Wednesday, March 21, 2018

What a transfiguration!

In case you missed it. . .

HOBOKEN, NJ - The congregation of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church is celebrating Pastor Rose Beeson as she transitions from female to male and takes on the name Peter in a renaming ceremony on February 11 at 10:30 a.m.

The Rev. Tracie Bartholomew, bishop of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will be the featured preacher during the worship service that affirms transgender individuals who take on a new name and remember their baptism.

It is one of the first times a minister of a congregation in the ELCA has transitioned from female to male while serving as pastor, acting on St. Matthew Trinity’s aspiration to be a church where tradition and inclusivity meet.

All who believe in promoting inclusion and diversity are welcome to attend this historic occasion.

"As many of you 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

What: Renaming Ceremony. Pastor Rose Beeson transitions from female to male and takes on the name Peter in a renaming liturgy that affirms transgender individuals who take on a new name and remember their baptism.

When: Sunday, February 11, 2018, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Where: St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church, 57 8th St. on the corner of 8th & Hudson Streets in Hoboken, NJ.

About St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church


500 years ago, Martin Luther brought a new perspective to Christianity, which became known as Lutheranism. If one were to summarize Luther’s message to the world, it would be Word alone; Grace alone; Faith alone.

St. Matthew Trinity lives this message by believing it is only God’s compassion for us that can save us, not any works we do. We are a place where tradition and inclusivity meet – embracing the best of the traditions of the past we continue to embody Luther’s reforming spirit, welcoming women and LGBT people to all levels of leadership in the church; acting in solidarity with those who are homeless, undocumented, or in recovery. We envision a world where all people are fed, brought into community and experience the wideness of God’s compassion.

There is a place for you here. Join us on this journey.

For further information, click here.
Ahhh, and then there are those who suggest that the theological differences between Lutherans are not so much.  It is clear that the gospel which is at the heart of this congregation, and the church body that claims it, is not the same Gospel as the Father determined not to leave His people in their sins and marked with its death, who sent forth His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified for sinners, and who rose that we might live under Him in His Kingdom now and forever.

Honestly, it is impossible to fake this kind of stuff.  The truth is always stranger than fiction.  Quite the transfiguration on Transfiguration Sunday.

Gender dysphoria is not an invented ill” but a disorder recognized by the American psychiatric Association.  One might think that such a disorder might disqualify someone from the ministry.

BTW read here the glowing report of it all from a Roman Catholic priest. . . 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It’s celebrated, it’s main-streamed, it’s in your face. God has given them over.

Anonymous said...

"...acting in solidarity with those who are homeless, undocumented, or in recovery. We envision a world where all people are fed, brought into community and experience the wideness of God’s compassion."

And just how are they going to pay for all this? I guess the curse of practicality hasn’t reached them yet.

Anonymous said...

Is this perhaps a desperate effort to eliminate female clergy in the ELCA? Wow!! Who would have imagined that they might do to such lengths!

Oh, well, it was a bogus ordination to begin, and it remains bogus even in disguise.

Fr.D+

Carl Vehse said...

The "E" "L" and "C" are bogus in the XXXA.

Anonymous said...

At what point will the ELCA leadership find the name "Lutheran" too confining? They need to rename their church body to something more inclusive.

Anonymous said...

They get too much cachet out of using Luther’s name to give their “organization” the veneer of respectability. They can say, “You’v got Luther all wrong. We know the real man and he was all about the freedom of the Christian, diversity and inclusivity.” So, they are using Luther as a prop to do what they want and to “legitimize” their folly in the eyes of the world and to attract the disaffected. The last thing they want to do is be honest enough with themselves to drop the name, “Lutheran” from their sign.

Anonymous said...

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23

Anonymous said...

Is she allowed to call herself the Pope as well, or would that be too crazy?

Ken said...

Sick.