Author: Sharei Green

And Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15

Proclaim the good news!  This is what members of Proclaim, the professional community for LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, candidates and seminarians, seek to do with their lives and ministry.  The mission of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries also includes this commitment to “proclaim God’s love and seek justice for all.”

And now, we are excited to launch a new resource – Proclaim Pulpit Supply.  The next time you need pulpit supply in your congregation, either as a one-time or short term thing, considering inviting a Proclaim member.  We have Proclaim members all over the country who are ready to share good news with your community.

Thanks for your support and partnership and for the ways you proclaim God’s good news.

We celebrate with Proclaim member Angela Joy Nelson who received a call to Christ our Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Chatham, NY this past weekend!  

This is good news for Christ our Emmanuel, Angela, and for our whole church.  The above passage from 1st Corinthians is part of the service of ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry and a reminder of the call we share – serving Christ and stewarding God’s mysteries.

Angela graduated from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2012 and has been living in New England while awaiting call.  Angela also serves as a chaplain for Proclaim, the professional community for publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, seminarians and candidates.

As we celebrate Angela, we also call to mind others who are on this path.  In the last few months we’ve had almost a dozen Proclaim seminarians approved for ordination.  In a few weeks, February 18 & 19, this group of seminarians will go through the ELCA assignment process, determining the geographical area of the church where they might serve.  During this exciting, stressful, at times quite mysterious, and hopefully spirit-filled process, we hold all these candidates in prayer.  ELM’s Accompaniment program will be holding two conference video calls after the assignment process with approved candidates.  We are eager to hear how the process went and where people are assigned as they await a call.  Join us in praying for these candidates, those awaiting call, courageous faith communities, Christ our Emmanuel, and Angela Joy Nelson, as we all continue to serve Christ and seek to be good stewards of God’s abundant mysteries.

Guest blog by Emily Ewing, Proclaim member and Proclaim seminarian coordinator, 4th year student at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)

Over Thanksgiving this past year, instead of spending time with friends and family giving thanks, overeating, and taking long naps, I was privileged to participate in the Dialogue of the Americas on Faith, Migration, and the Economy. Thanks to support from ELCA Global Mission, I didn’t need to pay for the plane ticket to Quito, Ecuador for the event.

The event was an ecumenical gathering of pastors and theologians from North America, largely the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. I was the only seminarian at the event and one of the youngest people there. Throughout the event, people presented papers they had written around the topic of faith, migration, and the economy. In our breakout groups, we discussed wide-ranging issues from identity to the church, scripture, justice, and empire.

One of the topics that kept coming up for me was the concept of imago Dei—the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created humankind in hir image, in the image of God she created them; male and female he created them.”* While we were discussing the themes around identity that came up during presentations, we kept coming back to an understanding of humankind as the image of God, or rostro de Dios (literally translated, it is “face of God”) in Spanish.

Some of our conversation was around who all this includes (we decided that it included everybody). This meant that when we heard Rev. Dr. Nancy Cardoso articulate the situation of many women who migrate, we had to recognize that the face of God is the face of sex workers and domestic workers throughout the Americas. This then led to conversation about how God’s face, God’s image in humanity, is not complete when some are marginalized, murdered, and oppressed.

From there, we explored the concept that most drew me in: that humankind is made in God’s image. It is not, in fact, any one individual who is made in God’s image, but only together, collectively that we are made in God’s image. To be the full rostro de Dios, we must all be present, all be in the face. This changes how we interact with each other. It’s no longer just that each individual we encounter bears the image of God, but that all those who are affected by oppression and marginalization, all those who oppress and marginalize and all those who are in between or do both at different times are the image of God together.

For those of us from the United States, it means that we have to ask ourselves what it means that we are building a wall through God’s face. We have to question the foreign policies that cause so much harm and suffering in other countries and lead to the movement of God’s face. We have to recognize our interconnectedness and our need for the Other and others in order to be complete.

*Note: In an effort to use more expansive and inclusive language for God, when necessary and appropriate, I alternate pronouns for God between ze/hir/hirs/hirself (gender neutral/third gender pronouns), she/her/hers/herself, and he/him/his/himself, rather than restricting myself to either “God” or “He” as can be more common.

Registration for Dreams & Visions, the 2014 Proclaim Retreat, begins this Friday, January 10th!  The Proclaim Retreat is an annual gathering of Proclaim, the professional community for publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders, seminarians and candidates.  It is a time of renewal, learning, connections, laughter, worship, and play.  This year we are gathering May 4-7, 2014 at Heartwood Conference Center and Retreat in Trego, WI.

Being a publicly identified LGBTQ leader in our church can be both a blessing and a challenge. Gathering for support, celebration, and community is critical for us and for the ministries we serve, so that we can continue, with boldness,  to proclaim the Good News!

Help us get the word out about ELM, Proclaim, and the retreat. We are sending retreat posters to seminaries and divinity schools (poster pictured). Are there other places where we can get the word out?  Email program director, Jen Rude (programdirector [at] elm.org), if you’d like us to send you some snazzy posters.

Check out the Proclaim Retreat site for more details, information about scholarships, and to register, beginning January 10th!

Thank you to the Philip N. Knutson Endowment, the Carpenter Foundation, and other ELM supporters for special contributions for this retreat.

by Jen Rude, program director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

We live in an in-between time: between God’s promises made and fulfilled, between the Christ who came as a baby and the Christ we wait for to come again. Once again our Advent themes speak truth to so many of our lives.

The in-between time is profoundly felt by many, including those in our Proclaim community who are waiting for their first call. Seminary is complete. Internship done. Candidacy papers and committees approved. Assigned to a synod, done. But still waiting for the call of a community to share their gifts of preaching, teaching, sharing the sacraments, pastoral care and more.

This past week Randy Nelson, our Candidacy Accompaniment convener, and I hosted a video chat gathering for those in our community who are in this in-between time. We gathered over computers and phone lines from California to Massachusetts. And I was once again amazed by the creativity, depth, and faithfulness of these gifted and called pastors of our church.

Perhaps your congregation could benefit from some of the extraordinary gifts of these or other Proclaim leaders. When you need pulpit supply, ask a local Proclaim seminarian or person awaiting call (look in the new year for an easy way to find out who’s available in your area via the ELM website!). As your community enters a call process for a new pastor, consider intentionally opening that process to a gifted LGBTQ candidate.

Thank you for your support of these leaders and others. One of the ways your gift to ELM helps is to provide scholarships for seminarians and those awaiting call to attend the annual Proclaim retreat, a time to refresh, renew, network and be sustained for ministry. Because while connecting over computer screens and telephones is valuable, sharing a meal together, worshiping together, or sitting by the lake and just talking, is priceless.

ELM is honored and excited to release the final version of “Candidacy and LGBTQ Individuals.” This one-of-a-kind resource was created for ELCA candidacy committees working with LGBTQ candidates. You are encourage to share this widely!  We released a draft version earlier this year in order to receive feedback and we are grateful for the suggestions and comments you made.  The document is stronger because of this communal effort.

Click to read or download the document (PDF): Candidacy and LGBTQ Individuals

This resource is timely in Advent, a season when we become more keenly aware of the now and not yet of so many things.  Now, more and more gifted and called LGBTQ people are attending seminary and serving as rostered leaders.  This is cause for joy and a celebration of these unique gifts in our church.  And, at the same time, some gifted and called LGBTQ people continue to face barriers in seminary, candidacy and the call process and are told “not  yet.”  We hope this offered resource will serve to honor the now and not yet as we both recognize the reality of barriers AND celebrate with joy the gifts of our LGBTQ leaders.

We are thankful to the ELCA for their support of this project and for all the faithful ones who contributed to this gift.  And thanks be to God who was, who is, and who is to come.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.  Romans 1:8

We have 139 members of Proclaim, the professional community for publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders and those pursuing a call to rostered leadership.  Thanks be to God for each of them and for the ways they are proclaiming their faith throughout the world!  But, who are all these people?  How can I learn more about them, what they are passionate about, how they are called, and what they like to eat?  Drumroll……Proclaim Profiles!

Thanks to Brenda Bos we now have an online page dedicated to sharing parts of the lives of Proclaim members.  These are stories that need to be told – stories of faithful LGBTQ leaders in our church.

Erik Christensen came up with the idea of Proclaim Trading Cards and started sharing one profile a day on his Facebook page.  There is no gum included with these trading cards, but if you’d like to open a pack of Juicy Fruit or Double Bubble while you read Proclaim Profiles, go for it!

Just to get you started, here are a few to check out:

Ángel D. Marrero-Roe recently joined the ELM board and is currently on internship in Boston, MA.  He’s got a great call story in the “Did you always want to be clergy?” section – check it out!

Find out about the first marriage John Brett was asked to perform and read the best description of a peach you’ll ever experience.

In addition to ministry type things (she just started her internship in Santa Monica, CA), Becca Seely likes to plan themed parties, write young adult fiction, and has some very interesting food tastes.

Barbara Lundblad is a pastor, preacher and teacher.  Her list of who has inspired her is itself quite inspiring!

David De Block likes to describe his ministry at Central Lutheran in Seattle as being an “information kiosk” and his photo includes some cute and cuddly friends.

Those are just a few!  Check out the rest HERE!

Will you be at the  2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly August 12-17 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? ELM’s Executive Director Amalia Vagts and many Proclaim members will be attending the Assembly. If you would like to meet up with Amalia or other ELM supporters, send her an email: Director@elm.org.

Additionally, our movement partner ReconcilingWorks has a full schedule of activities and programs lined up- check their website here. ReconcilingWorks advocates for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church and congregations. You can get involved with their efforts through their website.

Some Highlights:

Festival Eucharist (Hosted by ReconcilingWorks and ELM)
Wednesday, August 14, 8:00 pm
Omni William Penn Hotel, Grand Ballroom
Join in festive worship and celebration of LGBTQ church leaders and allies with the Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin, bishop-elect of the Southwest California Synod, preaching, and the Rev. Dean Nelson, bishop of the Southwest California Synod, presiding.

Reception with Bishop-Elect Guy Erwin (Hosted by ReconcilingWorks)
Tuesday, August 13, 8:00 pm
Convention Center, Room 408
The election of the Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin marks two historic firsts: the first openly gay and first Native American bishop of the ELCA. Guy is a member of Proclaim, the professional community for Lutheran pastors, rostered lay leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.

Rev. Tita Valeriano Presiding on Friday, August 8th. 

We are very excited and joyful that the Rev. Teresita Valeriano will preside at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly worship on Friday morning! Tita is a member of Proclaim. ELM will be posting and in-depth interview with Tita next week!

Follow ELM at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly through out social media channels:  Facebook and Twitter

ELM’s executive director Amalia Vagts wrote the “My View” contribution for the August 2013 edition of The Lutheran.

The August edition contains articles about the first twenty-five years of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Amalia writes about attending the first ELCA Youth Gathering (in 1988), the history of LGBTQ rostered leaders in the ELCA, and the new life these leaders are bringing to the church. 

Full article here.