Last week’s News-Herald included a paid advertisement by an out-of-state individual proclaiming that readers should “vote yes” on the constitutional amendment to define marriage. It singled out the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as “not having core Lutheran beliefs” and demanding that we “should not defile and function as a Lutheran church.”
According to the North Dakota Secretary of State’s website, there is no non-profit registered as “Concern for Children” and the address listed on the advertisement is a dilapidated church building that has stood vacant for years.
The language in this advertisement is unfortunate and misleading. The ELCA congregations I serve welcome all people because our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ compels us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We accept that we are broken by sin, and so we refuse to draw a line between ourselves and others believing that we are somehow more worthy of God’s forgiveness. The gospel narrative reminds us that any time we declare others to be outside of God’s love, Jesus will be found with those whom we have cast aside.
Each one of us, despite our failures and flaws, is offered forgiveness and new life through the power of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. It doesn’t matter if one is straight, gay, married, divorced, single, tattooed, pierced, affluent, destitute, on probation, in jail, on welfare, addicted, in recovery, a lifelong Christian, or filled with doubts. God’s forgiveness reaches all the way down into this world and overcomes our brokenness simply out of love for us. This is our shared belief.
Whether or not our constitution should be used to define marriage is a personal political issue and therefore up to each one of us to decide on our own in the privacy of the ballot box. Is this Lutheran? You betcha!
Sadly, the individual who placed this advertisement finds this proclamation of forgiveness both unsettling and offensive. She is in my prayers. She is both loved and forgiven.
Reverend Tom Murray
Lutsen Lutheran Church
Zion Lutheran Church of Finland
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