Ellen Taube

At a wedding when I was 3 ½ years old, I discovered I was different from other little girls. The bride’s beauty struck no responsive chord in me as it did in my three older female cousins. During the wedding I watched the pastors, including my grandfather. I knew that someday I would be doing what I saw them doing.

Growing up in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, I could not claim either the sexuality or the call to ministry that I knew were God’s gifts to me.

I graduated from Seminary and was ordained in 1990, and served two calls. I lived in compliance with the ELCA’s Visions and Expectations as a closeted lesbian person, in a gradual downward spiral of loneliness and isolation.

In spring of 2000, my Senior Pastor began to pray for the gift of companionship for me – a prayer I had never dared to pray for myself. In the spring of 2001, I quietly resigned my call to receive God’s gift of a life partner, hoping the ELCA would find a way to welcome me as a partnered lesbian pastor.

In fall of 2002, I was in a safe place to share my story with the church as part of the “Journey Together Faithful” dialogue. My name was removed from the ELCA clergy roster in December 2002. I continue to attend an ELCA congregation, using God’s gifts in worship leadership and catechetical instruction.

Originally a part of the collection of stoles housed by ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation, this stole was donated by them to the Shower of Stoles Project in 2015.