Celebrating the New Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA): The Rev. Dr. Meghan Rohrer!

Maybe it's because I'm working now with a Lutheran Church (Portsmouth Trinity Lutheran Church) as a gay Presbyterian pastor that I can't help but feel some kind of solidarity with my theological kith and kin in the ELCA with this news of the new Bishop in the ELCA.

It is time for us, who are LGBTQIA+ people of faith, to celebrate the new Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA): The Rev. Dr. Meghan Rohrer.

The Rev. Dr. Rohrer will be bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA, covering 200 congregations in that area, making Dr. Rohrer the first out transgender bishop. Dr. Rohrer was the first out trans pastor in the ELCA when ordained as a pastor in 2006. What was unique was that the ELCA did not open itself up to out LGBTQIA+ clergy until 2010. 

Ross Muray, an out gay ELCA deacon and senior director of the GLAAD Media Institute, will be assisting in the ceremony. Murray said, "While Bishop Rohrer's installation is an historic step in LGBTQ(IA+) leadership in the church, it is a continuation of the ministry that Bishop Rohrer has been doing for their whole ministry...They recognize the face of God in the marginalized and the privileged, and focus their ministry on youth, the homeless, people of color, LGBTQ people, and others historically left out of the life of the church."

Friday and Saturday (Sept. 18 and 19) will be filled with other events, including a listening session by the Rev. Nicole Garcia, the first Latinx trans pastor in the ELCA, along with a roller-skating event to raise funds for a youth camp, and an interfaith memorial service commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Said Rohrer: "The diverse events surrounding my installation point to a God who joins us in worship, on the streets, at our jobs, and when we roller-skate...During all the difficulties we have encountered through the pandemic, it is more important than eve to celebrate joy, hope, and love everywhere that we find it." 

And I would add, "make it." 

For more on this event, please go to: https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/9/10/first-out-trans-bishop-installed-lutheran-denomination

And herein lies the hope for our future. I pray that there will be day without any more "firsts" of such kind in all Christian denominations and churches when welcoming those of us LGBTQIA+ people of faith to fulfill the calling of God's Spirit. The arduous task we face as LGBTQIA+ people of faith, breaking through ridiculous boundaries, crossing over bizarre obstacles, defeating hate with love, and thwarting the mis-educated Christians with educational and scholarly work, who are still hostile to LGBTQIA+ people of faith must come to an end. Let's get past all the schisms in our churches, and move on to do the work of the Gospel. Hopefully we are on our way in which our gender and sexual orientation are not as important as is our calling to serve and love God and neighbor.

May it be so.

Amen.

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