Last August I had the joy of writing this diary:
ELCA Votes To Allow Gay Clergy
Since that time, several churches have chosen to leave the ELCA and form new church bodies. (Can't have "the gay" doncha know!) By the end of this year we will lose 2-3% of our 10,300 churches.
The Reverand Herbert Chilstrom was the first Bishop elected by the ELCA and served from 1987 to 1995. In an article he wrote for the Mankato Free Press, he has three questions for those leaving the church.
First question: What is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?
Second question: Why are you organizing new churches?
Third question: What will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?
http://mankatofreepress.com/...
My View: Questions for those leaving ELCA
By Herbert W. Chilstrom
First question: What is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?
Since its founding more than 20 years ago the ELCA has wrestled with a number of complex issues, never binding anyone’s conscience, but helping us think about them. Included among them have been studies and statements on abortion, the death penalty and war. These three issues all involve the potential for taking a life.
That seems far more serious than getting upset about two adults of the same gender who, like most of us straight folks, chose to live peacefully in a life-long relationship — the only such pairing the ELCA has approved. Like their straight neighbors, they live peacefully, go to their jobs every morning, pay their taxes, volunteer for good causes and, in many cases, worship with us. What is it that upsets you about this?
The only answer I seem to get from those leaving is that "this was the last straw." But that still begs the question, "Why sex?" Surely some other divisive issue will come along — as it always does in every human institution — that could be "the last straw" in a new church body.
Second question:
Chilstrom then questions why these churches feel the need to spend the money to establish new churches. Why not just join one that agrees with you about your views on sex? He then speculates that perhaps it's because those churches don't ordain women. Yes, they are so far to the right that even women aren't treated equally. The ELCA began ordaining women in 1970. Many churches went kicking and screaming for the exit when the church made that decision but the majority accepted the change, some more willingly than others.
As to the third question, Chilstrom says:
You will no doubt suggest that they seek "reparative" therapy, even though more than 95 percent of professionals in the field tell us there’s nothing to "repair" because they are no more abnormal than the rest of us. Or, you may tell them they must simply remain alone, denying them of a life-long partnership. All of which brings us back to the first question: What is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?
Chilstrom ends with what I call "the kicker"
I am both sad and relieved that you are leaving. Sad, because this was not what we hoped for when the ELCA was formed some 22 years ago. We believed we could be a church where we held to the essentials and allowed for differences on non-essentials.
But I am also relieved. Now those of us who remain in the ELCA can get on with our primary mission of telling everyone — everyone — "Jesus loves you. You are welcome in this church."
Bold is mine!