wfn.org | Episcopalians: Conference addresses sexuality issues facing Lutherans

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

May 14, 2003

2003-107

Episcopalians: Conference addresses sexuality issues facing 
Lutherans

by Joel Hoekstra

(ELCA) People who are gay or lesbian must be welcomed by the 
church without reservation, say two former bishops of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The denomination 
should make every effort to find a way to do so without causing 
division among its members, they added.

The Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, a retired ELCA pastor who was the 
church's first presiding bishop, and the Rev. Lowell O. Erdahl, 
former bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod, spoke at a 
conference April 4-6 at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. 

The conference, "Sexuality, Spirituality and the Church," drew 
more than 240 registered participants, and focused largely on 
issues of ordaining people who are gay or lesbian and blessings 
of same-gender relationships.

"I do not want to do anything to destroy the unity of our ELCA," 
Chilstrom told the participants. "So that raises the question 
for some: 'Why would you spend time trying to open minds in an 
area where you know there is going to be division and disunity 
and even potential for schism?' The only answer I can give to 
that question is: justice. Slowly but surely I came to the 
conclusion that there were significant numbers of people in the 
ELCA who were being pushed aside, ignored and in some cases 
deliberately discriminated against."

Shifting views

Scripture and science must be handled carefully in church 
discussions regarding homosexuality, Erdahl said. Pointing to 
passages in both the New and Old Testaments, he said, "I don't 
think those texts say anything about homosexuality as we 
understand it today." In particular, he added, the Bible seems 
not to address the issue of people who are gay or lesbian in 
committed relationships. 

Erdahl also discounted the value of "balanced" viewpoints in 
scientific discussions on homosexuality. "If there were a 
medical conference held on the treatment of diabetes, I don't 
think the planners would require that equal time be given to 
discussion of practices that were common before the discovery of 
insulin," he said.

"The medical profession has learned a great deal about diabetes 
in the last hundred years." Likewise, he said, scientific views 
on homosexuality have shifted considerably in the last century.

The conference--which included lectures, panel discussions, two 
worship services and a screening of a documentary film on a 
recent ordination in St. Paul--was funded with a grant from the 
Philip N. Knutson Endowment. The conference drew Lutheran clergy 
and laity, including students from several ELCA colleges.

Clinical and abstract?

"There are no positive role models in the church for young gay 
people today," said Jonathan Welch, a 20-year-old student at 
Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota. He said he was surprised 
at the number of parents attending the conference who eagerly 
showed him pictures of their gay sons and lesbian daughters. "It 
gives me hope" for the church, Welch said.

But Valerie Veo, a St. Olaf sophomore from Litchfield, 
Minnesota, who wore a "Straight But Not Narrow" button, said she 
was concerned that the ELCA's approach to studying sexuality was 
"clinical and too abstract." She said, "We lose sight of what it 
really means and that it has ramifications for real people and 
real lives."

The Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad, associate professor at Union 
Theological Seminary, New York, and conference speaker, said the 
church has always had difficulty talking about sexuality of any 
stripe. "We've had to check our bodies at the door for 
centuries," she said, citing the influence of gnostic dualism on 
early Christian teachings. "So it's hard to know how to talk 
about sex in the context of spirituality."

Several conference speakers argued that committed relationships 
among people who are gay or lesbian should be encouraged and 
blessed by the church. Lundblad took issue with the idea that 
recognizing gay relationships could lead to the degradation of 
marriage. "A lot of things ruin marriages, but homosexuality is 
hardly ever on the list," she said. 

"Alcohol, economics, abuse, family difficulties, religious 
quarrels--we could probably name 50 things that are really 
damaging to marriage, but homosexuality is rarely the problem."

Ordination issue

The ordination of people who are gay or lesbian in committed 
relationships was another theme that surfaced repeatedly during 
the conference. Chilstrom noted that the ELCA has no ban on 
homosexuals in committed relationships serving as organists, 
Sunday school teachers and even lay ministers in the church, yet 
it denies them pastoral appointments. 

Anita Hill, who lives in a committed relationship and serves at 
St. Paul Reformation Church in St. Paul, spoke about her long 
and persistent effort to become ordained. Called to serve as a 
pastor and installed in 2001, she is not in compliance with the 
ELCA's expectations for clergy, and her ordination is not 
recognized by the ELCA.

Hill, whose story is the subject of the video documentary "THIS 
obedience," indicated she sometimes grew skeptical about the 
ELCA's ability to reconcile matters of ordination of people who 
are gay or lesbian, and blessings. "But God's love is too 
powerful for doubts to win the day," she added.

The Rev. James M. Childs Jr., professor at Trinity Lutheran 
Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and director for the ELCA Studies on 
Sexuality, also addressed the conference. He and a task force 
are charged with executing two actions mandated by the 2001 
Churchwide Assembly. The first is to lead a churchwide dialogue 
on the blessing of same-gender relationships and the ordination 
of people who are gay and lesbian and are in committed 
relationships.

The second is to lead the development of a social statement on 
sexuality. Upcoming ELCA churchwide assemblies are scheduled to 
take up these matters in 2005 and 2007.

Childs said the task force has received letters and e-mails from 
roughly 1,000 people since the studies began. "The important 
thing is for people to share their opinions on these issues," 
Childs said, "rather than forcing any congregation to take a 
vote."

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--Joel Hoekstra is a freelance writer who lives in Minneapolis.