Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Volume 8, Number 2
Summer 2003
Human Sexuality in the ELCA:
Perspectives on the Struggle
The introductory remarks for
the previous issue (Pentecost 2003, Vol. 8 No. 1) began with the following
words:
Christians struggle. We
struggle with doubt. We struggle with
faith. We struggle with the tension
between our eschatological hope and our incarnational reality. Lutherans, nurtured by Word and Sacrament
spiced with paradox, struggle with particular vigor. Our most heated struggles are with each other as members in
particular of the Body of Christ.
Two struggles, more than any others, define the recent past and present
reality of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: ministry and sexuality.
In an effort to provide
thoughtful contributions to our common struggle with issues surrounding
sexuality, we presented foundational essays concentrating on those things we
need to think about before and during discourse on the subject of
sexuality. In this issue we present two
essays from experiential perspectives, one from a pragmatic sociological
perspective, a report on the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Conference on
Christian Sexuality held at Kansas City in October 2002, and a review of Faithful Conversation: Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality. Daphne Burt draws on her experience as a
pastor/theologian to outline what she believes are potentially positive
outcomes of the two issues presently before the ELCA. In Burt’s final paragraph
we find words underscoring the purpose of this journal: “God has given us many
gifts, and perhaps the most mysterious, funny, messy, profound and holy of them
is the gift of our sexuality. . .I pray that we may continue to listen and
learn from one another.” Diane Bowers,
now a pastor herself, reflects on her positive experience as a parishioner with
a gay pastor in a committed relationship.
Stephen Warner, a sociologist of religion and Lutheran layperson,
exhorts Lutherans to move beyond old concepts of “left” and “right” as he
presents a conservative case for recognizing gay relationships in the church.
Another layperson, Wayne
Cowell, gives a report of the ALPB conference that he attended in October, and
observes that such discussions are not well known among laypersons in the
ELCA. Cowell asks, “. . . what will the
laypeople hear? How will they
respond?” And a third layperson, your
issue editor, reviews Faithful
Conversation and reflects on the current discourse in our congregations,
Synod and the ELCA in general.
In addition, Frank Senn, in
his regular column “As I See It...,” turns his attention to another
controversial issue—the situation in the Holy Land.
Senn’s segue into a
different topic is salutary. Let’s Talk has devoted three issues
(Vol. 5 No. 2, Vol. 8 No. 1, and Vol. 8 No. 2) to the sexuality issues
currently being discussed in the ELCA .
While we have not brought consensus to the Synod (did anyone think we
would?), we have presented food for thought and further discussion. The journal needs to move on to other
matters, but we hope that we have aided the ongoing discussion on union
blessings and the ordination of candidates in committed same-sex
relationships. If we have moved any of
you to respond to any given article, or the discussion as a whole, do not let
our moving on to other topics dissuade you from sending us your thoughts. We will publish at least a representative
sample of what we receive. After all,
the name of this publication is an invitation, and it remains open.
Gregory Holmes Singleton
for the
Editorial Council