From ELCA News Service:
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) - The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted today to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships.
The action came by a vote of 559-451 at the highest legislative body of the 4.6 million member denomination. Earlier the assembly also approved a resolution committing the church to find ways for congregations that choose to do so to "recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships," though the resolution did not use the word "marriage."
The actions here change the church's policy, which previously allowed gays and lesbians into the ordained ministry only if they remained celibate.
Good work, brothers and sisters!
And here's a personal story from Southern Voice:
Pastor Bradley Schmeling
Despite loud and repeated threats of secession, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted this afternoon to stop requiring gay pastors to remain celibate or be defrocked.
By a 55 percent to 45 percent vote, the ELCA national assembly approved changes to its policies that would allow gay pastors to be sexually active in the context of committed relationships. The denomination also voted earlier today to allow churches to conduct ceremonies recognizing same-sex couples.
The vote seems to clear a path for Rev. Bradley Schmeling of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta to return to the rolls of active pastors after being defrocked in 2007 for acknowledging his relationship with Darin Easler.
Schmeling's congregation has kept him at the helm although he was removed from the clergy roster by ELCA after an ecclesiastical trial. His story made national headlines and he has been referenced in USA Today, National Public Radio and Associated Press reports this week as the church considers the new legislation.
Remember Pastor Schmeling? Good for his congregation. This change in policy is not an abstraction. It's about real people, faithful Christians trying to follow the Gospel as best they can.
H/T to Caminante for alerting me to the news.
I wish I could take any credit, but I only listened to the news from afar here.
ReplyDeleteglad, tho.
You prayed, Diane. We prayed. I'm so pleased that with this vote we draw even closer to you, our ELCA brothers and sisters. It's a great day.
ReplyDeleteAs Susan Russell pointed out, this is a more significant move for the ELCA than for TEC because of the ELCA's recent history of firing honest and open partnered gay clergy.
ReplyDeleteGood for them.
I am very happy about the vote.
ReplyDeleteWhat will the ABC say? Or will he even notice? After all, it's only a church in the US.
This is excellent news!
ReplyDeleteIt's not just a church in the US, it's yet another step in a huge trend that will eventually sweep all Christian churches... well, maybe not Rome!
I'm feeling a little less like a minority these days.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to pass on the "pathological" designation to my antagonists.
All the ELCA gay folk that I once knew in St. Louis must be rejoicing now. It was a long wait for them.
"...it's yet another step in a huge trend that will eventually sweep all Christian churches... well, maybe not Rome!"
ReplyDeleteRome will catch up, in about 3 centuries.
One reason that I'm so pleased is that we are in communion with the ELCA, and no matter what the ABC does to sideline TEC in the Anglican Communion, our relationships such as this will continue. We'll keep on keeping on.
ReplyDeleteThe only way that Rome will catch up sooner than 3 centuries is if the laity stage a coup.
ReplyDeleteRome is there already. They only pretend that it doesn't exist and so go on in secret. Also, three centuries is a conservative estimate. I say it will be more like five or ten. The laity will not have the energy to fight.
ReplyDeleteWhiteyCat, that goes without saying, and Rome doesn't say it.
ReplyDeleteCelebrating over here too!!
ReplyDeleteDP, what's the policy in the Lutheran Church "over there"?
ReplyDeleteBreak out the champagne! This is a wonderful piece of news!
ReplyDeleteI'm elated, truly.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a dangerous decision. Allowing homosexuals to serve as clergy will confuse a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a dangerous decision. Allowing homosexuals to serve as clergy will confuse a lot of people.
ReplyDeletewe already allow homosexuals to serve as clergy, we just have always required them to be celibate, as with single heterosexsual clergy.
ReplyDeletethe censuring, etc. of gay clergy was the result of bishops, etc. saying, "well, we have to follow the polity we have set down," and I think doing it (esp. with Pastor Schmeling) is what set the stage for the decisions.
Also, please note that 2/3s of the people making the decisions at the ELCA's Assembly were/are lay people.
Technology:
ReplyDelete1. The decision is not at all dangerous.
2. No one will be confused. Some Lutherans, a minority, don't like the decision, but they are not confused.
What's next? Do we take Paul's writings out of the New Testament? I guess what he had to say no longer means anything. Who are we as a generation to make this change so fast? I'm still a Lutheran but it is a sad day for me.
ReplyDeleteDP, what's the policy in the Lutheran Church "over there"?
ReplyDeleteMoving inexorably in the same direction.
Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWe all say that when things don't go our way.
"I guess what he had to say no longer means anything."
Absolutely: as in so many other areas where we have recognised that he was talking to his own generation and not to us.
I am not St. Paul's target audience not his implied audience. I came too late and on the wrong continent for that.
Anonymous, I'm sorry you're sad about the vote, but I'm pleased that you remain a Lutheran.
ReplyDeleteNo one advocates taking Paul out of the NT. You may want to read Tobias Haller's book Reasonable and Holy, to understand the decision better. Tobias addresses the 5 or 6 passages in the Bible, including Paul's letters, which seem to speak of same-sexuality.
If you comment again, please make up a name and sign your post.
What is wrong with you people. Is everyone in here a serious Christian or is this some sort of clown school? You people need to repent and reject Active Homosexuality. Do you ever read the Bible????
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I'll turn your question back on you, "Do you ever read the Bible????"
ReplyDeleteHave you read the passage that tells slaves to obey their masters? What about the directions that women should keep silence in the assembly and always wear a head covering? We've moved along, haven't we?
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