A youth pastor in Germany has drawn fierce criticism after blessing the union of four men to each other at a pubic wedding event, insisting that the LGBTQ polucule were now “married before God.”
Lena Müller initially posted the picture earlier this month in a since-deleted Instagram post, writing, “On Friday evening, I was allowed to celebrate my first poly wedding.”
Müller and her church are part of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO), a progressive denomination with a membership of 880,000 and nearly 1800 churches,
Each year they hold a Pop-up Wedding Festival in Berlin where people can come without pre-registration to get married- with everything already taken care of, including pastors to officiate, music, and a decorated venue.
In an interview with Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper, following some blowback for her role, Müller explained that she didn’t see a problem what the big fuss was about.
This year, we actually celebrated the festival as a “Pride Edition,” specifically aimed at queer people. In our regional church, same-sex marriages have been possible since 2016, but that hasn’t fully sunk in for many yet. And then, on that evening, we suddenly had a poly constellation in front of us—four young men who wanted a blessing for their relationship. You could immediately see that there was a lot of love between them. So the team quickly agreed: What could God have against it being four instead of two?
We couldn’t enter the wedding in the church register because a civil marriage must have taken place beforehand, which wouldn’t be possible in this constellation. But I am absolutely convinced that they truly got married before God. They also received a beautiful certificate. And they chose a wedding verse from the Bible, from 1 Corinthians: “Love never ends.”
When it was pointed out that the Evangelical Church in Germany still teaches monogamy, Müller doesn’t think of her denomination’s position on it, nor the Bible’s perspective.
“That’s a theological question where we’re just at the beginning of a journey. We can’t discuss it over the heads of people who live polyamorously or polysexually, but only in dialogue with them. I don’t have final answers myself yet.
Churches should advocate for relationships and actions that people live out not to harm their fellow human beings or fellow creatures. That’s what I see as our task. But when people make decisions on equal terms, autonomously and consensually, then I don’t see it as my job as a pastor to tell people what they should do in their bedroom.”
She later revealed that she did not get in any trouble for overseeing the event, and that her church leaders approved.
There was blessing, and blessing belonged there. I really felt it, and I stand fully behind it…You could see immediately that there was a lot of love between them. That’s why the team quickly agreed: ‘What should God have against the fact that there are now four and not two?'”
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