Reformation Sunday – Affirming Augustana’s Welcoming Statements

Posted on by jimvondracek

This Sunday, during our celebration of Reformation Sunday, the Augustana community will affirm our welcoming statement. Reconciling Works, the organization that credentials and supports Reconciled in Christ congregations, encouraged us and other congregations to review our statements this year.

Liturgically, we will affirm these statements during our Thanksgiving for the Means of Grace, done at the ambo, the table and font.

This autumn, the congregation discussed Augustana’s and the ELCA’s statements on sexuality on three Sundays, during the education hour. Following those discussions, the Augustana council approved an updated version:

We are a Reconciling in Christ congregation
committed to full inclusion and anti-racism.
We welcome all people,
regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression,
economic status, race, ethnicity, immigration status, ability, or age.

In 2017, Augustana as a congregation approved a continuing resolution, much longer than the brief statement above, and on Sunday we will also affirm our ongoing commitment to it:

A continuing resolution, building on our 1992 Statement of Principle:

As the members of Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park,
as we affirm our intention to minister to and with all people as an expression of our commitment to the Gospel of radical love, forgiveness, and hope in Jesus Christ:

  • we specifically welcome and affirm persons of all races and ethnicities to full participation in our worship and community, regardless of economic or residency status;
  • we specifically welcome and affirm persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities to full participation in our worship and community;
  • we specifically welcome and affirm persons of all residency statuses to full participation in our worship and community;
  • we specifically welcome and affirm all persons regardless of ability and/or disability to full participation in our worship and community;
  • we specifically value and affirm the contributions of women in our community; we specifically welcome and affirm persons of all sexes to full participation in our worship and community;
  • we specifically welcome and affirm persons of all economic statuses to full participation in our worship and community.

In response to our Lord’s call to repentance, we repent of past words or actions that have separated us from our neighbors and damaged our relationship with God. We ask God to truly change our hearts, as

  • we repent of any of our past words or actions on our part that have injured or excluded people of color or ethnic minorities, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we repent of any of our past words or actions on our part that have injured or excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer people, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we repent of any of our past words or actions that have injured or excluded immigrants, refugees, or undocumented persons, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we repent of any of our past words or actions on our part that have injured or excluded people who are neurodiverse, differently-abled or disabled, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we repent of any of our past words or actions on our part that have injured or excluded women or victims of sexual violence, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we repent of any of our past words or actions that have injured or excluded people who are poor, unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise struggling financially, and foreshortened our living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
  • we ask God’s help in recognizing the sins we do not realize, such as our failure to perceive all people according to the dignity and equality that all people have under God and deserve from society.

We oppose all expressions of hatred, repression, oppression or exclusion of people on the basis of race, ethnicity, residency status, ability or disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, or religion, and support all efforts to eradicate such hateful, repressive oppressive, and exclusionary actions in our church, community, and city and nation.

We pledge our support for other faith-based initiatives, including interfaith projects, which seek to build inclusive community and end barriers to full, compassionate relationship.

We pledge to work to dismantle oppressive systems in our religious community, and in our city, and in our nation. We seek to build a church with and for all people.