Fr. Mark Hodges
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden, November 28, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Evangelical Lutheran leaders in Sweden say the faithful should not refer to God as “He.”
The largest denomination in Sweden, often called “The Church of Sweden,” wants its ministers to replace “He” with the generic “God.” They also don’t want preachers using “Lord” because it implies the masculine.
The “update” to the denomination’s Book of Worship is to begin at Pentecost 2018. The 31-year-old handbook will then be outdated.
Last week, 251 leaders met at an eight-day convention. In a break from traditional Christianity, one of the “updates” instructs pastors to no longer open services with “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” but to use the “gender-neutral” phrase “In the name of God and the Holy Trinity.”
Spokeswoman Sofija Pedersen Videke explained that the updated book will offer various alternatives to using the pronoun “He.”
“We have some prayer options that are more gender-neutral than others,” she told The Telegraph.
Videke added that she has heard no clergy object to the changes.
Archbishop Antje Jackelen praised the decision, noting that God is genderless. In a
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