This is good news for Christ our Emmanuel, Angela, and for our whole church. The above passage from 1st Corinthians is part of the service of ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry and a reminder of the call we share – serving Christ and stewarding God’s mysteries.
Angela graduated from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2012 and has been living in New England while awaiting call. Angela also serves as a chaplain for Proclaim, the professional community for publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, seminarians and candidates.
As we celebrate Angela, we also call to mind others who are on this path. In the last few months we’ve had almost a dozen Proclaim seminarians approved for ordination. In a few weeks, February 18 & 19, this group of seminarians will go through the ELCA assignment process, determining the geographical area of the church where they might serve. During this exciting, stressful, at times quite mysterious, and hopefully spirit-filled process, we hold all these candidates in prayer. ELM’s Accompaniment program will be holding two conference video calls after the assignment process with approved candidates. We are eager to hear how the process went and where people are assigned as they await a call. Join us in praying for these candidates, those awaiting call, courageous faith communities, Christ our Emmanuel, and Angela Joy Nelson, as we all continue to serve Christ and seek to be good stewards of God’s abundant mysteries.
Guest blog by Emily Ewing, Proclaim member and Proclaim seminarian coordinator, 4th year student at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)
Photo by Emily Ann Garcia
Over Thanksgiving this past year, instead of spending time with friends and family giving thanks, overeating, and taking long naps, I was privileged to participate in the Dialogue of the Americas on Faith, Migration, and the Economy. Thanks to support from ELCA Global Mission, I didn’t need to pay for the plane ticket to Quito, Ecuador for the event.
The event was an ecumenical gathering of pastors and theologians from North America, largely the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. I was the only seminarian at the event and one of the youngest people there. Throughout the event, people presented papers they had written around the topic of faith, migration, and the economy. In our breakout groups, we discussed wide-ranging issues from identity to the church, scripture, justice, and empire.
One of the topics that kept coming up for me was the concept of imago Dei—the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created humankind in hir image, in the image of God she created them; male and female he created them.”* While we were discussing the themes around identity that came up during presentations, we kept coming back to an understanding of humankind as the image of God, or rostro de Dios (literally translated, it is “face of God”) in Spanish.
Some of our conversation was around who all this includes (we decided that it included everybody). This meant that when we heard Rev. Dr. Nancy Cardoso articulate the situation of many women who migrate, we had to recognize that the face of God is the face of sex workers and domestic workers throughout the Americas. This then led to conversation about how God’s face, God’s image in humanity, is not complete when some are marginalized, murdered, and oppressed.
From there, we explored the concept that most drew me in: that humankind is made in God’s image. It is not, in fact, any one individual who is made in God’s image, but only together, collectively that we are made in God’s image. To be the full rostro de Dios, we must all be present, all be in the face. This changes how we interact with each other. It’s no longer just that each individual we encounter bears the image of God, but that all those who are affected by oppression and marginalization, all those who oppress and marginalize and all those who are in between or do both at different times are the image of God together.
For those of us from the United States, it means that we have to ask ourselves what it means that we are building a wall through God’s face. We have to question the foreign policies that cause so much harm and suffering in other countries and lead to the movement of God’s face. We have to recognize our interconnectedness and our need for the Other and others in order to be complete.
*Note: In an effort to use more expansive and inclusive language for God, when necessary and appropriate, I alternate pronouns for God between ze/hir/hirs/hirself (gender neutral/third gender pronouns), she/her/hers/herself, and he/him/his/himself, rather than restricting myself to either “God” or “He” as can be more common.
Registration for Dreams & Visions, the 2014 Proclaim Retreat, begins this Friday, January 10th! The Proclaim Retreat is an annual gathering of Proclaim, the professional community for publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, seminarians and candidates. It is a time of renewal, learning, connections, laughter, worship, and play. This year we are gathering May 4-7, 2014 at Heartwood Conference Center and Retreat in Trego, WI.
Being a publicly identified LGBTQ leader in our church can be both a blessing and a challenge. Gathering for support, celebration, and community is critical for us and for the ministries we serve, so that we can continue, with boldness, to proclaim the Good News!
Help us get the word out about ELM, Proclaim, and the retreat. We are sending retreat posters to seminaries and divinity schools (poster pictured). Are there other places where we can get the word out? Email program director, Jen Rude (programdirector [at] elm.org), if you’d like us to send you some snazzy posters.
Check out the Proclaim Retreat site for more details, information about scholarships, and to register, beginning January 10th!
Thank you to the Philip N. Knutson Endowment, the Carpenter Foundation, and other ELM supporters for special contributions for this retreat.
Thanks to you, it’s been another full and productive year for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. If you missed a few stories, or just want to look back at all you helped accomplish, we’ve gathered together our top stories of the year.
Proclaim Our Proclaim community grew to 143. This means that in less than three years, the number of publicly identified LGBTQ rostered leaders and candidates has TRIPLED. Wowza. We launched a new section on our website, Proclaim Profiles, to help you learn more about the leaders you are supporting. Read Profiles.
A number of folks in Proclaim received calls. For some these were first calls – including the Rev. Erik Haaland (called to Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, MN), the Rev. Sara Cogsil (called to University Lutheran Church in East Lansing, MI), the Rev. Matthew James (called to Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester, MA), the Rev. Jeanine Reardon (called to St. Paul Lutheran in Evanston, IL and specialized ministry in chaplaincy). And others began new calls: Rev. Paul Clark (Chaplain at Fresno State University), Rev. Jenny Mason (Light of the World in Farmington, MN), Rev. John Roberts (Unity Lutheran in Chicago, IL), and Rev. Mark Allred (Program Director for American Indian & Alaskan Native Ministries for the ELCA).
Oh and then there was that other call…the Rev. Guy Erwin was elected Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA making history (and the news!). Full Story. And a link to all the news coverage here.
We said goodbye to a beloved member our community, the Rev. Paul Brenner, who passed away on February, 24 2013. Full Story.
And we walked with many Proclaim members who still await call. Chris Wogaman shared his take on this experience in a guest blog. Read it here.
We held our biggest Proclaim Retreat yet! LGBTQ leaders and their families gathered for renewal and learning in sunny California. Full Story. Or if you like to see it in pictures, check out our retreat slideshow.
Accompaniment Thanks to you – and in response to a growing need – we greatly expanded our outreach to LGBTQ Lutheran candidates for ministry in 2014. Full Story.
Ministry Engagement
This was a year of transition for the way that we support LGBTQ-led ministry. 2013 marked the final year (for now) of direct grants to congregations and ministries. We provided nearly $1 million in grant funds since 1995. In 2014, we are launching Ministry Engagement, a new way of connecting with ministries led by LGBTQ-leaders – and those that are open to it in the future.
You helped support fantastic and successful ministries like EcoFaith Recovery and pastors like the Rev. Robyn Hartwig in Portland, Oregon. Full Story.
You provided support for mission development ministry like Spirit of Hope in Detroit, MI, led by the Rev. Matthew Bode. Full Story.
You helped fund four internships for LGBTQ seminarians – from Denver, CO to Victoria, British Columbia! Full Story.
Joel R. Workin Scholar
You supported Gretchen Colby Rode, our 2013 Workin Scholar. Full Story. Gretchen shared some reflections in a guest blog post here.
Other Noteworthy Highlights Of course, a major development this year was saying goodbye to long-time staff member, Rachael Johnson, and expanding our staff to include a new full-time program director. We’re delighted that the Rev. Jen Rude began this important role in October of this year! Full Story
The Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries Board of Directors approved a new mission and vision statement and affirmed a multi-year strategic plan. Full Story.
The Rev. Jenny Mason traveled to her former missionary site in Chile and had a powerful experience. Read More.
Executive Director Amalia Vagts was able to give an important LGBTQ perspective in The Lutheran. Read the essay.
Lastly, we launched a new 6 -minute video to help you introduce your friends and congregation to ELM. Share this video widely! Click the photo below to watch the video.
We couldn’t do any of this without you. We haven’t finalized our 2013 numbers, but over 425 individuals and congregations and two foundations shared their resources to help us raise $207,886 for LGBTQ leaders and LGBTQ-led ministries. Friends also gave special gifts totaling $14,300 towards the Joel R. Workin Endowment. All of this work happens thanks to your generosity and faithful support. Thank you for your wonderful involvement in 2013 and for joining us as we head into 2014!
by Jen Rude, program director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
We live in an in-between time: between God’s promises made and fulfilled, between the Christ who came as a baby and the Christ we wait for to come again. Once again our Advent themes speak truth to so many of our lives.
The in-between time is profoundly felt by many, including those in our Proclaim community who are waiting for their first call. Seminary is complete. Internship done. Candidacy papers and committees approved. Assigned to a synod, done. But still waiting for the call of a community to share their gifts of preaching, teaching, sharing the sacraments, pastoral care and more.
This past week Randy Nelson, our Candidacy Accompaniment convener, and I hosted a video chat gathering for those in our community who are in this in-between time. We gathered over computers and phone lines from California to Massachusetts. And I was once again amazed by the creativity, depth, and faithfulness of these gifted and called pastors of our church.
Perhaps your congregation could benefit from some of the extraordinary gifts of these or other Proclaim leaders. When you need pulpit supply, ask a local Proclaim seminarian or person awaiting call (look in the new year for an easy way to find out who’s available in your area via the ELM website!). As your community enters a call process for a new pastor, consider intentionally opening that process to a gifted LGBTQ candidate.
Thank you for your support of these leaders and others. One of the ways your gift to ELM helps is to provide scholarships for seminarians and those awaiting call to attend the annual Proclaim retreat, a time to refresh, renew, network and be sustained for ministry. Because while connecting over computer screens and telephones is valuable, sharing a meal together, worshiping together, or sitting by the lake and just talking, is priceless.
Quick Question: What do you guys want for Christmas? By Bruce Jervis
Bruce Jervis (on left) and Jim Kowalski care about ELM.
My spouse, Jim Kowalski, and I both read the e-mail a few years ago one afternoon in late November. It was just a few lines long, from a dear friend asking what we wanted for Christmas – sent ahead of time so that our reply could inform his gift shopping before our mid-December planned get together. A few days later, two different relatives separately asked the same question by phone.
We thought about it for a while, trying to come up with something to suggest. Something nice, but easy for the shopper to find. Something that wasn’t too big and was definitely affordable. Nothing came to mind. Sure – there were things we wanted (like to demolish and fully remodel our upstairs bathroom – since done!) but nothing that we felt right to ask for as gifts from family and friends. We knew we had to give an answer or else be given something that sat there, not needed or wanted – and ultimately never used.
As we were giving our annual gift to Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, we spent a few minutes reflecting on the amazing work ELM does, supporting LGBTQ clergy and the ministries they serve. We smiled with joy thinking about the ELM-affiliated pastors who make such differences in the lives of those they proclaim the Gospel among. Then it just clicked – why not ask our friends and family to make donations to ELM as our gift!
We asked. They gave! Many of them continue to give each year. We’re truly grateful for their ongoing support of an organization we love!
Maybe your friends and relatives would want to give to ELM as their gift to you, too! Please consider adding support of ELM to your Christmas wish list this year. Thank you!
Bruce Jervis and Jim Kowalski are long-time supporters of ELM and members of St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Jim currently serves on the ELM Board.
by Amalia Vagts, executive director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
Your gift supports ministry by LGBTQ people.
This past Monday night, my partner David and I were driving to an orchestra concert at school. We had an “NPR” moment – those times when you are trapped in your car by a story you want to hear. This was a report about charitable giving and since Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries exists because of the generous investment of individuals and congregations, I was curious.
One thing that jumped out for me was the comment that most people do their charitable giving after they’ve paid for everything else – fixed expenses, savings, and personal enjoyment. Of course, I’ve always thought that the friends of ELM who write checks faithfully to us to support LGBTQ pastors and seminarians were a unique bunch. So I have to think we are different than the norm in this regard too. I’ve met many of the people who have been involved with ELM over the years. And for most, supporting ELM is a priority.
I thought about David’s and my giving. The biggest charitable check we write each month is to ELM, second biggest to our congregation, and then we have a few other organizations we support. Okay, we don’t actually write the checks (it is 2013 after all), rather they are automatically deducted from our account. They come out each month, right after our paychecks go in. That way, they are just part of what we do every month. Every year, when we add all of this up, David says, “We gave THAT MUCH away?” I don’t say that to pat ourselves on the back for being generous or to intimate that David isn’t aware of what we give. Rather I share it for three reasons: 1) if I’m going to ask you to write a check to ELM, I want you to know that my family does it too; 2) making a gift each month really adds up to quite a surprising amount for the things we care about; and 3) since it’s automatically deducted we just give it without trying to decide each month if we can swing it or not.
It’s the season when you are being asked to give (you may even have a letter from me in your mailbox or on your table). For all who support non-profits at any level, I say THANK YOU. You probably hear from every organization that “we couldn’t do it without you.” And it’s true. And who would want to? Doing this work with all of you is way too much fun.
Advent Blessings to you. Thank you for all you do for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.
ELM is honored and excited to release the final version of “Candidacy and LGBTQ Individuals.” This one-of-a-kind resource was created for ELCA candidacy committees working with LGBTQ candidates. You are encourage to share this widely! We released a draft version earlier this year in order to receive feedback and we are grateful for the suggestions and comments you made. The document is stronger because of this communal effort.
This resource is timely in Advent, a season when we become more keenly aware of the now and not yet of so many things. Now, more and more gifted and called LGBTQ people are attending seminary and serving as rostered leaders. This is cause for joy and a celebration of these unique gifts in our church. And, at the same time, some gifted and called LGBTQ people continue to face barriers in seminary, candidacy and the call process and are told “not yet.” We hope this offered resource will serve to honor the now and not yet as we both recognize the reality of barriers AND celebrate with joy the gifts of our LGBTQ leaders.
We are thankful to the ELCA for their support of this project and for all the faithful ones who contributed to this gift. And thanks be to God who was, who is, and who is to come.
ELM and Proclaim come to life through your encouragement and support.
Learn how you can support LGBTQ leaders and allied ministries. The Fall-Winter MISSION Newsletter is now online. You may have received a copy in your mailbox a few weeks ago. Now’s your chance to tell your friends about the work of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and why you support it!
This edition includes details about the 9 strategic steps we will take over the next 3 years to support LGBTQ leaders and allied congregations and ministries: Identify 90 congregations open to calling an LGBTQ pastor! Identify or create 12 HEALTHY internship sites for LGBTQ interns! Expand our role as a leader in innovative ministries! But wait, there more…
Our Vision:
Freed and compelled by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to proclaim God’s love and seek justice for all, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries envisions a church where all may serve God according to their callings.
Our Mission:
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries affirms and supports LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders and those pursuing a call to rostered leadership while engaging allied congregations and ministries to proclaim God’s love and seek justice for all.
You invest in faithful leaders committed to the Gospel (photo by Emily Ann Garcia at the 2013 Proclaim Retreat).
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Luke 1:76-79)
We give thanks for the light you give to those who sit in darkness.
