Promoting Sin in the ELCA

“Grace is not your average Lutheran church,” so says the ELCA’s Grace Lutheran Church in a Houston, TX.  I say that isn't necessarily so. I believe Grace Lutheran gives us a picture of what many ELCA churches ARE like and what most ELCA churches will be.  And it’s time that all the Midwest ELCA churches, rural ELCA churches, head-in-the-sand churches and members everywhere understand what the ELCA has become.

Let me tell you about Grace Lutheran.  Their church website recommends giving kids a children’s book about homosexual marriage.  The book is called Donovan’s Big Day.  One of Grace Lutheran's church bloggers says that this “. . .picture book celebrates gay marriage in a delightful way through the eyes of a young child and would make a wonderful gift for kids and adults alike.”  (see here)  For those of you that are not concerned about this, one thing you should know (among many things) is that studies show promoting homosexuality to children will result in a greater likelihood of homosexual experimentation. (read here)  But that isn't a problem for most ELCA churches because homosexuality is not a sin in the ELCA. 

On the “wedding” page for Grace Lutheran we learn “On May 22, 2005, by vote of the congregation of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, the congregation adopted a policy stating that ‘The blessing of same-gender unions may be performed at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. Grace’s wedding guidelines will apply equally to all gender combinations.’” (see here)

Grace Lutheran’s pastor, Lura N. Groen says that a few years ago “the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) would not ordain pastors like me, who were LGBT, and refusing to promise celibacy. So my ordination here at Grace was not recognized by the ELCA.” But “. . .the ELCA voted to change its discriminatory policy!” (read here)

Here is a church picture of an adolescent girl, apparently affiliated with Grace Lutheran, holding a rainbow gay pride flag. (see here)

Grace Lutheran seems to take great pride in participating in gay “pride” parades.  Here are some pictures:

- Grace Lutheran representatives - men in skirts. (see here)

- Grace Lutheran pastor and men in skirts. (see here)

- Grace Lutheran participant in drag. (see here)

- In this photo we learn that “Grace Fights 4 Equality,” “Lutherans like beer” and “Lutherans are sexy.” (see here)

- Grace Lutheran parade group picture.  Some of the church signs say “Live love be fabulous,” “Grace Lutheran is family.” (see here)

And this is a picture, of which I can only assume, is Grace Lutheran draped in rainbow color streamers. (see here)

At the bottom of the Grace Lutheran Church’s  homepage are some tags that the church placed there which helps to describe things about the church and what they are about.  Some of the tags include, “gay churches in Houston," “ELCA,” "gay lutheran ministers in church," "lesbian wedding," "gay wedding," "ELCA Homosexuality," "GLBT," "GLBT Church," "LGBTQ," "LGBTQ Church," "LGBT Church," "LGBT," "church in houston that accepts lesbians," "church in houston that accepts gays," "church in houston that accepts bisexuals," "church in houston that accepts transsexuals," "church in houston that accepts transgender people," and "Reconciling in Christ." (go here and highlight the gray box)

Frankly, Grace Lutheran’s description of themselves as “not your average Lutheran church,” is less and less true as each day passes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.