Anonymous (First Evangelical Covenant stole)

ANONYMOUS

EVANGELICAL
COVENANT CHURCH

At the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical
Covenant Church, the denominational delegates passed a resolution on human sexuality that states,
A publicly declared, legally binding marriage
between one woman and one man is the one appropriate
place for sexual intercourse.  Heterosexual marriage,
faithfulness within marriage, abstinence outside of marriage
these constitute the Christian standard.  The vote passing
this resolution was followed by a congregational hymn, the
words of which (printed on this stole) continue to be ironic in
light of the denominations exclusion from membership and
ministry those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.

This stole is in recognition of those LGBT pastors, ministers of music,
directors of Christian education, seminarians, youth ministers, and educators in the Covenant denomination whose Christian witness
has been denied or forced into silence due to sexual
orientation or gender identification.

This stole came with very little information beyond the fact that it honors a closeted gay person.  As of this writing, it is the only stole in the collection representing someone from the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006