Author: Amalia Vagts

We are taking a short break today from honoring our 2012 Grant Recipients in order to share this reflection from Pastor Jay Wilson about Trans Day of Remembrance.

Trans Day of Remembrance
by Pastor Jay Wilson

I’m talking about communities today, and I want anyone reading or hearing this to know that I mean you. When I say Trans Community, I mean specifically people who identify as transgender or get perceived as gender-nonconforming, but also all people who support us and work together with us against gender-based oppression.

Potential trauma trigger warning – Many who read this will have experienced some of the violence that I am naming. I will be naming some types of violence in a general way.
–Pastor Jay
__________________
Trans Day of Remembrance has always made me feel more Lutheran – there’s the Law of gender-based oppression, impossible to separate from the layers of racism and classism and imperialism…and yet, there’s the grace of the community gathering, remembering, and sending us to go forth and change the world together. The hope is hope in our power together, cautious and tempered by the reality of the overwhelming brokenness in the world and the limits of our energy and funding.

Often, taking care of ourselves as creatures of God means we shut out the realities of this broken world.  In trans communities, we struggle with these hard conversations of not feeling welcomed, where people who have sought safe space around gender or sexuality, and found that it’s only safe if you’re white, economically stable, or homed.

While many in the larger GLBT movements often strive to be “just like everyone else,” many of us in trans community know that we are not just like everyone else, that our bodies and identities are unique and important for challenging sexism. When we seek to be welcomed into the privilege of being called “normal,” we denigrate the people who are least likely to be accepted. “We’re just trans, we’re not crazy like people with mental illness.” “Trans people aren’t sex workers – we work regular white collar jobs.” And every time we do this, we push out of community the trans people who are psychiatric consumer/survivors, people marginalized into sex work, and we lose the strength that we could have gained in working together against the oppressions that tie us together. That trans people are stereotyped as having psych disabilities and being unemployable is not the real issue here – the real issue is that we live in a world where we don’t even question that it is accepted to marginalize people due to disability, race, and gender. We contribute to violence whenever we try to distance ourselves, personally or as a movement, from it by claiming that our status should be defined by our privilege, rather than standing with those who the world calls “the least of these.”

Trans Day of Remembrance is one place of coming together to remember how closely we are all tied to one another’s oppression. The names and faces remind us that racism, poverty, classism, violence against women and children, are inextricably tied to gender violence. Make no mistake – we see that none of us are safe, no matter how much gender and socio-economic privilege we have, because this gender violence is so pervasive. But the names and faces witness to the brokenness that vulnerability to violence is not equal because we are not treated as equal.

We have so many names and faces to remember on this day, and for reasons of not losing hope and focusing on this particular form of violence, we hear specifically the people who were murdered for perceived gender/sexual identity. But we lose so many more people to violence in our communities – to suicide, to isolation, to bullying, to unsafe communities, to abuse inside and outside of families, to decisions to delay or never transition for safety. We lose people to the internalized violence of substance abuse, healthcare inequalities, to AIDS, to self-hatred, to fear. To poverty-inflicted illness, to job and home and shelter and government discrimination, to being disowned from families and to homelessness, to hunger and war. But we gather, and name some who we have lost, remembering all who we have lost. And in the gathering itself, we become the community that can become justice-creating.

To me, today is also when the cross-sections of trans communities gather in one place. This brings a hope in itself that we can gather and work together to bring gender justice along with new ways of being community together. Many communities are struggling hard with the work of building these community ties, working towards justice and accountability to the most oppressed among us. In many of our communities, we are overwhelmed by our lives and the task of gathering, and we unintentionally or intentionally fall short of welcome. We find ourselves on this day at the foot of the cross, with so much of our own suffering and the weight of the world, and we confess our inaction to change things and our own inflicting of oppression on others and ourselves. We confess the brokenness of our communities and our own privilege and oppressing of others. We confess our hopelessness, and our resignation that we will be back next year with a new longer list of names.

And then we sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, awkwardly at first, wondering how to harmonize when our voices feel too high or low for our identities, and our neighbor is weeping, while the squirmy are ready for bed and our hunger rumbles for the potluck…and despite our insecurities and divisions and the limitations of world bodies and minds, we get swept away over the rainbow in the power of forgiveness, grace, hope, community.

Trans Day of Remembrance was my first introduction to Trans Communities in Minnesota while I was struggling with gender oppression in my chaplaincy internship – it introduced me to a trans community that was welcoming and accessible to me as a genderqueer Lutheran disabled person. Later, another Day of Remembrance was a powerful experience processing in an interfaith service on my ELM internship. The next year, my partner and I had our covenant service reception in the same space that the Trans Day of Remembrance would be held the next evening, and we were happy to share food with the community that had brought us together as a family.

I believe the God of grace and love can and does come through loud and clear on this Day of Remembrance, as we gather around death. We are empowered today by the gospel to be a community that is safe and healing for all of our communities, not just the easy friends we see other days of the year. We are empowered to take on the burdens of our neighbors traumas, in knowledge that we are not alone in this community. And we are supported to share our trauma and grief with each other, while we all struggle to not be so overwhelmed by our own experiences.

In Lutheran community, we can name that the wrestling God of Jacob, the empowering community God of the Exodus, and the whispering Holy Spirit naming and renaming us as in relationship with God. The Genderqueer Spirit, sometimes named as female and sometimes male, is with us, whispering words of freedom from these oppressions that is an Already/Not Yet that we want to become now. And Jesus has promised to meet us precisely when we are the oppressed, when our brokenness and the brokenness of the world is too much to take.

This sharing of our burdens and forgiveness frees and prods us to move in unexpected ways, to bring hope to a roomful of people remembering how many we have lost this year. Our remembrances may be interfaith or secular, or we may simply remember in a line of the Prayers of the People in our congregations or newsletter. But don’t forget this day – the day when we say that we choose to be tied together in community so that we can create justice and freedom for us all.

Want to act toward inclusive trans and queer communities?

Start locally, or start here:
-ELM former and current Ministry Grant recipients working at the intersections of oppression and justice:
Welcome: A Communal Response to Poverty, St. Luke’s Social Justice Ministries, Inclusive and Affirming Ministries in South Africa, Hollywood Lutheran‘s prison and homeless outreach, Grace Place youth shelter
-Other groups:
Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ), Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Trans Youth Support Network (TYSN), National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), or the anti-oppression groups near you!

Diane Nelson DeLange
July 7, 1944 – September 30, 2011

We give thanks for the life of Diane Nelson DeLange, who passed away on Friday, September 30, surrounded by her family.  Diane is the beloved spouse of the Rev. James DeLange, a founder of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (a forerunner of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries).  Diane’s kindness, hospitality and wit will be so deeply missed.

Diane’s funeral will be on Saturday, October 29 at 3:00 p.m. at St. Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 with interment of her ashes on the Memorial Terrace at St. Francis.  A reception will follow in the parish hall.  In lieu of flowers, gifts in her memory may be made to the St. Francis Lutheran Church Endowment Fund (c/o of St. Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94114).

As Jim wrote in an email sharing the news of Diane’s death, “Rest eternal grant her, O God, and let light perpetual shine upon her.”

This post was edited on 12/7/12 to correct an error.

Rev. Dawn Roginski was installed on Sunday, August 28 as Associate Coordinator of the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations of the Bay Area.

Pastor Dawn was a member of the historic ELM Roster and is a member of Proclaim, the new professional community for publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders. Pastor Dawn previously served as pastor of St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco.

We wish Dawn joy in her new ministry!

We’re back in Orlando. I was here in 2005 with scores of Goodsoil volunteers who came to witness as LGBTQ people and allies who were members of this church.  I was just coming back to the Lutheran church at that time, and newly involved in the movement for full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the Lutheran church.

A lot has changed since 2005. As I walk down the hallways to the plenary sessions, I remember standing there with a Stoles Project stole.  I wore Rev. Jane Ralph’s stole the first day. I hadn’t met her before that. A year later, she would become part of the team that hired me as development director of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (a forerunner of ELM).  The clearest memory I had of that experience was the way people wanted to look at anything but us when they walked down the hallway.  Then came the plenary where we moved as a group to witness silently on the floor of the assembly. It was hard for the Church to ignore us after that.

This assembly is similar in so many ways to the others I’ve attended since 2005. The layout, the speeches, the agendas, and even some of the speakers have become familiar. Here’s one major difference: For many years, so many of us suffered the pain of attending amazing worship services where preachers, bible passages, songs and litanies called for justice, and yet ignored LGBTQ  people. As LGBTQ people and our allies, we felt invisible and betrayed by the church we loved.

It is a gift this Churchwide Assembly to experience the ELCA as we live into the changes made in 2009.  In his opening sermon and address to the Assembly, Bp. Mark Hanson spoke out for the inclusion of LGBT people. Others in worship have voiced their support for people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. While many of us have experienced a welcome far beyond these initial steps for many years in our own congregations, it was a first for me at the Churchwide Assembly.

We are all living into the future together as members of the ELCA. As LGBTQ people, we know we have always been freed in Christ to serve. It is a joy to now experience that within the ELCA as well. I give thanks for the many members of our community who attended so many painful Churchwide assemblies and who worked so hard to bring us to today. You are with us in spirit. In looking back, we are living forward.

Last week the Huffington Post ran a series of photos from the New York Pride parade. One particular photo, taken by George Pejoves, brought a smile to many faces.   It captured the joy of Rev. Mark Erson and his partner, Scott Jordan, as they shared a kiss while bearing signs that read, “I do!”

On August 1, 2011, St. John’s Lutheran Church on Christopher Street will welcome the Rev. Mark Erson as its new pastor. This congregation has been in the center of the West Village since 1855.  They are housed in one of the Village’s most historic buildings–built for an Episcopalian congregation in 1821.  While Pastor Mark has been on the road to ordained ministry for many years, he was only recently ordained. This will be his second congregation, and his first as a publicly-identified gay man.  Pastor Mark is on the ELCA clergy roster and is a member of Proclaim, the professional community for publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders.

Pastor Mark and his long-term partner Scott Jordan have plans to marry on November 26, 2011. They have intentionally planned the wedding for Thanksgiving weekend so that family may be with them and to give thanks for what has been–35 years of friendship and partnership–and what will be in their new journey together.

Pastor Mark and I first met over breakfast on the Upper West Side earlier this year. I wanted others to learn more about Pastor Mark, his journey to ordained ministry in the Lutheran Church, and his upcoming new call, so we recently caught up over email and phone.

Let’s start with a bit about your journey and call to ministry.
Growing up in the church, I had a strong sense of call to ordained ministry from an early age.  As I grew in self-understanding and came to see myself as a Christian who is gay, I figured the church did not want me.  Thankfully, through the gift of faith, I knew that I had a place in God’s family and so I never strayed from the church (I worked as a lay professional at one point, but otherwise, always as an active member of some congregation.)  Finally, after moving back to New York City in 2000, rejoining Saint Peter’s and with the Holy Spirit and Pastor Amandus Derr not letting up, I realized I could not keep this call at arm’s length any longer.  I was also moving in hopeful anticipation of the ELCA changing it understanding of “people like me.”  I was ordained in 2009.

Tell me more about Pastor Derr’s role. How did he help encourage you?
He takes very seriously, more than any pastor I’ve known, the role of cultivating new leaders for the church. When he sees someone, not just me…when he sees people who show gifts for ministry, he doesn’t let up. He’s vocal about it and gives them opportunities to serve, so they can discern. You can see it. Second career people, young people …he serves as a mentor to interns.   I’ve been inspired to do this myself. There is a role for all of us, especially those who are LGBTQ and have been told you’re not wanted, fully.  ELM was great helping those when the church said no. Now the church says yes. And it’s important for me to be a voice encouraging other LGBTQ leaders.

You have a background in the arts…what impact will this have on your role as a Lutheran pastor?
After 4 years of working as a lay professional in the Philadelphia suburbs, I had the opportunity to move to New York & pursue theater as a career. And that was kind of the alternative of going to seminary.  I chose the theater path. From that point I had the opportunity to work professionally as an actor, director, and playwright. I got my masters in theater. And then I spent a good amount of time as a full-time teacher and a teaching artist.  There was a lot of mixing of theater and education together. I  fully intend to keep my feet in that area. I’m interested in some project bringing scripture from page to stage and seeking new ways to tell some of these wonderful stories. I have done some writing of my own on scripts that deal with theological issues. I also love taking script as is and presenting it on stage.

On August 1, you’ll start at St. John’s Christopher Street. Tell me about this congregation and your plans for ministry there–of course the neighborhood will be familiar to many LGBTQ people!
It is a congregation that has a history of not being connected to the immediate neighborhood.  Some of the programming that has been implemented within the last two years has effectively sought to reach out to the music community/tradition of Greenwich Village (there is now a weekly Jazz Mass on Sunday evenings and a Coffee House on Thursday evenings.)  I look forward to using my background (pre-ordination life) in the arts to connect with what is already happening and to hopefully grow this area of ministry.  But the congregation also wants to more effectively and intentionally reach out to the LGBTQ neighborhood that surrounds the church.  There are also some very rich possibilities for doing some LGBTQ youth/young adult outreach to folks who come down to the village on the weekends to “hang out” in a place where they can find acceptance and freedom.  (There is actually some tension in the neighborhood with this group, so perhaps playing the bridge will be a role that I find myself in.)

There are a number of bars along Christopher Street, so I am planning to employ the model of “bar ministry” that has been used in other settings with other communities.  LGBTQ folks have been told that they are not welcome for so long, and some churches are still sending that message.  We can’t expect folks to come in just because we have opened our doors wider in the last three years.  We definitely have to go outside and proclaim.  I also want to work with the merchants of the village, esp. if there is this tension between the youth and them.  While in seminary I read some of the writings of those who were creating a new urban ministry style back in the 60’s.  (in London and in New York City)  I will definitely be borrowing from them.  And I also want to expand the work with the artists of the village.  Not just musicians, but writers, poets, visual artists and theatre artists.  The church was such a patron of the arts centuries ago.  It is time to reclaim that heritage, especially in light of the decrease of arts support in education and from the government, and in the face of such commercialization that the emerging/unknown artist has nowhere to go.

Tell me how it feels to be doing ministry as publicly-identified gay man. What does this mean for you? What do you feel God is calling you to do through your ministry?
There is a great burden being lifted.  While my time at Redeemer has been great, there was always a piece missing.  I was called to preach truth, and yet I had to hide a part of myself, I also had to hide the fact that I am in a wonderful, loving relationship that not only makes me a better pastor, but it makes me a better person as well.  The fact that this is happening at the same time that New York is joining the states in which we have marriage equality just puts me over the edge.  The Pride march on Sunday was one of the happiest days of my life.  It was great that the march took us right down to St. John’s, what a huge symbol that was, walking, publicly, hand in hand with the man who I have known for 35 years and now have been committed to for five, processing to the place that we will now be working to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to EVERYONE.  Our picture even made it in the Huffington Post. I love the fact that Scott can worship at St. John’s with me, that we can identify ourselves as a family.  At Redeemer I have stuck to the “I” pronoun most of the time.  “I am going on vacation.”  But now, we get to be “We” all the time.  Thanks be to God.

I love the picture that ran in the Huffington Post! Tell me about your Pride experience.
You know during the New York Pride parade, we got a fair amount of attention–because of my pastor’s collar–and lots of people were snapping our photo when we kissed. But as we were coming to the end of the parade, I saw this young man looking at us, and I looked at his face, and he was just weeping. His face was just unbelievable. I think he looked at us and in us saw a profound reality of what this all meant. And that image will stay with me forever. It is important for me to be public for that young man, and for so many others who have been shut out of the church and their families. As Lutherans, we believe that faith is a gift, and my whole life has been about that. There are so many reasons I should have stayed away from the church, and pursued life as an out gay man instead. But I did stay in the church. I see now that God did not let go of me, because I had gifts to bring the church.  And now I am able to able to share this gift with others.

Pastor Virginia (Ginger) Georgulas died suddenly on Sunday, June 26, 2011.  She had previously been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  Ginger was a long-time ally of LGBTQ people in the Lutheran Church.  Lutherans Concerned/North America honored Ginger in a message this morning, noting that she founded the North Texas Chapter of Lutherans Concerned and attended the first Reconciling in Christ training.

Pastor Jeff Johnson has posted a reflection on the University Chapel’s website. Ginger was a member of the Chapel in the 80’s.

Rev. Donn Rosenauer, member of the ELM Roster and Proclaim, shares this reflection about the role Ginger played in his life recently as he has sought to rejoin the clergy roster of the ELCA:

“When I knew I was moving to the Dallas area I thought I was moving to the “wilderness.”  I called friends and asked for advice. I was alerted to contact Virginia”Ginger”Georgulas.  I called from San Diego, and I knew from her first words I would have a new friend in the Dallas area. We were welcomed and extended an invitation for dinner our first week in Texas.

I would soon learned of Ginger’s fierce commitment to the LGBTQ community. For more that 20 years she worked on our behalf.  Active in LC/NA, she established a chapter in Dallas.  She was a friend to many in ELM.  She worked in a focused and direct way to advocate for us through her many positions and contacts within the ELCA. She willingly, with wise counsel and support became my strong ally and supporter. She set up meetings with the local ELCA synod office.  Ginger was a part of every conversation with the synod and opened every door to help establish conversations at every important level.

A number of weeks ago she became ill and was told she could expect another 14 months or more to complete her journey. She was insistent that I continue to work for re-rostering. Last Friday was our most recent conversation about working to fulfill this expectation.

I am grateful for her leadership, support and her advocacy for us all. The people of God have a great example to follow in this ‘Saint for Justice.'”

Ginger is survived by her husband, the Rev. Fred Behrmann.  Upon her retirement in 2002, she and her husband relocated to Coppell, TX, and became members of Rejoice Lutheran Church, Coppell, TX.  A memorial service, giving God thanks for Pastor Georgulas and her ministry, will be held at the time and location noted below. Clergy are invited to vest (green) and process.  There will be a reception following the service.  Pastor Georgulas’ pastor, The Rev. Phil Geleske of Rejoice, Coppell, TX, will preside.

Condolences may be sent to Ginger’s husband, The Rev. Fred Behrmann, at his home address:  145 Cherrybark Dr., Coppell, TX 75019-3557, or email him at fred.behrmann@verizon.net. You are requested to not send flowers.

In early April ELM launched Proclaim, the new professional community for publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians.  Proclaim members are Lutheran rostered leaders who seek to renew and transform Lutheran congregations and ministries and serve God’s people through their ministry as publicly-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.  Proclaim is an Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries program.

Proclaim recently reached the 55 member mark and continues to grow. The group includes a diverse group of LGBTQ rostered leaders, ranging from those who’ve been in ministry for many years to others who are just starting out. The group includes leaders from places like the Midwest, Alaska, South Africa, the Bay Area, East Coast and even Texas! Visit www.elm.org/proclaim for a list of current members.

Proclaim offers its members professional development and support; participation in an annual leaders’ retreat; eligibility to apply for ELM grants and scholarships; and  access to year-round networking and  professional development resources.

Proclaim is open to any Lutheran clergy or rostered lay leader who publicly identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. Proclaim also welcomes entranced seminarians to the community. You can learn more and download a membership form by visiting www.elm.org/proclaim.

Check the ELM news blog for updates about the work Proclaim members are doing.

St. Francis Lutheran Church was one of the founding congregations of the movement that led to Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. In the midst of the AIDS crisis, St. Francis was led by now retired ELCA pastor Rev. Jim DeLange, who was a pioneer in the movement to ordain publicly-identified lesbian and gay pastors.  In 1990, a lesbian couple, Rev. Ruth Frost and Rev. Phyllis Zillhart were extraordinarily ordained (along with Rev. Jeff Johnson), and served as pastors in St. Francis, providing a visible witness of St. Francis Lutheran’s commitment to the LGBT community.  Frost, Zillhart and Johnson, now pastors on the ELCA clergy roster,  were members of the historic ELM roster and are part of the new LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders community, Proclaim.

In a recent Bay Area Reporter article, writer Matthew Bajko tells the story of Rev. DeLange’s and St. Francis’ early involvement in ministry to people affected by HIV and AIDS. Read the full article here.

In the following excerpt from that article, we hear the story of Grant Burger, a long-term member of St. Francis and supporter of ELM. Bajko writes:

“Even as St. Francis fought to change the national Lutheran Church’s policies, it continued to care for those living with HIV. Grant Burger found himself walking through its doors in September 1993 two years after learning he was positive.

“I was born and raised Lutheran. My relationship with God is very important to me independent of what the church told you,” said Burger, who had been referred to the church by the Lutheran Gay and Lesbian Ministry. “They recommended I come to St. Francis and check it out, so I did and never left.”

What he found, Burger said, was a support network that helped him through his darkest moments, especially prior to the introduction of protease inhibitors in 1996 when he was close to dying.

“I found a family, not just people sitting in some pew,” he said. “It was just huge to know St. Francis welcomed me unconditionally and loved me with no shame at all. It speaks to just what love is all about.”

Mark Allred, a member of Proclaim, has received a call  from the Alaska Synod as Interim Dir. of Evangelical Mission (DEM).  Allred will also be exploring a possible Mat-Su Native Outreach (SAWC) in Palmer and Wasilla, Alaska.

Allred’s ordination will be on July 10th at Alaska Native Lutheran Church  in Anchorage, Alaska at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome!

From guest blogger Rev. Megan Rohrer…

Yesterday hundreds of clergy and faith leaders, including about fifteen Lutherans, went to Capitol Hill as a part of the Human Right’s Campaign’s (HRC) Clergy Call.  Their goal was to remind their elected leaders that progressive faith leaders who preach and teach that equality is a right for all people stand with the majority of Americans.  In fact, a new poll from HRC shows that 86% of Americans of faith reported that their faith leads them to believe that all people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, deserve equal protections under the law.

These faith leaders represented millions of parishioners, members of denominations and individuals whom they’d prayed with and for.  Some of the most moving pleas at the press conference were calls to end the funerals that pastors had been doing for gay youth who falsely believed they had no other options.  Leaders urged congress to pass the Safe Schools and Anti-bullying Acts that could provide nationwide support for these youth.

Leaders also told stories of the many marriages they had performed that were not supported by civil laws and urged the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).   If passed faith leaders would not be forced to perform marriage ceremonies, but as the law stands many argued that their freedom of faith was infringed because they are prevented from legally marrying couples.

But, as a pastor to the homeless I always remember that life, dignity and equality don’t simply come from the ability to get married.  I also know that if we are going to be a community that seeks family values as our platform, we need to care about housing, health care and jobs that support and keep safe people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.  And though leaders have been lobbying for it for years, we must still encourage our political leaders to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

I think this bill is particularly important given the startling fact that only 12% of transgender individuals in my home town of San Francisco are employed.  This statistic comes from one of the most open and supportive cities in the country.  The low employment rate of trans individuals, along with the discriminatory way trans bodies are hypersexualized, leaves few options for many members of the San Francisco trans community besides sex work.

Just as Jesus ate with and advocated for the sex workers, who because of unjust laws pertaining to the status of women and widows, we must advocate mightily for equal employment opportunities for all types of bodies and cultures.

The laws and acts outlined here are the legislative priorities that HRC lifted up today.  Please read my previous blog post to learn more about legislation pertaining to Homeless LGBT youth.

You may be wondering, what does all this political stuff have to do with me?  Well, if we are to be biblical people, we must be political people.  Why?  The title of the Bible is “good news” which in Greek (the language the parts about Jesus are written in) is the title of the political newspaper put out by the Caesar (fancy name for a presidential guy).  Thus, when the gospels say “the good news of Jesus Christ,” it really means “the politics of Jesus Christ.”

So whether you lobby political leaders, write letters, talk with your friends or just read the paper asking yourself how it jives or conflicts with the gospel, follow Jesus’ political lead.  But, be warned Easter people that, like Christ, being political can get you into trouble.  But I guess that’s what the Lutheran commandment, “sin boldly,” really calls us to do.

Rev. Megan M. Rohrer is a nationally recognized leader on issues of homelessness, gender, sexuality and faith. Executive Director of WELCOME – a communal response to poverty in San Francisco, CA, Pastor Rohrer is an activist, advocate and educator who speaks and preaches nationally. Megan is a member of Proclaim, was on the historic ELM roster, and is on the clergy roster of the ELCA.