NE IOWA LUTHERANS SOUNDLY REJECT ELCA HOMOSEXUAL CLERGY & MARRIAGES

12-5-09

The secular progressive Cedar Rapids Gazette finally reported how on 11-14-09,  NE Iowa Lutherans soundly rejected ELCA headquarters' adoption of homosexual sex clergy and marriages.  The top of the 12-5-09 front page headlines finally blared:

NE Iowa Synod Defies ELCA Decision

Council opposes to allow clergy in same-sex relationships

The Northeastern Iowa Synod Council defied the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) Bishops and was the first in the nation that overwhelmingly voted to reject homosexual pastors and marriages at the 11-14-09 Synod Council meeting, held in Waverly, Iowa.   Synod Bishop Ullestad's foolish attempt to straddle the fence and equate homosexual sex to left handedness, was soundly rejected.   He has been criticized for ducking the homosexual sex issue as well. 

Rev. Marshall Hahn, pastor of ELCA churches in St. Olaf and Gunder--and secretary of the synod council, introduced the resolution rejecting homosexual clergy and marriages.  The Gazette article quoted him as saying, “What we’re saying is that we don’t want to change the rules that have been in effect for the last 22 years,” Hahn said. “The decisions at the churchwide assembly allowed for change. We’re saying we don’t want that change.”

As the 3 Iowa Lutheran Synod Bishops meet and wring their hands over ELCA homosexual sex issues, with no results, it is very refreshing to see the Northeastern Iowa Synod Council face the issue head on--and resolve it with leadership, conviction and clarity!!   The Council's action clearly shows the high morals of Iowa's Lutheran churches--right up front.  

We expect the Western Iowa Synod to follow suit, which will leave the Southeastern Iowa Synod Bishop Burk in a precarious position--especially since all the pastors at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, the largest Lutheran Church in the Southeastern Iowa Synod, in Iowa and possibly the nation, soundly reject homosexual clergy and marriages!! 

The disastrous split in the ELCA, perpetrated by the homosexual caucus and ELCA headquarters,  is real.   ELCA presiding Bishop Hanson, hides at ELCA headquarters and refuses to respond to our questions and concerns.  He remains part of the problem--and serves as an obstacle to Lutheran Church progress.