We should be grateful. They took their foot off our necks.

August 25, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

I suppose I should be more grateful for the recent action of the ELCA Assembly at Navy Pier in Chicago (August 10). After days of contentious debate and better motions which called for policy change going down to defeat, the voting members agreed to a motion that gives permission to bishops not to annihilate us. Specifically, they are allowed and by implication encouraged to refrain from disciplining LGBT pastors who are in committed, faithful relationships with someone of the same gender, or if they feel they must impose some discipline, then restrain the degree of that discipline.

Discipline, according to the Constitution and Bylaws of the ELCA, can be as light as a letter of admonition, or as nasty as complete removal from the ELCA’s clergy roster. In 2006, Bishop Ron Warren of the Southeast Synod chose the nastier route, by triggering a full-blown church trial on charges he brought against the Rev. Bradley Schmeling, the much-loved Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta.

After countless weeks of preparations, a lengthy trial (”hearing”) and a double appeal, on July 2 this year Pastor Bradley was removed from the Clergy Roster anyway by a cold and methodical decision of the “Committee on Appeals.” His crime? He has made a life commitment of love and fidelity to another man.

So I suppose we should be grateful that other LGBT pastors may be treated better. But why do I go all “biblical” (the Christian equivalent of “going postal”?) about this? I am reminded that the Apostle Paul was put on trial for his life. At least at every stage, in his “hearing” before Felix, his trial before Festus, and again in his hearing before King Agrippa, Paul was allowed to speak.

Festus discussed Paul’s case at length with Agrippa, explaining what he had said to Paul’s accusers ( Acts 26:16) “I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.”

Apparently the Roman custom (which in part still forms the basis for legal principles today) is not the custom of the ELCA. The Committee on Appeals summarily condemned Pastor Bradley without ever consulting with him personally or anyone, but making an abstract decision based solely on the transcript of his hearing before the Warren panel.

So I suppose we should feel grateful. This small gesture at Navy Pier reminded me immediately of a church convention some years back when during a panel discussion the late Joel Workin was asked what, exactly did homosexuals want from the church. “For openers,” he said dryly, “take your foot of my neck.”

Workin, who died in 1995, was a gifted young preacher, a credit to the whole ELCA, and a deep and conscientious thinker about the issues facing the church, and did not say this lightly. When he served as editor of the LC/Los Angeles newsletter, he repeatedly had some pithy sayings. It brings a smile for me to imagine what Joel would say about this “bone” which the ELCA voting members have thrown to those of us who are LGBT clergy; we are trying to serve Christ and remain faithful to Christ’s church, but all we have gotten out of the Navy Pier Assembly is a lousy T-shirt that says “Refrain or Restrain.” Swell.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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