“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSV)
I always have a hard time with this passage, but it is one that can be used by many who say Christianity is wrong to prove their point…
You see Jesus says here that you can tell a tree by its fruit, and that any good tree will bear good fruit and any bad tree will not bear good fruit. So if you are not bearing fruit you need to be cut down and thrown into the fire. For we can know a tree by its fruit. And they will know we are Christians by our love…
But are we good at showing love?
We love things as humans when we get something from them or they are just like us. But if they push us to rethink our understanding or to move beyond our comfort zone, then it is not right and should not be tolerated.
All of us can love those who are like us and are nice to us and who love us. Jesus said that, even the tax collectors do that. But we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, not because we are better, but because we are His hands and feet. We are the barometer by which the world measures Christianity. We can not be good sometimes and bad others, and expect people to see God for who He is. We need to be loving all as God first loved us. Not judging people, but loving them.
It is not our job to separate the wheat and the weeds, but to love and serve where we are. So do not be a wolf in sheeps clothing, and do not judge others, but show them your spiritual fruit, and follow Jesus. Loving the world as He first loved you!
aSacredRebel 
You seem to have a problem judging the difference between right and wrong, between virtue and sin, and so your solution is to make no judgements at all….this is secular humanism, where all behavior is equal….heaven forbid that an ELCA pastor should merely point out to anyone in your congregation that gay marriage is immoral, or any other behavior. Do you have a position on abortion? Do you think it is too troubling or offensive to take a position of guiding your sheep as to the acceptability of killing an unborn child because it is an inconvenient conception? After all, it is not your job to separate the wheat and the weeds, lest you offend someone. How about adultery? Do you advise someone struggling with this sin that you cannot judge or discriminate? I can see where ELCA is really not the type of church for anyone seeking the truth, like going to a surgeon who refuses to tell you that the tumor growing inside you will kill you unless it is removed. After all, why judge the patient? The patient, like the sinner in each of us, need only hear that everything is fine…nobody will judge or provide pastoral wisdom.
Gay marriage is no more immoral than those who are divorced and remarried. And you ask about abortion only from a stance of inconvenience. What if the mother will die if the abortion does not happen? And are there options other than abortion, yes there are. But is anything in life as black and white as you are making.
And in the end it will be fine if we have lived connected to the vine and doing what He told us to do: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
And it is not about offending it is the fact I can’t tell and neither can you. God alone can judge and will judge all of us.