Wednesday, August 31, 2005

When Law and Order Breaks Down

Have you ever thought about what you would do if law and order broke down in your city or neighborhood? If armed looters were roaming up and down your street, breaking into houses, stealing whatever they could get their hands on, up to and including your kids' piggy banks? This is what people living in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina are dealing with right now. From Pascagoula, MS:

Many people stayed in their homes during the storm, including Nanette Clark, who lives several blocks behind the boulevard. She and her friend, Jayne Davis, spent the night and day of the storm moving furniture to a higher floor as water lapped, then pounded, at the front door. Some water did seep in, but the door held.

Davis was glad she stayed there; her own home was one of the St. Charles Condominiums in nearby Biloxi, where 30 people were killed by the storm surge on Monday.

On Tuesday night, Davis said, she and Clark shot at looters from the second-floor balcony of her pink house with gingerbread trim. Nobody was injured and the looters scattered, she said. Many hand-painted signs in that neighborhood warned looters that they were likely to be shot by armed homeowners.

Police said they had detained dozens of people for looting, but had to let many of them go because the city's jail, and others in surrounding communities, could not be occupied because they lacked power and plumbing. "We treat each one on a case-by-case basis," Ferguson said Wednesday. Most of the looters, he said, "are the unusual clientele we have even when there isn't a storm."

It has become quite fashionable in our generally safe society to label those who like to shoot or who support our right to keep and bear arms as "gun nuts." I have to confess. I am one of those gun nuts. I became a serious supporter of the second amendment after Hurricane Andrew when I heard about the looting in south Florida.

We did not add guns to our household at that time; we had small children and purchasing a gun would obligate us to learn how to use it safely and time was an issue. So we kept putting it off.

Then, in 2000, my dad had a stroke. When he started talking about killing himself, I took possession of his gun. Now we had to do something - I was scared of guns, frankly, and had no idea what to do with it. Fortunately, we have a friend who is a certified NRA instructor. We now know how to handle guns safely and enjoy target shooting. We also have a way to defend ourselves and our property if worse comes to worse.

I hope it never comes to that. I hope I never have to fire a weapon in defense of my family or myself. But I know that I would regret it if I had never taken the time to be prepared.

Oh, and I really enjoy shooting! And the smell of gunpowder. Go figure.

---Katie

Surivival in New Orleans

Click on the title to read a blog out of New Orleans. Here is a taste:

It is a zoo out there though, make no mistake. It's the wild kingdom. It's Lord of the Flies. That doesn't mean there's murder on every street corner. But what it does mean is that the rule of law has collapsed, that there is no order, and that property rights cannot and are not being enforced. Anyone who is on the streets is in immediate danger of being robbed and killed. It's that bad.


---Katie

Tulane Medical Center taken over by armed looters...

Click on the title if you want to hear live feed of the LA scanner.

I got this on Free Republic.

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20219

Hostage Situation in New Orleans

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a heads up, armed looters have taken over one of the medical centers in New Orleans where the injured people were being sent. They are holding the entire staff of the hospital hostage and firing at the national guard. An FBI SWAT team has just been flown in (from Baton Rouge I believe) and they are just now getting situated. I'm not sure of any online scanners that are up monitoring the state trs. That is where alot of traffic is going on at.

LSP Troop B is requesting immediate backup. Troopers, riot squad, and national guard. He said the crowd is triple the size it was earlier and they are about to be overrun.

The location is 610 and eleshafield(spelling?).

Should I make another thread that has events going on down there? Lots of stuff has gone on and half of it never makes it on the news or anything.

---Katie

Russia offers help.

This is nice.

MOSCOW — Russia is ready to assist the United States in dealing with the damage caused by hurricane Katrina, which has taken 68 lives so far and left behind a tremendous amount of devastation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to U.S. President George Bush Tuesday.

"Russia deeply sympathizes with Americans, who faced a disaster of such a colossal scale, and is ready to offer necessary assistance," Putin said.

Putin asked Bush to extend his condolences to families and relatives of those killed in the disaster.

"Accept my sincere words of regret in connection with the natural calamity in the USA. I know that hurricane Katrina, which swept the southeast coast of the country, resulted in deaths, left tens of thousands of Americans without roofs over their heads, and caused substantial damage to the region's economy," the message said. /RIA Novosti/

---Katie

Looting is rampant in NO

Fox News has a story on the looting going on in New Orleans. I can understand taking food and other necessities for survival, particularly those things that will spoil anyway, but I have trouble understanding what these folks think they are going to do with TV's and such. Click on the title.

---Katie

I pray this is not true

This article was posted on Free Republic. Click on the title to read responses and updates. I hope that the author was overestimating:

It is with heavy heart I write this...

I have finally reconnected with my best friend who is a paramedic who was sent from Georgia 2 days ago to Gulf Port, Mississippi before the hurricane hit.

He just reached me within the last 10 mins via emergency cell phone to tell me he was alive.

Thousands of bodies have been discovered throughout Mississippi in Gulf Port, Waveland,Hancock County,Bay of St.Louis.

They are hanging in trees and they are pulling them out 30 at a time. Entire families found drowned in their homes and washing up on shore.

The stories he could tell me were brief. National Guard is on the scene and arresting anyone seen on the streets.

The numbers are staggering and what I have been told tonight will shake people to their foundation as the numbers will be coming out in the next 24-hours of just how many people have actually perished in these and 3 other beach communities.

More to follow....

---Katie

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

This is just beyond imagination.

Click on the title for a link to a yahoo story on the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. It is just impossible to believe.

Free Republic has quite a few articles if you want to check it out.

Please pray.

---Katie

A Tale of Two Sermons

Click on the title above to get to our church website. Under worship, click on audio sermons. If you would like to hear the sermons of August 14 and 28, that is where you will find them.

---Katie

Monday, August 29, 2005

Please don't go quietly.

This is a message for members of my church.

I have heard from two families already who are leaving St. John because yesterday's sermon was the last straw.

Please, please, please do not leave without letting the church council know why.

My heart aches for my church family.

---Katie

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Luther on Sin

From Pietist this week:

...Thus in ourselves we are sinners, and yet through faith we are righteous by God'’s imputation. For we believe Him who promises to free us, and in the meantime we strive that sin may not rule over us but that we may withstand it until He takes it from us.

It is similar to the case of a sick man who believes the doctor who promises him a sure recovery and in the meantime obeys the doctor'’s order in the hope of the promised recovery and abstains from those things which have been forbidden him, so that he may in no way hinder the promised return to health or increase his sickness until the doctor can fulfill his promise to him. Now is this sick man well? The fact is that he is both sick and well at the same time. He is sick in fact, but he is well because of the sure promise of the doctor, whom he trusts and who has reckoned him as already cured, because he is sure that he will cure him; for he has already begun to cure him and no longer reckons to him a sickness unto death. In the same way Christ, our Samaritan, has brought His half-dead man into the inn to be cared for, and He has begun to heal him, having promised him the most complete cure unto eternal life, and He does not impute his sins, that is, his wicked desires, unto death, but in the meantime in the hope of the promised recovery He prohibits him from doing or omitting things by which his cure might be impeded and his sin, that is, his concupiscence, might be increased. Now, is he perfectly righteous? No, for he is at the same time both a sinner and a righteous man; a sinner in fact, but a righteous man by the sure imputation and promise of God that He will continue to deliver him from sin until He has completely cured him. And thus he is entirely healthy in hope, but in fact he is still a sinner; but he has the beginning of righteousness, so that he continues more and more always to seek it, yet he realizes that he is always unrighteous. But now if this sick man should like his sickness and refuse every cure for his disease, will he not die? Certainly, for thus it is with those who follow their lusts in this world. Or if a certain sick man does not see that he is sick but thinks he is well and thus rejects the doctor, this is the kind of operation that wants to be justified and made well by its own works.

Since this is the case, either I have never understood, or else the scholastic theologians have not spoken sufficiently clearly about sin and grace, for they have been under the delusion that original sin, like actual sin, is entirely removed, as if these were items that can be entirely removed in the twinkling of an eye, as shadows before a light, although the ancient fathers Augustine and Ambrose spoke entirely differently and in the way Scripture does.

Lectures on Romans, LW 25, 260.

---Katie

Who, What or Where is the True Church?

by Dr. Mary Jane Haemig
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.

Talk of "the church" seems to be rampant these days. So it's useful to
review what Luther and the reformers had to say on the subject.

In the 1530s Luther devoted quite a bit of time and energy to reading,
thinking and writing about the church. One of the results of this was a
massive treatise, "On the Councils and the Church" (1539). In it Luther
addressed the question of where "such Christian holy people are to be
found in this world?"

He listed seven signs by which the church, the Christian holy people,
are to be recognized:

1) possession of the holy Word of God,
2) the holy sacrament of baptism,
3) the holy sacrament of the altar,
4) the office of the keys exercised publicly,
5) the call of ministers to "use the aforementioned four things...in
behalf of and in the name of the church,"
6) prayer, public praise and thanksgiving to God and
7) the holy possession of the sacred cross (misfortune and persecution).

Luther was well aware of accusations that he and his followers were
causing schism. Writing in the "Smalcald Articles" (1537) Luther
answered Roman Catholic opponents who claimed that they were the church
and that Luther and his followers were schismatic:

"We do not concede to them that they are the church, and frankly they
are not the church. We do not want to hear what they command or forbid
in the name of the church, because, God be praised, a seven-year-old
child knows what the church is: holy believers and 'the little sheep who
hear the voice of their shepherd.' This is why children pray in this
way, 'I believe in one holy Christian church.' This holiness does not
consist of surplices, tonsures, long albs or other ceremonies of theirs
that they have invented over and above the Holy Scriptures. Its holiness
exists in the Word of God and true faith."(Part III, article 12)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

I don't mean to be a snob, but...

...what happens to Brad and Angelina or Nick and Jessica really does not affect your life. Things like tax reform, immigration, drilling in Alaska do affect your life. There is no excuse, people, if you pay no attention to politics and waste your time on stuff like this:

Meanwhile, celebrity newsweeklies continued to post sparkling circulation increases, as scandalous Hollywood unions (between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as well as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) kept readers clamoring for information. Time Inc.'s People saw total circulation rise 1.3 percent to 3.8 million. The king of the category was also the top seller on newsstands, averaging 1.49 million copies.

Of course, circulation of news magazines remains flat. No excuse, no excuse. Pay attention to what is important!!! And if all you are going to read is People, and, God forbid, The National Enquirer, then please don't vote!

Click on the title to read the sad state of affairs in our country.

---Katie



Saturday, August 13, 2005

Bishop Benoway unaware?

From The Orlando Sentinel's article on yesterday's proceedings at the Churchwide Assembly:

Bishop Edward Benoway of the denomination's Florida-Bahamas Synod said he has not detected strong feelings on the two issues in the state's congregations. He said he was unaware of same-sex blessings or gay clergy in Florida pulpits.


Ummm. He must not be spending much time out in the field. How could he say that there are not strong feelings at congregations? If he had taken the time to speak to our pastor, his former assistant, he would know that people are leaving and are threatening to leave over this issue. No strong feelings? Please!

He is unaware of same sex blessings or gay clergy in Florida pulpits? Oh, come on! This is Florida! There was an ordination of a gay pastor in Key West the day after or just days after he was installed as bishop! What happened with that? I never heard anything more....

I can't help but be reminded of Sgt. Shultz, "I know nothing.....!"

---Katie

CWA is debating restructuring proposal

I just had to post this. Paul Erickson, a voting member who has been working closely with Word Alone and Solid Rock Lutherans, just spoke in favor of an amendment to change the Church Council to having a representative from each synod, which would essentially double the size of the Church Council. He stated, "The current council is like the caretakers in a cemetery, they have a lot of people under them, but they don't listen to any of them." He gave the example that well over two thirds of church members wanted no change in our sexuality standards but that was not reflected at all in the resolutions presented by the council to CWA. Great analogy, Paul!

---Katie

(The amendment failed.)

Friday, August 12, 2005

Get the blow by blow here....

Click on the title to read Richard Johnson's account of the afternoon.

---Katie

And Word Alone is not so positive.

NEWS RELEASE

WordAlone Network
Aug. 12, 2005
Contact: Betsy Carlson
Cell phone 651 269-7613

Reform movement leader says
door open to blessing gay unions

by Betsy Carlson
WordAlone Network editor

The 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America propped the door open for blessing of
homosexual relationships, according to leaders of the
WordAlone Network, a reforming movement within the ELCA.

The assembly did this Friday by approving an amended but
still ambiguous form of an ELCA Church Council
recommendation. The vote was 670-323.

"The blessings door has been swinging back and forth in the
ELCA, perhaps since 1993. This assembly has propped the
door open firmly. By what authority can the ELCA bless
homosexual relationships? Scripture clearly doesn't
authorize sex outside of marriage," WordAlone president,
Pastor Jaynan Clark Egland, stated in an interview that
day.

The assembly voted 490 for to 503 against the council's
third recommendation, a proposal to allow gays and lesbians
in same-sex relationships to serve as ordained or lay
ministers. It would have taken a two-thirds majority to
pass.

"Thankfully, at least the assembly didn't disregard the
authority of God's Word concerning the standards for church
leaders," she added.

Both proposals came out of recommendations from a task
force that studied homosexuality and church life for
several years. A third recommendation called for unity in
the denomination in spite of intense and conscientious
disagreements within the ELCA on the topic. It passed
851-127.

The churchwide council reviewed the recommendations,
modified them some and forwarded them to the assembly. Many
people called both the task force and later church council
recommendations on blessing same-sex relationships
ambiguous. Some asked for clarification. Both
recommendations included a portion of a 1993 Conference of
Bishops statement that seemed to ban blessing gay
relationships based on Scripture and tradition. But both
also included an ambiguous sentence calling for pastoral
care of persons in such relationships.

Opponents and proponents of blessing homosexual
relationships tried and failed to get the assembly to
clarify the council recommendation in favor of their
viewpoints. Finally, the assembly adopted an amendment to
drop the reference to persons in homosexual relationships
and included all persons to whom pastors were ministering.
This brought the resolution in line with the language of
the 1993 bishops' statement.

Egland said that even with this amendment the
recommendation okays same-sex blessings.

-end-

I had the honor of picking Pastor Egland up at the airport on Sunday. She is just great, as is Roy Harrisville. We have been very fortunate to have all their talent and hard work in the reform community.

---Katie

The glass is half full.

Of course, most of us are disappointed that recommendation two passed with all the ambiguity attached and that there were so many people who supported recommendation three.

There is reason to celebrate, however.

This does not come from me, but is a very abbreviated summary of what Roy Harrisville said to the Solid Rock Lutheran and Word Alone folks tonight.

In seventeen years of the ELCA the traditionalists have never gotten a win at CWA. This week we won two, or one and a half if you want to be a pessimist. We were able to remove language in rec. 2 that mentioned ministry to same sex couples and changed it to all people. There is nothing in that recommendation that mentions blessing same sex unions, even though some people will take it to mean that. We stopped the motion to allow for ordination of practicing homosexuals. We stopped it! We stopped the juggernaut! That has not happened, ever, in the history of the ELCA that we were able to stop the liberal train in the area of sexuality. They will not give up, but neither will we and now we are more organized and are learning to work together.

Be watching for a new organization that will serve as an umbrella for all the confessional/traditionalist organizations in the ELCA.

---Katie

Could it be....a conspiracy???

A source inside the Chicago ELCA office tipped me off today that the Goodsoil demonstration was a set up from the beginning with the approval of the bishop. I don't know any other details, but another source from WA told me that she knew that arrangements had already been made not to arrest anyone from Goodsoil, so perhaps everyone knew about this ahead of time but me!

---Katie

Recommendation 3 fails.

49% yes
51% no

Recommendation 2 passes

67% for 33% against.

I am heading downstairs in case things get worse with this storm.

---Katie

Word change approved.

In the midst of quite a thunderstorm, debate continues. ;-)

An amendment changing the wording "same sex couples" to "for all members" has been passed by less than ten votes I think. 50% to 50%

And the storm just about took out our electronics!

---Katie

Do we trust each other?

A number of the voting members are speaking to the issue of trust when addressing Recommendation 2 and its amendments. Do we trust those who wrote these recommendations to know better than we do because they spent so much time on them and we have not? Do we trust pastors to make appropriate decisions regarding pastoral care for their members?

Well....no. I voted in support of Recommendation 2 at the Florida Bahamas Synod Assembly, if I remember correctly. I never dreamed that the wording was being interpreted by many people as permission to perform same sex blessings. I think the ambiguity was intentional. As for trusting pastors, some I do, some I don't.

---Katie

Amendments are going down!

Next amendment defeated 62% to 38%. I don't have the exact wording but it would preclude using the recommendation as a basis for church discipline.

---Katie

Next amendment defeated.

An amendment that would have inserted the words "other than same sex blessings" into the section about pastoral care was defeated 58% to 42%. Resolution 2 is still before us.

My thoughts are that it will pass with the ambiguity left in place.

---Katie

Watch the debate here.

You will find the link to the webcast of the debate here.

---Katie

American Lutheran Publicity Bureau

I encourage you to visit this forum. Richard Johnson is here with his laptop in the sessions writing copiously about what is happening. You will find his comments very interesting.

More results

A substitution that would dissallow same sex blessings was voted down 58% to 42%. I believe this substitution was submitted by Robert Benne. Recommendation 2 is still before us.

Never send your kids to an ELCA youth event!

At least not without you or a solid confessional adult leader to help them sift through the garbage.

A Lutheran Youth Organization representative reiterated their support of the resolutions and suggested we pass the same sex blessing substitution so that her generation would not have to come back in 15 years to deal with this issue again. She closed her comments by pointing out that nothing can grow from a rock but only in soil, an obvious comparison between Solid Rock Lutherans and Goodsoil. I wonder if she is familiar with scriptural references to what is built on a rock?

---Katie

Debate is under way! Prayers needed!

Resolution 1 passed. No surprise there.

We are now debating amendments and substitutions to Resolution 2. The first substitution basically authorized congregations to allow their pastors to bless couples in covenanted unions. After more than an hour of debate, it failed 67% to 33%. The original resolution is still before us, with several more amendments/substitutions to debate.

The voting members decided to limit debate on subsequent amendments/substitutions to twenty minutes. Debate on the original resolutions will not be so limited.

Please keep praying, folks!

---Katie

Thursday, August 11, 2005

CWA funnies

Paul Erickson was speaking briefly at the SLR Forum last night and noted that in the new Renewing Worship materials (that some are now starting to call Destroying Worship) the only main male personality who is allowed to continue to be referred to by masculine pronouns is.....wait for it.....Satan. Paul said, "I weep for my gender."

We had a little cops and robbers type of excitement last night. We had been sliding flyers from SLR and WA under hotel room doors trying to get our info out. About 1800 of the 2000 rooms here have Lutherans in them, so it made sense. Except, of course, it was not allowed. We had no problem Tuesday night, but last night the security folks hunted us down. Drew and I managed to get our nine floors done (150 rooms) without any confrontation, but that was not the case with everyone. It even degenerated into the coordinator of the process (I will not name names) hiding behind walls from security and trying to reach as many rooms as possible before she had to stop. (It was a lot funnier when she told it, but that is the way it usually is!)

It seems like I had something else funny to tell, but it escapes me at the moment. If I remember it, I will add it.

---Katie

Friday is "Pray" day

Tomorrow begins the actual debate on the sexuality recommendations. There are 19 proposed amendments. We are supposed to be finished by 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, but I cannot imagine that this is going to go on and on. Please pray for us.

The president of Word Alone spoke at the end of our Solid Rock Lutherans forum tonight, reminding us that there are really no winners in this situation. Somebody is going to be unhappy tomorrow. Debating this issue and voting on it hurts us all. She encouraged us to remember that the people on the "other side" are God's children too. She even said that if it were up to her, she would say, yes, we should pass the resolutions. But we can't. The Word of God does not support it and we do not have the authority to do so. This is painful because real people, children of God (on both sides) are going to be hurt.

We don't know how it is going to go tomorrow. We don't know how much parliamentary games are going to affect the outcome. Pray that God's will be done and that we all treat one another the way that we want to be treated.

Amen

---Katie

Fellowship of Confessional Lutherans

Click on the title to find a much better summary of the sexuality discussion than mine.

---Katie

Goodsoil is getting tiresome.

They stand silently with their (somewhat tired-looking) rainbow sashes during the entire plenary sessions. They line the sides of the visitors sections which are on both sides of the plenary hall. The hall is so big that they really are not too noticeable unless you are in one of the sections right next to them. They are easily ignored by most of the hall.

They line both sides of the hotel halls approaching the convention center holding pictures of "glbt's, families of glbt, and friends of glbt's." Some wear handwritten signs that say something about their experiences. One said something about being transgendered and removed from candidacy (no kidding).

I just think it is intimidation. I know if I were a voting member, I would be leaning toward voting against their position because they bring in outsiders to pressure the ELCA to do what they demand.

Oh, and it is also bribery. I had an Orlando Sentinel on my doorstep in the hotel on Tuesday, compliments of Goodsoil. They keep handing out little gifts. Crosses with rainbows on them, hearts with rainbows on them. (Oh, glbt's are such nice people. Word Alone and Solid Rock aren't giving us anything! At least we have excellent speakers every night!)

---Katie

Discussion begins on the sexuality issue.

This afternoon we had a “quasi committee of the whole” during which people could come to the microphones and speak for up to two minutes on issues related to the sexuality recommendations. I kept a tally of those for and against the recommendations and made some notes on what people said in support of their positions. Some of the people who came up to speak were not obviously for or against the recommendations, but sounded more for, so that is the column in which I placed them. The people who were against the recommendations were clearly against them. I had sixteen tally marks in each column.

Here is a sample of the reasoning of the people who are against the recommendations:

There is no basis in scripture for making the changes.

We need to provide a clear, loving and consistent message for our youth rather than conflicting counsel based on what church they belong to.

There is no correlation in making a case for these changes and making a case for the ordination of women.

The sign of a dysfunctional church is the inability to defend the obvious.

Is homosexual behavior a sin? Can those who live in persistent unrepentant sin serve as leaders in the church?

Because of the conservatism of the southern hemisphere and ethnic communities in North America, we risk alienating the very populations we want to reach if we pass the recommendations.

There is an important difference between Jesus affirming us and leaving us as we are vs. addressing our sin and changing us.

Resolution 2 is unclear. Some people think it means no blessings of same sex unions are permitted while others see pastoral care as giving permission to perform same sex blessings.

This will impact the global church – the entire church is impacted.

Personal story about same sex attractions and the ability to say no to them because of church teachings, resulting in, years later, a successful marriage and two children.

The ten commandments help us to order our lives so we can bring the good news to others.

There is no basis in scripture for the blessing of same sex unions; we need clarification of the meaning of pastor care in this context.

With all that is going on in the world (terrorism, hunger, etc.), not to mention that the ELCA has a fraction of the missionaries on the field they had in the 1980’s, membership is falling everywhere, and the ELCA leadership chooses to focus its energies on changing the meaning of scripture to accommodate one percent of its membership.

The future of the church is brown. The southern hemisphere is on fire evangelistically; we are a tired, aging (white) church. We don’t want to miss our date with destiny because we choose to alienate those we hope to share the gospel with in the south.

We need to embrace the life changing values of Jesus Christ. We need to put aside the standards of the secular world.

Robert Benne pointed out that resolutions 2 and 3 are not mild compromises moving the church a little to the left of center. These are a tectonic change, a move away from 2000 years of Christian moral teaching.

Here is a sample of the reasoning of the people who support the recommendations:

A representative of the Lutheran Youth Organization stated their position from their assembly in 2003 (support same sex blessings and ordination of non-celibate, partnered homosexuals) and asked what we were going to do with that.

When we bless people, we are praying for them. When we bless same sex unions, we are praying for people. Are we blessing sin or sinners? In reference to concerns about the effects of our vote on the greater church, perhaps we are being called to bring a gift of love, acceptance and prayer to the greater church.

Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered are people too. They have lives, are called by God; it is not all about sex. Who has the right to tell me that because of who I love my call from God is not valid?

The Bible tells us to stone disobedient children. I refuse to be banished from this church.

We started ordaining women and allowing divorced pastors in certain cases to remain in ministry for compelling reasons. Seven statements in scripture speak against homosexuality. Jesus said to forgive 70 x 7 times.

Reparative therapy did not work for me. I learned after many years to accept myself as a gay man and gay pastor.

My two sons are loved by their mother and God. They were raised in the church with the same experiences but are not equally welcome in their church. One is straight and one is gay.

We have a pastor of German descent who pastors a church in San Francisco. He appreciates “good Lutheran theology” and the tension of the idea of both/and. He serves in a diverse setting and wants to know “What is the good news I can bring back to my church in San Francisco?”

The words of the Bible are not always proclaiming the Word of God. Evangelism was used as a method of pacifying the slaves.

Request for Herbert Chilstrom to speak – overruled because he has the same right to speak as everyone else if he so desires.

Personal story about a daughter who was a pastoral candidate who fell in love with a woman.

We are stifling the very gifts we offer to a significant part of the body of Christ.

Example of southern hemisphere church that tolerates polygamy.

Apparently there was some discrepancy in the order people arrived at the microphones and how they were listed on the bishop’s screen. When time was up, one man called a point of order and pitched a fit that he never got to speak even though some people who arrived at other microphones after he arrived at his did get to speak. He shouted, “I have been waiting eight years to address this assembly!”

Tomorrow should be interesting.

(It looked like Richard Johnson of ALPB was taking notes like I was, so you might find more detailed summaries of comments over there.)

---Katie

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Solid Rock's report on Pietist

I copied this off of Pietist's blog. Click on the title above to go there, he has lots of CWA stuff.

---Katie



Reports and hearings, worship services, special meetings and the usual assembly hallway encounters seemed to occupy most of the day. In the afternoon and evening however, there was some excitement generated at the hearings. Several hearings on various topics were scheduled for voting members (Budget, Ethnic Ministry Strategies, Interim Eucharistic sharing with Methodists, leadership in the ELCA, Renewing Worship, Restructuring and Governance, ELCA Studies on Sexuality, and Urban Ministry). Guess which one drew all the media reporters!

Yes, the media are here, and coming in force tomorrow and Thursday. Many people from both sides have already been interviewed on radio, television and in print. As the pressure and expectation mounts so too does the anxiety. Please pray for the voting members that they will be able to deal with the media spotlight and the tactics of intimidation employed by some people. We hope, and have insisted, that no such tactus be used by supporters of Solid Rock Lutherans.

But we do wish to educate people and therefore sponsored a special presentation this evening by Dr. Warren Throckmorton, Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College, PA and by Michael Goeke, the Executive Vice President of Exodus International. Dr. Throckmorton exploded the myths surrounding the opinion that homosexuals are born that way, and presented clinical evidence demonstrating that when a homosexual lives according to his or her faith tradition their emotional stability improves even though their homoeroticism continues. Thus, there is no ground to the contention that it is harmful for gays and lesbians to deny their feelings and live according to their faith.

Mike Goeke told his powerful and personal story of life in the gay community and the grace and healing he found in his Christian wife and in his Church. Had his Church not preached the biblical view of sexuality, he would have been left to languish in the gay lifestyle. His presentation had great impact on the standing-room-only crowd in the room.

Solid Rock Lutherans had an organizational meeting following the two presentations and we believe that in spite of the political maneuverings of the night before, the orthodox view will still prevail at the assembly. We are prepared. May the Spirit of Christ descend upon the assembly and guide it on the straight path.


Rev. Roy A. Harrisville III
Executive Director

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Teen impressions of the CWA.

My sixteen year old son is helping out at the Churchwide Assembly. He has been a great help with getting things handed out and set up for Solid Rock and Word Alone. If you are interested in his impressions of the week, click on the title.

Warning! He is more conservative than his mother!

---Katie

If only the assembly could hear this.

Ex-gays are controversial amongst the glbt community. After all, if a person can leave the lifestyle, then perhaps homosexuality is not inborn and unchangeable.

Tonight at the Solid Rock Lutheran Forum at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Mike Geoke of Exodus International spoke about his life long struggle against homosexuality, his plunge into the homosexual lifestyle, and the redeeming power of Jesus Christ who called him out of that life and transformed him and restored his marriage. It was so unbelievably powerful. Click on the link to read about him.

I wish the assembly could hear it. When we say that homosexuals can't change and we need to accept them as they are and not expect them to change, we deny the transformational power of the cross of Jesus Christ. We leave people in bondage. How can my church do that and say it is the loving thing to do?

---Katie

God doesn't have a p*nis!

Part of the debate over the Renewing Worship materials has to do with the fact that the task force has done all it can to remove any words that refer to God as masculine. A few are left, but a task force member has admitted that what they have done is intentional. During a hearing tonight on the subject, one participant, a male, said that even he was uncomfortable with male pronouns referring to God. What he said, paraphrased, was "So many people have been hurt and abused, we want to make it clear that God does not have a penis!"

No duh, as my children might say.

He doesn't have a body either, but Jesus refers to him as masculine, so should we not follow his example? We are talking not only about pronouns, but words like king, lord, father.... Do you want to sing hymns with those words removed?

The proposed hymnal is really the stealth issue of this assembly. What we sing, pray, chant, and read in church are what we come to believe. This radical revision of our worship practices includes not only language changes, but it incorporates practices from other traditions, further diluting our Lutheran practice.

The logical thing is to delay approval and give folks more time to try the materials and make comments. The problem is that Augsburg Fortress is counting on hymnal sales in 2006 to get them out of trouble. I spent some time in their store today and I am a big buyer of books - I could not find anything that I was dying to read. They need to do something about that, if a person who loves theology, Bible study, and philosophy could not find something to want, there is a problem. A hymnal, especially one that butchers our time treasured hymns, is not going to solve their basic problem.

---Katie

American Lutheran Publicity Bureau

More live info on the CWA here.

I really wonder when we are supposed to sleep.

---Katie

Free Republic Live Thread for CWA

Click on the title above to keep up with the thread on FR. Some info from insiders there.

---Katie

Monday, August 08, 2005

Goodsoil is out in force

The goodsoil folks were quite visible tonight as we went into the assembly. I had to turn down my very own rainbow sash. Then they stood during the entire session, I guess to make a silent statement. They were less than impressive though; there were only about two dozen of them in a huge hall. Not all that imposing.

---Katie

Status Quo?

Tonights session centered mainly on the adoption of rules for the assembly. From what I can tell, we maintained the status quo - simple majority for everything but a change in the constitution or bylaws - I was sitting next to a guy from the national office in Chicago and that was his take on it. I guess we will have to get the expert parliamentarians to correct us if we are wrong! It is a win and a loss for the revisionists. They were able to keep from expanding the 2/3 requirement, but were not able to eliminate the one we already had.
I think

---Katie

Off to the Marriott!

Drew and I will be leaving within the hour to attend Churchwide Assembly. Please, please pray that some sanity comes back to this church body.

And whatever insanity there is this week, I will be sure to tell you about it!!!

Fellow bloggers, look for me! I will be passing out pages, monitoring doors and minding the Word Alone room at times, I think.

---Katie