Jay Wiesner? What's a nice Jewish boy doing becoming a gay Lutheran pastor?
I bet Luther would not be amused.
God is watching.....
I don't blame you for leaving ELCA. I would gently recommend the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) for a truly Lutheran faith.
God is not amused by these so called churches picking and choosing which portions of His Word they will teach and obey. There are qualifications for being a pastor or teacher. He does not meet them and they have no right to ordain him.
Well, TonyRo, it's time for the Lutheran Ping list!
For all of you posting about the "liberal ELCA"--here's a brief version of the REAL story: the ELCA is really a largely conservative church that has been hijacked by liberal, revisionist mis-leaders, like several other "mainline" churches. (There are several different varieties of Lutheran conservatives, which complicates the issue.)
In summer 2005, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is mandated to vote on whether to officially ordain non-celebate gays and to "bless" gay "unions". This vote is very likley to spit the ELCA into several pieces, and to send many individual members and families scurrying out of it, especially in liberal synods where they have few or no Lutheran alternatives.
Nearly all Western (i.e., non-Eastern Orthodox) mainline churches are in trouble in North America and in Europe. Look at the Roman Catholics (sex scandal, lawsuits, churches closing, etc.) and the Episcopal church (gay bishop, churches leaving and forming a conservative "province") for the biggest examples. Churches in trouble include BOTH the ELCA and the Missouri Synod, for different reasons.
It's time to pray, to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to get togehter with other conservative Christians. Joining the FR Lutheran ping list may be part of doing that, especially for FR Lutherans who have not already done so.
Wonder if Bishop Hansen will continue to look the other way....
Question: If the local bishop does not recognize this, then is he really ordained? I thought the bishop had to be involved in sanctioning an official "ordination"?
Just curious. There may be more to the story down the road....
"To ordain an active homosexual man is to reject the foundations of scripture and the Lutheran confessions," said the Rev. Roy Harrisville III, executive director of Solid Rock Lutherans, a national group of ELCA leaders formed this year to fight change in the church's ordination standards.
"When I was ordained, I vowed that I would preach and teach according to scripture and the confessions, yet Mr. Wiesner is living contrary to both," Harrisville said. "How then can he possibly keep the sacred vow? And why has Bethany Lutheran Church placed Bishop Johnson and the Minnesota Synod in a difficult spot?"