Creator becoming an RIC Congregation article in The Clackamas Review

The latest issue of The Clackamas Review has the article about Creator becoming an RIC congregation. The story is also online. Follow the link below.

http://www.clackamasreview.com/features/story.php?story_id=123672583533182500

Gretchen wrote up something about Reconciling Lutherans that will go out in the "This Week at Creator" email:

Although Creator Lutheran is now an RIC congregation, we are asking you to sign up as Reconciling Lutherans, a list of individuals who seek full-inclusion of GLBT people into the ELCA. The goal is to have 10,000 people signed up by the national assembly in August, so get your Lutheran friends and family around the country to sign up as well. It’s easy and no donation is required:

http://www.lcna.org/reconciling_lutherans.shtm#

If you have not taken the opportunity, please sign up as a Reconciling Lutheran.

Preparing for RIC/Full Inclusion Emphasis at Synod Assembly

RIC friends,


Please join us for a gathering to imagine and create ways to demonstrate that we are a truly RIC synod at the Synod Assembly in May. A group of us began the brainstorming last Sunday and we'd like to add your creative energy to the process.


Sunday, March 15
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Central Lutheran Church
1820 NE 21st Ave.

Gary, Gretchen, and Pastor Dayle attended the meeting this last Sunday - it's a great group with good ideas! Please join us in helping to make a difference in our Synod Assembly and beyond.

RIC Certificate Presentation on April 5th

To keep you all up to date, we now have a presentation date for Creator's RIC Certificate. The certificate arrived from LCNA and is currently being framed. Gretchen is ordering RIC Window clings.

Thanks,

Gary


From Pastor Dayle:

Karen and Paul Jolly will be here on April 5th (Palm Sunday) to present the certificate during worship.

Prayer shawls for the National Assembly

Is anyone interested in figuring out how to get at least one shawl made to represent Creator? I'm thinking of doing one for the Oregon Synod...perhaps could do a second if I can figure out how to do the first. :-)

*******

More than two thousand rainbow scarves, lovingly created by volunteers, adorned voting members and supporters alike at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly in 2007, demonstrating support for a welcoming church. In August 2009, the ELCA meets for its next assembly. There are several proposals before the Assembly that pertain to the full inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender members and their families in the life of the church. Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA) is supporting proposals addressing these issues, including the Social Statement on Human Sexuality, the rostering of partnered LGBT ministers, and the blessing of same-gender relationships.

These decisions will be taken with much soul-searching and prayer. To that end, LC/NA would like to provide prayer shawls to be used by participants at the assembly. These shawls will be for use in the chapel area and to remind participants to prayerfully consider every issue.

LC/NA is requesting the participation of all RIC organizations and congregations to contribute at least one shawl. The shawls will be tagged with the contributing RIC setting or individual's name and story where that is appropriate, particularly individuals who wish to send a story to be.

The shawls may be quilted, woven, crochet, or knit. The size should be about 72" x 18". The design is left up to the person creating the piece.
They can be as simple or elaborate as desired, with or without fringe, and of any color - the intent is to have a rainbow of individually colored shawls, but none should be rainbow-colored this time.

You can go to www.goodsoil.org/prayershawls.html for project/pattern information.

Should an RIC setting find they are unable to contribute a shawl but would like to participate in the project, they are invited to make a monetary donation and a shawl will be created and tagged for them. RIC settings are asked to have a service of blessing for the shawl(s) before sending them.

The hope is to have every RIC setting represented, as well as those other churches and individuals who wish to participate by producing a shawl. Please let us know at JerryV@lcna.org if you are planning to make one or more so we can estimate participation.

The goal is 500+ prayer shawls.

Completed shawls should be sent or delivered by August 10, 2009 to:

Lutherans Concerned / North America
Attn: Jerry Vagts
100 North Oxford St.
St. Paul, MN 55104

For further information or patterns, please contact:
Glenda Bumpus (gbumpus@stx.rr.com) or Jerry Vagts (JerryV@lcna.org)

Moving Forward on RIC

Pastor Dayle, Toni and I met with a Clackamas Review reporter yesterday. Going back over the significant activities of RIC gave us a new appreciation the effort our team invested in this. The article should appear in one of the next two issues.

We are now listed on the LCNA website. The link is:

http://www.lcna.org/zricdetail.asp?ContactID=4206

There will be more information once we receive and return their RIC survey.

The LCNA certificate presentation has yet to be set.

At the last RIC team meeting we talked about signs, window clings and hanging the RIC certificate. Toni will discuss with Pastor Dayle size and kind of sign for RIC off our existing sign.

We discussed reforming and renaming the current RIC team. There was an agreement that this doesn't require immediate attention. We will work up a list of RIC activities Creator can accomplish as individuals and as a congregation. Volunteering to be a member of the new team will be one of those activities. The list will be posted on the RIC Bulletin Board.

Let me know if you have anything you would like to see on the list.

Thanks,

Gary

Coram Deo - Central Lutheran

Just wanted to let you all know that Barbara Lundblad's lectures are available to listen to here. You definitely want to hear Saturday morning's talk - Beyond Fear: Justice for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People. The other two are also very good and worth a listen if you have time.

RIC Service Last Night and Congratulations from Christian

I know many of you wanted to attend the RIC service last night. Mt. Carmel was packed. Ten of us from Creator were there out of a total of about 150 people.

The liturgy felt like a big "yes we can and will". We all enjoyed being gathered together. Pr. Susan Kitner, the assistant to the bishop, delivered the message and Robyn Hartwig, newly installed at St. Andrew in Beaverton, and Ron Nitz, pastor at Mt. Carmel in Portland, co-presided.

Kelly's Free To Be Me was a definite highlight. I know the Creator contigent was recognized. We clapped while we sang songs, quietly sang Hope for Resolution under our breath as their choir sang and were generally over-the-top in our enthusiasm for all that was happening. When Creator was announced as the newest RIC congregation in our local LCNA Chapter during the service it was a huge moment of joy we couldn't let pass without being boisterous in our cheers.

There were snacks and a couple of cakes afterwards, one spice cake for decorated for Robyn and a chocolate cake decorated with "Welcome Creator".

There were four congregations in our LCNA region who became RIC congregations yesterday. More celebrations in Washington: Seattle, Pullman and Shoreline.

I sign off with kudos to the team. I heard many compliments about the way we all worked with the congregation this past year. Many came up to me after the congregational meeting and said they had waited for this kind of affirmation of welcome for a long time.

Giving God Praise and Prayer for the day,

Gary


Below I will pass along congratulations to you from Christian:

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HOW EXCITING, Gary! I am so thrilled for the Creator community and pleased that it is now officially an RIC congregation. Since I do not have everyone's email, can you please pass on my congrats to the RIC team and all who have been closely involved in the process?

This is a great news to be another welcoming and safe place for worship for lgbt people in the greater Portland area!

Peace, joy and blessings to you,

Christian

Last Night's Council Meeting regarding RIC proposals

With one council member abstaining, all other council members voted yes on the two proposals presented by the RIC team last night.

The first proposal was that the council recommends passage on the vote to adopt the Affirmation of Welcome that would make Creator an RIC congregation.

The second proposal was that passage requires an 80% yes vote by voting members present at the congregational meeting.

The council recognized the team's work last night. There was thoughtful debate and questions, particularly around the percentage that required for passage. That both proposals were accepted by the council without substantive modification was a testimony to everyone's efforts.

Looking forward to Sunday's vote and the two worship services,

Gary

RIC Team Meeting Agenda - January 8, 7:00 PM at Creator

We will have a meeting tomorrow and below is our tentative agenda:

Agenda

* Plans and preparation for Congregational vote. Specific language to the resolution to bring before the congregation December council presentation (currently requesting council recommendation for passsage).

* RIC Team Talk on Affirmation language

* Next newsletter article

* RIC Sunday - Promoting and volunteering for event at Mt. Carmel 515 SW Maplecrest Dr.

* Post congregational vote plans - Plans for presentation of certificate - Possiblity of Creator hosting 2010 RIC Sunday

* RIC Team transition after January

Asking for Agenda Items for next RIC Team Meeting

Since we didn't meet on Thursday New Year's Day the first question is "Who could meet this Thursday?" If a meeting makes sense the next question would be "What is on the agenda?"

The council meeting was called on account of snow. There will be a council meeting prior to January 25th. We still plan to ask the council to recommend passage on the question of becoming an RIC congregation.

I sent our explicit welcome statement to LCNA who confirmed our statement would make us an RIC congregation.

Just to be up front in reactions from the congregation, someone is still suggesting we reword the statement. Her recommendation changes the punctuation of the explicit welcome and drops the youth's "come as you are, where you are and who you are". It is late to make changes, but since we did talk about the punctuation in the explicit welcome, I include her entire recommendation here:

Creator Lutheran Church welcomes you to join us in worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The Gospel reveals God's grace as an unconditional gift of love for all people. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical ability, mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status are not barriers to our invitation. As an inclusive community grounded in God's love, we follow Jesus' example and celebrate the diversity of God's creation.

There are agenda items for the meeting. Let me know if you have anything additional you think should be included.

Thanks,

Gary

Clare's letter

If there is any way this can be useful, I think Clare would be fine with sharing it:

Dear friends of the Creator community,

I have heard of your journey to explore as a congregation the possibility of becoming a Reconciled in Christ community. As a daughter of the church who lives in another place, and who gets to spend so little time as a part of your church family, I have been hesitant to add my voice to the conversation. However, in discussing both the progress and frustrations of this journey as related to me by my mother, I feel compelled to add my petition for your consideration; and I hope that it is not presumptuous of me to do so.

As I said, I've only had the privilege to worship with you a handful of times, but your quality of character and faith strikes me as that of a true and thoughtful community. I was warmed and delighted to hear that you are discussing being an RIC church. I feel that I can speak well and appropriately for both myself and my generation when I say that this is the direction we seek in the church. When recently asked, the youth of the ELCA has overwhelmingly supported RIC communities, as well as the right of gay male and lesbian ministers to have partners. It pains me when I see my sisters in faith and brothers in love -- your sisters in faith, your brothers in love -- who have been rejected and condemned by the greater society and often by their own faith communities because of their sexual orientation or identification. This is unjust and un-Christ-like.

In Matthew 25, Jesus says to the righteous that they have done rightly, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." When they ask in confusion when it was that they did these things, he replies, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." What is perhaps the most powerful thing about this story is in the people who do not understand Christ in others. They too asked, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" His response is the same -- "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Christ comes to us in people in whom we do not expect. To be reconciled in Christ means that we are receptive to the possibility of Christ in others. It means that we take seriously Christ's commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, to recognize that we are all created by the same God, loved by the same God, and embraced in the same family. We turn our back on Christ's message and vision as we find it in the scriptures when we, like the Pharisees, allow our arrogance and pride to win as we act as judge and jury, rejecting those whom we have made the "other," the "them," from God's Church.

Oregon, as a Synod, has announced its intention to be an RIC synod. The youth of our denomination have said that they are ready and intentional about being an RIC faith. The vast majority within Creator itself has said that we are ready to be an RIC community. Please heed these voices upon voices, pleas upon pleas for peace, justice, and reconciliation between broken sisters and brothers. Open the doors, your arms, and your hearts and let us bring everyone back home.

Love,
Clare Brauer-Rieke
Sister in Christ, Member of Creator Lutheran Church

Proposed resolution

Resolution To Adopt RIC Statement of Welcome
Creator Lutheran Church
January 2009

Background: In late 2007/early 2008, a grass-roots group of Creator members formed a Council-sanctioned team to help the congregation move through a year of discernment on becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation. The team members have included Gary Schulstad, Toni Hartung, Gretchen Brauer-Rieke, Mary Steinberg, Janice Edberg, Kelly Carlisle and Diane Mattox. Some team members took part in a multi-day national RIC training session in March, helping to provide a sense of structure for helping the congregation to examine the issue.

The RIC team has placed information articles in the newsletter each month as well as holding monthly sessions with the congregation – both as special sessions and as post-worship conversations – in order to help work through thoughts and feelings that inevitably result from this kind of change. With congregational input, the team crafted an explicit Statement of Welcome that is unique to Creator Lutheran Church – a large majority of the congregation surveyed in September said they approve of this statement. As stated at the 2008 Annual Meeting in January, the timeline has been to hold a congregational vote on our proposed Statement of Welcome at the 2009 Annual Meeting.

Proposed Statement of Welcome:
Creator Lutheran Church welcomes you to come – as you are, where you are, and who you are – and join us in worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The Gospel reveals God's astounding grace as an unconditional gift of love for all people, so ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status are not barriers to our invitation. Instead, as an inclusive community grounded in God's love and following Jesus' example, we celebrate the diversity of God's creation.

Implications: If this statement is approved by an 80% majority, Creator Lutheran will become officially recognized as a Reconciling in Christ congregation, joining the Oregon Synod, eight other Oregon ECLA congregations and 22 Washington congregations who also have approved explicit statements of welcome. Our statement will be placed on our website, in church bulletins, and in other media that may be read by the public. The RIC team is committed to remaining in place (in some form) to assist the congregation in carrying out the intent of open hospitality that our statement speaks of.

If the statement is not approved by 80% of the congregation, we will fall back to our charter statement which says that we “provide fellowship and loving support for each other, encouraging tolerance, inclusiveness, and unity…” - providing hospitality to those who enter our doors, but without the explicit nature of a public RIC statement.

RIC Team Meeting Agenda for December 11th: 7 PM at Creator

Hi Team,

Here is the agenda for tonight. Let me know if there is an item you think we should add.

Agenda

* Debrief on December 7th Adult Education - New action items and ideas

* Susan's Talk to RIC Team

* Plans and preparation for Congregational vote. Specific language to the resolution to bring before the congregation December council presentation (currently requesting council recommendation for passsage)

* Posting Affirmation of Welcome for vote on RIC Bulletin Board for congregation's review

* RIC Team Talk from same page - Questions are coming up, particularly after last Sunday's activity, and we may want to decide on a standard team response to those questions.

* Determine January newsletter article - Deadline Monday, December 15th

* RIC Sunday - Promoting event at Mt. Carmel 515 SW Maplecrest Dr.

* Post congregational vote plans - Next steps on the journey:

LCNA normally turns around designation in two weeks but can do it faster if needed.
Paul and Karen LCNA Region 1 Regional Coordinators want to present certificate.

Publicity Plans

Rescheduling the December 4th RIC Team Meeting

Hello RIC team,

Sorry for the short notice but a number of us were not going to make it to tonight's meeting. I think it is best to reschedule.

Would next Thursday (December 11th) work for everyone? Let me know good times for you to meet in case next Thursday does not work.

Also Susan Nolte wants to attend and speak to us at this meeting.

Peace,

Gary

December 7 Adult Forum, Council Meeting

Hello,

Just to let you know, we now have four confirmed representatives from RIC congregations to answer questions about directions RIC congregations may take after the vote. Vicky Charlston, Ann Fruechte, and Jack & Diane Neubert all agreed to come and answer questions about RIC congregations and what can happen after the vote to become RIC.

Also, you may be interested that LCNA has a YouTube Channel with a couple familiar faces (to us) who are telling stories:

Michelle Kisinger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gYGbTu32A

and Paul Jolly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg2Wl-WHuEc

I presented our team's written recommendations about the Congregational vote to become RIC at the last council meeting. This included that there be one statement to put to a vote (adopt the Affirmation of Welcome to have Creator become an RIC congregation), that our team recommends an 80% approval of those who vote to pass, and that the council recommend passage to the congregation.

The vote will happen at the next council meeting.

See you at our next RIC meeting.

Thanks,

Gary

Latest RIC statement revision

Based on our work tonight, here is the latest draft of our RIC statement:

Creator Lutheran Church welcomes you to come – as you are, where you are, and who you are – and join us in worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The Gospel reveals God’s astounding grace as an unconditional gift of love for all people. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status are not barriers to our invitation. Instead, as an inclusive community grounded in God’s love and following Jesus’ example, we celebrate the diversity of God’s creation.

November 6, 2008 - Tonight's Creator RIC Team Meeting Agenda

We are moving into the home stretch. From Sunday conversations I believe most of you will attend tonight's meeting. Let me know if you want to add to this agenda:

* Plans and preparation for Congregational vote
Specific language to the resolution to bring before the congregation
December council presentation (request council recommendation / support)

* Affirmation of Welcome suggestions and review other RIC Survey feedback

* Plan December 7th Adult Education (Nov 23rd cancelled. The two dates were too close)

* Plans for Advent Wednesday service / Congregational paragraphs on RIC

* Determine December newsletter article

* Post congregational vote plans - Next steps on the journey

Look forward to seeing the team at 7:00 tonight.

Peace,

Gary

October 2, 2008 Creator RIC Team Meeting Agenda

Here is the agenda for our meeting. I look forward to seeing you there and I am sorry there is the schedule conflict with tonight's VP Debate.

Peace,

Gary

* Debrief on September’s Adult Forum
* Post Survey and Post Vote Planning
* Current Survey Results
* RIC FAQ
* Finding those willing to write a paragraph that explains their thoughts on RIC.
* Planning October RIC Adult Forum – Other Explicit Welcome
* Determining November Activity
* Writing November Newsletter Article
* Working with Spiritworks Teams
* Working with the LCNA Portland Chapter

RIC Survey and Q & A on RIC Discernment

Thanks again to the team for their contribution to the discussion together with the questions and answers on RIC discernment.

When asked about the moments in the discernment process that touched people deeply Bishop Dave's Bible study was brought up as one of the powerful moments. Another was the RIC team truly being involved in congregational discernment rather than trying to take the congregation through a process where RIC designation was inevitable.

This was the first congregational group where we talked about wanting 80% approval from the congregation for Creator to become RIC. There was worry about the high bar the RIC team will be recommending and a concern about what would happen if Creator fails to become an RIC congregation. The RIC team may want to talk about what will need to happen to make sure the congregation will not feel acrimony between members after the results are known.

Another question that came up was where the RIC statement would be published or displayed. There is a concern about how visible it should be.

We went over the upcoming themes for the months until the January vote. For the most part the participants felt comfortable with future plans. There was a suggestion to play the tape Mary made of Pastor Christian's amazing talk, that kicked off our discernment, for an upcoming RIC Sunday. Pastor Christian's comfort with playing that tape would have to be considered. Another potential topic for our Thursday meeting.

We may want to talk about a need for RIC logo pins. Two members expressed a desire to show support by wearing them.

We received our first completed paper surveys after the activity and many more were distributed, so our invitation to fill out a survey made a difference.

We will have more to discuss at our next meeting. If anyone who was there has additional feedback on what happened at our gathering, feel free to comment on this post.

Sunday's RIC Activity - Survey Q/A and a continued discernment discussion

Hopefully you have all seen the letter about the survey that was mailed out and Toni's email link.

We did not find speakers from other congregations to talk about their experiences being RIC this Sunday, so tomorrow's topic changed.

We will answer any questions about the survey (perhaps have people fill out surveys). We will also discuss our discernment process from now until January. The goal is to discover what other participants, besides our team, want to see happen in Creator's process that we may not have included yet.

As of today, there are17 survey responses.

76.5% or 13 participants want Creator to become an RIC congregation.

88.2% or 15 participants would vote for the sample Affirmation statement.

Not the results I expected to date.

See you tomorrow,

Gary