By Dr. Ronald C. Yergey

Dear member(s) of Redeemer Lutheran Church,

As pastor of the congregation, I have been inundated with questions and expressions of grave concern for the current state of affairs within our church, both at the synod and national level. While some folks questioned recent stands on ecumenism and the requirement of the historic episcopacy, an even greater confusion has arisen now over the issue of sexuality and sexual orientation. I am pleased to answer your questions and respond to your concerns individually and in mutual conversation; I know that many of you are hesitant to ask and deeply troubled with public pronouncements of various church leaders. I write to you now to speak a clear word in response to these troubling conditions.

There are times when the words of others already spoken serve to clarify issues and so I begin by sharing these words of the German theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg:

'The Church must approach the persons concerned [i.e., gays and lesbians] with tolerance and understanding, but she must also call them to repentance. She cannot surrender the distinction between the norm and conduct that falls below it. Here stands the boundary for any Christian Church which knows itself bound by Scripture. Those who urge the Church to change the norm of her teaching on this question must understand that they are pushing the Church toward schism. A Church that allows itself to be pressured into regarding homosexual activity as no longer a departure from the Biblical norm, and to recognize homosexual partnerships as a form of personal relationship equivalent to marriage would no longer stand on the foundation of Scripture but rather in opposition to its unanimous witness. A church that takes such a step has thereby ceased to be an evangelical church in the tradition of the Lutheran Reformation."

Scripture or Feelings

That the debate within the church has moved from the foundation of God's Word to the public arena of personal feeling and emotion is a clear sign of the faithlessness that now clouds the issue. Indeed, sexuality or sexual orientation itself is not the issue where faithfulness is concerned. Consider Jesus' parable of the Weeds and the Wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). The Church of Jesus Christ is composed of repentant sinners and unrepentant sinners. It is that simple.

The sexuality discussions now clouding the mission of the church are not discussions of those who are sinful versus those who are not, for as Paul makes clear in Romans (3:23) and we confess each week, we are all sinful.

The Lord of the Church offers his gracious forgiveness to all who confess their sin, to all who are in bondage to sin, calling each of us to daily repentance that he might grace us daily with his forgiveness. There are no exclusions. All have sinned and all are in need each day of his forgiveness, his grace, his new life. That is the gospel with which the Church has been entrusted. That is the Good News which Jesus the Christ lived, for which he was executed and in response to which God raised him from the dead. The categories by which present day activists seek to divide the church, the categories of sexual orientation and practice, are simply new categories for continuing sinfulness, self centeredness, and self-fulfillment.

Just Two Estates

God's Word makes it clear that there are but two estates of human existence, both blessed by his gracious and loving presence: the estate of singleness and the estate of marriage. His blessings to each are both many and varied, and even unique. God's gift of sexual intimacy is one of his blessings to the estate of marriage between one man and one woman, a gift by which new children are conceived and the intimacy of self-giving love shared, a reflection – even in the midst of our sin – of that holy love with which the book of Revelation describes the marriage of Christ to his Church. That this gift of "one flesh" is witnessed to from Genesis through Revelation without variance cannot be made more clear. Chastity, celibacy is God's gift for the estate of singleness, and the two estates and their gifts are not to be confused.

That the human race in its bondage to sin has sought from its earliest times to violate these gifts does not justify this present day attempt to alter God's Word. That human beings throughout history have sexually violated one another in many ways is clear evidence of our sinfulness. Sexual intimacy between unmarried couples, adultery, spousal abuse, divorce, sexual intimacy as a recreational activity, self-expression, or self-fulfillment are all evidence of our self-centeredness and of our continuing self-destruction, even while God in Christ continues to call us to repentance and offer us his forgiveness and new life.

We Need More Study??

That such expressions of sinfulness need to be studied by the ELCA in order to discern God's Word is a clear denial of that Word with which we have been entrusted. Indeed, even if all the world were to deny that Word and seek to live only in self-fulfilling sinfulness while calling it the love of God, it would not change that Word. We are called each day to repent, to turn away from our sin and we are assured by our baptism into Christ Jesus of his forgiveness and of the power of the Holy Spirit to amend our ways and to follow our Lord with lives given over to his righteousness and service. Anything less condemns us to the darkness of our sin and the hopelessness of our self-righteousness.

May God have mercy on his Church and raise up faithful leaders and stewards of his Word to challenge the present day faithlessness of its sectarian ' position.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy

The Rev. Dr. Ronald C. Yergey, STD, is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Allentown, PA, and a doctoral graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. The Pannenberg quote is from the Summer 2001 Lutheran Forum, p.34