ELCA Bishop to Preach at Lutheran Pastor’s Transgender Renaming Service

A bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be preaching at a transgender pastor’s gender renaming service in New Jersey on Sunday.

Bishop Tracie Bartholomew of the ELCA New Jersey Synod will preach at the service, held at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, in which Pastor Rose Beeson will officially take the name “Peter” as part of her transition from female to male.

An announcement for the renaming ceremony posted to Patch.com noted that overall the service will affirm “transgender individuals who take on a new name and remember their baptism.”

“It is one of the first times a minister of a congregation in the ELCA has transitioned from female to male while serving as pastor, acting on St. Matthew Trinity’s aspiration to be a church where tradition and inclusivity meet,” stated the announcement.

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“All who believe in promoting inclusion and diversity are welcome to attend this historic occasion.”

Beeson, who has in the…