Sex and Sexuality

What does the ELCA teach about: Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust?

The 2009 vote to adopt the social statement of the ELCA on Human Sexuality is one of the most controversial, impactful – even divisive of all the social statements of the ELCA.  Whether each member as an individual agrees with portions of the statement or not, the ELCA was forever changed (some say for the better, some say for the worse) after the adoption of this social statement.

While it is often assumed that this social statement is only about same-sex relationships, it covers far more – most of which are largely what you might expect and are far less controversial.  Some of the assertions of the social statement include:

-Marriage is a civil (legal) promise by two individuals.  A Christian marriage, then, is a marriage that is then prayed over to ask God’s blessing.  The commitment and solemn promises of marriage are intended to create a place for safety, security, openness, and care for one another in body, mind, and spirit.

-Sexual Intimacy can be something that supports and fosters love, care, affection, and joy or it can be manipulative, harmful, exploitative, or even criminal.  As Christians, we are called to live a healthy sexual ethic that reflects the Greatest Commandments: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? [Jesus] said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

-Our salvation or our righteousness before God is not determined by our adherence to a sexual ethic.  Instead, our ability to live a healthy sexual ethic is a result of our freely given salvation and being made righteous through Christ.  (This aligns with the Lutheran understanding of Grace and Works outlined in Luther’s Freedom of a Christian which reminds us that our love and care of our neighbor is possible because we have been saved – not our care and love of our neighbor being what saves us.  Let me know if you want to discuss this further!)

-The ELCA is committed to care, love, protection, and justice for all our neighbors, including those who might face discrimination or hardship based on their sexual orientation.  The ELCA, our congregations and ministries, and our members ought to work and advocate for a world where hate speech, harassment, and violence that LGBTQIA+ experience become a thing of the past regardless of our individual convictions about same-sex relationships.

When it comes to the part of the ELCA Social Statement that is the most contentious, we are looking at a section labeled “Lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”  Remember that this was written in 2009 when same-sex marriage varied significantly from state to state.  The ELCA gathered these four responses to the question: “How should the church treat same-sex relationships?”  The ELCA does not say that one of these is the “answer” but instead, states that these are the range of answers.

1. Same-sex relationships – in and of themselves – are sinful and fall under the category of “fornication.”  As a result, those who continue to live in same-sex sexual relationships are living a life of unrepentant sin. We care for and love our neighbor by encouraging these individuals to have a celibate life.

• Same-sex relationships – even those that are loving and caring – reflect a broken world.  God intended man and woman to be together (as described in Genesis) and marriage reflects that plan.  Same-sex relationships reflect a diversion from God’s plan for creation.  As a result, the church and the community should not place these relationships in the same category as “marriage.”

• The biblical witness does not address same-sex relationships as they are today.   Contextual/Historical/Anthropological readings of scripture reflect the relationships others point to as inherently sinful describing relationships between male slaveholders and adolescent slaves, sex/rape intended to emasculate, etc.  The church should uphold and support lifelong, monogamous, same-sex relationships. However, these relationships are not “Christian marriage” because Christian marriage reflects the male-female pairing described in Genesis.

• The biblical witness does not address same-sex relationships as they are today (see above).  The church should uphold and support same-sex relationships and marriage is a part of that support.  If marriage is a civil/legal promise between two people and Christian marriage is God’s blessing of that promise, it is fully within the Christian ethic to ask for God’s blessing on same-sex relationships and name that relationship “marriage.”

This being Mental Health Month and coming to you from my first career as a social worker, I feel the need to bring up “Conversion Therapy.” My professional organization (National Association of Social Workers) has denounced conversion therapy along with almost every medical and psychological association in the United States.  This dangerous pseudo-scientific intervention is designed to change someone’s sexual orientation and has not only been shown to be unsuccessful but is deeply harmful and damaging.  This is not a stated position of the ELCA as a denomination, but if you are interested in the mental health impact of conversation therapy, I’d be happy to sit and discuss it with you or send you some information.

You may be aware that this social statement created a great deal of division in the ELCA – some ELCA congregations left and formed other Lutheran denominations.  Some of our pastors and bishops resigned or moved to the new denominations, and some members left.  While it was a difficult time for the ELCA, this issue needed to be addressed as remaining silent was no longer an option.  It’s important to know that there is room for everyone in the ELCA on this issue – and from very casual conversations with members, I think there is also a variety of points of view in our own pews on Sunday!  Naturally, I as your pastor have my own point of view.  At the same time, I remain committed to respecting and honoring the viewpoints of all our members, even if we disagree. You may read the entire social statement on the ELCA Webpage.

In Christian Love,

Pr. Sharilyn