This is a picture of one of the Synod's praying before the plenary session begins.
This morning we began the discussions concerning the four resolutions on ministry policies. There was a motion placed on the floor to be able hear all motions that the Ad Hoc Committee reviewed. The intent of this was to get around the tactic of voting on all matters before the house. It failed 372-598.
The next motion was to reorder the resolutions to consider them as 3,1,2, 4. The intent was to determine how important the issue of bound conscience was to the group before they voted on anything else. The reorder was passed 771-230.
New Resolution No. 1: RESOLVED, that in the implementation of any resolutions on ministry policies, the ELCA commit itself to bear one another's burdens, love the neighbor, and respect the bound consciences of all. Yes-771 ; No-230. I was glad to see this one pass and hopefully it's not just words and will be backed by actions which could end up being expensive if it means such things as two sets of teaching documents.
New Resolution No. 2: RESOLVED, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships. Yes-619 ; No 402. The percentage has dropped to less than 61% for same gender blessings even though 2/3 approved the sexuality social statement. Not sure why that 6% voted for the statement but against same-gender blessings.
The remaining two resolutions will be discussed in this afternoon's session. We've already discussed the ordination resolution for about 30 minutes and a call for the question failed receiving only a 60% vote, just before the break. So obviously there are a good number of people that want to continue hearing ideas before they vote.
Just before the break, we heard from one or two people that they and their congregations plan to leave the ELCA, depending on how these votes turn. But there were strong comments from a Chinese-American woman and an African-American man that their cultures would not allow there congregations to stay in the ELCA. These may have been casual threats but they seemed genuine to me. One of the results of these deliberations, is that we may become even whiter than we were before.
