Unofficial (even unaware) Guest Blogger Mark Hanson

After the fourth and final vote which opens the door and/or recognizes partnered gay and lesbian clergy (and other church professionals), ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson offered the following words. There are few times in history when humble people are called upon to perform heroic deeds and, at the same time, maintain both a sense of humility and courage for the moment at hand. It was one of those moments and PBp Mark Hanson is that person. He said:
I WANT MORE TIME TO THINK ABOUT WORDS FROM ONE YOU HAVE CALLED TO SERVE AS PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH.
I HAVE BEEN STANDING HERE THINKING ABOUT MY 23 YEARS AS A PARISH PASTOR AND HOW DIFFERENTLY I WOULD GO INTO A CONTEXT IF I WAS GATHERING WITH A FAMILY OR A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT HAD JUST EXPERIENCED LOSS OR PERHAPS WERE WONDERING IF THEY STILL BELONGED OR IN FACT FELT DEEPLY THAT ONES TO WHOM THEY BELONG HAD BEEN SEVERED FROM THEM. THAT WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT PASTORAL CONVERSATION. AND I WOULD PROBABLY TURN TO WORDS SUCH AS ROMANS 8,
“WHO IS TO CONDEMN? IT IS CHRIST JESUS WHO DIED, YES, WHO WAS RAISED, WHO WAS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO INTERCEDES FOR US, WHO WILL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? I’M CONVINCED THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS NOR RULERS NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT NOR ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.
BUT THEN I THOUGHT, “WHAT IF I WERE GOING INTO A FAMILY OR A GROUP, A COMMUNITY THAT HAD ALWAYS WONDERED IF THEY BELONGED AND SUDDENLY HAD NOW RECEIVED A CLEAR AFFIRMATION THAT THEY BELONGED.
ALL OF THE WONDERING ABOUT THE DIVIDING WALLS, THE FEELINGS OF SEPARATION SEEMED TO HAVE DROPPED AWAY. THAT WOULD BE A VERY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION. I WOULD PROBABLY READ TO THEM OUT OF EPHESIANS.
“BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS, YOU WHO WERE ONCE FAR OFF HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEARBY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE. IN HIS FLESH, HE HAS MADE BOTH GROUPS INTO ONE. HE’S BROKEN DOWN THE DIVIDING WALL THAT IS THE HOSTILITY BETWEEN US. IN HIM, THE WHOLE STRUCTURES JOINING TO AND GROWS INTO A HOLY TEMPLE AND LORD IN WHOM YOU ALSO ARE BUILTING TO SPIRITUALLY INTO A DWELLING PLACE OF GOD.“
BUT THEN I THOUGHT, WHAT IF THOSE TWO GROUPS WERE TOGETHER, BUT ALSO IN THEIR MIDST WERE THOSE WHO HAD NOT EXPERIENCED LOSS OR THE FEELING OF THE DIVIDING WALL OF SEPARATION COMING DOWN, BUT WERE WONDERING AND WORRIED IF ALL THAT HAD OCCURRED MIGHT SEVER THE UNITY AND WONDERED IF THEIR ACTIONS MIGHT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO RECONCILIATION OR SEPARATION? IF ALL THOSE PEOPLE WERE TOGETHER IN A ROOM, I WOULD READ FROM COLOSSIANS,
“AS GOD’S CHOSEN ONES, HOLY AND BELOVED, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH COMPASSION, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, MEEKNESS AND PATIENCE. BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER. IF ANYONE HAS A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE OTHER, FORGIVE EACH OTHER JUST AS THE LORD HAS FORGIVEN YOU SO YOU MUST ALSO FORGIVE. ABOVE ALL, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH LOVE, WHICH BINDS EVERYTHING TO IN PERFECT HARMONY AND LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, TO WHICH INDEED YOU WERE CALLED IN THE ONE BODY AND BE THANKFUL. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY. TEACH AND ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER IN ALL WISDOM, WITH GRATITUDE IN YOUR HEARTS, SING SONGS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS TO GOD.
AND WHATEVER YOU DO IN WORD OR DEED, DO EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF JESUS, GIVING THANKS TO GOD THE FATHER THROUGH HIM.“
THAT PASSAGE GIVES INVITATION AND EXPECTATION THAT THOSE DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED TODAY WILL HAVE IN THIS CHURCH THE EXPECTATION AND THE FREEDOM TO CONTINUE TO ADMONISH AND TO TEACH. AND SO, TOO, THOSE THAT HAVE EXPERIENCED RECONCILIATION TODAY, YOU ARE CALLED TO HUMILITY.
YOU ARE CALLED TO CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH LOVE. BUT WE’RE ALL CALLED TO LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN OUR HEARTS, REMEMBERING AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT WE ARE CALLED IN THE ONE BODY.
I WILL INVITE YOU TOMORROW AFTERNOON INTO IMPORTANT, THOUGHTFUL, PRAYERFUL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT ALL OF THIS MEANS FOR OUR LIFE TOGETHER. BUT WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT FOR ME IS THAT THAT’S A CONVERSATION WE HAVE TOGETHER.
I ENDED MY ORAL REPORT WITH THESE WORDS.
“WE MEET ONE ANOTHER FINALLY, NOT IN OUR AGREEMENTS OR OUR DISAGREEMENTS, BUT AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. WHERE GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHERE CHRIST IS PRESENT WITH US, AND WHERE, BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE ONE IN CHRIST."

LET US PRAY.
OH, GOD, GRACIOUS AND HOLY, MYSTERIOUS AND MERCIFUL, WE MEET THIS DAY AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS AND THERE WE KNEEL IN GRATITUDE AND AWE THAT YOU HAVE LOVED US SO MUCH THAT YOU WOULD GIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR SON SO THAT WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.
SEND YOUR SPIRIT THIS NIGHT, THE SPIRIT OF THE RISEN CHRIST THAT HAS BEEN BREATHED INTO US.
MAY IT CALM US.
MAY YOUR SPIRIT UNITE US.
MAY IT CONTINUE TO GATHER US.
IN JESUS’ NAME,
AMEN

...but She is still my mother.

The church that I love, to which I have given my entire adult life, is having its regular "churchwide assembly" aka CWA this week in Minneapolis. For some time now we have been debating sexuality, same-sexuality in particular. We have a tendency to do things backasswards. Case in point, we really haven't come to terms wuth same-sexuality but this week we are trying to decide whether or not our rostered people (pastors, deacons, etc) can serve while living in covenanted same-sex relationships. We're going to try to come to terms with sexuality, same or other, this week too, but that seems to be almost secondarily.

There are basically two positions on this question, simply put, "yes" or "no" and we both claim to base our stance on Scripture. The same Scripture which we have kinda taken for granted, and in true backassward fashion have begun a "Book of Faith" initiative to try and resolve the fact that we all look at it a little differently. What are you gonna do? Sometimes we have taken Martin Luther's words about "putting the best construction on things" too close to heart. We take a lot for granted.

Naturally, I fall into the "yes" category. I've known gay pastors for 40 years (and I have seen the harm the church has done to them firsthand). As a senior seminarian, my class came together in support of our gay peers and told the school that if they weren't certified for ministry, none of us would be. I've known partnered gay pastors for over 10 years now, maybe longer. One of them was, for a time, my pastor-or at least my "father confessor." I was one of the first signers for "Equality Maryland", I presided at one same sex wedding (for two women named Kimberly), and I regularly march in Pride Parades. I'm straight, not narrow. I grew up in small town white suburban America, so I have come a long way.

Then there is the "no" category. I haven't been exactly charitable to them, I've likened them to Pharisees, I've described them as a flock of "Chicken Littles". In doing so, I upset them and made discussion difficult and, if the truth be told, I've probably pissed Jesus off. For that I am heartily sorry and sincerely repent. But I still think that their words and actions warranted it. (Sorry, Jesus) The world is not going to end. We do not doubt the Bible (or even hate it), it is the Word of God. Our ecumenical partners have their own problems and aren't going to scuttle our agreements. Partnered GLBT pastors are not going to send us out into the barnyard to romp with farm animals or make us want to marry our pets, no matter how cute we may find them to be. Those of us who are married are not going to run out and get divorced so that we can hook up with a person of our sex. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It is a religion based on fear. It may be God's Church but come hell or high water, it has to be protected. Yeah, right. I don't recall that being part of my ordination vows.

So, my church is meeting in Minneapolis. Part of me wants to be there but I am not really big on crowds unless there is a ball involved and meetings that last more than hour? Uh-uh, not for me so five days worth definitely not my thing. I watch at home, I go to the library, I chat and read on the 'net and I am hopeful. Maybe this time we will get it right. The dust will settle, we will look around and think, "hmm, life will go on." Our little band of Lutherans will stop being followers, we will resume our rightful position of being Reformers. Our GLBT members are silent no more. They have summoned the courage to stand up and be counted, to be proud of how God has created them even when they are telling us all about the shitty way that the church has treated them over the years. All they ask for is what the rest of us have taken for granted, what the rest of us have abused and failed to care for--to be able to spend their lives with the one person they love almost as much as they love God. Who are we to deny them that? Afterall, they might teach us a thing or two about love. About the Church. About God.

For some reason, our GLBT brothers and sisters are saying that they want to be part of this thing we call church. I am not sure I get that but, then again, I am not sure I always get the amazing unexpected things that God tends to do.

The Church... Yeah, I know, but She is still my mother.

Growing Deep in God's Word

Here is my current contribution to the devotional blog at Growing Deeper in God's Word, a ministry of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Dale City, Virginia:

John 6:35, 41-51 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴²They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ ⁴³Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

When they were hungry in the wilderness, starving even, bread came down from heaven. They believed Moses when he told them what it was and they ate it. Thousands of years later, Bread again came down from heaven but this time they were not so trusting. They did not believe Jesus even though they probably knew him better than Moses. I guess that, sometimes, familiarity does breed contempt. That was their loss.

Weekly, bread still comes to us from heaven, not fluffy white manna but real flesh, flesh and blood to feed us today, even unto everlasting life. Manna bread gave the Israelites strength for the journey out of wilderness yet, sooner or later, they all died. Jesus bread gives us strength for our journeys but, though we die, it feeds us forever.

Bread, Jesus bread, strengthens us that we might be his body to a hungry and aching world. Just as Jesus feeds us with himself, we are to feed others as he would have us. Having been strengthened again by him, may you go out into the world and find those who still hunger. Greet them, welcome them, feed them, and bring them in. It is still a wilderness.

Heavenly Father, you sent down from heaven your only begotten son Jesus to be, by his offering of himself, bread and life for the world. You call us to be imitators of you by offering ourselves prayerfully in love to you and our brothers and sisters. Help us to grow in our vision and our understanding of becoming a fragrant offering. Feed us always with the bread of life. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen