Partnered Gay Selected as Pastor of Lutheran Church

Come August of this year, a vote will be before the Church Wide Meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") as to whether or not gay pastors in committed same-sex relationships should be permitted as rostered clergy. There are definitely reactionary elements within the ELCA that are as anti-gay as some of the professional Christians and as self-righteous and sanctimonious as the Pharisees of the Bible. Fortunately, their cause to block gay clergy suffered at least a temporary blow when a leadership board of rejected a proposal to require a two-thirds vote on the question of allowing gay pastors. Now, approval of the measure - which would permit gay clergy in the church, but leave it up to individual synods and congregations whether to appoint gay pastors - will require only a simple majority vote. Something that may well be achievable. Meanwhile, however, some parishes are forging ahead without waiting for the larger Church to catch up with the social changes that have swept through society. One such parish is Calvary Lutheran in Minnesota. Here are some highlights on that parish's actions from Yahoo News:

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Brad Froslee was installed as pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church at a special Sunday service attended by dozens of his fellow pastors, as well as Froslee's proud parents and grandmother, all devoted lifelong Lutherans.

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But the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America officially lists Calvary's ministry as vacant. That's because, sitting with Froslee's family at his installation ceremony in February, was his male partner of 5 1/2 years — living proof that Froslee has flouted the ELCA's prohibition on non-celibate gay pastors.

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Froslee and the church and synod leaders are operating on what church council member Brian Aust called "the margins of the ELCA." It's an arrangement that could be formalized this August, when leaders of the ELCA — the nation's largest Lutheran denomination with 4.7 million members — meet for their biannual convention in Minneapolis.

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But the approach envisioned by the task force is already in practice at Calvary Lutheran, a modest 70-year-old brown brick church in a racially diverse neighborhood four miles south of downtown Minneapolis. The 120-member congregation is a mix of young families and single people, middle-aged couples and older established members, and is mostly white despite the surrounding neighborhood.

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Before joining Calvary, Froslee served as pastor at a Presbyterian church in Minnetonka through a pact between the two denominations. He's also been an activist on issues of homosexuality and Christianity, co-founding a summer camp for gay, Christian youth. And even after meeting his partner, he stayed on the ELCA's roster of pastors eligible to serve in Lutheran congregations — which got his name in front of the Calvary committee looking for the new pastor.

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Aust, an attorney who chaired that committee, said Calvary wasn't looking for trouble. "Our simple motivation was find the best person, gay or straight. It wasn't about labels," he said. The Minneapolis Synod of the ELCA signed off on the arrangement, but lists Calvary's ministry as vacant. "We viewed it as a decision for the congregation to make," said Minneapolis Synod Bishop Craig Johnson.

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Rev. Peter Strommen, a pastor from Prior Lake, Minn., who led the task force that proposed the policy change, said it's an attempt to officially recognize the lack of consensus across the ELCA.
With rapid social change on gay rights even in recent weeks, including the sudden legalization of gay marriage in Vermont and Iowa, he said the Lutheran church must find a way to proceed amid strongly divergent viewpoints.

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While hardly perfect, I have found the ELCA to be light years ahead of the Roman Catholic Church and recommend that gay Catholics who are tired of being maligned in their parishes or who have ceased going to church to give the ELCA a look. You might be well pleased with what you find.