ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks Leaders for Restraint, Conversation and Patience
CHICAGO-(Business Wire)-September 23, 2009 - In a Sept. 23 letter to professional leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA presiding bishop urged them to engage each other "with honesty and respect" and asked that they exercise restraint, bear each other's burdens through conversation and be patient as the denomination lives into the churchwide assembly's decisions on human sexuality.
Voting members at the August 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis approved a series of proposals to change the denomination's ministry policies, including a change to allow Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson wrote that he's "encouraged by the thoughtful and prayerful conversations of people with diverse perspectives" considering the implications of the assembly decisions.
"My heart rejoices with those who are ready to live into the future of our shared mission. My heart aches as I listen to the pain and distress of those who feel confused or even abandoned by others," the presiding bishop wrote.
Hanson wrote that he is "disappointed" some people are encouraging congregations and members to take actions that "will diminish our capacity for ministry," which could affect planting and renewing congregations, educating leaders, sending missionaries, responding to domestic and international hunger concerns, and rebuilding communities after disasters.
Hanson sent his letter two days before some 1,200 people are expected to meet at the Lutheran Coalition for Reform's (CORE) convocation at Fishers, Ind., to discuss how they will respond to the assembly's decisions. CORE, an organization of ELCA members, opposes the ministry policy changes. CORE's leaders have said they will encourage withholding or redirecting finances versus sharing funds with the ELCA, a move which could affect the church's ministries.
Hanson's letter continued, "Although these actions are promoted as a way to signal opposition to churchwide assembly actions or even to punish the voting members who made them, the result will be wounds that we inflict on ourselves, our shared life, and our mission in Christ." Such actions would be devastating for the ELCA and for global and ecumenical partners, he wrote.
The full text of Hanson's pastoral letter is at http://www.elca.org/bishop/messages on the ELCA Web site.
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