Author: Sharei Green

by Rev. Jen Rude, ELM program director

This season of Advent has particular meaning for some Proclaim members. Ideas like hope, waiting, and expectation are turning into the reality of a new call.

Proclaim member Tim Feiertag was approved for ordination 7 years ago.  And even though it’s Advent I won’t make you wait until the end of this blog to find out that Tim Feiertag was ordained this past Sunday having received a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Everett, Washington!  

Read on to find out more about Tim’s story, about newly ordained Rev. Cara Knutson, and what ELM is doing to move leaders from a place of “waiting” for a call to “looking” for a call.

During these challenging years of waiting for call Tim found other ways to offer his gifts for ministry.  Members of ELM’s Proclaim community affirmed Tim’s pastoral gifts and asked him to serve as one of the community’s volunteer chaplains for the past 2 years.  He has prayed with our community, offered pastoral care, joined in celebration, and accompanied in lament.  Tim says, “Serving as a chaplain to the Proclaim community is one way I have been affirmed in my vocation in this wilderness period.”   

Although things have changed within seminary and candidacy for LGBTQ seminarians, ELM noticed that LGBTQ candidates continue to struggle to receive a first call and often wait significantly longer than their straight classmates.  We realized that this growing pool of LGBTQ candidates ready to serve needed more intentional support.  Rev. Javen Swanson, who also knew this waiting time intimately says, “I know from experience that once candidates have been assigned, they fall off their seminary’s radar, they fall off their candidacy committee’s radar, and they often don’t receive much support from the synod to which they’ve been assigned. The time spent awaiting first call is difficult for every candidate, but it’s especially difficult for LGBTQ candidates who often face additional challenges as they seek a call.”

Javen helped create and is now the convener of ELM’s Awaiting Call Support Team.  This team provides 1-on-1 accompaniment and coaching for LGBTQ candidates who are awaiting first call – from practical things like mock interviews and paperwork, to spiritual support and encouragement.  

Marissa Sotos, a Proclaim member and first call candidate says, “Being connected to a mentor has helped me re-frame waiting for call. Before connecting with the accompaniment program, waiting felt very isolated and passive. Working with Erik has helped me see it as an active and connected part of the ordination process. I’ve realized in the last few months that when people ask what I’m doing, instead of saying that I’m waiting for a call I say I’m looking for a call. Looking feels a lot more hopeful than waiting.”

After 7 years of looking and waiting, on the occasion of his ordination Tim says, “How appropriate that I am being ordained during the season of Advent.  A season of waiting.  A season of already and not yet.  A season of preparing a way and longing for the journey’s end.  I am so grateful to Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries for preparing the way for a gay man to become an out Lutheran minister, for supporting ministry by out LGBTQ folk to show the world that these ministries can thrive, for continuing to speak out against the ways the church continues to oppress/stonewall/deny/discount LGBTQ people, for faithfully waiting with me when no call was on my horizon.”  

On December 6th, another Proclaim member was ordained after her own time of Advent waiting and looking.  Cara Knutson was called to serve as chaplain to Methodist Manor Retirement Community in Storm Lake, Iowa.  ELM supporter (and her mother-in-law) Mary Knutson participated in the service by serving as a reader and helping to place the stole around Cara’s shoulders. Mary reminds us all in this season of waiting: “It’s sometimes difficult to understand what God has planned for us but when it becomes clear we can all rejoice.”

Through your support, ELM is able to provide accompaniment for LGBTQ leaders who are called to serve our church – both in the looking and waiting, and in the rejoicing.  These extraordinary and faithful ministers are signs of Advent hope in our midst.

Thank you to all of our wonderful supporters!

If you have yet to make a year-end gift to ELM, we invite you to do so today! An ELM supporter  is offering to match any first time, increased, or renewed gift until Dec. 31, 2015!

If have never given to ELM, or if you give more this year, or if you haven’t given since before 2014, ELM will receive double what you give. We’ve had a big year of growth and we need your support to finish strong. Give today – THANK YOU! 

by Rev. Jen Rude.  This Advent season Jen is excited to be waiting and looking for your gift in the ELM mail box and sees each envelope as a sign of Advent hope and joy in our world.  Thank you! 

Guest blog by Margaret Moreland, ELM board member and Convener of ELM’s Ministry Engagement program

The truth is out, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) it is the lay members of each congregation who have the privilege and responsibility of deciding who to call to be their pastor, diaconal minister, or AIM!

Also, since a call is required before ordination, lay people have a say in who is ordained.  It’s a very cool thing and doesn’t happen in many other denominations.  Of course the synod bishops and staff provide advice and names for consideration, so they have an important role, but we lay people make the final decision.

Inspiring and supporting congregations in the process and deliberations of choosing a pastor is the work of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries’ (ELM) Ministry Engagement Program.  Two other ELM programs work directly with LGBTQ rostered leaders, seminarians, and candidates for ordination and commissioning.  Ministry Engagement’s work is to insure that our congregations and ministries are prepared  to welcome these leaders and their gifts into consideration during the discernment of whom to call.

How do we make this happen?

• Enrich and Transform – This is a wonderful guide for anyone who wants to learn more about including LGBTQ candidates in a call process. While it was written especially for call committees, it can be used in congregations before a call committee is formed or even in congregations that are not yet in a leadership transition.

• Synod Assemblies – In 2015 Ministry Engagement staffed ELM tables at four Synod Assemblies. This was a great way to meet lay people and tell them more about ELM and about Enrich and Transform. In 2016 we plan to have tables at 10 or more Synod Assemblies.  We’ll have as many as we have volunteers to help this happen in their home Synods

• Local Synod Contacts – Ministry Engagement also has Local Synod Contacts in eight Synods to connect with Synod staff and support them in working with congregations in leadership transition. Many of these volunteers are Proclaim members, others are long-time supporters of ELM. They have made sure that the Synod staff know about Enrich and Transform, and some have done trainings with staff and with interim pastors or met with congregation call committees.

One comment we’ve heard more often than we would like is “But my congregation is just not ready for an LGBTQ pastor.”  But that can’t be the end of the conversation. Our response is “What are you doing to get ready?”

How about your congregation?  Do you already have a LGBTQ pastor or minister?  Are you ready for the next call process? (It will come!)

What can you do now to get ready?  One good step is to take a look at the Enrich and Transform guide and start some conversations in your congregation.  Another would be to host an ELM display table at your synod assembly (contact me at morel@alumni.rice.edu if you’re interested).

Your donations help us keep these projects going.  Your work in your own congregation and Synod can do even more!

*Printer-friendly version of Enrich and Transform.

 

Margaret Moreland is ready for anything in her cold water survival suit, but it does make talking difficult.  And she really likes talking about how wonderful it is to be a member of a congregation with a Proclaim pastor.

 

 

by Rev. Jen Rude, ELM program director

A movement of out seminarians began in the late 1980’s when four seminarians came out to their candidacy committees. These and other acts broke open the movement for full inclusion in the Lutheran church.

And twenty five years later LGBTQ seminarians are still at the forefront.  Today we celebrate the impact Proclaim seminarians are making in our churches and seminaries.

In 2009, when the policy barring LGBTQ candidates and rostered leaders in same sex relationships ended, ELM was working with 2 or 3 LGBTQ seminarians each year.

Now, just six years later, there are 58 publicly identified LGBTQ seminarians connected with Proclaim. Seminarians make up more than 25% of the Proclaim community. The future looks very bright!

More and more LGBTQ people who are called to ministry are now able to follow this call into our seminaries, our congregations, and into the whole church.  Some are born and raised Lutheran and others are drawn into the Lutheran church through our theology, engagement in the world, and faithful witness.

Who are today’s LGBTQ seminarians?

They are scholars.  Seven current Proclaim seminarians are recipients of a merit-based full tuition ELCA Fund for Leaders Scholarship and several others were awarded partial Fund for Leaders scholarships.

They are community leaders.  Both on and off campus these leaders are involved in the work of being church in the world.  Proclaim seminarians are taking the lead on four separate campuses to work with our movement partner ReconcilingWorks toward becoming a Reconciling in Christ seminary. They are leading Gay-Straight Alliances and are involved in LGBTQ groups in the community leading conversations about faith. But don’t expect to find them exclusively in LGBTQ ministries.  Proclaim seminarians are active in Public Church Fellows, Interfaith Supper Club, and the Lutheran Office of Public Policy Council. They care about and are active in many aspects of the wider church.

They are servants.  Proclaim seminarians are serving on synod council.  Several members are serving as student body President and members of the student association at their seminary. As part of their seminary worship life they are serving as school sacristan and leading a liturgical dance group.

And that’s just a sampling.

While these seminarians are amazing leaders in so many ways, being LGBTQ is part of what makes them extraordinary – wonderfully “out of the ordinary.”  This experience of being an LGBTQ person of faith has shaped their call and their gifts for ministry.  They are faithful –  following a call to ministry in a church that still has a lot of room to grow in LGBTQ affirmation, and being unsure of where this call may lead them.  They are justice-seekers –  having a particular eye for those on the margins and others who may have felt excluded.  They are evangelical – sharing about the transformative power of God in their own lives as a way to share with others the Good News. And they are fabulous – bringing their unique and beautiful selves in service to God and God’s people.

Proclaim seminarians continue to lead the way in proclaiming the gospel with justice and grace. The road is not always easy, but these leaders have listened to their call, developed and shared their gifts, and are seizing the opportunity to be good stewards of their education, their ministries and the wider community.  

Your gift to ELM helps support these extraordinary seminarians so that one day soon they will be ready to be called to serve your congregation. Lucky you!

 

By Rev. Jen Rude, who is inspired and humbled both by the witness of those early LGBTQ seminarians of the 1980s and the 58+ seminarians who continue the movement across our church today.

Guest blog by Proclaim member, Rev. Mark Erson, pastor of St John’s Lutheran in New York City.

“We are a small congregation with a big mission.”  That is my stock line for introducing people to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – a 160 year old congregation in the West Village of Manhattan (literally across the street from the Stonewall Inn) that was coming out of a challenging decade when I accepted a call to serve as its pastor in 2011.  Accepting this call meant redeveloping a congregation that was close to death and had had little connection with the neighborhood of the West Village.  Neighbors that I spoke with actually were surprised to hear that there was still an active congregation in the building.

Eager to connect with the neighborhood in new ways, and especially eager to proclaim the good news of God’s love to the many in our community who think they are not welcome in God’s church, I jumped at chances to collaborate with folks who came looking for space and support.  The needs of the neighborhood were so great and immediate, I did not want to wait for us to grow to a size that could take on issues like LGBTQ homeless young adults or too many people thinking that they were outside the reach of God’s mercy, love, and grace.

Like an answer to a prayer I wasn’t wise enough to utter, Miss Simone (a transgender performer and promoter) came to me and asked if she could host a fashion show in the sanctuary.  I was game.  The night was filled with women of transgender experience, showing their style and fabulousness, along with a couple doing lip-sync performances.  As one of the young women was leaving, she thanked me deeply for allowing this to happen in the church.

I reflected on that short exchange for quite a while.  These folks had grown up in faith communities that had either shown them the door or caused them to run out the door before they were found out.  They had grown up in communities where music was important and style was honored.  On that night, they could bring all those valued parts of their culture and themselves and be in the sacred space of a church as their authentic self.

We had a couple more similar events.  We also became known as the church for memorials of noted drag performers and transgender people.  In most cases, the family did not want to acknowledge the individual’s true self and/or did not want friends to be present for the “official” funeral.  So friends and colleagues would come to St. John’s and ask to provide a memorial event that truly celebrated the life of this child of God.  These have been some very moving events.

After one of these events of style and song, I asked the performers if someone would work with me to create a similar event in which presenters would perform gospel music.  I got a taker, and we were off.

But what was this thing that we were creating?  Where did it fit into the church culture? In LGBTQ culture?  We could not call it a drag event, because most of the performers were transgender.  So, we started calling it Gospel Divas.  But then some guys wanted to join in, who would perform lip-syncing to the tracks of male singers.  So we started calling it Gospel Night.  Sometimes we even add in a live singer and instrumentalists.

It continues to evolve.  When we first started, one of the performers would MC.  But now, I am doing the hosting.  I use the time in between songs to bring the good news, to highlight lyrics of songs just performed for the sake of teaching of God’s amazing love.  I also see that we are starting to borrow more and more from the revival culture of American Christianity.

True confession:  I am only starting to speak (and write) about this ministry.  I have been shy to even talk to colleagues about it for fear that they will be shocked and judge me crazy.   But I think of Boniface transforming pagan tree symbols into Christian symbols that pointed to the God that the missionary was bringing.  I think of the Wycliffe Bible Translators in the South Pacific who engaged a culture that had no concept of sheep and so they had to translate the image of Lamb of God into Pig of God, because pigs were cherished and valued most.  But mostly I think of that woman of Bethany who anointed Jesus’ feet much to the dismay and shock of those watching.  But Jesus welcomes the shocking behavior of sincere and heart-felt devotion.  And, transformed by the one who makes all things new, we have been anointing one another in Jesus’ name ever since.

So it continues to evolve.  What to call it continues to be the question of the hour.  The newest name:  Magnify:  An Evening of Music and Mercy.  Whatever we call it, whatever it evolves into, it is exciting to see the number of people drawn to this expression of faith and praise, to witness and hear of people being moved by this unique “church” experience.  As we continue to sing a new song, may God’s name be praised and may the good news of God’s mercy and grace be heard.

*Editor’s note:  A note about “drag” and “transgender.” Within the LGBTQ community there is a wide diversity of expressions of self and identity. We don’t always agree or have the same experience, but it is a value of ELM to create spaces of belonging and naming for diverse identities and expressions. In this article, Mark references both communities – drag and transgender.

By Rev. Mark Erson. Mark – a New York City native, Lutheran PK, and avid traveler – is ridiculously happily married to his high school sweetheart, Scott Jordan.  They are blessed with a feisty pit bull-rottweiler mix named Brooklyn.  After adventures in the world of theatre and teaching, Mark finally was pinned by the Holy Spirit and led to say “yes” to a lifelong-avoided call to ordained ministry.  He was ordained in April of 2009 and currently serves St. John’s, Manhattan.

 

Guest blog by Proclaim Program Convener and ELM Board Member, Rev. Emily E. Ewing

I recently attended my first in-person ELM Board Meeting since becoming the Proclaim Program Convener.  It was wonderful to spend time with the extraordinary folks on our board, including people who have been a part of the movement since the beginning and shared incredible stories from the early days and newer folks and fellow Proclaim-ers who are also on the board.  I was blown away by the commitment and care of the folks who make up the Board as well as the amazing work they, and now we, are doing to support LGBTQ people in ministry!  We did a lot of great work together over the course of 3 days.

One of my favorite conversations was about the “why?” of ELM.  We did an exercise to get down to a basic “why” statement as a way of describing ELM’s purpose. Before the 2009 policy change, this was generally understood as “ELM believes LGBTQ people should be able to be pastors and is making that possible.” Since 2009, it’s been a little harder to describe. We began the exercise by sharing our own personal “whys” we have for doing this work.  Mine ranged from doing this because LGBTQ leaders have huge gifts for the church and still face unnecessary obstacles when encountering the institution of the ELCA to the reality that my being as a queer pastor is Good News for some and makes it ok for others to also claim their faith.  

After sharing our personal “whys”, we started picking out commonalities, words and phrases that resonated deeply, then combined them into a simple statement that we all felt connected to. That statement is “ELM believes that LGBTQ people have extraordinary gifts for ministry – through their public witness they proclaim the Gospel now.” The statement is not set in stone – for example we used “Gospel” knowing that depending on the context, it could make more sense to say “God’s love for all” or “God’s mercy,” etc., but the statement is helpful for me in talking about ELM and the work we’re doing together.  We also talked about our various programs and why they exist and why we are part of them, which was fun to think through.  Needless to say, there was some overlap between ELM’s organization-wide “why” and my “why” as Proclaim convener as well as the “why” of the Proclaim program.

We also talked about the new proposal for our Proclaim Gatherings, which adds more focus and resources toward regional/local gatherings while still continuing to offer an annual national gathering.  The Board affirmed the proposal and I’m excited for the opportunities we’ll have to not only gather together April 10-13, 2016 in San Juan Bautista, California, but also gather regionally for an evening or even an overnight for those of us that are more spread out.  We also will be starting to look at smaller, more specifically focused gatherings beginning in 2017!  This is so exciting!

I also got to hear about the Ministry Engagement program’s presence at Synod Assemblies, focusing on congregations to continue to expand the congregations that would potentially call Proclaim rostered leaders.  They are working to expand ELM’s presence at future Synod Assemblies, so if someone in your congregation might be interested in hosting an ELM table at your assembly next year, keep that in mind as Margaret Moreland, the Ministry Engagement Convener would probably love to talk to them! (morel@alumni.rice.edu)

Accompaniment continues to do amazing work from connecting those awaiting first call with coaches to journey with them through the process to the amazing work of our Proclaim Seminarian Team and the 60 seminarians in Proclaim!!

We began talking about our 2016 budget and staffing for the organization, especially as we are growing so much (with 210+ Proclaim members)!!  As part of our conversation around staffing we decided to make Amalia and Jen’s shift to a 36-hour, 4-day (Monday-Thursday) workweek permanent, recognizing the benefit it gives them in both their work and their personal life, which also means it benefits us.  

This was a great time and so affirming in the work that we are all doing together to support and encourage each other and all LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, seminarians, and those awaiting calls.

As Proclaim continues to grow, I am excited for the ways that we are engaging each other as a community virtually and locally.  It is always a gift for me when I get to see fellow Proclaimers and ELM supporters, both through my computer screen and in person.  This is only possible because of the commitment of the work of ELM and the fierce support and affirmation of folks throughout ELM’s larger community.  So thank you, for your support: your prayers and your donations, which make it possible for us to continue to be fruitful and multiplying.

Rev. Emily E. Ewing graduated in 2014 with an M Div from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.  Emily is thoroughly enjoying the role of Proclaim Program Convener.  Emily is currently living in West Jordan, Utah, enjoys live Facebooking conferences and is surprisingly fond of running half marathons.

by Rev. Jen Rude, ELM program director

Facebook went a little “Proclaim” wild for many of us last week! We were celebrating our 200^th member. That’s more than FOUR TIMES the size our community was just six years ago. And just a week after welcoming our 200^th member, we said hello to our 210^th! The energy is contagious.

Proclaim is a group committed to a public witness that LGBTQ people have extraordinary gifts for ministry, that our church is blessed by diversity, that God’s beloved community is expanding, and that God’s grace is abounding.

The week was dubbed “#Proclaim200” and each day members of Proclaim posted a thought or question to generate conversation.  These topics included sharing about extraordinary gifts of LGBTQ leaders, honoring the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, prayers for a messy and beautiful community of God, barriers faced by LGBTQ people in the church and ways people are overcoming them, and an invitation to tell others about ELM and Proclaim.

Thousands of people who have likely never heard about Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries or our Proclaim program saw a Facebook post from their colleague, friend, acquaintance, family member, classmate or pastor about the public witness of LGBTQ leaders in our church. Here are some of the comments people made:

How do I become a member of Proclaim?

I think LGBTQ leaders bring an understanding of what it means to have to claim your sacredness against all odds, and therefore, can reach out to others who are struggling to claim their sacred core with deeper passion and compassion.

A profound understanding of what it means to lead from the margins, and to cling to grace even in the face of hardship and evil. I’m grateful for the lessons they teach me every day.

Thank you for inspiring me — for reminding me of the Gospel Promise!!

My Facebook feed is starting to fill up with all these ‪#‎Proclaim200 Clergy.  It makes me hopeful and grateful.

We are so grateful to you, our ELM supporters, for all the ways you proclaim the love of God, celebrate the diversity in our church, and faithfully and fabulously live the Good News.

by Jen Rude.  Jen posted more to Facebook during #Proclaim200 than she usually does in a month.  And she gives thanks for the the people of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (a predecessor to ELM) who first taught and showed her the value of public witness as an LGBTQ person in the church.

 

This week we have a guest post from Proclaim member, Emmy Kegler.  Read about some of the creative and exciting ministry Emmy is engaged in as she awaits first call.

By Emmy Kegler

When I came out as gay at 16, I knew my life was going to be complicated. When I accepted the long-fought call to ministry at 19, I knew my life was going to be more complicated.  And when I followed that call all the way through Clinical Pastoral Education, internship, three years of classes, divorce, graduation, and this period of time awaiting first call in the Twin Cities… I had a sneaking suspicion that my life was always going to have a strong degree of messiness.

Many of you know this mess, too.  We become translators of our experience, bridgers of the gap.  We explain to friends, family, loved ones, colleagues, seminarians, call committees, congregations, total strangers how it can be that we are gay-, bi-, trans-, queer-and-also-Christian.  I love those conversations (most of the time).  I love how the messiness of being LGBTQ and called to serve the church can transform people’s minds and hearts around sexual orientation, gender identity, Scripture, tradition, and the long arc of the hope of God.  But these conversations can be exhausting.  It is not always fun to have my personal life and ministerial calling as a theological exercise.  The layers on layers of theology, history, and interpretation are difficult to unwrap over a beer at a neighbor’s barbeque.  

I wanted to create a space where people could learn, on their own time, at their own comfort level, about the myriad of concepts and beliefs around what it means to be LGBTQ and Christian. There are so many incredible resources scattered across the Internet, but tracking them down through a basic Google search can be like walking through a queerphobic minefield.  In addition, the interconnected questions are complex.  What does feminist theology have to do with the way we read the Bible as LGBTQ people?  How did the Lutheran church get to where it is? What is bisexuality and what does it have to do with faith?  How do we know when we’re in a spiritually abusive church and how do we leave?

For years I’ve wanted to create a space that could connect all those questions and the incredible resources already in existence.  So on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, with my girlfriend holding my shaking hand, I launched a fundraiser for a website tentatively called Queer Grace, “an encyclopedia for LGBTQ and Christian life.”

Four months later, fifteen thousand people have visited the site.  Donations just topped $2,500, meaning I can pay my growing group of writers for the incredible content they are generating. Eighteen articles are up, with eight more awaiting submission or final edits.  In the next phase, I’ll be updating the site with direct links to important sites like gaychurch.org (is your church on there? Double check!).

At first, Queer Grace was a way to fill my waiting time.  But each day I work, I feel a sneaking suspicion that this is as much my call as ordained ministry will be.  I live in a space where the word of God is preached, the law named, the gospel proclaimed.  I live in a space where the promise of welcome at the Lord’s table is offered.  

Queer Grace is found at www.queergrace.com.  When you have the time, read it.  Share it.  Let me know where there are resources lacking.  Donate to the cause.  The Spirit is up to something here, and we’re all welcomed along for the ride.

 

Emmy R. Kegler has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn.  She was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent some time in evangelical and non-denominational traditions before finding her home in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.  She is currently awaiting call in the ELCA.  While she waits, she works as a self-employed web designer and church curricula writer.  She lives in Minneapolis and enjoys biking, board games, books, beer, and babysitting her girlfriend’s dogs.

Guest blog by Proclaim member, Miriam Samuelson-Roberts

I love talking to my friend Lindsay on the phone. We both just graduated from seminary, and it brings me such joy to hear about her ministry, her girlfriend, her road trips, and to talk about our shared passion for all things gardening and vegetable-related. Lindsay, like me, is a queer bisexual woman.

I also love talking to my friend Joel. Joel and I went to college and seminary together, and have talked each other through preparation for our preaching class together, shared moments of spiritual self-discovery, and have seen each other through all the normal excitement and love and heartbreak that comes with young adulthood. Joel also identifies as bisexual.

I love keeping up with my friend Kelsie—as she lives into her ministry on internship this year, as she prepares for having a baby with her husband, as she preaches and leads Bible studies and prepares to be a pastor. Kelsie, too, is a bisexual woman.

I tell these stories because stories are the way I most relate to God’s vision for the world—through the stories of the Bible, through the parables Jesus tells, through the stories of fellow humans and children of God living their lives today. As I reflect on my own identity—a queer bisexual woman, married to a man, who feels called to ordained ministry in the ELCA—I see my own story reflected in the stories of other people whose sexual identities may not fit into prescribed categories, and whose stories often go untold. I relate a lot to the term “bisexual invisibility”—bisexuality, or really any identity that doesn’t fit neatly into categories—is an identity that often gets erased, or subsumed into the binary categories of gay and straight, or dismissed as something that isn’t real or valid.

And so I tell these stories, and my own story, mostly to say that God’s kingdom is vast, and varied, and beautiful. When Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, I believe he calls us to understand our neighbors as ourselves—to see the sacred in one another and in each of the ways we are called, in our unique identities and lives, to live out God’s love in the world. Bisexuality and other non-binary sexual identities are as varied as the people who possess them. And that’s a wonderful thing! What a gift to get to listen to the many ways that bisexual people live out their calls as partners, friends, pastors, and community members. What a gift to have to listen deeply—to have to put away all assumptions about categories and to get to hear people’s stories for what they are.

This is what I hope for bisexuality and all non-binary sexual identities in the Church—that these identities can be visible, that they can be a way of helping us all recognize the broad spectrum of identity and the many ways we each live that out. When I was younger, my youth choir would totally ham it up every time we sang “All God’s Children Have a Place in the Choir”—we would break out kazoos and tambourines and we would jump around with the freedom of knowing that we each really did have a place there. I’m grateful for spaces in the Church where we all feel like we have a place, and I’m grateful for those who are working to ensure that more and more of those places exist for all of us. Thanks be to God for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and all its partners, supporters, and advocates who are doing this life-changing ministry that allows us to put away all assumptions and hear, serve, and love all our neighbors.

 

Miriam Samuelson-Roberts just completed her MDiv at Yale Divinity School and is serving as pastoral intern at Augustana Lutheran Church in West St. Paul, MN this year. She lives proudly into the space of being a bisexual woman married to a man and is grateful for the places that conversations around faith and sexuality intersect. She and her husband Daniel live in Minneapolis and love being outdoors, but are also sort of enjoying the Netflix life right now. 

Guest blog by Malina Keaton, member of ELM’s Ministry Engagement Team 

ELM’s Ministry Engagement program connects congregations allied with ELM’s mission. Team member Malina Keaton has recently been interviewing some of these congregations to find out what makes them so, well, extraordinary! We hope their stories will inspire you.  This week we turn to St Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago.

Catherine Swanson was looking for a church home for her wife and children in Chicago, Illinois. After attending numerous services of congregations in the area without luck, they happened upon St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Logan Square and kept coming back. Growing up in a conservative church in Iowa, Catherine searched for local Reconciling in Christ congregations in hopes that she could find a place of welcome for her and her family. “We were entering this space that has been historically unsafe for us in our lives, but every time we entered the doors [at St. Luke’s] we were treated like everyone else. We didn’t feel like we shouldn’t be there.”

Her experience of welcoming has been twofold, an intersection of the intentional work of both a congregation and its pastor, the Rev. Erik Christensen. One way that some RIC congregations have lived out their welcome is by calling an LGBTQ pastor.  “We went to several churches that were listed as being open to LGBT people and some of them were just open to it. When you went there, you were obviously the only person that was gay in the whole congregation… If you called a gay pastor, the congregation has already had to come to terms with a gay person to the point where they’re okay with being led by someone who’s gay. It moves it beyond just rhetoric.”

To Catherine, this openness is not limited to sexuality, and reflects a congregation’s willingness to grapple with other difficult faith discussions or topics that are typically pushed aside in other ministries – a message that can prove invaluable to those who have felt marginalized by church communities.

The other experience of welcoming Catherine attributes to the leadership of Pastor Erik Christensen, a man who revitalized the congregation of St. Luke’s and enabled its average weekly attendance to grow from fifteen to sixty in his tenure. While many in his congregation say that he encourages them to work for justice in the world and that he has a global sense of service to others, he has impacted Catherine specifically in a profound way. “He’s given me a new vision of what church can be. I came from such a conservative background that he’s given me a feeling that anybody, any person in the community, is welcome regardless of your past or who you are or who you’ve been. You’re all welcome to be here.”

Pastor Erik’s welcoming nature is especially poignant since he himself faced discrimination at the church door. When Erik completed his Masters of Divinity, the ELCA was not ordaining openly gay candidates. Erik was ordained extraordinarily in 2006 and was only received onto the clergy roster of the ELCA in 2010 after the ELCA began ordaining and receiving LGBTQ clergy.

But as many LGBTQ seminarians and clergy have come to understand, this denominational policy change has not shifted the day-to-day rejection or hostility they face. That is why ELM and congregations like St. Luke’s are invaluable to those receiving messages that they do not belong in church.

When Catherine decided to pursue candidacy, leaders in the church cautioned her, expressing that she may never get a job due to the fact that she was a lesbian woman with an interracial family. It was during this time that Pastor Erik was vital to her perception of the church and her call, “I really felt like the church didn’t want me. Not because of who I am but just because I’m gay. Pastor Erik has just made it obvious that there is a space for me if that’s what I want to do… I can be a part of the church and I can be a leader in the church that lives authentically to who I am and that’s enough, and he’s given that message not just to me but to every person that walks in that door. It’s something I’ve grown so much from and feel like I want to share with other people.”

Congregations connected to ELM and Proclaim clergy in turn have a unique opportunity to not only uplift seminarians throughout the call process, but to inspire them to action in the church and surrounding communities by offering voices of welcome and acceptance – voices that continue to be needed in the church today.

To find out more about how your congregation can be more extraordinary(!), see our resource for congregations and call committees – Enrich & Transform: Welcoming LGBTQ Candidates into the Call Process.