Assembly Speech

Last Saturday, I gave a speech at the St. Paul Area Synod Assembly in support of a resolution titled RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE.  The resolution was a collaboration between the Joint Peace with Justice Committee and Pilgrim Lutheran Church Vestry.  The resolution passed overwhelmingly, 218-41 or 84%.  The timeliness of the resolution and the Spirit of God touched people's consciences.  

The RESOLVES focused on: 1) contacting elected state and national leadership as well as the general population about the passage; 2) that the laws to be considered are a "dream list" of strong actions: banning assault weapons and high volume ammunition clips, mandatory gun safety training, closing the gun show loophole, creating a national database to track movement and sale of firearms, expanding mental health checks, increasing penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving arms to minors, separate criminal offenses for gun trafficking, hiring more agents, and elimination of armor piercing bullets.

My Speech

I am here because of Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Red Lake, Aurora, Columbine, Oak Creek, and more. I am here because the USA leads the world in mass shootings.  I am here because the USA leads ALL Western Developed Nations combined in homicides and suicides by gun.

When Jesus confronted by violence of the sword in Gethsemane, Jesus said, "No more of this!"  When presented with two swords the disciples thought would please Jesus' test for what to take with them on their mission as disciples, Jesus said in rebuke, "Enough!"  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

It is time for us to respond as Jesus spoke, and say "Enough" of this human carnage, "No more of this" massacre of innocents, and "Blessed are the peacemakers" for the sake of all!

It is time to move beyond fear towards safety for each other.  The government will not knock on our doors and demand our weapons.  The Supreme Court has decided that certain laws to regulate guns are Constitutional.  Gun owners can still exercise their Constitutional rights to keep their hunting rifles, sporting rifles, handguns for sport and protection.  This resolution supports universal background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill, felons, abusers, those too young.  It seeks to lessen illegal and lethal trafficking of high volume gun sales.  It seeks to allow military type weapons to remain in the hands of the military for the protection of our nation.  It seeks to lessen suicides by gun.  Most suicides are impulsive acts, and the availability of guns feeds the speed of fatality with no turning back.

Those who want guns can have guns.  The rest of us want the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" without fear of gun violence.

As the song asks, "How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?"  It is time for us to say "Enough!"  It is time for us to say as the People of God, "No more of this!"

I urge we support this resolution.

Peace!

Gun Violence Strategy

Gun Violence Strategy

It takes more than a speech to accomplish significant gun safety measures.  The status quo, defend at all costs, yield not a millimeter, soldiers of guns are organized and wealthy.  Their arguments are honed, compromise is not an option, common sense is not even on the table, and they will fight to the death.

But we will win!  Their strengths are their vulnerabilities.  We will be persistent.  We will be faithful. We will be loving.  We will work together.  We have a goal and we have a plan.  The goal is: LESSEN GUN VIOLENCE THROUGH THE POWER OF GOD, EFFECTIVE LAWS AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  What is the plan?

ENGAGING IN PERSONAL AND COMMUNAL PRAYER.  Trust that God will guide and provide ways through.  God is the ENLIGHTENER through the Holy Spirit. This goal is about us and more.  God's will is to be done and gun violence violates God's will.  God's will is stronger than the will of the gun.  Through prayer we are channeling God's will, God's power, God's wisdom to make real the goal.  Pray as individuals and as groups.

APPEAL TO THE MORAL SUASION OF FAITHFUL PEOPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS.  The goal is about saving the lives of ALL people.  Discover the moral common ground by gathering an ecumenical community of faith for prayers and conversation.  Tap into each others' Holy Books and traditions to lift up the common threads of life. Moral suasion appeals to the human, the heart, the personal, the common life. Moral suasion moves us beyond and adds another level to our narrow personal political ideologies and philosophical arguments and opens the windows to the Spirit of Life, to common sense, to ALLNESS.

GATHER PERSONAL STORIES. Enlisting personal testimonies from those who have suffered gun violence either as survivors or parents and family members, or friends are often the most memorable arguments for gun violence actions.

COORDINATE ALL PUBLIC ACTION GROUPS.  Unite all interests of all faith and public groups. Since all of life is holy, united secular and overtly religious groups take on a sacredness. We have heard that it takes a village to raise a child.  It takes a diverse action coalition to advance gun safety.

UPLOAD GOOD JUDGMENT, RESPECT FOR OTHERS WHO ARE DIFFERENT, AND BASIC VALUES OF RIGHT AND WRONG.  I read this statement from the NYT columnist, Thomas Friedman.  He continues, "They have to be uploaded the old fashioned way, by parents around the dinner table, by caring but demanding teachers at school and by responsible spiritual leaders in a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.  Somewhere, somehow, that did not happen, or stopped happening, with the brothers Tsarnaev."   

GET FACTS AND STATISTICS STRAIGHT AND ACCURATE.  Use the finest resources.  Document sources.  Address your points of view and also the views of the other side.  Realize the statistical battle may be a draw. Yet, if our facts and stats are clear and accurate, they can stand strong. A draw is a victory.

ADDRESS SECOND AMENDMENT CONCERNS. Know that the United States did not have a strong standing army at the writing of the Constitution so the people needed to be ready to take up arms to repel an enemy, foreign and domestic.  We were also a largely frontier nation and people had to rely upon their own resources for food and protection.  Essentially, organized police forces were non-existent. 

GIRD YOURSELF FOR THE LONG HAUL.  Remember that we have thousands of years of violence and 224 years of Constitutional history to address.  William Wilberforce worked for 20+ years to pass a law outlawing the slave trade.  John Muir worked for seven years to unsuccessfully challenge the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Dam in California.  It took nearly 60-70 years to undo the damage of Plessy vs. Ferguson.  Never give up!  Never go away!  Be patiently persistent.  Work together.  Celebrate and weep together.

OPEN THE GATES TO ALL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION.  Write letters to the editor, preach sermons, make phone calls, appear on television and talk shows, sponsor house parties, make personal visits and calls to law makers, organize religious educational forums, draft resolutions for synod and church assemblies, sponsor marches, picket and boycott gun dealers, Tweet, use Facebook and all social networks, wear T-shirts with a message to halt gun violence, seize one-on-one opportunities, create bumper stickers, give out balloons with a message!

BE PASSIONATE!  BE FAITHFUL!  BE TOGETHER!  JUST KEEP GOING!  NEVER GO AWAY!  NEVER GIVE UP!

Peace!

  

Courage vs. Cowardice

"Cowards die many times before their death;

the valiant die only once."

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

Cowardice!  Yesterday, the United States Senate voted down a bill that would have expanded background checks at commercial gun shows and for Internet sales, banned assault rifles, banned high capacity ammunition clips, and authorized stiff penalties for gun trafficking.  At the conclusion of the voting, Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot twice in the head at Virginia Tech, shouted from the Senate gallery, "Shame on you!"  President Obama echoed that sentiment when he spoke in the Rose Garden, backed-up by Sandy Hill parents, "A pretty shameful day in Washington."

Several surveys of public opinion indicated 80-90% support for background checks, including the rank and file N.R.A. members.  

However, fear ruled the day.  Fear of being "primaried." Fear of losing an election.  Fear of the power of the N.R.A.  Excuses were offered: This bill will lead to a Federal gun registry (even though the bill explicitly prohibited this action).  This bill violates the Second Amendment.  This bill will raise taxes.  "Criminals do not submit to background checks."  We have the right to protect ourselves.  Excuses fueled by fear.  Fear fuels cowardice.

Meanwhile, 30 people will be murdered today and 60 people will kill themselves.  Count 30,000 people a year.  The beat goes on.  The United States of America is #1 in gun deaths among Western civilized nations.  Is this the price of liberty?  Is this the example we show to the world?  Is this the greatness of our democracy?  Is this the crown jewel of our Constitution?  Is this the intended legacy of our Founding Fathers?

And some crow that we are a Christian nation?  "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  Really?  Grace with no cost?  I recall Jesus lamenting while overlooking Jerusalem: "Would that you knew the things that make for peace."  Jerusalem is a metaphor for Washington, DC.

I also recall Isaiah 58:12b: "...and you shall be called repairers of the breach, the restorer of streets to live on."  I recall Paul in Philippians 4:8ff: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you."

What a minority of senators did yesterday was not true, was not honorable, was not just, was not pleasing, was not pure, was not commendable, was not excellent, was not worthy of praise.  The God of peace was not present in those deadly votes. Fear, cowardice, and evil won the day.

President Obama defiantly announced, "This is Round 1."  Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut prophesied: " The world is watching the United States Senate and we will be held accountable."

The evening of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert Kennedy spoke to a crowd of mostly African-Americans in an Indianapolis, Indiana park.  He quoted his favorite poet, Aeschylus: "Let us tame the savageness of man, and make gentle life in the world."  There were no riots that night. Today, in that park, is a sculpture of RFK and an African-American reaching out to each other in peace.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, 

for they shall be called the Children of God."

Do we have the courage to make for peace?  The courage to be guided by love rather than fear?  The courage to persevere for the sake of life?  The courage to be valiant?  The courage to let God's grace stir us to costly grace?

Peace!

TRANSFORMATIONAL CONVERSATION

How is one's mind changed when considering an issue about which you feel strongly? Specifically, take gun legislation.  If you were a legislator, what would cause you to reconsider your voting tendency regarding gun legislation?  These were the questions the Protect Minnesota Coalition was asking as we embark on a movement to pass strong gun legislation with a primary focus on universal background checks.  Here are some of the guidelines, many of which were successfully used during the last election when two amendments to the Minnesota Constitution were DEFEATED: one proposing tough Voter ID requirements, and the Marriage Amendment which limited marriage to only between one man and one woman.  What did we learn?

1.  Always focus on emotional and value-driven arguments about gun violence, not on the political food-fights in Washington or wonky statistics.  Similarly, arguments about the Second Amendment may be considered a toss-up with both sides claiming validation.  At least, put your side on the table, and then move on to personal narratives and value appeals.

2.  Tell stories with images and feelings.  Compelling facts should be used to back up the emotional narrative, not as a substitute.  Personal stories are the most powerful.  Statistics alone do not change hearts and minds.  At best, statistics may be considered a toss-up.  But they can help set the table.

3.  Claim moral authority and the mantle of freedom.  Combine faith statements with patriotic appeal.  Share Bible stories and Jesus' ethic of nonviolence.  Talk about everyone having the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", including those who want stronger gun safety legislation.

4.  Emphasize that extraordinarily dangerous, military style weapons are now within easy reach across our communities.

5.  Emphasize that America has weak gun laws and don't assume that people know that.

6.  Challenge opponents on our terms, not theirs.  Be clear about what we are asking.

How about Dos and Don'ts?  Words matter!  Select words that nurture openness and not defensiveness.

1.  DO talk about "preventing gun violence."  DON'T talk about "gun control."

2.  DO advocate for "stronger" gun laws.  DON'T use the term "stricter."

3.  DO be respectful of disagreement.  DON'T use the term "gun nut" or other pejoratives.  It gives the other side a chance to cry foul and distract from the substance of our argument.

Key Principles:

1.  Emphasize background checks as one of the most powerful ways to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

2.  Point out that background checks won't have their full impact until every gun sold in America is subject to a background check.

3.  Focus on the simplicity of background checks.  Avoid making the system sound complex.

4.  Emphasize that the purpose of background checks is to save lives vs. simply being inconvenienced.

What will follow are lots of telephone time, email time, speaking time, lobbying time, conversation time.

Protect Minnesota is aware of what is politically possible this year: UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS.  We wanted more, such as an assault weapons ban and a large magazine clip ban.  These  bills are too far "this year." 

My major focus will be helping to organize all faith communities in the State of Minnesota.  Churches, synagogues, and mosques have the moral, values, and personal weight to call people to responsible, common sense action.  I know of no better structures to make the case for gun safety.  Silence or timidity from the faith communities would be tantamount to denial of our confessions and surrender to ideological whims.

Thank you Colorado, Connecticut, and New York for leading the way with strong gun safety laws.  We will work to stir Minnesotans to similar commitments.

Blessings and Peace!

ENOUGH!  

Last week, Linda and I attended a hearing of the Public Safety Committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives who were debating a proposed gun control bill.  I had been asked to give testimony in support of the bill as I was now on the Board of Protect Minnesota, an organization that promotes gun control.  The hearing room was packed full, with the gun control group outnumbering the gun support group by 2:1.  Several of the gun support group had T-shirts saying: "Civil Rights are Gun Rights." A person on our side passed out large buttons with pictures of those who were murdered at Newtown. 

A Republican legislator asked two of the clergy testifiers how they would interpret the story in Luke about Jesus telling his disciples to arm themselves because they were going out into a threatening world.  Neither of the clergy responded because the question was more of a statement by the representative and they had only one minute each to make their own statements.  I don't think he wanted a response.

As I sat in the audience, my mind immediately said, "Enough!"  That's what Jesus said.  After the hearing, I went up to the legislator and said,"You asked a good question."  Then I told him that Jesus said, "Enough!",  that Jesus' response was more of a rebuke than a call to arms,  that Jesus is unabashedly nonviolent.  He said he disagreed with me.  OK.  He asked me to pray for his grandson who was in the hospital with a jaundice.  I said I would.  I did, several times.  He said he was former ELCA, but now was Missouri Synod.  He said something like, "We can agree on prayer."  Yes, we can.

At the same time, a 20 year five month Navy veteran walked up, packing a Glock in full view.  We chatted a bit in a friendly manner.  He said he was grateful that the Founding Fathers were Christians who included the Second Amendment in the Constitution.  I said most of the Founding Fathers were Deists and some were Christians.  This caused him to do a double take.  He asked if I had read a certain historian.  I had read some of his writings.  He is a popular Right-wing historian who bends history and sees history through a Christian evangelical lens, trumpeting American exclusivism, American righteousness, American chosenness.  You know.  I told him to read some other historians for a fuller account of American history. There were no more friendly looks.

I think it is fair to say that the testimonies of the two groups were marked by significant differences.  The gun control group included several clergy who had personally conducted funerals due to gun violence, several more clergy representing various denominations, two mothers who had lost children to gun violence, a state leader in police work, and another state leader.  The statements were a mix of theology, personal grief, and reasoned statistical support. The other side included no clergy, no state leaders.  The comments were personal pleas in defense of guns, a question which had already been resolved, and a plea that legislators could save lives by banning abortions.  She had to be told to stay on the subject.  Another accused gun control advocates of bullying, when asked to name names, he could not.

The result of this hearing was the passage of a weakened bill, 10 to 9, with one Democrat switching sides.  The proposed bill now tightens the gun show loop-hole, but does nothing about private sales background checks.  The hope is that the Senate bill which is much tougher will add to the strength of the House bill, and that the reconciled bill will be stronger, passable, and signable by the governor.  This was a victory mainly based in hope.

Meanwhile, a group in our congregation has proposed a "Response to Violence" series of actions. During the discussion, a former Vietnam vet pulled a knife saying "Rule #9: when attacked, you attack.  Don't try to run." Half wanted to avoid the term "gun" when that was what brought us together.  A strong attempt was made to diffuse gun violence with other safety issues.  We will see if the Planning Council passes the R2V for referral to the congregation.  Meanwhile, Washington debates gun control measures.  Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 people have died due to gun related deaths since Newtown. Meanwhile,  Colorado passes strong gun control laws!  Thank you, Colorado!  You are a national light in the darkness!

Meanwhile, when will we all say "Enough!"?  When will we do what Jesus did?  It is Holy Week. Jesus told Peter "No more of this!" and then healed the ear.  

Peace! 

A DESIGN FOR PASTORAL FORMATION

IN

PEACE-JUSTICE-NONVIOLENCE

Previously, I presented a theological and practical foundation for the necessity of renewed pastoral formation in the areas of peace-justice-nonviolence.  What follows is what was affirmed by the Joint Peace with Justice Committee of the Minneapolis and St. Paul Area Synods and presented for consideration to the Curriculum Committee at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

When a seminary student graduates from LTS, we believe the student

OUTCOME AND COMPETENCIES

Be equipped to address socio-political-environmental issues from a biblical and confessional

        perspective, as well as having formed their personal views

Be versed in the various social statements of the ELCA

Be familiar with strategies of nonviolence and how to empower transformative change

Recognize that being a pastor also means being prophetic

Dare to embrace times calling one to be counter-cultural

Know how to engage and preach prophetically on socio-political issues

Develop skills in working ecumenically to address community issues

Develop skills in addressing local, state, national, and global issues

Develop skills in recognizing stewardship to include working for peace and justice

Know the difference: charity and justice, personal and systemic

BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICAL-ETHICAL GROUNDING

Familiarity with Major and Minor Prophets

Familiarity with New Testament Ethics: Gospels and Letters

Familiarity with theology and methods of historical and modern activists such as: Cesar

         Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jim Wallis, Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Robin Meyers,

         Shana Claiborne, Dorothy Day, and others

Familiarity with Luther's Ethics

Familiarity with ethical giants: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, Douglas

         John Hall, Walter Brueggemann, Walter Wink, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Joan

         Chitester, Sallie McFague, Diana Butler Bass, and others

Professors in various courses integrate peace-justice-nonviolence into their material

CONTEXTUAL EDUCATION

During seminary, become part of a group which deals with nonviolent socio-political

         change: ISAIAH, JPJC, Minnesota Without Poverty, Protect Minnesota, various

         environmental groups, and others

Preceding the above design details, were several texts and quotes fro PJNV giants, such as:

God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted

up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent

the rich away empty.

Luke 1:52-53

We call you...to speak for justice in behalf of the poor and oppressed....

From: LETTER OF CALL

"Christians need to know that six million Jews were murdered by 

baptized Christians in the heart of Christendom.  There would

not have been a Third Reich if Protestants and Catholics had

not betrayed their Baptism."

Dr. Franklin Littell

"When someone says the word 'pastor' these days, what image

come to mind?  We still occupy a respected profession, but we tend

not to be 'resisters.'  We are not sent off to seminary to learn the

arts of noncompliance.  We learn how to run churches, how to

be present in love, how to preach sermons that won't get us fired - 

all good things.  But who teaches us how to be subversive?....

How many ministers could honestly be described as threats 

to the status quo?"

Robin Meyers

Already there is a hopeful sign.  A seminary professor has contacted me about getting together and developing an experiential PJNV experience for seminarians when they would meet and work with local people committed to nonviolent social change.

Pray for the Church and the seminarians.

Peace!

PASTORAL-PROPHETIC INTEGRITY

Once a month I have breakfast with a bunch of guys from our congregation, a couple of whom have stopped attending.  They are all conservative Republicans.  Our conversations are about life issues, politics, cultural shifts, church, Bible, and Jesus.  Our disagreements are significant on many issues. Yet, we are civil and we listen to each other.  It is Bible and Jesus what bind us together. 

Our conversation usually steers towards pastoral leadership and the question: What does it mean to be a pastor?  Why? Because they are all critical of our pastor because he talks too much politics and social issues.  I suspect a good portion of their criticalness is because his positions lean to the "left" and they are quite "right."  Personally, I am pleased with his positions and focus, and given the other staff and their pastoral bents, there is a nice balance, and fleshing out of the fullness of the Biblical witness.

At our last breakfast, I commented that the pastor is to preach Christ, and to flesh out the fullness of the Biblical witness.  Sometimes that means lifting up the comfort, the forgiveness, the reconciling love of Christ,  and at other times proclaiming the edgy, critical challenge of Christ and the Biblical witness.  There is a balance between comfort and criticism, comfort and challenge.  Text in point: Luke 4, when Jesus returns to his home town, enters the synagogue and reads from Isaiah.  The text from Isaiah enjoins us to "bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free."  Furthermore, Jesus says his message will reach to the non-Jews because he will be rejected by the Chosen People.  The result of this exchange?  They take Jesus to a cliff and prepare to throw him over the edge.  Yet, here comes God's deliverance and Jesus "passed through the midst of them and went on his way." 

Pastoral leadership is crucial to the life and ministry of the congregation.  The ELCA is facing challenges as it confronts the exodus of about 1,000 congregations that have left the ELCA and joined other Lutheran expressions.  The main reason is how we interpret scripture.  The ELCA is not "literalistic" in its Biblical interpretation.  We give credit to historical context, meanings of words, the truths revealed through archeology, the insights of science, and the paradox within the witness.  Interpretation means asking questions and engaging doubt, allowing uncertainty to be part of the interpretive mix.

When it comes to social issues and politics, the ELCA encourages engagement of the issues, both from the pulpit and in study and action.  We cannot endorse candidates, but we are called to deal with the nuances and realities of the issues, putting all through the sieve of the Biblical texts.  This responsibility is made clear in the standard Letter of Call to pastors and in the Affirmtion of Baptism.

The ELCA expects pastors to bear witness to the fullness of Holy Scripture, to the fullness of Christ's life and message.  The ELCA is very Barthian: the pastor (and people) are to live a witness with "scripture in one hand and the newspaper in the other."  We also agree with Bonhoeffer: "We cannot experience the reality of God without the reality of the world; nor the reality of the world without the reality of God." The full world!  All the world!  "For God so loved the world...." The ELCA is not good at "spiritualizing" the Christian life, urging the faithful to somehow "live above" the fray.  We are kind of a "down and dirty" group.  Luther left the monastery for a reason!  

The question for the pastor is how he/she will present the fullness of the Biblical witness: the comfort and the challenge, the embrace and the criticality, the personal and the political to the congregation.  It is their calling, their responsibility, the measure of their faithfulness, the mark of their Biblical integrity.

My experience in the ministry has taught me that most pastors do a pretty good job living out the pastoral skills of comforting, speaking of God's forgiveness and acceptance.  The greatest challenge and the greatest gap has been that of PASTORAL FORMATION OF PEACE AND JUSTICE witness.  There is an imbalance between the PASTORAL  and the PROPHETIC witness, with the weight of time and effort going into the PASTORAL basket.  There needs to be a restoration of the balance.

Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, is going through a curriculum design process.  Their is a gap between PASTORAL FORMATION and PROPHETIC FORMATION.  The Joint Peace with Justice Committee is going to present a proposal to correct this balance.  We believe this correction is necessary for the faithful proclamation of the fullness of God's Word.

NEXT TIME: A DESIGN FOR PROPHETIC FORMATION 

Peace!