As Christians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we, Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church of Vancouver, Washington, proclaim that the radically inclusive love of God is embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who calls us to ground our words and actions in compassion for all God’s creatures. Living into this call BSLC and ILC are Reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregations committed to combating biases and working to ensure welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy for all people (regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, ability, age, and socioeconomic status) and working for racial equity and creation of anti-racist community.
Many people who are LGBTQIA+ are feeling a lack of safety due to recent political action throughout the United States seeking to strip away anti-discrimination protections and limit citizen rights. We have committed to working to ensure the following basic needs of wellbeing for all people:
Safety –We actively advocate for all people to have access to comprehensive healthcare; equal rights in marriage and parenting; protection against violence, including bullying; and all forms of discrimination. Our goal is to create supportive and safe communities of inclusion that provide protection from actions and words that cause harm, especially people who are trans.
Belonging - We strive for the ongoing formation of fully inclusive communities of Christ that provide care for one another as we grow in Christ, especially listening to the voices of those who are LGBTQIA+.
Purpose – We affirm God’s call for all people, including individuals of the LGBTQIA+ community, to participate in God’s mission of reconciliation.
It is critical for all compassionate Christians to have a strong voice in this national conversation, so we urge followers of Christ to find ways to act in faith. Meaningful actions include:
Urge lawmakers to enact laws that offer protection, medical care, and equal rights to all, including people who are LGBTQIA+.
Urge lawmakers to block laws that negatively impact and seek to diminish the lives of members of society who are LGBTQIA+.
Join others in speaking out against inhumane policies and practices.
Share constructive public statements that put pressure on political leaders to develop just policies and block unjust policies.
Pray for public policy makers, advocates, and constituents, especially members of society who are LGBTQIA+.
Model beloved-community by creating compassionate space where everyone experiences non-judgemental acceptance and inclusive care.
Above all, we commit to standing with the LGBTQIA+ community against threat, so no one who is vulnerable feels alone, to be their only advocate, and all have safety, belonging, and purpose.
"For what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."
~ Micah 6:8
Further Thoughts
• In 2024, the ACLU tracked 533 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. While 454 of these laws were defeated due to diligent advocacy, 49 were passed into law, 12 are advancing, and 17 are being introduced.
• At the beginning of 2025, 196 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. are being tracked by the ACLU and other watchdog organizations, including a bill in Idaho seeking to overturn legal authorization for same sex marriage.
• A recently issued executive order declared the U.S. government will only officially recognize two sexes – male and female –and that these sexes are not changeable. This executive order also makes other punitive assertions and places significant limitations on personal autonomy.
• Other proposed legislation from lawmakers throughout the nation includes further actions to limit people’s rights related to parentage, marriage, and healthcare.
Safety
Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
~Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus summarized all scripture with the command to love God, neighbor, and self and he embodied this in his commitment to healing, teaching, protecting, and including those most oppressed in society. He called out the powers of the world that oppress and hurt people through unjust practices, recognizing that no one is secure in safety until all are safe. To feel truly safe, people need to experience acceptance, stability, adequate food and healthcare, and access to opportunity. To create a society where such safety exists, compassion and support for the wellbeing of all needs to be the foundation of laws governing community and the measurement against which laws are evaluated.
Belonging
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
~ Galatians 3:27-28
When Paul taught his communities what it means to be formed into the body of Christ through baptism, he was clear that human-made divisions do not define us. The binary contrasts used here do not represent all of God’s created diversity but summarizes the vast spectrum of human categories and these traditional categories are challenged through the words, “no longer.” We are no longer to be defined by these categories, but rather, we are defined by our inclusion and belonging in Christ. Elsewhere in scripture, imagery highlighting the importance of each member of the body of Christ teaches that our differences are not unimportant but are used by God to build up the body, with the unity of diverse parts together creating vitality of life. Thus, just as the body needs the gifts of the diverse parts to be whole, the community needs individuals to bring to it the gifts of their own identity and expression to create a more complete whole.
Purpose
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” … Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. ~ Acts 8:36, 38b-39
Eunuchs in biblical times were often ostracized for their failure to adhere to sexual norms, but this story in Acts is clear that the Holy Spirit called Philip to this Eunuch from Ethiopia. After their study of scripture together, the Eunuch asks what is to prevent him from full inclusion into the community of Christ and the clear answer is, nothing. He is baptized and then sent forth in joy to live out his baptismal calling in his daily life. God in Christ claims and calls him for a purpose just the way he is and does the same for each of us.
AS/JDD
1/31/25
Comments