Churchwide Assembly Approaches

There is an interesting thread on the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau forum. It begins with the posting of a letter from a pastor in Georgia in support of Pastor Bradley Schmeling, the pastor who has been defrocked for having a sexual relationship with a man. The thread goes on to discuss many of the issues around sexuality that the forces for change are insisting that we address yet once again at CWA.

Here is an excerpt from one of the posts from a member of the sexuality task force that worked prior to the 2005 CWA:

At one of the ELCA sexuality task force meetings in Chicago I was involved in a conversation with one of the gay advocates during the lunch break. I or someone else asked the question -- don't you worry about those folks who don't agree with you on the appropriateness of gay behaviors being excluded from congregations where they or their families have been members forever? His response was interesting to me, because it showed that for all the talk about the importance of inclusion, gay people aren't that inclusive. He said -- There are plenty of other churches for those people to go to.

One of the sessions we had at the task force was when we asked advocates for both sides of the question to come in and state their views and engage in question and answer format with us. It was interesting the contrast between the two "sides." The first day we had what we would call traditionalists. They had given us their views in writing prior to the meeting and then we were free to ask questions of them and engage in conversation. I asked the question -- What doubts do you have about the position you are taking? Every one of the respondents admitted they had doubts and wrestled with the positions they had taken.

The next day the gay folks came in under the same format. The difference was striking. We had asked both groups for 5-6 people to represent their views. The gay people insisted that 11 had to be present. We had asked for written papers to be presented ahead of time and then we would ask questions and engage in conversation. The gay people insisted first that they read their papers to us. The conversation time, therefore, was deeply shortened. I asked the same question -- What doubts do you have? -- and to a person, everyone said they had NO doubts whatsoever. We are dealing with zealots here; there is no middle ground.

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Click on the title to read the whole discussion. ALPB is a great place to keep up with goings on in both the ELCA and the LCMS. Lots of good traditional people there along with a couple of liberals who are quite irritating.

---Katie