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Norwegian same-sex rite

Photo of the Vote in Norway for the Same-Sex Rite

Photo from article “Historic Decision on Church Weddings for Same-sex Couples

The road was paved with compromises leading to the overwhelming majority decision for same-sex marriage liturgy at the General Synod of Church of Norway January 30.  A year ago the preliminary decision was made, and now the new liturgy was accepted. The new liturgy became legal on February 1 and the first homosexual couple was married minutes after midnight on that same date.

What is the decision, and why would the bishops who were against same-sex marriages vote for it and agree to enforce it in every single congregation in Church of Norway?

The new liturgy is a non-gender specific liturgy to allow the marriage of people independent of gender. It is meant to be used for same-sex couples and heterosexual couples. The liturgy contains no reference to the biblical texts of marriage being between one man and one woman. The two are to say yes to their “spouse”, not to a “husband”/”man” or “wife/woman”. There are Scriptural passages that are optional readings, and among them are some relating to the marriage of man and woman.

The majority at the General Synod first insisted on only allowing this new liturgy and take the old one out of use. It became, however, a part of the compromise to allow the old liturgy with clear language of marriage between man and woman to still be allowed to be used — for the time being. This way the more conservative bishops hoped to create space for the group of pastors that have a classical understanding of marriage. There should be continued room for them even after the new same-sex, gender-irrelevant liturgy had been introduced.
But to achieve this compromise, the more conservative bishops agreed that all congregations in Norway must offer same-sex marriages. The local pastor can refuse to perform the same-sex marriage, but then another pastor will come in and perform the wedding. The compromise was agreed upon to avoid a split in the Church of Norway.

What can explain this rapid change in the Church of Norway where both Lutheranism and Pietism have experienced such a long and strong history? The Lutheran School of Theology (MF) was established in 1907 in reaction to the liberal theology of The School of Theology at the University. The pastors from this new Lutheran School of Theology became organized into the Fellowship for Bible and Confession (FBB in Norwegian). The irony is that today the vast majority of clergy in the Church of Norway are educated at MF, and all the bishops are educated at MF, and many of today’s liberals once were members of the FBB, some of them even were board members and chairmen.
The theological change is obviously from within the church, but the speed of change is due to external pressure. The Church of Norway is as of January 1, 2017 separate from the State. But the politicians did not allow the Church of Norway to receive independence without some system to secure liberal development in the church.
One change is the request for high voter attendance when electing delegates to the General Synod. Formerly the elections, in effect, allowed those worshiping to have more influence since they were present at the worship services where the elections were held. Now the elections happened together with the national political elections.
At the same time, a group of ultra-liberals organized themselves, designed a program with the intention to take control of the church and did lobbied to get state funds to finance their operation. Other groups with different agendas did not receive money when they applied.

The public campaign from the ultra-liberals was strong. The aim was to convince the 73% of Norwegians who had voting rights at political elections and also were members of the Church of Norway to vote for one of the liberal candidates for the General Synod. It changed the game. Now you could vote without going to church. Now you no longer have to be among the 2 percent of church members who attend the Sunday worship service in order to vote. Remember, there is no requirement for a delegate to the General Synod to adhere to the Lutheran confessions of the church. You don’t even have to believe in God, and don’t have to ever attend church.

The result of the election was overwhelming. A total majority at the General Synod implied a full control of the Church of Norway. The majority at General Synod implies that one decides the liturgy of the church and elects the National Church board. The ultra-liberal majority of the Synod put the ultra-liberals in complete majority control of the National Church board that elects the bishops.

When the decision on same-sex rite was decided at the General Synod about 1300 people resigned from membership in Church of Norway using the electronic on line service you can use both to resign and to become member. The people resigning were some of the core people in local congregations in Church of Norway, including some pastors.
Torkild Masvie

Provisional bishop
The Lutheran Church in Norway

 

Opposition as Church of Norway approves same-sex marriage

church-of-norway-samesex-marriage
NORWAY – On April 11, 2016, the Bishops’ Conference of the Church of Norway (CN) moved to approve the marriage of same-sex couples, creating a liturgy to allow such weddings to take place in the church. The decision came in a 88-32 vote, but there are still many expressing their objection to the change in the church’s teaching on marriage.

Earlier votes on the subject of same-sex marriage had been rejected, most recently in 2014. The Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, and is a member of the Lutheran World Federation. It has allowed the ordination of practicing homosexuals since 2007, further straining relations in the church.

Rev. Dag Øivind Østereng

Rev. Dag Øivind Østereng

“[The newly-adopted teaching on marriage] is contrary to the Bible and gathered ecclesiastical and ecumenical tradition,” wrote Rev. Dag Øivind Østereng following the vote. “To abolish man/woman as the basic unit in marriage is contrary to God’s revealed will and natural law that can be discerned in creation itself. The Church has bowed herself before a gender ideology which is in direct violation of the Bible’s word and to what I as a pastor am committed.” Rev. Østereng is a prominent figure in the CN’s confessional wing, having been a member of the group Carissimi.

The vote to approve a same-sex wedding liturgy included allowance for priests and other church workers to refuse to participate in gay marriages. But this is not enough, Rev. Østereng says. “The Norwegian Church as a community has now changed her understanding of utterly fundamental aspects of the Word of God,” he explained. “These are not merely points with which I personally disagree; I cannot belong to a church that teaches in this way.”

“It is with great sadness and deep anguish, and at the same with the peace that conviction gives, that I must announced that within the next few weeks I will submit my resignation,” he continued, “and after the resignation-notice period withdraw from service as a priest in the Church of Norway and as a member of the Church of Norway.”

It is unclear how many Norwegian clergy and laypeople may follow Rev. Østereng’s example. Just before the vote, 200 priests released a Declaration on the Ecclesial Situation expressing doubt about their continued participation in the Church of Norway if same-sex marriage were to be approved. An online poll taken by Norwegian news site Dagen revealed that 44% of respondents intended to leave the Church of Norway over the issue, and that an additional 34% are uncertain whether to continue their membership. As the poll was conducted online, it is unclear how accurately it represents the sentiments of Norwegians overall.

While the Church of Norway is the nation’s largest church, there are other Lutherans options in the country. The Lutheran Church in Norway (Den Lutherske Kirke i Norge – LKN), for example, is a small church body affiliated with the International Lutheran Council (ILC) since 2015. The LKN traces its origins to 2005, and its pastors are all former ministers of the Church of Norway. While small, the LKN has begun to receive greater media attention as more Norwegians seek alternatives to the Church of Norway.

Norway is also home to the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway (Det evangelisk-lutherske stift i Norge), which officially separated from the Church of Norway in 2013. It entered into communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Finland and the Mission Province in Sweden in 2015, forming the Communion of Nordic Diocese. All three churches have recently met with the International Lutheran Council to begin discussions on becoming members of the ILC.

The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran churches.

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American Lutherans respond to Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage

USA – On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that same-sex couples across the nation have a constitutional right to marry. That ruling brought expressions of concern from Christians throughout the country, including from confessional Lutheran leaders.

LCMS President Matthew Harrison responds to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.

LCMS President Matthew Harrison responds to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.

“Five justices cannot determine natural or divine law,” said President Matthew Harrison of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in a response to the ruling. “Now shall come the time of testing for Christians faithful to the Scriptures and the divine institution of marriage.”

“The ramifications of this decision are seismic,” he continued. “Proponents will seek to drive Christians and Christian institutions out of education at all levels; they will press laws to force faithful Christian institutions and individuals to violate consciences in work practices and myriad other ways…. Christians will now begin to learn what it means to be in a state of solemn conscientious objection against the state. We will resist its imposition of falsehood upon us, even as we continue to reach out to those who continue to be harmed by the ethic of radical sexual freedom, detached from God’s blessing of marriage. And we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Christians, churches and people of good will who are resolute on this issue.”

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a member church of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), and counts more than 2.3 million members in more than 6,100 congregations. Other American member churches of the ILC include The American Association of Lutheran Churches (14,000 members) and the Lutheran Ministerium and Synod – USA. While these churches have not released public statements on the recent court ruling, both have previously affirmed their support of the biblical definition of marriage.

Other Lutherans Respond

A number of Lutheran churches outside the ILC also responded to the court ruling with concern. Bishop John F. Bradosky and General Secretary Mark C. Chavez of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) released an open letter responding to the decision. “The Supreme Court may have the power to dictate what state governments must claim to be marriage,” they write, “but it most certainly does not have the power to change what God has revealed to be true marriage, an integral part of His plan for human life which is inherent in the order of the world He has created.”

“God alone knows the long-term consequences of the decision for our nation,” they continue. “Now Christians who uphold the orthodox Christian faith and confess that God alone defines marriage must be bold to confess the truth of God’s Word without regard to the consequences.”

The NALC, comprised mostly of pastors and congregations who left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada over issues of human sexuality, biblical authority, and the nature of the Gospel, has more than 140,000 members across North America. Over the past number of years, NALC has taken part in regular dialogues with ILC member churches Lutheran Church–Canada and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Also responding to the court ruling were the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. “We are saddened that today the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling all 50 states to allow same sex marriage,” wrote President Mark Schroeder of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). “Of course, even though the highest court in the land has changed the legal definition of marriage, it has not succeeded in changing the essence of the institution that was created by God and given by him as a gift and blessing.”

The Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) released a statement on the situation via Facebook. “God has established his own criteria for what determines marriage—the intimate and lifelong union of a man and woman into one flesh, entered into by mutual consent and promise,” the release notes. “His institution of marriage is for the great benefit of our families and of our nation. No human authority—even the highest court of our land—can overthrow what the Supreme Judge of all mankind has defined as marriage.”

The WELS and the ELS are members of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. WELS has approximately 380 thousand members, while the ELS has approximately 20 thousand. In recent years, they and the LCMS have conducted a series of informal discussions together.

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