Can I be a Christian and be lesbian or gay? or bisexual? Or…?

March 27, 2008 by Pastor Dan.

It is funny–to me–that Christians can get into such arguments about whether one can be gay and Christian, or lesbian and Christian, etc.  Those on the religious extreme right insist that it is impossible, as if to be who we are as human beings is contrary to Christian teaching.  This religious right is not made up only of “Narrow Baptists” in the American “Bible Belt.”  It also includes other fundamentalists, such as Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, who has made it his personal mission to split that worldwide church communion down the middle over homosexuality.

But there have to be some standards, they say, some benchmarks.  They feel that there is a “slippery slope” or a complete sell-out of Christian doctrine if we invite homosexuals in the door.

Aside from the obvious fact that we are already in the door because we were baptized as young people and accepted the faith and have never departed from it, there is something fundamentally wrong with their reasoning.  Let’s take a look:

Christian teaching is first and foremost teaching about Jesus Christ.  It is teaching about God’s gracious redemption of the human race for the sake of Jesus Christ.  It is teaching about the Good News that Jesus died upon the cross in order to reconcile God and humanity.

If there is a standard or a benchmark, it would be the Nicene Creed, which was finalized in the 4^th Century.  This is the same creed that I used to bring some clarity to whether former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is really a Christian.  I didn’t do that on the basis of whether Mitt Romney is a person of great integrity, and lives a clean life.  I did it on the basis of whether Mitt Romney confesses the faith which all Christians have confessed in the defining doctrines which have never changed since the 4^th Century.

A Creed is a concise statement of what a person or a group believes.  The essential thing about this defining document of the Christian faith is that it states what Christians believe about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit, the Christian Church and the sacraments.

It does not state what our opinions are about each other. It does not enumerate sins.  It does not set admission standards except this faith in God and Jesus Christ.  It does not include a doctrine about the Holy Bible, so as to whether the Bible is to be taken literally or figuratively in different spots, whether every word of the Bible is binding upon all Christians forever, the Nicene Creed doesn’t even go there.  And most importantly, it makes no statement about human sexuality.

Is the argument over homosexuality really an argument of the Bible vs. the Creed?  Those who are extreme right-wing Christians insist that the Bible trumps everything else.  Yet the Bible, even more than the historic Creeds and other dogmatic statements and teaching, must be subject to study and interpretation.  And the Bible itself must ultimately take the back seat to the authority of Jesus Christ.  (”All authority has been given to me…”, Matthew 28:18; “You search the Scriptures…”, John 5:39)

Since at least the year 381 a.d., the Nicene Creed has been the statement which gave Christians unity.  It formed the Church’s catholicity by defining a common faith in God and in the work of Jesus Christ.  It did not attempt to settle all matters, least of all, human sexuality.  After all, we put our faith in Christ, not in sexuality:  not in heterosexuality or homosexuality, bisexuality or asexuality.

Can one “be a Christian” and be LGBT?  To confess my faith in Christ makes me a Christian, whether or not I fully understand myself, my sexuality, my gender, or my fellow believer. Is that clear?

— Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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This Lent, don’t give up. Enter in.

February 11, 2008 by PD.

For our parish life, I have settled on a “theme” for our Thursday evening Lenten services, which begin on February 14.

Each year we use the Holden Evening Prayer service— which is entirely sung except for readings, and takes perhaps 20 minutes total. For the past several years, I have provided something different each year for brief meditations during these services. Two of the last three years I have written brief dramas, either contemporary or biblical, usually in “readers theatre”style for 2-3 actors.

This year I intend to guide us in a series in contemplative prayer. Each week will be different, not “stuffy” or “pious.” In addition to the selected readings, I will make very brief comments, and then guide us in contemplative prayer for no more than 5-7 minutes. It is my hope this year only to plant seeds, not teach an exhaustive course in prayer.

Our age is beginning to get hungry again for a more mystical experience. Many people in the “Emerging” or “Emergent” church movement are experimenting with contemplative prayer and centering prayer. (The two are quite distinct.) But because so many faithful Christians have little experience with contemplation and meditation, our prayers are usually at best intercessions – requests that God will help, heal, rescue, fix or forgive something. Our prayer life is rather like small children who want to run and play outside all day, and only come in to their father’s presence to ask for something (usually, permission) and when they have received it, they exit at top speed to go out and play again.

Contemplative prayer asks for nothing, petitions for nothing, seeks nothing. It does not demand, plead or intercede. Contemplative prayer puts us in the presence of the holy because we both enjoy and hunger for that presence.

Contemplative prayer invokes the name of God. It is not self-emptying as much as God-focusing. It is not based on the human search for aspiration for God, but on the revelation which God gives to us. As Lutheran theologian Kelly Fryer (”Reclaiming the F word“) constantly stresses, God always comes down.

If God is spirit, God is mystery. That we may receive God remains suspended in mystery also. Contemplative prayer allows us and invites us to enter into God’s mystery as redeemed children of God. We are born “of the spirit,” after all. If we allow our own spirits to atrophy, we would find that we have lost ourselves. In order to find ourselves, we must be willing to enter into God’s mystery. Contemplative prayer asks us to shift gears, slow down and give ourselves time to experience the mystery of God.

What blocks us? But too often our interior life is crammed, crowded, with our worries and concerns, our desires, our random thoughts, and even unhealthy obsessions of guilt, shame, and grief. It is as if our interior life is a large house full of cluttered rooms, and we are stuck, constantly sorting and sifting through the clutter we have accumulated, looking for something we have lost, or something of value, or something to amuse ourselves. Spiritually, what happens to us is like “writers block” in the soul. We become blocked, stuck, immobilized by our own concerns and problems. Contemplative prayer summons us to open more of our consciousness, to open the door, as it were, to an unused room, to open ourselves more and more to God’s presence than we do.

We always pray “through Jesus Christ our Savior.” In his name we have confidence to draw near to God’s presence, rather than to run from God in fear and terror. We see that Christ is the open door to God, and that his merciful sacrifice is a sign of God’s reconciliation with humanity. In Christ, we are invited, urged, even commanded to come into God’s presence with prayer.

— Pastor Dan

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Holiday depression, cynicism and support networks.

December 28, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Conventional wisdom has long repeated that suicides are higher around the holidays. Apparently, we’ve always believed, some people become hopelessly depressed at a time of year when everybody else is enjoying festivities and making merry. Imagine how you feel when you are left out of something which everybody else is part of. It is easy to get depressed.

Well, actually I first read this in the LA Times December 22, but confirmed it at Snopes.com’s urban legends department: the suicide spike is not true. The Centre for Suicide Prevention in Canada says the same thing, and notes that suicides actually drop right around the holidays. The reason?

• The gathering of friends and relatives surround and protect vulnerable people;
• Christmas celebrations may evoke positive memories, hopefulness, and a renewed outlook for those in distress.
• Community resources: there is an increased awareness of community resources and safety-nets available during the holidays, including food banks, shelters and outreach programs.

Those factors of course reconfirm for me the vital importance of caring people continuing to care for others – to extend the good will of Christmas to the population which may not be regular “churchy people.” If the selflessness of the holiday gift-giving has any real benefit, it can remind us that our generosity makes a difference. (The tough part is that our generosity has to be generosity of spirit, not generosity of stuff. When we give our own hearts to people, we ease the depression, stress and pain which others may be experiencing.)

There is no mistaking that the Christmas holiday season adds more stress to people’s lives. Then on top of that, employers often wait to the end of the year to lay off or downsize. Losing your job in December can be a serious bummer. The worst holiday stress, I think, is financial. We all tend to over-extend our financial resources: run the credit cards up, spend all the cash, buy things which promise us “no payments ‘til February 2009!” etc.

Today we remember the “Holy Innocents, Martyrs”, the infant boys of Bethlehem who were slaughtered by King Herod in his attempt to exterminate the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:13–23). A woman called my office the week before Christmas and said that she didn’t have a Christmas tree for her children. She was wondering if I could help her out. I think I may have seemed a little “short” with her. I said something like, “We are a church, not a Christmas tree lot.” In truth (I told her) we have food for the hungry, and I could help her out with groceries, but we do not have the resources to make everybody’s Christmas merry and bright–especially financially.

Over the years I have been asked to pay someone’s natural gas or electric bill, pay their rent, etc. What I really wanted to say is, “We are a church, not an ATM machine.” Yes, some of these are definite scams, because they will tell me complicated stories that can only be solved with cash. In one case, I offered to come to the manager’s office and give the manager some rent money, but the needy person on the phone simply hung up on me when I didn’t offer to drive to the motel in which he was living, 25 miles away, to give him cash.

If cynicism is a form of spiritual suicide, maybe the rate does go up in December!

Christmas can remind us not only to be generous, as individuals, but also to lower our expectations. As it turned out, the Delancy Street Christmas tree lot in our neighborhood was giving away Christmas trees by December 23. I had suggested to this mother over the phone that she check with the tree lots; I wonder if she did. The expectation she needed to lower is that, if she does not have the resources, someone should give them to her so she can have everything she desires just like everybody else. With patience, however, she could do what our grandparents’ generation did: put up a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. One year when we didn’t have a lot of money, we got a tree out of the dumpster on Christmas Eve. It was very pretty when it was decorated.

I have lowered my expectations, too, that people will be as generous as I wish they would be. And even I have my limits. My church is asked for far more financial assistance than we could ever provide. Too often I have given help out of my own wallet, which makes me less and less generous over time. If the churches were full (as we think we remember of earlier generations—is that another urban myth that needs debunking?), and the needy were less needy, perhaps there would be more resources to distribute. But now I realize if the churches are just faithful, it will be enough, if that faithfulness is really a generosity of spirit, not of stuff. Where Christmas consumerism traps us is in supposing that we should concentrate on money, spending, and providing a material Christmas for the needy. My heart goes out to those whose expectations are tied to that. Hopefully, as all resources become more scarce, our society can re-think what consumerism has done to us, and has robbed from our spirits.

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In bed with evil?

December 10, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

I’ve been thinking over and over about the issue of torture, for obvious reason that the approval of what amounts to torture by the White House won’t go away. A few weeks back I had reason to consult ancient history on the figure of St. Martin of Tour (for whom Martin Luther was named at his baptism). Catholic On Line: Saints and Angels has this about St. Martin and his relationship to civil power and torture:

Martin of Tour (315-402)

. . . . However it was this compassion and mercy that led to what he considered his greatest mistake. Bishops from Spain including a bishop named Ithacius had gone to the emperor soliciting his help in destroying a new heresy taught by a man named Priscillian. Martin agreed completely that Priscillian was teaching heresy (among other things, he rejected marriage, and said that the world was created by the devil) and that he should be excommunicated. But he was horrified that Ithacius had appealed to a secular authority for help and even more upset that Ithacius was demanding the execution of Priscillian and his followers. Martin hurried to intervene with emperor Maximus, as did Ambrose of Milan. Martin stated his case that this was a church matter and that secular authority had no power to intervene and that excommunication of the heretics was punishment enough. He left believing he had won the argument and saved the heretics but after he left Ithacius began his manipulation again and Priscillian and the other prisoners were tortured and executed. This was the first time a death sentence had been given for heresy— a horrible precedent.

The word “torture” almost slips by, along with “death sentence.” What were they thinking in the late 4^th Century? Probably the Emperor Maximus wasn’t terribly concerned about either torture or capital punishment. If religious heresy could foment great public passion and thereby de-stabilize the society, the means would justify the ends: put down the dissenters, the rebels, the heretics, swiftly and decisively. Make an example of them. (Capital punishment as a deterrent.)

Am I safe to assume that “Who Would Jesus Torture?” was not a question the Roman Emperor pondered.

But what were they thinking—Bishop Ithacius and his ilk—who thought that going to a civil authority to trounce a religious opponent is anything close to what Jesus would approve? It may not be fair for a historian to ask a rhetorical question of a Bishop 1600 years later: “Are you nuts?” But it is fair for a blogger to ask: At what point did the growing power and influence of the Christian Church first fail to notice that it was no longer following Jesus of Nazareth and had gotten into bed with evil?

Is there a lesson in this for our own times? Well, duh!!

But it is not enough to decry the adulterous relationship of one particular political party with religious conservatives in America. The separation of church and state is a huge and important issue for our own times as much as ever. But the various parties in both religion and politics come and go with every generation. Even if unchecked fundamentalism is voted out of office in the next national election, we cannot dust off our hands and sit down in complacency. The bigger issue is always before us if we are followers of Jesus. Are we really following Jesus, or simply manipulating him to conform our cultural, political and capitalist affinities?

The film “Amazing Grace” has just recently passed like a pious wave through our cinema houses. It tells the story of 18^th Century William Wilberforce who fought hard to end the practice of slavery in the British Empire and certainly had a big hand in bringing slavery down in all of civilized society.

I am interested in the film, and the figure of Wilberforce (1759–1833)—a member of Parliament, a politician, who while in his 20s had a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian. Was he the last politician (or the last evangelical Christian) to do something noble because it was the right thing to do rather than because it was politically expedient or advantageous?

Slavery is evil. Astonishingly, it still goes on in the 21^st century, mostly in the form of involuntary sexual servitude. But it is only an example, one folly among hundreds into which Christians have allowed themselves to wander from the path of Jesus.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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The Trouble with Conspiracy Theories

November 28, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

When I am in a hurry, (in other words, all the time), I become easily annoyed by things which don’t seem to cooperate: the rubber brake pedal that repeatedly falls off on the car floor, the drawer that won’t come unstuck, the tool from which an essential screw or part drops precisely at the moment when I am on a high ladder with it . . .

You get the picture. Every machine, or part, or material, or object, it seems, has not only the physical qualities which we see, and the force of inertia, but also some hidden, demonic ability to not work or to fall apart precisely when it shouldn’t. “Inside of every little problem is a bigger problem waiting to get out,” said Murphy in one of his famous laws. To which I add my own corollary: “Impeding every daily activity is some object which is broke, stuck, the wrong size, corroded, disintegrating, or back ordered.”

Recently my friend Ron explained this all to me as “The Conspiracy of Inanimate Objects.” In animate objects, he insists, really are ganging up on us! I had never much believed any of those conspiracy theories that roam the internet via e-mail (and did I mention how often e-mail is stuck, broken, the wrong size, corrupted, etc.?). There is another good saying to dispense with most conspiracy theories: “Never attribute to conspiracy what simple stupidity will explain.” For example, virtually everything our government does. Which government (city, county, state, federal), you ask? You fill in the blank.

But The Conspiracy of Inanimate Objects seems to explain virtually everything which stupidity will not explain. It is certainly more satisfying than calling the scissors or stapler, the carburetor, the door key, the door bell, lawn mower, fireplace damper, suitcase handle, cell phone, calculator, printer, or postal worker STUPID.

Beware! They are all conspiring against us! Especially people. Ron’s Conspiracy Theory also helps to explain people who are problems precisely because they become inanimate objects, almost on cue. In other words, obstacles. Inanimate means without animation. They have no “anima” or spirit. They block the store aisles, they brake for no reason, they clog every service station and convenience store, they stand in long lines in every government building, they park on the web, using up bandwidth until their session times out.

By the way, I take that back about postal workers. I have stood in line many times at the local USPS and had a hard time deciding which was more inanimate, stupid or conspiratorial: the employee or the customer on my side of the counter.

Did I mention that I am in a hurry and impatient a lot of the time? Okay, all the time? The Conspiracy of Inanimate Objects explains the problem here, because this demonic force—the conspiratorial force inside of most objects and too many people—has a built-in stress detector which monitors my stress level and misbehaves accordingly.

I just had another birthday. And alas, as I go through the inevitable aging process, I have made a very PAINFUL discovery: my own body is becoming one of those inanimate objects: creaky, broken, stuck, corroded. Stretching, yoga, push-ups and sit-ups are less and less effective, more and more of a reminder that the day will come when I am finally laid out as an inanimate object, and put in some box or incinerator.

The trouble with the Conspiracy of Inanimate Objects theory is that it explains too much. It even reminds me that my patience with stuff, people and self is constantly becoming more brittle, rigid, stuck or corroded. In my most charitable moments, I pray for greater patience — I really do. But, it never arrives. I guess it must be back-ordered.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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Church of Norway lifts the ban!

November 23, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

I am behind on news reporting here. How did I miss this? Thanks to Elizabeth Schmitz’ blog, “Schmitz Blitz”, Lutheran Church in Norway Lifts Ban on Gay Ministers, I see that the International Herald Tribune (for those of us who are linguistically challenged and don’t read near enough of the world’s press) reported recently published as Associated Press story that the Church of Norway has taken a step similar to that of the ELCA in allowing individual bishops to decide whether gay/partnered clergy can serve congregations.

Norway is certainly more than a step ahead of the ELCA. The decision on November 16, (approved by a vote of 50 to 34 with 2 abstentions) lifted a outright ban on gay clergy. In contrast, the ELCA’s action last August (see: http://indwellingspirit.org/2007/08/25/) did not drop the odious ban, but simply gave permission to individual bishops not to enforce it.

It is never wise to leave an un-enforced law on the books. On this, I would almost have to agree with the right-wing extremists in the Lutheran fold, who cried out after the Navy Pier decision that not to enforce a rule is essentially to kill the rule. So I argue, if the ELCA now says bishops don’t have to enforce the rule, then get rid of the rule and let all God’s people serve in accordance with their gifts and not in accord with human rules.

The Norwegian church’s Synod meeting was not without its “anguish” according to the Associated Press story. One bishop said this vote would create peace in the church. Another bishop said it was a sad day for the church, and may “lead to many feeling homeless in the church.”

Thank you, Bishop Ole Hagesaeter, for putting it in those terms. That is exactly how I have felt for decades, and millions like me – we have been surrounded with grace, beauty, love, forgiveness, and the promise of abundant life, yet really denied all those things because we are a minority that the majority didn’t care about.

Now, Ole— and may I call you by your baptismal name, instead of by your title?— what you are saying is that when the church finally opens its door to a small minority of persons who have been homeless (a fraction of gay people who are clergy, and a fraction of those who are partnered), that it will push the vast majority of people out. Yeah, right.

Since you used the world “homeless,” Ole, let’s stay with that metaphor. If a homeless person is given a home, does that mean that all the people in town who have homes now must become homeless and go out into the snow? Are you saying that there is an incompatibility so profound that the love of God cannot possibly encompass both, and bridge our differences?

Or is it a human problem? Are you suggesting that the many people simply will never make peace with the fact that we are, that we are different, and that we also claim the grace of God like everyone else.

With all due respect to your office, Ole, get over it! And while you’re at it, since this decision by your churchbody focused on employment, perhaps reading Matthew 20 again would refresh your memory of how Jesus answered a very similar employment question. The owner of the vineyard says to one who was filled with resentment that the late-hires received equal wages,

“Friend, I am doing you no wrong: did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13–15)This speech, which Jesus intends to represent the thinking of God Almighty, completely trumps our human efforts to qualify for grace and thereby exclude others who do not qualify (under the standards we set to qualify ourselves).God is generous and gracious. The reason the church must and should and will welcome all people, including partnered lesbian and gay people, and include them in all aspects of its life of discipleship, is because none of us meets God’s qualifications (Romans 3:23), but all of us are accepted because God is generous and gracious. “For by grace you have been saved through faith,” Ole, “and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8). Get it, Ole?

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You go, Pastor Jen!

November 17, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

I would have loved to be there! Today, my colleague Jennette Rude was ordained into the Lutheran ministry to serve Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. Her father and grandfather, also Lutheran pastors, were there to share in the joy.   Read the full news story here.

Today was another of those days — they do not come often enough — when I am exceedingly proud of my faith tradition. They did the right things for the right reason in ordaining Jen, an out-Lesbian (can there be any other kind?) Who is grounded in the faith we all hold dear, a faith of grace, compassion, hopefulness and acceptance.

Today Jesus must also be proud of this small corner of his church. Yes, Jesus—the same Jesus who did not condemn, who welcomed with compassion, who constantly taught forgiveness, and who had little to nothing to say against those things which seemed to scandalize religious people.

Where he taught love and welcome, encouragement and reconciliation, are we to think that only those specific people o situations that the Gospels mention are to be included? When he included women, foreigners, Samaritans, the poor and the prisoner, are we supposed to limit our inclusiveness only to those specific Jewish women, or Syro-Phoenecians, Samaritans, etc., who are mentioned? Or was his a ministry of inclusion and grace which sets a pattern, a precedent to remind his followers to drop all distinctions, all prejudices, all signs of being scandalized by the presence of those who are different from themselves?

I am proud too of newly-elected Bishop Wayne Miller for his forthright and simple explanation of his position on this ordination extra ordinemi.

According to the Chicago Tribune story tonight,

“Chicago’s bishop, Wayne Miller, who took office in September, said he met with the congregation in October to discuss potential consequences should the national church choose to enforce the policy in the future. The congregation could be expelled from the denomination for calling Rude to serve.”‘This does not imply any bitterness or any hostility. It’s simply where we are right now,’ Miller said in an interview last week. ‘My goal is to keep people in the conversation, and I do not see this as an issue that should be dividing the church. I think it’s one of the many places where difference of opinion can make the church stronger and healthier, as long as people stay at the table and keep talking.’”

Miller had spoken with equal forthrightness after his election as Bishop last spring, saying that he believes the rules against gay and lesbian clergy should be changed. Miller, and also his predecessor Landahl, can be counted on to defend the work of the Holy Spirit to move the church forward. Especially truth-ful and grace-ful is his remark, “I do not see this as an issue that should be dividing the church.”

For those of us doing our own ministries all over the church, and who also do not stand within the ordinary policies of the church, we don’t see why there should be division either, except for the unwarranted histrionics of conservatives who cannot bear the thought of sharing the heavenly banquet with homosexuals.

I wonder if they could have tolerated the presence of the Beloved Disciple at the Last Supper, either. No matter. I believe that both Jesus and his Beloved would be very proud today as Pastor Jen Rude celebrated the Holy Supper at Resurrection Lutheran. You go, Jen! And may the Spirit go with you!

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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What an Extraordinary day!

October 31, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Well, today is Reformation Day in the Lutheran Calendar — the other fun thing to observe besides Halloween festivities. On October 31, 1517 our intrepid and brash leader, Dr. Martin Luther touched off a firestorm in Europe by daring to challenge local church officials to debate him over the matter of selling indulgences. Using the church door as a bulletin board (the custom of the day), Luther posted 95 theses or points for debate.

Sounds like no big deal, except that to church authorities it was a sign of a major confrontation. And, with the printing press having been invented only a few years before, Luther’s ideas spread all over Europe almost instantly.

Fast forward to the 490^th Anniversary of the Reformation. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries is born, the love-child of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project. These two pieces of the movement to open the Lutheran churches in the U.S. to the full participation of LGBT people–not only in the pews but in the pulpits–decided last February that they could be more effective if they combined their witness and resources. 

So today ELM is born, by “virtually” nailing its theological statement to the door of the internet. How Luther-an can you get?  (Go ahead:  knock on the red door.)

News of this audacious step will travel all over the Lutheran church and be picked up by people who watch the continuing conflict between Christians and sexual minorities. How it plays out is in the hands of the Holy Spirit, of course (Acts 5:38–39).

Cynics may take this as a step toward breaking with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, after it’s churchwide assembly failed last August to revise or liberalize its anti-gay personnel policies. The compromise measure which passed that Assembly was to urge synods and bishops to refrain or at least restrain their discipline against congregations which choose to knowingly call (hire) a non-celibate gay or lesbian pastor, or act to official ordain them.

But Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries is not a separatist movement like that racking the Episcopal Church and the world-wide Anglican communion. ELM is a consolidation of ongoing efforts not to break from the church but to be the church by raising funds to do real ministry, and calling qualified and committed individuals to carry out specific ministries.

If anything, it will be the homophobic, right-wing ultra-conservatives who will attempt to pick up their marbles and leave the game, but not the LGBT Lutherans. This is not because we, or “the liberals” have taken over the ELCA. Far from it, as the August Assembly votes clearly reveal. No, the LGBT Lutherans are “staying put” within the larger church for very clear reasons.

Being ultra-conservative is, after all, a matter of choice. Being homophobic is under one’s willful control. One chooses to fear and hate gay and lesbian people. One chooses to read scripture in a rejective, punitive way, rather than in a reconciling, healing and compassionate way. But for millions of gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, one’s sexuality is not a choice. It’s a given. It is discerned over time, discovered and wrestled with until each person learns self-esteem, and makes peace with the emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions of his or her God-given personhood. The reason that LGBT people are “staying put” in this churchbody is that we are most often born into it, grow up in its graceful embrace, are nurtured by its proclamation of Gospel not laced with shame or hatred, and respond to the invitation of Christ to lay down our heavy burdens (Matthew 11:28–30).

Many conservatives at the Chicago ELCA Assembly hoped that, if discipline is being refrained from or restrained during this period of discernment (the ELCA’s Social Statement on human Sexuality is due out in less than 2 years), the “liberal” wing of the church would also refrain from calling and ordaining more LGBT candidates to ministry. This is the same issue which the ultra-conservatives in the Anglican communion (led by African fundamentalist power-brokers such as Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria) have tried to force on the Episcopal Church in the U.S.: don’t consecrate any more gay bishops!! Or else!!

We await the response of the ELCA and other Lutheran church bodies in the U.S. and around the world about the birth of ELM. There might be some “or else” conditions, but they cannot fall upon ELM itself or those of us who are on its professional Roster as pastors and candidates for ministry. The immediate reason is that the big bad churchbody had already kicked out many of the pastors who are rostered with ELM, or foreclosed ordination for seminarians who came out as lesbian/gay, bisexual or transgender.

But the bigger reason is grounded in the Word. Martin Luther and his movement defended themselves before the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 by staying grounded in the Word.

 

And Peter and John defended the brash actions which they and Jesus’ other disciples were taking by laying it out just as clear to their critics: “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to bey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19–20)

Posted in LGBT Christian, Fundamentalism, Living by Grace, History, Ministry, Coming Out, ELCA | Print | 1 Comment »

Coming out badly, but making it better.

October 29, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

A member of our congregation called me last week, trying to think quickly of someone to call for help. A friend of his who is 18, really a recent acquaintance, had just come out to his parents, and was kicked out of the house. As of last week, he was sleeping at another friend’s house (what www.doubletongued.org describes as “couch homelessness”).

My first question was whether this young man was depressed or even slightly suicidal. Where to live and how to make up with your parents can come later. The first thing is to preserve his life and remind him that being kicked out is only a temporary disaster.

While I was on the phone, I began looking for other contacts, including—here in Los Angeles—the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center and especially Youth Services (the Jeff Griffith Youth Center. Especially see this page on youth homelessness.

Kids always suspect their parent make stupid decisions. This seems to be the proof of it, when a parent says they love you and want the best for you, and then get hostile and angry when you tell the truth. Remember, parents are human too and they screw up.

Look at it this way: Coming out is a sign of your growing maturity and wisdom. But at least trying to anticipate and understand your parents’ thinking is an equally big sign of maturity and wisdom. If they have already rejected you, you are now facing two very big and important things.

First is your day-to-day survival. Thank God there are some resources out there.

Second is your ability to forgive your parents for failing to understand and kicking you out, — so be prepared to wait awhile for them to come around.

What if parents never come around? Human life is filled with tragedies, and this is one of them.

A few other quick and notable contacts:

1. The Human Rights Campaign has a “Coming Out Project”. You can download this 23-page resource guide.
2. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) also has resources. Visit this short list of hotlines to offer you support.

A Google search for “coming out to parents” generated 16,300,000 hits. If you’re having an emergency, I don’t think you have time to surf all that. But you should find a real live human being you can trust to talk and to support you.  If you’re thinking about coming out, then I do recommend that you plan it, and learn what you’re getting into before you set things in motion. One good resource is Mary V. Borhek’s book, Coming Out to Parents: A Two-Way Survival Guide for Lesbians and Gay Men and Their Parents, which you can get from www.Amazon.com here. It costs $14.04 but they have used copies for less.Some more quick thoughts:

• Don’t be a loner.
• Ask for respect from others you tell your story to.
• Expect support you can trust
• Forget “drama” if you are rejected (regret, anger, depression). You will not be rejected by everybody.
• Make new friends if your friends reject you.

If necessary, find new parents! I don’t say this to be funny. I have known many people who adopted other parents that cared for them, people who just understood right away and didn’t reject them. Family relationships are wonderful, if they’re wonderful. But if they are not, the biological family is not the only family there is. Make a family. Seek a family. Invest your love and respect and trust in other people until you form a new family.

And don’t leave God out of your family. Like a wise grandparent (when your parent doesn’t understand), God does accept you and loves you as you are. If you don’t believe this, or have heard otherwise, call me right away.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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My old operating system.

October 18, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Windows Vista is on the market. But all reports I’m hearing — not product reviews, but comments from the people who actually use a computer, not just test it for pay— is that it’s terrible. It has enough bugs for the exterminator to put his kids through college on it.

So I’m in the market for an older operating system — one that is maybe “trite and true” but at least I’ll know what I can get out of it and expect from it in order to get through my day without crashing.

The original “Windows XP”: The Greek letters Chi Rho
are an abbreviation for “Christ.”

I’d never thought of religious faith as an “operating system” before, but maybe it’s a metaphor we can use. Twenty-six year-olds were born the same year as IBM gave birth to the PC. In that time, operating systems have come and gone like fads. One or two have stood the test of time (although cosmically-speaking, 26 years is a pretty short period of time). It may be that Linux will one day eclipse Windows.

Is the Christian faith a faith I can live by (operate with, function with)? Or is Christ about to be eclipsed by — well, by what? Or is it the trite but true “operating system”with which my life hums along?

At least I know what it can do. It reassures me that, through God’s amazing grace I am in sync with the universe, because a loving God has created it and sustains it. I can download God’s power, energy, and healing any time I need it. I can e-mail God any time, and I won’t get a Daemon message telling me my prayers didn’t go through.

 

 The interactive Christian “system” invites me to do things for others as a way of responding to God’s grace— things which aren’t impossible processing tasks that will crash my own system.  And it has a fantastic manual! 

The Christ Operating System Manual

I just need to spread the good news about Christ, my operating system, through deeds of compassion, love and an occasional sacrifice. Most Christians spend more on worthless computer upgrades every year than they spend on supporting the work of Christ, even though it gets better results, so yes, I could be more generous.

But when I run into the error messages of life, they can all be forgiven. Even the “blue screen of death” – when you get those fatal errors in front of your eyes and that sickening feeling in your stomach — dissolves in the trust that Jesus is preparing a place for us (”in my father’s house”). In this great future life, there will be no crashes, no freezes, no validation codes, service packs, no required upgrades that actually make things worse, no fear of losing virtually everything I have put into my life.

Maybe I shouldn’t push the analogy too far, though.

But what if Christ really is being supplanted by another “operating system,” something newer and very cool? Before I buy, I would want to know that it’s more than Hype 1.0, that it really can do more than run its own demonstration loops in “virtual” (imitation) reality. Is there an Emerging Church operating system which has anything really new or improved in it? Should I look into the Wiccans or Neo-Pagans, into Islam or Baha’i? Can I try before I buy? After all, do they handle any of the suffering, cruelty, greed or violence of this world any better than Christ does?

Will the scripts or applets of these other operating systems work with the hardware of my life — my finite limitations, disappointments, failures, and occasional disasters? Will they run reliably within the constraints of my place in the world: culture, language, history. Will they work, with very little time, in an environment surrounded by crazies, loonies and predatory drivers whose operating systems run like a doomed video game?

I think I’ll just stay with Christ, my current operating system. When I boot up my life each morning, I see the Cross, not an animated GIF or gimmick trying to get my attention and my credit card number. I send an e-mail to thank God for another day, and for the peace, love, forgiveness and hope which are integrated seamlessly into my life. And at the end of the day, I realize that everything that I did could not have happened at all without Christ.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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