“The church has supported families of all kinds and has acknowledged without judgment the variety of views within the ELCA regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion,” said Emily Eastwood, executive director of Lutherans Concerned/North America, an advocacy group for gays and lesbians in the church.
But the Rev. Paull Spring, chair of Lutheran CORE, a coalition of conservative ELCA Lutherans, said, “We mourn the decision by the Churchwide Assembly to reject the clear teaching of the Bible that God’s intention for marriage is the relationship of one man and one woman.” Paull Spring of State College, Pa., a former bishop in the ELCA, added “It is tragic that such a large number of ELCA members were willing to overturn the clear teaching of the Bible as it has been believed and confessed by Christians for nearly 2,000 years.”
Shhh, listen, can you hear it? Ah yes, Harry James playing “Seems to Me, I’ve Heard That Song Before”
Well, as a native of Sioux Falls, SD, I was glad to read the comments of the Rev. Erma Wolf, an ELCA pastor in Brandon, SD, a suburb of Sioux Falls. Her apt lament of that tragic decision to approve the pro-gay Social Statement caused me to have a little burst of pride in the folks back where I grew up.
As for the issue of divisiveness, last night’s disastrous vote prompted me to recall the famous words of that marvelous German Lutheran theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg, to the effect that any move to overturn the emphatic and consistent teaching about homosexual behavior on the part of the Church for 2,000 years was inherently and inevitably divisive and schismatic. He was right, of course, and now we’ll see how that fact plays itself out in the months and years to come.
David Handy+
Since these Lutherans were only a federation before, now to what does their “unity” get downgraded? A warm cuspidor of insipidity like the proposed Anglican two-track “relationship” or less? It’d have to be less since the ABC decries federation, wouldn’t it?
Deja Vu All Over Again
Two very strange coincidences:
It would appear that the ELCA meeting has been held at the Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. If my memory serves me correctly, that was the location of the AAC “headquarters” during GenCon 2003 while Robinson’s election was being confirmed.
A news report says that a small tornado actually did hit the church around the time of the ELCA vote. You can see a picture of the cross hanging down off the damaged steeple.
Curiouser and curioser.
Lumen Christie (#5),
I think you’re right about Central Lutheran being used as the AAC headquarters back in 2003. I was an AAC volunteer back then. But the national Assembly is actually being held across the street at the big Convention Center, just as was the case with Gen Con in 2003.
David Handy+
Sounds right. However, they are making some use of Central Lutheran — and that IS the church which just had the cross knocked off the steeple by a small sudden tornado.
Maybe we should all pay more attention to those God inspired co-incidences.