The Rev. Daniel Merton Geslin, 74, died of a heart attack at home in South Minneapolis on March 31, 2024 (Easter Sunday). He had retired after 38 years serving United Church of Christ congregations. Raised in the Lutheran Church by his parents Merton and Marion Geslin of Champlin, Minnesota, Dan was called to the ministry in his twenties. At the time, he was teaching high school English in Minnesota. He left his teaching job and headed to Berkeley on a Greyhound bus. With a BA in English education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota (1972), Dan undertook theological studies from 19771983 at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, in Berkeley, California, specializing in pastoral care. He went to seminary to seek "an intelligent approach to Christianity" to counter the oppressive doctrine he had heard that said being gay was not acceptable to God. "God was not calling me to become someone different," he later wrote in a sermon, "God was calling me to become. . . who I am." In that same sermon from 2014 called "Who I Am," with scripture readings from Exodus 3:14 and John 3:1-6, he described what compelled him to seek ministry despite opposition from his church. At "a Christmas party in San Francisco ... about four months before I had to go back to Minnesota for my matriculation interview with my Lutheran bishop ... I talked with Harvey Milk about losing my career in ministry if I came out, yet wanting to be true to my faith. Harvey was Jewish, and he responded to my fear by teasing me about my name. 'Do you know how the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den ends?' he asked. 'Sure,' I replied. 'Well,' Harvey smiled, 'Daniel didn't.' ... Harvey was confronting me with the vision of my own faith, and I knew he was right." Unable to become a candidate for ordination in the ELCA at that time as a gay man, he turned to the United Church of Christ and was ordained in 1983 . While living in the Bay Area, he worked as an AIDS chaplain in San Francisco at the height of the plague (1983 - 1987). His first parish ministry positions were as a mission developer for new congregations in Minneapolis (1987-1993) and Cleveland, Ohio (1993-2000) especially inviting LGBTQ+ people preaching the conviction that "faith is not security; faith is insecurity. Faith is not knowing, faith is trusting. Faith frees us to be open and vulnerable and explore the unknown." From 2001-2002 he was the program director at Holden Village, a retreat center of the ELCA in the mountains near Chelan, Washington. He served congregations in Pueblo, Colorado; Denver, Colorado ; Hancock, Maine; Simi Valley, California; and Lacrosse, Wisconsin. In addition to earning a DMin (Doctor of Ministry) in 2008 in preaching and worship leadership from Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, Dan continued learning through annual workshops and internships from 19782011. His travels took him to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Italy, the UK, Latin America, and the U.S., including a 3-month sabbatical in Costa Rica studying liberation theology. He loved film, kept a journal for years, wrote film scripts, and studied script-writing. He contributed to two published works: "Our Whole Lives" (a curriculum for the UCC on sex education) and "Feasting on the Word: Worship" (Westminster John Knox's ecumenical liturgical language resource for Sunday worship). Dan was an Eagle Scout and was proud of being part of the Congregational Church's history of social justice work. This was crucial to his ministry and found voice in his preaching. Here is a final word of hope from Dan for those of us still in this life: "When I lost my life in the Lutheran Church, I had no way of knowing that the UCC and all its loving people would be there offering me New Life. When I took the step of coming out, I could not 'see' my future. I could only act on the vision of my faith: a vision of becoming myself through faith." Daniel was preceded in death by his parents Merton and Marion Geslin and niece Angela Jones. He is survived by his sister Susan Jones (Geslin) of Bemidji, MN, brother David Geslin (Michael Moore) of Minnetonka, MN, nieces, nephews, as well as many family and friends. A memorial service honoring Daniel Merton Geslin (1950-2024) will be held at Christ Church Lutheran, 3244 34th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN on May 30th at 11:00 AM. There will be a visitation and luncheon at the church after the service. Memorials are welcomed to OutFront Minnesota.

Published on May 12, 2024