Tomorrow afternoon, August 17, 2009, the ELCA opens its biennial church wide assembly in Minneapolis, #CWA09. As always, there will be lots going on, but this year all attention is on the sexuality statement and proposed resolutions that will allow gay clergy and gay marriage.
Will the ELCA join the United Church of Christ (UCC) and Episcopal Churches as the only sizable Christian denominations in the US that allow inclusion of LGBT persons in the fullness of church life? If so, the ELCA will become the largest religious denomination anywhere in the world to do so (The UCC has slightly over 1 million members, and the Episcopal Church has slightly over 2 million members; the ELCA has 4.6 million).
On the eve of the convention, the major newspaper in Minnesota suggests the respectful attitude known hereabouts as “Minnesota Nice” will prevail. According to the story in the Star Tribune on Sunday,
"We’re Lutherans; we’re insistent but polite," said Phil Soucy, spokesman for Goodsoil, a coalition of groups supporting ordination of gay ministers, including the St. Paul-based Lutherans Concerned.
The Rev. Mark Chavez, spokesman for Lutheran CORE, which opposes gay ordination, will be working to defeat the proposal but promised that arguing will not turn into yelling. "Anyone who has seen coverage of any of our earlier assemblies knows that’s not our style," he said.
The question for many is what happens after; what will the losers do?
Bishop Mark Hanson, the Twin Cities native who leads the ELCA, said that no matter how the vote comes out, he’s intent on keeping the losers from rebellion.
"It is my commitment and my conviction that we will not succumb to this polarizing question that often divides communities," he said.
Across the Mississippi River, the St Paul Pioneer Press offers AP articles by reporter Patrick
Condon. His latest article suggests that conservatives are pondering how to respond if the resolutions are passed, noting that there will be discussions about leaving the ELCA but many prefer:
[S]taying in the ELCA and “struggling from within … can we stay and work on our disagreements? That’s a biblical approach as well."
On Saturday evening, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered offered a lengthy feature on the upcoming assembly by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, all but predicting that the resolutions will pass.
First it was the Episcopalians, now it’s the Lutherans. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — one of the largest Christian churches — is on the brink of sanctioning gay clergy members.
And now, the pro-gay lobby is gaining momentum — less through bomb-throwing than just wearing the conservative opposition down …They say Jesus was all about including everyone in his work and mission … even conservatives believe that change is inevitable — if not this year, then at the next assembly in 2011.
I will be in attendance and live blogging from the assembly. Watch this space for regular updates or follow on Twitter by signing up using the “Share Save" button below. Click here for earlier posts about the convention.
UPDATE:
Here are a couple of news stories from Monday morning.
An Arizona Republic article wonders about members and congregations that may leave the ELCA and weighs in on the local effect in the Southwest. One Arizona mega church, Community Church of Joy of Glendale, Az, has apparently already chosen to leave the ELCA, even before the historic votes in Minneapolis.
On the other hand, the article also refers to the local option of the resolutions, and quotes synod Bishop Stephen Talmadge,
"It’s possible some people are able to see the ultimate impact on (their) local church" may be minimal, he said.
"Some people have said, ‘We’re tired of continually battling this. Let’s focus on our mission.’"
The article also points out the generational divide on perceptions.
Some young people at Community of Grace Lutheran Church in Peoria say they differ with many of their elders on gay-clergy issues.
"If someone believes enough in their faith to be ordained, who am I to stop them?" asked Laura Wright, 26. "My dad totally disagrees with me.
The Washington Times offers perspective from the Synod bishops in Virginia and Maryland-Delaware.
I missed the story about Church of Joy. My thought: What took them so long? I remember years ago how pastors flocked there and to Kallestad’s seminars to learn their secret to success. Most ELCA clergy-types figured out one part of their formula was to basically give up Lutheran identity.
To me this has been symptomatic of the ELCA: a near breakdown of any coherent sense of identity. Imagine someone visiting Church of Joy and some high liturgy “smells & bells” urban congregation and then being told their both in the same denominaton. How can they not laugh? If nothing else, I hope this CWA will a) begin to give some clarity to the ELCA’s identiy and b) get us past our mythical hopes for American Lutheran unity.
I had not heard of Church of Joy before reading this, but its nature was immediately obvious. A glance at their website confirms this. It has all the trappings of the modern megachurch. Their worship schedule does have what seems to be their idea of a traditional liturgy with “elements such as the Apostle’s Creed and Prayer of Confession” but it also is “led by the Celebration Singers under the direction of Pastor David Tomb,” which does not bode well. I am curious, however, about the “truth-filled message straight from the Word of God”. I am guessing that this is their hyper-ventilating description of a sermon, but are they claiming that when Pastor Tomb preaches, his words are “straight from the Word of God”? Does this mean he doesn’t write a sermon, but merely reads from Scripture? Or is this simply blasphemy?
I also was curious to find if there is any admission of Lutheran affiliation on their site. I finally found an implicit admission in the “Ministry Partners” page, though I have not yet found any mention of the ELCA. I also clicked on the “Our Pastors” link to see who they have and where they went to seminary. The link is dead. This seems about right.
In any case, they seem to only run three services a Sunday, including the pseudo-traditional ghetto at 8:15. I live in a semi-rural, semi-exurban county. My local wanna-be megachurch runs more services than that, in a quite sizeable space. Checking the ELCA website, they claim a membership of about 5000 and a weekly attendance of about 2000. This is very modest by megachurch standards. It seems rather a low payoff for replacing Bach with the Celebration Singers.
Richard,
Thanks for your comment. I think your instincts are probably correct. I think Doug is also right to ask, “What took them so long?”
I am happy to have found this blog. For reasons I don’t understand, there seems to be a dearth of progressive Lutheran blogs. The more usual fare are people discussing if LCMS is too liberal. This is quite weird, as in secular politics the progressive side of things is much more advanced than the conservative.
Richard,
You’re right about the dearth of progressive Lutheran blogs. Not sure I have an explanation, but I’m happy to be here and glad you appreciate the blog.
It’s true about the lack of coherent identity in the Lutheran Church. At Catholic mass, parishes will use different styles of music in the liturgy, but the wording is all the same, the priests always wear the chasuable and you always know what to expect and what to say. Trying to reach the unchurched by starting mega churches will only lead to further decline as they start to abandon the church and its missions when they (being congregationalist type people) decide they don’t like something the church does!