Albert Lea Tribune | Revisionist theologies are one in the same
Revisionist theologies are one in the same
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Gay clergy: A partner’s journey
Janelle Bussert is the committed partner of Pastor Anita Hill of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn.
(Note to readers: In 2001, St. Paul Reformation Church in St. Paul, Minn., ordained Pastor Anita Hill. She’s not been allowed on the official ELCA roster because of her committed relationship to Janelle Bussert. The ELCA is expected soon to implement policies that no longer ban partnered gays and lesbians from the clergy roster. Bussert agreed to a request to describe what this journey has been like for her as the partner of a pastor waiting for this moment in the church.)
By Janelle Bussert
St. Paul, Minn.
All in all, life with Anita Hill for the past 17 years has been great. Her ordination service was a life-time high that will never be matched. Our commitment service in 1996 was a phenomenal experience of love and acceptance. Watching the changes in the ELCA has and continues to be breathtaking.
Being partnered with Anita has not been about church politics, nor has it been about sex, but about love. Through it I’ve learned lessons about God’s grace, truth-telling, beloved community, and justice-making, but the foundation is love. Praise God for the presence of love in our lives.
I’ve always bristled at the phrase “The Gay Agenda.” What is it, anyway? The right to love someone, to be in a committed, partnered relationship for a lifetime? I’m all for that. But many think we’re out for a sexual revolution of some sort. I don’t want to be a part of it if that’s what the Gay Agenda is all about. As a Christian, I’m quite conservative in my views on sexual ethics.
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Anita Hill & Janelle Bussert
The pain of rejection from the church has been at times both bewildering and gut-wrenching. But we’ve realized with a deep certainty that the church is not God. We have found through our own spiritual journey that God is faithful, even when we don’t have the imprimatur of the church. If I have to choose between the church’s blessing and God’s blessing, I will always choose God’s blessing. We are incredibly blessed.
Janelle Bussert celebrates Gay Pride Day with members of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church
Still there have been more than a few challenges along the way. First, it was necessary for me to come out to my father — a Missouri-Synod Lutheran pastor — before I was ready. I was closeted from him for 18 years. But a video about Anita was in the making, and I was included in the film, which could possibly be broadcast in Iowa where he lived. I didn’t want him to discover this truth about me on TV.
At the time, I was 38 years old, pretty much out of the closet with other family, friends and community. I drove down to my father’s house in Iowa with Anita by my side. As we pulled into his driveway, I was shaking in the pit of my stomach, and feeling light-headed. I turned to Anita laughing and said, “You tell him. I’ll just wait for you in the car.” Somehow I found the courage to go inside. At the end of my family coming out event — which actually went quite well — Anita closed our conversation with a pastoral prayer.
Second, there have been issues around my identity. I have always deplored the word “lesbian,” which seems to me to have an overly sexualized focus. The first time I heard the word “lesbian” was in junior high when one of the boys in the lunchroom passed around a Playboy magazine depicting two women together. I felt dirty just holding the magazine and passed it on very quickly. I decided I wouldn’t associate with the group that thought it was funny.
Pastor Anita Hill
I am first a child of God and then a whole host of things: Lutheran pastor’s daughter, seminary graduate turned adjunct religion professor, music therapist, jazz pianist (wanna-be), sister, aunt, menopause survivor and now, a pastor’s partner.
The lesbian identity never felt comfortable to me. Being Anita’s partner meant that I was in situations where I wished I could just be myself and not be seen as an activist. I can remember several situations where had a voice inside me screaming, “I’m not an activist! I’m a goody two shoes pastor’s daughter who hates conflict! I am not a rebel.”
I want to be known for an identity apart from my orientation.
Even so, it has been a privilege to be partnered with Anita through the years of struggle that have brought us to this point in the history of the church. The social and theological changes for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people have been huge, and we sometimes lose sight of them at times in our impatience for justice. I would describe my life with Anita as very rich, sometimes painful, and always growth producing.
Janelle Bussert is a Hospice Music Therapist and an adjunct professor in Religion and Women’s Studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn.
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Someone noted:
At the ordination (sic) of the homosexual pastorette (sic), their congregation sang this hymn text, as follows:
O Praise the gracious Power that tumbles walls of fear
And gathers in one house of faith all strangers far and near.
We praise you, Christ! Your cross has made us one!
O praise inclusive one!
O praise inclusive love, encircling every race;
Oblivious to gender, wealth, to social rank or place;
We praise you, Christ! Your cross has made us one.
Can we see how doctrine and practice are intertwined and inseparable?
