RISK EVERYTHING TO RESIST INJUSTICE

As the pastor of a congregation with a decades-long commitment to the full inclusion of all people, particularly those marginalized in our society and sadly in many of our churches, it is with deep sorrow, frustration and anger that I witnessed our national ELCA assembly reject an opportunity to take one small step forward towards living out the beloved community which Jesus came and comes to build up in our midst. Not only did the assembly vote against repealing the present position that denies ordination to partnered glbt candidates, but with 503 (against) and 490 (in favor), the assembly voted against officially sanctioning exceptions for glbt candidates in committed relationships in cases where bishops (such as our own) and congregations (such as our own) recognize and honor the many inspired gifts such candidates bring.

In the days and weeks ahead, Trinity must and will keep on keeping on, in the words of one of our leaders, seminarian Jeremy Posadas:

"We must demand that our church own up to its moral responsibility and be a church worth including any one of God's children in the first place. We must demand that our church commit to RISK EVERYTHING TO RESIST INJUSTICE, in the holy and precious name of a righteous God who in her grace RISKS EVERYTHING to bring us - EVERY LAST ONE OF US - home to paradise."

As a small gesture, I have ordered a flag to hang outside of Trinity. It has an upside-down rainbow triangle on a black background. The triangle is a stronger statement than a rainbow alone. It speaks not only to inclusion but to a painful history of exclusion, representing the pink triangle that Nazi's pinned on homosexuals, a history which we continue to repeat with present-day labels, confinement and condemnation. It speaks to cross as well as to resurrection. The light of the rainbow shines out from the dark field, as the light that no darkness can overcome. The triangle is upsidedown, another sign of the reversals foreseen by Mary in her magnificat and proclaimed by Jesus, where the last shall be first. Last, but not least, the triangle is an ancient symbol for the Trinity, most fitting for a congregation so named.

At this point, I, and I think a goodly number of us, are still reeling from the highs of hope against hope and the lows of institutional sin. More will follow as more unfolds...in the meantime let us pray as if everything depends upon God and work as if everything depends upon us.

In the triumphant love of Jesus, Pastor Heidi Neumark