I am a pastor of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation in a small town in Minnesota. So I have to be careful of a few things. Like I can't rent R rated movies in town (unless they're the artsy ones) or exclaim, "Shit!" when I spill coffee on my lap in a meeting.
A little restraint keeps me humble and thoughtful of other people's feelings.
But here on this bastion of Kossack progressivism I can speak a bit less diplomatically and that's what I want to do. Or perhaps, need to do after playing it close to the vest in my pastor role for so long. If you want to read my vent follow me over the leap.
Recently our denomination passed a resolution lifting the ban on non-celibate gay clergy. As anyone might expect of a mainline denomination, that was met with mixed feelings. We are a big umbrella denomination with Dems and GOPs, progressives and conservatives and a vast array of moderates. So we hardly ever all agree on anything -- except for the fact that we can agree to disagree.
But the poop hit the fan with this recent resolution. And the fundamentalists and literalists and homophobes came out of the woodwork. When people are shrill they seem to be more numerous than they really are so I have to keep that in mind. I would suspect that about 5% of our community of faith want to quit the ELCA immediately or have just split on their own and the rest of us are going to notice their absence soon. Another 5% are not ready to quit yet without first making some effort to educate the rest of us to see things their way and to work within the system to over turn this resolution or else they will quit. 10% are happy as clams about this resolution. And 80% of our community of faith are either not paying any attention or else are aware that this resolution is not really that big of a deal and are "to each his own" libertarian (with a small "l") types as is often the case with personal matters in the Lutheran Church.
I have spent too much time in the past weeks since the resolution trying to assuage angry and fearful and disproportionately loud conservatives. I speak to the traditional Lutheran comfort with paradox and grey areas and both/and rather than either/or. I speak to the fact that ours should be a life marked by gratitude and grace rather than fear and anger. I point out that no one interprets the bible literally not even rightwinger fundies. We all merely draw lines of interpretation in different places.
We agree on some pretty fundamental things. But they seem to be a lot more interested in divisiveness and identifying sins they think God hates more than others. Obviously, they are always the sins they, themselves, are not guilty of.
One my main tasks is nurturing the relationships within this community. So I exert effort in being a listener and demonstrating the concept of the spirit of the 8th Commandment: interpreting your neighbor's words nd actions in the kindest way. It is a lot of diplomacy and mediating and tongue biting and turning of the cheek. Because I am their pastor.
But I am not your pastor and so I can vent here.
In my estimation, the angry people's contention that this is about honoring the authority of Scripture does not hold water. Their protest is about homophobia, pure and simple. These folks are viscerally disgusted by the idea of the act of homosexual sex. They can not get out of their minds the image of two men doing it. They've got sex on the brain. And the more they make a disproportionately loud hew and cry about affording gays some basic equal rights, the more they telegraph their own personal sexual heebie jeebies. Matters of sex are always on their minds and on the tips of their tongues. This is about their own self loathing and it does not take a mind reader to figure this out.
How else to explain their complete comfort with breaking the 3rd Commandment on those Sundays when the Vikings play the Packers? They just gotta stay home for the pre-game show. Or how about their comfort with failing to tithe to the church (or give 100% if you're going to understand that Jesus held disciples to an even higher standard than the Torah)? These folks pick and choose which pieces of scripture to uphold and which to ignore left and right. Granted some of them do reject science but I don't think any of them are flat earthers. They have no beef with the fact that the very first 2 chapters of the Bible contradict each other and so one must take the Genesis story of Creation as a sort of non-historical answer to the "Who?" question rather than a literal historical answer to the "How?" question. But then they claim that other parts need to be taken only literally.
They pick and choose and interpret and qualify and filter right along with the rest of us. And yet they claim their view is Biblical and other views are non-biblical. The hypocrisy of this is astounding and they are completely blind to it.
Now, for all folks out there who have taken a disinterest or hostile stance against the Church because "they're just a bunch of hypocrites," I challenge you to show some love to a denomination that is taking lumps from the right wing for taking a progressive stance. The ELCA has shown itself to be committed to much of what is espoused in this web site. Speaking Truth to Power, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, embracing the alien, defending a woman's right to choose, recognizing the merits of scientific inquiry and comfortable with evolution, working for peace and justice in all the world to name just a few.
Of course, we also proclaim Christ and him crucified which is foolishness to the world. A lot of people have a problem with that, I admit.
But if you can see past that whole central defining characteristic of who we are and what we believe thing, then wander into an ELCA congregation sometime and see and hear what is going on there. Prove the rightwingers wrong when they claim that moderate mainline congregations can not survive with a progressive mission. Show people that the rightwing, fundamentalist, christianist, war embracing, "prosperity gospel" preaching mega churches that they always point to and tell us we should be more like are not the wave of the future.
Progressivism and Christianity are hand in hand and there are denominations of the Christian Church who pracice that preaching every day. But our numbers are dwindling. And we are sure to see our numbers drop in the wake of embracing non-celibate gay clergy. Show other denominations and congregations that being loving and gracious and Gospel oriented is not a death sentence for a congregation.
My own congregation has seen two members ask to be released in protest of the ELCA decision and that very same week we saw a lesbian couple and their 2 children decide to give us a try in support of the ELCA decision. But after this all shakes out I expect to see a drop in our attendance and funding as conservatives and homophobes vote with their feet and their wallets. We will take it on the chin for human rights. But others have suffered much worse for lofty goals.
Alright, I've gone on long enough. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. If it wasn't for you guys I'd probably spout off in a less appropriate setting.