Lutherans Air Views on Gay Clergy, Unions

[Green Gaia]

Lutherans Air Views on Gay Clergy, Unions

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. - Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expressed anger, hurt and confusion about what role gays should have in their denomination at a hearing Tuesday on an upcoming vote at their national convention.

More than 400 delegates and observers crowded into a hotel meeting room where Lutheran leaders invited comments about proposals on blessing same-sex unions and ordaining gays who are not celibate.

The Rev. Robert Goldstein, a gay minister at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago, wore a rainbow sash around his cleric's collar as he urged delegates to "go beyond the justice of incrementalism" and remove all limits on gay leadership in the denomination.

"I'm a gay pastor in this church. I serve faithfully. I love it," he said. "Our church must go beyond institutionalizing fear."

No one at Tuesday's hearing directly advocated maintaining the denomination's prohibitions on gays. But some raised questions about the impact of easing the rules.

The Rev. Carol Custead of Hollidaysburg, Pa., said a Lutheran bishop in Kenya had told her that "ties may have to be broken" if the ELCA moved toward approving gay relationships.

"Were any of the global ramifications of this considered?" she asked.

But the Rev. Ann Tiemeyer of the New York Synod said the ELCA should not be paralyzed by the potential fallout.

"We talk about the fear, concern about lack of unity," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "But we have to remember those we have already lost" because of the denomination's restrictions on gays.

Turmoil over what the Bible says about gay sex has created rifts in Protestant denominations for years. The global Anglican Communion is struggling to stay together after its U.S. province, the Episcopal Church, confirmed its first openly gay bishop two years ago.

The key proposals before the 1,018 delegates in Orlando are based on years of work by a task force on sexuality that tried to find a compromise policy for the 4.9 million-member church.

The measures would:

• Affirm the church ban on ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians, but allow bishops and church districts called synods to seek an exception for a particular candidate if that person is in a committed relationship and meets other conditions.

• Uphold the denomination's prohibition against same-sex blessings, but give bishops and pastors discretion in deciding how to minister to gay couples.

• Call for unity, even though congregants disagree on the issue.

Several Lutherans who stood to speak at the hearing said the proposals were unclear and they did not understand what the impact would be if the policies were approved. A vote is scheduled for Friday but could be delayed by debate.

New England Synod Bishop Margaret Payne, who led the sexuality task force, said the ambiguity was intentional, to give discretion to local congregations.

"The reality is there are a variety of practices across the ELCA," Payne said.

Another church leader noted that fellow members of the Lutheran World Federation, which includes 138 member churches in 77 countries, also have different approaches on gay issues yet remain together.

The head of the ELCA, Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, is also head of the world federation, and said greater acceptance of gays with partners would strain but not sever relations with sister churches overseas.

"This is not a perfect document," said Judy Biffle of Houston, a member of a top ELCA council who worked with the task force. "It was to allow us to continue to live together ... somehow balance the tension within us ... so that we could in some manner move forward for the sake of the church."

 

[cturne]

It is so extremely sad to see a church - still calling itself Lutheran (that is, supposedly following the teachings of Martin Luther) going so far away from what the Bible teaches. Martin Luther would turn over in his grave...

 

[michel]

That is a very interesting and educational article, Maize. Thank you for posting it.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I have read and reread the release. Could a Lutheran please explain what the decision is, and what it means. I am totally confused.

Terry_________________________________
Amen! Truly I say to you: Gather in my name. I am with you.

 

[cturne]

I have read and reread the release. Could a Lutheran please explain what the decision is, and what it means. I am totally confused.

Don't blame you for being confused - I think ELCA is trying to keep it so confusing so that their members don't know exactly where ELCA stands in regards to homosexuality, in order to try to keep from losing members. I think they are basically agreeing to disagree, and telling the individual congregations to do whatever they want. It's such a wishy-washy stance it's totally pathetic.

 

[fanofchiefs]

It is so extremely sad to see a church - still calling itself Lutheran (that is, supposedly following the teachings of Martin Luther) going so far away from what the Bible teaches. Martin Luther would turn over in his grave...

Amen Amen

 

[keithnurse]

It's like the Lutheran leader said in the article: The wording of the proposals is vague on purpose to enable people who disagree on an issue to agree on vague statements to hold the church together. I don't see what would be so terrible about there being a schism, with the progay people forming one church and the traditionally minded forming another one. Churches have been forming and breaking apart since the beginning of Christianity. All the energy they are expending on trying to hold the ELCA together could be used in more productive ways if they would split up and stop fighting each other.

 

[EverChanging]

It's like the Lutheran leader said in the article: The wording of the proposals is vague on purpose to enable people who disagree on an issue to agree on vague statements to hold the church together. I don't see what would be so terrible about there being a schism, with the progay people forming one church and the traditionally minded forming another one. Churches have been forming and breaking apart since the beginning of Christianity. All the energy they are expending on trying to hold the ELCA together could be used in more productive ways if they would split up and stop fighting each other.

True. The Anglicans should do the same. As a Unitarian Universalist, it's obvious what my position on the matter would be.

Church splits suck, but it would probably keep both conservatives and liberals from feeling marginalized. They should just split. Eventually, if history is any indicator, even more conservative branches of the religion will catch up and affirm the LGBT community one day, and the sects can possibly merge together, or at least have inter-communion again.

 

[Antiochian]

While I am no longer ELCA, I'm glad to see the developments of the last while on this. Frankly, that homosexuality is abnormal or sinful is an invention of human beings and the result of irrational thinking, not the law of God. Good for the ELCA!

 

[ronandcarol]

Since the ELCA synod has voted to bless gays by allowing churches to unite them in marriage,
my wife and I have decided to return to the Missouri synod branch of the Lutheran Denomination.
They have not compromised the Bible.

ronandcarol