Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Elect First Openly Gay Bishop

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") has joined the Episcopal Church in advancing LGBT equality by electing its first openly gay bishop.   I applaud the move and it is illustrative of why I became a member of the ELCA after I left the Roman Catholic Church in disgust over the Vatican orchestrated worldwide conspiracy to protect child rapists and avoid compensating victims of sexual abuse.  No doubt far right Christofascists will decry the action of the ELCA, but I hope that gays seeking a new church home - especially former Catholics - will consider the ELCA as an option.  Here are highlights from Gay Star News:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first openly gay bishop just four years after it began ordaining openly gay clergy.

The church’s Southwest California Synod voted Friday to elect the Reverend R Guy Erwin, a North Hollywood professor of theology, to the role during a three day assembly in Woodland Hills.  Erwin has taught theology and the history of Christianity at Cal Lutheran University since 2000 and was ordained in 2011.

Emily Eastwood, executive director of Reconciling Works, the Evangelical Lutheran LGBT network, told the LA Times that Erwin’s election as bishop marked a turning point for LGBTs in the church.
‘One of our own has been chosen not in spite of being gay, but because he is truly gifted and skilled for the office,’ she told the LA Times, ‘Once again, today we are proud to be Lutherans.’

Erwin and his long term partner Rob Flynn are both members of St Matthew’s Lutheran Church in North Hollywood.

It is unlikely that Erwin’s election as bishop will result in any conflict within the church as most congregations that oppose LGBT clergy have already left the church.  In 2009 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided that people who are in ‘publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships’ were acceptable for ordination – though Evangelical Lutheran congregations that do not wish to ordain LGBT clergy are not required to.

Mega Church Pastor Comes Out to Church

Would that more religious leaders had the courage of Jim Swilley, pastor of a mega church in Conyers, Georgia, who this past week told his congregation that he's gay. Admittedly, it took him years to come to the point of admitting who he is, but he did it - unlike many religious leaders who remain self-loathing closet cases who end up damaging the lives of other in their quest of denying who they are. Like Swilley, I was married for over two decades. For anyone who has not walked down that road, it is hard to comprehend what a huge move taking such action represents. Especially if one is in a profession where speaking the truth of who one is may result in a loss of one's career. I congratulate Swilley and hope that his statement may save someone from years of self-hate and/or suicide. Swilley's conduct is in sharp contrast to the closeted professional Christians who continue to damage and/or ruin the lives of others out of their own self-hatred. Robert Knight, Peter LaBarbera and other hate merchants could stand to learn from Swilley's example. Among other things, Swilley told the media:
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“As a father, thinking about your 16-, 17-year-old killing themselves, I thought somebody needed to say something,” . . . “I know all the hateful stuff that’s being written about me online, whatever. To think about saving a teenager, yeah, I'll risk my reputation for that.”
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Here are details from the Rockdale Citizen:
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Church in the Now is entering into a new chapter of its ministry after its leader and pastor Jim Swilley announced to his congregation that he is gay.
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For many church members, Swilley’s coming out during last Wednesday’s service was not a surprise. Swilley said he had been aware of his sexual orientation since a young age. He and his wife and co-pastor, Debye Swilley, separated about 18 months ago and have subsequently divorced after 21 years of marriage. A video of the service was posted to the church’s website Saturday that shows Swilley explaining to his congregation that he needed to be himself to continue his ministry and that meant explaining his homosexuality and debunking rumors about him.
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Swilley gives a 50-minute talk in the video and says that his sexual orientation is something he has struggled with his whole life. He adds he was always attempting to come to terms with his orientation and his faith in God.
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The announcement brought some immediate changes to the church, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in May. Swilley will no longer be referred to as a bishop after he agreed to step down from the College of Bishops of the International Communion of Charismatic Churches, a coalition of church ministries of which Church In The Now is a member.
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There may also be questions about the future of the church. Membership numbers were unavailable, but CITN is one of the largest in the community. The CITN campus is a landmark overlooking Interstate 20, just east of the Salem Road exit.
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In his comments, Swilley said he wants to continue his ministry and that everything is “on the altar, and if we do lose it everybody is ready to start something else.” . . . Swilley has received many comments of support on his blog, Facebook page and Twitter. However, in the video Swilley acknowledges members have left the church and personal relationships ended abruptly over the issue.
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Here is a video that Swilley has posted:

Watch live streaming video from bishopjimswilley at livestream.com

Lutheran CORE - Hypocrites and Bigots by Another Name

I have written several times about the elements within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that are having a proverbial conniption fit since the national church adopted a policy permitting partnered gay clergy a little more than a year ago. These folks have their panties in a huge knot over the Churchwide Assembly vote which they claim ignored the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality. They demand strict adherence to Biblical provisions - except for all the times when they don't. Times like when they give a wink and a nod to Gospel condemnations of divorce; ignore Gospel condemnations of Pharisee like behavior; close their eyes to Gospel admonitions of treating one's neighbors with love and forgiveness. And that's not even getting into the Old Testament provisions that are ignored wholesale. Indeed, it seems that the only time these break away Lutherans apply the Bible literally is when they seize on provisions that purportedly condemn same sex relationships. Now, these modern day Pharisee elements once affiliated with the ECLA are poised to form a new Lutheran denomination in the USA. I'm sorry, but the motivation for this development is not follow the Scriptures more faithfully. It's about following anti-gay scripture more faithfully and ignoring all those inconvenient Bible passages that interfere with doing whatever else these hypocrites want. Some will call me "mean" or "intolerant,"but when people are homophobic bigots, I believe in calling them out . The Mercury News has details on this development. Here are highlights:
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MINNEAPOLIS—Richard Mahan and Anita Hill are both Lutheran pastors who were inside a Minneapolis convention hall last summer when delegates for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow non-celibate gay and lesbian pastors.
Afterward, each cried for different reasons.
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Mahan, lead pastor at St. Timothy in Charleston, W.Va., said he cried because he realized he would likely leave the denomination in which he had invested 42 years of ministry. For Hill, the openly gay lead pastor at St. Paul-Reformation in St. Paul, they were tears of "joy and relief."
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A year later . . . . Mahan and other critics of the decision plan to gather this week in Columbus, Ohio, for another Lutheran convention. Leaders of 18 former ELCA churches are expected to vote Friday to create a brand new Lutheran denomination that they claim will follow the Scriptures more faithfully: the North American Lutheran Church.

"The issue is departure from the word of God," Mahan said. His church has already voted twice to end its longtime identity as a ELCA church, also ending an annual *$36,000 in tithing to the denomination.
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As of early August, 199 congregations had cleared the hurdles to leave the ELCA for good, while another 136 awaited the second vote needed to make it official. In all there are 10,239 ELCA churches with about 4.5 million members, making it still by far the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S.

And the breakaway members gathering in Ohio will face their own challenges if they vote to start another denomination at a time when attendance at mainline Protestant churches is falling and denominational distinctions appear irrelevant to a growing number of churchgoers.
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Hill, who in her early days at the church helped found a ministry for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, said she was disheartened by the departing churches. "There are some who feel they must leave the ELCA over that," she said. "I feel sad about that, it's unfortunate. But to feel you have to leave over the inclusion of your brothers and sisters—that diminishes who we are as the body of Christ."
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Unlike Hill, I am not disheartened - I am disgusted and sickened by the hate and hypocrisy that are, in my view, the only reason parishes are leaving the ELCA. If they truly cared about adhering to scripture, they'd jettison divorce and a host of other things that they readily accept. One can only hope that come Judgment Day, these bigots will find that God is a black lesbian.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Approves Partnered Gay Clergy

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has tentatively joined the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Church in allowing partnered gay and lesbian clergy. Like the ELCA and the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterians have so far, however, reserved the term "marriage" for heterosexual couples only. As a result, the religious based anti-gay laws in the USA are increasingly giving special rights and privileges to one particular form of Christianity - the Southern Baptists and Fundamentalists - in a more and more glaring contradiction to the nations supposed guarantee of religious freedom and separation of church and state. One has to wonder when these enlightened - and general far better educated - religious denominations are going to begin to object to the legal discrimination inflicted upon their members. Frankly, it is way beyond time that religious leaders other than the gay-haters start speaking out loudly and demanding that the media present their side of the issue and not just that of the professional Christians who are Christian in name only. Here are highlights from the Kansas City Star:
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Hours after giving their blessing to ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians, leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declined late Thursday to change the church's definition of marriage, in effect refusing to allow same-sex marriages within their denomination.
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The gay ordination proposal, which did pass, still must be approved by the majority of the church's 173 local "presbyteries," or district governing bodies, within the next year before it can take effect.
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Only a few mainstream Christian denominations now conduct same-sex marriages, but many, like the Presbyterians, are debating the issue as uncertainty grows over churches' role in such marriages, now the law of the land in five states and Washington, D.C.
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Legalized gay marriage "puts pastors in a bind," Bolbach said. "Let's say you have gay or lesbian members of your congregation who want to get married. The law allows it. What are they supposed to do?" The Presbyterians' discussion was "a reflection of what's going on in the secular world," she said.

2nd Gay Bishop Elected for Episcopal Church

This development (the new bishop is to the right in the photo) will no doubt cause the knuckle draggers and Neanderthals within the Anglican Communion to go into convulsions and wet themselves. In contrast, I applaud the move of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angles. History is on the side of the progressive denominations who have moved to be LGBT inclusive while the homophobic "conservatives" I suspect will be view much like George Wallace when he stood in the school house door to block black children from entering an all white school. The younger generation is much more gay accepting and a majority support same sex marriage. That tide of history will not be reversed and anti-gay denominations may well be setting the stage for their own long term demise if their bigotry and hypocrisy of selective Bible parsing continues - something that would truly be a case of Divine justice. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

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The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles today elected the first openly gay bishop since the national church lifted a ban that sought to bar gays and lesbians from the church's highest ordained ministry. Clergy and lay leaders, meeting in Riverside for their annual convention, elected the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, 55, who has been in a committed relationship with another woman since 1988.
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Glasspool’s election to fill one of two openings for bishops of the diocese followed the selection Friday of the Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce, 53, the rector of a San Clemente church. The two became the first women elected as bishops of the diocese in its 114-year history.
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But it was the endorsement of Glasspool that riveted much of the convention as well as the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch. Glasspool is the first openly gay priest to be elected bishop since the ordination of the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003.
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Convention delegates said that Glasspool's sexual orientation was only one factor in their decision, which came on the seventh ballot for the position. They called her a gifted priest with extensive diocesan experience in her current role as canon -- or executive assistant -- to the bishops of the Diocese of Maryland. "I don't think it's a referendum on electing a woman or a gay person," said the Very Rev. Mark Kowalewski, dean of St. John's Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles. "Those are secondary characteristics."

Evangelical Lutheran Church at a Crossroads

The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") starts today and will address issues that will basically determine whether or not LGBT Lutherans will be granted full membership in the Church or relegated to continue as semi-welcomed second class members of the denomination. Depending upon the outcome this week, I will probably decide whether to remain in the Church or look for a different church home that is more welcoming - or perhaps simply give up on organized religion completely. The ELCA currently allows gay clergy, provided they remain celibate - a clear message to gay Lutherans that their relationships are not valued or acceptable regardless of what spin the Church tries to put on it. In my view, continued bigotry and discrimination in Christian denominations is the principle fuel behind all other forms of homophobia and the problems that it visits upon LGBT individuals. A key vote this evening will be a harbinger of whether gays will be thrown under the bus yet again to appease the Neanderthal, anti-modern element in the Church and the more lunatic elements of the Church in Africa. Here are some highlights from the Washington Times which interviewed the ELCA bishop for Virginia - one of my office subtenants:

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America's largest Lutheran denomination has reached its crossroads on homosexuality and allowing openly gay clergy, with crucial votes slated at its biennial assembly this week in Minneapolis that participants say are too close to call.

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"We recognize we're in for some long conversation this week," said Virginia Synod Bishop James F. Mauney, who oversees 42,000 members in 163 churches across the state. "I am hopeful that our worship will guide our conversation and we will be guided by the Holy Spirit." The gathering of 65 synods representing the 4.6-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America mirrors a denomination split over homosexuality.

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Only celibate gay clergy can serve in ELCA churches. A small majority - 54 percent - of ELCA clergy support gay ordination, according to a Clergy Voices survey conducted in May and posted recently on the denomination's Web site. Of the two main documents on sexuality issues that will be considered at the ELCA assembly, one is a proposed social statement, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," which, as a statement of church teaching, must be passed by a two-thirds vote (about 700 people) of the 1,045 voting members present.

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The other document, called a "Report and Recommendation on Ministry Policies," recommends a change in ELCA ministry policies so Lutherans who are in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gendered relationships" can serve as ELCA associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers and ordained ministers.

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But on Monday night, Lutherans will vote on whether the document, known in shorthand as "the recommendation," can be passed by a simple majority vote; that is about 520 people, greatly lowering the bar for passage. However, a two-thirds majority vote is needed to agree that the sexuality recommendation can pass with a simple majority. Bishop Mauney said everything hinges on Monday night's vote.

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Needless to say, I will be watching closely to see what happens. If a two-thirds vote is required, then it will be pretty clear that gay Lutherans are headed towards being thrown under the bus yet again.

Episcopal Bishops Vote to End Moratorium on Gay Clergy

In a welcomed move, the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to open the door to consecrate more bishops who are openly gay. No doubt the haters among the homophobic bishops in Africa and elsewhere will blow a gasket and continue the perversion of the Gospel message into a weapon of hate. What the weak kneed Archbishop of Canterbury will do is likewise yet to be seen since he seems to largely be selling out to the homophobe set within the Anglican Communion. In my view, accepting gay clergy is a move that is overdue and is a trend that the I hope the ECLA will move forward on next month at its Churchwide Assembly. It is sad that a few phrases written thousands of years ago without the benefit of modern knowledge continue to be used to justify so much hatred and mistreatment of other human beings. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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The Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to open the door to consecrate more bishops who are openly gay, a move that is likely to send shock waves throughout the Anglican Communion, the global network of churches to which the Episcopal Church belongs.

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By voting to affirm that “any ordained ministry” is open to gay men and lesbians, the Episcopal Church effectively ended what many regarded as a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops, which the church passed at its last convention three years ago.

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Many delegates to the church’s convention here characterized the action not as an overturning of the moratorium, but as simply an honest assertion of “who we are.” They note that the church, which claims about two million members, has hundreds of openly gay laypeople, priests and deacons, and that its democratic decision-making structures are charged with deciding who merits ordination.

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“It’s not an attempt to fly in the face of the Anglican Communion,” said Bonnie Anderson, who as president of the House of Deputies, which represents laypeople and clergy members, is one of the church’s two top officers. “It’s an attempt to deepen relationships with the rest of the communion, because real relationships are built on authenticity.”

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The Episcopal Church acted despite a personal address at the start of the convention from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who as head of the Church of England is considered “first among equals” among the communion’s archbishops. “Along with many in the communion,” the archbishop said, “I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that will push us further apart.”

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It says that many gay men and lesbians are already ministering in the church and that “God has called and may call such individuals, to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, and that God’s call to the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church is a mystery which the church attempts to discern for all people through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church.”

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Conservative provinces in the Anglican Communion, especially some in Africa, broke their ties with the Episcopal Church after it consecrated Bishop Robinson.

Virginia Presbyterians Defeat Measure to Allow Gay Ordination

As the Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting, the Medieval flat earth element within the Central Virginia Presbytery has defeated a measure that would have allowed non-celibate gays and lesbians to become ordained, preferring instead to embrace the oft modified and manipulated writings of scientifically ignorant and uneducated authors of the Bible. One cannot help but wonder when some denominations will recast their prejudices and bigotry and come into the 21st century. Likewise, one can only wonder how unkindly history will view these benighted denominations that prefer to embrace ignorance as they denigrate others. Here are some story highlights:

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After a concise and civil debate, area Presbyterian leaders voted 192-125 against a constitutional amendment that may allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to become ordained.

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The current constitution calls for fidelity in marriage or chastity in singleness as a requirement for ordination and installation to church office. That language bans sexually active gay people from church leadership. Passed in 1997, the "fidelity and chastity" requirement has been debated and challenged several times since then. At its General Assembly last June, the church's highest legislative body passed an amendment that would basically end that requirement and consider more than a person's sexual life.

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Voting on the measure continues nationwide until June. To become church law, 87 of the 173 presbyteries must endorse it. So far, 30 presbyteries have voted for it and 41 against. Fourteen of the 30 opposed the amendment previously but switched their votes.

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Dodie Rossell, a pastoral psychotherapist and a Presbyterian minister, said the American Medical Association determined in 1980 that homosexuality is not a sickness. "We in the church are often behind the science," she said, adding the church needs committed Christians and "we are smaller when we don't have them."

UK May Soon Have First Gay Bishop

No doubt this news will have the Neanderthal gay-haters within the Anglican Communion foaming at the mouth and further threatening to break from the larger communion of churches. As I have said before, my opinion is that the liberal churches should tell them to leave and good riddance - of, and they should also keep their money and stop subsidizing the haters and their followers. I suspect without the infusion of funds from the liberal western churches, many of the African church members may become less enamored with homophobes like Peter Akinola. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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(London) An openly gay clergyman, who missed out for a post of bishop in England, is reportedly under consideration for a similar job in Wales, despite a call for a moratorium on elevating gays by the worldwide leader of the Anglican Church. Dr. Jeffrey John is said to be on a short list to become Bishop of Bangor in North Wales.
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John, who currently is Dean of St. Albans in England, was on a short list five years ago to be elevated to the Church of England, Bishop of Reading. The decision came shortly after the U.S. branch of Anglicanism made the openly gay Rev. Gene Robinson the bishop of New Hampshire. The furor by conservatives within the worldwide denomination over Robinson led to John withdrawing his name from consideration for the bishopric of Reading.

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Like Bishop Robinson, John is in a committed relationship. Two years ago, he entered a civil union with his longtime lover, Grant Holmes, also an Anglican priest. Both men maintain they are celibate.

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John is reportedly among several candidates under consideration to be Bishop of Bangor. Despite Archbishop of Canterbury Williams’ opposition to gay bishops, he has no direct authority over the Church in Wales. The head of the Welsh branch of Anglicanism is the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan. Morgan is a liberal and has in the past said he would be willing to consecrate an openly gay bishop.

ELCIC Parish Ordains Married Gay as Pastor

Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Newmarket, Ontario, a parish within the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, a sister denomination to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") of which I am a member, has pushed the envelop and installed Lionel Ketola (pictured at left), who is is openly gay and legally married to Steven Loweth, as its new associate pastor. Needless to say, some of the Neanderthal elements in the ELCIC are having vapors, including Bishop Michael Pryse of the Eastern Synod of the ELCIC who publicly censured the congregation at the synod's July 9-13 assembly in London, Ontario. Holy Cross Lutheran is a member of the Reconciling in Christ program and welcomes EVERYONE - what a refreshing concept - all those who have ever felt excluded by the Church because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental challenges, financial resources, or family status.

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Lutherans Concerned, reports that the congregation knew that the rules of the Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) did not allow gay clergy who were openly public about their orientation--but they were compelled by the gifts and talents of Ketola and decided to be faithful to their calling and his calling, despite the possibility of punishments. Nonetheless, the parish ordained Ketola under a rite called "extra ordinem" (outside the regular rule), under a provision in "The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church" This rite allows congregations to ordain when bishops will not. The Book of Concord consists of 10 documents recognized worldwide as the statement of Lutheran doctrine since 1580. Ketola is the first ELM candidate to be called to ministry in Canada.

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What makes the whole story more interesting and important as reported by Lutherans Concerned is this :

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But what was surprising was that the synod assembly, which meets every two years, also passed resolutions that encourage the bishop and synod council to exercise restraint in disciplining pastors and congregations who in good conscience call pastors like Lionel Ketola, and those who in good conscience bless or marry same-gender couples. So, while the Bishop disciplined the congregation and publicly censured and admonished all other clergy who participated in the extraordinary ordination, the voting body asked the officials to consider further actions with great care and restraint.

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Unlike the Roman Catholic Church where the hierarchy basically is accountable to no one and the Pope, bishops and cardinals (who have become corrupt like so many despots) think of themselves as feudal lords more or less, in both the ELCIC and the ELCA, ultimate power resides in the national church wide assembly and locally with the synods. Thus, the voting body has told Bishop Pryse what might be construed as a "hey, not so fast" message.

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Making the story yet more amazing is that Holy Cross, a very small parish, came up with gift of $27,000 which helped bridge a gap in the synod budget. Lutherans Concerned's statement on the whole affair read in part as follows:

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"The actions of Holy Cross have illuminated an injustice and drawn a response from the institution. We can only hope that the Holy Spirit will work in all of this such that full inclusion becomes ordinary rather extraordinary."

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At times I wonder if the real issue isn't actually that the straights in Church denominations are afraid that openly gay clergy who are well adjusted with who they are, good speakers, and truly spiritual individuals might show up the sexually repressed and sexually obsessed straights as inferior and thereby expose the lie that gays are sinners and inferior. What do you think?