Category: Blog

From a Pastor’s Desk

Roberto Lara Aranda May 11, 2026 No Comments

From Invisible to Bold Witness

By The Rev. Teresita “Tita” Valeriano
Asian and Pacific Islander Ministries, Program Director — Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities, ELCA

When I was living in Chicago, I found a then-new Asian queer community through a flyer with the title “From Invisible to Invincible.” This was even before the 2009 ELCA Assembly adoption of “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” Social Statement, together with its implementing resolutions and a recommendation on Ministry Policies.

As an Asian immigrant, I strongly identified with the title of the flyer. As Asian, we are made invisible, and our stories and gifts overlooked under the disguise of being a model minority, a phrase coined to pit people of color against each other.  And though I believe that no one can be invincible, that was the time when I was also on the journey to step away from the shadows of invisibility, as Filipino American, Christian, and queer.

This May, as we observe Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I think of how my journey from invisibility has brought me to meet and build relationships with more AANHPI Queer Christians, some of them Lutherans. Even though there are still unresolved challenges about full justice for gender, gender expressions and identities among API Lutherans, I believe that we are not only ready to step out of invisibility, but towards a more holistic ministry of justice as our bold witness. Beyond gender justice, we are committed to its intersection with racial, migrant and refugees’ justice. So to join me this month, I invite you to know we truly are through the following stories and commitments:

  1. “Queer We Stand and Celebrate: Transpacific Queer Network.” In 2024, 23 Asian Queer Christians gathered, making a safe and courageous space to celebrate our humanity and identity, share our stories, break bread together, and create new visions. I invite you to pray for the following commitment and become an ally.

    We commit from an ecumenical (and) Lutheran perspective the need to grow our faith, to network, to keep, and to grow relationships with one another as Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQIA+ folks on both sides of the Pacific.

    We commit to:
  1. Identify the LGBTQIA+ liberational work already happening in API contexts and create/strengthen connections among existing organizations, API queer theologians, lay leaders, and practitioners.
  2. Contextualize queer/liberative/affirming theologies, interpretations, liturgies, and ministry practices into multiple API contexts.
  3. Recognize, resist, and eradicate the harm from various forms of oppression and intersectional injustice, colonial power, and cis-hetero normativity to live fully as communities of the kin-dom* [reign] of God.
  4. Practice deep solidarity, mutual support, compassion, and communal- and self-care across multiple intersecting differences.
  5. Identify and form leaders to make safer and braver spaces and to imagine ways to transform the churches and faith-related communities in Asia, the Pacific, North America, and everywhere.

 

  1. The API Ministries Office lifts the stories of Japanese-American Lutherans observing their call of “Day of Remembrance”, every February 19th. This year we also observe the 80th anniversary of the Japanese Americans’ release from the internment camp. Three Japanese American Lutherans, Gail Kiyomora, Stacy Kitahata and Rev. Deanna Kim Basset, are sharing their stories in the Living Lutheran on May 5,13 and 29, 2026.

 

  1. We also want to focus on the bold witness of our Hmong communities. In May 1976, the largest group of Hmong refugees arrived in the United States. I invite you to include them in the Sundays prayers of the people this month. Here are some themes as we pray with and for our Hmong communities:
  1. The gifts and valuable contribution of the Hmong community in church and society
  2. Refugees’ safe journeys, and for the provisions they need along the way
  3. For refugees to find warm welcome, hospitality, belonging and just immigration policies, especially for those seeking asylum and protection from violence and war
  4. For refugees’ family reunions
  5. For strong faith, that they may be able to worship with freedom and strengthen their faith communities

 

Rooted in Scripture: Different gifts, one Spirit — one thread at a time.

A Lenten Devotion

Roberto Lara Aranda March 14, 2026 No Comments

From a Deacon’s Desk

“A Lenten Devotion on Resistance and Rest”
From Deacon Lauren Morse-Wendt 

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. — 1 Corinthians 12:4-6  

Rooted in Scripture: Different gifts, one Spirit — one thread at a time.
Rooted in Scripture:
Different gifts, one Spirit — one thread at a time.

Over the past year, I’ve noticed a common sign at protests:  “I need to be able to tell my grandchildren I did not stay silent.”  It hit me square in the heart . . . but differently now than just four months ago.  

The week of December 1, when Operation Metro Surge began, I had a major knee surgery.   The recovery meant six weeks with no walking or driving. It meant that the week that the government descended to terrorize our neighbors, I was stuck in a chair, unable to march, to carry groceries, or patrol.  And as the weeks went on, that familiar sign stopped inspiring me and began to haunt me.   

I began to find myself conjuring my imaginary grandchildren and their disappointment at my lack of heroics in this time. As others found ways to make change for Lent, I found myself more ashamed that I wasn’t doing enough.  That whatever goodness we offer . . . is never enough.  Our culture wants us to believe this; but, of course, this was never the point.  

Perhaps this is why the Ash Wednesday text is always about doing your good works in secret: to remind us that our good works are not the Gospel.  It is not our goodness that keeps the world, or the resistance, going: It is God’s goodness.  And we are not God. We are an important part of creation called to serve our neighbor, but we are not expected to be the savior of the world. Because we already have one of those.  

As I have slowly returned to society, I have been able to commit two measly bus patrol shifts a week. It feels small. I have not encountered ICE directly. My shifts have been quite broken only be squirrely kindergarteners bounding off the bus. 

If I told my grandchildren about these shifts, they might not remember the details.  But our Lenten journey reminds me that it is not about me. I am part of our web of resistance actors who are creating a powerful, protective network.  I am one string in a web that, together, creates a stronger community for all our neighbors.  One member of the body of Christ that works for transformation in the world    

You are part of that web.  Part of that Body of Christ.  

Whether God has called you to deliver grocery bags or raise funds, to pray for those in hiding or organize protesters, whether you preach with courage or talk to kids about loving your neighbor, your single string in our web of resistance is an essential one. Keep going; the work of the Body of Christ matters, whether we see it each day or not. 

When our proverbial grandchildren read the history books, they may not read about any one of us.  But they will read the stories of thousands of strands of silk who acted together to create a web that was strong enough to be God’s good news in the world. And when they read of that web, I am confident: our grandchildren will be proud of us.

Amen. 

Photo credit (clergy protesters): Religion News Service | Pictured: A line of clergy protesters. Pastor Joe Larson appears far right, wearing a black hood.

From a Proclaimer’s Desk

Roberto Lara Aranda March 14, 2026 No Comments

From a Proclaimer’s Desk in Minneapolis 

“Holy Resistance”
by Pastor Joe Larson

“Then Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” — Mark 8:34

Photo credit (clergy protesters): Religion News Service | Pictured: A line of clergy protesters. Pastor Joe Larson appears far right, wearing a black hood.
Photo credit : Religion News Service (for clergy protesters use) | Pictured: A line of clergy protesters. Pastor Joe Larson appears far right, wearing a black hood.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who dared to defy an oppressive Nazi government. Shortly after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933, Bonhoeffer wrote an essay called, “The Church and the Jewish Question,” which he presented to a meeting of Lutheran pastors. Bonhoeffer’s thesis was that during oppressive regimes, God calls the Church to be a prophetic voice. 

Bonhoeffer proposed that the Church is obligated not to just bandage the victims crushed by the wheels of government, but to become a stick pushed into the spokes of the wheel to stop the vehicle itself. Most of the clergy listening to Bonhoeffer’s words walked out. They were so enmeshed in their country’s anti-Semitism, they couldn’t see why the Church should do anything to stop it. Eventually, Bonhoeffer was jailed and executed for his words and actions. 

Bonhoeffer’s writings inspire me. As a gay Christian who went to seminary when I was young, but didn’t get ordained until 30 years later, I have experienced the oppression of our Church on a personal level. During the past year, I have witnessed a new nationwide oppression targeting our immigrant neighbors with the same white supremacist propaganda used by Nazis so long ago. In Minneapolis, we cry out in response the deaths of people like Renee Good, a lesbian protester who was shot by ICE agents. 

Since mid-December, here in Minnesota we have endured hundreds of our neighbors being threatened, attacked, and disappeared by Operation Surge — an ongoing effort that included more than 3,000 ICE agents in the Twin Cities. Thousands of us have responded by protesting, serving as observers at schools and street corners, providing mutual aid, and organizing on Signal chats.  

All these demonstrations have happened despite our winter weather. Friday, January 23rd was the coldest day of this season — with a temperature of -20° F and -40° wind chill! A day when I participated in an outdoor demonstration of holy resistance organized by two local nonprofits called Isaiah and Faith in Minnesota as part of a “Day of Prayer and Fasting for Truth and Freedom.” 

That morning, I gathered with ninety-eight clergy and faith leaders at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis, where we loaded onto buses that took us to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. We bundled up with multiple layers of clothing with brightly colored stoles over our coats. I sat next to a pastor named Suzanne, and we agreed to stick together as partners during the protest. 

At the airport, we processed to an area where cars drop off travelers for their flights. The plan was to engage in an act of civil disobedience by disrupting traffic — a moral action meant to call attention to how that facility was allowing ICE to be present and use planes to deport detained immigrants. Initially, we gathered with a crowd at an area designated for peaceful protests. But then we clergy stepped forward onto the road and formed a long line. Together we kneeled on the cold ground, sang songs and hymns, chanted protests, prayed, and waited. 

For me it was a spiritual experience. Despite the cold, I felt the warmth of God’s spirit with us. When the police started arresting us one by one, handcuffing us with zip ties, and loading us onto school buses, I imagined Jesus standing beside us. The same Jesus who road on a donkey into Jerusalem to protest an oppressive regime. The same Jesus who overturned tables in the Temple. The same Jesus who was executed by the Roman empire. The same Jesus who told his followers to take up their cross and follow him. 

Our airport protest made national headlines. Like other demonstrations that have continued since then, it was a symbol of moral outrage at what’s happening in our nation. Things are a little better for now in Minnesota, but we have not stopped our vigilance. Every week, my husband and I continue to provide rides to a Latina member of a local Lutheran church because she’s still afraid of using public transportation. Our congregation, Edina Community Lutheran Church, continues organizing our members in resistance efforts and mutual aid projects. I will keep working with organizations like Isaiah and Prism Organizing Network in organizing faith leaders and communities. 

During this Lenten season, I believe God calls us to become a stick pushed in the spoke in the wheel of an oppressive empire. Jesus calls us to act with holy resistance and to speak with a prophetic voice. A voice of hospitality for immigrants and people of color. A voice of acceptance for trans and queer individuals. A voice of comfort for those who live in fear. And a voice of welcome for those without a safe home.

Amen. 

 

Latiné, Lutheran and Queer

webmaster October 12, 2025 No Comments

At Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, we believe that sacred hospitality is more than a purpose — it’s a practice rooted in the Gospel. It is the radical welcome that makes space for LGBTQIA+ leaders and their communities to flourish, to belong, and to share their gifts with the church and the world.

As Latiné Heritage Month comes to a close, we are grateful to see this spirit reflected in Living Lutheran’s recent article, Joy, Warmth, and Sacred Hospitality, which highlights our Interim Executive Director, Roberto Lara Aranda, and his reflections on how communities embody love and care in ways that nurture connection and joy. This vision aligns deeply with ELM’s call to center love, justice, and belonging in all we do.

We invite you to read the full article here: Joy, Warmth, and Sacred Hospitality.

QueerEye Discussion Guide

Lewis Eggleston June 4, 2020 No Comments

Premiering Friday, June 5 the Netflix series QueerEye will feature a “makeover” episode on Proclaim member Rev. Noah Hepler, also featured in the episode are Bishop Guy Erwin and Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (we also suspect many more Proclaim members will make cameos in the episode)! While this is exciting to highlight a Proclaimer’s story with millions from across the world watching & learning, we know LGBTQIA+ ministry leaders often have a difficult faith journey. Which is why (with the great idea & help from Proclaim member Elle Dowd and in partnership with ReconcilingWorks) we have created a “Discussion Guide” (Link Below). The guide is for you, your family, or your congregation if you wish to engage further with the QueerEye episode.

To learn how to host a Netflix Watch Party (with your congregation) Click Here! 

QueerEye Discussion GuideFINALDownload

“Dancing Queen” by ABBA

Hannah Dorn June 27, 2019 No Comments

Devotional by Rev. Amanda Gerken-Nelson

It all started in her red Pontiac Sunfire. 

My aunt would come and pick me up in her “cool car” and we’d head to McDonald’s to get some frenchfries. Then, we’d roll down the windows, blast ABBA on the radio, and we’d be off – licking our salty fingers along the way! 

When the musical, “Mamma Mia” came out, my aunt saw it at least 10 times – any time it came to town, she was in the audience…twice! 

When “Dancing Queen” came on – at the musical or on the radio – suddenly an imaginary piano appeared just above my aunt’s head in time for her to play “ching-ching, ching-ching, ching-ching” along with the piano part in the song – mimicking the choreography of the main characters.

Since my aunt died eight years ago, all too suddenly from complications with her Lupus, every time “Dancing Queen” comes on the radio, I am reminded of her love and playfulness.

And when it comes on at the gay bars, suddenly an imaginary piano appears above my head just in time for me to play “ching-ching, ching-ching, ching-ching.”

And in that moment, I am connected to my wholeness.

God of all love, enfold your beautifully diverse creation in your peace and pride this month as we celebrate our wholeness. Thank you for the gift of loved ones who show us your all-encompassing grace through their love. Amen.

Amanda Gerken-Nelson (she/her/hers) is pretty good at the air piano and at emphasizing “leee-berty” with her brother Paul in the ABBA song “Fernando.” This weekend, as the LGBTQIA+ community celebrates World Pride, Amanda also celebrates her one year wedding anniversary to Tasha. She is grateful to all who have paved the way for her and all gender and sexual minorities to even have a legal option for marriage and a church which would bless her partnership. 

“True Trans Soul Rebel” by Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace

Hannah Dorn May 30, 2019 No Comments

Devotional By Jon Rundquist

CW: Language, Self-harm, Weapons

“Does God Bless Your Transsexual Heart?”

This poignant question comes from Laura Jane Grace the leader of Against Me! Laura Jane’s question comes from the perspective of both a transwoman and someone who was once a teenage boy kicked out of a Florida church. She later wrote in her autobiography, “When a church turns you away, it feels as though God himself is rejecting you, saying you are damaged beyond His help.”

This song “True Trans Soul Rebel” has been on repeat in my mind all throughout my journey in seminary and afterward. Yes, this question of God loving my transsexual heart has appeared as well. Or God’s Church. More specifically, the rural congregations of the ELCA. Long before I mostly knew that I was trans, I knew that I was called to serve the rural church. As any similarly called LGBTQIA+ leader in the church, I knew that most calls for such leaders would be offered for urban-suburban congregations, due to the (generally) more frequent occurrences of affirming congregations.

I remained committed to the idea of a rural call, even (twice) committing to candidacy in a rural synod. I was going to be that “True Trans Soul Rebel”. Rogue One’s “Rebellions are built on Hope” has been plastered on my Facebook every time I sit in front of my candidacy committee. The first (and only) tattoo I have is that of a Star Wars rebellion symbol, colored as a trans flag (right). My version of True Trans Soul Rebel.

My most recent joy brought by this song is my 3-yr old singing, “Who’s gonna take you home, tonight / Who’s gonna take you home” every now and then. God’s got this. Wherever this leads, God’s gonna take us home. Coming out of the closet is nothing short of rebellion, and leading God’s church as an out LGBTQIA+ person is truly divine.

Jon Rundquist (he/her/theirs) is a non-binary trans/genderqueer rebellious preacher of the rural Northwoods, where they are a stay-at-home parent and an occasional electronics team member at Target. Jon has many loves, including his wife and two children, and an affinity for sci-fi/fantasy Star Trek/Wars/Gate. Yes, that’s six slashes. She hopes to one day serve in ordained ministry for the God and Church she loves. Rebellions are built on hope after all. 

“A Deeper Love” by Aretha Franklin

Hannah Dorn May 23, 2019 No Comments

Devotional by Carla Christopher

When I heard Aretha Franklin growl “Pride; A Deeper Love” at my very first Pride just a few months after coming out it gave me LIFE! A church girl turned survivor of conversion therapy and toxic church, being told that I was worthy of love and deserved survival was revolutionary. I twirled, skipped, and danced my way across Bryant Park in New York City with fae boys and stud women still rocking the James Dean look.

As we shared a moment in all our diversity, I knew a oneness that I hadn’t experienced outside of the church. When Aretha told me getting out of bed that morning was a victory worth celebrating, I believed her. She sang that the love in my heart would give me the strength to get through the day, and I needed that strength in those days. I still do on rough days.

It wasn’t until many years later that I realized as strong and confident and empowered as the song is, Aretha isn’t singing to or about herself. She calls out to the people, sure. The world needs to know we are here! She lifts herself up when the world isn’t there to do it. Absolutely! But, she takes a break mid-song to offer thanks to the source of all the luscious, brave goodness that she is, that we are. She asks for the strength to continue on, with the humble beauty of the Psalmist.

Not sure who this prayer is directed to? Give her gospel album a listen. Once the chills have subsided, you will hear that same power in her club anthem.

As you live bold, brave, unapologetically proud today, know that it’s okay if you get tired sometimes. It’s okay if you feel dysphoric today or if you didn’t come out AGAIN in a new space. You’re still here. You’re not going any-dang-where. And you will survive…but that’s another song. For today, we pray to Jesus together – “I want to thank you for helping me see there’s a power that lives deep inside of me. Give me the strength to carry on, always be strong. Pride. A deeper love. Amen.”

Carla Christopher (she/her/hers) is a seminarian at United Lutheran Seminary – Gettysburg and Vicar of Union Lutheran church in York, PA. She is the founder and co-president of the York LGBTQIA+ Resource Center and co-chair of Toward Racial Justice, the diversity task force of Lower Susquehanna Synod.

“Is There Life Out There” by Reba McEntire

Hannah Dorn May 16, 2019 No Comments

Devotional by Rev. Anna Tew

The LGBTQIA+ nightlife of Atlanta often represents the best of the South to me. On any given weekend night, especially in Midtown, you can find people of many races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, and gender identities and expressions all enjoying the night together.

On one particular evening in 2014, I was standing with my friends who are my family, watching a gorgeous drag queen perform Reba McEntire’s “Is There Life Out There,” and the Holy Spirit descended.

The song tells the story of a young woman from the South who married at twenty, and finds herself feeling trapped. The chorus goes like this: “Is there life out there / So much she hasn’t done / Is there life beyond her family and her home / She’s done what she should, should she do what she dares? / She doesn’t want to leave; she’s just wondering is there life out there.”

Every one of us in that bar sang every word. We sang because Atlanta is a haven for us LGBTQIA+ folk in the middle of the rural South. Because we, too, once felt trapped. Because we, too, didn’t want to leave our homes. Because we did what we “should” for so long before we did what we dared: to be our full selves. We pounded the air with our fists and raised our cups and sang at the top of our lungs as if to say, “We’re still here – hallelujah!”

Sometimes the Holy Spirit appears as drag queen lip syncing to Reba.

Sometimes the love of God swoops in and saves your soul when you least expect it: like at a pub on a Friday night. May the love of God swoop in and save your soul again today: by land, by sea, or by drag queen. There is life out there, friends. There is.

Bio: The Rev. Anna Tew is a 30-something Lutheran pastor serving Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (ELCA) in South Hadley, Massachusetts. A product of several places, she was born in rural Alabama, lived most of her adult life in Atlanta, and now lives in and adores New England. In her spare time, Anna enjoys climbing the nearby mountains, traveling, exploring cities and nightlife, and keeping up with politics and pop culture.

I’ll Cover You from RENT the Musical

Hannah Dorn May 9, 2019 2 Comments

Devotional by Vicar Lewis Eggleston

On their way to replace a stolen coat, “I’ll Cover You” is a song about a romantic love where one person (Tom Collins) acknowledges how very little physical items and finances he has to bring into this relationship and all he can offer in return are embraces, kisses, and undying love for Angel.

RENT has and will forever have a special place in my heart. I was the luckiest boy in the world to play Angel in a production after the Air Force stationed us in Oklahoma. I had just been rejected for a pastoral internship and I thought ministry in Oklahoma would not be possible because of who I was.

Playing this role anywhere takes guts; playing Angel in rural Oklahoma, felt a little “To Wong Fu.” Portraying radical, unconditional love as someone from the margins shakes up the patriarchal system. Sometimes the season tickets holders would complain about the “edginess” of RENT (20 years after its debut on Broadway), some would walk out after the first Act, and some thought Angel in boy clothes was an altogether different character than Angel in girl clothes. Yet, hearts and minds were changed. The number of young LGBTQIA+ people that came up in tears after each performance was staggering. I’ll never forget their stories.

Among those who supported the show, was my mother (Pictured Lower Left Corner with Proud Mom Look). The LGBTQIA+ community often create their own families, not by choice, but by necessity. In celebration of Pride in June and Mother’s Day this weekend, I’m grateful my mother said “I’ll Cover You.” She sheltered me, hugged me, kissed me, loved me, and like Collins I can never repay her for all she’s done for me, except to show her my love and gratitude. I’m thankful for all the Mama Bears out there who choose to love their LGBTQIA+ children. I pray for those in our communities that had to cut these ties so they could survive, that they are embraced by motherly figures who love them unconditionally, and I pray for all the motherly figures out there that shape our world in the way God desires. Amen. 

Bio: Vicar Lewis Eggleston (he/him/his) is an Air Force spouse currently living in San Antonio, TX with his husband Mitchell and dog-child Carla. He attended seminary at Pacific School of Religion and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA, and he is currently interning with Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Seguin, TX. He’s been an advocate for children’s access to the arts through both museum and symphony educational programming and has worked with homeless individuals and families for the past ten years. In his free time, he loves to attend musicals whilst fighting every urge to sing-along.