Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, \u201cDo you also wish to go away?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Do you also wish to go away?<\/p>\n
I considered this question during my years as a seminary student when I came to realize and understand the ELCA\u2019s stance on homosexuality and the policies that supported that stance. In the late 1990s, when I was a student, gays and lesbians were not allowed to serve as pastors nor was there any support from the ELCA to bless same-sex unions. Could I become a pastor in a church with such policies and positions? As many of you know, I had a mentor in junior high and high school, a Lutheran pastor, whose homosexuality was revealed only when he revealed that he had AIDS. The congregation where he was serving decided to keep him on as their pastor until he was no longer able to serve, even though they would have had every right \u201d\u201d under ELCA policies at the time \u201d\u201d to dismiss him. Could I become a pastor in a church that had such a right and which, on many other occasions, acted on that right? Would becoming a pastor in the Lutheran church imply full support of the ELCA\u2019s stance, becoming complicit in a system that denied gays and lesbians the opportunity to answer God\u2019s call to serve as pastors in this church? Would becoming a pastor in this church mean becoming a part of a system that kept people like my mentor in the closet, that denied blessings to those who were in love, that perpetuated the cycle of ignorance and fear?<\/p>\n
Do you also wish to go away?<\/p>\n