October 9, 2006
By Pr Vicki Pedersen
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, (gay or straight) — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body… (and) The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you…'" (I Corinthians 12:12–15, 21)
Are you a "missing body part" of the body of Christ we call "Lutheran"? That is are you, or do you know someone who is, a former "rostered professional," or a candidate to become one, who has left the professional leadership in our church due to issues related to sexual orientation or gender identity? Did you "come out" to your bishop and find yourself removed from roster or seminary, whether by action of a synod's disciplinary committee, a bishop's insistence, or your own voluntary decision? Or did you simply quit your professional identity and rostering without telling the real reasons why, preferring to keep it a private matter?
You are still a valued member and part of the body of Christ. Although you may have heard the Lutheran church say to you, "I have no need of you," the truth is the whole body of Christ needs to be made aware that you have been severed from it, but are no less part of Christ! The Lutheran church has no "mirror" to reflect back to it how hacked and dismembered it's body of Christ has become because of its policies and guidelines that do not allow its gay and lesbian pastors to live in chaste, covenanted relationships with their partners. Many people are oblivious to this "cost" to the church and to the personal lives of countless faithful pastors and church professionals. Instead they live with the false impression that this whole discussion and debate about "homosexuality and the church" only concerns a few.
An effort is being made to gather this data — numbers, years of service, synods served, as well as names and stories when possible — to put a mirror before our church. Imagine the numbers if all the "casualties" of our church's policy were added together from every one of the 65 synods in the ELCA and the 5 synods in the ELCIC for the last 20 years since their inception, or even earlier from their predecessor bodies? What would the "body count" be — 50? 200? 500 or more? It's time to end the guess work and give back to the church as true of a picture as possible about what it has been doing to its own body. Your help is needed to make this possible.
Contact missing@lcna.org to indicate your willingness to complete a survey regarding this project. Make contacts with others in your Synod who would be supportive of this project and who may know people, who know people, who can put a count, if not a name, to the "missing body parts" in the ELCA and the ELCIC. Encourage them to make information known to "missing@lcna.org".
LCNA member, Chaplain Vicki Pedersen, is devoting the next year to researching, gathering data and stories, and writing a summary into a book or other format in preparation for the '07 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago. Vicki only recently came out to her bishop and is seeking to be placed on leave from call as she works on this project. Anonymity will be protected for those who desire that.
