The tattered
cloth scraps started arriving at St. John's Lutheran Church
in Atlanta, shortly after the Reverend Bradley Schmeling
took his stand against the church hierarchy, each with
an embroidered or drawn message of support.
''God is with
you. Make fire in Atlanta,'' reads one of the hundreds of
prayer cloths. ''All love is holy,'' says another.
Schmeling's
refusal last year to resign after telling a church bishop he
was in a gay relationship has earned him quite a following.
More than 1,000
supporters joined an online prayer vigil to back
Schmeling while a disciplinary committee was making its
decision to defrock him and order him to vacate his
pulpit by August 15. He's appealing the order.
Since the panel's
ruling his congregation's membership has spiked, and he
came in fourth in the election for the region's next
Lutheran bishop. He even served as a grand marshal for
Sunday's annual gay pride parade in Atlanta, one of
the nation's largest such festivals.
Members of his
congregation marched behind the car carrying Schmeling,
and other members stood along the parade route.
''To see the
crowd respond so positively was wonderful,'' said Barbara
Arne, a St. John's member. People stopped her after the
parade ''to say how wonderful it was to have so many
churches supporting the gay community,'' she said.
''I'm a little
embarrassed by all the attention,'' Schmeling said
Saturday. ''But I feel like it's a chance for me to witness
for a church that's open, accepting, and loving to
everyone. So many churches have only harsh and
negative words for gay and lesbian people.''
He said that when
he became pastor of St. John's seven years ago his gay
lifestyle was no secret to the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America. He was single then, and he said he told
Bishop Ronald Warren he'd come forward if his
situation changed.
The change came
in March 2006, when Schmeling decided his relationship
with his boyfriend had become a lifelong partnership. He
told Warren, and the bishop promptly asked him to
resign.
Warren called a
disciplinary hearing, and the 12-member committee decided
that church rules left them no choice but to defrock
Schmeling and order him out of the pulpit. The
denomination's policy excludes gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender people in relationships from the ordained
ministry.
However, the
committee also angered Warren by suggesting that the church
consider reinstating gay clergy forced to step down because
of their relationships. It said that, aside from his
relationship, Schmeling has proved he is worthy of his
title.
The ELCA could
consider making such a change at its churchwide assembly
starting August 6 in Chicago. Church leaders will meet this
week to sort through 119 proposals, and roughly half
are related to gay and lesbian matters, said John
Brooks, an ELCA spokesman.
''I know of
proposals that have come forth arguing the church should
change its policy, others saying they don't want a change in
policy, and others saying we shouldn't deal with this
at all,'' he said. ''The church is certainly not of
one mind on this.''
Schmeling won't
predict what will happen.
''We're still
praying that the church will do the right thing and change
the policy. If not, we haven't wanted to speculate,''
Schmeling said. ''That's what this process is teaching
us: how to live in the moment.''
His congregation
has stood by him during the dispute.
''From the
beginning the congregation has been very supportive of
him--and wanting the church to be inclusive of
all people,'' said Arne, a 25-year member of the
congregation who led the committee that selected Schmeling
seven years ago.
''Just based on
our own congregation, it's quite clear to me that there's
a great need for Schmeling's message,'' she said. ''We've
had a lot of members that have been very badly hurt by
the church, and you'd like to think the church is a
place you can turn to for support, no matter who you
are.''
At a meeting of
Southeastern U.S Lutheran leaders in Atlanta this month,
Schmeling joined about 60 colleagues in an election to
replace the bishop, who is retiring.
''I told them I
yearn for a church that's accepting to everyone,''
Schmeling recalls. ''And I hope for a church that could be a
model for remaining united even in the face of deep
disagreement.''
After his
surprising fourth-place finish in that election, he said
he's now more confident than he was a few months ago.
''I pray the
change in policy will come this summer,'' he says. ''But if
it doesn't, I know it will come one day.'' (Greg Bluestein,
AP)