Gay and Lesbian Persons Worship During ELCA Assembly

DENVER (ELCA) The pews of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Denver, were filled with more than 100 people attending a worship Aug. 19, sponsored by Lutherans Concerned/North America, a group supporting gay and lesbian individuals. The service was held during but was not officially part of the 1999 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 16-22 at the Colorado Convention Center.
The Rev. Ann M. Teimeyer, St. Jacobus, Woodside, N.Y., presided at the service. Her stole, a mosaic of rainbow-colored fabric shaped into an upside-down triangle, was one of 50 stoles created by The Lutheran Network for Inclusive Vision to create visibility for changes in policy for gay and lesbian individuals. Water droplet shapes symbolize tears as well as a remembrance of the water of baptism. Straight pins are embedded in each stole to remind the wearer of pain and suffering endured by gay and lesbian individuals, said Teimeyer.
"The discussions of ministry to gay men and lesbian women need to start in the congregations. We're at a point now where listening needs to take place at the grass roots level. It also needs to happen at the synodical and national level," Teimeyer said.
"We need to create safe environments for persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual to share, and we need to listen," she said.
The Rev. Stephen H. Swanson, St. Paul, brought greetings and welcome from his ELCA congregation. "This should not be an unusual service," Swanson said, adding that his congregation is registered with Lutherans Concerned as a 'Reconciled in Christ Congregation,' a place guaranteed to fully and intentionally welcome gay and lesbian people.
"The congregation is abundantly clear on the issue. Gays and lesbians should be as welcomed as everyone else," Swanson said.
The Rev. Robert A. Rimbo, bishop of the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod, preached on the Gospel of John, citing a story of Jesus healing a blind man and skeptic questions from crowds and church officials.
"The curious ask the wrong questions, 'How were your eyes opened? Where is the healer who did it? How could he do that?' No one asks what it's like to see, no one said, 'thank God, '" Rimbo said.
Rimbo called the gospel story a one-act play in six acts. "I prefer the role of the blind man," he said. "But I am not a natural for that part. You might be, but I'm not. I am not an outcast. I have not been excluded or even marginalized from any communities because of my so-called sins, though I have enough of them. I am not shut out because of what some would call accidents of nature and I would call characteristics created by God."
Rimbo presented illustrations of daily life, asking the question each time: Is it God, or not? "Astounding things happen in the world that may not have anything to do with the power of God," he said. "What if something is not of God and we believe that it is? A scary question. Or, what if it is of God and we believe that it's not?"
The Pharisees were so sure of everything, Rimbo said. The one question they forgot to ask was, "What if it is God and we believe that it's not," he said. Their system was a closed one, that closed Jesus out and it closed them in -- in inner darkness, Rimbo said.
Rimbo said, "Many in the church -- Lutheran and others -- are so afraid of being wrong that they hide from the light. They are, themselves, closeted in their own inner darkness. They are afraid to ask the question, 'What if it is God and we believe it isn't?'"
"Friends in Lutherans Concerned have helped us, helped me, ask the right questions like: 'What if all sexuality is of God and I believe it is not?' 'What if God created people gay and lesbian, and I exclude them?'" he said.
"We are slow. The church moves at glacial speed, but at least there is movement," Rimbo said. "I want to add a player to the cast: the dazzled witness who, while everyone else is playing twenty questions says, 'Praise God, will you look at that!'"
Jan Bailey and Tim Feiertag, co-chairs of Lutherans Concerned/North America, brought greetings on behalf of the organization.
"Thanks for your journey here and your journey in understanding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in our church," Feiertag said.
Voting member Pat Corpe, West Covina, Calif., attended the service, adding that her home congregation, Shepherd of the Valley, West Covina, Calif., is registered as a "Reconciled in Christ" congregation.
Corpe said she supported the focus on welcoming gay and lesbian persons. "The more we talk about it, the less frightened we will be," she said.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html