"But I... must register some concerns about this document.

"First, I look for a social statement as a theological document to have THEOLOGY clearly evident as the Windows "operating system" throughout the whole document, helping us and the members of the wider society who may be listening in to think more thoughtfully and deeply with the Word of God leading the way. It strikes me that there are sections of this document, particuarly toward the end of it, where I felt as though the train had left the station, but the theological cargo didn't get loaded.

"Second, I look for a social statement as a teaching statement to use the best tools from our Lutheran treasure-chest, and if new modes of reflection are proposed, to build good bridges to them FROM time-honored Lutheran ways of doing ethical reflection. At several points I wish this document did a better job at that. To cite just one example, our rich Lutheran understanding of 'orders of creation' deserves something more noble than the kind of 'burial' that it gets here in footnote #11.

"Third, it seems to me that this statement tends to move us away from saying that there is throughout the scriptural and confessional witness a FORM to sexual relationships that we are confident has the blessing and command of God. It seems to me that there is proposed in this document no FORM of sexual expression that grounds us, serves as our North Star reference point....but instead we are directed to certain qualities of all kinds of sexual relationships (of whatever form)--that they be loving, committed, faithful, etc (all good things, by the way!)


"That subtle move away from the 'formfulness' of human sexuality is perhaps most troubling to me because I believe it will diminish our capacity to address faithfully other, future issues regarding human sexuality that will surely arise in the years to come. I suspect that many ELCA Lutherans who are not present with us in this assembly hall would agree with me in this concern. Thank you."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Lutheran • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths)

1. The young fogey wrote: The reasons they’re slower than the Episcopalians on approving this are they have clearer doctrine, there are about twice as many of them and thus there are more conservatives among them; in short they are less mainline than the Episcs. They’ll probably do it though - I understand the policy now is officially practising gay pastors aren’t allowed but officially it’s not enforced (?!). American Lutherans have the Missouri Synod to fall back to. Edited by elf. August 20, 8:48 am | [comment link]

2. Northwest Bob wrote: Ugh!  Great statement, but horrible results.  At the bottom of the whole article was the voting result.  Passed by exactly a 2/3 majority.  Looks like ECLA is rightly joined at the hip with TEC.  How sorrowful. But then, in the early evening, when we finally took our vote on the social statement, as amended (requiring a 2/3 majority vote, based on the ELCA Constitution), I witnessed something I had yet to see: Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson being stunned by the outcome of the vote: 676 in favor, and 338 opposed. The vote percentages were 66.67% YES and 33.33% NO. August 20, 9:47 am | [comment link]

3. magnolia wrote: the world is going mad. church used to be such a safe place, now we have to question every time we step into a new one. August 20, 11:09 am | [comment link]

4. Larry Morse wrote: Elves: Don’t look. Isn’t there someone on the phone asking for you? What IS the matter with this %&*$# blockhead church? Have you ever heard such monumental dishonesty, such idiot speciousness. From a church yet. “Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.” Now we have a stupid church.  Larry August 20, 12:42 pm | [comment link]

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