From the moment they called the question and the resolution passed by a 55-45% majority at last August’s ELCA churchwide assembly, Lutherans knew that partnered gay clergy would soon become rostered on the list of ELCA ordained clergy. 

Today is the day.

A visible sign of the wondrous changes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the reinstatement of Pastor Bradley Schmeling and Pastor Darin Easler to the roster of ministers of the ELCA. Both had been removed from that roster for being in a committed, same-gender relationship.

The leading Minnesota newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, reported on the local angle, noting that Darin Easler had earlier served in the SE Mn synod (now my home) and also mentioned Anita Hill whose own celebrated case in St Paul was an important waypoint on the journey toward full inclusion.

Because they both had been rostered before, the process was different than for them than, say, the Rev. Anita Hill, who has been pastoring St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul since 2001 without being on the ELCA roster. She said that she’s going to apply for rostering but is waiting so that the distinction of being first goes to a California minister who was the first lesbian to challenge the old ELCA policy.

And, speaking of the 20 year old California extraordinary ordinations of gay and lesbian pastors, here is a video that retells and celebrates the story of Jeff Johnson, Phyllis Zillhart, and Ruth Frost.  The video was released on the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) blog.  Susan Hogan at Pretty Good Lutheran’s blog has more background information, and I also cite my own past post.

When teaching about sex replaces teaching about salvation as a defining mark of the church, something has clearly gone severely awry.

Nearly ten years ago, I taught an adult forum at my church about the Biblical treatment of homosexuality.  One of the participants raised the familiar notion that the progressive view abandoned the Bible in favor of popular culture.  It struck me that she was right but she had the roles reversed.  That is, it seemed that the conservative religious view was based on cultural homophobic impulses instead of Biblical hospitality and inclusivity teachings or on the logical implications of Jesus’ two commands.  The Biblical “clobber passages” served as convenient proof texts for a fearful and misinformed popular culture notwithstanding solid Biblical scholarship that rejected the implications of the passages for a modern day.

A fresh scholarly article that is lighting up the Lutheran blogosphere makes this point explicitly and eloquently.  Thus, I’m jumping on the bandwagon and joining many blog friends who are promoting the article by theologian Jon Pahl who is Professor of the History of Christianity at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and a Fellow in the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.

Professor Pahl is no Casper milk toast.  Here is a sampling of his smack-down commentary:

All in all, the core of Lutheran CORE is rotten. One can get more than a whiff of Docetism, Donatism, and Pelagianism — heresies all — in the doctrinal formulations of the various groups represented in the coalition. Lutheran CORE represents, in its demographic and historical contours, a largely white, heterosexual, male backlash against the supposedly evil changes in gender roles, sexual mores, and participatory democracy that marked the 1960s.

Read and enjoy his full article here.

The primary legislative body of the ELCA is the assembly of voting members.  Nationally, there are church wide assemblies every two years, but in each of the 65 regional synods, there are annual, springtime assemblies.  The season of synod assemblies has begun, and the first reports are trickling in.  I encourage folks of various synods who follow this blog to provide your own reports of your assemblies.

Synod assemblies often consider resolutions or memorials urging the church wide assembly to do this or that.  These resolutions are not binding but merely express the mood or prevailing views of the various synods.  According to the Fargo, North Dakota, Forum newspaper, the Eastern North Dakota synod rejected a resolution that would have urged a reversal of the pro-LGBT ministry policy resolutions enacted at the 2009 church wide assembly (CWA09).  The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast synod also met this past weekend, and there were apparently no resolutions pertaining to the CWA09 decisions.  According to one report, the bishop reported that the sister synods in South America and Africa had not expressed disapproval of the revised ELCA ministry policies, and the bishop suggested immigration reform ought to be the paramount concern of this synod in geographical proximity to Latin America.

This weekend, I will be in attendance at the NE Mn synod assembly (our old synod) where I will have a display promoting my book, but I will certainly pay close attention to the actions of the voting members.  In two weeks, my wife and I will be voting members at our new SE Mn synod’s assembly in Rochester.

Again, I urge readers to provide reports from other synod assemblies.  A full calendar (pdf file) of springtime assemblies is available from the ELCA website.

UPDATE:

The third synod assembly held last weekend was in SW Minnesota.  In a private email from a voting member, I was informed that a resolution to memorialize churchwide to rescind the ministry policy actions of CWA09 was defeated, but not without “nasty and high hatted” debate points offered by the conservative proponents of the failed resolution.

Our Lutheran friends and family north of the border (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada—ELCIC) are boldly stepping forward with the process of creating a social statement on human sexuality.  Of course, it was the ELCA sexuality statement and related changes to ministry policies enacted at the 2009 churchwide assembly (CWA09) that has roiled the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.  The Canadian Lutherans are in the process of discernment and discussion with the goal of presenting the finished policy statement to their 2011 national assembly.  For information on the process, check out the ELCIC website.

At this time, the first draft has been created consisting of eleven pages.  Although the document deals with the broad range of human sexuality, certainly the passages relating to gays and lesbians will draw the greatest attention.  Here is what this preliminary document, released April 15th, states:

This church acknowledges diversity of opinion on how to respond to the reality that people of orientations other than heterosexual are members of our neighbourhood and are faithful members of this church. Our church is affected by the biases of our heterosexually-privileged culture, and by our society’s call for more openness. Working from a rich and faithful practice of Word and Sacrament, members of this church have come to very different opinions on these matters.

Opportunities for ministry will be maximized by permitting congregations to engage in practices that more fully enable persons of various sexual orientations to live as members of the body of Christ and as co-workers in ministry. This would empower congregations to support families and the processes of healing, no matter how family is defined, and to help nurture disciples who “are responsible persons made in the image of God.”

This church commits itself to engaging the diverse faces of the world in which we live. This church recognizes that meeting diverse peoples and forming a truly inclusive community will be a journey of discovery that will include moments of discomfort and anxiety. This church celebrates the vital role that congregations play in helping diverse people of faith to meet and to form community.

This coming Sunday, April 18th, will mark the opening of the two day WordAlone Ministries annual convention (when did they change from “network” to “ministries”?).  The convention will take place at Calvary Lutheran of Golden Valley, Minnesota, a church that aspires to the mega-church model.  I attended Sunday worship there a year ago to hear author William Young speak about his experiences behind his best-seller, The Shack, and the array of musicians and singers using the best technologies of sight and sound was impressive.  Apart from the opening and closing, there really wasn’t much of a service other than the interesting, if a bit rambling, presentation by the novelist (the umpteenth service that morning?)

The Wordalone website offers a video presentation promoting the annual convention and a pdf brochure.  The brochure takes a few paragraphs to get to what it claims to be the main thing, the proclamation of Christ, but the first paragraph betrays their real main theme:

In August 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly votes crossed yet another line in calling into question orthodox understandings of God’s Word. These very troubling decisions have caused a great storm of confusion, misinformation and conflict for Lutherans. Literally thousands of Lutherans are trying to discern what their next steps will be in the church. If you find yourself struggling with these issues, this convention has been designed with you in mind.

In addition to links to a lot of old speeches and position papers which have previously been covered here, the WordAlone website also cites their new blog, Faithful Transition.  Even the blog was a little stale with the latest entry nearly two weeks old promoting their book, We Still Believe (with the implication that the rest of us do not).

Not much new over at the LCMC website either.  The website claims 170 new LCMC congregations since CWA09 through the end of March (remember, the ELCA consists of over 10,000 congregations).  As I have noted previously, the “Friends of LCMC” Google group has been made private so I can’t report on the conversation that is going on there.  I suspect my earlier reporting had something to do with the change from public to private.

The latest addition to the Lutheran CORE website is a lengthy position paper written by Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.  Seems CORE is only too happy to provide a forum for LCMS rants against the ELCA.  While the news media and the blogosphere is filled with discussions about the rampant homophobia of Uganda and other African nations (kill the gays bill), the Lutheran CORE blog’s latest entry is entitled, African Lutherans are ‘extremely disturbed’ by ELCA, Swedish actions on homosexual behavior.

It appears that Lutheran CORE would have the ELCA follow LCMS orthodoxy and African attitudes regarding homosexuality.  Hmmm.

According to the polity of the ELCA, ultimate legislative authority resides with the voting members to the Church Wide assembly that meets once every two years.  The Church Council acts as the penultimate legislative authority, acting on necessary matters that arise between the biennial Church Wide Assemblies and formulating specific policies in response to general directives emanating from the Church Wide assemblies.  And so it was with the much ballyhooed pro-LGBT resolutions at CWA09 that have now been formulated into actual policy language by action of the Church Council over the weekend.

Despite protesting letters from the president of the Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the president of the Roman Catholic Conference of Bishops that encouraged the Council to deviate from the decisions of CWA09, the ELCA Conference of Bishops had earlier taken a significant step toward ministry policy revisions by issuing draft documents in October 2009 (the ELCA Conference of Bishops is advisory).  Those draft documents formed the core of the revised ministry policies adopted by the Church Council on April 10th.  According to the office of the ELCA Secretary, copies of the actual revised ministry policies will be available online by the end of April.

I reprint the full text of the ELCA press release, followed by the response of Lutherans Concerned North America (LCNA), the LGBT advocacy group.

CHICAGO (ELCA) — The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a series of historic and sweeping revisions to ministry policy documents April 10, the result of months of extensive writing, comment and review by hundreds of leaders and members following the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.
      The Church Council is the ELCA’s board of directors and serves as the interim legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.  The council is meeting here April 9-12.  The next churchwide assembly is in Orlando, Fla., in August 2011.
      The changes were called for by the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which directed that policy documents be revised to make it possible for eligible Lutherans in committed, publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders. The assembly directed that revised policies recognize the convictions of those who believe the ELCA should not allow such service. The assembly also adopted a social statement on human sexuality.
       The council adopted revisions to two documents that spell out the church’s behavioral expectations of ELCA professional leaders — “Vision and Expectations: Ordained Ministers in the ELCA” and “Vision and Expectations: Associates in Ministry, Deaconesses and Diaconal Ministers in the ELCA.” The council also adopted revisions to a document that specifies grounds for discipline of professional leaders, “Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline,” and it adopted revisions to the “ELCA Candidacy Manual,” used by regional committees to help guide candidates seeking to become professional leaders in the ELCA.
      Council members asked few questions and commented briefly on each proposed document before approving them. Only minor editorial changes were proposed and adopted by the council. Each revised document was adopted overwhelmingly. 
      The Rev. Keith A. Hunsinger, council member, Oak Harbor, Ohio, who said he does not agree with the sexuality decisions made in August 2009, announced April 11 that he had abstained on each vote on the documents.  He explained that he didn’t believe that the first drafts of the documents released last fall embodied the full range of decisions made at the 2009 assembly.  “My conscience won’t allow me to vote for any of these documents, but as a member of the board of directors, I can’t vote against the will of the churchwide assembly,” he told the ELCA News Service.
      However, Hunsinger told the council that the final forms of each document reflected “the breadth and depth” of the decisions, including the fact that “we agreed to live under a big tent,” and that multiple voices would be heard.  “Because those documents now said that, I feel my ideas and I are still welcome in the ELCA,” he said.
      The revised policies are effective immediately, said David D. Swartling, ELCA secretary.  Final revised text of each document will be posted online at http://www.ELCA.org/ministrypolicies by the end of April, he said.
     Following council approval of the policies, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, expressed his appreciation to many, including the council and the Conference of Bishops for leading the revision process over the past few months.  He also thanked the Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director, ELCA Vocation and Education, the lead staff person working with church leaders and various constituencies through the revision process.
     Olson thanked many others who have worked for changes in ministry policies through more than two decades of effort. “This is the work of many — hundreds, thousands of people who have reflected, thought and prayed.  We are still a church that is tense over this, but we are Easter people, and I think we have done an Easter thing today,” he told the council.
     Prior to voting, the Rev. A. Donald Main, Lancaster, Pa., chair of the ELCA Committee on Appeals, which led the effort to revise Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline, told the council that the document had not been revised since 1993.  New sections address matters such as integrity, and substance abuse and addiction, he said. 
     The Committee on Appeals also “considered each and every word, constantly testing different language so as to be clear and concise as possible, and remain faithful to our charge and to the social statement and ministry policies recommended and adopted by our assembly,” Main added.
     The two Vision and Expectations documents and the Candidacy Manual are “tools in the service of God’s mission through the ELCA, primarily to assist us in that work of calling forth and supporting faithful, wise and courageous leaders,” Olson said. The Vision and Expectations documents were most recently revised in the early 1990s, and the Candidacy Manual was revised in the past few years, he said.
     “We have not attempted to spell out every possible situation and to give definitive direction for every possible situation,” he told the council. “There are broad principles in these documents, and there are guidelines with some details.”  Olson added the documents call for the ELCA to trust established processes and its leaders who have responsibility for oversight and decision-making.
     “Our next step is to orient our staff and the candidacy committees,” Olson said. A memo summarizing key policy revisions will be sent this week to help guide synod bishops, staff working with candidates for professional leadership, candidacy committee chairs, seminary presidents and selected staff, and applicants and candidates.
     Olson added that the ELCA Vocation and Education program unit, the ELCA Office of the Secretary and others are responsible for monitoring the new policies, and suggesting further revisions and guidelines if necessary.

 And here is the text of the LCNA response:

This weekend, the ELCA Church Council meeting in Chicago moved the decision of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly into policy by  replacing  the language in church documents that excluded ministers in committed same-gender relationships with a policy that allows congregations and organizations to call a fully-qualified minister in a committed, same-gender relationship.  And, the Council also approved the way to reinstate ministers who have been removed from the roster because of the previous policy and to receive ELM pastors onto the roster of the ELCA.  The Council also made the benefits of the ELCA pension plan available to rostered ministers and employees in committed, same-gender relationships.

There were no votes on the Council opposing the adoption of the revised documents, the pension plan inclusion, and the rite of reception for those Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries pastors who were ordained “extra ordinem.”

The ELCA has reached two milestones long sought by the movement for full inclusion. First, it has eliminated all prohibitions against qualified people in a same-gender relationship serving on the ELCA”s roster of ministers. Second, and more importantly, it created a pathway that frees the gifts of ELCA members to pursue ministry and mission with new vigor. Each of these steps is crucial for both our continued healing and our bold walk into a more just future.

These actions are important because they are a major milestone along the journey of full inclusion. We have a policy that recognizes the gifts of its members to spread the good news of God in Christ Jesus and that will allow the return of those who have been removed or alienated from rostered leadership solely on the basis of the old policy.

Bishop Hanson said that one of the results of the Council”s actions would be new life in the church through new leaders.  Bishop Hanson also thanked the Church Council for shepherding this task in most thoughtful way.  He lifted the Conference of Bishops” participation up as key to the process.

As we reflected on the great amount work and effort it took , we observed a paradox. On one hand, in order to follow God”s call for justice, the former policy forced us, as a community, to restrict how we could use our gifts. Many of us spent considerable time and effort working to make the ELCA a more inclusive church. However, even within a relatively narrow focus on the policy concerning LGBT people”s role within the church, we have lifted up crucial questions for the church: What is the relationship of sexuality to salvation in Christ?  What is the diversity in God”s wondrous creation?  What is sinful?  How do Lutherans read and interpret scripture? Who continues to face barriers to ministry and mission? How do we journey together faithfully, in spite of so many differences? What some people have dismissed as a narrow issue has both opened up and profoundly deepened our moral and theological life. God indeed works in mysterious ways.

Although we are closer to full-participation than we ever thought that we would be, there is still further to go. The ELCA continues to be heavily involved in a myriad of issues as it reaches out in Christ”s name and mission. We pray that our well-earned celebration as a community of reconciliation will renew us, will energize us to go yet more miles with even more joy and less fear, together with the whole people of God, as we follow Christ in love, healing, and abundant life.

Since the August decision to change policy, we have heard from many of you that it feels as though celebration is “stuck in our throats.” Verily, the time has come to clear our throats. Currently, censures are being lifted from congregations, for which we can celebrate. Soon, we will start to see pastors received and reinstated across the whole church. By the time we gather together in Minneapolis at Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters, we will be ready to shout out in holy joy! We hope that you can join us in July to add your voice to the chorus of people singing praise and thanksgiving to God.

Finally, there are acknowledgements to make. There are so many people who have worked to overturn the policy of the ELCA for so long. Among them, we offer thanks to God for the past and present service of the Goodsoil Legislative Team, the Regional Coordinators, Board, and staff of LC/NA, countless volunteers in congregations and synods, and the working group of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Thanks be to God!