Children of the living God

Pastors Brad Schmeling and Darin Easler at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly

Since my ordination on November 18, 2006, I have served as one of the 46 undocumented openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) pastors serving in ELCA congregations across the country.

Following the path of saints who created a trail in the wilderness for me, on July 25th I was one of seven pastors in the San Francisco Bay Area received or reinstated as a result of the vote last August to rescind the ELCA’s version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The 20-year-old policy, which mandated celibacy for all gay and lesbian pastors, resulted in: a trial that expelled two congregations (St. Francis and First United in San Francisco) for calling and ordaining gay and lesbian pastors; three trials that expelled gay pastors (Pastors Ross Merkel, Steven Sabin and Bradley Schmeling); and countless pastors who committed suicide, switched denominations, resigned from their calls, lost their pensions or ignored their calls to ministry.

Unlike the instantaneous reception of the prodigal, my reception into the church took almost a year. And still, many of my GLBT colleagues across the country continue to wait to be received.

Yet, when I look back at all that has taken place in the year since the vote in Minneapolis, I am amazed. Our church has reinstated all three pastors that were removed by trial, invited both expelled congregations to rejoin the church and St. Francis recently voted to accept that invitation.

I’m proud to be a Lutheran and part of a church that strives mightily to proclaim the words of welcome that God has always offered GLBT individuals. This humbling, awkward process of reconciliation models what is happening in homes across the country as the nation becomes more accepting of the GLBT friends and family members that are courageously living more open lives.

The untold story of the service on July 25th is that it took place at St. Mark’s Lutheran in San Francisco, the exact location of the trial that expelled St. Francis and First United, and from the pulpit it was proclaimed:

Those who were not my people I will call “my people,” and the one who was not beloved I will call “beloved.” ’ ‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they shall be called children of the living God.’ -Romans 9:25b-26