August 16, 2017

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.)

April 16, 2017

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!

April 13, 2017

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.

April 12, 2017

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.

February 9, 2017

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!

February 2, 2017

Church as political organization?!

The church tries to do the right thing.  On the one hand, we have what we think is God's will, and on the other, we have the world to contend with.  Trying to correctly interpret the former is difficult, but not as difficult as trying to predict the latter.

Case in point.  After President Trump's executive order stopping refugees and travelers for different periods of time from 7 Muslim-majority countries, several religious organizations wrote letters in protest of the move.  I tried to describe the rationale for such public protest from the perspective of the Lutheran church in my last blog post.  I tried to address my post to the concerns of those who might feel that such protest by the church is inappropriate, a violation of church/state boundaries, or simply political meddling.  I explained that the church tries not to participate in political posturing, but does reserve the right to publicly testify to its vision of God's will for the world, especially as it pertains to the treatment of other, more vulnerable people. This is the church's "prophetic voice" that it is obligated to heed.  And it tries to keep that voice unsullied by overt partisan affiliations.

Then President Trump did this.  At the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, he vowed to get rid of the Johnson Amendment, which prevents religious organizations that receive tax-free status from publicly endorsing politicians.  That's right.  Such a move would give churches more leeway to work on behalf of political parties and politicians, while keeping their tax-free status.  (Some would argue that all churches should lose their tax-exempt status, but that's a topic for another post.)  Moreover, as Steve Waldman writes, Americans' tax dollars could be spent to support churches, synagogues or mosques that support political candidates that they would never support themselves.

Will it happen?  I've stopped trying to predict what will happen in our country right now.  But it would certainly be a bad idea.  Letting churches become defacto political organizations would certainly jeopardize the separation of church and state, and confuse the public even more about what we believe is the proper distinction between what the world does and how God sees it. The Lutheran church would definitely be against such a move.  Not because it wouldn't want to help create political change.  On the contrary, the church is called to get involved in the messiness of the world.  Christians are called to pay attention, to pray, to participate, to vote, to picket, to protest, whatever the Holy Spirit seems to be inspiring in their hearts.  And yes, the church is willing to do this, even if it risks the impression of inappropriate meddling, so that it might bear prophetic witness to its interpretation of God's will for this messed up world.  We can't keep the church out of politics totally because it has a God-given role to play, but we can and should keep politics out of the church.  Thanks for reading.


February 1, 2017

Politics: Does the church have something to say?

So, many are wondering lately why the church seems to be sticking its nose into politics.  After all, Jesus didn't come to start a literal kingdom, but spoke about the Kingdom of God, right?!  What about separation of church and state?

This issue is hot right now because of President Trump's January 27, 2017, executive order on people coming from 7 middle Eastern countries.  The order keeps refugees out for 120 days, and visitors from the 7 countries out for 90 days.  Plus, there is an indefinite halt on entry of Syrian refugees.  On behalf of the Lutheran churches in the US, the Bishop of the ELCA wrote a public letter condemning the move, and our local New Jersey Lutheran Bishop wrote a similar letter, together with the two Episcopal Bishops in New Jersey.  Other Christian leaders and leaders of other faiths have written similarly, including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Here's a link to an article that provides an overview of the response (both for and against) of many religious leaders and organizations to Trump's ban.  Basically, response to the ban from most religious organizations has been negative.

But this blog post is trying to help you understand why the Lutheran church responded the way it did.  First, why is the church critical of the ban?  Bottom line, because of the impact of the ban on people who are from those places.  Whatever the case, the church takes into account how vulnerable people are.  Are they protected by their citizen status, or does their status in their home country endanger them?  Are they part of a social majority, or a social minority?   Orphans, widows, strangers, and guests are all seen as more vulnerable, and therefore privileged in God's eyes. The Bible is pretty clear that in a toss-up, God sides with the vulnerable over those who are more secure.  The bishops' letters referred to above provide plenty of biblical examples. If this situation makes anything clearer, it is that for the church, the issue of refugees cuts to the heart of our faith in God.

You might ask, what about how vulnerable we are?  Where does the Church get off condemning a policy when the security of the US is at stake?  Answer: again, because of the impact on people.  The church wants security for all people, not just the US, so it advocates policies that best promote that security while at the same time honoring God's intention for a just and fair society.

Why doesn't the Church just let the government do its thing, in any and all cases?  You know, go with the pros?  Because of sin.  Even well-formed, thriving institutions like law enforcement, the military, education, and health services--even the church itself--can and do make--intentionally or unintentionally--mistakes or enable bad practices.  The church reserves the right to act like a conscience, chiding the social realm to clean up its act.  There are numerous biblical models for this, such as Jesus, as well as the Old Testament prophets of Israel.

Why does the Church think it can comment on governmental policy at all?  Shouldn't it stick to it's own spiritual realm, and leave the worldly realm to politicians?  It's true, Lutherans teach that the two "kingdoms", worldly and spiritual, are distinct, and not to be confused, but they are still related to each other by God for the good of creation.  Thus, the church puts its belief out there, in the form of statements, public messages, and letters from bishops and pastors.  It calls this activity "witnessing" to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church wants to make the world better.  It doesn't believe it can make the world perfect.  That perfection lies in God's future for the world.

Well, this could go on and on.  Maybe it's helped.  Maybe not.  If you are still struggling with how you see the church responding, know that you are not alone.  The church is an imperfect vehicle for the articulation of the Gospel, and many voices within the church debate these things all the time.  Still, in this case, we should take note of the number of other religious leaders and organizations that seem to agree with the Lutheran church here.  Is there a consensus among people of faith that is being articulated in this political moment?  The next question is, does this consensus reflect the will of God?  If you are a believer, you are supposed to struggle with this question.  My job as pastor is to make people aware of the church's positions, but I'm not here to convert you.  In the future, I'll try to follow up with more posts that provide some more background on Lutheran thinking on the relation between church and state.  Thanks for reading.




January 30, 2017

A fresh start...

Looks like I've been lazy.  Last post to this blog was over a year ago.  I can't help it.  Combine the fact that I'm actually shy with a deep and abiding gift for procrastination, and you get this--a blog that says so little.  More like a 'blah-g' than a blog.

Well, I'm out to change that. Call it a new leaf.  People in my personal life, and in my work as a Lutheran pastor, are awash in information and the cacophony of our strident society.  It seems we think that people aren't real people today if they don't hold in contempt some political or ideological opponent.  I get the feeling that we are as proud of having enemies as we are of our own righteous positions.  I struggle daily to find my own balance in the political winds of change that have swirled over us in the last few months.  And it looks like it will only get better, or worse, depending on how you see it.

So for the sake of those humble souls who will join me in trying to look at the world through the lens of a progressive Lutheran theology, I offer these musings--a little theology, a little Bible study, a little culture commentary, a little comparative religion.  There, I've told you my bias.  Take it at face value and see if it is helpful.  And when my thoughts are not, God's grace is sufficient, as the good book says.

Prayer for the day-
God, you enlighten the darkness with the true Light.  Help us walk in the light of Christ, and at the last, awaken to the brightness of his glory.  Amen.

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 b...