The Church is a Big Tent. We are diverse. We are complicated. We are redeemed. We are broken. We are in Christ. We are in ourselves. We are thoughtful. We are (to quote Robin Williams in another context) "One taco short of a combination plate".
Most of the time I can celebrate this Big Tent. It is consistent with what Paul describes as the Body of Christ. I appreciate what diverse denominations bring to the Table of God. I sometimes describe Lutherans as "Inside every Lutheran is a Baptist trying to get out!", meaning we want be more expressive about our faith but culturally we are a bit repressed. I also describe my faith as Lutheran by confession, but a Mennonite at heart. The peace witness of the Mennonites and Quakers, the commitment to social justice of the Methodists and the new evangelicals, and the high liturgy of the Anglicans and Roman Catholics are inspiring, at least to me. And so we go.
I had the occasion recently to communicate with a friend who had been led by God and chosen to leave the ELCA, and he and his congregation have chosen to realign with the LCMC, or as he says, "the ELCA has significantly shifted". I respect the actions of his faithful conscience. In reflecting on his decision, I responded:
As I have ministered in the Church, I have always been intrigued by the question: What does it mean to be the Church? One of the conclusions for me has been that the Church is a Big Tent! Diversity is a great gift as it allows for various expression to co-exist, yet it also presents challenges of conscience and ethics. Then you throw in the "crazies" who hate in the name of Jesus, and, my 0 my, the mix can be contentious!
This reality leads me to ask: Where is our common ground in Christ? So we have differences. Can we love Christ enough to love each other enough to love the world enough, together? This is the great opportunity and challenge of the Church Universal. We must give common witness to Christ in the world in the Spirit of Christ's love. I like what Dorothy Day says: "Love is the measure". The greatest challenges and joys in my ministry have been making that love happen amidst the diversity of opinion, culture, and confession. I also like what John Howard Yoder says: "The alternative community [of the church] discharges a modeling mission. The Church is called to be now what the world is called to be ultimately". Or Gandhi: "You must be the change you want to see in the world".
What kind of church are we? Are we a church that allows for the Spirit of Christ to guide our interpreation of the Word, or do we have a Wahabbi-like literal constriction of God's Truth? Are we a church that weds Word and world, that understands our task as being an alternative community, that envisions a "new order" (Jim Wallis), posits an "upside-down kingdom" (Donald Kraybill), or is "in a state of permanent revolution" (Jacques Ellul)?
Our common ground in Christ is to reflect the transforming nature of the Reign of God. When we do this inspite of our diversity, and because of it, we are doing God's work. When we allow our diversity to spew hatred, to divide for the sake of pride, we are doing the work of the Devil, prostituting the reality of Christ, watering the ground of hypocracy, and giving credence to an unholy cynicism. I hear echoes of Bonhoeffer: "There is no salvation outside of the Confessing Church".
The Church is a Big Tent. Now, what is our color? Our character? Our witness?
Peace!
Ron
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Highest Respect
Our interpretation of Scripture informs our values and directs our actions. Or, is it the other way around: our actions and values focuses our interpretation of Scripture. Or, do we use Scripture to justify our values and actions? In any case, how we interpret Scripture is directly related to the character of our actions and values. Interpretation deserves our highest respect.
I have been reading Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement. Matt is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2007 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. He calls himself an athiest. He writes of "deranged" aspects of American culture, whether in politics, religion, or social movements. In short, he is dismayed by the prevalence of cynical, unthinking hatred in each of these areas.
What I find most interesting is his journey into a fundamentalist congregation, even to the point of joining it so he could better understand what was happening. In this expose' he traveled to San Antonio, Texas to join Cornerstone Church, pastored by John Hagee. Remember that John McCain claimed Hagee as a spiritual advisor. Cornerstone has a membership of about 18,000 people. At Cornerstone he was surrounded by Left Behind followers, anti-gay, anti-anyone critical of the USA, anti-environmentalists, anti anything that was anti-Republican, pro-corporation, pro-capitalism, strongly pro-Israel, and definitely pro-personal salvation. Anything that was not of God was demonic. Going on a church retreat, Taibbi was showered with lessons on the demon of lust, the demon of handwriting analysis, the demon of philosophy, the demon of cancer, the demon of anal fissures, the demon of the intellect, the demon of pornography, the demon of disconnect. Taibbi's response to this demon talk is: "...asking these people to be objective about anything is just absurd". About fundamentalism, he writes: "...this kind of Christian is mainly wrapped up in a tireless study of various do's and don'ts-how to get through the day and interact with other human beings without slipping and inviting a demon into one's home or into one's abdomen". In all of this expression, Scripture was literally interpreted, with a major focus on the Old Testament, and the ethics of Jesus almost non-existant. The Bible was essentially a law book of rewards and punishments.
Recently, I had an exchange with a pastor of a congregation that has to deal with the recent ELCA sexuality votes. He commented that people need to address how scripture is interpreted. What this means is that how we interpret scripture informs the character of our values, of our approach to sexuality, of our actions. Likewise, the church Linda and I attend is sponsoring a series on understanding Islam. The conversation led to the content of the Koran. I asked about the truth of martyrs being given the gift of having sex with 70 virgins upon their death. He said this is not in the Koran. And finally, a group is promoting The Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to take the text back to its supposed right-wing roots. They say the Bible is too progressive: There is a "Lack of precision in the original language...lack of precision in modern language, and [there is a] translation bias in converting the original language to the modern one". Their solution to this problem is to propose a Wikipedia-like group editing project, focusing on avoiding unisex, emasculation of language, utilizing powerful conservative terms, expressing free-market parables, excluding liberal passages, and more.
Interpretation shapes our values. Respect for the integrity of the text, for what is there and what is not, is crucial to our values and ethics. We must let the text shape us first, allowing the Spirit of Christ to address the contexts of our lives. We will often be surprised by the creativity within the text. This creativity will have as its base the freedom to love, the freedom to do justice, the freedom to be merciful, the freedom to forgive, the freedom to make for peace, the freedom to welcome the stranger, the freedom to believe, the freedom to bring our contexts to the text trusting that the text will inform our actions, and the freedom to acknowledge Christ as the Center of life.
Interpretation deserves our highest respect, our sharpest intellect, our depth of heart, our humility of faith, our surrender to the grace of God. When this happens, Truth may arise to the glory of God and the greater realization of the Reign of God.
Peace!
Ron
I have been reading Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement. Matt is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2007 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. He calls himself an athiest. He writes of "deranged" aspects of American culture, whether in politics, religion, or social movements. In short, he is dismayed by the prevalence of cynical, unthinking hatred in each of these areas.
What I find most interesting is his journey into a fundamentalist congregation, even to the point of joining it so he could better understand what was happening. In this expose' he traveled to San Antonio, Texas to join Cornerstone Church, pastored by John Hagee. Remember that John McCain claimed Hagee as a spiritual advisor. Cornerstone has a membership of about 18,000 people. At Cornerstone he was surrounded by Left Behind followers, anti-gay, anti-anyone critical of the USA, anti-environmentalists, anti anything that was anti-Republican, pro-corporation, pro-capitalism, strongly pro-Israel, and definitely pro-personal salvation. Anything that was not of God was demonic. Going on a church retreat, Taibbi was showered with lessons on the demon of lust, the demon of handwriting analysis, the demon of philosophy, the demon of cancer, the demon of anal fissures, the demon of the intellect, the demon of pornography, the demon of disconnect. Taibbi's response to this demon talk is: "...asking these people to be objective about anything is just absurd". About fundamentalism, he writes: "...this kind of Christian is mainly wrapped up in a tireless study of various do's and don'ts-how to get through the day and interact with other human beings without slipping and inviting a demon into one's home or into one's abdomen". In all of this expression, Scripture was literally interpreted, with a major focus on the Old Testament, and the ethics of Jesus almost non-existant. The Bible was essentially a law book of rewards and punishments.
Recently, I had an exchange with a pastor of a congregation that has to deal with the recent ELCA sexuality votes. He commented that people need to address how scripture is interpreted. What this means is that how we interpret scripture informs the character of our values, of our approach to sexuality, of our actions. Likewise, the church Linda and I attend is sponsoring a series on understanding Islam. The conversation led to the content of the Koran. I asked about the truth of martyrs being given the gift of having sex with 70 virgins upon their death. He said this is not in the Koran. And finally, a group is promoting The Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to take the text back to its supposed right-wing roots. They say the Bible is too progressive: There is a "Lack of precision in the original language...lack of precision in modern language, and [there is a] translation bias in converting the original language to the modern one". Their solution to this problem is to propose a Wikipedia-like group editing project, focusing on avoiding unisex, emasculation of language, utilizing powerful conservative terms, expressing free-market parables, excluding liberal passages, and more.
Interpretation shapes our values. Respect for the integrity of the text, for what is there and what is not, is crucial to our values and ethics. We must let the text shape us first, allowing the Spirit of Christ to address the contexts of our lives. We will often be surprised by the creativity within the text. This creativity will have as its base the freedom to love, the freedom to do justice, the freedom to be merciful, the freedom to forgive, the freedom to make for peace, the freedom to welcome the stranger, the freedom to believe, the freedom to bring our contexts to the text trusting that the text will inform our actions, and the freedom to acknowledge Christ as the Center of life.
Interpretation deserves our highest respect, our sharpest intellect, our depth of heart, our humility of faith, our surrender to the grace of God. When this happens, Truth may arise to the glory of God and the greater realization of the Reign of God.
Peace!
Ron
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Leadership: Top Ten
Hurray for leadership! It seems that leaders are flourishing! The 24/7 news cycle, the blogosphere, the internet, MSNBC, Fox, Air America, and.... The voices and pundits of leadership abound! But as the saying goes, "There are leaders and there are leaders". It sounds a bit like a "Yogi-ism": "When you come to a fork in the road, take it". Well, for what it is worth, in David Letterman fashion, I will list my Top Ten Leaders, or groupings, divided into constructive and destructive, with the understanding that all ten exhibit shades of the other, and that in Biblical fashion, "none is righteous, no not one". But there might be a tilt one way or the other!
CONSTRUCTIVE
President Barack Obama: He has accepted the challenge of trying to provide health care for all Americans. He has engaged the Muslim world in a spirit of partnership. He has opened America to equal partnership with the rest of the world, putting to rest a bully type attitude. He is more sensitive to the challenges posed by global warming and there are bills moving through congress seeking to address these concerns. He is working to close Guantanamo, to exit our troops from Iraq, is re-evaluating our Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, and is engaging Iran with a greater sincerity and intelligence than before. The stimulus plan is working-somewhat with the economy slowly rebounding. Yes, in every effort listed there are short-comings, and the end results are not yet in sight, nor are the strategies as focused as many would like, but at least on balance he is addressing the issues in a constructive manner, with an ear to justice and peace.
Congressman Winer and Senator Waymer: I hope I got their names right! Congressman Winer truly understands the stakes in the health care debate. He is for a single payer system and understands how the insurance companies are gouging the American taxpayer and harming people in need of health insurance. Likewise, Senator Wayner and his "free choice" amendment to the health care bill. He wants all Americans to have a true choice in selecting their health insurance, just like members of congress have choice. It must also be an affordable choice.
Senators Rockefeller and Schumer: Both sit on the Senate Finance Committee and have proposed "public option" plans. Both were defeated, but because of their efforts, the public option is on the table. One of the best ways to win is to "not go away", and the losses were close.
Arianna Huffington: Arianna is editor of the on-line Huffington Post. The HP holds all people accountable, all political parties, all persuasions. Her standards are justice for all, earth care for all, equality for all. She has great compassion as well as a passion for what makes for peace.
The Comedy Central Team, Rachel Maddow and Keith Oberman: Satire and truth-telling to keep us focused. They expose the under-belly of the political landscape and jibe its hypocracy.
DESTRUCTIVE
Glenn Beck, Fox News, Lou Dobbs: Excellent at twisting facts, blindly nationalistic, overtly and covertly racist and nativist, depressingly uncivil, examples of the decline of thoughtful discource, good at name-calling, seed-bed of the "birthers" and "deathers".
Senator Max Baucus of Montana: In the pocket of the insurance companies, against a single payer system from the beginning, and against the public option. Captive to blind bi-partisanship and the need for 60 votes at the cost of true health reform. Spineless. The worst person at the most important moment in history to chair this most crucial Senate Committee.
Sarah Palin: Absolutely in love with herself! There isn't a camera she doesn't love! An ad agency which is responsible for booking her for speeches says her marketability has declined significantly, especially in the high priced circles. Why? Because "she's a blithering idiot"! Yes, she has a seven figure book deal, she will continue "blithering" to her minions, and she will probably wind up on Fox with a TV show. And yes, she believes she is presidential material. She is certainly a "legend in her own mind". Deliver us! Political eye candy! If we are not careful she will be the next Republican Presidential Nominee! And president???!!!
Right Wing Militias: Again on the rise. These malcontents are scary. Playing war games on weekends in the name of Jesus and the Constitution. If you don't have an AK-47 in your home you are not patriotic! The wonderful work of the Southern Poverty Law Center has got these folks pegged right: American Brownshirts and budding SS Stormtroopers.
Us: Our silence. Our acceptance of powerlessness.
Peace!
Ron
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