Over and over again there seems to be a return to a common couple of themes. Some on the side of passing the recommendations on ministry policies hold up the banner of fear as they look across the aisle to those who are against this proposal. Then again, those who want to defeat the proposal point at the other side and say they are appealing to mere emotion and experience.
I find it quite odd that as we consider this issue (and any issue that has to do with the life of the body of Christ) people would find that we can divorce thoughts from emotion - or theory and tradition from experience and concrete action.
At the continuation of the "quasi committee of the whole" the two sides arrived at the microphones ready to offer their considerations and stories. The first person against the proposal said that Scripture can be used for the ordination of women and the end of slavery even though many passages in Scripture put women in secondary positions in life and that slavery was a common part of the society of the day. She said that there are still some places in Scripture that show woman were given places of authority and helped to build up the community and slaves were their freedom and treated as brothers and sisters. She went on to say that "no one can make an argument from Scripture for same sex relationships."
One of my thoughts at the time was that she is has become so absorbed in what this verse or that verse says about a specific time and place that she is not hearing or seeing the vision of the Reign of God that is always pulling us away from all of our attempts to find meaning in the dotting of each "i" and the crossing of every "t". Vision does not mean that we dump tradition. It may mean that we let ourselves live within the gracefulness of re-viewing tradition and re-viewing Scripture with the promises of God's eternal Reign out in front of us. This will keep all of us from thinking we have arrived at and have control of the life of God's Reign - as we want it.
A self-described Transgender Latina from Colorado talked about the place she thought she could never have in and around a church. But...she realized that she too is saved...."because (and here is the sweet and simple power of a few words spoken through a vulnerable heart) Jesus is LORD." That is the defining promise and truth that has sustained her and brought her into the ELCA and now into a position of being a voting member at our Churchwide Assembly. She also noted that she has found that Christians have a hard time with the second half of the greatest commandment - love neighbor as self.
For the folks who come to the microphones demanding that we look at what the Scripture says, I saw an interesting difference in how the Scriptures were brought into the conversation. Some in opposition to the ministry proposal are good at drawing up a verse here and there that can be used to give the church guidance. From the side that would like to see change there were many more biblical stories being shared - parables - community life within the early church. One pastor apologizing for how uncomfortable he was at microphones at assemblies open up the story of the Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. He simply noted how amazing and wonderful and inspiring it was to hear that Philip overcame the historic rejection of such people like this Eunuch. He said "he went and sat down with him in the carriage." Again, a powerful image. What does Philip - this apostle blown by the winds of the Spirit - do when addressed by this outsider/defiled one? He sat down with him. We don't know all that was said but we can be assured that vision was shared as the Scripture was being opened wide. The pastor then added this question with a sense of wonder. "How was Philip changed by this experience?"
I think that is a question many do not want to face. When the Holy Spirit sweeps us up and pulls us into God's Reign, we will be changed...in the twinkling of an eye. Changed and brought into a completely new way of seeing and living. A way we previously thought was a complete absurdity and against all that we held so dear and close.
Still not sure how things will go this week. I do know that the ELCA is now behind an active program for the elimination of malaria. Something every congregation will be able to grab onto and be a part of providing something as simple as approved, chemically treated netting for people in countries overwhelmed by malaria.
So...not everything is about sex. Then again, I think these conversations make us consider more than ourselves and urge us to come in and sit down next to the "other" and let's begin to see what is needed to make life more full and whole for all of God's beloved.
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