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The Rev. Nate Bjorge quit his position with the First Lutheran Church in Little Falls last week after the church voted to remain a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination, voted to allow churches to roster gay and lesbian pastors at a meeting in Minneapolis in August.
“I knew Nate felt strongly. I anticipated (his resignation), but it’s not what I wanted,” associate pastor David Sperstad told the Brainerd Dispatch. “I expected to work with him in ministry for quite a while.”
In early October, a Minneapolis church voted to leave the ELCA over the vote. And a number of churches throughout the state are considering the same.
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7 Comments »
Comment posted November 2, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
Good bye ‘n Good riddance, is what I say.
Comment posted November 2, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
Who cares? The church is better off WITHOUT a bigot as its spiritual leader.
Imagine what a better world this would be if EVERY nimrod followed his cue.
Comment posted November 2, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
Seems like a reasonable solution. The members voted to stay with the ELCA. The minister wasn’t happy with that so he resigned to go somewhere else. It wasn’t long ago that the big issues were ordaining women and Biblical literalism. There were a number of congregations who voted to leave, some voted to stay and had individuals leave. Same process will happen with this issue.
If church members didn’t have this to fight about, they’d find something else. Church politics make South Carolina politics seem polite.
Comment posted November 3, 2009 @ 12:11 am
Rev. Bjorge is clearly a man of principle. It must have been difficult for him, but he did what he had to do. His congregation is clearly a lost cause. They follow the ELCA in their contempt for Christian values, and now worship at the altar of radical liberalism.
Comment posted November 3, 2009 @ 3:14 pm
I LOVE worshiping at the altar of radical liberalism. It’s so…radical. Often for the Christian Right, those who disagree are accused of hating Christianity. I applaud this minister for leaving and getting out of the way of a church that obviously wants to stay in communion with their fellow Christians and get some work done.
Comment posted November 3, 2009 @ 9:16 pm
Although not overly religious, I was brought up as a Lutheran, and am glad to see that the church accepts gays into the fold. The reason I don’t go to church anymore is that people on both the right and left preach one thing, but once church is over, go back to being hypocrits.
Jesus said, “Love one another”–he didn’t make exceptions or qualifications about it, so why should we?
The New Testament was supposed to be an addendum which would succeed the Old, and yet, conservatives ignore it for the same tired anti-everything verses which protect them from the need for thought.
God gave us brains and hearts so that we could identify and sympathise with others, and think for ourselves, not be robots obeying the words of men who only seek power over others in the name of religion.
Comment posted November 7, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
People miss the issue here. Christians are all sinners. We are all forgiven, but we have to recognize right and wrong. We have clergy who are adulterers, theives, liars, etc. But they admit that they are sinners and repent.
Gay clergy deny that homosexuality is a sin, even though it is clearly defined in the Bible as such. (under both the old and the new covenants)
For the church to allow gay clergy is the same as if they allowed a pastor to continue to be a prostitute on Saturday and preach on Sunday.
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