In the wake of last week's vote by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") to allow rostered clergy in committed same sex relationships, some of the Neanderthal elements within the ELCA have been talking of breaking with the the denomination - all the while ignoring, of course, the fact that they generally do not apply a literal reading of other passages in the Bible. Indeed, they demand a literal application only when it comes to anti-gay passages. I can only assume that it's easy to demand a literal application when it's not you or your loved ones being harmed by such selective interpretations. *
The irony to me in all of this is the fact that unlike the feudal structure of the Roman Catholic Church where bishops assign pastors and priests with no input from parishes, in the ELCA each parish gets to choose who it wants as senior pastor, with the senior pastor thereafter making selections of the more junior clergy. Therefore, no parish will have partnered gay clergy forced upon them if they suffer from homophobia and selective inerrancy of passages from the Bible. Fortunately, Virginia's bishop, James F. Mauney (pictured above), is trying to calm hysteria and is asking that Virginia Lutherans proceed calmly and with patience for one another as the new policy is implemented. Bishop Mauney is the son of the pastor emeritus of my parish and my subtenant - his staff for his eastern office interact with me and my staff daily. I hope he is successful in calming needless knee jerk reactions and can counsel synod members to act logically. Here are highlights from a Virginian Pilot story:
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The bishop of Virginia's Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synod counseled patience and respectful listening Monday in response to the denomination's approval of ordination for non celibate gays and lesbians. "The span of reaction will be from rejoicing to grieving, from actively speaking to being unable to speak," Bishop James F. Mauney said Monday in a posting on the synod's Web site, www.vasynod.org.
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Congregations already have a say in who they hire and will not be forced into receiving a gay or lesbian minister, said Mauney's assistant, the Rev. Jean Bozeman, who represents him in eastern Virginia. "A congregation makes the ultimate decision; this is not a threat to any congregation that they've got to change," Bozeman said Monday in an interview from Minnesota, where the assembly was held.
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He said procedures for gay ordination "will still be months in considering and developing." Bozeman said that reactions include gloom and happiness, but "there is a large, large group in the middle who still say, 'This is my church and we're going to go right on with the ministry of Jesus Christ.' "
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Jean Bozeman is a sweetheart and I hope that other Virginia members of the ELCA will take a deep breath and then move forward focusing on being true to Christ's Gospel message rather than a few passages of varied interpretations.
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