{ ELCA } A house divided

The Herald (Puyallup, WA) ^ | 2/21/10 | Joan Cronk

[SmithL]

If Pastor John Vaswig or Pastor Kim Latterell were to leave their East Pierce County Lutheran churches, their congregations could replace them with a gay or lesbian clergy member.

In August 2009, the church-wide assembly of the Ecumenical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) voted to allow churches to call pastors who are in a committed, same-gender relationships to head up their congregations.

Many other important issues were discussed and voted on at the assembly meeting in Minneapolis, but this decision is the one that generated the most interest. John Brooks, spokesman for the ELCA, said that most of the churches affected have embraced the issue.

“We have 10,400 congregations in the ELCA and only 135 of those have taken votes as to whether or not to continue as members of the ELCA,” said Brooks.

Of those 135, there are 97 churches that are still in the consultation process. Brooks said that those 97 congregations represent less than 1 percent of the membership in the ELCA.

Puyallup’s Pilgrim Lutheran Church is one of those that suffered from the decision.

Pilgrim Lutheran Church took a vote and a number of members, including the acting senior pastor, chose to break off and form their own congregation. They established a new congregation which now meets at Ballou Junior High School.

“Now we are two churches instead of one,” said Mike Deal, a Pilgrim Lutheran parishoner who spoke as an individual and not on behalf of the church.

He and his wife have made the decision to stay with the original Pilgrim Lutheran Church.

“I feel very strongly that it is a matter of equality and civil rights,” he added.

Pilgrim Lutheran Church officials declined to comment.

Brooks said the decision by the assembly just offers congregations another option for calling pastors.

“Congregations in our denomination have always had the right and opportunity to call their own pastors as they see fit, following a specific process,” he said.

No congregations will be required to call any pastor that they do not believe is a good fit, “and that includes gay and lesbians in a committed relationship,” Brooks said.

Vaswig, senior pastor of Mt. View Lutheran Church in Edgewood, said this decision does have an impact on his congregation.

“We have some individuals that are upset by this decision,” said Vaswig, “but it is a complicated world that we live in. Ultimately it is the unity achieved by God in Christ for the sake of the church that trumps the division of the homosexuality issue,” he said.

Vaswig said that this decision has a lightning rod effect “because people get excited about the issue of sex.” He added that in the 1970s it was a hot button issue when the church began to accept women as clergy, and that could have divided the church.

Vaswig has taught several classes dealing with the issue since the decision and has folks on both sides of the argument.

“I say that most of them don’t tithe and the text says to tithe, so you are basically picking up issues you agree with and others you don’t agree with,” he said.

“Some churches are seeking to live in a day that no longer exists,” he added.

Vaswig acknowledges that a few families are still struggling with this issue and as a result may feel they need to leave the congregation. Currently there are gay and lesbian couples in Mt. View’s congregation.

Theology does matter to Vaswig and he said culture should not dictate what we do and what we say, but that members should acknowledge changes and embrace a faithful and Christian response.

“The question for many,” Vaswig said, “is does the issue of homosexuality and the permitting of the ordination of gay and lesbian folk become a source of division, or a matter of deepening the possibility of living as the one body of Christ in the mystery of God’s reconciling grace.”

At Creator Lutheran Church in Bonney Lake, Latterell devoted an entire sermon to this subject. After the service a lawyer from Tacoma, Jim Hushagen, who attended the national assembly, gave a report to the congregation.

“It was a very good conversation,” Latterell said. “It was pretty obvious in that meeting that we had three or four families that would choose not to be part of the ELCA any more.”

Latterell said he is very supportive over this move and added, “Our church background is that gays and lesbians have for quite a long time been able to serve as pastors, but have had to take a vow of celibacy.”

He urges his congregation to yield and not be stubborn, but willing to listen. In his sermon he explained how this decision could affect the congregation.

“In short,” he said, “if you as a congregation want to have a married or civil-unioned or long-term, faithful, monogamous gay or lesbian pastor, you can. You don’t have to, but if you want to, you can give it a try.”

He said this decision could be a deal-breaker to some, but he was praying and believing that God’s church and spirit could hold them all together, despite their differences. He added that, “God is far more open than us on lots of things.”

Brooks said that at the present time, members of the ELCA are still operating under the policy that existed before the assembly’s decision. The new policy has yet to be written and he does not anticipate that happening before April 2010.

One of the things that must appear in the new policy, said Brooks, is some kind of definition about “what is a publicly, accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationship?”

Brooks said he wishes he could fast forward to five years from now. “Just to see what has happened in that time with this decision, because it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that we were talking about this.”

In the meantime, Latterell said he hopes his congregation is “tender enough to still love each other with respect and compassion.”

[SmithL]

I’m glad it’s working out for you. A lot of congregations are having a very difficult time. Satan must be very happy with the outcome of the 2009 CWA.