Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury,
pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony; Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are
pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
One of the great challenges for any pastoral leader is how to open doors to important discussions within a congregation or denomination. Especially, discussions that we know can or will be impassioned. We of the ELCA and most denominations have struggled to have difficult conversations about a variety of social challenges including how we relate to our Gay brothers and sisters and their calling as children of God into the life of the church.
At Messiah we have a policy of open hospitality. We mean that we welcome every person into our midst as child of God and someone who just like every one of us is a broken sinner in need of God's own redeeming in Jesus Christ. We have a statement of welcome on our website that explains exactly what we mean. We are all broken saints and are in the process of being healing sinners. This is all by God's grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lutherans are not the only denomination caught up in these difficult discussions. Pope Francis has been regularly calling the global body of the Roman Catholic Church to reflect on the nature and importance of what is and is not church doctrine; what is immutable and what is conditional and open to transformation and change. This week while in flight with a group of reporters, Francis noted that while it is a gift to the church celibacy is not a dogma of the church. He was noting in saying this that celibacy in itself is not necessary as a mark of the priesthood. In other words, he has opened a possibility of discussion involving this topic.
I cannot guess Francis’s personal reasons for opening this discussion but five centuries ago Martin Luther felt that the demand of celibacy on the priesthood did not necessarily cause but often led to sexual perversion within the ordained orders of the church. Luther saw the natural call to family as a God ordained order of creation and something that should not be denied members of clergy without a clear Biblical command to do so.
So how are we to deal with uncomfortable conversations? Conversations sometimes involve assumptions grounded in long years of practice. Sometimes circumstances and new insights call us to reconsider our history and our future. Even when these conversations are difficult and hated we must continue holding those conversations faithfully, leaning on attitudes of grace and forgiveness before God. Sometimes following new paths leads us to places we have never gone before including periods of discomfort. And as Lutherans we strive for faithfulness to God’s Word in Jesus Christ even as we see it expressed in new possibilities and struggle to find peace.
As we as ELCA Lutherans have wrestled with and debated numerous difficult issues surrounding human sexuality we have sometimes found ourselves frustrated, angered, fearful, and confused. At the same time in those same conversations some have found hope, grace and promise of resurrection living.
This past week the Pennsylvania laws surrounding marriage were struck down as unconstitutional making us the 19th state to find ourselves confronted by the possibility of Gay marriages in our communities. Many responses are built around empty sloganeering, "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve." Or "Love is a terrible thing to hate!" Unfortunately, slogans are not conversations and what is needed is real listening. Listening to God's word in all of its historical context, wrestling and struggling with scripture like Jacob at the Jabbock and deep listening to those whose lives are a constant struggle surrounded by hate and fear.
Denominationally, the ELCA has given our congregations the right to determine for themselves how we will respond to such choices. That means as a congregation we at Messiah have the right to determine for ourselves how we proceed even under the changes in the law. To that end and because it is a decision for our congregational family please know that I have no intention of performing any such marriage rites at Messiah until we as a congregation decide together how we will move forward.
After reading a couple of dozen books, numerous articles, and uncountable hours of Bible study I find no compelling reason why we should not welcome and even bless our LGBT brothers and sisters and their desire to have their relationships and lifelong commitments to love another blessed before and by God. I do believe, however, in good order I will not presume to usurp the right of our congregation to make such a determination together. I state this for you because I want you to hear directly from me how I intend to conduct my role of leadership as your pastor. Knowing this you should feel free to come to me and ask me any question you want knowing we can discuss even that which is difficult. You need not be tossed to and fro by rumors stating otherwise and leading to distrust.
I am a sinner, you are a sinner, every straight and every gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered person you will ever meet is a sinner. We ALL fall short of the glory of God for which we were made. We ALL need God's grace and love and we need to be talking to each other past the politics, past the slogans, past the pain and into Christ's love.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury,
pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony; Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are
pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
One of the great challenges for any pastoral leader is how to open doors to important discussions within a congregation or denomination. Especially, discussions that we know can or will be impassioned. We of the ELCA and most denominations have struggled to have difficult conversations about a variety of social challenges including how we relate to our Gay brothers and sisters and their calling as children of God into the life of the church.
At Messiah we have a policy of open hospitality. We mean that we welcome every person into our midst as child of God and someone who just like every one of us is a broken sinner in need of God's own redeeming in Jesus Christ. We have a statement of welcome on our website that explains exactly what we mean. We are all broken saints and are in the process of being healing sinners. This is all by God's grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lutherans are not the only denomination caught up in these difficult discussions. Pope Francis has been regularly calling the global body of the Roman Catholic Church to reflect on the nature and importance of what is and is not church doctrine; what is immutable and what is conditional and open to transformation and change. This week while in flight with a group of reporters, Francis noted that while it is a gift to the church celibacy is not a dogma of the church. He was noting in saying this that celibacy in itself is not necessary as a mark of the priesthood. In other words, he has opened a possibility of discussion involving this topic.
I cannot guess Francis’s personal reasons for opening this discussion but five centuries ago Martin Luther felt that the demand of celibacy on the priesthood did not necessarily cause but often led to sexual perversion within the ordained orders of the church. Luther saw the natural call to family as a God ordained order of creation and something that should not be denied members of clergy without a clear Biblical command to do so.
So how are we to deal with uncomfortable conversations? Conversations sometimes involve assumptions grounded in long years of practice. Sometimes circumstances and new insights call us to reconsider our history and our future. Even when these conversations are difficult and hated we must continue holding those conversations faithfully, leaning on attitudes of grace and forgiveness before God. Sometimes following new paths leads us to places we have never gone before including periods of discomfort. And as Lutherans we strive for faithfulness to God’s Word in Jesus Christ even as we see it expressed in new possibilities and struggle to find peace.
As we as ELCA Lutherans have wrestled with and debated numerous difficult issues surrounding human sexuality we have sometimes found ourselves frustrated, angered, fearful, and confused. At the same time in those same conversations some have found hope, grace and promise of resurrection living.
This past week the Pennsylvania laws surrounding marriage were struck down as unconstitutional making us the 19th state to find ourselves confronted by the possibility of Gay marriages in our communities. Many responses are built around empty sloganeering, "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve." Or "Love is a terrible thing to hate!" Unfortunately, slogans are not conversations and what is needed is real listening. Listening to God's word in all of its historical context, wrestling and struggling with scripture like Jacob at the Jabbock and deep listening to those whose lives are a constant struggle surrounded by hate and fear.
Denominationally, the ELCA has given our congregations the right to determine for themselves how we will respond to such choices. That means as a congregation we at Messiah have the right to determine for ourselves how we proceed even under the changes in the law. To that end and because it is a decision for our congregational family please know that I have no intention of performing any such marriage rites at Messiah until we as a congregation decide together how we will move forward.
After reading a couple of dozen books, numerous articles, and uncountable hours of Bible study I find no compelling reason why we should not welcome and even bless our LGBT brothers and sisters and their desire to have their relationships and lifelong commitments to love another blessed before and by God. I do believe, however, in good order I will not presume to usurp the right of our congregation to make such a determination together. I state this for you because I want you to hear directly from me how I intend to conduct my role of leadership as your pastor. Knowing this you should feel free to come to me and ask me any question you want knowing we can discuss even that which is difficult. You need not be tossed to and fro by rumors stating otherwise and leading to distrust.
I am a sinner, you are a sinner, every straight and every gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered person you will ever meet is a sinner. We ALL fall short of the glory of God for which we were made. We ALL need God's grace and love and we need to be talking to each other past the politics, past the slogans, past the pain and into Christ's love.
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