Month: February 2019

By Mikah Meyer 

“My whole life I’ve assumed God messed up on me,” a 20-something let out while stoically holding back tears.

He approached me after a church hosted a presentation about my journey to all 418 National Park Service sites.

But just as my talk wasn’t only about the national parks, so too was this young man’s story not solely about believing God faulted in creating him. And indeed, after hearing how my parks journey was largely due to being an openly gay Christian, this young adult felt safe enough to share the other half of his statement:

“But now I realize He made me this way. It’s not a flaw that I’m gay.”

As I internally cheered this queer person’s assertion, my heart also broke that he’d carried those initial thoughts for over 20 years.

And while I wish I could say this was the only time I’d heard that story, the truth is it’s just one of thousands. From teenagers, young adults, 30-somethings, retirees, and even ministers and those in opposite-sex marriages. A few words shared after presenting my “National Parks Cabaret,” after guest preaching at a church, or sent in desperation over Instagram—all expressing that for the first time they’d felt safe to share they were a queer Christ follower.

“What is the Church doing wrong,” I often lament to close friends, “that all these people feel a stranger from the stage/internet is the only person they can confide in?”

Yes, I had intentionally put myself and my story as a gay Christian in the media, using a 3-year road trip and world record attempt to draw the attention. But I was not a church leader. I did not have seminary training that should allow me to seek out those struggling with their faith. And I was certainly not an ordained minister.

I was just some dude waving a rainbow flag in the national parks.

But perhaps that’s the point of this story.

I was 19-years-old before I met an openly gay adult. And in my mid-20s before meeting an openly gay Christian. And though it took longer than I wished, it was these encounters that eventually led me to come out.

My life was not changed by some famous person or a praised religious leader.

It was normal, everyday queer people living their lives openly and authentically that opened my eyes and heart to a future I’d never seen until seeing them.

Mine was the same story I heard from a boy over Instagram who messaged:

“I’m 15-years-old, I go to a private Baptist school in Texas and I’m not out to anyone. But after seeing who you are, I know not only can I grow up to be ordinary…but also extraordinary.”

Never doubt that each and every one of you, whether a minister, lay person, or an ally, can change someone’s world—and in turn collectively the world—by living openly and honestly as a queer person of faith or Christian who believes God loves LGBTQ+ people as they are.

If the experience of my parks journey has taught me anything, it’s that one doesn’t need to be plastered on the headlines or across social media to allow someone to feel closer to God and their true selves.

One only need live their life proudly and authentically as the beautiful people God made them.

So that through sharing your story, others can know they can be both ordinary, and extraordinary.

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Bio: Mikah Meyer is an ELCA campus minister’s son who swore he’d never grow up to be a pastor like his dad. He now spends his time traveling to churches & ministries around the world sharing the Gospel–particularly at colleges—making him in fact: A campus minister.

By Rev. Lamont Wells Director for Evangelical Mission for the Metropolitan New York Synod

For far too long the question of who should be allowed into Church leadership has always been a heavily contentious subject. It was in the 16th century that Martin Luther advocated for the “priesthood of all believers” (so long as they weren’t women). It almost took another 450-500 years before women were allowed into leadership positions in the Church. The injustices of exclusion still strongly affect women, disproportionately people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community. As we approach the 10th Anniversary of the ELCA’s 2009 affirmative vote for inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ leadership, it’s my hope to realize the importance of increasing leadership opportunities from within the same gender loving and gender non-conforming communities.

As a mark of solidarity, I empathize with the painful realities of serving for years in conference and Synodical leadership and rarely seeing leadership that reflected my ethnic image or cultural heritage.  Because of this lack of diversity and inclusivity, I have developed an internalized trauma that questions whether it is even possible to have multiple leaders of color to ascend to the various elected leadership roles within the Church.  In 2018, we experienced the winds of the Spirit blow in a dynamic way that blessed the Church with a historic election of the first two African Descent women to the bishopric. However, my greatest concern is that the Church won’t recognize their elections as a movement for change and greater inclusivity, but rather a moment of accomplished mission and achievement.

My hope and cure for my internalized trauma is to see a robust trend in our Church (the ELCA) toward a diverse assembling of key leadership that keeps breaking barriers and that accepts differences in the intersectionality of humanity. This would create an institutional climate that provides models of leadership that so many more children of God can relate and connect to without waiting for the minimal exceptions.  As the National President of the African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA), it is my intention to work with ELM, WELCA and other ethnic specific associations to organize and advocate for leaders who bring our Church the gifts of greater diversity.  In our indigenous expression as people of African Descent, same gender leadership and individuals were not a problem but always seen as key participants and “gifted ones” in the beauty of a diverse community. Knowing that God can use us all, we must support opportunities to choose leaders that God is raising from Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall, and Standing Rock.

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Bio: The Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells is the Assistant to the Bishop/ Director for Evangelical Mission in the Metropolitan New York Synod.  Pastor Wells is responsible for coordinating the development of stewardship resources and missional leadership for over 200 new and renewing congregations/ministries.  He is currently the National President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s ‘African Descent Lutheran Association’ (ADLA). In his role, his leadership is the primary ecclesiastical voice of justice and equality for over 50,000 Lutherans of African Descent in the U.S.A.  For many years he hosted a weekly radio program, “A Positive Message for Powerful Living with Pastor Lamont Wells,” in Philadelphia. In his ministerial career, Rev. Wells has pastored religious communities of multiple denominations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlanta, Georgia, including having served as the Lutheran Campus Pastor for the Atlanta University Center (AUC).

Guided by the principle that a personal relationship with God is an essential life strategy, Rev. Wells is committed to a life of contemplative prayer and critical study of scripture.  He consistently expounds in his theology that, “God’s grace allows us to know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Romans 8:28 – his favorite Bible verse)

By Rev. Amanda Gerken-Nelson

Over the course of this past month, ELM’s blog has featured stories of “new-ness”:new ideas and goals for the new year, new members of Proclaim, new ELM staff members to help serve our growing community.

“Newness” as a theme and concept is not just a reaction to the start of a new calendar year as of January 1st – but also the anticipated advent of change and newness for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries as an organization as a whole.  

In my first year as Executive Director of ELM, I have often reflected on Phyllis Tickle’s book The Great Emergence. In the book, Dr. Tickle talks about how the Christian church has undergone a reformation approximately every 500 years (to read a brief description of Dr. Tickle’s ideas and a personal reflection from a Presbyterian colleague, click here). I have wondered if ELM has gone through our own re-formations approximately every ten years or so: from the first extraordinary ordinations and the formation of Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministries and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project in 1990 and 1993, to the merger of these ministries which formed Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and the change in ELCA policy to allow LGBTQIA+ individuals to enter candidacy and serve openly in 2007 and 2009, to now: in 2019 we’re marking 10 years since the ELCA’s policy changed, ELM has an entirely new staff, and Proclaim has grown to over 320 members.

Perhaps, this theme of newness feels resonant to all of us because we are in a time of re-formation.

It wouldn’t be surprising, then, if in this period of change and newness we might find ourselves experiencing some disorientation and asking ourselves “is this the new place where we are called to be?” Or, like the Magi who visited the holy family in the stable–which we currently celebrate in this liturgical season of Epiphany–ask ourselves “Is this, in fact, the holy one?”

What has remained true for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries throughout the years and re-formations is our insistence on and deep belief and trust that the lives, bodies, and calls of gender and sexual minority leaders are indeed holy and beloved.

It is with great intentionality of living into that sentiment and with a deep reverence for what has come before us that our current ELM staff and board endeavor to explore, listen, and consider journeying down new paths in our programming and ministries.

We are living into our gospel mandate to look to the margins even within the LGBTQIA+ community to center the experiences of the most marginalized: those with identities that are still “taboo” in our culture and society, and those who carry in their bodies and lives a variety of identities beyond gender and sexual orientation that complicates and complexifies their oppression and which calls on us as an organization to think, act, and exist differently.

As we embark on this journey, we hope to continue to share with you all what we learn and what we’re hearing through this blog. Many of you have supported ELM for many years and through our previous re-formations–we are excited to share this new journey with you and with those of you who have more recently joined our community.

Our staff welcome your thoughts and reflections on what you hear and experience with us on this journey. And, we thank you for your continued support and encouragement!

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Bio: Amanda Gerken-Nelson (she/her/hers) is currently in Texas avoiding the polar vortex. Upon her return to her home in Maine on Sunday, she looks forward to celebrating a Patriot victory and knows she will get hate mail for saying “Go Patriots!”

By Rev. Emily E. Ewing

 It’s hard to put into words the thoughts and feelings swirling inside me when I think of Rev. Gordon Straw.  He was a colleague, but more than that. A mentor and elder, but more than that. A teacher, a companion in the struggle, but more than any of those.

There was something about the way that Gordon lived and worked in the world—a spark of the Divine—that carried a deep compassion and thoughtfulness.  It was as if he slowed time down enough that decisions and statements weren’t made in haste, but instead carefully considered, taking into account the whole of Creation.  Rev. Mike Wilker, who was co-chair of the ELM Board during much of Gordon’s tenure on the Board, put it this way, “Gordon combined deep compassion for each person with a fierce passion for justice for all. As a board member he focused ELM on creative ministry in which every baptized person was liberated and called to share their gifts. He also led ELM to deeper understandings of the history of American Indian and Alaska Native ministries in the Lutheran churches of North America.”   

Gordon, as a member of theBrothertown Indian Nation, led one of our Board anti-oppression trainings focusing on Native history and theologies.  I wrote about some of what I learned on the blog after the training, though the wisdom he shared during the training continues to inform how I live my faith.  As an organization ELM now includes land acknowledgments at our in-person board meetings and as part of our opening worship at Proclaim Gatherings, reminding and grounding us in the lives and histories of the land we gather on and its peoples.  Gordon also wrote a guest blog on supporting Standing Rock in response to the Dakota Access Pipe Line.

It was in large part because of his leadership that so many of us in Proclaim introduced and advocated for the ELCA’s 2016 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery at local synod assemblies as well as at the Churchwide Assembly itself, an important step for our denomination, though as another former ELM board member, Vance Blackfox noted, “more needs to be done to fulfill our promises.”

I’ve felt a deep resonance as I have been reflecting so intentionally on Gordon’s life these past two Sundays.  First, reflecting on the magi at Epiphany, I couldn’t help but think of the ways that Gordon continues to be a wise one in my life.  Then, as I prepared my sermon for the Baptism of Jesus this past Sunday, I was vividly reminded of Gordon’s emphasis on the many ways that God calls the whole body of Christ—all the baptized—into a life of ministry.

ELM joins the whole church in grieving for the loss of Rev. Gordon Straw’s leadership while giving thanks for his companionship in life and ministry.  We pray for comfort, especially for Evelyn and Amanda, and trust that Gordon now rests with the ancestors, even as he remains connected to all of us and all of Creation, all our relations. 

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing (they/them/their) is a member of Proclaim and the ELM Board.  Emily grew up on land originally inhabited by the Ute, in the mountains they knew as the Shining Mountains, and currently lives and does ministry on land originally inhabited by the Ioway, Sauk, and Meskwaki peoples.  They’re grateful for the witnesses, wisdom, and patience of many of their elders, like Gordon, in journeying with them on the path of ministry.