ELCA Sanctuary action 3: the protest at ICE offices in Milwaukee

The protest march to the ICE office on Aug 7, 2019, was not technically an ‘official’ ELCA Churchwide assembly action, since it was led by the Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod. Those members of the ELCA assembly who joined in, including anyone from the public, did so on their own volition.

According to local news coverage, over 570 members of the Assembly, joined by others, marched one mile to the offices of ICE in Milwaukee. The group then conducted a prayer vigil, and leaders spoke to the crowd. The Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod lead the vigil and read and posted a document entitled, “9.5 Theses: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Then they taped it to the door of the ICE building. You can read the 9.5 Theses, below. (In 1517 AD, Martin Luther famously protested practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic church by posting 95 theses on the door of the local church near the university where he was a professor.) As is clear from the “9.5 Theses”, the purpose was to protest current ICE practices and US government policies regarding especially the treatment of children and families of people who have come to the southern border seeking asylum and refuge in the US. Each thesis is supported by a quote from the Bible. 

9.5 Theses*
“I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me.”

1) When our Lord Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. (95 Theses, #1) We repent of our silence, indifference, and lack of courage as our nation separates immigrant families, inflicts misery on migrant children, and turns away refugees. .

2) Christians are to be taught that a person who welcomes the immigrant stranger with compassion and an open heart has opened their heart not only to the stranger but also to Christ. (Matthew 25:35) 

3) Christians do well to remember that God’s love, mercy, and grace extend equally to all peoples from every nation and place on earth. (Revelation 7:9)

4) Christians do well to remember their own ancestral journeys as they consider the harsh journeys of immigrants in our day. “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)

5) Christians are to be taught that immigration laws and policies are to be measured against the higher law of love. “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14)

6) Christians do well to welcome immigrants and refugees equally as citizens and members of God’s family. “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you.” (Leviticus 19:34) 

7) Preaching and teaching the gospel Way of Jesus must include condemnation of human cruelties and social injustices. “Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, ‘Peace, peace,' and there is no peace! (Jeremiah 6:14).” (95 Theses, #92)

8) Christians are to be taught that when the laws of our government violate our faith and our conscience, “we must obey God rather than any human authority.” (Acts 5:29)

9.5) We firmly believe that the treatment of children and families at our border is a moral issue, not a political one. The well-being and safety of children, including ensuring family unity and reunification, must be a priority. Therefore we commit ourselves to an ongoing struggle for just immigration policies . . . 

*Greater Milwaukee Synod Refugee and Immigration Committee. Inspired by Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (1517)

ELCA Sanctuary action 2: a guide for the curious or concerned

What is the ELCA Churchwide Assembly:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the US, meets every 3 years in a “churchwide assembly” to carry out the business of the overall church body. There are 9000+ congregations across the 50 US states and Caribbean, divided into 65 synods, or dioceses. Each synod has a bishop, and the ELCA has a Presiding Bishop. Members of any ELCA Church, both lay and clergy, are elected by their synods to attend the assembly. These assembly members do not represent a constituency “back home,” but vote their own conscience on the business of the church, and as each person feels the Holy Spirit is leading the church on the issue. This year’s assembly met last week in Milwaukee, WI.

What happened in Milwaukee:

This past week’s churchwide assembly, August 5-10, was full of important votes and actions, including:

●      Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton was reelected for a second six-year term on the first ballot.

●      A declaration of apology to our siblings of African descent, which was received by the African Descent Lutheran Association with thanks and a call for accountability and living into the words shared.

●      Approved resolution declaring the ELCA is a “sanctuary church body,” encouraging participation in the ELCA AMMPARO initiative for migrant children, discernment of care for our immigrant neighbors in our context, and the promise of forthcoming resources for this work.

●      Approved support for the World Council of Church’s Thursdays in Black, awareness movement for a world without rape and violence. 

●      Voted to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance, in honor and remembrance of the martyrdom of the Emanuel 9.

●      Approved a declaration for inter-religious commitment, reaffirming ecumenical and interfaith partnerships.

●      Approved the recommendations from a strategic taskforce which has been studying how to work toward authentic diversity in our church.

●      Approved memorials: affirming but not “endorsing” the Poor People’s Campaign, care for immigrants and refugees, and other statements.

●      Adopted a new social statement, “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: a Lutheran Call to Action,” and its implementing resolutions. 

●      Deacon Sue Rothmeyer was elected Churchwide Secretary, a full-time position which acts as executive administrator and leader on all constitutional matters and interpretation.

●      Constitutional change for Deacons (rostered ministers of word and service) to be ordained, from the previous practice of consecration.

●      Celebrated the milestones of 50 years of women's ordination, 40 years since the first woman of color was ordained, and 10 years since full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ clergy.                           

 The “sanctuary church” action:

The third bullet point above was the decision to declare the ELCA a “sanctuary church body”. On August 7, day 3 of the Assembly, a memorial, or proposal, was put forth by the Metro New York Synod, that the ELCA declare itself a “sanctuary church.” The resolution was passed with an amendment, by a majority of the over 800 voting members. The amendment asked that the ELCA provide at the next triennial assembly in 2022 written guidance for congregations as to “what it means to be a sanctuary church.”

This is the text of the ELCA’s "sanctuary" resolution:

-“To receive with gratitude the memorial from the Metropolitan New York Synod concerning sanctuary;

-To reaffirm the long-term and growing commitment of this church to migrants and refugees and to the policy questions involved, as exemplified most recently in the comprehensive strategy Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO);

-To recognize that the ELCA in congregations, synods and the churchwide organization are already taking the actions requested by this memorial; and 

-To request that appropriate staff on the AMMPARO team, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Domestic Mission, Global Mission, and Mission Advancement units review the existing strategies and practices by the five current sanctuary synods and develop a plan for additional tools that provide for education and discernment around sanctuary;

-The ELCA declares itself a sanctuary church body; and 

-To request the ELCA Church Council, in consultation with the appropriate churchwide unites and offices, provide guidance for the three expressions of this church about what it means to be a sanctuary church body and provide a report to the 2022 Churchwide Assembly.”

The Metro NY Synod Sanctuary Memorial:

As you can see, the ELCA’s action embraces the Metro NY Synod’s original Sanctuary memorial (full text here), which was passed in that Synod’s annual assembly in May of 2018. In that document, there are 16 resolutions in total, (“Resolved”…) toward the end of the Metro NY memorial document, divided up into 3 sections. If you read through these, it is clear that the bulk of what “sanctuary” means is to be a support to migrants and immigrants, whether legal and illegal or undocumented, as they seek refuge in the US, are detained, and advocate for just policies and practices, networking with other churches and organizations that support migrants’ and undocumented immigrants’ well-being and rights. 

The 13^th resolution is probably the most controversial: “Provide short term respite sanctuary during immediate crisis.” (There are some individual congregations of different denominations across the country that have done or are doing this, and you can look up their news stories online.) The Fox News channel’s “Fox and Friends” segment unfairly took this point as the full meaning of the ELCA’s “sanctuary church” resolution. (They also did not invite any ELCA representative to answer questions.) As you can read in the Metro NY’s resolution, it is much more than that. Individual congregations are free to engage in “sanctuary” activities up to and including crisis shelter, or not. It is up to each congregation how to engage in “sanctuary” as it encounters people who are in need of support. Here is a link to the Metro NY Synod’s description of further actions taken to embody the spirit of their resolution.

The roots of this line of action by the ELCA go back to 2014, when the plight of unaccompanied minors from Central America were highlighted by the media. Several ELCA synod bishops and lay people investigated over the next year, and the ELCA’s AMMPARO initiative finally took shape as a response to this crisis in 2016. It is described in detail on the ELCA website here.

ELCA Sanctuary action 1: ELCA declares "Sanctuary Church"

When the church does something that the public notices, misinterpretations are bound to happen. Let's look at two actions taken by the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly, which met in Milwaukee last week, which made national news. These were a protest march to ICE headquarters in Milwaukee, and then the official pronouncement by the assembly announcing the ELCA as a "Sanctuary" church. The second action even made the television show, “Fox and Friends”. This caused a stir in media accounts.  

In this post and the following two posts ("ELCA sanctuary action 1, 2 and 3"), I hope to have provided a resource that will contextualize what this does and does not mean for us. To start, let's look at some letters by 4 bishops, including our own New Jersey Synod bishop, the Rev. Tracie Bartholomew, which help interpret these events. 

-Our Presiding Bishop, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton’s post-Assembly letter:

Read it here. The text provides a link to a set of “Talking Points” that are very helpful for understanding what the assembly’s action means.

-Our New Jersey Bishop, the Rev. Tracie Bartholomew’s post-Assembly letter:

Read it here. In the fourth paragraph, she writes, “…Because we are church in three expressions (congregations, synods, and churchwide) the decision made at the Churchwide Assembly to become a sanctuary church body, only applies to the churchwide expression. Any congregation or synod wishing to become a sanctuary entity is free to decide to do so, or not. No congregation or synod is compelled to take on that designation. If a congregation wishes to become a sanctuary entity, it should also decide what that will mean.”

-Rocky Mountain Synod bishop, the Rev. Jim Gonia, has written a letter, here.  He writes about the sanctuary decision, “…The fact that the story of our (Lutheran) church is rooted in the experience of Lutheran refugees and immigrants who came to this country faith seeking a better life is what continues to empower our church’s unwavering commitment to accompany refugees and immigrants today.”

-Here is a letter from the bishop of the Pacifica Synod, the Rev. Andy Taylor, which includes a link to a video showing how Lutheran work in Honduras is helping those who have been denied asylum in the US to have a future with hope in their home country. 

I hope these expressions of "sanctuary" help you understand what it can mean. Did you watch the video linked in Bishop Taylor's letter? It's a wonderful testament to the ways the Lutheran World Federation is carrying out "sanctuary" for migrants in its broadest sense among the people of Honduras.

Lutherans and politics (no. 1): God's Two Kingdoms

This is the first in a four-part series on the Lutheran approach to politics. The goal is to provide Christians with an understanding of the concepts the Lutheran Church uses to inspire and guide its forays into the public sphere.  

The political world that Martin Luther lived in was much different than our own. For example, Luther lived in a time before constitutional democracy as we know it.  Yet there are fundamentals about politics that don’t change. The theological points that Luther asserted in his reformation had political repercussions. This is no different from our own day. When the Bishop of the ELCA writes an open letter concerning some public issue, the Lutheran church is venturing into politics, and it is intended to get peoples’ attention.  What we find, indeed, what we would expect, is that some people view this as a welcome addition to the public debate on issues, while others feel that such forays are unwelcome intrusions into politics.  This is the first in a four-part series that seeks to clarify how the Lutheran Church justifies its political involvement as the logical result of having a public theology. 

Our first concept is Luther’s distinction between the Two Kingdoms of God, the kingdom of God’s right hand and the kingdom of God’s left hand. God’s right-handed kingdom represents the spiritual realm, and the left-handed kingdom is the civil realm. Everyone’s job is to try to keep the two kingdoms in balance.  The left-handed kingdom promotes order in the world, keeps sin in check, and provides for people’s worldly needs. The right-handed kingdom promotes faith, teaches about the reality of sin and forgiveness, and provides for people’s spiritual needs. 

The best balanced relationship between the two is when people, who all live in both realms at the same time, are living and interacting in good faith and in accordance with justice and peace in both realms.  Then those in authority in one realm respect those in authority in the other, and they encourage each other to carry out their respective mandates, and all is well. Sometimes, however, the effects of sin, both institutional and individual, on human interaction demand that the authority of one realm be brought to bear on the other realm. For example, on the one hand, crime in the church is to be punished by the state. On the other, unjust laws and corrupt state actions are to be criticized by those in spiritual authority.  

It is the latter example that has inspired this set of articles, because many people either misunderstand the church’s critique of the state, or resent it. The rule of thumb for the church that follows Jesus of Nazareth is that the ends never justify the means. State sponsored cruelty or injustice is never justified, even if the state points to some greater goal.  This is because both “kingdoms” were created by God for the good of society, and both belong to God, who judges both. Neither realm is exempt from God’s demand for justice and mercy. This does make the work of the state and the church more difficult, but there are no exemptions, no excuses, no short cuts.  For its part, the church should continue to support the state in the hard work of keeping sin in check and providing for people’s worldly needs while continuing its own work of promoting faith, justice and mercy in the world. 

Next time, living our lives in the “Three Estates.”  +PL

Addressing Gun Violence: the ELCA's recommendations

Where is the Lutheran Church in the current gun debate? Many people have strong opinions about how our church should be involved. First, the church takes very seriously the positive effects of prayer. Christians are to constantly pray for their nation and society, and especially for those who are victims of violence and tragedy. We are even encouraged to pray for the perpetrators. Particularly this week, Redeemer (my congregation) joins all people of faith in praying for those affected by the school shooting in Parkland, FL.

Beyond that, what are we to do? Here is a review of a “Social Message” that addresses gun violence in America in a limited way, as part of a larger problem of community violence in our society. In the attempt to help people be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in the world, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which Redeemer is a member of, occasionally produces “Social Statements” and “Social Messages” on important social issues in our country. (Full access to all social statements and messages by the ELCA can be accessed at https://www.elca.org/Faith/Faith-and-Society)

The ELCA adopted a “Social Message” on Community Violence in 1994. Although 24 years old now, it is still relevant. It expresses basic principles that guide faithful deliberation on social action that would be inspired by our faith position as Lutheran Christians. Should it be updated? Yes, and hopefully soon.

The message encourages reflection on many issues that contribute to community violence, including guns. The message supports action to “stem the proliferation of guns in our streets, schools, and homes." This effort is to be part of a range of actions to counter the prevalence of community violence. The document cites the biblical vision of God’s future (eg. in Isaiah 25:6) which is free from any violence as the common goal of all our efforts, advocacy, and prayer. This future will be "an age to come in which people are free from violence, justice is done, and the common good is realized.” (page 5) We believe Christians are called to live and act as if this vision were achievable, even as we admit that it won’t be truly fulfilled by us, but by God in God’s own time.

This message is given as a guide for Lutheran Christians, and is not to be seen as a set of rules to be blindly followed. The ELCA acknowledges that there are various positions on how best to strive for the reduction of violence in our culture. But we can say from the message that the consensus of the church as a deliberating body “tends" toward greater gun control for the common good. How that is achieved is for the political sphere to grapple with. Christians are called to participate in that messy process in good faith, and to behave in debate and deliberation as Christ himself would, with respect for the dignity of all participants.

The following comes from the bottom of page 4 of the message:

"As we move toward a more comprehensive address of community violence, we join with other religious communities in anti-violence initiatives that:
✦ offer vital spiritual and moral resources for replacing fear and violence with hope and reconciliation in our homes, communities, and nation;
✦ stem the proliferation of guns in our streets, schools, and homes;
✦ counter the “culture of violence” that pervades our national culture and media;
✦ build strong anti-violence coalitions in our neighborhoods and communities;
✦ develop peer mediation skills in the schools; and
✦ protect our youth from the epidemic of violence through equitable law enforcement, and the promotion of education, social programs, anti-drug programs, and real job opportunities.” (Download the full 6-page document at https://www.elca.org/…/F…/Social-Messages/Community-Violence)

On the moral bankruptcy of white supremacy

The disturbing and tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11 and 12, 2017, resulted in the deaths of three people, and injury to many others. They have also caused great pain to people of all faiths and ethnicities who are concerned for the future of our nation and its communities. There have been many responses to last weekend’s events, from the realms of media, the academy, big business, as well as our religious and governmental leaders. I write this message in order to bring to your attention the response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the ELCA), of which the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Ramsey is a member, and to clarify a “Lutheran” Christian position for the people of our community on what is driving these events.

This may not be so clear or settled for some people, but for Christians who know they follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, white supremacy is the bankrupt ideology behind the movement that likes to use more euphemistic terms like “white nationalism” or the “alt-right”.  Followers of this movement like to claim an international purchase for their ideology, which wants to become an identity movement for white people in various countries around the world. The church sees this desire for legitimacy as an attempt to manipulate the political culture of various countries by using racism. The aim of white ethnic nationalists is pretty clear: to distinguish and promote the rights and welfare of white people over against those who are not white.  

The church holds that white supremacy is against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In response to the weekend’s events, and the political aftermath, the ELCA posted a public statement on August 15, 2017, which named racism in any form as a sin against God and humanity. The statement quoted our presiding Bishop, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, who encouraged Lutherans to stand against racism and anti-semitism, and be servants who are willing to meet the risen Jesus Christ in the midst of our society’s conflict and pain. The statement provides a link to the ELCA’s social statement on racism, which was passed in 1993. According to that statement, “Racism—a mix of power, privilege and prejudice—is sin, a violation of God’s intention for humanity. The resulting racial, ethnic, or cultural barriers deny the truth that all people are God’s creatures and, therefore, persons of dignity.”

I add here a quote from another religious leader, Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. In his op-ed from Monday, August 14, in the Washington Post, he uses one of the chants from the torch-bearing protesters on Friday night. He says that “‘Blood and Soil’ ethnic nationalism is not just a deviant social movement. It is the same old idolatry of the flesh, the human being seeking to deify his own flesh and blood as God.” Unfortunately, not all Christians understand how or why this point is important. Moore’s view is clarifying: the Christian Gospel is a call away from the idolatry of racism toward the worship of the one true God.

This was the tenor of my sermon delivered on Sunday, August 13. In it, I said that white supremacy and the ethnic nationalism that it fuels is a false god—an idol—that people are worshipping in order to find a seemingly “strong" identity that can serve as foundation for their self-serving moral and political positions.  The construction of such personal or group/tribal identities depends on stripping apart, undermining, or demeaning the personal and group identity of others, especially Jews and non-whites. White supremacist identity takes from others in order to build itself up, and in so doing creates an idol of itself. It literally steals from God that which is only God's to give, since it steals from others what God has given to all people, i.e. their own dignity as beings created “in his own image."  

Using the story of Jesus’ miraculously walking on water to meet the disciples in a boat on a stormy sea, I lifted up the courage of Peter, who got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. I urged the congregation to be willing to step out from the false security of ethnic chauvinism or forms of racist identity and be willing to meet Jesus out on the sea of God’s redemption, where the only identity we own is that given by Jesus.  Standing on what seems to be no ground at all, Jesus reaches out to save us as we sink, gives his own life for ours, and willingly exchanges his own holy identity for our false ones. For Christians, it is in this way and this way alone that we are given an identity worth living and dying for.  (Lord, give power to your church to submit to your grace. Amen.)

Easter, hidden and revealed.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:3-4

The Easter morning accounts in the Gospels recount the experience of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.  Mary Magdalene, the “other Mary”, presumably Jesus’ mother, along with Peter and the other disciples, all receive special revelation of Jesus himself, risen from the tomb.  But we live by faith, as those who are “blessed, but have not seen.”  To us God’s victory in the empty tomb seems hidden.  The effects of that victory are the new life in Christ that we have, which are “hidden with Christ in God,” as St. Paul writes in the quote above.  Dealing with this hiddenness is hard, but there is wisdom in it, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to help us in our pilgrimage of faith.  Christ’s victory gives hope, and is powerful in the world.

The hiddenness of God’s victory, of God’s presence, of God’s truth helps explain the suffering, the sin and the reality of death that we experience in the world around us.  But this is a natural truth as well.  In fact, life is hidden in death all around us. Look at seeds. They die in the ground, but when the conditions are right, when there is water, and warmth, and good soil, they germinate. They sprout and grow. What seems dead actually has life hidden within it all along, waiting to appear.

This is the truth of God in Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. There is the truth of what we see, and there is the truth of things that are hidden.  God is manifest in creation in Christ Jesus, hidden so to speak, in the form of a man.  For his unfailing faithfulness to God’s will, he was betrayed to human government and religious laws, was tortured, and executed.  God’s eternal life is hidden in the death of Jesus on the cross. In the resurrection, God’s eternal life is revealed, but only openly momentarily.  It is subsumed again in the growth of the church.  Since you have been baptized into Christ’s death, you have died, and like a seed, lie hidden and awaiting germination.  You and those like you in faith germinate to become the new body of Christ, a new creation.

There is a story of old WWII Prisoner of War in Japanese camp in Singapore. The atmosphere of the camp changed dramatically when the inmates heard of the collapse of the Japanese war effort in early 1945, because one of the inmates had a short wave radio.  Although they were all still imprisoned, and wouldn’t be rescued for a while, they knew that the victory had been won.  Their release was hidden from them, but they grasped it already.  Their experience of the camp, of their imprisonment, of each other changed radically.  They all began to laugh and cry, as if they were free already.

In the same way, Easter proclaims Christ’s victory over sin and death, while, for the time being, they continue to hold sway.  To our experience, to our senses, sin and death maintain their power over us.  Indeed, they seem rampant in our lives, and the world around us.  But Easter proclaims Christ’s victory!  It may be hidden from view, but it awaits its full revelation.

Your life is hidden in Christ, but Christ is risen!  And so you live, even though you die.  And the power of Christ’s life is hidden, for now, in the way life seems defeated in our world.  You who are tired, or confused, or ambivalent, or rootless, Christ’s powerful life is waiting to be born.  Hidden in the grieving heart, hidden in the overdosed body, hidden in the neglected child, hidden in the desolation of bombs and bullets, hidden in human societies run amuck, there is already God’s new life. Hidden in the destructive, selfish logic of sin, hidden in your broken heart, hidden in the grave, is the risen life of Christ.  In you, “a new creation comes to life and grows, as Christ’s new body takes on flesh and blood.”  The universe will be restored, and being made whole, will sing, Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever. Amen.

We know that Christ is raised and dies no more.

Embraced by death, he broke its fearful hold,

And our despair he turned to blazing joy. Hallelujah!

We share by water in his saving death.

Reborn, we share with him an Easter life,

As living members of our Savior Christ. Hallelujah!

The Father’s splendor clothes the Son with life.

The Spirit’s fission shakes the church of God.

Baptized we live with God the Three in One. Hallelujah!

A new creation comes to life and grows

As Christ’s new body takes on flesh and blood.

The universe restored and whole will sing: Hallelujah!

The Violence of Good Friday

"See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals--so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate." (Isaiah 52:13-15)

There is a part to Good Friday that has always troubled me.  On the surface of things, you have the execution of Jesus, in itself a gruesome event in a depraved situation. It wasn't a quick execution.  It was slow, painful, public, and morbidly humiliating. Why did the Romans have to do it that way? It was justice meeted out as spectacle.  Behold the power of the empire.

Dig a little deeper, and you get to the levels of meaning that the church gives to Jesus' death. As I studied theology to prepare to become a pastor, I struggled with the classic substitutionary atonement theory, which says that Jesus was the perfect life that was sacrificed to a voracious God, because sinful humanity couldn't pay that price for itself.  I grew to reject the idea of this unhappy God, who needed to be placated, satisfied with bloody justice.  I started to embrace fresh understandings of how Jesus' death was ultimately meaningful because it witnessed to the love of God for us, which was willing to sacrifice itself for our sakes, to show us the height and depth of that love.

But there is another level of Jesus' death that just won't go away.  What is it about Good Friday that continues to unsettle me?  Is it that the scene continues to play itself out?  Is it that we still must witness similar acts of bloody justice every day?  Is this what the church means when it says that Jesus continues to be crucified in our midst?  Or is it the way that violence continues to both repulse me and provoke me at the same time?  Why is one man's plight so riveting, and so repeatable?  Why does violence have to be so handy?  Why can't it be pushed farther to the margins of our human society?

I'm tired of violence. I'm tired of bloody justice, of human justice.  I'm tired of enforced rules, of retribution through control.  I'm tired of the violence of the state, and I'm tired of the violence of the enemies of the state. I'm tired of people being hounded for minor infractions.  I'm tired of people being sacrificed to perpetuate the revolution. I don't want our justice, or my justice. I want God's justice.  I want a just end to the need for justice.  I want God to come, expose it, and wipe it away.  I want kings to shut their mouths because of it.  I want Easter.

Nervous on Maundy Thursday

One night, a long time ago, the Israelites were told to prepare to leave.  But first, they should stop and have a special meal. It would necessitate certain foods, and would be prepared, consumed and left in a certain way. The people were to take a single lamb per household, or to share one with neighbors. It was to be slaughtered, then roasted and served with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  They were to spread its blood on the door posts of their houses. They were instructed to eat the meal with their traveling clothes and shoes on. They would be leaving soon after the meal. Leaving for good.

In the background of the meal loomed Pharaoh, and the people of Egypt, who had been hounded by relentless plagues and catastrophes brought on by God. Moses said that the blood spread on the doors would protect the Israelites from the Angel of Death, who would sweep over the city that night, taking all first born children with it. The situation was unsettled, tense, and confusing.

Years later, at the birth of a movement, Jesus met with his 12 disciples, representing those 12 tribes of Israel, and instructed them to eat that Passover meal with him in his last hours. They were told that he would be with them only a short while longer, and that where he was going, they could not come. The meal was simple, but Jesus tied the bread to his broken body, and the wine to his blood, which would be poured out as the sign of a new covenant with God. He also told them that one of the 12 would betray him, though he would not say who.

In the background of this meal was the first Passover meal, that frightful night of escape and deliverance. Now, where was the deliverance? What would it look like? Also in the background of the disciples' meal were the events earlier in the week, when they entered Jerusalem with Jesus and were greeted by a crowd of joyous onlookers. And there were the antagonized Jewish leaders in the city, who the disciples knew were plotting Jesus' death. What was about to happen? What would become of Jesus? What would become of them? Just how dangerous was this situation?

Unsettled. The early Israelites are unsettled on the eve of their perilous escape from Egypt. The disciples are unsettled on the eve of Jesus' confrontation with the Jerusalem leaders. And we too live in an unsettled world, in unsettled lives, strewn with unsettled circumstances and situations. Unsettled is how you and I are invited to see our own situation, but with one caveat. Easter is on the horizon.

Whatever your unsettled situation, however it is that you relate to these unsettled circumstances, Jesus' calm actions, his focus, his understanding of his imminent betrayal and death as somehow transformative, as fulfilling something God-given, and his modeling of the role of a servant when he washed his disciples' feet, all testify to God's will for Jesus and us. They show us hope, faith, and the courage to hang in there, through the unsettledness. This is hard work, this following the king of life through all the unsettledness of our world. This is scary work, uncomfortable work. But we know now, it is also Easter work. God's richest blessings to you as you enter these holy 3 days.

Is the church biased against Trump's travel order?

This is a follow-up post to my last post on whether the church has been too political lately, especially in light of two recent statements published by our Bishops criticizing the President's travel restriction on people from 7 Muslim-majority countries.

So, you are thinking, Pastor, I can't take this anymore.  There's too much rancor on both sides, and I just don't want to think about it.  Well, I agree with you on that score.  All these issues are cutting to the core of our values as citizens.  And we can get very emotional thinking about it all.  But I encourage you to take heart!  These issues are also questioning our values as Christians, and the clarification we gain from thinking about these issues should help us in living out our baptismal covenants with God.

So, at the risk of turning off more people by addressing the church's criticism of the travel ban, I venture into one more side of it.  Some have wondered if it's true, as President Trump said, that the executive order is basically the same thing as an executive order by then President Obama in 2011.  If so, then the church is really showing it's partisan colors when it criticizes one order, but not the other, right?

Well, "basically the same as" is too imprecise to disqualify the church's response.  Reports have indicated that Trump's order is different from Obama's.  I'm not going to go into the details, but you can read a tidy review of the distinctions from this fact-checking website. The bottom line is that Obama's order was in response to credible threats, and simply slowed down the vetting process for Iraqi refugees alone.  Plus, the public didn't find out that Obama had done this until 2013.  Trump's order closes our border to all people, with exceptions for religious minorities, from the 7 countries, and is not based on any direct evidence that there may be past or future terrorists among those wanting to enter the US.  Also, in the case of Trump's travel ban, people have lost their visas, presumably for good.  And all of this with no warning to anybody that these changes in policy were about to take effect.

Bottom line: Obama's order caused some Iraqi refugees inconvenience, perhaps even frustration. Trump's order turns people away, and doesn't give any indication of what will happen to those turned away when (or if) the ban is lifted in three months.  It's pretty inhospitable.  Think of all the ways the administration could have mitigated the effects of such a temporary ban for those who already have received permission to enter the country.  That would have taken the wind out of all criticism.  But the church doesn't want refugees to suffer unfairly, and it believes that given the details of the case, the new order causes unjust suffering.  Our respectful care for foreigners is a command from God in the Bible, as in Exodus 22:21; "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were resident aliens in Egypt."  And yes, a 'resident alien' would be someone who has been through our vetting process and received a visa.  Hence the Bishops' letters.

If you've read this far, I honor your willingness to listen to your church, even if you disagree with its actions in this case.  I add here that even evangelical church leaders, (whose interpretations of the Bible are often different from ours) have recently voiced their concern over Trump's order.  That makes for a pretty comprehensive condemnation of the order from our country's religious leaders.

Other questions might be floating in your minds, such as whether the church fears enough for the safety of the country, or whether the church is gullible with regard to the threat of Islamic terrorism.  These are good questions, and the answers to these questions lie at the heart of our political disagreements right now.  Maybe these questions would be good topics for further blog posts.  I invite you to ask questions you have in the comments below.

Finally, you may be thinking that I don't seem to have a problem with the church's position on this.  Well, that may be true, but I've been trained in the same theological tradition that the church's leaders have been trained.  Needless to say there is a lot of agreement among Lutheran pastors on this issue. Nevertheless, I humbly ask you to separate in your mind what you know of my politics from the facts of the case as the church sees it.  The church feels called to stand up for those whom God looks out for, period.  I'm trying to represent this prophetic stand to you in a way that you will at least wrestle with it in your heart.  Thanks for reading!