Embrace Marriage Equality
I know I’m a little behind the times on this one, but blessings to my Christian brothers and sisters in the United Church of Christ for recognizing marriage equality for hetero, homo and bisexual couples.
In my own Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, there are mixed blessings as we go forward to Churchwide Assembly 2005, August 8-14 in Orlando. Here in the Greater Milwaukee Synod, members reaffirmed their position to allow individual congregations to determine whether or not to go forward with same-sex blessings, a position the synod has held since the 1990s. The Northwest Wisconsin Synod has chosen to take no position on the sexuality study. The Minneapolis Area Synod has chosen to affirm same-sex blessings, but not pastoral ordinations.
Trends over time tell me the ELCA is heading toward a split. Us Lutherans can’t play together nicely for an extended period of time. The Word Alone Network has been gaining some ground, especially in the upper Midwest and Great Plains states. The Alliance of Renewal Churches, led by North Heights in Arden Hills, Minn., has been pulling some of the less traditional congregations into their fold. Both of these organizations do not desire to create a new church per se, but they will “assist” in the transition from one church body to another.
In addition to the sexuality study, the new worship resources are up for approval this year. Renewing Worship is designed to be the successor to the Lutheran Book of Worship, which has been in standard use since the 1970s. (With One Voice, a supplement to LBW, was released in the mid-1990s.) These two issues combined should lead to a very passionate, very intense Churchwide Assembly.
We’re not unique; every mainline Christian denomination–and our non-Christian brethren–are battling with the “issue” of how to minister to gay and lesbian individuals. Of course, we are all in different stages of response. As Lutherans, we are blessed because we are not fundamentalists, we are not literalists. Our tradition embraces an historical-critical view of scripture, interpreting the word of a living God. We don’t try to box our faith in a 66-section book. Because of that respect for individual faith, we should be able to come together in a civilized manner and agree to disagree. We shouldn’t need legislation, such as Recommendation #1, to hold us together as a church.
How can we say God’s love is all-inclusive, when we can’t even demonstrate that within ourselves? How can we say we believe in a fair and just God, when we use scripture to oppress each other? God is all-powerful, beyond the realm of human understanding. When we try to bring God to our own level, try to explain everything away with a simple reference and turn of the hand, we’re elevating ourselves to that all-powerful level. We’re holding ourselves higher than the God which we profess.
With God’s grace, we in the ELCA will soon stand proudly with our family in the UCC, the Metropolitan Community Churches and other people of faith who have proclaimed in a unified voice: God’s love empowers all.