Reconciling in Christ
CtK Conversations
#4: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 12:15pm
Special Guests: Jim Mapstone-Knamm of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington MA. He is Region 7 Coordinator for Lutherans Concerned/North America/RIC program and he is also on the NE Synod ELCA GLBT Task Force. Pastor Clifford Gerber and his wife (was pastor of the first church to become RIC), Linda and her son David of Emanuel Lutheran Church in Manchester CT who just became RIC, Ron Gustafson of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Montpelier VT on Churchwide Assembly and the Jeff and Mark Herman-May of Trinity Lutheran Church in Brattleboro VT. (Jeff serves on the NE Synod Council). In total, there were thirty present.
Everyone shared the reason they were there. A summary of past three discussions was shared by Heidi, Helen and Tami.
Biggest question from our conversations was “Why do we need a public acclamation?” Most of the hate directed towards GLBTs come from the religious community so why would they feel welcome in a church? We talked about being “intentional” on our outward welcome, so the GLBT community will know they are welcomed at CtK. The rainbow flag hung outside or a RIC logo on our sign is a key sign that it is a safe place for them. Stories were shared.
Linda mentioned two other videos that would be excellent for our process of discernment, “Prayers for Bobby” and “Claiming the Promise”. Their congregational vote was 279 in favor of becoming RIC and 79 against.
Discussion about the scriptures: What do the Scriptures REALLY say about homosexuality? We need to keep in mind the era the scriptures were written. There are many other things the bible says which are never taken literally as written – one passage shared was about not wearing clothes made out of different materials together. The scriptures also state nothing about a women lying with another woman, while a man lying with a man is an abomination. We need to be careful not to read too literally but to discern and derive what the big story is from the lessons.
Comment discussed that if we specifically invite GLBTs, the next step would be opening the door for same gendered blessings and marriage. (Again, this is NOT part of our welcoming statement and would be a separate discussion and decision to follow. Note: The ELCA does not allow marriage of same genders to take place.)
Special thank you to Heidi and Tami for the scrumptious soup they made for our soup lunch!
