Monday, May 6, 2013

Megan Rohrer's Beatles Mass - Is It Worse Than the WELS Polka Mass?
See the Thrivent Figures Posted Above

Megan Rohrer


Megan Rohrer bio: 

Megan Rohrer Megan Rohrer is a nationally recognized LGBTQ faith leader, historian, writer, homeless advocate, community organizer and speaker. The first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, Megan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Palo Alto University, won Out History's Since Stonewall Local Histories Competition and co-edited Letters For Our Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in transgender nonfiction.


Thanks for all your comments. Luther took secular tunes sung in pubs and changed the words to fit Christian themes. Your shock and noting that I would be lynched in another time surprises me. People have been using Beatles tunes in masses since the 60's. There has long been theological differences between ELCA Lutherans and Missouri/Wisconsonites, perhaps that is your beef. The words are standard theology. Blessings to you all. God is so much bigger than a video on you tube! Blessed be!

Megan,
Please do some more critical investigation of Luther and his hymns:
“Of the melodies to Luther’s 37 chorales, 15 were composed by Luther
himself, 13 came from Latin hymns of Latin service music, 4 were derived
from German religious folk songs, 2 had originally been religious
pilgrims’ songs, 2 are of unknown origin, and one came directly from a
secular folk song.” (Data compiled from Squire, pp. 446-447; Leupold, ed., 
Liturgy and Hymns; and Strodach, ed., Works of Martin Luther, VI)

[GJ - Ulrich Leupold was my liturgy professor at Waterloo. He earned a PhD in his field in Berlin at the age of 23.]

Megan's ordination was a little unusual.
He seems to work at two small congregations.

Experience


Assistant Night Minister

Night Ministry
San Francisco, CA
The San Francisco Night Ministry provides middle-of-the-night compassionate non-judgmental pastoral care, counseling, referral and crisis intervention to anyone in any kind of distress. Through our Crisis Telephone Line staffed by trained volunteer Crisis Line Counselors; and through person-to-person encounters with ordained clergy on the streets, this ministry is available every night of the year from 10:00 pm - 4:00 am.

Contributing Blogger

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Welcome to LivingLutheran.com

Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and join us at the table for a conversation about what it means to “live Lutheran.”

LivingLutheran.com serves up a daily blend of culture, conversation and community for ELCA members and friends. We’re looking for answers about what it all means and hope you’ll stop by to put in your two cents.

You won’t find breaking news here, although there’s plenty of commentary on what’s happening in the world and what ELCA members think about it. We have resources for congregations, videos to inspire and amuse and places to share what’s on your mind.

We’re probably being a bit presumptuous, but we like to think that Martin Luther would approve.

Executive Director

Welcome
Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA
Welcome seeks to provide a faithful response to poverty and to improve the quality of life for individuals in our community by providing: hospitality; education; food; and referrals for housing, health care and drug and alcohol treatment.

Major Projects include:
*Saturday Community Dinners (feeds between 150 and 300 individuals twice a month)
*Tuesday Welcome Center (feeds 25-45 each Tuesday and provides one-on-one care)
*Community Gardening Project (grown and given away more than 7,000 pounds of free produce on unused church properties in the San Francisco Bay Area)
*Just Lutheran (a do-it-yourself guide to responding to poverty)
*LGBTQ homeless youth leadership project (recording the oral histories of homeless youth around the country and mentoring San Francisco youth who use the history of a similar group in the 60's, art and magazine writing to advocate for their needs)
*SF CARES (a partnership with the San Francisco Night Ministry, St. Paulus Lutheran Church and the Faithful Fools to advocate for individuals with mental health issues and traumatic brain injuries).

Provider and Resource Manager

Project Homeless Connect
San Francisco, CA
The mission of Project Homeless Connect (PHC) is to provide a single location where non profit medical and social service providers collaborate to serve the homeless of San Francisco with comprehensive, holistic services.

Growing Home Community Garden Manager

Project Homeless Connect
Octavia/Lily, San Francisco, CA
The Growing Home Community Garden won the 2010 NEN Best Community Challenge Grant Project.

Growing Home's Seeding Resilience project, increases access to mental health services and provides employment opportunities and skills. A two year innovation project with major support provided by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Seeding Resilience project is 75% focused on the Growing Home Community Garden (Octavia & Lily) and 25% on working with Urban Agricultural leaders in San Francisco to build a citywide network of support for mental health consumers.

SF Refresh, hosted six daylong citywide events that enabled San Franciscans to receive free whole body care in community garden settings in 2011. Activities included: gardening classes, yoga, life couching, meditation, trauma care, nutrition classes, massage, acupuncture, tea and coffee cuppings, movement classes, preventative health care information and more. In addition to providing direct services to those who need them, SF Refresh connected individuals and families to self care resources available through the city's system of care, local businesses and non-profit organizations.

Child Care Counselor

Children's Home Society, Sioux Falls