I am a transgender woman. I’m also a person of faith—an active member of and leader in my ELCA congregation. I’m sure the Lord guided my journey toward becoming a woman, an activist and an author. My mother named me Mark, and for nine years I acted the role of a boy. Then I discovered […]
Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has issued a statement on anti-LGBTQIA+ bills that have recently been introduced in the United States. “As we approach March 31, many people are preparing to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility, an international day to celebrate the contributions of transgender people and raise awareness about the deadly […]
Katey Zeh thought she knew the stories in Scripture—and she did, but mainly those about men. When she started combing through the Bible looking specifically for women, named or unnamed, everything changed. Her new book Women Rise Up: Sacred Stories of Resistance for Today’s Revolution (FAR Press) is partially the result of that exploration. Not […]
With Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, the ELCA issued the following statement on gender identity discrimination: In light of recent public events and conversation, it is important to remember the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) rejects all forms of hatred or discrimination. This includes employment discrimination against the transgender community, as stated in “Gender Identity […]
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How does our church walk with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people?
The ELCA Church Council gathered at the Lutheran Center in Chicago, April 11-14. The council, which serves as the ELCA churchwide organization’s board of directors and interim legislative authority between meetings of a churchwide assembly, carries out its work in support of the ELCA’s priority areas of being a welcoming church, a thriving church, and […]
Every day, Living Lutheran offers a prayer from the ELCA resource Prayer ventures, which can be downloaded here. These daily petitions are offered as a guide for your own prayer life as together we pray for the needs of the world and give thanks for the ministries of our church. Tuesday, April 16 We ask God […]
Ále Suárez is a singer-songwriter, an expressive arts therapist and a recent Master of Divinity graduate of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. Suárez dreams of creating a safe space for the LGBTQI2SA+ community to commune with the divine. Suárez spoke with—and performed songs for—Living Lutheran about their path to ministry, living out their call, spiritual practices […]
Middle Tennessee is rife with religion-derived discrimination, Dawn Bennett said. In response she became the pastor developer of The Table in Nashville, founded in December 2019. Its purpose? “To answer the call, primarily to LGBTQ+ persons and other marginal people groups, to create a safe haven where they can worship in a safe, inclusive and […]
