The Evangelical Lutheran God is Now Officially Androgynous

The God of the Evangelical Lutheran Church must be one confused deity. First the church tells Him that He must divest of His support for His chosen people, and now they've neutered Him (or would it now be proper to say "It").

Heaven forbid (pardon the pun) that we should continue to allow male references when talking about God, his son (??), or the Holy Spirit in this enlightened age we live in. The Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has recently been preoccupied with plans to ordain gay clergy and divest from companies doing business with Israel, has approved a new hymnal which will eliminate those pesky masculine references (h/t Sheep's Crib):

Millions of Lutherans will be able to sing a new song -- actually some 300 new songs -- to the Lord in an updated worship book that offers more options for contemporary worship and less emphasis on exclusively masculine images of God.

The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gave the proposed new prayer book and hymnal a thumbs up by a 740-250 vote Wednesday at its biennial meeting. The action allows church officials to make final revisions to the new volume scheduled for publication in October 2006.

Not everyone was happy. Some delegates said the church had been too distracted with sexuality issues to give full attention to the worship book. Others protested a "totalitarian" process in eliminating male imagery for God from worship.

The changes in the language about God "will be like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" to many in the church, said Larry Kallem of Iowa.

Before the final vote, proposals to keep the current Lutheran book of worship, which was published in 1978, and to delay any action until 2009 were overwhelmingly turned down.

Then, after two hours of debate, delegates gave sustained applause for the approval of work on the new book that attempts to be open to different cultures and new musical styles. It will offer alternatives such as "Holy Eternal Majesty, Holy Incarnate Word, Holy Abiding Spirit" for the male-dominated Trinitarian image of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in prayers during Sunday services. (What a steaming pile of politically correct bovine excrement - HolyCoast.)

"This is an important moment," said Bishop Marcus Miller of the Northeastern Ohio Synod, which has some 93,000 members in 208 churches. "I'm happy. I'm convinced it will be a great blessing to the church." (I don't think so-HolyCoast.)

Sadly for the Evangelical Lutherans, they're just another one of the dying mainline denominations that will get grayer by the year and will eventually fade away. Given their recent decisions, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.