Hot or Not?: On November 8, Rev. Eva Brunne was consecrated Bishop of Stockholm at the Uppsala Cathedral. Rev. Brunne is the first lesbian to hold the office of bishop in the Church of Sweden.
Not everyone has responded enthusiastically. No Church of England representatives attended Bishop Brunne's consecration, but their absence was attributed to "diary conflict" rather than a boycott of the proceedings.
Archbishop Walter Obare of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) was openly critical:
We condemn in the strongest terms possible this unfortunate and anti-scriptural development in a church body that bears the name of the great reformer, Dr Martin Luther.
On November 17, Ecumenical News International (ENI) featured Archbishop Anders Wejryd (pictured) commenting on reactions to the new Bishop of Stockholm:
This is an issue of conscience and therefore we have to be very open.In Sweden it isn't so hot [an issue]. I mean we have had clergy living in [same-sex] partnerships for 30 years, in parts of the country.
They have been looked upon as respectful Christians.
Our question is, is this theologically possible? I think it goes along with our biblical interpretation that has also led us to work against slavery - there is a lot of slavery in the Bible.
And it has also made us go against capital punishment which is also a natural thing in the Bible. The importance of the message of love has made it impossible to go along with that.We have also gone against a lot of the teachings about the subordination of women..

Church Council News: The ELCA Church Council met November 13-15, and none of our far-flung reporters was present, so we can provide no eyewitness account of the proceedings.
For a personal view by an eyewitness, we recommend Lelanda Lee's report on the blog What a Cup of Tea. Ms. Lee was invited to attended as an ecumenical advisor representing the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church (TEC).
Among many other things, Ms. Lee reports that as of the church council meeting, 87 congregations had held the first of the two votes required to terminate the congregation's relationship with the ELCA. Of those, 28 congregations defeated proposals to withdraw. (The withdrawal decision requires a two-thirds majority for adoption.)
Ms. Lee also noted the presence of a Goodsoil contingent. We know that observers from Lutheran CORE and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) were also in attendance.
Lutherans Concerned North America (LCNA) scooped the ELCA News Service with a November 15 report on the church council's decision to amend the reinstatement process for professional leaders, waiving the 5-year waiting period for those who were removed solely for being partnered in lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships. Professional leaders in this category may apply for reinstatement as early as January 1, 2010.
In another action, the church council reduced the ELCA's current spending authorization (budget) by 10% to $69,022,800.

Trans Day of Remembrance: November 20 is The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day set aside to name and recall transgendered people killed out of prejudice or hatred.
More transgendered people were killed in 2009 than in any year since 1998 when the observance was begun: 11 transgender murders have been reported in the United States in the past year and 90 more were reported internationally.
Day of remembrance events will be hosted at more than 200 sites worldwide.
Lutheran churches are still timid about this observance: Lutheran churches in Jackson, Michigan (Immanuel Lutheran Church) and Enid, Oklahoma (Faith Lutheran Church) will serve as venues for local memorials, but to the best of our knowledge, neither church is sponsoring the event.
One of our favorite musical groups Coyote Grace will be the featured performers at Trans Day of Remembrance events at the University of Nebraska, Omaha (November 19) and the University of Iowa, Iowa City (November 20).

Repudiation in Northeastern Iowa: According to a report on the ALPB Forum, on November 14 the synod council of the Northeastern Iowa Synod (Bishop Steven Ullestad is pictured) passed two resolutions in response to the actions of the August. 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
One of the resolutions adopted deals with ministry policies and asserts this standard:
RESOLVED, that the Northeastern Iowa Synod Council, recognizing the past actions of the Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly as evidence of the Northeastern Iowa Synod’s strongly-held views with respect to the approving, calling, commissioning, consecrating, or ordaining of one in a publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationship, determines that the standards for rostered ministry as outlined in the 1990 documents, “Vision and Expectations” and “Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline” shall remain in effect for the Northeastern Iowa Synod...
A companion resolution declares the synod's opposition to the decisions of the recent churchwide assembly:
RESOLVED, that the Northeastern Iowa Synod Council, repudiate the decisions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly in adopting the social statement “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” and the 4 Resolutions on Ministry Policies (CA09.05.23 – 24 – 26 & 27) as violations of the Confession of Faith, Chapter 2 of the ELCA Constitution, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Northeastern Iowa Synod Council memorialize the ELCA Church Council to repudiate these actions as violations of the Confession of Faith, Chapter 2 of the ELCA Constitution, refuse to implement these actions, and begin the process to overturn these decisions at the 2011 Churchwide Assembly.

Faithfulness Calling: The Lutheran CORE blog reports that Faithful Voices (A Call to Faithfulness Conference) will be held November 21, at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene, Iowa. Rev. Cori Johnson is the keynote speaker and presentation topics include:
Faithful Confession: What is Status Confessionis? Is it time?
Faithful Leadership: How to remain faithful in the NE Iowa Synod?
Faithful Stewardship: How do we support the ministries of the Church?
Faithful Fellowship: How do congregations/individuals join together?.

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