handy
Member
- Jun 21, 2007
- 10,028
- 99
My husband was raised in the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church. Over the course of 10 years of marriage, I resisted going to the ELCA, because I see it falling farther and farther away from Biblical truth. However, this past year, God convicted me that I needed to submit to my husband and go with him. We've been going regularly since Easter to the same church his parents go to. Our daughter has started confirmation and our son is set to be baptized on November 16. And, as per my husband, I had just sent a letter of request for transfer to our old church so that we could become members. I just did this on Saturday.
Part of our daughter's confirmation process was that the class, with the pastor, needed to go to at least one worship service at a non-Lutheran church. The service selected was a ecumenical service of the ELCA, the Episcopal church and held at a Roman Catholic Church. This was held on Saturday in honor of Reformation Day. (I dropped off our letter on the way to it.) I took the opportunity of the drive to the church to talk things over with my daughter as far as the ecumenical movement is concerned. I explained that the movement seeks to rejoin God's people together, but that there are serious issues that divide the church and we cannot ignore them, even though we try to work together to work through them. The emphasis (I thought) was supposed to be what divided the church during the Reformation. This is a learning process for her, and as long as we help her understand the issues and what God has to say in regards to what divides the church, then she should be OK. She's a pretty smart kid after all.
I had not checked out anything about the service prior to going, although I had received a bulletin regarding the service and there was a bio on the guest speaker, which spoke of several books she has written, as well as a ministry she founded. After being at the service on Saturday, I had a gut feeling that all was not right, (very wrong in fact) so yesterday, as soon as I got home from church, I did take the time to check this woman out.
Well, the woman is a lesbian, living in an open relationship. I know that the organizers of this 'worship' service knew of this, for she does not make it any kind of secret, and has made a high profile "leaving" of the ELCA because the ELCA will not recognize her "marriage" to her partner. I am more than astounded that the Bishop and Parrish Priest of the Catholic Church was OK with this. Perhaps they didn't know, but I haven't been aware of any RCC movement towards the open acceptence of homosexual leaders. But, the emphasis of the service, rather than being what divides Catholics from Protestants, was far more along the lines of "these issues that we think are walls between us don't exist except in our own minds." (Direct quote from the lesbian speaker.)
I truly don't know if our own pastor knew of this or not. She's gone for the week and we will be meeting with her when she gets back.
My true prayer request though is for my husband. He was not raised with the idea that as husband and father, he is responsible for the spiritual leadership in our home. This is an idea that he is beginning to learn more and more about. I had told him that I would go to the ELCA with him, but made him aware that the ELCA was moving in this direction. He said that he would see if it ever became an issue in our church and now it has. Meanwhile, we've gone there for at least 6 months and have made friends.
Complicating the matter is our very close relationship with his folks. Not only are they his parents, they are also our next-door-neighbors and our business partners in our cattle ranch. And, this issue of homosexuality is a sticky one for the family due to the fact that my husband's oldest brother was gay and died of AIDS.
My husband is not OK with the idea of accepting homosexuality as being anything other than sin. And, we will most likely be leaving the church because of this issue. He said last night that he now regrets ever having us go there, but I truly do think that God is leading him through this. He asked last night that I would pray that God would give him wisdom and show him what to do here, and I ask if you can pray for him as well. His parents are great people and we are very close as a family. Steve is so concerned that this might make a genuine rift between him and his folks, and he's never experienced that before.
This is an extremely difficult issue for my husband to face, but I know that he is seeking the godly path here and I am joyful that he is doing so. He has been growing so steadily in his walk with God in the 10 years we've been married. I know that God will lead him through this, but I truly do hope that he will be surrounded with prayers as he deals with this.
Part of our daughter's confirmation process was that the class, with the pastor, needed to go to at least one worship service at a non-Lutheran church. The service selected was a ecumenical service of the ELCA, the Episcopal church and held at a Roman Catholic Church. This was held on Saturday in honor of Reformation Day. (I dropped off our letter on the way to it.) I took the opportunity of the drive to the church to talk things over with my daughter as far as the ecumenical movement is concerned. I explained that the movement seeks to rejoin God's people together, but that there are serious issues that divide the church and we cannot ignore them, even though we try to work together to work through them. The emphasis (I thought) was supposed to be what divided the church during the Reformation. This is a learning process for her, and as long as we help her understand the issues and what God has to say in regards to what divides the church, then she should be OK. She's a pretty smart kid after all.
I had not checked out anything about the service prior to going, although I had received a bulletin regarding the service and there was a bio on the guest speaker, which spoke of several books she has written, as well as a ministry she founded. After being at the service on Saturday, I had a gut feeling that all was not right, (very wrong in fact) so yesterday, as soon as I got home from church, I did take the time to check this woman out.
Well, the woman is a lesbian, living in an open relationship. I know that the organizers of this 'worship' service knew of this, for she does not make it any kind of secret, and has made a high profile "leaving" of the ELCA because the ELCA will not recognize her "marriage" to her partner. I am more than astounded that the Bishop and Parrish Priest of the Catholic Church was OK with this. Perhaps they didn't know, but I haven't been aware of any RCC movement towards the open acceptence of homosexual leaders. But, the emphasis of the service, rather than being what divides Catholics from Protestants, was far more along the lines of "these issues that we think are walls between us don't exist except in our own minds." (Direct quote from the lesbian speaker.)
I truly don't know if our own pastor knew of this or not. She's gone for the week and we will be meeting with her when she gets back.
My true prayer request though is for my husband. He was not raised with the idea that as husband and father, he is responsible for the spiritual leadership in our home. This is an idea that he is beginning to learn more and more about. I had told him that I would go to the ELCA with him, but made him aware that the ELCA was moving in this direction. He said that he would see if it ever became an issue in our church and now it has. Meanwhile, we've gone there for at least 6 months and have made friends.
Complicating the matter is our very close relationship with his folks. Not only are they his parents, they are also our next-door-neighbors and our business partners in our cattle ranch. And, this issue of homosexuality is a sticky one for the family due to the fact that my husband's oldest brother was gay and died of AIDS.
My husband is not OK with the idea of accepting homosexuality as being anything other than sin. And, we will most likely be leaving the church because of this issue. He said last night that he now regrets ever having us go there, but I truly do think that God is leading him through this. He asked last night that I would pray that God would give him wisdom and show him what to do here, and I ask if you can pray for him as well. His parents are great people and we are very close as a family. Steve is so concerned that this might make a genuine rift between him and his folks, and he's never experienced that before.
This is an extremely difficult issue for my husband to face, but I know that he is seeking the godly path here and I am joyful that he is doing so. He has been growing so steadily in his walk with God in the 10 years we've been married. I know that God will lead him through this, but I truly do hope that he will be surrounded with prayers as he deals with this.
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