In a city that thrives on contention, Bishop Richard Graham spreads a message of peace and humility, here and around the world. The 58-year-old leads nearly 35,000 members of 80 congregations that make up the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This summer, the ELCA joined other Protestant denominations in grappling with the issue of same-sex relationships among its clergy. Bishop Graham shared with The Examiner by e-mail his thoughts on the outcome of that debate, and his hopes for the region’s future.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m a Christian and I serve God in the Lutheran Christian tradition. I believe Jesus Christ is the light of the world. I’ve found throughout my whole life that Lutheran worship and music, Lutheran thought, and Lutheran service in the world all say powerful things about God’s love and God’s will for us. The ELCA recently approved a contentious sexuality statement at its national convention allowing Lutherans in same-sex relationships to serve as pastors.
What beliefs were most critical to the passage of the statement by the two-thirds majority?
Lots of Lutherans have come to a new understanding of same-gender relationships because of personal experiences and their reading of the Bible. Lots of other Lutherans, with their own experiences and their own reading of the Bible, haven’t come to that new understanding and maybe won’t. The reason we were able to make the changes we did is that most of us think there are ways for us to continue living and working together in the midst of our profound disagreements. If we can actually pull this off, we have a chance to model something important for the polarized, fragmented society we all live in.
What do you see as the Washington region’s greatest spiritual need?
What we mostly need around here is hope. We have difficult problems to solve. The world is dark and dangerous in many ways. We are constantly tempted to isolate ourselves. We need to be hopeful people, willing to make large decisions even with only partial knowledge, willing to cooperate even with people we don’t like very well. As the poet says, we need to try, and fail, and try again, and fail better. I want to help the people for whom I’m responsible to live in this kind of hope.
How would Martin Luther have fared as a politician or an activist in Washington, D.C., 2009?
Luther would be a powerful political voice in Washington today. He could be very blunt and he distrusted people who had a lot of authority over others. But he had a great appreciation of what government could accomplish. He thought government was created by God to protect the poor and to give everybody the chance to live a quiet, happy life. He believed that a vocation in government was a high and holy calling. He thought hell was full of rich people who didn’t help their neighbors. He would certainly draw a lot of attention if he lived among us now.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that God loves this world, broken as it is, and that God’s purposes can be accomplished here through the work of our grubby hands. I believe that every act of kindness is a godly act wherever it appears. I believe that from people like us, who have been given so much, God is expecting great things.
