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Bishop H. Julian Gordy is the bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Member of:

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Representative of:

ELCA Southeastern Synod

A native of Newnan, Georgia, Julian Gordy served as pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Franklin, TN; Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Ocean Springs, MS; and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Morristown, TN before his election as bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod in June, 2007. He received the A.B. in religion from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia in 1972 and the M. Div. from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in 1985. A long-time proponent of ministries of mercy and justice, Bishop Gordy was a founding member of the board of MATS, a unique home for homeless persons in Morristown, and of Samaritan Ministry of Jackson County, an ecumenical emergency relief agency on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

He has been involved in numerous community and church agencies and boards in Tennessee and Mississippi and was active in the founding of Lutheran Episcopal Services of Mississippi. He has served church agencies and institutions in a number of roles, most recently as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Bishop Gordy has been a frequent leader of workshops on organizational structure, consensus decision-making, mission development and liturgical renewal.

Before attending Southern Seminary, Bishop Gordy worked in university and hospital administration and in housing restoration. He is married to the Reverend Dr. P. Morgan Gordy, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Lebanon, Tennessee. They have four children and six grandchildren. His hobbies include backpacking, sailing and woodworking.

Latest Content by Bishop H. Julian Gordy

Bishop Julian Gordy: No Death That God Cannot Overcome

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History announced recently that it will begin restoring Thomas Jefferson's edited version of the New Testament. The book was hand-made by the great Founder just after his term as president. It is a chronological life of Jesus, carefully cut and pasted from English, Latin, French and Greek bibles. It includes those things Jefferson valued - Jesus' teachings - and excludes those he doubted - Jesus' miracles. Jefferson included the crucifixion and burial of Jesus but not the resurrection, Good Friday, but not Easter.

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Bishop Julian Gordy: And the Word Became Flesh

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

"And the Word became flesh and lived among us."
(John 1:14)

J

ohn's gospel begins, not with the birth of Jesus, but with a theological statement of incarnation: literally, "...the Word became flesh and pitched its tent with us."

T

he incarnation is a mystery that theologians and philosophers have pondered and argued about for centuries. How is it possible for the Creator to become a creature? How could an unlimited and infinite and immortal and unknowable God become limited and finite and mortal and knowable in the way we humans are limited and finite and mortal and knowable? How could the Almighty One who created the Himalayas and the Grand Canyon and the solar system and supernovas become an infant who has to have his diapers changed and be potty trained and learn to eat solid food? How could the God of Righteousness come to need scolding by his parents? How could the all-knowing Creator experience the ordinary fears and ignorance of childhood or the emotional and physical chaos of a teenager or the confusion and anxiety of adulthood?

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Other Recent Content by Bishop H. Julian Gordy

September 07, 2010

Bishop Julian Gordy: Hurricane Katrina, Five Years Later

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

It's been five years since Hurricane Katrina devasted the Gulf Coast. ELCA Southeastern Synod Bishop Julian Gordy offers some reflections on lessons learned and victories won in the meantime.

July 09, 2010

Bishop Julian Gordy: Trust God for the Future

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

Bishop Julian Gordy of the ELCA Southeastern Synod writes, "In working so desperately to hold on to life, to be safe in an uncertain future, to grab all the material things that pass for life, we lose real life." Read on...

Bishop Julian Gordy (Part 1) - Day1 Conversations with Peter Wallace

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

Day1 host Peter Wallace sits down with Bishop Julian Gordy, head of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to discuss the work of the synod, the challenges of the church and the work of the Bishop.

Bishop Julian Gordy (Part 2) - Day1 Conversations with Peter Wallace

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

Day1 host Peter Wallace sits down with Bishop Julian Gordy, head of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to discuss the work of the synod, the challenges of the church and the work of the Bishop.

February 14, 2010

Ordinary Holiness

Bishop H. Julian Gordy (ELCA)

ELCA Bishop Julian Gordy examines Luke's account of the Transfiguration from both a religious and a scientific point of view, and describes how both can exist together.