Making the rounds in the news today: The story of Pastor Bradley Smelling, who, when he became the Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church (Atlanta) six years ago, told the Bishop that he was gay, and that he didn't have a boyfriend, but being the kind and loving Christian that he is, he probably would one day. That's what happens to kind and loving people-- they tend to couple up. And so much for the better. His congration knew he was gay before he even assumed the position (poor choice of words, I know) and his homosexuality has always been a non-issue, other than the "he must know something about introspection, struggle, and hosesty and aren't we lucky to have him as a spiritual leader" sort of issue.
Now, Pastor Schmeling has a boyfriend. Good for him. But for some reason the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the umbrella organization that includes St. John's, suddenly has a problem with the gayness and wants to try and discipline Shmeling because now that he has a bf he's probably having a gay sex. Apparently they skimmed that biblical verse that said, "And then Peter said 'well, DUH.'"
If the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America body chooses to discipline Schmeling, he will be stripped of his clerical title and authority, but not his love, campassion, nor grace of God. Go figure.
My favorite response/observation of this mess comes from Queerty:
What we find funny about the whole thing is that just because you don't have a boyfriend doesn't mean you're not committing sodomy every weekend. The Lutheran Church is encouraging secret promiscuous sex [over] public monogamy.
Seriously, they might want to rethink their 'position.'
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