Decision on gay clergy is divisive

For some Lutherans, it is a human-rights issue.

mcclatchy newspapers

CHICAGO — Golden light filtered through the stained-glass windows of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Sunday, illuminating a congregation on its feet.

Everyone in the pews of the church stood, some with tears in their eyes, applauding the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s recent decision to allow gay men and women in committed relationships to serve as leaders.

“It’s a good day to be a Lutheran,” said Patrice Macken, a member of Holy Trinity for six years. “I feel like it’s a long overdue decision ... it’s just a human-rights issue.”

Meanwhile, at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Rev. Bill Shields opened worship with a cry of anguish. “Dear Father, we come to you with heavy hearts because our church is in turmoil,” he prayed.

The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination rescinded a ban on the approval of noncelibate gay men and women to leadership positions. Individual congregations now have the ability to select pastors or lay leaders in monogamous and lifelong same-sex relationships. Last month, the Episcopal Church lifted a similar ban on non-celibate gay bishops.

At Holy Trinity, members celebrated the historic change but also expressed hope for unity with those on the other side of the issue.

Congregants sang hymns such as “All Are Welcome” and in his sermon, Rev. Craig Mueller acknowledged a division on homosexuality and urged compassion for those who disagree with the denomination’s decision.

“Could it be,” Mueller asked in his sermon, “that the Holy Spirit isn’t revealed so much in the rightness of the position we hold on controversial issues, but in the ways we honor, respect and forgive those who disagree with us?”

At St. Mark, parishioners closed their service singing the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” Shields remarked that the Scripture reading for the day, which urged Christians to “take up the shield of faith,” was particularly appropriate.

The Rev. Terry Breum of St. Mark said he does not want to leave the denomination, but said his congregation, whose motto is “A mainline church that still believes in the Bible,” will discuss options over the next year.

“We’re going to have to evaluate our place in the ELCA,” he said. “I didn’t go into this church to leave it. We stand for a biblical view of marriage, and the denomination has taken a stand. It’s dangerous to take a stand against the word of God.”

This year, nearly two dozen Lutheran congregations, including the largest in Glendale, Ariz., and a congregation in Johnsburg, Ill., have withdrawn from ELCA and joined Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. Breum said his congregation might join that alliance as well.

“I think it’s a concern that this denomination is being more liberally focused,” said Wilma Sweeney, a parishioner for eight years at St. Mark.

“Our church won’t go there.”

But Alison Strickler, who came to the Holy Trinity service on Sunday with her partner, Aana Vigen, and their son, Benjamin Vigen Strickler, said as children of pastors, she and Vigen have long struggled to reconcile their faith with their homosexuality.

“Personally, for me it feels like two big pieces in myself getting connected in way that hasn’t been able to be fully connected,” Strickler said.

“As a lesbian woman who’s in church, that’s always sort of an oxymoron ... [now] I feel more whole.”

But leaders at St. Mark worry about the impact of the new policy on the church’s children.

“When you get older, you’re going to hear things about the summer of 2009,” Rev. Robert Yarbrough told the children in the sanctuary.

“For grown-ups, there are a lot of challenging things going on right now. I want you to pray for your parents and pray for your church.”

Mueller said knowing every Lutheran congregation did not share the same joy about the new policy on Sunday was disappointing.

“It’s such a church-dividing issue,” said Mueller, who has led Holy Trinity for 10 years.

“I think there are probably a lot of pastors around the country who have a lot of angry, confused, shocked parishioners ... My joy is tempered by that.”