Adult Study

COFFEE HOUR CONVERSATIONS

A TIME FOR BURNING captures the mood of the times as the Civil Rights Movement challenged the nation to change its ways.

Not only the nation, but the church was challenged to change its ways and recognize God's intention for all his children. In this 1966 film, an all-white Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska is filmed live as their pastor asks the church council to consider reaching out to fellow black Lutherans in a congregation nearby. He meets with deep resistance, except for one council member who changes his mind about it and tries to convince the rest of the council to accept it.

We enter the world of this congregation and its church council, standing in the room unnoticed, watching and listening silently. Do we hear our own voice from so long ago in this film? Which voice is it? From our present vantage point looking back, as this film allows, what factors block or allow the members of this church to be disciples of Jesus? Where are the blind spots? Where is the clear vision? What can we learn from this film to help us as we face the challenges of our day?

Join us after church for this 58 minute 1966 film by Lutheran Film Associates. A short discussion will follow the film.

Sunday, March 4
Call to Witness

Having watched A TIME FOR BURNING, we move to one of the civil rights challenges that society and the church face in our time. Almost every denomination is discussing and arguing over the acceptance or role of Gays and Lesbians in the life of the congregation. Pastors are being expelled for performing same-sex marriages, and gay and lesbian pastors in relationships of fidelity are being ousted.

In this film we will watch the stories of Rev. Steve Sabin of Ames, Iowa, Rev. Anita Hill, of St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Rev. Jane Ralph of Kansas City, Missouri, see the illegal Lutheran ordinations of three pastoral candidates in San Francisco in 1990, be present for part of the 1997 ELCA Church Wide Assembly in Philadelphia, watch the interview of two Bishops at Church Headquarters in Chicago, and end with the trial of Steven Sabin in Iowa.

As the second of two films on the church's response to civil rights challenges 40 to 50 years apart (the first being A TIME FOR BURNING) we will witness shattered lives, ruined careers, the courage and commitment of gay and lesbian pastors and their partners, and the churches response to the challenge of our day. What God is calling us to is the key question of our discussion.

Updates within the church and with the key persons of the film since its release will be given at this time.

Bishop Emeritus Paul Egertson (Southwest California Synod, ELCA) says that this film presents a side seldom heard by the people in the pews or in the public.