relationships.” The decision to call a gay pastor will be left to individual congregations.

The vote came in four steps, or resolutions. The theology informing the resolutions is a social statement entitled, “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” which was adopted during the August Assembly by a two-thirds majority.

The ELCA took up the issue because gay and lesbian people of faith asked the church to consider it, said Bishop Jon Anderson, who leads the ELCA’s Southwestern Minnesota Synod. That consideration has been unfolding over the past decade. The first motion to speak to the issue of homosexuality was made in 2001 and through a series of legislative decisions and motions, reached the 2009 Assembly.

Prior to the Assembly decision, the ELCA prohibited gay and lesbian pastors from serving unless they agreed to remain celibate. Bishops were asked to discipline pastors who violated the ban and to remove them from their calling, only to face congregations who were angered that their pastor had been disciplined off the roster, Bishop Anderson said.

The majority decision to lift the ban has caused tension within the ELCA, which is the largest Lutheran denomination in the world, with 4.8 million members including 830,000 in Minnesota. Though some have embraced the change, others, like the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) are deeply opposed.

CORE is a coalition of pastors, lay people, congregations and reforming groups that seeks to preserve the authority of Scripture in the ELCA. CORE’s seven-part statement of faith, the “Common Confession,” maintains, “that sexual activity belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a faithful marriage between one man and one woman.”

“The mood I’m sensing is anger and deep disappointment that the church approved the change despite warnings that it would be very divisive,” said Rev. Erma Wolf, CORE vice-chair, from Brandon, S.D. “What I’m hearing is we’re not anti-gays; in many cases, they’re members of our families. But we’re watching our church in the midst of a mess right now and we tried to warn people and we weren’t listened to.”

Pastors are in a horrible bind, Wolf said, as they watch their congregations splinter into those who don’t want to stay with the ELCA and those who don’t want to stay with the congregation if they leave the ELCA.

“They’re worried about their congregation splitting no matter what they do,” Wolf said.

The local ELCA churches are First Lutheran in Pipestone and Jasper Evangelical Lutheran. First Lutheran is also a member of CORE and signed CORE’s Common Confession in 2005.

The mood marking both congregations is confusion and frustration, according to Marc Hall, president of the congregation at the Jasper church and Kristy Appel, who was president of the congregation at First Lutheran until the first of the New Year when Paul Lorang took over.

“When it’s in the Bible, why are they changing it,” Appel said. “(Parishioners) wanted a basis for that. And that’s part of the problem: they haven’t gotten it.”

Neither pastors of the two churches — Pastor Gene Anderson for Jasper and Pastor Steve Marten for Pipestone — favor the decision. Among parishioners, both pastors said the authority of scripture is informing opposition.

“They’re not a bunch of raging homophobes; they’re not hunting out gays,” Marten said.

“One misconception people probably had was that before this, the ELCA didn’t want gay people in church and that wasn’t true; we welcome everybody in the church,” Lorang said.

But for some, welcoming a homosexual parishioner is not the same as calling a gay pastor.

“Clergy need to be held to a higher standard,” Pastor Anderson said. “I can accept and love gay and lesbians in my congregation, but until we resolve the issue to a more thorough degree, I don’t think we can accept gay clergy.”

Lutheran Christians, like others, use the Bible for guidance in matters facing the church and the larger world and there are scriptural passages that deal with same-gender sexual relationships.

However, both sides studying the same texts and using comparable methods of interpretation have come to different conclusions. Some are convinced that same-gender sexual behavior is sinful and contrary to biblical teaching; others are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and the lifelong loving and committed relationships experienced today.

Both interpretations are genuine, according to the ELCA, and not a conflict between those who seek to be “true to Scripture” and those who seek to “twist the Bible” to their own liking. Given that, the ELCA’s social statement and adopted resolutions attempt to address these differences — how faithful people will come to different conclusions about the meaning of Scripture — by calling on members to recognize the conviction of those with whom they disagree and to respect the bound consciences of all.

Pastor Anderson said the bound-conscience argument is a unique way of looking at scriptural interpretation and that he’s tried to present it as such to his parishioners. For example, Anderson cited a passage in the Book of Exodus that comes shortly after the Ten Commandments that says children who curse their parents should be put to death.

“We don’t do that, but scripture says that,” Anderson said. “I try to use that as a way for people to step back a little from the passion and be a little analytical about it. That’s the challenge. So we have to have a reasonable way of weighing scripture. We’ve talked about weighing through the lens of Jesus Christ and not necessarily through the hammer passages that can be so harsh.”

The ELCA believes that through understanding and respect for the bound consciences of its members, its 10,500 congregations located across the U.S. and Caribbean can claim one Lord, one faith and one baptism, while passionately disagreeing on issues surrounding human sexuality.

“We can be faithful Lutheran Christians and live with that tension in the same church body,” said ELCA Bishop Rev. Mark S. Hanson during a Dec. 6, 2009 Town Hall forum on the Assembly decision.

But like marriages that end with divorce, some congregations have decided that things are just too broken.

Some congregations are registering their protest of the churchwide decision by withholding offerings.

Since the August decision, about 14 of the Southwestern Minnesota Synod’s 269 congregations have voted to redirect their offerings for mission support and, “more may do that,” Bishop Anderson said. Offerings are typically divided by the synod and the ELCA. The “unintended consequences” of redirecting mission support, according to the synod, will include damage to a mission already weakened by the economy, causing further cuts to staff support, campus ministry, missionaries, outreach and stewardship.

“I’m not withholding my church offerings and I would not encourage a congregation to do that,” CORE’s Wolf said. “As long as we’re in the ELCA, we need to be financial stewards of the church.”

Since the Assembly decision opens the pulpit to gay pastors, but leaves the decision to call a gay pastor to individual congregations, some congregations are adopting formal declarations that indicate they are not open to calling a gay or lesbian pastor to serve.

This remedy begs the question that if congregations that don’t want a gay pastor don’t have to call one, why is the churchwide decision so disruptive?

“There is a fear in some synods that they will just never be allowed access to the names of pastors that would be on the traditional side of these issues,” CORE’s Wolf explained. “That’s one problem. The second problem is the training of pastors within the seminaries of the ELCA. There is serious legitimate question as to what has been taught and what will be taught in the future in the ELCA-sponsored seminaries. It’s fine to say you don’t have to call a pastor who does x-y-z, but the fact of the matter is, if the list of the possible names to call comes from the synod and the synod approves everyone who comes from the seminary process and the seminaries are teaching the decisions reached at the churchwide assembly, in fact a new understanding of scripture...’”

The ELCA has eight seminaries. Two of those — in Berkely, Calif. and Philadelphia, Penn. — have placed people who have not been approved for ordination because they are gay or lesbian into ELCA congregations, Wolf said. In addition, the Chicago seminary signed a record that said the Assembly decisions were in accord with their understanding of scripture and favored the passage.

“That’s three out of eight,” Wolf said. “At the seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, (the biblical and theological faculty) has written extensively on why we should not be opposed to homosexual marriage; so that’s four. You start looking at the seminaries and you start saying, ‘Oh, dear; this is a problem.’”

Within the Southwestern Minnesota Synod, Bishop Anderson said he has, “seven congregations who have had a vote about leaving our church body. At this time, three have not moved forward because they’ve changed their mind; four splits have happened.”

The process for leaving the ELCA includes a congregational vote followed by a 90-day waiting period during which the Bishop meets with the parishioners. If the congregation decides to move forward after the Bishop’s visit, they hold a second vote.

The Hendricks congregation passed its first vote to leave the ELCA. On Sunday, Dec. 12, Bishop Anderson met with the congregation to preach and worship with them.

Though the decision has been made to allow gay and lesbian clergy, “how it will be administered — I don’t know,” said Bishop Anderson.

The ELCA is in the process of writing the policies and guidelines that will support the August decision. Those administrative policies require adoption by the ELCA Church Council, a move that’s not expected until at least November. Until that adoption, current policies remain in place.

If congregations leave now, they won’t have a chance to impact those written policies, Wolf said. For those who have made up their minds, CORE is studying the formation of a new church body as an alternative to the ELCA. That new body would have a separate identify from CORE; CORE would remain a stand-alone, umbrella alliance of congregations.

“That came out of those who came to us and said, ‘We are leaving,’” Wolf said. “They’re not asking, they’re saying, ‘We’re leaving and we need to leave to something. And right now there is nothing we see that we can leave to.’”

CORE has about eight task forces tackling different issues within the ELCA; only one of those is studying the formation of the new church body, Wolf said.

“If (pastors) can tell people (CORE is) working on how to leave, that will staunch the flow,” Wolf said.

First Lutheran invited representatives from the ECLA synod and from CORE to talk with the congregation. About 25 parishioners attended each of those meetings.

“We’ve had meetings to talk about things and weigh options,” Pastor Marten said. “We don’t want to portray to our parishioners that we’ve already made up our minds about anything. They will be the ones to make the decision…I have a choice too,” Marten added. “If they decide to leave, do I go with them.”

First Lutheran’s Appel said she believes their congregational vote will occur in 2010.

“It will come down to who stays and who goes,” Appel said. “If we stay with the ELCA, there will be people who quietly leave. If we go with the Lutheran CORE church (if one forms), we need to know what resources they provide for our clergy, our church. It will make a difference.”

Hall said he’ll be contacting a representative from the ELCA synod to meet with the Jasper church. The church is not a member of CORE, but Hall said they also may invite one of CORE’s representatives to meet with parishioners. Pastor Anderson said that some members of his Jasper congregation want to leave and some are withholding funds but that doesn’t mean they’d be leaving the ELCA as a church.

“We can respectfully disagree and we will continue to debate the issue,” Pastor Anderson said.

Out of all that disagreement and debate, Bishop Anderson is hopeful unification of the ELCA will prevail.

“Sometimes in my personal marriage my wife and I have disagreements and sometimes even fights,” he said. “Those can lead to greater understanding as we work through it. So my hope is we will end up stronger as we go through this.”

The four steps: The Churchwide Assembly decision of the ELCA to welcome gay pastors to the pulpit came through the adoption of four motions. The first committed the ELCA to bear one another’s burdens and to respect the bound consciences of all; the second allowed congregations to find ways to recognize and support lifelong, monogamous, same gender relationships and to hold them publicly accountable; the third committed the ELCA to finding a way for people in such relationships to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA; and the fourth pointed toward specific ways of rostering such people while respecting the bound consciences that are in disagreement.

Bishop Rev. Jon Anderson, leader of the Southwestern Minnesota Synod to which Pipestone’s ELCA churches belong, said he voted for the first two motions, but against the third and fourth.

“I was still working on my decisions going there,” he said. He said he voted against three and four because three said “find a way” to make it happen and four said “make a way to do it.” He said he couldn’t vote for those when the Church didn’t know how it would happen.

“But I try to trust the wisdom of the church body,” he said. “That God works in their lives and guides them.”

"...We’ve talked about weighing through the lens of Jesus Christ and not necessarily through the hammer passages that can be so harsh."

Why wasn't I ever told about this "Lens of Jesus Christ?" Here I was going by the Scripture like a blasted idiot, and they've got a magic relic that can rewrite the Bible to suit themselves! Must be related to the Peepstone or a pickled eyeball in a theca...

“So we have to have a reasonable way of interpreting scripture.”

We let Scripture interpret Scripture not human reason. The standard is not reasonability. God forbid. The Trinity is not reasoanble, the person of Christ as the God-man, the virgin birth etc. Yet we believe these things because Scripture teaches it. Otherwise we are acting like little gods and not giving the Lord his due.

And what of the polygamist? If he and his wives are happily married, and really love each other, should they not be allowed to serve? What about two people who are shacking up together? If they love each other why shouldn’t they be allowed to serve?

...others are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and the lifelong loving and committed relationships experienced today.

**********

These folks need some reliable hermeneutics -- and apply the Scriptures in the "context" of the whole--

OT Law leading to NT Grace - --
Grace that enables conversion, healing, and sanctification....
Grace that was not given to despise or disregard the Law,
But...
Grace that is given to enable the faithful to cherish the Law of God... and live pre-disposed to faithfulness and obedience.

Everyone have a nice day

Yes, in the vernacular it may be called a slippery slope argument, but I think it is a clear effort on the part of the ECLA to abominate what God has clearly stated, as in, “a little leaven leavens the whole loaf”.

This has nothing to do with not loving the sinner, as I count myself among, but it has everything to do with men arrogating themselves in an attempt to try and override what God has clearly said, as if they know better.

Lutheran (EL C S*A) Ping!

* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.

Christ is Born, Glorify Him!

I see your son is a First Class. Mine just earned Eagle in November and we got his paperwork and insignia Monday!

Keep pushing, but never drag him!

Both interpretations are genuine, according to the ELCA, and not a conflict between those who seek to be “true to Scripture” and those who seek to “twist the Bible” to their own liking.

What a laugh that would be if it weren't such a LIE.

When it comes to scriptural ethics two 180-degree polar opposite interpretations cannot both be "genuine." Post-modern America is fast becoming a society of dupes and idiots.

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