Namibian Council Member Suggests Way to Deal with Sexuality Issue
LWI Council Press Release No. 08/2011 | GENEVA, 10 June 2011 (LWI) – The question of illegitimate debt is not only one that concerns Africa, Asia and Latin America, but is also on the “doorstep of Europe,” The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge has said.
Junge was speaking to members of the Council after delivering his report to the first full annual meeting of the LWF governing body since the July 2010 Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany. The Council is meeting 9-14 June in Geneva, Switzerland.
Responding to a question about illegitimate debt by Bishop Melvin Jiménez of the Lutheran Costa Rican Church, the general secretary noted that Europe was on the cusp of “a big debt crisis” and that this was now being lived out in the region. He observed that in Iceland, in a referendum, private citizens rejected a government-approved plan to repay private debt with public funds.
In the same Council session in which Junge’s report was discussed, Oberkirchenrat Rainer Kiefer asked what sort of response was planned to deal with the process relating to human sexuality that is scheduled for discussion in 2012 and is sometimes referred to as the “Lund Process.”
In his speech, the general secretary had noted there was a “wide variety of responses in member churches” on the document “Marriage, Family and Sexuality,” approved by the Council at its 2007 meeting in Lund, Sweden. The document offers guidelines for respectful processes of dialogue and discussion on this subject, with the year 2012 as a benchmark.
Junge said that it was important to be aware of the need in the process to listen and that it should not be carried alone by either the LWF Secretariat or the LWF’s governing bodies.
On the same theme Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) said, “I don’t think that by 2012 we will be able to solve certain issues, particularly of marriage and human sexuality.”
He referred to the speech of LWF President Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan who said, “So what is required for unity?”
Younan had said, “Article VII of the Augsburg Confession describes the church as the congregation of saints where ‘the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.’ Others might add the mutual recognition of ministries, common witness and service. Yet AC VII also mentions what is not required: ‘It is not necessary that human traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by human beings be alike everywhere.’”
Kameeta reflected, “Maybe we should ask: how can we be reconciled in our diversity on the matter,” while noting that it might be asked how far one could stretch “reconciled diversity.”
Chairing the meeting, Younan thanked Kameeta for the advice, and said he had opened a way for bridging “the disconnect.”
On the matter of human sexuality, Junge was asked in a press conference if the LWF was postponing discussion on the matter due to the fact that it could trigger divisiveness in the communion.
He replied that the LWF was not engaging in a postponing action but rather creating space in order to “have time for a conversation” so that Lutherans could respectfully connect with each other. (553 words)
Council 2011 News | Photos | Documents
See also:
- Debt Crisis Has Gripped Europe Too
- Reformation Is a Continuing Call, LWF General Secretary Junge Tells Council
- LWF General Secretary Junge Underlines Urgent Priorities
- Illegitimate Foreign Debt, LWF Renewal Process to Feature at Latin American Church Leadership Conference
- Latin America & the Caribbean
- Despite Concerns Outgoing LWF General Secretary Optimistic about Ecumenism’s Future
- Latin America and the Caribbean Desk
- General Secretary Junge Affirms LWF Context in the Global Human Family
- Latin America: Church Has Mobilized Society Against Unjust Economic Policies
- LWF Member Churches in Latin America Seek Deeper Relations as Communion
