Nick Coleman-Column
http://www.startribune.com/stories/357/5428079.html
Nick Coleman: Retired bishop lifts his voice in support of gays
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Herbert W. Chilstrom has been retired 10 years, and he would be glad if we would just let him do volunteer gardening in the arboretum of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., where the grounds are being overrun by gophers.
"I've been using everything I can think of to try to get rid of them," he says. "Chewing gum, poison, human urine ..." I don't know where he gets his weapons in the war against rodents, but if you thought a retired Lutheran bishop might think he is above a battle, you don't know Herb Chilstrom.
Comment: Quite the intro.
He is 73 and lives in St. Peter with Corinne, his wife of 51 years. He was born in Litchfield, ordained in 1958 and had his first parish in Pelican Rapids. He was elected first presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, leading it from its formation in 1987 until 1995.
His spiritual journey is even more impressive than his career path. And it has brought him to a point where, even in retirement, he remains on the front lines of the religious and political war over gay marriage.
Chilstrom is a committed Christian and co-author (with another retired Lutheran bishop, Lowell Erdahl), of a book called "Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old."
I recommend it for your teenagers.
Comment: I don't have any teenagers. I would suggest the Bible for how to view sexuality as a Christian. But whatever.
, especially if you dread talking to them about sexuality.
But you might want to keep the book under the couch. Sexual fulfillment is practically a taboo topic nowadays. So it is really rare to find well-known church leaders who support gay unions and oppose constitutional amendments against gay marriage.
Comment: The reason Church Leaders oppose Gay Marriage is because the Bible does, Matthew 19:4-6, Romans 1:27, I Corinthians 6:9, Mark 10:6-9. Church leaders don't really want the state making judgements about what consitutes acceptable moral behavior. This is essentially a religious dispute that the state shouldn't get involved in.
"It would be tragic to embed that kind of thing in our public documents," Chilstrom says. "Really a blow to people who want to express their affection and love and commitment to another human being. When someone's being treated unfairly, I join the cause."
COMMENT: I am glad Herb Chilstrom gets defensive when our public documents might be corrupted, but is quite all right with the witness of scripture being tossed aside. Question for Bishop Chilstrom, if I come to you and say I need to be with mulitiple women to have sexual fulfillment, and that I was born lustful, would you want to bless this?
So a guy who should be golfing has to roll up his sleeves for justice again. COMMENT: I wish he was golfing, instead of embrassing Lutheranism's historic witness.
I call it an act of courage and defiance in an age when unscrupulous politicians exploit anti-gay sentiment by pushing laws outlawing same-sex marriages.
Comment: Real courage was shown in the Book of Acts by Paul, Barnabas, and Stephen as they bucked politicial correctness to preach the Gospel. They wouldn't compromise the Gospel at the sake of thier own life. How does Herb Chilstrom show courage giving into to modern politicial correctness?
In the face of a well-financed campaign against same-sex unions, he says, too many active ministers refuse to speak out "for fear of offending members who make large donations."
Comment: A lot of ministers know if they are accused of heresy there career is probably over at a given church.
Herb Chilstrom is not among the silenced lambs.
"I am convinced that our churches and our society must affirm gay, lesbian and transgendered persons as completely equal in every way with those of us who are heterosexual," he said in a recent speech to a church conference in Wisconsin. "It is time for those of us who believe that the Gospel is for all and who believe that civil rights are for all to speak up."
COMMENT: I would ask what exactly is the Gospel. Is it that Christ came down to die on the cross for our sins? Or is it to stand for just some social principle? If it was the latter why does this seem to be of little concern in the Early Church or in the writings of Martin Luther?
By his own admission, Chilstrom is "an unlikely advocate" for gay rights. As a small-town kid steeped in tradition, he entered the ministry firmly holding to orthodox "hate the sin, love the sinner" views toward gays and lesbians, and to church teachings that homosexuality is a disorder.
COMMENT: At least they acknowledge the Heterodoxy of Chilstrom's position.
His pastoral duties, however, led to the slow recognition that there were many gay people in the church -- as in society at large -- deeply pained and isolated from their communities, who felt rejected by the church. He and Corinne have come to know dozens of gay couples, and Herb says he gradually felt called to a new understanding that all committed relationships should be blessed by Christians, whether they are gay or straight.
COMMENT: I thought Martin Luther defined the Pastoral Office in the Treatsie of Power and Primacy as irrevelant apart from the Word of God. Here Good ol' Herb is applying to personal experience. I would ask him to explain Luther's saying in the Large Cathecism "For the Word of Man can error, but the Word of God cannot error?"
"We got to hear their stories," he says, including stories of the gay children of ministers in the ELCA flock. "And gradually, we got to know them as brothers and sisters in Christ."
Slavery, racial prejudice and sexism were accepted by Christians until they turned to the roots of their faith and applied the underlying principles of scripture to the modern world, he says. And it is the same with equal rights -- including the right to recognized legal unions -- for homosexuals. He says the Bible is clearly against one-night stands and sexual exploitation, which tempt heterosexuals as well as homosexuals. But he says it supports lifelong commitment and love between partners. If committed relationships are good for straight people, they must be accepted for gays, too.
COMMENT: When the Bible is refering to Slaves they are really refering to workers. Since Bible Times didn't have Free Market economies with Starbucks on every block. People often need to depend on land owners for survival. The Bible never justifies any sort of abusive treatment of slaves, that we associate with 19th century America. The New Testament makes constant distinctions about how race didn't matter. Any negative talk in the Bible directed at a people's is for their lack of faith, not their skin color. I am not sure what he means by Sexism. But how can a book that tells a Husband to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. The pure form of Love, be Sexist.
"In the course of our lifetimes, we change our minds about things we once thought were settled forever," he says. "This has really become a justice issue. Gays are being treated unjustly, both by the church and by society. And it is not God's way. Any true conservative who cares about stability in our society ought to support gay unions, and ought to bless these relationships."
COMMENT: Since where in the Bible does one's judgement, albeit unfournate, lead to the blessing of any sort of previous condemned behavior?
I hope we will listen to Herb Chilstrom and the other rare leaders among us who are trying to calm the anti-gay hysteria, refute the invective of the bigotry inflaming politicians, and speak truth. But I am not surprised that a retired Lutheran bishop might lead the way.
COMMENT: How is this bigotry? Bigorty is defined by not bestowing equal rights upon different people. A Gay man can marry a women as well as I can marry a women. So therefore how is this bigotry?
As I always say, Lutherans are the last, best hope for mankind.
COMMENT: How does Coleman define Lutherans. He certainly doesn't define them as people who adhere to the the Bible as Martin Luther would.
posted by Stew at 11:34 PM
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