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And their skin isn’t white.
Terfassa, president of the Central Synod
of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, preached at the ordination of Moua, a Hmong immigrant, Thursday evening at the annual assembly of the La Crosse Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
And Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, head of the national church body, saw a foretaste of what he said the church must become: increasingly multicultural, increasingly global, increasingly diverse.
“The ELCA is 97 percent white in a richly pluralistic, diverse U.S. culture,” Hanson said during a lunch break Friday at the annual assembly at Luther College. “We must look like a church that reflects the diversity of the culture in which we live rather than a church that’s just preserving the culture of our immigrant ancestors.”
Hanson’s presence at the assembly was historic. He’s the first presiding bishop to attend a La Crosse Area Synod assembly, and he came at a significant time. Today, representatives from the 81 congregations in the synod will elect a new bishop, who will become head of the synod Oct. 1.
Bishop April Ulring Larson, who has led the synod for 16 years and whose term limit ends this year, said she requested a year and half ago that Hanson preside at the assembly.
“The power in Mark’s voice is always for those who are outside,” Larson said. “It’s always for those who are poor, for those who suffer injustice. He is courageous, the most courageous of any presiding bishop we’ve had in terms of speaking to the president, speaking to the government.”
And Hanson’s influence reaches beyond his leadership in the ELCA.
As president of the Lutheran World Federation, representing 68.6 million Christians in 78 countries, he engages with leaders from other countries and religions and was recently features as one of 12 world religious leaders in a CBS program, “In God’s Name.”
Part of inter-religious dialogue, Hanson said, is to find common commitments to a shared earth, shared world and shared resolve to work for justice and build peace.
“I don’t think people in the world are doing well with either unity or diversity,” he said. “We want to turn unity into uniformity and we tend to let diversity turn into divisions.”
On the homefront, he has led a church that has been spotlighted in recent years as it has grappled with the questions around same-gender marriage.
The ELCA continues to work to develop a social statement on human sexuality, of which a draft statement was recently released.
“We went through years about not talking about sexuality, which essentially deferred sexuality to the culture to define what it means. And the result was sexuality became captured by markets as a tool for increasing profitability,” Hanson said. “I still think we who are heterosexual prefer the conversation to be about homosexual people because it keeps it one step removed from us having to talk about our own sexuality.”
The issue, he said, should not divide the church, because sexuality does not define the church.
And to those from the 81 congregations of the La Crosse synod gathered in Decorah, he only touched on the issue in passing, and spent more time talking about other issues, such the need to become fluent in Scripture and the value of Moua’s ordination service.
“For one of the smallest synods of the church geographically and even in numbers of congregations and members, you mightily lead this church in so many ways,” he said.
VOTING RESULTS
The Rev. Mark Solyst was eliminated after the second round and the Rev. Lanny Westphal after the third round of ballots were cast Friday for a new bishop to lead the La Crosse Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at its annual assembly in Decorah, Iowa.
Here are the results of the third ballot: the Rev. Jim Arends 130, the Rev. Brian King 97, the Rev. J. David Bersagel 39 and the Rev. Lanny Westphal 12.
A fourth ballot was cast late Friday. A two-thirds majority is needed for election on the third and fourth ballots. If needed, a fifth ballot will be cast today, for which a simple majority is needed.
Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.
