Question received:
What is the official stance of the Lutheran governing body over Trinity on welcoming and including LGBTQ people in the Lutheran faith? The questioner wanted to know if this is a Trinity-specific quest, or if we are one of a larger body of churches all working toward the same goals.
(Full question text: What is the official stance of the Lutheran governing body/bodies over Trinity on LGBTQ people being welcomed and included in the Lutheran faith? Specifically, do they condone or require all Lutheran churches to perform same sex marriages, baptize LGBTQ persons, and allow them all the same rights and sacraments afforded to non-LGBTQ members? I'm supportive of this RIC process but I wonder if we are going beyond what the Lutheran church says should be the standard, not only in our state but in our country and in the world. I want to know if I belong to a religious affiliation that is truly trying to become "radically welcoming" in these areas that the RIC committee says we are working towards, not just at Trinity. When I hear about other churches breaking away from their affiliations because of divergent views on various ideological topics (Methodists, Episcopals, Catholics, etc), I wonder where we fall on that spectrum?)
Response:
The best way to answer the first part of this question, if the RIC process is a part of the ELCA, is to give you a little background on Reconciling Works, who are the main, governing body of the RIC process for congregations. Reconciling Works was founded in 1974, with their full name being Reconciling Works: Lutherans for Full Participation. When the ELCA was founded in 1988, Reconciling Works became one of our partners in working towards full inclusion of all of God’s children, and it has been a partner with us ever since, with the goal and vision of “liberating those who are forced to live on the margins, to keep dismantling barriers and building bridges, and to keep working until all of God’s beloved have equity.” Reconciling in Christ reaches out to people in all communities, seeking to make God's house truly open and welcoming to all. RIC encompasses gender, racial equality, poverty, immigration, and the indigenous community, as well as the LGBTQ community. Long story short, RIC is a part of who the ELCA is, and has been from it’s very foundation.
Now, this is not to say that the ELCA hasn’t been through its own journey, similar to other denominations, particularly when it comes to the welcome and inclusion of our LGBTQIA+ siblings. When it comes to our sacramental life, communion and baptism, we were founded on the principle of an open table. All, all are welcome to share in God’s grace given through our sacraments. However, it took us a little bit longer to journey down the path of inclusion when it came to our non-sacramental life, things like marriage and ordination. In 2009, the ELCA approved the Faith and Sexuality social statement which was our first step in becoming a welcoming and affirming denomination. With the advent of this statement, the door of ordination was opened to LGBTQIA+ folks who felt a calling from God, people like my sister who thought they could never pursue their calling because of who they loved. From that moment on, ELCA pastors were also given the authority to bless and perform marriages of all forms. The hope would be that they would inform their congregations of all ceremonies performed so that the congregation could also join in the welcoming and acceptance of this gift, but ultimately the decision lie with the pastor of the weddings they would participate in.
From 2009 on, the RIC process has become a hallmark of ELCA churches and institutions around the country.
Groups of God’s children proclaiming that they want to openly commit to being welcoming and affirming to all of their siblings. So no, we are most definitely not alone, nationally or locally.
As of right now, there are 1,055 communities in the United States with an RIC designation, including 5 of our 7 ELCA seminaries, 50 campus ministries, and 2 Lutheran colleges. There are 303 communities, just like us in the midst of the process as we speak.
And if you’re wondering...well maybe that’s just on a national scale, you need look no further than the Peninsula itself to find partners in this process. Our siblings at Apostles in Gloucester and St. Andrew’s in Portsmouth have both achieved RIC status, and our siblings at St. Paul’s in Hampton and First in Norfolk are in the process just like us.
Now, if you want to explore more on your own, you can always navigate to the reconciling works homepage: reconcilingworks.org—their home page lists the most recent partners in the RIC process. The homepage statement reads in part: “You are not alone. Supporters of LGBTQIA+ people and families are not the minority in our Lutheran church, but are the growing majority.”
We know there have been a lot of questions about process and timeline, and RIC fully embraces the Lutheran mentality of gray areas because the RIC process is without a timeline. It is a process that allows for education and conversation with the whole community so that we can walk alongside each other and reach this point of welcome and affirmation together. We acknowledge that it takes time. There is an end goal toward which we are working, and when the time comes, we will vote as a congregation on becoming the next RIC church. We are focused in this current, dedicated way because we are in the process. Once completed, RIC will become part of our identity as a congregation. This is not something that we go through and never speak of again. This is a process of Trinity becoming something new.
We are all on the journey of following Jesus' commandments. None of us are at the end of that journey-we are just working on different areas, and this is one area on which Trinity is focusing at this time.