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St. Petersburg Lutheran congregation installs openly gay pastor

 
Clergy members lay hands on the new pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Paul Gibson, during his installation service on Saturday at the church in downtown St. Petersburg. 
Clergy members lay hands on the new pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Paul Gibson, during his installation service on Saturday at the church in downtown St. Petersburg. 
Published Oct. 19, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — The former monk took his place in the procession with a bishop and other clergy into the Gothic revival-style church.

For the Rev. Paul Gibson, his steps toward the candlelit altar and past the illuminated German-made stained glass windows at Trinity Lutheran Church marked the culmination of a circuitous and sometimes painful quest.

On Saturday, Gibson, an opera singer turned monk, turned Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor, officially became the spiritual leader of the 113-year-old downtown congregation.

The festive service officiated by Bishop Robert Schaefer of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, headquartered in Tampa, was historic for Trinity. A few years earlier, it would have been virtually unthinkable anywhere in the 4-million member Lutheran denomination.

Gibson is openly gay. Some at Trinity admit that initially made them nervous.

"I had my doubts as to whether the church was ready for this particular challenge," said Curt Schuenke, 67, who sat on the committee that chose Gibson for the job.

"I didn't know what to expect. I looked at the congregation, all of these old people, thinking, how are they going to vote?"

Of the 52 ballots cast, he said, there were only four votes no and four abstentions.

Trinity is Gibson's first church. In August, the 50-year-old was ordained at St. Paul's in Clearwater. His mother, a sister and his partner, who read one of the Scriptures, were present.

Gibson is grateful that Trinity not only accepted an openly gay pastor but also one just out of seminary.

"I was nervous," he said of his committee interview. "I was ready for really hard questions, about my sexuality, or my politics, whatever. That was barely touched on. Most of the questions were about preaching, working with people."

Members of the committee noted, though, that there could be some negative reaction to a gay pastor and wanted to know how he would handle it, Gibson said.

"I said something like, there is no possible way I can change people's minds. All I can do is just be the best pastor I can be to everyone in Trinity," he said.

Gibson's route to ministry had several detours. He worked for 12 years as an opera singer, five in Germany in the chorus at a Berlin opera house. It was in Germany that he first felt comfortable being open about his sexuality in a religious setting, he said.

The priest of the Anglican/Episcopal church he attended "was really the first openly gay pastor that I had ever encountered in any denomination," said Gibson, whose late father was a Lutheran pastor.

In 2000, he joined a small monastic order in England. At 36, he was the youngest in the community. He left after 6 1/2 years, before taking permanent vows.

"I'm still not sure exactly what changed. I was convinced that I would be there for the rest of my life," he said, adding that it was a valuable time of healing and growth.

He came to Florida and moved in with a sister in Tarpon Springs. For the next three years, he became involved with St. Paul's in Clearwater, got a job as church secretary, taught a class on prayer, helped to plan Sunday services and visited the sick and shut-ins. He was happy and resisted suggestions that he should become a pastor.

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Four years ago, though, he headed to the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He was open about his sexuality. Back in Florida, he had begun to work with a national group — now called ReconcilingWorks — for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Lutherans in all aspects of church life.

Before 2009, his branch of the Lutheran church forbade noncelibate gay clergy. The change caused a number of congregations to abandon the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Florida-Bahamas Synod lost 14 congregations.

Asked about the challenges of placing gay pastors, Bishop Schaefer said in an email that the church recognizes "that we do not have agreement regarding the placement of partnered gay clergy."

He added that congregations against the policy are not forced to consider those pastors.

"In other contexts, the gifts of such persons are welcomed and even embraced," he said.

That's true at Trinity, where Jim Tallon, on the committee that selected Gibson, praised the new pastor as a great preacher.

"We lost a couple of people, I'll admit that, but we've gained people too," he said.

Karen Toth, the committee's chairwoman, added that there's new excitement at Trinity.

Still, Gibson has a tough job ahead. The once thriving church is struggling. Numbers have dwindled, and there are few young people and children. There are more than 200 on the rolls, but Sundays draw only about 90 worshipers.

"We are struggling financially," Gibson said. "I've been told I've got five to seven years to turn the place around."

For now, his partner lives in New Jersey.

"I hope it's God's will that I get to marry him some day," he said. "Again, these are the questions Trinity hasn't asked too much about. They are not asking what I'm doing in the bedroom. They're either very polite, or they don't think it's any of their business, or it doesn't have anything to do with my being a pastor."

He's simply Pastor Paul, said Lynne Tallon of the church council, "and we love him to death."

As the procession made its way to the altar Saturday, the congregation sang a hymn with the refrain, "All are welcome in this place."

Contact Waveney Ann Moore at wmoore@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2283. Follow @wmooretimes.