- Pastor Rose Beeson would be officially welcomed to the community of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church as Peter in a renaming ceremony on Transfiguration Sunday, February 11.
- The renaming ceremony is a liturgical service that signifies an affirmation on transgender individuals who will then take on a new name and in a baptism.
- Pastor Beeson started his journey of transition from a woman to a man last summer and went on to announce his decision to his congregation who expressed support.
A pastor is to be officially welcomed to the community of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church, Hoboken, New Jersey, as a transgender man according to the transgender news stories by the website Patch posted on February 8.
By February 11, Sunday, Reverend Rose Beeson will be known as Peter in a renaming ceremony that marks his journey in transitioning from a woman to a man.
Renaming Ceremony
On its website, the church announced, “All who believe in promoting inclusion and diversity are welcome to attend this historic occasion.”
An invitation for the event posted on social media quoted the Scriptures as found in Galatians 3, “As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female’ for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Bishop Tracie Bartholomew of New Jersey Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, would officiate and the preacher for the celebration that would fall on Transfiguration Sunday. The celebration would start at 10:30 a.m.
The renaming ceremony is a liturgical service that signifies an affirmation on transgender individuals who will then take on a new name and in a baptism.
The religious celebration would also mark as one of the first occasions that a person is welcomed to the church as a transgender individual while simultaneously serving as a pastor in the congregation.
Contribution to the community
Pastor Beeson started his journey of transition last summer and went on to announce his decision to his congregation who expressed support.
In an interview, Pastor Beeson said, “I wrestled with sex and gender from my teens into my early 20s… journey toward greater integrity to be the most fully present for the congregation and more honest and authentic and live what God is calling me to be.”
He is married with a kid described as a bouncy toddler who enjoys exploring the parks in Hoboken.
A volunteer for Rebuilding Together, the pastor spends his free time practicing Tai Chi, Kung-Fu, and tinkering with low voltage wiring and power tools.
He also spends time serving on the board of Hoboken Shelter, a church initiative that aims to address the problem of homelessness. Previously, he was part of the board of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and Reconciling Works, which are groups that are dedicated in affirming and providing support to members of LGBT community who would want to pursue a call to rostered ministry.
Before becoming part of the community at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church, he was a staff in a congregation in Washington, DC, a rural south-west North Carolina chaplain, and had previous experiences in congregations located in the states of Phoenix and San Francisco.
He contributes to the community with a wealth of knowledge and experience working in IT, telecom, project management, and graduate level coursework in real estate and sustainable infrastructure at Johns Hopkins University.
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