The Gospel Lesson appointed for August 22 is Luke 13:10-17. In it, Jesus heals a woman who has been infirmed for 18 years. He is criticized for healing on the Sabbath; it was considered work. Jesus lashes out at the leaders of the synagogue because of their rules and regulations that allow a man to pull his donkey from a pit on the Sabbath, but not allowing a healing of a "daughter of Abraham." Thus Jesus put the needs above the interpretations of one of the 10 commandments: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. From that one command over centuries of interpretation came numerous rules and regulations about keeping the Sabbath day.

It has been a year since the ELCA passed a resolution that allows gay and lesbian clergy in lifelong committed relationships to serve as Pastors. Previously, gay and lesbian clergy could serve but had to be celibate. There are Lutheran folk who believe that even this was a stretch, but the straw that broke their backs was allowing lifelong committed relationships among those clergy.

In putting these two paragraphs together, it struck me that what the ELCA did was to put the needs of "these" people, children of God, above the centuries of interpretations including the Lutheran Confessions. Golly, that's what Jesus did for this woman who was "bent over" for years and that is what the ELCA did for those otherwise very qualified folks who have been burdened for years with old labels from centuries ago. In the 4th century, St. Augustine said, science informs faith, faith does not inform science. Our science today has shown that folks from the Old Testament and the New Testament didn't quite have the gay/lesbian thing right. They thought that the natural order of things was being perverted by "these" people. They didn't know that for a small percentage of people, this was the natural order.

In any case, Jesus set the standard, that the needs of the children of God take precedence over the religious rules of interpretation which by-in-large are good, but sometimes aren't.