Sunday: Black woman becomes pastor of all-white Lutheran church
BY BILL SHERMAN World Staff Writer
Saturday, November 17, 2012
11/17/12 at 3:49 PM
The new pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church does not fit the mold.
The Rev. Marilyn Robinson is an African-descent woman in an all-white congregation in an era when 11 a.m. Sunday is called the nation’s most segregated hour.
She was raised Catholic, spent years in independent Pentecostal churches, and now, in her late 50s, is a pastor in one of Christendom’s most formal denominations.
She once was blind, but now she sees – literally.
And she has been homeless.
Robinson will be formally installed at 3 p.m. Dec. 2 as pastor of Ascension Lutheran, 4803 S. Lewis Ave.
She is the only black woman pastoring one of the 53 churches in the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
“My identity is in Christ, not in race or gender,” Robinson said.
“We’re really excited about having her,” said Bishop Mike Girlinghouse, who recommended her to the Tulsa church. “She’ll be a great asset to the community.”
Read more in Sunday's Tulsa World.
Associated Images:
Rev. Marilyn Robinson gives communion during service at Ascension Lutheran at 48th and Lewis on November 11, 2012. JOEY JOHNSON/For the Tulsa World
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