For Luther, justification is the result of appropriating God's justifying work on the cross through the Holy Spirit's gift of faith. Luther believed that this doctrine of justification based on God's work freedom Christians from self-preoccupation with their own works and holiness, freeing them to serve the neighbor in love. Despite the gift of justification, Luther held that Christians would constantly be tempted to believe they could earn their salvation on the basis of their own works and merit, beliefs he hoped would be destroyed by the preaching of the law and concession of sin. One common prayer used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reads, “Most merciful God, to whom all hearts are open and all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name, thought Jesus Christ our Lord.” Other Lutheran Church bodies use similar prayers.
Queer Lutherans who belong to congregations or church bodies that do not affirm their identities can find that the prayer of confession induces shame over who they are, rather then simple repentance over sin. Pastoral psychologist Curt Thompson notes, “Shame tends to be self-reinforcing. When we experience shame, we tend to turn away from others because of the prospect of being seen or known by another carries with it the anticipation of shame being intensified or re-activated.”1 That shame prevents Christians from experiencing the very freedom Luther intended the doctrine to bring. It also shows that Lutheran communities have failed to examine how cultural racism, classism anti-antisemitism, homophobia and transphobia shape their definitions of sin. Even in an officially more welcoming Lutheran body such as the ELCA, there still exists an official “bound conscience provision” to reject the holiness of queer lives and their leadership.
When three candidates for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “came out” in the early 1990's, the bishops called an emergency that led to the publication of a code of pastoral ethics known as “Visions and Expectations”. The document rejected the promise same-sex relationships and love, were routes to holiness, which is to say they could not be transformed by the Holy Spirit. The rule stated in the document was that candidates for ministry who are homosexual in their self-understanding are to refrain from homosexual sexual relationships” The document enshrined in Luther polity the theology that same-sex relationships could not promote holiness and faithfulness.
Queer Lutherans who remained in the ELCA before the 2009 decision allowing partnered gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions made what theologian Hana Reichel calls and “affordance”. They found truth in and sustenance in Lutheran theology, beauty in its liturgy, and comfort in its sacraments. They rejected the ELCA's teachings on sexuality because they didn't accord with the grace, sustainable and wholeness they found in queer lives and relationships..
Justification by faith is only a liberating when individuals are given permission to discern what in their lives needs transformation. Hence, Lutheran understandings of the confession of sins and preaching of the law need theological and pastoral reformation to empower queer Lutherans. Lutheran congregations and denominations must help individuals discern how God created them and who God calls them to be, it is only then that individuals can know what sins require transformation by the Holy Spirit to receive gracious freedom to serve the neighbor. This is especially important for queer Lutherans, since queer individuals face persecution in many global contexts, and higher rates of shame and mental distress even in more welcoming environments. Queer Lutherans should not ask God to make them straight, but ask God to empower their queer selves in service to the neighbor in the freedom granted by justification. Attempts to use Lutheran doctrine and its accompanying liturgical practices as a theological program of so-called “repairative therapy” to alter one's sexual orientation can lead many queer Lutherans to a state of life-denying shame that undercuts the Luther's very pastoral intention for the doctrine of justification by faith. Affordances allow individuals to calibrate their repentance while trusting Christ's love made known in the cross, and the Holy Spirit's power to transform who God created them to be, or who they understand who they are, into persons capable of serving the neighbor in love.
1Thompson, Curt. The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. (Downers Grove, Intervarsity Press 2015)
This paper argues that the Confession of Sin can create shame for queer Lutherans who participate in church bodies (both local and national) that do not affirm their sexual orientation. I use Reichel's notion of an "Affordance" as a resistance strategy for queer Lutherans who choose to remain in such Lutheran bodies. Furthermore, I argue for a a renewed process for how one comes to understand oneself and one's sin that can help the Confession of Sin and doctrine of justification by faith can be liberating and transformative for those who seek the Holy Spirit's action in the transformation and sanctification of queer lives and loves.