February 10, 2007

Trial of Pastor Bradley Schmeling – the verdict

Surprise, complete and utter surprise.

As I was heading to St John's and on the cell phone, I was told that the decision of the Hearing Committee was "very complicated," 14 pages long, and was none of the outcomes that we had thought possible, even remotely. And, "oh, he will be removed from the ELCA roster of clergy on August 15 this year. You'll see when you get here."

I thought, "Fourteen pages to remove him from the roster of the ELCA? If that was what they wanted to do, why did it take them 14 pages; it only takes D&G 12 words to do that." To wit, "Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the ordained ministry of this church."

Strange wording, isn't that. "Practicing homosexual persons…" As if being homosexual was some kind of art form, or like playing the piano, hang gliding, or archery… you know, something you could get better at the more you applied yourself. Practice, practice, practice. Or medicine, be a practitioner, have a practice. Some sort of profession, something picked up along the way. Something you put on a business card. Homosexual, PhD. Board Certified. Diplomate of…

Instead of the reality: that if you are LGBT, it is who you are, it is about who you love. It is part of your relationship with everyone, everything… and God. The God who made you, and who understands you best, even if God's church still has some way to go on that subject.

I arrived at St John's and I read. If you haven't read the decision, in its entirety, not once but several times, go do that. www.lcna.org or www.stjohnsatlanta.org.

Now.

I'll wait…

Ok, now you understand why 14 pages. In essence, this document says back to the ELCA, "Ok, you sent us to sit in judgment of Bradley Schmeling and what he says has happened, which the charges say is a capital violation of ELCA policy. We have examined the man, we have examined what he says has happened. We find no fault in the man. Why have you brought him before us? Of what crime is he guilty?"

This has been said before.

The Hearing Committee says that what is wrong is neither Bradley nor his committed, same-gender, lifelong relationship but the policy that brought him before them in the first place. They called it "at least bad policy," at worst a violation of the constitution and by-laws of this church. And they were just shy of unanimous in that conclusion. Nearly unanimous… Think about that…

Sorta makes you glad you weren't the prosecutor. I was long ago for a period a non-lawyer prosecutor in a low level court, young, and got crosswise with a judge for several failed attempts to get a confession into evidence (I really didn't know what I was doing). He finally said "if you try that again, I will hold you in contempt of court. We are taking a recess and you are going to see your advisor, who will fix your ignorance of procedure for you." I did; he did. Which was good, because I didn't want to have to call the convening authority and tell him the defendant got off, but I got 3 months confinement and a fine. That has to be how the prosecutor feels: he was sent there to convict Bradley and the jury found the law guilty.

The 14 pages is all about what is wrong with the policy, why it must be changed, and two suggested avenues of remedy. Nearly unanimous…

We tried our best to distill those 14 pages in the few hours given us before the press would have it. Picture eight or so people with 6 or so laptops, one wall plug, 9 cell phones, 10 sandwiches, no coffee (nearly fatal that).

The decision was released at 2 o'clock.

The onslaught of the press was awesome to behold. Phones ringing off their hooks, chasing you down the corridor. Enough expensive TV wagons with extendo-booms scraping the clouds to make a very expensive used truck lot. TV crews all over the sanctuary and outside the church. Whatever the collective noun is for broadcast people, we had one. We had a "Microphone" of them, all hair and toothy smile.

And through all of it, the wonderful, unflappable, southern-hospitable Myrna, the church secretary, making sure everyone was being helped. And Beth, tasked to keep the media circus tracked and handled, messaged and called back, calm in the midst of this swirl, crawling through her cell phone to take the AP to task for relying on the Bishop's website (which only mentioned the expulsion from the clergy, that last sentence) for what was significant in this decision. Pastor Bradley giving great answers to the media's questions, tranquil and centered.

Go on St John's website. Read his letter to his congregation… That's Pastor Bradley.

Did the press get it right? Not one bit. It all started with the AP, who got the document when it was released, saw the 14 pages, cut to the chase and read the last sentence, and in an effort to beat everyone else out the gate put on the wire: "Pastor De-frocked." That set the tone and the rest was a battle upstream.

It didn't matter that we kept telling them that the big news was that the jury indicted the policy big time and said it should be changed, and changed by the end of the next Churchwide Assembly, and if not, their sentence, law-abiding Lutherans that they were, that he should be struck from the roster, would stand, and he would be out. Something the jury viewed as wrong.

About 6:30 pm, it all drizzled down to quiet. The media beast having gotten what it wanted. One lonely TV truck still in the parking lot, the hair-and-smile waiting in the klieg light for the stand-upper, "LIVE FROM St John's, this is…"

So, who besides us understood correctly the significance of the decision? St John's does, and you can safely bet that Chicago does. WordAlone does, mirabile dictu; they got it very right (in several senses of that word). They came out of their corner today, all snarly and clawed, full of law and selective phrases. But their appreciation and distillation of the significance of the 14 pages is pristinely correct. That doesn't mean they appreciated it.

In the end, I was and still am amazed. In my wildest imagination, I could not have conjured up an outcome like this decision. Their jury has said their policy is wrong.

Surprise, surprise, surprise…

The Holy Spirit surprises us yet again…

Time to get working. Much to do.

Stand by your email… There will be things for you to do too…

Phil Soucy
Director Communications LC/NA
communications@lcna.org