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Hearing Season Begins

Abstract: Is anyone listening?

Hearings on the ELCA's Draft Social Statement on Sexuality have begun, and the first on-line account (Church People Gather to Discuss Sex) of a synod's hearing on the Draft Social Statement on Sexuality has appeared on Pr. Donna Simon's blog. Pr. Simon describes the March 27 hearing at Trinity in Lawrence, Kansas (Central States Synod), where there were 17 attendees: 8 pastors, 5 lay people, 1 bishop, 1 bishop's assistant, 1 synod office staff person, and 1 former member of the Sexuality Task Force. Pr. Simon reports:
The majority of folks in the room were in favor of change in current policy. A couple didn't say much, so it is hard to know where they stand. The bishop's assistant is definitely "stand-fast," as were two of the pastors. One of those pastors expressed the common concern that this is a church-dividing issue which we are not ready to tackle. The other is a mission pastor in our synod. His concerns are couched in the language of "evangelism," which he is always quick to remind us is the "E" in "ELCA."
His credential--to use organizer language--is that his is the "fastest growing church in our synod." This was actually the first thing he said at the meeting. It seems to give him the sense that his words deserve extra weight. His church presents its mission as reaching out to the unchurched. His definition of "unchurched" seems to include mainly very conservative folks. He also mentioned wife-beaters, twice. He claims to be moving them all more to the center, which he may well be doing.
Here are some of the things The Mission Pastor had to say:
The Statement is "wishy-washy" about sin. Lutheran theology teaches that we are all sinners (hum along if you know this one). The Statement seems to tell lesbian and gay people that they are not sinners, and we (Lutherans) don't teach that. That sort of teaching "provides ammunition for 'The Enemy,' however you define 'The Enemy.'" (This is verbatim; I wrote it down.) He went on to talk about how we (Lutherans) lift up all sorts of examples of sin, and don't rank them. For instance, we would call it sin for a pastor to drive a giant, gas-guzzling SUV.
I pointed out that we don't legislate against pastors who drive giant, gas-guzzling SUV's, so it would seem that we are in the business of ranking sin. He conceded that point...
Our bishop, who has been on a long journey of acceptance, said directly to The Mission Pastor that he heard his concerns about change and its effect on our outreach, but that he had also just read Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" again, and believed Dr. King was right in calling white pastors out for saying "now is not the time."
I always appreciate [the bishop's] struggle to be faithful and pastoral to the many folks of different opinion who people the ELCA churches of Missouri and Kansas.

(Vol. II, xxiii April 4, 2008 )

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