Pride and Prejudice

 A few years back, the people of First Lutheran Church studied scripture, held conversations, and prayed about whether or not we would be a welcoming place for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersexed and other non-traditional identifying people into our congregation. We voted overwhelmingly "YES" to be a Reconciling In Christ congregation. It was a proud moment of saying yes to love and inclusion.

To show our support we purchased a rainbow flag to display outside our building (shown to the left). Three of those were stolen and we instituted a policy of placing the flag out in the morning and taking it in at night. When "anti-trans" bills started to be brought into state legislatures we decided to make a more inclusive statement with our flag. So, we purchased a new flag pole and mounting bracket along with a "Progress" flag which expands the rainbow flag to highlight trans and BIPOC people, as shown to the right.

Sometime over the weekend of February 26-28, this flag was torn down and stolen.

I tell this story as we move into our Lenten season to highlight the struggle we have in sharing the Love of Christ to all of God's children. Our communal sin of exclusion needs to be repented of and a life of inclusion be practiced sincerely. Sadly, there are people full of hate in our community that they feel it is okay to destroy personal property. But, we will not give up sharing God's love, even those who we might consider our enemies.

Our them for our Wednesday Lenten Vespers is Community. We will show movie clips that highlight the various ways we either defeat community or expand community. This will all be done on Zoom and not in person. Our hope is that we can grow our understanding of who we are in Bothell and how we can express God's love for all.

It is OK to have pride in our congregation and its work for a world of peace and love, even in the face of extreme prejudice.

Jesus says to us in John 8, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life … You judge by human standards; I judge no one."

Think About These Things

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. Philippians 4:8

In June of 2010 I walked through the front doors of First Lutheran Church as her pastor. I left a call of 12 years to accept the call to serve this ancient community of saints – founded in 1886. What I expected to happen in this place, I no longer recall. Whatever it was, it never could have imagined what has transpired these ten years.

At my installation service I invited to important saints to this community to witness the handing of the servant-hood to me, Pastor Kris Frosig and Pastor Henry Erickson.  They are both now singing with the angels but their friendship and mentor-ship I carry with me to this day. And the words above the Apostle Paul wrote to the faithful in Philippi ring in my ears as if spoken to me by these two faithful servants.

As we continue during this peculiar time these words also hold us to account. Our siblings of African descent are crying out to us to end the social and political systems that are killing them. As are our LGBTQI++ siblings, as are so many other marginalized people. The Covid-19 virus is laying bare many of our unjust systems.

This is no political position that I am advocating here. This is the very words of scripture that call us to account:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. Zechariah 7:9-10  

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:17-19  

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.  A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44

I could quote more, but there just is not room here. This is our call as people of faith to honor our ancestors and those who passed on this faith to us, to continue to fight for the marginalized and the oppressed.

So, siblings in the faith, my beloved, do what is good, speak for what is right, and love all those who are unloved.

Summer worship

What strange days indeed!

Over the last two weeks our government leaders have spoken about religious communities and their desire to worship in person in their worship spaces. We have been front and center in this journey even making the news. What our leaders have shared has been confusing and not very helpful. In fact your BIshop, Rev. Shelley Bryan Wee met with Governor Inslee to be careful in making any changes to the current protocols. I even was interviewed to share my perspective about how we will react to our President's and our Governor's proclamations.

Our religious communities have been essential long before this era of pandemic. The Church is a place where we are acutely aware that we are called to consider our neighbor's needs before our own. This means at this time not being a place that allows this virus to spread. As Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee said, "We are church, now. We are in prayer, now. We are worshipping, now." We never ceased being the Church. Let know one tell you otherwise.

Whether we gather together in our building or on-line, we are still the Body of Christ.

Your congregational council has made a decision in regard to worshipping in our own building. We will not consider do so until after September 6. With Governor Inslee's loosening of restrictions on religious in person worship, we still do not believe that this is a safe thing to do.

One of the quotes I made to one of the reporters that did not make it in the cut was that with our council's decision we can now sit back and breathe for a little while and not have to worry about the winds of change going on about us. We will just continue doing what we are doing throughout the summer and hopefully we will be one of the small reasons we can worship fully together again in the near future.

In other news, I am thankful for the over 80 different people who have helped lead worship by praying, reading, or singing for us during our worship services. We have had a trio of little sisters sing for us, elementary school kids read lessons, and whole families lead us in prayer. The music has been astounding! Our congregation is amazing. Keep supporting our work and reach out to each other, especially if you appreciate someone's leadership.

Keep taking care of each other!

Gratefulness Leads to Mission

"In non-European religious communities, the emotions of gratitude serve as the foundation of personal resilience and joy, as a soulful pathway to the truest kinds of freedom and liberation. Gratitude can be experienced by anyone, anywhere, without permission and without restraint. No external master can either release or inhibit thanksgiving. Gratitude is, perhaps, the most immediate and most primal of all spiritual affections - one that makes every human being a priest. Feeling grateful empowers the soul." Grateful, by Diana Butler Bass, pg. 34.

We just finished our annual meeting and I could not help feeling grateful for First Lutheran Church and her work here in Bothell. As I gave my last thoughts on the day to those gathered I could not help reflect on what we had accomplished over the last year. We gave away over 12% of our budget to the church at large and to our community social programs. We gathered for worship every Sunday of the year and never forgot to pray for our world, our elected officials, and for each other. We witnessed baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals and in doing so we lifted up those in prayer and blessing. The countless little things we have done that helps God's promised and preferred world come into being. Yes, I could not help but feel grateful.

For many in our neighborhood, though, the opportunity to be held up in community has been taken away from them. Whether they are LGBTQ, an immigrant, or perhaps made a grave mistake in their lives, many have been forced out of their faith communities; many have been excluded from the very communities they relied on for support and now find themselves abandoned. My gratitude is tempered by the knowledge that there is always more to do.

But, it is important though to hang on to gratitude as a place to begin our work together. For if we begin our work from a sense of fear or worry or pessimism or scarcity we will not fully be present. What I mean is that we will hold ourselves back from the other and not fully learn about them, not fully give them room to be who they are - created by God. If we begin from a place of thanksgiving we understand that all that we have is of God and therefore should be dedicated to health and wellbeing of those amongst us.

Our Vision Team is in the midst of authoring a document that we hope will help us live more fully into our call from God. The team recognizes that what we have bean is the foundation of our work, but the times are changing and challenging us to rethink how we continue to be a blessing to our neighbors. It is abundantly clear that one of the clues is embedded in this idea of learning more about what it means to be a people of abundance, a people of gratitude for all that God has created us to be.

Practice this month recognizing those times you are grateful and acknowledge that in prayer. In doing so we can learn to open ourselves more to the preferred and promise future God has waiting for us and making room for those marginalized in our neighborhood. Let us become that safe place for all of God's children.

2019 Will Be The Worst Year EVER!

The title of this blog is inspired by the "click-bait" phenomenon that pervades the internet. You know those "advertisements" that fill your Facebook or news pages that entice you with overblown descriptors. My favorite is the one that starts with "You will not believe what 'so-in-so' looks like now!" These overblown headlines have also invaded our actual news providers. We are living in a time of "EXTREMELY OVER STATED STATEMENTS ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE IMPORTANT!"

The urge is to encourage or in the case of click-bait, trick, us into reading what a particular author wants us to see. In doing so they gain revenue from the number of people "clicking" on their content. As you can see from my numbers I am not a heavy hitter in the blogging world!

This phenomenon does lead me to wonder about how this affects our anxiety. When every headline begins with "BREAKING  NEWS" to just give us another tidbit about an event that may or may not be important, we are encouraged to think that everything is important and we should probably be worried. This anxiety driven pattern can leave us overwhelmed. When we are overwhelmed we become incapacitated; unable to make decisions. This is hard on our spiritual lives.

As people of faith, one of the important works we are called to do is to bring peace to our communities; but that is hard to do when we are so worn out and worried. One of our church members confessed, "I find myself reading the Wall Street Journal more than scripture during the week." What do you do more than reflect on God's Word during the week? How does this affect your spiritual life? How does reading or playing Candy Crush more than praying lead us to be disenfranchised from our neighbor? How does watching a news channel on your television for over an hour a day make you more or less a good neighbor?

I confess that I, too, fall for these click-bait distractions, play games endlessly, and read the news that comes across my feeds. It is apparent in my own life how this negatively affects my spiritual life. I am not going to make a New Years resolution about it because I know how horrible I am at keeping such promises, but I am going to start paying attention more to what is important and praying more in the moment. One thing I have learned over the years is that I am a better husband, a better father, a better neighbor and a better pastor when I spend more time in prayer and scripture reading.

Martin Luther is quoted as saying, "I have so much to do today, that I am going to spend the first three hours in prayer." This is a good reminder for us to put God front and center of our lives. In doing so we create a better spiritual filter that will help us avoid those "click-bait" demons that want us afraid.

I hope 2019 will not be horrible, I hope we find new ways to be more focused on how we can bring peace to our communities. Blessings to you and may the Prince of Peace be an ever present encouragement and sign of hope.

Reforming Lives Reform the World

This October we will mark the 500th anniversary of the day Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, an
Augustinian Monk, University Professor of Old Testament, and Preacher at the Wittenberg Church, nailed 95 Theses (or arguments) against the selling of indulgences (or get out of purgatory cards). This action, which Rev. Dr. Luther did to spur a conversation in his community, was the match to the tinder of an explosive revolution.

These theses walked through an argument that can be summed up in this way: If God offers forgiveness freely, how can the church make people pay for it?

We do this a lot, you know. We take things that God gives freely and we market it as if we own it and have every right to profit from it. Take water for example. What more readily available resource is there in the world, besides dirt? In 2016 U.S. bottled water sales reached $16 billion.  To put it another way, the average cost per gallon of water is $1.22.  That is 300 times the cost of water from your faucet. More than half of all bottled water is tap water.

We humans can figure out a way to wrestle beautiful gifts from God and turn them into ugly profits with very little effort. It is almost a superpower.

Our good Brother Luther understands our sinful nature. He is very clear about who we humans are to each other and the earth. But, he also knows how full of love our God is and how God desires to heal the entire universe, freely. And God chooses to do so through water and the word of forgiveness. Jesus transforms wine and bread through the Word to nourish us in our walk of faith.

This radical notion that God gives freely grates against everything that this world desires, to profit off of another's misery. But we are called to speak truth to this power. To teach better ways of being in the this world and being God's hands in the healing of it. We are called to lead lives that infect this world with love of the other and love for this planet.

So, the next time you need a drink of water, remember your baptism and the freely given promise of God to forgive you and to love you forever, and get your water from the tap as a radical act to change the world.

2016 Christmas Eve Sermon

(Thanks to Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rev. Alisa Lasater Wailoo and Rev. Karoline Lewis)

(begin by lighting a candle from the Advent Wreathe and hold up)

Grace and peace, to you (yes, you), from God who became one of us to show us how grace and peace can change the world. Amen.

The world is burning. We know this. From trucks plowing through crowds buying Christmas gifts to bombs falling on hospitals to young men shooting people while they pray, we know this.

The world is burning.

When it was time to birth our Lord, when Mary laid down on her back, pulled her knees up and groaned in pain the world was burning then, too. Young men were hung on crosses for minor crimes, nations were being toppled and peoples were being enslaved. All the world seemed dark and all seemed lost.

Yet, God incarnate broke from the darkness of Mary’s womb out into the world to be the light that no darkness could overcome. It is no coincidence that Jesus was born in the desert, in the dark night.

This night we have come together to sing into the night a cool word of hope that will stop the burning. We have come together to pray and lift up all those whose hope is lost, that we may be that hope to them. We have come together this night to hear the story again, the story that has changed us, has molded us, has urged us to be good news in a world that needs goodness. We have come together this night around the table of fellowship to eat and drink and be filled again with the embodiment of love. This love nourishing our souls, this love encouraging our thirst for righteousness. This love that came into the world just like you.

As Joseph’s first born son burst into this world, Mary screamed out, as all mothers have over millennia, her hope and love for this child. As that child was swaddled and placed at Mary’s breast, our God drank the milk of love and hope and Mary sang her love song to him. The love song that became the work of her Son.

God chose to become one of us to show us that this world matters, that our bodies matter. God became embodied to remind us that other bodies matter. God broke into our world to teach us that what God created matters. That you matter. That we all matter. Not one of us, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, black, white, native, immigrant, poor, lost, homeless, addicted, grieving, or whomever is outside of this love of God. 

To say otherwise is to speak against the Holy Spirit.

You see this night is about God becoming one of us. And the question must be asked, what is our response? What is the right response to this love being poured out upon us all?

(Begin walking down aisle lighting parishioner's candles)

Part of the answer lies in this story itself. Was God born in the world’s best state of the art hospital? Was God brought into this world in a sanitary, white room, free from virus or bacteria? Was God born to a powerful family? To a rich family?

No God came into the world in a small house full of noise and people and animals, and dirty straw. God came into the world to an unwed mother and a poor family that had no power, no influence. This is how God chose to change the world.

And our response? As Bonhoeffer wrote: Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger celebrates correctly this Christmas gift.

(Begin turning down lights)

This world needs all of you to lay down your power, your honor, your reputation, your vanity, your arrogance, your individualism, right here beside the manger, so that we might stop the burning and be the light in the still, silent night.

(Silent Night is sung)

Without Love We Have Nothing

The current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church gave a speech the other day talking about a very Lutheran topic, OK, a very Christian topic: Knowledge is empty without love. On Sunday May 1 we read from 1 Corinthians 13, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

This is one of the most counter cultural critiques of the Apostle Paul's time, Martin Luther's time and most definitely our time. Currently in our country we have those who falsely claim to be Christians who are touting laws that hurt the weakest in our midst, all while claiming some moral high ground or theological truth that trumps all else, including love. All of these attempts are vacant of any sense of love for the other, one of the central tenets of Jesus' ministry: Love your neighbor (Matthew 5:43, 19:19, 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27 and repeated in Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14 and James 2:8 - which is a direct quote from Leviticus 19:18).

I joined Bishop Kirby Unti to support the "Washington Won't Discriminate" campaign to defeat I-1515, the anti-transgender initiative. We were joined by other clergy, rabbis and community leaders at Renton United Methodist Church to kick of the campaign and to show our solidarity for all of God's children. We were there also because as Christians we are called to love. In the face of the hate and discrimination that has been touted falsely in Jesus name it is imperative that we show the world the truth in the face of fear.

And that is the saddest part of all, that fear has replaced the truth. There are those in our midst who would much rather have us live in fear than to live in love. You see every time someone points and says “You must fear them!” is the time that Jesus steps over to the “them” and says you are loved. This is the most amazing part of our grace filled faith that we can trust those words, “You are loved.”

And that is counter cultural. That is what is turning the world upside down. That is what those in power fear the most. When we truly live into the love of God we take away the most important tool of those who need to hold on to power and riches at all cost: fear.

We are called to love.

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt ... (Mat 2:13-14)

If you claim to follow Jesus and claim him as your Lord and Savior, then you DO NOT get to utter hatred and claim indifference to those who suffer. EVER. (For another take read this blog.)

Jesus is pretty clear about how we are to treat our neighbor. Never did he utter anything that can be understood to include exclusion. In fact this is what Jesus says:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ... (Mat 5:43-44)

There is no ambiguity. There is no 'buts,' 'ifs' or 'what ifs' in what he teaches. If you call yourself a follower of this man, this Son of God, then you do not get to justify your unwillingness to reach out to the least of these and call your self a Christian. Whether they are Muslim, Jewish or atheist it does not matter.

And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' (Mat 25:40)

Ryan Dueck writes "We do not get to speak and act as if fear is a more pragmatic and useful response than love." As Christians we do not fear for we have the love of God and the promise that sin, death and the devil will not have the final say.

Dear people of God, trust in the Lord and live your life with the full knowledge and joy that all will be made right in Jesus Name. In the meantime we are called to love and protect all of God's children out of the grace and forgiveness first given to us.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psa 27:1)

The Strange Among Us

You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:19)

From the first stories in our Bible, God calls us to welcome the stranger, the alien, the immigrant, the migrant, the refugee. There really is no way a person of faith, Jew, Muslim or Christian can argue that God calls us to shun the other. It is a startling fact that the three monolithic religions on Earth all place a high value on welcoming the stranger. To say otherwise is to deny the Word of God. There is no other way to be clear about this.

Job brags in chapter 29: “I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger.” It is a virtue for the person of faith to stand up for the immigrant and the refugee. God calls us to this way of life because we are all immigrants and refugees. We all have traveled from home to find work. We all have had to flee violence and war for a safer shore. We are called to remember that we are all children of God far from home.

The prophets consistently describe evil and the unrighteous in terms of how they treat the needy and the stranger. Psalm 96 describes the unrighteous as those who “Kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan.” In Exodus 23:9 we are taught that we should not wrong or oppress a resident alien. In fact in Numbers 15:16 we are taught that “You and the alien shall have the same law and the same ordinance.”

When we watch our TV news lately we have seen the stranger, the alien, the refugee being treated like chattel if not with disdain. The evil that is inflicted on these poor refugees is stunning. No child should wash up on shore dead, ever; and neither should that child’s parents. War and famine has displaced so many good people, we need to step up and find them safe places.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is urging the United States to increase the number of Syrian refugees resettled next fiscal year to 100,000. We have the capacity and I think that our communities and congregations have the will to welcome these brothers and sisters to our shores. I urge you to visit LIRS and send a message to President Obama to increase the number of Syrian refugees admitted to our country.

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! (New Colossus, Emma Lazarus as found on the Statue of Liberty)

Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. (Matthew 25:34-36)

Changes

“Just gonna have to be a different man, time may change me, but I can’t trace time.” D. Bowie

The Church is changing, as is the Culture around us. Some are confused by the change while others are in denial. For example, Sunday School attendance peaked in the late 1960’s and has been in steady decline since. In the ELCA alone we have seen a drop of 40% in attendance (this mirrors other denominations as well). This shows how severe this change is and how threatening it might be. We have all heard, “well, it used to be done this way,” or “why don’t we do it the same way as we always did it.” But these statements are more about what was then what is.

In close to 2000 years of the Christian Church’s existence the only thing that has been consistent is that it changes. In the Acts of the Apostles we learn story after story about how the Church had to adapt and change, often at God’s prompting. The choosing of the deacons to assist the Apostles, the Ethiopian Eunuch, The Gentiles Become Believers, The Change in What God Calls Clean are all stories of change. Often these changes were hard to accept, especially what made one a follower of God (circumcision vs. baptism).

Yet, for the modern Church change is seen by many as a threat even though it would seem it is God’s way.

So what do we do in this new age of the Church? How do we “do” church? These are important questions that many people in the Church are attempting to answer. We have a new ministry in our Cascadia Cluster called Salt House who is in the midst of figuring out what this all might look like. We have dozens of other missional communities that have begun over the last 10 years attempting stunning ministry opportunities (Church of the Beloved, Church of the Apostles, Luther’s Table, just to name of few) to see what alternative communities might be the answer.

But for the brick and mortar congregations the questions are harder to answer when the setting looks the same even though the context has changed. Worship is not all that different. Our committees, circles, task groups still meet. We still have a pastor, a youth and family director, several musicians and an office manager. It all is still very familiar to what was done before. Yet, it is a very different context.

As a pastor, I too find this all disconcerting. My training was directed toward that Post-World War II white American world. I now have to recognize that I am now in alien territory, a mission field as foreign to me as a faraway culture.

I have no point to this article. It is just a musing about where we are at as a culture and as a Church. I just wanted to point out that we all are feeling a sea change and yet do not know where the current or undertow may take us.

One thing I am sure about, though, is the immutable, never-changing, free gift, love of God we have been given, better known as “GRACE.” In the midst of all of this is still God’s voice calling us to God’s never failing love. It is that we can cling to in the midst of change.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)

The Sunday after Charleston, South Carolina

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

June 21, 2015

First Lutheran Church, Bothell, WA

Grace and peace to you brothers and sisters from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As a father I have spent a lot of time worrying about the safety of my children. I am proud that my children have grown into loving, peace seeking young adults. But, now one is on his own and in a year the other will be on her way to independence; outside of my sphere of influence and even more outside of my control. The world is full of evil and violence and I pray that they never visit my children.

Yet, this past Wednesday the children of God of other parents were visited by evil and violence. One of our own chose to go the way of the terrorist and reign hatred down on the innocent and the righteous, turning what was once a place of sanctuary into a place of fear. We who gather in this sanctuary at First Lutheran Church in Bothell, Washington, some 3,000 miles from Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina cannot ignore or argue away the systemic racism out of which this act emerges. As a mostly white and certainly privileged congregation, it is imperative that we take time to call for justice for and an end to violence against our black brothers and sisters.

The psalmist today asks the question: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

From our fellow citizens, we hear that they live daily in fear. As one pastor put it: Being Black in America is exhausting. Constantly having to navigate the perils of the color line and having to live within a system that repeatedly reminds you of your contested existence is beyond burdensome. [i]

I have to say that I have no idea what this must be like. As a fellow preacher, this pastor and I share a lot in common in our struggles in ministry – yet in this I have nothing to compare. We share the same faith, the same God, the same baptism and gather around Jesus’ table as a part of the body of Christ, yet in this country I have to admit that I have privileges that he does not. He would be the first to embrace the psalmist words: God is my light and my salvation, the Lord is the stronghold of my life, but he does so from an entirely different reality than my own.

With a certainty that I often do not have the psalmist proclaims: When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh--my adversaries and foes--they shall stumble and fall.

Here we are reminded that in the end the judgement of God will be made and we must place our trust in this reality. This is hard when we witness constant hatred and violence perpetrated on God’s people. This trust escapes me. Instead I agree more with Habakkuk:

How long, O Lord, must I cry for help and you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!” and you do not intervene?

Why do you let me see iniquity?

Why do you simply gaze at evil?

Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and discord.

This is why the law is numb and justice never comes for the wicked surround the just; this is why justice comes forth perverted.

For, Rev. Pinckney, Rev. Coleman-Singleton, Rev. Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Simmons, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, and Myra Thompson many in this country share this cry.[ii]

In a country like ours, where we claim to be about equality and blindness when it comes to the law, it is indisputable that we fail to live up to these ideals when it comes to our black brother and sisters and our immigrant neighbors. I do not need to quote to you the statistics that prove this to be true, I am compelled to mimic what our presiding Bishop Eaton wrote:

It has been a long season of disquiet in our country. From Ferguson to Baltimore, simmering racial tensions have boiled over into violence. But this … the fatal shooting of nine African Americans in a church is a stark, raw manifestation of the sin that is racism. The church was desecrated. The people of that congregation were desecrated. The aspiration voiced in the Pledge of Allegiance that we are “one nation under God” was desecrated.[iii]

To make this even more personal: Two of the pastors are graduates of an ELCA seminary and the terrorist a member of an ELCA congregation. As a congregation and a nation we have to say one of our own reigned violence on another of our own. How long, O Lord, how long?

We cannot remain silent any longer or sit idly by. As Eli Wiesel wrote:

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”[iv]

If we have trust, as the psalmist has, we must act with that trust. For we ask the lord to teach us The Way, and lead us on a level path because of our enemies. Jesus would have us live this out through his call to us to love our neighbor. This loving is done through the example that he gave us: Eating with the lost, the left out, the persecuted, black, immigrant, transgendered, gay.

What is God calling us to do? To seek for peace. We must not turn away from the truth. Our hearts need to be exposed, our eyes need to be wide open, not blind to color, but in awe of it. We need to lift the veil from our assumptions and our leanings towards supremacy. We need to let go of our deep seeded fear and prejudice. We need to confront hate when we hear it and see it. To take risks and call out ignorance, bigotry and hatefulness – even when it is small, even when it’s only a joke, even when the person doesn’t mean it, doesn’t know better, or doesn’t seem to care. For those in power and privilege must work for the least of these in every fabric of our culture.[v]

Our work in this world to end injustice is never over. Our work in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to a world that so desperately needs to hear it is never over, even in our deepest pain and gut wrenching moments. As proven by the victims’ relatives when they confronted the terrorist in the courtroom just two days after. The only words they had for him were words of forgiveness. Not words of retribution, not words of hate, not words of condemnation, only words that echo the Word of our Lord Jesus – Father forgive them.

We are people of the Way of Jesus. We claim something as a baptized people. Listen to the promises that are made on behalf of Owen, the promises that Aric will make: they promise to proclaim Christ through word and deed, to care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.[vi]

These are the same promises you make every week we gather here for worship. Another pastor wrote: the psalmist makes his proclamation of trust not from a position of untested faith, but from a position of tested faith. The psalmist reflects the ability of the people of God to experience evil, pain, and suffering, out of the darkness, and the pain of life and to speak with confidence, hope, and faith about the role God plays in our lives, even in the face of what some might consider evidence to the contrary.[vii] When we attempt to live up to our promises, it is this kind of trust and faith that will carry us through.

I will end this with these words from the ELCA’s social statement on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture:[viii]

While we have taken many measures fitting to a church in mission and ministry in a multicultural society, we still falter. We falter in what we do, or in refusing to carry out what we have promised to do. We falter through ignorance of what we have done or left undone. We falter when we cling to old ideas that prevent us from becoming the people God calls us to be. With all Christians everywhere, members of this church live in a time of crisis (Romans 2:1 ff.). We are torn between the freedom offered in Christ, the new Adam [and Eve], and the captivity known by the old Adam [and Eve]. We are torn between becoming the people God calls us to be and remaining the people we are, barricaded behind old walls of hostility.

Until we break free of our old ways of thinking, our old ways of hiding behind our walls of privilege, our brothers and sisters in Christ will continue to be slaughtered all day long. This is a time of lament and confession for us. Let us trust our God, who gave his only Son, Jesus, to us to love and to know, who taught us a better way. Through our baptisms let us trust in the Good News and bring it to bear in our world. God is Good, All the time. Let us be God’s people and set the captive free. Amen.

---

[i] Rev. Billy Michael Honor on odysseynetworks.org

[ii] These are the nine who were murdered on the night of Wednesday, June 17, 2015 in CHarelston, SC in the Emmanuel AME Church.

[iii] Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Statement dated Junee 18 in response to the shooting in Charles, SC.

[iv] Eli Wiesel, The Night Trilogy: Night/Dawn/The Accident

[v] Adapted from a prayer written by Rev. Shawna Bowman, June 19, 2015 and shared on Facebook, Narrative Lectionary Page.

[vi] Service of Holy Baptism, Evangelical Lutheran Worship

[vii] Rev. Wade Halva, shared on Facebook, Narrative Lectionary Page.

[viii] ELCA Social Statement: Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. Adopted on August 31, 1993.

Recently a friend, who is a campus pastor at the University of Washington, posted a comment that she heard from a young man sitting on the patio of the building she works from:

"I think the church really messed up Christianity. Jesus was all about love. If you know love and spread love, you've got it. The Bible is really a love song to humanity. But the church warped that and made it about something else, so far from God and Jesus."

Many people probably agree with this young man's statement. There is a lot of truth in it. But the truth has little to do with the "church" as it does with people. EVERY institution that involves human beings is messed up. Why do we think the Church would be different?

What should be said is "People really messed up Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, government, families, parenting, baseball, on-line gaming,and the internet. God gave us love. If you know love and spread love, you've got it. Creation and yes even the Bible is really a love song. But human beings warped that and made it all about something else, so far from how God intended and Jesus taught."

This is what the likes of Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins and Annie Laurie Gaylor just do not understand - no matter the institution, human beings will twist it to suit their own need for power. Just look at Maher on his show, he is just a different kind of fundamentalist, twisting language to mock and score points in some made up game. He is no different than the fundamentalists he dismisses.

No, it is no surprise that the Church struggles to follow the way of Christ. It is hard to spread love among the human species when all they know is point keeping and violence (both physical and verbal). What we need is less finger pointing and more self reflection and humility. This is where the Church is at its best - offering forgiveness in a world that just wants to punish or run away. 

The young man gets it, I just hope he still commits himself to a community that practices what he preaches.

America the Beautiful?

I am an immigrant's son.

When an alien/foreigner/stranger/immigrant resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien/foreigner/stranger/immigrant. The alien/foreigner/stranger/immigrant who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien/foreigner/stranger/immigrant as yourself, for you were aliens/foreigners/strangers/immigrants in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

My father came to Seattle in 1948 with his cousin Kristian. They worked as carpenters. Dad eventually earned enough money to fly back to Norway to marry my mother. They arrived together back in Seattle in 1950. Dad continued as a carpenter until he retired. On his job sites you could hear Russians, Nigerians, Mexicans, and Swedes all working to create a home for some young family. Immigrants all.

What has changed? From what I could tell, Dad and his fellow immigrants lived "the American dream." They came to this country, worked hard and paid their taxes eventually becoming citizens and raised families. Today, it seams, we have forgotten our heritage. We have forgotten that we are a land of immigrants. Just ask a Cherokee, Piscacaway, Apache, Navajo, Crow, Pawnee, or Tlingit how many of us there are, they know. Now, if you are an immigrant, legal or otherwise, you are treated as if you are a threat to our country. That somehow your hard work and dedication to your community is not wanted.

For those of us who actually read our bibles, we are troubled by those who claim to be Christian, but spout hate and derision toward the immigrant. We hear it often. It is not something new for our country. The Italian, Irish or polish immigrant has had their share of hate thrown their way. You would think that we would learn as a nation how valuable the immigrant is to our culture, education and economy. But as Christians we should know that our God calls us to treat the immigrant as one of our own.

Our current culture of fear and scarcity has made the immigrant the scapegoat for our own mistakes and poor governance. We have allowed immature leadership to turn our country away from a mature and grownup way of being in the world toward a good old child sized temper tantrum. Old white guys who never grew up are now making our policies and laws. For example:

Did you know our current Immigration and Customs Enforcement can ask a local authority to "hold" a person in detention for no reason other than to verify if they are a citizen or not? It is true. Laws that we once held dear are now being thrown out the window. A citizen of this country, just because he has a Mexican sounding name, can be held in a detention center for an indeterminate amount of time, until ICE can verify his or her status. It does not matter if that person has all the paperwork on them that proves their citizenship. ICE must determine their validity. All this because we are afraid of "something."

I know that our country is better because of the immigrant. I know that our troubles have nothing to do with how many people come over our borders. Our troubles come from our inability to live into our own ideals: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I wonder if my dad would immigrate in today's climate. The "American Dream" now seems like a nightmare.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ...

Scapegoats and the 8th

How we treat immigrants' children vs. how we treat veterans
Homosexuality vs. morality
the thing I hate vs. the thing I like

This is what is so wrong with our culture, we have no idea how to have a reasonable debate.

And when we try we create false dichotomies (like what I posted above) or use examples we have no right to use because we are not educated to understand them.

In the first example above it is hard to understand how the two are related? Our veterans should be treated with respect and immediate care regardless of our immigration policy. And children, regardless of how they came into the world or into our country, do not deserve to be punished because of who or what their parents have done.

Homosexuality is not the poster issue for the lack of morality in our culture. Scapegoats are way to easy to use to explain anything, and that is exactly what this is about.

Current favorite scapegoats (and why they are the goats):
Homosexuals (lack of morality in our country)
The Black Man (bankrupting the country through abuse of social safety nets)
Immigrants (fill in the blank)
Benghazi (lack of any other issue to pursue)
Abortion Doctors (promiscuity)

What is amazing about scapegoats is that they really have nothing to do with the issue at hand. Concerned about the lack of morality? Look at yourself and not anyone else. Abuse of the social safety net? Look at yourself and not anyone else. Do not like the President of the United States? So what, he is your President, look at yourself. Concerned with a promiscuous culture? Look at yourself.

We do not want to deal with our own issues and prejudices. So, we make up things and point fingers as if that will distract people from noticing. But, we do notice.

The commandment I seam to break the most is the eighth: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

It is one that seems to be a problem for all of us.

Luther teaches: We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

(Kolb, R. 2000. The Book of Concord : The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Fortress Press: Minneapolis)

Is The National Rifle Association the front for White Power?

As a hunter (Elk, birds, missing both and only hitting rocks and trees), I have been very perplexed about the purpose of the National Rifle Association. According to their own websites "A Brief History of NRA," it's soul purpose was to promote rifle marksmanship, mostly because during the civil war the troops were horrible shots. By 1903 the organization began promoting youth designed programs around gun safety and marksmanship.

I like the original purpose of the NRA. I think anyone who buys a rifle of any sort should learn to handle their weapon carefully and with confidence, not to mention to hit what they aim (I have already noted my dismal abilities, but alas some have talent, and I do not).

What is fascinating about this so called brief history is how quickly it devolves into political misinformation. It jumps to 1934 to highlight the fact it began lobbying our government, then fast forward 41 years to 1975 and the beginning of its outright "Defense" of the Second Amendment by establishing the "Institute for Legislative Action." Glossing over the fact that this has nothing to do with its initial charter.

I am not a member of the NRA for one basic reason, it is solely a lobbying firm and has no interest in me, a hunting enthusiast. You can point out that it still spends millions on marksmanship and youth programs, but that money pales to the amount that is spent on lobbying our government. It is almost impossible to learn how much money they spend on these "other" works but let me highlight this for you: The NRA is a 501(c)(4) organization that oversees  these 501(c)(3) organizations, NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, NRA Foundation inc., NRA Special Contribution Fund, and NRA Freedom Action Foundation as well as a 527 PAC (I got this info from Wikipedia, but is easily verifiable elsewhere).  All for the purpose of "protecting" us from the boogieman, oops, those that would take away our Second Amendment Rights.

Now that I have laid this framework let me get to the nut of my thesis: This is all done not to protect US Citizens from having their guns taken away, but to ensure that "white America" has guns to protect themselves from some unknown threat (I assume "those others").

What proof do I have for painting the NRA as a bastion of "White Power?" Well one only needs to see when they support someone's use of guns and when they fall deadly silent. Another blatant example is their own leadership. I spotted four people of color (Karl Malone being one, wow) out of 31 on the board. There are other examples like this advertisement. Really white cops with arms folded? What is more creepy than that? Especially when our police are to be our uninfluenced protectors of society, o wait that is an alternative universe.

The sole white agenda perpetrated by the NRA can only be seen as a white issue when you take these things listed above into consideration. It really has nothing to do with "protecting" the Second Amendment but with giving the white person permission in protecting themselves from "them." NOTHING they lobby for is for my benefit as a gun owner. Under my rights, with or without the NRA, I have my rifle and shot gun. No one is going to take them away, except for a thief. In this case I want my guns registered so that they can be tracked and taken from those who should not be in possession. But instead of doing what is good for the citizens of the USA, they fight for only narrow issues that support only part of our citizenship, namely white guys who own way too many rifles.

I should spend more time on this argument and tighten it up, but I just wanted to get this thought out there to see if anyone can intellectually argue against the thesis.

You are being called out

Vocatio – Greek meaning “call.” English root is vocal or voice. When one is called out they are marked, or placed in a situation they must contend with. A “vocation” then is something we are called to – either a job, a mission, a craft, etc.

It seems that we have a tug of war in our lives in how we view our daily work in the world. On one hand we buy into the Genesis 3:17 description of the human race “in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, you are dust and to dust you shall return.” On the other, we do discover in our daily work joy and it does indeed feel like we are partaking of God’s creative task.

Dorothy L. Sayers puts it this way (Essay “Vocation in Work”):

“… the first thing [the author of Genesis] tells us about God, in whose image both man and woman were created, is that [God] was … a creator. He made things. Not presumably, because He had to, but because He wanted to … And there is something quite distinctive about [the human being]: [they] make things – not just one uniform set of things, as a bee makes a honeycomb, but an interminable variety of different and not strictly necessary things, because [they] want to.”

She goes on to say that we as human beings, even in our fallen life, we still are near to our divine pattern that we continually make things, as God makes things, for the fun of it!

So the question comes then … so how is what I do in my daily work holy work?

I think the answer lies in the fact that we are not fully human until we produce or make something – anything. It is holy because God has deemed the work of your hands as holy. (Of course for this short essay I am avoiding any talk of the ethics of work, that is for another time).

So now that your work is holy, what does that make you but divine! Not because of what you do, but because you are doing it. You are fulfilling your divine calling, your vocation, that which has called you out!

You are made in the image of God. God creates because God can’t help it. You create because you are a child of God. 

God’s work. Our Hands!

The Second Amendment

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The above is the Second Amendment in its entirety.

I've done a little research, nothing academic mind you, and am perplexed by the statement "the SA has always been about the individual's right to own guns."

First off this whole statement is focused on "a militia of the people that should not be infringed." A militia mind you that is WELL REGULATED.

Second, if my basic understanding of the American language has not escaped me, this amendment is in the plural. If the original intent was about the individual, wouldn't the founding fathers used different language. Remember these guys were pretty deliberate in their writings.

Third, I just cannot find any documentation before the 1970's to support the idea of the individual having the right to own guns. Remember, and thanks to the Young Turks for reminding us, the NRA at the national level was about regulating and training people about guns before it changed course in the seventies to support manufacturers and not individuals.

Fourth, our constitution begins with these words:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What kind of justice and tranquility is the NRA and gun manufacturers promoting? None. Retribution and chaos is their only desire.

- Tor Kristian Berg c 2013

Location:164th Ave NE,Woodinville,United States

The problem with arguing with atheists

The problem with arguing with atheists is that you have to spend so much time redefining terms. In fact the problem with arguing with fundamentalists/americanevangelicals is much the same. These two camps are the ones who are having the majority of the conversations about faith and religion in the public sphere. My thesis is that they are having this conversation because they both are easy targets.

For those of us who have spent time at university and seminary as protestants (meaning professional public theologians) we find the debate about God in the public sphere to be fundamentally elementary. We are flabbergasted at the what the media hooks on to and are mortified by what comes out of people's mouths who claim to be of the Christian faith. Atheists have a field day with this because these conversations are easy targets, broad side of the barn if you will. Because of this they are the two camps skewering the definitions of faith

One of the issues that comes up often has to do with what is or what is not God's will. There seems to be a significant misunderstanding about who God is and what God is about. Little of the conversation in the public sphere has anything to with the God of the Bible or even an effective definition of a creator of the universe. 

The God of the Bible did two things at the beginning: First God created. Then God gave that creation free will. Free will is the issue that we all stumble on. In free will, God, by necessity, gave up control of creation. Why would God do this? Because God is a God of love. Our God is a "kenotic" God. A God who pours out love and love does not control or dictate or order or reject. No, our God is a God who gives and desires to be in relationship with us.

Now comes the big problem: I have free will to either accept or reject that love; that relationship. That love is given free and unmerited. I can do nothing to earn it since it is already given. This is like trying to hand money to your wife who is trying to give you a gift, how horrible an act. Yet, this is what so much of our bad theology does out there. It tries to pay God back for a gift that is already given or worse God pays us back for our bad behavior by taking the gift back. This capricious god is not the God who sent his only Son into the World, not to condemn the world, but to save it.

Now, from this point I would like to have a conversation with an atheist. Because from this point there is plenty for the atheist to object to, but it is not stupidity or insensitivity. The objection is to a God who is not in control, a God who is always forgiving and encouraging, a God who allows us to be horrible to each other.

O, Cain and Able!

Post Script: The other problem is that we all think that we are god.