Back in September I wrote about what I believe to be the misguided desire of St. John Lutheran Church in Roanoke, Virginia, to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") as a result of the national church's vote in August to allow partnered gay clergy to be rostered clergy. The move in my view is a sign of hypocrisy on the part of the members of St. John's as long as they allow divorce and fail to apply a literal application of the Bible's language uniformly across the board. Moreover, I suspect history will view St. Johns much as the pro-slavery and pro-segregation supporters are now seen in retrospect as rather horrible people. If that's the legacy they desire for themselves, it's their choice, but I wonder how future generations of descendants of those voting to support bigotry will view their ancestors. Here are some highlights from the Roanoke Times: *
Members of Roanoke's St. John Lutheran Church voted today to leave its national organization in a dispute about gay clergy. The vote affirms a September ballot that also was in favor of leaving the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which in August said gay people in committed relationships could serve as clergy. St. John will join the smaller Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, one of several national groups that have formed over the past decade in response to what is sometimes described as the ELCA's increasingly liberal take on Lutheran theology.
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Longtime congregation member Richard Herring, whose family helped found St. John and who opposed leaving the ELCA, predicted St. John would lose a larger percentage, though he said he and his wife are not positive they will be among those leaving. He said he was not surprised by today's vote but was sorry to see "secessionists" prevail. "I prefer to call us loyalists. We didn't dissent. They did," Herring said.
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St. John was thought to be among the largest of about 165 congregations in the ELCA's Virginia Synod, perhaps the largest. With today's vote it joins about 100 other congregations who voted to leave the ELCA, which has about 10,400 member congregations in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ has about 260 member congregations.
Members of Roanoke's St. John Lutheran Church voted today to leave its national organization in a dispute about gay clergy. The vote affirms a September ballot that also was in favor of leaving the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which in August said gay people in committed relationships could serve as clergy. St. John will join the smaller Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, one of several national groups that have formed over the past decade in response to what is sometimes described as the ELCA's increasingly liberal take on Lutheran theology.
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Longtime congregation member Richard Herring, whose family helped found St. John and who opposed leaving the ELCA, predicted St. John would lose a larger percentage, though he said he and his wife are not positive they will be among those leaving. He said he was not surprised by today's vote but was sorry to see "secessionists" prevail. "I prefer to call us loyalists. We didn't dissent. They did," Herring said.
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St. John was thought to be among the largest of about 165 congregations in the ELCA's Virginia Synod, perhaps the largest. With today's vote it joins about 100 other congregations who voted to leave the ELCA, which has about 10,400 member congregations in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ has about 260 member congregations.
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From past coverage, I suspect much of the blame for the split lies on the shoulders of the pastor and assistant pastor - who is from Africa - who have made homophobic statements in the past. Without their efforts to whip up unrest, the vote might never have occurred. Will Hispanics be the next minority targeted?
1 comment:
You place blame on the pastor and assistant pastor- and then point out that he is from Africa. Do you intend this information to inform our understanding of what you call bigotry?
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