Stirring it up at church (any Lutherans or other Christians here?) [really long!]

[trupa]

Good luck ** Slacker **

This Catholic altar-boy’s mind is still boggled that there are Christians denominations out there that are more restrictive on the role of women than we are.

FWIW, we had women lectors (what you describe), we had girl altar servers, and even female lay eucharistic ministers (people who help the priest distribute communion).

[Soup_du_jour]

Heck, a family member is an ordained Lutheran woman pastor. (ELCA.)

Talk to the pastor. Usually the best thing to do.

[Slacker]

*Originally posted by Soup_du_jour *
**Talk to the pastor. Usually the best thing to do. **

Done! Well, I emailed him today at least. I’ll let you know what happens.

I just hope he doesn’t tell me to burn my PS2. :eek:

[tygre]

I was raised LCMS but left it for the treatment of women, which was never explained to my satisfaction. The church I attended as a kid forbade women from collecting money (but they could count the offerings and make out the bank deposit – just not take it to the bank!), ushering, or being an elder. Women COULD vote, though. Lay reading was allowed but not encouraged. Girls could acolyte, but that only happened there in the past 10 years or so.

I just recall seeing in the bulletin years back, a plea for usher volunteers and thinking, well, heck, they won’t take half the congregation, there’s the problem. I also once asked about women feeling “called” to the ministry and was basically given a roundabout answer that avoided the question.

[Kallessa]

*Originally posted by Slacker *
**In Sunday school we talked about what Paul wrote to the Corinthians regarding women keeping their heads covered, and so on. We agreed that these chapters were not literal instructions for us today, but specific admonitions to the women in the church at the time. There of course was message for us, and it was simple: Don’t do something that is going to divide the church or distract it from its real purpose. The qyestion is, how much does something have to seem wrong to us before we do something to try and make it right? And how do we weigh the importance of the issue against problems we might cause in the church? **

underlining mine

I just wanted to say that this is one of the finest interpretations of this passage that I have ever encountered. It sounds to me as if these students have a very good teacher–bright blessings to you in this important work.

[Slacker]

Thanks Kallessa, and everyone else for the kind comments.

I received an email back from the pastor today. His response:

Chris,

First, women do not read at OSL because it is the opinion of the Bd. of Elders that reading the Word of God in a public worship setting is an extention of the Office of the Public Ministry, (i.e. the pastor’s job) and therefore, inappropriate.

Secondly, I would fully support the youth exploring this topic and coming up with a position. Just make sure the exploration is balanced and informed. Also, if they choose to request a review of the policy that is absolutely fine. They should do so in a way that respects differences of opinion and respect for the Board. You can assure both. But by all means let them pursue this. Dialogue is great in the church. We should encourage the youth to post their “95 Thesis” for debate.

I knew he’d be supportive - he’s a great pastor. So it’s-a go. My plan is now to assign different sources of information to the kids who are interested, and see what they come up with. I’m going to have them check out the Bible (natch), the Synod’s documentation, stuff that Luther wrote himself, and anything else I can think of. I’m also going to make them come up with reasons why we shouldn’t change anything. After all, you can never know for sure that you’re right if you can’t say for certain that your opposition is wrong (I base my teaching largely on John Stuart Mill).

I’ll keep you guys updated if you’re interested, and I’ll be posting what’s going on on my religion web page too. Should be fun.

Thanks again for the support.