tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19540321866215416692024-02-06T19:07:48.435-08:00Thinking FaithBill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.comBlogger590125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-79560768002186505922020-04-11T13:17:00.000-07:002020-04-11T13:17:53.534-07:00No. Jesus Was not Killed by the "Religious People"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>John 5:15-18</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I have seen many memes during Lent and Holy Week reminding us that Jesus was killed by the “religious people,” and I know that they are well intended.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is not a bad thing especially at this time of the year for Christians to look critically at themselves. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But there are two problems with the popular meme.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The first problem is that it is historically wrong. Jesus was not killed by the religious people; he was executed by the Roman Empire. His crime (or at least his supposed crime) was sedition rather than blasphemy. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The second problem is that although the meme is well intended, what it is really doing is euphemizing the ancient falsehood that “the Jews killed Jesus.” It is another way to reinforce the anti-Semitism that is so often baked into our Holy Week observances.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Perhaps the most insidious thing about the anti-Semitism in the Gospels is that we Christians are simply oblivious to it. The scholar James Carroll, who is himself a devout Christian, points out in his book, “Christ Actually,” the obvious but generally unrecognized anti-Semitism implicit in our naming the two parts of the Bible the “Old” and “New” testaments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“New” is always better than “Old.” One clearly supersedes the other.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus was a champion of the poor and the marginalized, but we often portray his advocacy for the “least and the lost” as a contrast to the Jewish perspective. We do this in spite of the overwhelming evidence that Jesus stood in direct line with the Hebrew prophets. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This anti-Semitism is an underlying theme in Holy Week. And that theme is most evident in the Gospel of John.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">John frequently uses “the Jews” the same way that Matthew, Mark and Luke use “the Scribes and the Pharisees.” He is talking about the religious authorities who oppose Jesus. The reference to Pharisees as a synonym for self-righteous hypocrites is historically inaccurate and implicitly anti-Semitic.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">(We pause briefly to note first that the Scribes and the Pharisees are the same people. Second, the Pharisees were reformers. Third, that <a href="http://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2016/02/jesus-was-pharisee-seriously-he-was.html">Jesus was almost certainly a Pharisee</a>. And Fourth, that the Pharisaic reform movement gave birth to Christianity and rabbinic Judaism.) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">John was writing at a time when the church and the synagogue were separating. Christianity began as a Jewish sect. The synoptic Gospels portray an internal conflict within the synagogue between the Pharisees and the followers of Jesus. John characterizes the conflict as one between the followers of Jesus and “the Jews” who remain loyal to Judaism. Of course, the followers of Jesus were also Jewish. It was a sibling rivalry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As a potential source of anti-Semitism, the verses from the fifth chapter are far from the worst passage in John’s Gospel, but they are bad enough. John says that “the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him” for breaking the Sabbath and for blasphemy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I was in college when I first met someone who had been called a “Christ killer,” by the (so called) “Christians” in his Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I was appalled, but also perplexed. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The very simple version of atonement theology I grew up with said that Jesus had died for my sins. He had also died for the sins of the world. But the personal part was where we put the emphasis. The historical roles of Pilate, Herod, the Sanhedrin, and the crowds, were all incidental accidents. The only theologically valid answer to the question, <a href="http://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2018/03/why-did-jesus-die.html">“Who killed Jesus?”</a> was, “I did.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Over the years I have grown into a very different theological understanding. Jesus died because his absolute faithfulness collided with the sinful violence of the empire. He died because he proclaimed the Kingdom of God as a just and non-violent alternative to the Roman Empire and to every empire. The Romans didn’t crucify people for religious crimes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In many ways, anti-Semitism is our original sin as Christians. It is long past time for confession and repentance. Until we move past that, we cannot really understand who Jesus is.</span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">*This
is a revised version of a post first published on 4-16-14.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-82604719631693645502020-03-28T16:44:00.002-07:002020-03-28T19:24:57.463-07:00Rev. Lowery's Benediction<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGN21HuzbqRQ4c8jQVYdRIDu9M5eA0jLZn3XuFG5npiG54zyel2MH8S8CksVIn_-1PZQt87QKSUOX2KSZW9kerXy1eDGyVxz_k9T94_ePxK7twveqqzGx8UD82GFL7ccosn_LIuZWrP0/s1600/Rev.+Lowery+Benediction..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGN21HuzbqRQ4c8jQVYdRIDu9M5eA0jLZn3XuFG5npiG54zyel2MH8S8CksVIn_-1PZQt87QKSUOX2KSZW9kerXy1eDGyVxz_k9T94_ePxK7twveqqzGx8UD82GFL7ccosn_LIuZWrP0/s400/Rev.+Lowery+Benediction..jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery Delivering the Benediction <br />at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.</i><br /><b>Amos 5:24</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When I started writing “Thinking Faith” in January of 2009, the first post I wrote was about the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery’s benediction at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Rev. Lowery’s death yesterday at the age of 98 called to mind his benediction and the reaction to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Halford Luccock, who taught preaching at Yale Divinity School for many years once called the history of Methodist preachers an “Endless Line of Splendor.” That was more enthusiasm than critical analysis, but among that line few were more splendid than Rev. Lowery. He was a close friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and served for many years as Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Council which King founded. And he was a great preacher.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I was deeply moved as I listened to Lowery’s benediction at the close of the inauguration and later in the week as I was writing the “Welcome” for our Sunday bulletin I wanted to reference it and I went online to find the text. Along with the text, I was shocked to discover thousands of comments labeling Dr. Lowery’s remarks as racist. I couldn’t imagine what they were talking about.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The prayer began with a quotation from James Weldon Johnson’s great hymn, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which has become the Black National Anthem. He called on the nation to reject greed and violence, to embrace inclusion rather than exclusion, and love rather than hate. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Moving toward his closing, he prayed, “As we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Bless President Barack,” he prayed. “First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Then he referenced the Hebrew Prophets:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>“Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.”</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But what set the right wing blogosphere and the pundits into hysteria came in the final paragraph. This is a transcript of the audio recording:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>AUDIENCE: Amen!</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>REV. LOWERY: Say amen --</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>AUDIENCE: Amen!</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>END.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“when white will embrace what is right” was the incendiary line.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Of course, those lines were not original. They were meant to recall an earlier time, not that many decades ago when the rhyme told the story of race and color in America: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"If you're white, you're right, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">if you're yellow, you're mellow,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">if you're brown, stick around, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">but if you're black, get back." </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And in the 1970’s those words, just as Dr. Lowery spoke them, were used by Black preachers as a call to action. The laughter in the audience came from those who immediately recognized the reference.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Only those completely ignorant of both Dr. Lowery and the history of Civil Rights would think he was saying that white people had never embraced what was right, and he did not mean to divide. He did mean to raise up a vision of the future by remembering the past. And one could see by the angry responses that the past is not really past, in part at least, because too many people just don’t know their history.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But beyond the issue of historical literacy, the reaction to Dr. Lowery’s benediction was a precursor to the resurgence of racism that has plagued us over the past decade.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and
comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you
wish. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>The full transcript of Dr. Lowery’s benediction is printed below:</b><br />
<br />
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.<br />
<br />
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.<br />
<br />
For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.<br />
<br />
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.<br />
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And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.<br />
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And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.<br />
<br />
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.<br />
<br />
We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.<br />
<br />
Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.<br />
<br />
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.<br />
Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.<br />
AUDIENCE: Amen!<br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-8525216097711180012020-03-26T08:12:00.001-07:002020-03-26T08:37:12.358-07:00Greed Is Not Good: The Tragic Results of a FalseTheology<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpU9fwoSbJ5fIMCZuuzo6y5i-ZlcAN6-2rYhFPuQdgDX0juRY4KUYanTOrUOZkn1FSkVJz03Q951zqzOBIzx8V-JL3VgRuzS7j3tB6B9J5dmMh-EuWRR_zbzoRyJKPeiwRxx9oURHzvw/s1600/Triangle+Shirtwaist+Factory+Fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1600" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpU9fwoSbJ5fIMCZuuzo6y5i-ZlcAN6-2rYhFPuQdgDX0juRY4KUYanTOrUOZkn1FSkVJz03Q951zqzOBIzx8V-JL3VgRuzS7j3tB6B9J5dmMh-EuWRR_zbzoRyJKPeiwRxx9oURHzvw/s400/Triangle+Shirtwaist+Factory+Fire.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">“No one can serve two masters; </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">for a servant will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”</span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Matthew 6:24</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">One hundred and nine years ago yesterday, March 25, 1911, just a few minutes before closing time on a Saturday, a fire started, probably in a trash bin, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, located on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of a Manhattan factory building. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">There were 146 victims in all, 129 of them women. Most were young immigrants.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In a famous scene in the 1987 movie “Wall Street,” Gordon Gekko, convincingly portrayed by Michael Douglas, gave his impassioned testimony to the shareholders of Teldar Paper Company:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind. And Greed – you mark my words – will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is important to recognize that Gordon Gekko's affirmation of greed is precisely that: it is an affirmation of faith. It is a theological statement.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is about what we believe.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We don’t just tolerate greed. As a society we celebrate it because we believe it is essential to the economic system that has driven so much world progress, and no small amount of misery, over the last half millennium.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But greed isn’t good. Jesus was right. We cannot worship God and money.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Initiative is good. Enterprise is good. And effort should be rewarded. But greed is not good.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory all but one of the exits had been locked to prevent the workers from taking unauthorized breaks.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Doors to the stairwells were locked. There was one internal fire escape but it collapsed quickly under the weight of so many bodies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Louis Waldman, later a New York State Assemblyman, was reading in a nearby library when he heard the fire companies responding. He ran out to join the crowd in the street and remembered the scene this way:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"Word had spread through the East Side, by some magic of terror, that the plant of the Triangle Waist Company was on fire and that several hundred workers were trapped. Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them — looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity. Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In the New York Times the next day the story included this grim report: “The victims who are now lying at the Morgue waiting for some one to identify them by a tooth or the remains of a burned shoe were mostly girls from 16 to 23 years of age.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Times suggested that the fire had been started by one of the machines, but an industry journal claimed that the more likely cause was smoking, which was forbidden in the factory. The industry report noted that the epidemic of factory fires was “fairly saturated with moral hazard.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In other words, the industry people were claiming that the deaths were attributable to the moral failings of the workers rather than the greed of the owners who blocked the exits.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The factory owners were tried for first and second degree manslaughter, but they were acquitted. The defense attorney asked a key witness, a worker who had escaped the fire, to repeat her testimony several times. After she repeated her answers almost word for word, he argued that this was evidence that she had been told what to say by the prosecutors and had memorized her testimony. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Defense attorneys also claimed that the prosecution had not proved that the owners knew that the doors were locked at the specific time of the fire. Two years later, one of the owners was found guilty of illegally locking the doors on another factory and fined twenty dollars for the infraction.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When we look back, we are appalled. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But it is only a few years ago that a factory fire in Bangladesh killed 112 workers. Again, because exits were blocked or inadequate.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And in Rhode Island especially, we remember the fire at the Station night club that claimed one hundred victims. Again, the cause of death was that exits were blocked, and they were not adequate. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">At the Station, they wanted to prevent patrons from entering without paying; at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and in the Bangladesh fire they wanted to prevent workers from leaving while they were being paid. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But in each case the issue was greed</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*Parts of this post were originally published on March 26, 2011.</span></span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-9219398674230946322020-03-24T14:35:00.000-07:002020-03-25T09:08:22.772-07:00This Is What Exile Feels Like<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<i><br /></i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Have you not known? Have you not heard?<br />The Lord is an everlasting God, <br />the Creator of the ends of the earth. <br />He does not faint or grow weary, <br />his understanding is unsearchable. <br />He gives power to the faint, <br />and strengthens the powerless. <br />Even youths will faint and be weary, <br />and the young will fall exhausted; <br />but those who wait for the Lord <br />shall renew their strength,<br />they shall mount up with wings like eagles,<br />they shall run and not be weary,<br />they shall walk and not faint. </i><br /><b>Isaiah 40:28-31</b><br /><br />After a week of posting pictures that put a happy face on “Sheltering in Place,” a friend confessed that it had been hard and depressing. Although they looked cute in the pictures, the kids were restless and cranky. Working at homes wasn’t really working out and there were worries about their spouse’s job security.<br /><br />Another friend told of calling the bank to take advantage of a plan to waive three months of mortgage payments after their spouse was laid off. And although the bank was agreeable and friendly, it took an hour and a half because the call volume was so high.<br /><br />Lost jobs. Failing businesses. And, by the way, there’s that funky the stock market thing. <br /><br />And as bad as all that is, it’s not as bad as the geometric increase in cases and deaths. The recorded numbers may not seem as scary as the projections, but they are scary enough.<br /><br />Luckily, for most of us, we see only the abstract numbers. We have not seen the actual deaths. But we will.<br /><br />It feels like Exile.<br /><br />I have often said that Christianity begins in Exile. We could date it to the first time that “Followers of the Way” were called Christians, or to the formation of churches apart from the Synagogue. We could date it to Pentecost. Paul Tillich dated the beginning of Christian faith tot the moment when Peter responded to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” by answering, “You are the Christ.” <br /><br />But for a long time I have believed that Christian faith begins in Exile.<br /><br />This is the test. <br /><br />I don’t mean that God sent COVID-19 to test our faith or that God sent the virus to teach us something. I don’t believe God sent it at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">But it does test us.<br /><br />When Jerusalem fell and the people of Israel were taken into captivity, the prophets and great religious thinkers asked themselves, “How could this happen? How can it be that the holiest city of the very people God has chosen to bring his message to the world has fallen? If this can happen, then how can we trust God?” This was the greatest challenge that Israel had ever faced.<br /><br />Israel responded to this theological crisis with some of the most brilliant and beautiful literature that human beings have ever produced. The wisdom and depth of thought were amazing. Israel responded, in the words of Biblical Scholar Walter Brueggemann, “precisely against the data.” <br /><br />It was out of this crisis, says Brueggemann, that Israel gave birth to the concept of hope. It was in these great reflections on the crisis of exile that the concept of hope was first introduced to the world. Hope was Israel’s gift to the world.<br /><br />Hope is always “against the data.” It is not an analysis which says that things will get better. It is not the cheerful assertion that every cloud has a silver lining. Hope says we trust in God, regardless of the data; regardless of the presence or absence of a silver lining. <br /><br />You and I are called to reaffirm our hope: our hope in our fellow human beings, our hope in our nation and in our world. And underneath it all, our hope in God. <br /><br /><i>This is the The Lord, <br />the One who created you, O Jacob, <br />the One who formed you, O Israel: <br />Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; <br />I have called you by name, <br />and you are mine. </i><br /><b>Isaiah 43:1</b></span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-64675820486013058982020-03-18T11:52:00.004-07:002020-03-19T06:43:54.001-07:00United Methodist Schism and the Global Pandemic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>God has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">II Corinthians 3:6</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Sky McCracken has one of the best names ever. Obviously, he should have been an astronaut or an astronomer, but apparently he is a pastor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He is not an in-person acquaintance nor is he a virtual “friend,” but he is an online acauaintance and a colleague. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">(Of course, I don’t really know that, but I believe it to be true.) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">My sense is that we have markedly different theological perspectives, but I very much appreciate his thoughtfulness and his willingness to dialog with others.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I don’t know him, except through his posts and comments in various United Methodist clergy groups.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yesterday he posted this in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/umclergy/">United Methodist Clergy group</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“It might just be me... but right now, a church/denominational schism seems the height of selfishness and hypocrisy. My hunch is, in the months to come it may even become irrelevant, and pushing such in the light of a much greater crisis will further expose our self-centeredness and false selves.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was, I thought, an invitation to soul-searching and reflection. A good place to start a reflection on Lent and the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of the United Methodist Church.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">There were two short thoughtful reflections and then we were off into crazyland. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I suppose I should be grateful that we didn’t immediately go to ALL CAPS. But we did get this:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Irrelevant, selfish? Wow, neither really come to mind. Just because of the virus people are not going to all the sudden uphold the vows they took at ordination or when they became bishop! Nor begin to celebrate sin! Keep dreaming!”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Few things are more important to the world today than the fear that somewhere and somehow there are people who are celebrating sin!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And not just any sin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is about same sex marriage. And gay clergy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Forget about COVID-19 and a global pandemic. We need to focus on what really matters. This is our “Bonhoeffer moment.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I think as I write this there have been over 100 comments on the original post. Some thoughtful. Some pained. Many sincere.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But there are way too many that seem to come from some strange pseudo-Calvinist belief that the core of biblical faith is found in the total depravity of humanity and the wrath of God, which is mitigated only by right belief in Jesus and absolute conformity to the rules of the Bible as understood by the one writing the comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And, needless to say, the folks who write this stuff are certain (absolutely) that they are not mis-interpreting the text because the text does not need to be interpreted. They are just stating the facts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In this view, the Bible is not a living Word. It is a dead letter. But if the Bible is a dead letter about judgment rather than grace, then we have lost everything matters in Christian faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I want to give the last word to Janet Gollery McKeithen:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“I agree with you Sky, but these comments really make me nauseated. Unbelievable that people believe in some kind of God that creates people who will go to eternal damnation. And they act self-righteous about it. They have pride in condemning others and causing suicides and splitting families. I am really sick again. Let's deal with the fact that the most vulnerable among us are going to suffer more that anyone else during this crisis. Let's see how we can help them and then change the oppressive system that brought us to this place. That's enough to do. The UMC is imploding on it own.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Janet agrees with Sky and I agree with Janet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I am especially pleased that she used “nauseated” rather than the technically incorrect though commonly used “nauseous” in that sentence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Like Janet, I was nauseated by the nauseous comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">(I think I used that correctly, but if I didn't then there are friends who will correct me.)</span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-9237589877573842322020-03-13T10:04:00.000-07:002020-03-13T10:21:02.629-07:00Cancelling Church <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><i>Make a joyful noise to the Lord, <br />all the earth. <br />Worship the Lord with gladness; <br />come into his presence with singing.</i> <br /><b>Psalm 100:1-2 </b><br /><br />We have decided to cancel our worship services for the next two Sundays, March 15 and March 22. We will decide later what happens after that. <br /><br />Public health leaders are telling us that we are on the cusp of a dramatic increase in the spread of COVID-19. Although the virus is new, we do know several things about it: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">It is easily transmitted. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">The number of cases has been growing exponentially. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">People can have the virus and be contagious long before they show symptoms. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">Although most cases will be mild and most people will recover without hospitalization, COVID-19 is many times more deadly than the flu. </span></li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I hate cancelling church. <br /><br />And I hate making that decision. (I am grateful to have been able to share the decision-making with Pastor Carol, but I still hate it.)<br /><br />Sometimes there is a huge snowfall or a hurricane and there really is no choice, but most of the time you have to make the decision before you actually know what will happen. If you cancel and the predicted six to ten inches turns out to be two inches of slush, you feel pretty silly. On the other hand, if the predicted two inches of slush turns into two inches of ice . . . <br /><br />Cancelling for COVID-19 is like cancelling for a snowstorm with the exception that the virus is deadly. A fender-bender in the snow is not likely to cause a death. <br /><br />Epidemiologists tell us that although we cannot stop the spread of the disease, we can “flatten the curve” of its increase. We can slow the rate of growth and even if we do not reduce the number of cases, we can spread them out over a longer period of time. <br /><br />At first that might seem counter intuitive. <br /><br />Why not just get it over with? <br /><br />The problem with the steep curve is that it means that health care facilities may be overwhelmed. This is happening in Italy where New York Times correspondent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/europe/12italy-coronavirus-health-care.html">Jason Horowitz reports</a> that Flavia Petrini, who is president of the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, said her group had issued guidelines on what to do in a period that bordered on wartime “catastrophe medicine.” <br /><br />“In a context of grave shortage of health resources,” the guidelines say, intensive care should be given to “patients with the best chance of success” and those with the “best hope of life” should be prioritized. <br /><br />Horowitz reports that the guidelines also say that in “in the interests of maximizing benefits for the largest number,” limits could be put on intensive care units to reserve scarce resources to those who have, first, “greater likelihood of survival and secondly who have more potential years of life.” <br /><br />The most effective way for us to “flatten the curve” in the United States and restrain the increase in the number of cases is through social distancing. In order for social distancing to be effective, it needs to begin early. (<a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/eliza-barclay">Eliza Barclay</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/dylan-scott">Dylan Scott</a> wrote <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation">an excellent essay</a> on this for VOX.com) <br /><br />Dr. Wes Wallace of the University of North Carolina admits that "beginning our social distancing early may seem unnecessary or even silly." But scientists like Wallace tell us that if we wait until the need is obvious, it will be too late. <br /><br />The church should claim an important role in slowing the spread of the disease. First by suspending services and reducing the points of contact for our people. And second, by modeling that behavior for the rest of the society. <br /><br />This is not an easy time for us, as individuals, as families, as congregations, and as a global society. We need to work together. <br /><br /><i>For the Lord is good; <br />God's steadfast love endures forever, <br />and his faithfulness to all generations. </i><br /><b>Psalm 100:5 </b></span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b></div>
Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-39770414096482483952020-01-01T10:50:00.001-08:002020-10-24T07:58:08.154-07:00Was Mary a Virgin? Does It Matter?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.<br /><b>Luke 1:34-35</b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Facebook friend posted a column by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof titled, <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/12/23/nicholas-kristof-was-mary/">“Was Mary a Virgin? Does It Matter?”</a> In the column, Kristof reports a question and answer session with the popular Evangelical writer Philip Yancey.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We might argue about the first question, but there can be no doubt about the second. The answer is a firm “No.” It does not matter at all whether Mary was a virgin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Not surprisingly, from his perspective within Evangelicalism, Yancey sees it differently. The virgin birth is central to his understanding of Jesus as the Son of God. But to his credit, he stops short of saying that is essential to being a Christian. At the close of the interview, when Kristof asks him whether he can call himself a Christian if he is skeptical of the virgin birth, the miracles and a physical resurrection, Yancey says, “I would rephrase the question and toss it back to you: Are you a Jesus follower?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Earlier in the interview, Kristof explained some of his frustrations with the Christian right:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“One of the problems I have with the evangelical church is that it seems more dazzled by the miracles than the message. Particularly in the age of Trump, conservative pastors weaponize God to support a president who is trying to cut Medicaid and school lunches for the poor. Shouldn’t conservative Christians believe as much in the good Samaritan as in the Virgin Birth?”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And Yancey basically agreed. “I grew up in what I now call a “toxic” fundamentalist church in the South,” he said, “and I view with dismay the contemporary mixing of politics and religion, including some of the policies you mention. Churches often end up on the wrong side of issues — such as the blatant racism I heard from the pulpit as a child.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Believing in the virgin birth has no impact on how we live our lives. You can believe in the virgin birth and still be a racist. On the other hand, if you believe in the Sermon on the Mount it has to make a difference in how you live your life. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In his wonderful commentary on The New Testament, William Barclay calls the Virgin Birth “one of the great controversial doctrines of the Christian faith.” Wisely, he says, “the church does not insist that we believe in this doctrine.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Today, when much of the Christian Church has become captive to the biblical literalism of the Religious Right, it is important to reflect on Barclay’s perspective. When he was writing, in the middle of the last century, Barclay was one of the preeminent biblical scholars, and the very embodiment of orthodox scholarship. His work defined the center of Christian biblical scholarship and theology.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We may choose to believe it, says Barclay, based on a literal reading of this passage as well as Matthew 1:18-25. And, he writes, “It is natural to argue that if Jesus was, as we believe, a very special person, he would have a very special entry into this world.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But there are also excellent biblical reasons not to take the story literally. First, the genealogies in both Matthew and Luke trace Jesus’s ancestry through Joseph. Second, when Mary and Joseph finally find Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:48) she tells him that “Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” Third, there are other references to Jesus as Joseph’s son (Matthew 13:55, John 6:42). And finally, the rest of the New Testament (Mark, John, and Paul’s letters) knows nothing of this story.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Barclay sets the story in the context of Jewish belief. “The Jews had a saying that in the birth of every child there are three partners—the father, the mother and the Spirit of God. They believed that no child could ever be born without the Spirit.” So these stories are “lovely, poetical ways of saying that, even if he had a human father, the Holy Spirit of God was operative in his birth in a unique way.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is more than an academic discussion because it goes to the very heart of how we understand the Bible. The insistence of literalism in this case suggests a literalistic approach to the Bible as a whole. When Christians (especially pastors and Sunday School teachers) insist on a belief in the Virgin Birth, they invite prioritizing literalism over religious meaning.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And, as Kristof points out, when we focus on literalism, it's easy to lose the meaning altogether.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-17014567521188279912019-08-26T05:04:00.000-07:002019-08-26T07:25:14.481-07:00Bob Cousy and the Medal of Freedom<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Cousy chokes back tears as he speaks of his late wife Missy.</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">In spite of everything, we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and hope
does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.</span></i></div>
<h2 style="margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Romans 5:3-5<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Ok, it’s a stretch to call it heartbreak. It’s not really suffering.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />But it is painful just the same. And in spite of Paul’s promise it is hard for me to see how this leads to hope. Although I will keep looking.<br /><br />I know that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter at all. <br /><br />I am long past the time when I had a naïve belief that my heroes, especially my sports heroes, were likely to live up to my expectations. <br /><br />But it was painful to read the stories of Bob Cousy receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Make no mistake. He deserves the award.<br /><br />Cousy has always had a special place in my pantheon of sports greats. Part of it was because I learned that he was cut from his high school team as a freshman and then again as a sophomore. But he didn’t give up. He got a scholarship to Holy Cross, won an NCAA championship, became a consensus All-American, and an NBA star.<br /><br />This led me to believe that in spite of my obvious lack of talent, with enough practice, I too could become a great basketball player.<br /><br />Obviously, that didn’t work out.<br /><br />But as a young child I became a fan of the Boston Celtics. Those were the Celtics of Cousy and Russell and Heinsohn and Sanders. After one of the games, the announcer was interviewing Bob Cousy, and he asked him about the two young guards who had just joined the team, Sam and K.C. Jones. <br /><br />“Well,” said Cousy, “personally I’m prejudiced, but I think they’re two of the best young guards in the league.” Actually, he said “pwed-ja-dissed.” And he called them “gods,” not guards. But my young mind reeled. My hero, Bob Cousy admitted on national television that he was prejudiced. I was glad that in spite of his prejudice he could see their talent, but even so, I was deeply disappointed. <br /><br />Of course it was not long before I realized that he meant he was prejudiced in favor of his teammates, not against black people. <br /><br />As a basketball player he was amazing, winning six world championships with the Celtics, and leading the NBA in assists for eight years in a row. And he has led a great life off the court as well. In 1950 when black teammate Chuck Cooper was denied entry to the team hotel in North Carolina, Cousy also refused to stay there. By every measure, he has lived an exemplary life.<br /><br />Cousy has said in the past that he felt guilty that he did not do more to stand up more for another black teammate, Bill Russell, who was the target of several racial incidents in Boston. And he reached out to Russell in a letter expressing his regret. But the truth is that probably says more about Bob Cousy’s sense of right and wrong than it does of a moral failing. Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan are the other three NBA stars who were previously honored with the medal of Freedom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Bob Cousy deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<br /><br />So far it’s all good. Bob Cousy received an award he richly deserves. An appropriate coda to a life well lived. After the ceremony he said, “this really is the cherry on the sundae.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">But then.<br /><br />The news accounts told how Cousy choked back tears as he expressed his sadness that his wife Missy, who passed away in 2013 was not there to share the moment with him even though she “put up with me for 63 years.” And as Cousy sobbed at the podium, Donald Trump put his hand on Cousy’s back to comfort him.<br /><br />What?<br /><br />That venal man put his hand on Bob Cousy?<br /><br />It is a strange juxtaposition because Bob Cousy is everything that Donald Trump is not. He really did rise out of poverty. He grew up in a diverse neighborhood that was basically a slum. He worked hard. He promoted racial equality. He is humble and smart and decent. And, to use a cliché, he is a great family man.<br /><br />“Mr. President, I know in your world you’re well on your way to making America great again,” said Cousy. “In my world, it’s been great for 91 years.”<br /><br />Earlier this month, he told NBA.com, “I simply feel, without getting into the politics of it at all, like many Americans — I agree with some of the things he’s done and disagree with others.”<br /><br />That’s more affirmation than Mr. Trump deserves, but I could live with it.<br /><br />And then. <br /><br />Cousy said the honor was special in part because “it is being presented by the most extraordinary president in my lifetime and I’m a B.R., for before Roosevelt.”<br /><br />According to the <a href="https://www.telegram.com/news/20190823/bob-cousy-reflects-on-presidential-medal-trump-meeting">Worcester Telegram</a> “Mr. Cousy, a long-time independent, said he respects the White House as the most powerful office in the world and he felt compelled to pay tribute to the president.”<br /><br />“I understand how controversial Trump is,” Mr. Cousy said. “So I didn’t want to say something that was going to go viral and get all of us in trouble, but I thought that was a nice middle ground and ‘extraordinary’ I suppose can be interpreted in any number of ways in the mind of the listener.”<br /><br />Maybe.<br /><br />I can understand how someone could agree with some of the policies the president has embraced. But how can a person of such obvious fundamental decency countenance the indecency, racism, misogyny, and corruption of Mr. Trump?<br /><br />I want to believe that if Missy had been there he wouldn’t have said that.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in;">
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always
welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-42863997664349122522019-07-19T07:35:00.000-07:002019-07-19T08:42:29.020-07:00This Is What Fascism Looks Like<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK-FGxOF_8V0s4Wo34zIbYbpB2f23oNM2GFqEDxJ1de6u3ktJNtFHG4XI2eyboEWyI9nY5dmDjpiPvQsv2qUu2aA7PMYh-PP8KPaoTN87t2Fw23DUEoAhuVbuW1OjDeO0LzBUBzfzvbw/s1600/Trump+Rally+Crowd+Chants+Send+her+back..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="1241" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK-FGxOF_8V0s4Wo34zIbYbpB2f23oNM2GFqEDxJ1de6u3ktJNtFHG4XI2eyboEWyI9nY5dmDjpiPvQsv2qUu2aA7PMYh-PP8KPaoTN87t2Fw23DUEoAhuVbuW1OjDeO0LzBUBzfzvbw/s400/Trump+Rally+Crowd+Chants+Send+her+back..jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crowd chants "Send her back!" at a rally on Wednesday night</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Woe to you who call evil good and good evil, </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>who put darkness for light and light for darkness, </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Isaiah 5:20</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In his speech at the opening of the National Museum of African American History in 2016, former President George W. Bush said, "A great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaws, and corrects them." </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"This museum tells the truth,” he observed, “that a country founded on the promise of liberty held millions in chains, that the price of our union was America's original sin."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">President Bush was not the first one to speak of slavery and racism as America’s original sin, but the fact that he said it is a reminder that this should not be a partisan issue and his use of the phrase “original sin” reminds us that the issue is about faith as well as politics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Confronting racism is a necessity for Christians regardless of their political affiliation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Racism is evil and it produces bitter fruit for the recipients as well as for the perpetrators. There is nothing about it that can be called good. And woe to us when we do not call it out for what it is.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">According to Gizmodo, after Mr. Trump’s speech in Greenville Wednesday night, the two most commonly searched words were Fascism and Racism.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">You can be a racist without being a fascist but you cannot be a fascist without being a racist. Sadly, both were on display in Greenville.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">One cannot use those words without being accused of being an alarmist. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But the association is unavoidable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We cannot pretend that evil is not evil, let alone that it is good.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Half a century ago, Jurgen Moltmann, perhaps the last of the great German theologians of the twentieth century, was visiting the United States for a theological conference when the discussion turned to segregationists in the South.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“They are Nazis,” Jurgen Moltmann declared, “and when you are confronted by Nazis you must defeat them.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Nothing else matters, he insisted, until you get rid of the Nazis.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As my theology professor told the story, Moltmann had insisted to his fellow theologians that they had no business discussing theology until they had first done something about the Nazis.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I remember thinking that although the segregationists were certainly bad, it was hyperbole to call them Nazis. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Perhaps it is hyperbole to speak that way of the Greenville rally. I fervently hope so. But by the time we know for certain it may be too late.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jurgen Moltmann grew up in a secular family in Hamburg. As a teenager he was drafted into the German Army near the end of World War II. He was captured by the British and spent several years as a prisoner of war. During that time his captors presented him with descriptions and pictures of the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Auschwitz, and he was overwhelmed with guilt for what his country had done.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">While he was held prisoner an American Army Chaplain gave him a New Testament and it transformed his life. “I did not find Christ,” he would later say, “Christ found me.” After the war he completed a doctorate in theology and his reflections on Nazism and the war led him to develop “A Theology of Hope.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Moltmann could see, as Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, and others had made clear before him that the absolute claims of Nazism were theological as well as political. And that those absolute claims made it antithetical to Christianity. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When Moltmann insisted that there could be no theological discussion until Nazism had been addressed, he wasn’t introducing politics into theological discourse. He was recognizing that until they were dealt with, the absolute claims of Nazism made authentic theological discussion impossible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In an <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-supporters-send-her-back-racism-face-evil-1449923">interview</a> published in Newsweek.com, Chantal Da Silva spoke with Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley, one of the leading scholars of Fascism. And Stanley called the Wednesday night rally “one of the single most racist moments in modern American history.” He also said that the country is “facing an emergency.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"The word 'emergency' is tricky to use because 'emergency' is a word that anti-democratic people use all the time to justify non-democratic measures," he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Stanley said that he was “shocked” when he watched the video of the Greenville rally where the crowd chanted “send her back” after Mr. Trump attacked Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a Somali refugee who came to America as a refugee who came to American when she was eight years old. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The chants came after Mr. Trump had devoted considerable time to attacking Representative Omar along with three Democratic colleagues, Representatives Aryanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Aexandra Ocasio-Cortez. The women are all persons of color, and Representative Omar is a Muslim.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Mr. Trump initiated the controversy at 5:27 a.m. last Sunday when he unleashed this tweetstorm:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Apart from the obvious racism of telling anyone to go back where they came from, it misses the obvious fact that three of the four women were born in the United States. Rep. Omar is a naturalized citizen (like two of Mr. Trump’s three wives).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In the Newsweek interview, Stanley observed that Mr. Trump was expressing his “deep-seated commitment to fascism” as well as racism. "This whole administration has been orienting itself around attacking and vilifying ethnic minorities," he said. "It's horrifying to see."</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"Fascist ideology is based upon the vilification of 'outsiders,' you know. It's an ideology that has, at its very center, panic and fear about outsiders. All fascist movements are toxically anti-immigration.”</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"Fascist ideology says there's the nation and the members of the nation and they are ethnically defined and they face this mortal threat from leftism, communism, socialism and foreigners and so you would think the president has a choice: he could run saying well you know the economy's strength or he could run with one of the most toxic ideologies the world has ever seen... and that's what he's doing.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In the Newsweek interview, Stanley insisted that today's journalists cannot equivocate in calling out Mr. Trump’s speech for what it is: racism.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"Journalists have two competing pressures: one is to represent the different sides in political debates and, two, is to tell the truth. These run into conflict with each other when you have a very extreme situation like the one we now face where, with one political side, there is no reasonable way to represent it."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Stanley argues that Mr. Trump “is utterly clear about his white nationalism and his racism.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“You just have to call it what it is and not suggest that it's being misunderstood," he said.</span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*The Jurgen Moltmann story was first included in a post originally published on August 16, 2017 in response to the Nazi demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia.</span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-51210877590759574412019-07-13T07:58:00.000-07:002019-07-13T11:35:48.514-07:00Casting the Vision<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Then the LORD answered me and said: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Habakkuk 2:1-3</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Several years ago in a sermon at Annual Conference the late Bishop Dale White talked about the lonely task of the pastor, whose job it is to always take the lead and cast a vision of justice on controversial issues.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We are supposed to be ahead of the curve. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">To be a leader is to be out in front, and it is a lonely task. If Moses had waited until his vision of freedom had broad support, the Israelites would still be in Egypt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Rev. Dr. C. Chappell Temple, Lead Pastor of Christ Church (UMC) in Sugar Land, Texas, seemed to take a different tack on this issue in a post titled, <a href="https://juicyecumenism.com/2019/07/09/fun-with-math/?utm_source=IRD&utm_campaign=d8005dca62-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_11_12_41&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ebef901082-d8005dca62-18406629&fbclid=IwAR2W0Ty2BmIrSTQiqwO3uINiuyyGvirLP1QaPX31b9vDt-7GZAO_s4V3TXo">"Fun with Math."</a> Writing in </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">the Juicy Ecumenism blog of the IRD (Institute on Religion and Democracy), he points out that in the recent voting for General Conference delegates the elected clergy are more progressive than the laity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is not surprising, if we take Bishop White’s exhortation seriously. Pastors are supposed to be out in front. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">(Just to be clear, when we speak of the division between progressives and traditionalists in the church, we are not talking about national politics. The Progressive movement in American politics grew out of the Social Gospel in the late nineteenth century and today’s Progressives share that heritage, but they should not be confused with the progressives and centrists in the church.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Dr. Temple argues that although 76% of the elected delegations are progressive or centrist and more than half of the Annual Conferences passed resolutions opposing the Traditional Plan, that does not accurately reflect the perspective of those who sit in the pews.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Maybe it doesn't accurately reflect the perspective of the laity, but 76% is a big number. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And it is significant that more than half of the Annual Conferences passed resolutions against a plan that passed by a narrow majority at General Conference.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But Dr. Temple argues that if we look more closely at the numbers they tell a different story. He points out that the Texas Conference elected a mostly progressive or centrist delegation of clergy and a wholly traditionalist delegation of laity. Eight of the nine clergy from the Texas Conference are progressive or centrist, but by our system, each one required only 50% plus one vote to be elected. If we looked at the actual vote totals we would find that the real margin was closer to 5-4 than 8-1.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And then he makes an important observation:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“The point is that in a system involving multiple candidates for multiple positions each requiring a majority vote it’s simply not possible to draw conclusions as to the true mind of the whole church when it comes to controversial issues.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If that sounds familiar it’s because Adam Hamilton and Mike Slaughter made that same argument several General Conferences ago when they proposed inserting a paragraph in the Book of Discipline recognizing that we were not of one mind on the issues surrounding LGBTQ inclusion. The Traditionalists narrowly defeated that proposal because they had no problem building church law on a slim majority and using that law to punish those on the other side.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He concludes with an observation and a suggestion:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“In the end, it’s pretty clear thus that at least on the question of human sexuality that we United Methodists are far more closely divided than the delegate count might imply. What is incumbent upon us a church thus is to find a way to honor those differences and create new communities of faith that can live side by side, though with enough separation to stop our long internecine warfare.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He is right on both counts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We are closely divided on the issue of human sexuality and we need to find a way to honor those differences so that we can live side by side.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I agree.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Let’s do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We can call it the One Church Plan.</span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</b><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-65362842494925657422019-05-25T08:40:00.001-07:002019-05-25T09:21:15.820-07:00The Traditionalist Plan Was Designed to Do Harm, But It May Do Some Good<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9KAbqMwJjuePlSqgD0JWWVC04H_vB5TgLHNaYwicm85pTj1xsDlTgyTwgJP6yiVqQjii9Dz66d9yRlBKwnRlt85S2mzwxYbzv0fafAYOmWSQ67BuM0tIeoBYhBiIQxTPQhhXDMCk_7o/s1600/Joseph+in+Rainbow+Coat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="235" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9KAbqMwJjuePlSqgD0JWWVC04H_vB5TgLHNaYwicm85pTj1xsDlTgyTwgJP6yiVqQjii9Dz66d9yRlBKwnRlt85S2mzwxYbzv0fafAYOmWSQ67BuM0tIeoBYhBiIQxTPQhhXDMCk_7o/s400/Joseph+in+Rainbow+Coat.jpg" width="348" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">But Joseph said to them . . . “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Genesis 50:20</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We have been a Reconciling Congregation for five years. But until very recently we had never displayed a Rainbow Flag. We never discussed it. But we’re New Englanders and we have an innate resistance to making a display of our religious convictions. Its just how we're built.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">That changed rather abruptly <a href="http://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2019/02/losing-my-religion.html">after the Special Session</a> of General Conference 2019 concluded at the end of February and we heard with finality that the delegates had voted (by a narrow margin) that they hated their LGBTQIA siblings even more than they loved Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We decided that we needed to have a Rainbow Flag in front of the church. We thought it was important to differentiate ourselves from those folks at General Conference. We are United Methodists (and still mostly proud of it), but we are not those people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We did not have a real flag, but Pastor Carol, always a woman of action, searched through the Sunday School closet and found a rainbow colored fabric we had used to make a “coat of many colors” for Joseph in a children’s musical a few years ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was not a very good representation of a rainbow flag, but it did make me think about the juxtaposition of the flag with Joseph and his many colored coat. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And Joseph’s words to his brothers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Many years after they sold him into slavery in Egypt, and after he had risen from slavery into prominence in Egypt, his brothers came to him in a time of famine begging him for food. When they recognized him they expected brutal retribution, but he gave them forgiveness instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">They intended to do harm and yet good came of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">With the power and prominence he gained in Egypt, Joseph basically saved the world from famine.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I don’t believe that God “planned” the triumph of traditionalism at General Conference but I do believe that something good can come from it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Two recent gatherings give me hope. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On May 17-18 350 activists met at Lake Harriet UMC in Minneapolis. Calling themselves “<a href="https://www.umnews.org/en/news/summit-plans-inclusive-methodist-movement">Our Movement Forward,</a>” they adopted a statement that serves as a preamble to a longer proclamation completed by organizers after the summit:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“We dream of a just and loving church — one that is relevant, growing, and ignited by the life-giving and world-changing power of the Holy Spirit,” the preamble says. “Our passion for justice is only surpassed by our hope in Christ Jesus. And as people of faith, we proclaim that the Good News of Jesus Christ is for all.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Then on May 20-22 600 Progressives and Centrists met at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas for a gathering called “<a href="https://um-insight.net/general-conference/general-conference-2019/umc-next-vows-to-resist-traditional-plan-reform-methodism/">UMC Next</a>.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The group affirmed four core principles:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">To be passionate followers of Jesus Christ, committed to a Wesleyan vision of Christianity.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">To resist evil, injustice and oppression in all forms and toward all people and build a church which affirms the full participation of all ages, nations, races, classes, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations and abilities.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">To reject the Traditional Plan approved at General Conference 2019 as inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ and resist its implementation.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">To work to eliminate discriminatory language and the restrictions and penalties in the Book of Discipline regarding LGBTQ individuals.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
The truth is that we should have gotten here sooner. Much sooner. And it should not have taken the debacle of General Conference to force the issue. But this is where we are. And in spite of the stony road that brought us to this point, there is hope for the future.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Rev. Dr. Adam Hamilton, Lead Pastor of the Church of the Resurrection and one of the conveners of UMC Next, echoed Joseph’s words to his brothers when he observed that this was one of the unintended benefits of the adoption of the Traditionalist Plan by the 2019 General Conference was that it pushed centrist churches to take action. Now, he said, the centrists are saying, “not anymore.” Those churches find themselves with no choice but to take a stand. And they are saying, “We’re not going to be quiet anymore. We’re a church for everyone.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When asked what the UMC Next participants meant by their commitment to “reject the Traditional Plan” and “resist its implementation,” he said that some annual conferences will ordain LGBTQ persons as clergy, and that “thousands and thousands of churches will stand with LGBTQ people.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And then he summarized that by saying, “We’re headed toward forming a church that my granddaughter will be proud to be a member of.”</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always
welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-33110186005172135472019-05-08T11:21:00.000-07:002019-05-08T11:21:53.194-07:00Making America Great: Harry Truman and the Marshall Plan<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZijSJ0lliaVrQ7O7MCD19fKT-IYDm-1jr2RwrZw3mMX0BvVidyELhFLz8K4Uxl5aixgyn9pvjExg_cpFUgSIOkhpj0YZH3_vgkTdoxMgSA9qxEcqEUHbt4rc1PCXw15kSI6thakGRQQ/s1600/truman_signs_marshall_plan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZijSJ0lliaVrQ7O7MCD19fKT-IYDm-1jr2RwrZw3mMX0BvVidyELhFLz8K4Uxl5aixgyn9pvjExg_cpFUgSIOkhpj0YZH3_vgkTdoxMgSA9qxEcqEUHbt4rc1PCXw15kSI6thakGRQQ/s400/truman_signs_marshall_plan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Truman signs the Marhall Plan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of this world lord it over their people, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Matthew 20:24-28</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Today is Harry Truman’s birthday.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He was born on May 8, 1884.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Although every politician wants to claim that he or she grew up in modest surroundings, in Truman’s case it was really true. He is the only president since William McKinley who did not earn a college degree. And there was little in his early years to suggest that he would someday become President of the United States. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And yet he achieved great things for America.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He was not the president who won the war, although he presided over its conclusion. But he was the president who won the peace.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He established NATO. He integrated the Armed Forces and federal agencies. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And he led what may well have been America’s greatest achievement.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On October 5, 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/radio-and-television-address-concluding-program-the-citizens-food-committee">first presidential address</a> ever broadcast on live television.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And that first address may also be the greatest.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">His address followed a presentation by the Citizens Food Committee concerning the starvation in Europe and the need for Americans to sacrifice in order to save their European sisters and brothers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">After the Second World War the United States embarked on one of the greatest achievements of world history, the rebuilding of Europe and Japan after the devastation. The Marshall Plan prevented economic collapse and led to a world-wide economic expansion and shared prosperity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But when President Truman addressed the nation, the rebuilding of Europe was faltering. “The situation in Europe is grim and forbidding as winter approaches,” he said. “Despite the vigorous efforts of the European people, their crops have suffered so badly from droughts, floods, and cold that the tragedy of hunger is a stark reality. The nations of Western Europe will soon be scraping the bottom of the food barrel. They cannot get through the coming winter and spring without help--generous help-from the United States and from other countries which have food to spare.” If we do not act, said the President, all of the rebuilding efforts may be wasted. “I know every American feels in his heart that we must help to prevent starvation and distress among our fellow men in other countries.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Truman called on the nation to give up meat on Tuesdays, to give up poultry and eggs on Thursdays, and to give up one slice of bread per day. He also called on distillers to save grain by stopping the production of alcoholic beverages for 60 days. And he called on the Commodities Exchange Commission to tighten regulations and reduce the “gambling” in grain futures which resulted in even higher prices.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He told the country that Mrs. Truman had directed the White House staff to follow the food conservation measures. And he said that the same policy would be followed in all government restaurants and cafeterias throughout the country. “As Commander in Chief,” he said, “I have ordered that the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force shall also comply with this program.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And he concluded by saying of the people in Europe, "I know that they will be waiting with hope in their hearts and a fervent prayer on their lips for the response of our people to this program. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">We must not fail them."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">This morning, as I read Harry Truman’s brief address, I reflected on the present state of the world, from the immigration crisis, to the brewing trade war with China, to the continued violence in the Middle East and the war in Yemen, and the economic collapse in Venezuela. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is hard to imagine any leader, here or abroad, calling for the level of shared sacrifice that President Truman called for after World War Two. And we need to remember, that was after the great sacrifices required by the war itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But real greatness, for a country or an individual, requires sacrifice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The food measures did not last long. With increased American help, the European recovery soon made such radical conservation unnecessary. Europe and Japan were rebuilt and America entered a time of unprecedented prosperity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Some the material in this post was first published on October 5, 2011.</span></span></div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-14709696427018605362019-04-19T06:48:00.001-07:002019-09-07T08:55:23.785-07:00What Was Good about Good Friday?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AboViOas5KCOK8gObTVIYM6shCtSj8uxLJ1AXSSpHerZ587_F6Xrz7kQ1MNcJeZAJZRK3YxK09ExgSTkE9T0_7RJqyjxQ5Mw4IPNyZpe1TY1ab_2_q_eTsgOLPVSwC9hyphenhyphena8qufdchTE/s1600/substitutionary-atonement-for-pastors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="461" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6AboViOas5KCOK8gObTVIYM6shCtSj8uxLJ1AXSSpHerZ587_F6Xrz7kQ1MNcJeZAJZRK3YxK09ExgSTkE9T0_7RJqyjxQ5Mw4IPNyZpe1TY1ab_2_q_eTsgOLPVSwC9hyphenhyphena8qufdchTE/s400/substitutionary-atonement-for-pastors.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Mark 15:16-20</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The most common (most frequent and crudest) explanation of Jesus' death on the cross is that God sent him to die for our sins. Someone had to pay for the sins of humanity. Jesus suffered so that I didn't have to. He was perfectly sinless and it was a perfect sacrifice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">That is a caricature of what is called the theory of "substitutionary atonement." I have deliberately used the caricature to make a larger point. In spite of the fact that it's the theology I grew up with, and it's still the most common theological understanding of the crucifixion, I am convinced it is wrong. It is wrong biblically, historically, morally, and theologically.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On Good Friday, Jesus was tried, and convicted, and tortured, and killed. It was a triumph for the powers of darkness, and there was nothing good about that Friday. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Or so it seemed. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But in his death he exposed the moral bankruptcy of the Empire and the shallow religiosity of the chief priests and elders who collaborated with the oppressors. Good Friday is the story of a collision between the goodness of God in Jesus, and the evil of a violent empire.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Before we go any further, we need to clear up two major misunderstandings:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Jews did not kill Jesus; the Romans did. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;">He was not executed for blasphemy; he was executed for treason. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Jews did not kill Jesus. We know this as an absolute fact because they did not have the authority to carry out capital punishment. We also know this because if he had been sentenced to death by a Jewish court, he would have been stoned to death. The Romans were the only ones with the authority to kill him, and they did.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We know that the Romans executed Jesus for sedition because they crucified him. Crucifixion was a death reserved for those who committed treason against the empire. It was a form of state terrorism designed to torture its victims and terrify the populace. The Romans did it often so that the people were kept constantly aware of the consequences of defying the empire.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">So why did Jesus die? And what does it mean?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I don’t believe that God sent Jesus to die. I don’t believe that it was God’s plan.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">That’s partly because I think that speaking of God’s plan is too anthropomorphic. It imagines God as some sort of supernatural version of a human being. But it’s also morally suspect. It suggests that somehow God was sending Jesus on a suicide mission.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus died because he was completely faithful to God and his faithfulness collided with the sinfulness of humanity in the form of the Roman Empire. He died because he proclaimed the Kingdom of God as an alternative vision of how the world could be. Against the normalcy of violence, he proclaimed nonviolence. Against the normalcy of self-interest, he proclaimed self-sacrifice. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The commandment to love our enemies is about as subversive of what passes for normal as anything could possibly be. And two thousand years later, even those of us who claim to be his followers have a very hard time even imagining what that path looks like, let alone following it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When he invited his followers to take us the cross, he invited them to follow the path of self-sacrificial love. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And he promised that the way of self-sacrifice is also the way that leads to life.</span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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*An original version of this post was first published on April 5, 2015Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-48168948858403421622019-04-08T09:13:00.001-07:002019-04-08T09:33:42.763-07:00It Was Only a Flag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZLcsS8hH6peEbZNpTW5xD04KMizbC8QgtG6v0XZ-ZS-W5p3rkUhTT4HvUExXvjjhFct_Tt01uCvf-f3kDQWaboKU9AKEE83jHXBSx5xIc7dfYPs3unob7oOXXz_DwSZqPZ6tCFn59l4/s1600/Rainbow+Flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZLcsS8hH6peEbZNpTW5xD04KMizbC8QgtG6v0XZ-ZS-W5p3rkUhTT4HvUExXvjjhFct_Tt01uCvf-f3kDQWaboKU9AKEE83jHXBSx5xIc7dfYPs3unob7oOXXz_DwSZqPZ6tCFn59l4/s400/Rainbow+Flag.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"If the world hates you, </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>be aware that it hated me </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>before it hated you."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">John 15:18</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When I arrived at the church this morning I discovered that someone had ripped down our Rainbow flag. Only a tattered fragment remained attached to the frame. The flag had survived less than a week. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was only a flag, of course. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It’s not a big deal. No one was injured and there was no related property damage. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But now that it is gone it feels like we have lost more than a flag.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">How can anyone hate anyone that much?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We became a Reconciling Congregation five years ago. We did not do it sooner because it seemed unnecessary. We told ourselves that everyone already knew who we were and what we stood for, and we did not need to formally declare ourselves open to everyone regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When we had the meeting to formally vote to become a Reconciling Congregation, several people wondered out loud whether it was really necessary. But only one person spoke against the proposal. She was new to our congregation. She said that she felt she had been sent by the Holy Spirit to tell us that homosexuality was a sin. She not only believed that it was an abomination, she believed literally in the biblical punishment of death, although she conceded that was not possible in the United States.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Those who had doubted the need to take a stand were immediately convinced. As one person wryly observed, “I think maybe she really was sent by the Holy Spirit . . . though not in the way that she believed.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We announced the decision in our monthly newsletter, we put a statement on our website, and we include a statement in every Sunday’s worship bulletin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But we did not put out a rainbow flag.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Because. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Again. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It seemed unnecessary.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But in the wake of the recent vote at the Special Session of General Conference in St. Louis at the end of February, we felt like we had to do something.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">For those of us who are LGBTQIA and for those of us who love and respect our LGBTQIA siblings, the news was heartbreaking. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Special Session rejected a compromise that would have allowed each congregation to choose their own path, and by a narrow majority (53% to 47%) delegates passed the Traditionalist Plan which rejects marriage equality and makes mandatory penalties for clergy who officiate at same sex weddings. It strengthens the rules against ordaining or appointing LGBTQIA clergy. It also requires clergy and bishops to sign a loyalty oath stating that they will uphold those provisions of the Book of Discipline.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The new plan doubles down on what was already a bad policy. It is hateful and unchristian and we felt like we had to do something to make it clear that we were not them; that our local United Methodist Church was not in alignment with the vote in St. Louis.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Pastor Carol Reale found a large rectangular piece of fabric that had previously been used in a Sunday School program as part of Joseph’s “coat of many colors” and put it up out front. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Then last week we got a real rainbow flag and Carol attached it to a frame by the church sign next to the road.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Last night at youth group, one of the kids, who is transgender, told her how much it meant to him to come to the church and see that sign. “It makes me so happy,” he said. “We have to keep it up forever!”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yes. Apparently we do have to keep it up forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The flags are not expensive. We will buy more.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The hatred is a bigger problem.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-89442250119504232812019-03-30T09:59:00.000-07:002019-03-31T01:47:46.379-07:00The Way We Were: Remembering Bishop White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4J-yhRO1S9ZBs3djbUdJWreCo3rNt041_2Ytwa9pFKBiF1jxcQ7wQlkaXjWxgx0MPuFuAEHSsU2oTqhSEQmvj2Ak4kNCmWltc7so34ZacwJlTkOc9DVOypUq8i3RwMlN5OgGKF0AHt38/s1600/White%252C+Dale+and+Gwen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4J-yhRO1S9ZBs3djbUdJWreCo3rNt041_2Ytwa9pFKBiF1jxcQ7wQlkaXjWxgx0MPuFuAEHSsU2oTqhSEQmvj2Ak4kNCmWltc7so34ZacwJlTkOc9DVOypUq8i3RwMlN5OgGKF0AHt38/s400/White%252C+Dale+and+Gwen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">He has told you, O people, what is good; </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">and what does the LORD require of you </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">but to do justice, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">and to love kindness, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">and to walk humbly with your God?</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Micah 6:8</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Bishop C. Dale White passed away yesterday, March 29, 2019, at the age of 94.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">For many of us the loss is personal, but it is also a loss for our denomination and for the larger church. In remembering Dale, we remember the way we used to be and we remember what we have lost.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In his lifetime he embodied the best of United Methodism. He was a faithful and effective witness for social justice, and a fearless advocate for the core values of the Gospel. He had deep faith and uncompromising integrity. He always spoke the truth, even when the truth was hard to hear, and he always spoke the truth in love, with genuine caring for those who did not see things as clearly as he did.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Dale was my first District Superintendent. He called me to go to my first appointment, in Mansfield, Massachusetts. And I called him for advice more times than I have called all of the District Superintendents since then. And he was always patient and helpful. Just before he left for the Jurisdictional Conference at which he was elected Bishop, he called and asked me to go to Mathewson Street in Providence to work with Bill Ziegler.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In an <a href="https://www.umnews.org/en/news/bishop-white-strong-convictions-gentle-touch?fbclid=IwAR0NTKbNd3gTKtsIRVlGt3DR1vEYBnvWDB9lcg4aQ1DI1bO6r-XESFbJFg4#.XJ7Gkvq4I60.facebook">article in UMNews</a>, Linda Bloom reports that Jaydee Hanson, a longtime friend and former staff member of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, described Dale as having a “gentle fearlessness” that engaged people. “Dale had an abundance of vision but offered it in a way that people could adopt it,” he told United Methodist News Service.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Dale was genuinely pained by the way that the causes he advocated so relentlessly were unsettling and disorienting to those who were stuck in old paradigms. He knew the cost of doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly in the ways of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">After his retirement as a Bishop he preached at our Annual Conference about the role of the pastor in the life of a congregation. One of the most difficult aspects of our calling, he said, is the responsibility to always be ahead of the curve on issues of social justice. If we are faithful we will always be in the lonely position of advocating for causes that have barely entered the consciousness of many of the people we serve. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Retired Bishop William Boyd Grove, a friend and colleague of Dale’s, spoke of his interest in interfaith relations, international affairs and the lives of people everywhere which landed him in some unusual places. In the early months of the Iran hostage crisis, Grove recounted, Dale was part of a seven-member U.S. delegation that traveled to Iran in hopes of helping the situation by “reaffirming and restoring friendship between the American and Iranian peoples.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Grove observed that one of Dale’s most significant contributions was the 1986 public statement of the United Methodist Council of Bishops called "In Defense of Creation: The Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">More than any other bishop, said Grove, Dale was responsible for that pastoral letter and study guide. “It was Dale’s idea and he chaired the task force, and it was really his baby.” And it had a profound impact on the church and beyond the church, by moving the nuclear arms debate beyond politics and foreign policy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In 1996 Dale joined with fourteen other United Methodist Bishops who chose to break their silence and speak out in opposition to the prohibition of LGBTQ persons serving in ordained ministry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Not surprisingly, Bishop White was not just the embodiment of everything that the church has traditionally stood for, he was also the incarnation of everything the right-wing groups have opposed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If you knew Dale, you knew him to be a person of deep faith. But for those who equate faith with right-wing politics and quasi-fundamentalist theology, they could not believe that he was a “real Christian.” He was frequently asked if he was “born again.” He would smile and say, “Yes, just this morning.” Faith was, for him, a constant process of renewal and rebirth. We are continually being made new.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Finally, or maybe we should say, “firstly,” there was his marriage to Gwen. Gwendolyn Ruth Horton and Clarence Dale White were married on August 25, 1946. They were married for more than 70 years before Gwen’s death in 2017. They shared the same deep faith and the same openness to the spiritual journey. Together they raised six children and left a legacy of shared love and discipleship.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The way they were is the way the church ought to be.</span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-48408991708957933552019-03-15T08:05:00.000-07:002019-05-20T08:26:03.049-07:00Jesus Was a Pharisee (Really. He Was.)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpUrbK4-GRXlHUwMcFqRawCWUeCtBrjfqClQb5aqN8aqq0D1NJNdJzDna1cjHPXvhyphenhyphen7OSm8GO-vgAqz7ewRAKx5fvhZJk3sC82IMpFXNtP1xYfMj55eEhnI5vhH0w8xqJLUKnLdJcfBc/s1600/Christ-and-the-pharisees_by-Ernst-Zimmerman.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="400" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpUrbK4-GRXlHUwMcFqRawCWUeCtBrjfqClQb5aqN8aqq0D1NJNdJzDna1cjHPXvhyphenhyphen7OSm8GO-vgAqz7ewRAKx5fvhZJk3sC82IMpFXNtP1xYfMj55eEhnI5vhH0w8xqJLUKnLdJcfBc/s400/Christ-and-the-pharisees_by-Ernst-Zimmerman.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to
him, </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background: white;">"Get away from here, for
Herod wants to kill you.”</span></i><br />
<b><span style="background: white;">Luke 13:31</span></b><br />
<span style="background: white;"><br />
</span>Why were the
Pharisees warning Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Weren’t they his enemies?<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Like everyone else in my generation and like almost everyone
who went to Sunday School and grew up in the church, I learned early on that
the Pharisees were the bad guys. They were self-righteous and hypocritical,
obsessed with observing the letter of the Law, yet utterly tone-deaf to its
spirit. They were rich and powerful, and they colluded with the Romans in
opposing and eventually killing Jesus. They were ritually clean, yet morally
corrupt.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
And I learned in seminary that they were the perfect foil for
preaching. Every narrative needs a good villain, and the Pharisees were the
perfect villains for almost any preaching topic. </span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
It was perfect, with the slight problem that it was wrong.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
The Pharisees were reformers.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
They had a three-fold belief that God was a loving father,
who loved humanity so much that he gave us the Torah, the Law, so that everyone
who followed the law would have eternal life (fellowship with God, now and
forever).</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2016/02/saving-world-reflection-on-john-316.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John 3:16</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>will see the parallelism of
construction. And beyond the similarity of form, the substance of the first and
third points is basically identical. Each speaks of God as a loving father and
each points toward eternal life. The difference is in the way. The Pharisees
believed that following Torah was the way: John’s Gospel sees the way as
believing in Jesus as the Christ.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
The three-fold belief of the Pharisees gives rise to the
animating question of Matthew, Mark and Luke: “What must I do to inherit
eternal life?” If the way to fellowship with God now and forever is found in
following Torah (the way), what does it mean to follow Torah? What specifically
must I do? And the answer is the same in each of the three Gospels: love God
and love your neighbor.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Every three years on the second Sunday in Lent, the
Lectionary has us reading about how some Pharisees came to warn Jesus that
Herod was after him. And after cycling through that text a couple of times I
began to wonder. Why were the Pharisees warning Jesus? Weren’t they his enemies?</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Two possibilities presented themselves in my mind. The first
was mildly unsettling, given everything I had learned up until that point. What
if the Pharisees and Jesus were not such bitter enemies?</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
There are many occasions where he judges them harshly. At one
point he tells his followers to listen to what the Pharisees say, because “they
sit on Moses’ seat,” but be careful not to imitate what they do. On the other
hand, there are also instances in which they invite him to dine with them. Some
are attracted to Jesus and believe that he is the Messiah, and the Book of Acts
records occasions on which the Pharisees protect early Christians.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
The second possibility was even more unsettling. What if
Jesus himself was a Pharisee?</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
If you grew up, as I did, with the image of Pharisees as
self-righteous hypocrites, it may be hard not to reject that idea out of hand. </span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
But think about it.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
We know that it was Jesus’ custom to go to the Synagogue on
the Sabbath, and we know that the Synagogue was a Pharisaic institution. Jesus
and the disciples are in the Synagogue a lot.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
We know that the Pharisees believed in the two-fold concept
of the Law as written and oral. The written law was understood to be eternal,
but the oral law had to be reinterpreted for each generation. In the Sermon on
the Mount Jesus first declares that he has not come “to abolish the law or the
prophets.” On the contrary he says, “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one
stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” Then he
seems to contradict that by launching into a series of teachings in which he
says first, “You have heard it said,” followed by a commandment, and then, “but
I say to you,” followed by a new teaching. It only makes sense when we
recognize that in the first statement he is reciting the written law, and in
the second statement he is giving a new oral interpretation.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Finally, we know that Jesus was called rabbi. And we know
that rabbinic Judaism grew out of the Pharisaic movement. As one of my rabbi
friends said, “If he was a rabbi, then he was a Pharisee.”</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
The Pharisees gave birth to two great religions, Christianity
and rabbinic Judaism, the only form of Judaism to emerge from the ancient
world. They gave us the animating question for the synoptic gospels and the
belief structure for the fourth gospel. They also gave us a model for Bible
study and for the focus on scripture as part of the worship service.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Clearly, Jesus did have many arguments with the Pharisees as
individuals or in groups. And he criticized the movement as a whole. But those
disputes and disagreements should be understood as internal to the Pharisaic
movement itself, just as Christians disagree with other Christians and
sometimes criticize Christianity as a whole.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
And Jesus was not the only Pharisee looking critically at the
movement. His scathing criticism in Matthew 23 are mirrored almost exactly in a
passage in the Talmud which records a description of seven different types of
Pharisaic behavior, only the last of which is an example of the high standards
of belief and practice to which they were called.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
1. The “Shoulder Pharisee,” who wore his good deeds on
his shoulder.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">2. The “Wait a
Little Pharisee,” who always put off doing good deeds until a later time.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">3. The “Bruised
Pharisee,” who shut his eyes to avoid seeing a woman and was bruised from
stumbling and falling.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">4. The
“Humpbacked Pharisee,” bent double by false humility.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">5. The “Ever
Reckoning Pharisee,” who was always counting up his good deeds.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">6. The “Fearful
Pharisee,” always quaking in fear of God’s wrath.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">7. And finally,
the “God-loving Pharisee,” who lived with faith and charity, whose deeds
matched his professed beliefs.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Whether or not one believes that Jesus was a Pharisee, how we
view the Pharisees is very important for modern Christians. </span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
Apart from the basic idea that historical accuracy matters, a
reassessment of our attitude toward the Pharisees is critical for two reasons.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
First, when we can see more clearly the Jewish context of
Jesus’ life and ministry, we can better understand his teachings. We can see
him as a rabbi advocating for his people against an occupying empire, rather
than as a religious iconoclast rebelling against religious traditionalists. His
religious and political views both come into sharper focus when can see him in
his Jewish context.</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />
The second point is also of great practical importance. Many
Christians do not understand that modern Judaism, across the spectrum from the
Orthodox to Reform and even Reconstructionist, all have their roots in the
Pharisaic movement. When Christians slander the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, they
are also implicitly criticizing modern Judaism. This is oddly ironic, since
both Christianity and modern Judaism share a common beginning in the Pharisaic
movement. Although the irony may be amusing, the practical result is that the
historic Christian slander of the Pharisees has contributed to anti-Semitism.</span><br />
</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
A more accurate historical appreciation of the Pharisees can
give us a clearer understanding of Jesus’ life and ministry and open the way to
a more helpful relationship between Christianity and Judaism.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always
welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">*An earlier version of this post was published on
February 16, 2019.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-18509469451541052622019-03-13T18:26:00.001-07:002019-03-17T13:17:49.639-07:00The Traditional Plan and the Bible: Even the Devil Can Quote Scripture<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWkPcAFOlJt3JCJVtTgHY7e4WhcySp1epGVIojMke6JD8brrXa1O-Djh7TgNIcefLHmchJ6lGcMFy2YglJK5IPPVzf7vgrXHFNoEVWq3xoXrJUhLBLGqjQ77seszQw13hRY1-6Fx2ljT4/s1600/jesus-is-tempted-Mafa042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1600" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWkPcAFOlJt3JCJVtTgHY7e4WhcySp1epGVIojMke6JD8brrXa1O-Djh7TgNIcefLHmchJ6lGcMFy2YglJK5IPPVzf7vgrXHFNoEVWq3xoXrJUhLBLGqjQ77seszQw13hRY1-6Fx2ljT4/s400/jesus-is-tempted-Mafa042.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jesus Is Tempted in the Wilderness</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Luke 4:9-13</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Lectionary text for the first Sunday in Lent provides a good excuse to revisit the biblical argument with regard to the Traditional Plan and same sex relationships.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The problem is not with the scripture, but with how it is used, by whom and for what reason. The use of scripture to control and manipulate others is a great temptation for people of faith, and it is made even more tempting when it appears to come with deep sincerity and the best of intentions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In Luke’s version of the temptation story, the devil quotes scripture when he presents the last temptation. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is worth noting because the original story must have come from Jesus himself. There were no other witnesses. He was alone in the wilderness, fasting and praying. Shakespeare authored the famous quotation: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” But the idea originated with Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The importance of the detail is not diminished by the fact that the struggle was taking place within Jesus’ mind and soul. The devil or “tempter” was not some external spiritual being, but an inner experience of the spirit. It is useful to remember this story when we contemplate what the Bible says about homosexuality. It is widely accepted that “the Bible condemns homosexuality,” but the reality of the biblical witness is more complex and nuanced.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The problem is not new. In the decades leading up to the Civil War the Abolitionists and the slave owners both cited scripture. The Abolitionists built their case on the teachings of Jesus and on the broad themes of the prophets. The slave owners countered with the numerous specific references to slavery in the Bible. There are, in fact, 375 references to slavery, 82 of them are in the Gospels and another 58 are in Paul’s letters. Not once is the institution of slavery condemned.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If we reduce everything to biblical literalism, then the slave owners win, 375 to 0. But one would be hard pressed to find a Christian today who would argue in favor of slavery, and no serious student of the Bible would agree that the Bible is pro-slavery. The great themes of the Bible move in the opposite direction, toward freedom and mutual respect. Jesus’ simple commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (taken from Leviticus 19:18) outweighs all 375 references.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The assertion that the Bible condemns homosexuality is built on just 7 references. Three are in the Hebrew scriptures and four are in the New Testament. These are the passages typically used to “prove” that the Bible condemns homosexuality.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The late Walter Muelder, who was Dean of the Boston University School of Theology for many years, and a pioneer in the discipline of Christian Social Ethics, was adamant that when we go to the Bible for ethical direction, we cannot pick and choose. Seven passages are not enough to construct an ethic. They are not irrelevant. But they cannot be determinative. On the other hand, if you believe in biblical inerrancy, and you believe that each verse is equally inspired and authoritative, then you cannot question the authority of even a single verse, let alone seven passages. I think it is a useful exercise, just to be clear on what those passages actually say and mean, rather than to assume that we know. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Story of Sodom and Gomorrah</span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The first, and certainly the best known passage, is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. My guess is that when most people think about the sins of Sodom, they do not think about having “pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease,” and an unwillingness to “aid the poor and needy.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But there it is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We go to the Bible, looking for self-righteous moralisms and end up with social justice. Again. When it comes to the question of how we should be living our lives, it’s always about social justice. Or as Jesus summarized it in the Great Commandment, it’s about loving God and neighbor. (Loving God means loving your neighbor. And loving your neighbor is loving God.) We should keep Ezekiel’s commentary in mind as we review the narrative in Genesis. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The story begins with a happy episode. Three strangers come to visit Abraham and Sarah, who are living in a tent by the oaks of Mamre. The men are messengers from God, angels, who have come to reaffirm the promise that Abraham and Sarah will have a son. They speak with Abraham outside of the tent. Inside the tent, Sarah laughs, because it seems preposterous that at her age she could have a child. And there is a wonderful interchange in which the men chastise her for laughing. She insists that she did not laugh and the episode ends with one of the men saying, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Then the men set out toward Sodom, and Abraham goes with them to show the way. God tells Abraham that the men are going to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the cities, because there has been such a great outcry over their sin. Abraham then begins to bargain with God. What about the righteous who live in those cities, will the LORD sweep them away with the guilty? Abraham drives a hard bargain, and God agrees that if they can find ten righteous, then the cities will be spared.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">After the bargain is struck, “the LORD went his way,” and Abraham returned home, and “the two angels came to Sodom.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">At this point, things go downhill in a hurry. The strangers (angels) are met at the gate of the city by Lot, who insists that they spend the night with him. He makes them a feast, and they enjoy the meal together, but before they can lie down for the night, a crowd gathers outside. “The men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.” The crowd demands that Lot send out the strangers, “so that we may know them.” In other words, so that we may have sexual relations with them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Lot goes out to argue with the crowd and even offers to let them rape his two virgin daughters, rather than give up the men who have come “under the shelter of my roof.” But the crowd is undeterred and threatens to do even worse to Lot if he does not give up the strangers. At that point, the strangers reach out and pull Lot back into the house with them, and strike “with blindness” all those in the crowd, “so that they are unable to find the door.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In the morning the strangers send Lot and his family away to safety, and fire rains down on the cities until they are destroyed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is a dark tale. There are rays of light, but they are not easy to find. No one would count this among their favorite Bible stories. It is not the Sermon on the Mount, or the Good Samaritan. It isn’t the Twenty-third Psalm, or the Ten Commandments. It isn’t Micah or Amos or Hosea or Ruth. It isn’t even on a par with Esther.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The story is not just Patriarchal; it is deeply misogynistic. It’s good that Lot offers hospitality to strangers, and it’s good that he tries to protect his guests. But in his attempts to dissuade the men of Sodom from attacking the strangers, Lot offers to let them rape his daughters. And the story implies that the gang rape and humiliation of women is not as bad as the gang rape and humiliation of men.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is difficult to claim ethical guidance from a story which is fundamentally immoral. One of the challenges in reading and interpreting the Bible is separating the timeless truths from the stories that simply reflect the prejudices and limited perspectives of a primitive people. The story of Sodom clearly falls into the latter category. We need to recognize it as such, and let it go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Alternatively, we can focus, as Ezekiel did, on the guilt of Sodom that (apparently) first led to God’s judgment: “she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” That is a biblical truth which stands the test of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Two Verses from the Holiness Code </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">in Leviticus</span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. Leviticus 20:13</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Little Good Harbor sits on the southeastern coast of Georgetown Island. It is a charming place with an equally charming name. It is a small harbor, but contrary to what one might expect from the name, it is not very good. It is too shallow and has too many rocks. Though it looks inviting, it is almost useless. So it is of “Little Good.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Priestly Code of Leviticus is in many ways the Little Good Harbor of biblical wisdom. It is not as shallow as Little Good Harbor, but there are lots of rocks. In the storms of life it does not provide safe haven. The idea of a guide for living that sets God’s people apart, is a good one, but the actual code is deeply flawed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Leviticus has two almost identical verses of condemnation. The first passage, verse 22 of chapter 18, says simply, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” The second passage, printed above, adds the penalty of death, and notes that those who commit such acts are responsible for their fate; “their death is upon them.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The condemnation is clear and unmistakable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Here, as in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see reflections of a patriarchal and misogynistic culture. To lie “with a male as with a woman” was to treat the male as if he were female. This was the ultimate humiliation. Judaism and Christianity have moved toward gender equality, but the subjugation of women remains deeply imbedded in Middle Eastern culture. The condemnation of male homosexuality is a reflection of the patriarchal devaluation of women.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Abomination” is a strong word. And it is not used often. In the Priestly Code of Leviticus, it is an abomination to eat an eagle, an osprey, or a vulture. It is an abomination to eat a burnt offering after the second day. And it is an abomination to eat anything unclean. Eating such things may be unappetizing, but it hardly seems “an abomination.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The death penalty is serious. In Leviticus, it is mandated for murder, for adultery, for blasphemy, for cursing one’s mother or father, and for “wizards and mediums.” In Exodus and Deuteronomy, the death penalty is invoked for breaking Sabbath, as well as for outsiders who come near the Tabernacle. Looking back across the millennia, that seems a little harsh.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We know from historical research that the death penalty was seldom used for these crimes. At this point, the Torah uses the language of death, not literally as a legal sentence, but metaphorically, to indicate the seriousness of the offense. Just as in our less enlightened moments we might say, “anyone who does that ought to be shot!”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When we read that it is an abomination and that it calls for the death penalty, we read it as a very strong condemnation. But that reading is at least somewhat tempered by the recognition that many of the other offenses that are described with that same harsh language do not seem as “abominable” to twenty-first century readers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Leviticus is tough going. More than one well-intentioned and sincere Christian setting out to read the whole Bible from cover to cover has struggled through the long narratives of Genesis and Exodus, only to come to a grinding halt when confronted with the strange list of arcane laws that make up the Priestly Code of Leviticus. In order to understand it, we need to avoid getting lost in the details.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If we set out to construct a sexual ethic on the foundation of the two condemning verses in Leviticus, then we need to explain why we are picking and choosing those verses and not also including the admonitions about the ritual purification of women after menstruation and many other similar laws. And we need to explain our use of a code which is patriarchal and misogynistic. Its purpose is to set the people apart from the surrounding pagan culture, yet in its attitudes toward women it generally reflects that culture.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The premise of the Holiness Code is that God’s people should be holy as God is holy; that in our daily living we should remind ourselves of who we and whose we are. When the rabbis read these laws, they read them with that end in mind. The details are flawed, the product of a primitive world view and a pre-scientific understanding. But if we can focus beyond that, on the vision behind the details, then we can find light for our journey.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Paul told the church in Corinth that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. When it comes to the study of Torah, Rabbi Paul echoes the ancient rabbinic insight that God is found in the white spaces. Leviticus is about a people set apart and called to be different. The details may confound us, but the greater vision is of a life shaped by the calling of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Four New Testament References</span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. Romans 1:26-27 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. I Corinthians 6:9-10</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching I Timothy 1:9-10 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Jude 1:7 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As a Christian, I find the New Testament passages more troubling. We claim the whole Bible as our sacred story, but we also want to believe that Jesus brought a cosmic change in our thinking. Rightly or wrongly, I think we expect more enlightenment when we read the New Testament.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The passages from Hebrew scripture are more easily dismissed. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is clearly primitive. And no one takes Leviticus seriously.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Although Christians sometimes over-emphasize the uniqueness of Jesus’ teachings, he did bring a new perspective on many issues. He also deepened and expanded insights previously found in the Prophets. And he revealed great truths about human beings. But he did not change human nature.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Regardless of what we may believe about the inspiration of the biblical writers, we know that the actual words were written by human beings. The people who wrote the Bible (who put the letters and words on the page) were not perfect. And they were subject to the influences of the surrounding culture.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When Paul wrote his letters, he did not write them as sacred scripture. He was writing to specific people in specific places, offering advice and counsel intended for their situation. He did not know that two millennia later Christians would be studying those letters and reading them in worship as sacred texts. And the same is true for the unknown authors of the other New Testament epistles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Of the four texts cited above, the last three can be dismissed rather easily. The last two, from the First letter to Timothy and from the Letter to Jude, were written fifty to one hundred years after Paul’s death, and do not carry the same authority as a letter from the Apostle. The Corinthians passage, like the passages from Timothy and Jude is written with ambiguous language which makes the meaning unclear. These texts are talking about some sort of inappropriate sexual behavior, but it is not clear what it is. What is certain, is that they are not talking about a loving, consensual, committed same sex relationship between two adults.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Romans text is more difficult. We know with nearly one hundred percent certainty that it was written by Paul. That makes it hard to ignore if you believe as I do that Paul was the greatest Christian theologian, that all subsequent Christian theology is a footnote to Paul, and that his inspiration and brilliance were the driving force behind the spread of Christianity in the ancient world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">These two verses from Romans have probably done more to harm Christian attitudes toward homosexuality than anything else in the Bible. So what do we make of this?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">First, Paul’s primary interest in this passage is not homosexuality, he is writing about what happens when we turn away from God. When we turn away from God, says Paul, we do “unnatural” things. The sexual relations which Paul describes are the result and not the cause or our turning away.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Second, his apparent reason for rejecting same sex relations is that they are “unnatural.” But our sense of what is “natural” is not fixed. In the nineteenth century, it was thought “unnatural” for blacks to be equal to whites. A hundred years ago it was “unnatural” for children with learning disabilities to be in public school. Fifty years ago a majority of Americans believed that marriage between blacks and whites was “unnatural.” Our sense of what is natural has changed. Is it unreasonable to believe that if Paul were alive now, he would see things differently?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Paul wrote about what he saw in the context of his own time and place. What may have been true in his time is not necessarily true in our time. One of the great biblical truths from Abraham and Sarah onward is that God always calls us into the future. As Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, “This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward for what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.”</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*The original version of this post was published in January of 2014 as our congregation was in the process of becoming a Reconciling Congregation.</span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-88746497613155737732019-03-02T13:21:00.000-08:002019-03-02T15:25:32.022-08:00Rebuking the Demons of a Faithless and Perverse Generation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPu1T4DyGbG2hczH1RIFddMs0hunfNw6kk0bzy6o0b89LG7LuYHV9XknK6KsKq38eoq4feL0l9Bte7dts_Q2YvY8feUCnMUN_UUHqaSCwuopA8AY0LhqCWoMLwLoKNT6XDqn3Nd4cKZE/s1600/demon+possessed+boy+healed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="438" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPu1T4DyGbG2hczH1RIFddMs0hunfNw6kk0bzy6o0b89LG7LuYHV9XknK6KsKq38eoq4feL0l9Bte7dts_Q2YvY8feUCnMUN_UUHqaSCwuopA8AY0LhqCWoMLwLoKNT6XDqn3Nd4cKZE/s400/demon+possessed+boy+healed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">On the next day, when Jesus and Peter and James and John came down from the mountain, a great crowd met them. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Luke 9:37-43</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>When they had come down from the mountain</b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Fifteen years ago on Transfiguration Sunday when I preached on this text, we had just gotten home from a Mission Trip with our Youth Group to the Rural Mission on John’s Island near Charleston, South Carolina.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">John’s Island is a place of incredible natural beauty and yet it is also a place of devastating poverty. We had worshiped the previous Sunday with St. James United Methodist Church and it was wonderful, as it is every year. To sing James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” with a Black congregation was an incredibly moving experience. When they sang, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">felt in the days when hope unborn had died,”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I could not help thinking that the people in worship with me were, in fact, the great grandchildren of those who had been sold at the market in Charleston, just a few miles away.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I came to church on that Transfiguration Sunday emotionally exhausted from an experience that maybe gave just a glimmer of what the disciples experienced with Jesus. I think I felt some sense of what they felt when they came down the mountain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Every great experience ends and we have to go back to life as it was. Whether it’s a retreat, or a summer camp, or a terrific vacation, or an anniversary celebration, or a graduation, or even a memorial service; eventually it ends. We go through those high moments of insight and inspiration and emotion, but eventually we have to come down. Peter wanted to make dwellings there, but you can’t stay on the mountain top. The experience ends, and you have to come down.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When you come down, reentry is difficult. That’s what happens for Jesus and the disciples. They come down, and they find a crowd gathered. There’s a man whose son has a demon and he wants desperately to have that son healed. “My son,” he says, “my only child.” And he describes what happens to the boy: “It seizes him and mauls him and throws him to the ground, and sometimes he foams at the mouth.” Can you hear how deeply and desperately this man cares for his son?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">You know what that’s like.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">One of Jesus’ great gifts and one of his expectations of us is to care just as deeply as the father. To care just as deeply as the parents; not only for that child, but for all the other children across the whole human family. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>“You faithless and perverse generation!”</b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The desperate father; the disciples powerless to do anything; and Jesus says, “You faithless and perverse generation! How much longer must I put up with you?” Words that are eternally contemporary. I suspect that Jesus is just as frustrated with us as he was with them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">You come down from the mountain and the world is still crazy. There are still problems and still issues to address.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I checked my email when I got home from the Mission Trip and there was an invitation to a press conference on Tuesday morning for religious leaders supporting equal access to marriage; supporting Gay Marriage.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I read that and I said to myself, “I do not want to do this.” I walked into the kitchen, and I said to Elaine, “I’ve got a decision to make.” And I explained the situation. She said, “What’s the decision?” I said, “Well, I need to decide whether or not I’m going to go.” And she said, “Why would you not go?” “Because,” I said, “I don’t like to make people unhappy. It’s a controversial issue and it will make some people unhappy.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“So,” she said, “You don’t want people to be uncomfortable.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And then after a pause she said, “Some people have been uncomfortable their whole lives.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I told the congregation why I had decided to go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I said I knew it was controversial and I knew that some people saw this as a threat to marriage. But for me the threats to marriage were lack of commitment, lack of communication, and lack of trust. The fact that there were people of the same sex who want to make that commitment was something that we should celebrate. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was a good thing. For years the gay community has been criticized for promiscuity and yet there has been no avenue for a legal and sacred commitment. In an age when it is so hard to get anyone to make a commitment about anything, and at a time when commitment is in such short supply in the heterosexual community, I found it incredibly moving to see gay and lesbian couples lining up to promise their lives to each other.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I asked myself, “What would Jesus do?” And the question is answered as soon as it is asked. Jesus is always on the side of compassion.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus says to the people, with great frustration, “you faithless and perverse generation!” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Why is he frustrated? It’s not because they were good when he left and they’ve been bad while he was away, and now he has to correct them and get them back on track. The problem is not that they were good and now they are bad. The problem is that they are just the same now as when he left. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The problem is that they have not changed. They have not grown. And over and over throughout the Bible, that is the problem. The people of Israel want to go back to Egypt because they are uncomfortable moving forward through the wilderness. Growth is always uncomfortable. But, like the people of Israel, we need to move forward.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The next step is always hard. And honestly, sometimes people just need time. Over time, we meet people, we experience things and we live through it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I believe with all my heart and soul and mind and strength that the benediction I pronounce on Sunday morning is true, “that God loves us and accepts us just the way we are.” But I also believe just as deeply that God does not expect me to be in the same place today that I was yesterday. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The purpose of God’s unconditional love and acceptance is to give us room to grow. We cannot take the risk of growth unless we know that love is there. That’s why it’s so important that children feel loved and accepted. We don’t want them to stay eighth graders forever. When they are three and four we may feel like we want them to be preschoolers forever, but we really don’t. And heaven knows we don’t want them to be teenagers forever. We want them to grow. And God wants us to grow.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The frustration Jesus has with this group of people is that they have not changed. They have not grown. And isn’t that the problem with the Traditionalism? The wilderness is hard and they want to go back to Egypt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Jesus rebuked the demon, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus expresses his frustration and then he rebukes the demon. The language is hard for us. It seems very strange to speak of demons, but it’s a symbolic way of speaking about the evil in our lives. And it says something that we know is true: there are demons in our lives. Materialism, greed, the lust for power, and selfishness; those are all demons in our lives. Racism and xenophobia are demons. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And homophobia is a demon. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The demons seize us and convulse us and sometimes they even make us foam at the mouth. There are times, many times, when those demons must be rebuked. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>And all were astounded </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>at the greatness of God.</b></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When the demons are rebuked and we are healed it is astounding. It is testimony to the greatness of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In our United Methodist Church on this Transfiguration Sunday in 2019, we are not there yet. We are still mired in the demons of a perverse and foolish generation. We need to move forward. We need to rebuke the demons.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b></span><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-80617719682706054462019-02-27T03:19:00.001-08:002019-02-27T06:31:27.914-08:00Losing My Religion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SVbmRL5rJSbRLB7NRH95Ax8A2TyJFqqt0MxmXCzveAMkV-pqWMlc7eOYCBgps66xRh_jkttgYjd_SW_rIKpLbl3UIqHG8IcCKrmk-Z_UnfA7yNizPkyXNXldVzjO7mzDViumbAuO1Sc/s1600/loyalty+oath+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SVbmRL5rJSbRLB7NRH95Ax8A2TyJFqqt0MxmXCzveAMkV-pqWMlc7eOYCBgps66xRh_jkttgYjd_SW_rIKpLbl3UIqHG8IcCKrmk-Z_UnfA7yNizPkyXNXldVzjO7mzDViumbAuO1Sc/s400/loyalty+oath+pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thirty years ago I mentored a young man who wanted to be a United Methodist minister.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He and his family came to the church looking for Christian education for the kids. They had no real church background. It was all new. They loved the church right away and were soon at the center of church life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Tom (not his real name) asked lots of questions. He asked about the Bible and about theology and we had some great conversations. He was smart and inquisitive and totally captured by Jesus. He wanted to be a disciple in every possible way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It was not long before he spoke with me about becoming a candidate for ordained ministry. I remember the excitement we felt when the congregation voted to support and affirm his candidacy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He left his job and went to seminary full time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I was convinced that he had the gifts and graces for ministry and that he would be a great pastor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It soon became clear from our conversations that Tom was becoming much more conservative in his theology and that he was trending toward a much more literalistic reading of the Bible. In my mind, that was less than optimum but I still could see him as an excellent pastor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But the Conference Board of Ministry did not see him as I did. They turned him down. They continued him as a Local Pastor but they would not recommend him for ordination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I was outraged.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I made phone calls to everyone I could think of, including the Bishop, to plead his case. I wrote letters and the church wrote letters.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">There was plenty of room for Tom, I thought, in the big tent of United Methodist theology.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And I had many conversations about it with friends and colleagues.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">One of those conversations imprinted itself in my brain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">My friend and colleague Kent Moorehead listened attentively as I told him what had happened to Tom and how zealously I had advocated on his behalf.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">After a short exchange, Kent smiled and told me that he admired my loyalty and my efforts. Then he said this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>“That’s great, Bill, but you do realize that if they are ever in the majority, those people will vote you out in a heartbeat.”</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And yesterday in St. Louis that is exactly what they did.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Tom was not there. He drifted around some very conservative churches in our conference and then into other
denominations. But his soul mates were in St. Louis. And by a slim margin they
voted to make United Methodism a rigidly literalistic and judgmental
denomination with no room for dissent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">They chose law over grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">They put the highest value on
obeying the rules.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">They will talk about biblical
authority, but what they mean is that everyone should agree with how they read
the Bible: with narrow judgment focused on the narrow issue of LGBTQIA
exclusion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">That’s it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Technically, I have not lost my
religion. I can still be a Christian. But I have lost my denomination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I will not go gently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I will not comply with the demand
for a loyalty oath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And I will work for a new and
better church rising from the wreckage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-1482117635435508842019-02-23T09:29:00.000-08:002019-02-23T09:29:36.614-08:00Traditional Christianity Is an Oxymoron<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirB410XzN1RXQW6iB-4PNpOXTcuZ3ws-TwYBpl9aJJlwR9OosxQdWggwV8keBj9GFkTLf2oqyXES13T20E7xJVFB02Kn_q7STC6fP7LngrHomfn3GLvlIIP-xbaa4Kj1crh7afeyi24Bs/s1600/Quadrilateral+Game.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="236" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirB410XzN1RXQW6iB-4PNpOXTcuZ3ws-TwYBpl9aJJlwR9OosxQdWggwV8keBj9GFkTLf2oqyXES13T20E7xJVFB02Kn_q7STC6fP7LngrHomfn3GLvlIIP-xbaa4Kj1crh7afeyi24Bs/s400/Quadrilateral+Game.jpeg" width="361" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">See, the former things have come to pass, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">and new things I now declare; </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">before they spring forth, I tell you of them.</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Isaiah 42:9</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Traditional Christianity is an oxymoron.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I have said that many times. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I keep hoping it will become a meme.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Jesus was a devout and observant Jew. But he was not a traditionalist. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He was continually breaking new ground. He redefined the role of women and the definition of neighbor. He continually challenged his disciples to see the world and their neighbors in new ways. And he preached a message about the Kingdom of God that turned the world upside down.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And Paul made it clear that to be in Christ was to die to old ways and live into a new reality. “When anyone is in Christ,” he told the church in Corinth, “the old has passed away and there is a whole new world.” Everything is made new.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Of course it really begins long before Jesus and Paul. The prophets continually pressed forward in the face of the cultic tradition. Rather than burnt offerings they demanded justice and mercy. The parables of Ruth and Jonah broke new ground, rejecting exclusionary doctrines in favor of a new openness. Throughout the Hebrew Bible and through the Greek New Testament there is a continual push toward new insights and understandings. And the movement is always away from the past and into the future.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The genius of great Christian thinkers and theologians is that they were innovators. They looked at things in new ways. They developed new ideas and perspectives. That was true of Augustine, of Luther and Calvin, of Wesley, of Gladden, Rauschenbusch, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Tillich, and Niebuhr.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">If John Wesley were with us today he wouldn’t be looking at eighteenth century solutions to our twenty-first century dilemma. He would be looking at how we can use what we know today to solve today’s problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And that brings us to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Although it represents a significant advance in biblical and theological reflection, and provides a key insight into Wesley’s thought, the quadrilateral has been under attack by traditionalists ever since Albert Outler articulated it as a key Wesleyan methodology. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Simply put, Wesley believed that sound biblical interpretation requires testing individual texts against the whole of the biblical witness, and then reasoning about that text, using the tradition of the church as well as every aspect of our experience. Similarly, ethical decision-making means more than searching the Bible for a text that will tell us what to do. It requires using the whole of the biblical witness, and then thinking it through in terms of the wisdom of the past and the experience of the present.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The traditionalist critique has reshaped the quadrilateral to make it clear that scripture is primary. In one rendering it is pictured as a pyramid, with Scripture in large letters at the top, and Reason, Tradition, and Experience below. In another image, Reason, Tradition, and Experience are pictured as overlapping circles within a larger circle labeled Scripture. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Paul Wesley Chilcote, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, writing for Good News magazine, begins his critique this way:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> “I will never forget a conversation I had one August afternoon in 1982 at Oxford University with Professor Albert Outler. We were talking about the many terms he had coined over the years. He said rather abruptly, ‘There is one phrase I wish I had never used: the 'Wesleyan Quadrilateral.' It has created the wrong image in the minds of so many people and, I am sure, will lead to all kinds of controversy.’”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Fortunately, Dr. Outler gave a much more complete and nuanced explanation of his “regret” in a 1985 essay in the <a href="http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1985-wtj-20-1.pdf">Wesleyan Theological Journal</a>.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"The term 'quadrilateral' does not occur in the Wesley corpus—and more than once, I have regretted having coined it for contemporary use, since it has been so widely misconstrued. But if we are to accept our responsibility for seeking intellecta for our faith, in any other fashion than a 'theological system' or, alternatively, a juridical statement of 'doctrinal standards,' then this method of a conjoint recourse to the fourfold guidelines of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience, may hold more promise for an evangelical and ecumenical future than we have realized as yet—by comparison, for example, with biblicism, or traditionalism, or, rationalism, or empiricism. It is far more valid than the reduction of Christian authority to the dyad of 'Scripture' and 'experience' (so common in Methodist ranks today). The 'quadrilateral' requires of a theologian no more than what he or she might reasonably be held accountable for: which is to say, a familiarity with Scripture that is both critical and faithful; plus, an acquaintance with the wisdom of the Christian past; plus, a taste for logical analysis as something more than a debater’s weapon; plus, a vital, inward faith that is upheld by the assurance of grace and its prospective triumphs, in this life."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">At the time he gave us the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, Dr. Outler was the foremost Wesleyan scholar and theologian. And the Quadrilateral came to us in a time when Methodists believed deeply in theological pluralism and embraced Reason and Experience as the necessary companions of Scripture and Tradition. We were proud to say that in the United Methodist Church, “you don’t have to park your mind at the door when you come to worship.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">But the Quadrilateral does not rest on Dr. Outler’s imprimatur alone. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Although Wesley himself never used the phrase it is easy to see the quadrilateral in his writing. Scripture, Reason, and Tradition were (and are) the foundational interpretive elements of the Anglican theology in which Wesley was nurtured, and even a cursory glance at his writing shows the importance of experience as a key element in his thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">There may be many reasons why the traditionalists despise the Quadrilateral, but two of them are critical.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">First, if we apply the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to questions of LGBTQ inclusion in the full life of the church, we come down on the side of inclusion. Both scientific reason and personal experience weigh in heavily for openness.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Second, in this dispute and in wider context, the traditionalists want to assert a more literal interpretation of Scripture, believing that this has conservative theological and political implications.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On this second point we can easily go back to Wesley himself to observe how he approached Scripture.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In a sermon “On Charity,” based on the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, he begins this way:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"We know, 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,' and is therefore true and right concerning all things. But we know, likewise, that there are some Scriptures which more immediately commend themselves to every man's conscience. In this rank we may place the passage before us; there are scarce any that object to it. On the contrary, the generality of men very readily appeal to it. Nothing is more common than to find even those who deny the authority of the Holy Scriptures, yet affirming, 'This is my religion; that which is described in the thirteenth chapter of the Corinthians.' Nay, even a Jew, Dr. Nunes, a Spanish physician, then settled at Savannah, in Georgia, used to say with great earnestness, 'That Paul of Tarsus was one of the finest writers I have ever read. I wish the thirteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians were wrote in letters of gold. And I wish every Jew were to carry it with him wherever he went.' He judged, (and herein he certainly judged right) that this single chapter contained the whole of true religion. It contains 'whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely: If there be any virtue, if there be any praise,' it is all contained in this."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Wesley did not believe, as many literalists do, that all Scripture is of equal value. And for Wesley, the importance of a passage is judged in part by reason and experience, even the reason and experience of non-Christians.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">An even more telling example is found in his sermon on “Free Grace.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">With a theological position firmly rooted in Reason and Experience, he declares that the “blasphemous” lie of Predestination is false and it does not matter to him how many passages of Scripture the Calvinists can cite. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“No scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Here is the full paragraph from “Free Grace:”</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"This is the blasphemy clearly contained in the horrible decree of predestination! And here I fix my foot. On this I join issue with every assertor of it. You represent God as worse than the devil; more false, more cruel, more unjust. But you say you will prove it by scripture. Hold! What will you prove by Scripture that God is worse than the devil I cannot be. Whatever that Scripture proves, it never an prove this; whatever its true meaning be. This cannot be its true meaning. Do you ask, 'What is its true meaning then' If I say, 'I know not,' you have gained nothing; for there are many scriptures the true sense whereof neither you nor I shall know till death is swallowed up in victory. But this I know, better it were to say it had no sense, than to say it had such a sense as this. It cannot mean, whatever it mean besides, that the God of truth is a liar. Let it mean what it will it cannot mean that the Judge of all the world is unjust. No scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works; that is, whatever it prove beside, no scripture can prove predestination."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">For Wesley, Reason and Experience are not the end he seeks. They are the means. They are tools to be used in the understanding of scripture and of the world. But the fundamental theological affirmation on which everything rests, is grace. Wesleyan theology is always about grace.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In 1984, the bicentennial year of American Methodism, Martin E. Marty interviewed Dr. Outler for an article in The Christian Century:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Marty asked him what he has learned about how one translates the insights of Christian history and theology into a sermon for everyday people. The answer says a lot about Albert Outler and about Methodist theology:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Three things. Somehow you have to be gracious. Then you have to show graciousness, and talk about it. It can be talked about. Finally, you call forth from people some sort of response to grace as unmerited favor, to the fact that our lives are gifted.” </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">(Pounce: the mind triggers, “This really is a Methodist!”) </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Life," Outler goes on, “is not merely fortune or luck, good or bad. When we preach, we tell people that God loves them -- and then we let them go.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">And then he concluded, “The preacher has to say, ‘I live by grace. You live by grace. We can therefore be thankful. We can love.”’ </span><br />
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<b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </b><br />
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-28535022906209900172019-01-10T14:10:00.000-08:002019-01-10T14:10:06.827-08:00Bigotry in the Name of God Is Blasphemy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUXlK0g056wVS_ZocckTUcnjB3aPT6uTXfZfuvekLRvxX0q60CpfoBfzCNHKpbgg2fFYFJUKMOmZrjM2opNr15gpGcfKi3QvM63utTq6mKzv51RT7-97xPcPpIczjXCHFBad2r0E-QAGA/s1600/Senators+introduce+anti-lynching+bill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUXlK0g056wVS_ZocckTUcnjB3aPT6uTXfZfuvekLRvxX0q60CpfoBfzCNHKpbgg2fFYFJUKMOmZrjM2opNr15gpGcfKi3QvM63utTq6mKzv51RT7-97xPcPpIczjXCHFBad2r0E-QAGA/s400/Senators+introduce+anti-lynching+bill.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Senators Tim Scott, Kamalah Harris and Cory Booker, sponsors of the Anti-Lynching Bill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates a brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. </i><br /><b>I John 2:9-11 </b><br /><br />For Christians, this is Epiphany, the season of light. We celebrate the light of the world, which we see in Jesus. And we remind ourselves that we believe in light rather than darkness. <br /><br />Regardless of our religious affiliation or lack of it, light is a powerful image which speaks to the heart of our spiritual journey. We are always seeking more light; always doing our best to choose light over darkness; reminding ourselves that we can trust the light. <br /><br />It is a struggle, because we are tempted by the darkness. Often the world seems to love darkness more than light. And there are some who will try to make us believe that darkness is light, and light is darkness. <br /><br />Sometimes the campaign against the light is led by people who call themselves Christian. <br /><br />In an online <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/evangelical-group-wants-gays-removed-anti-lynching-bill-n956831?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR2sLf_q2HpWIwgDetbfflB2tBrczT2nmnhCXaK7NPL5vkFbJiR1UXkkjWA">article for NBC News</a>, Brooke Sopelsa reports that the Liberty Counsel, a self-proclaimed evangelical nonprofit that opposes gay rights, is opposing a bill that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. <br /><br />Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver explained that the group opposes the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act because it specifically includes protections for LGBTQ people. <br /><br />"The old saying is once that camel gets the nose in the tent, you can't stop them from coming the rest of the way in," Staver told the conservative Christian news outlet OneNewsNow. “This is a way to slip it in under a so-called anti-lynching bill, and to then to sort of circle the wagon and then go for the juggler [sic] at some time in the future." <br /><br />The anti-lynching bill was introduced in June by by the Senate’s three black members, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. It addresses lynchings motivated by a victim’s “actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” <br /><br />In a statement after the bill passed the senate unanimously, Senator Booker remarked: <br /><br />“For over a century, members of Congress have attempted to pass some version of a bill that would recognize lynching for what it is: a bias-motivated act of terror. And for more than a century, and more than 200 attempts, this body has failed. We have righted that wrong and taken corrective action that recognizes this stain on our country’s history.” <br /><br />One might think that an anti-lynching bill was at least a century too late to make any difference, but the opposition proves it is still needed. <br /><br />Mat Staver and the Liberty Counsel hope they can stop it before it passes the house where they are lobbying Lawmakers to remove protections for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” before taking a vote. <br /><br />They want to make it clear: they oppose lynching. They simply object to including the specific protections for LGBTQ persons. <br /><br />The Liberty Counsel is not promoting liberty or Christianity. They are darkness rather than light. <br /><br />In the words of John’s letter, “whoever hates a brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.” <br /><br />Epiphany is a good time to remind ourselves that Christians are always called to walk in the light, and choose light over darkness. Bigotry is always wrong. <br /><br />But Christians have a special responsibility to reject bigotry in the name of God. <br /><br />Bigotry in the name of God is blasphemy. </span><br /><br /><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Thank you for
reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to
share on social media as you wish. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-38790612231120876772019-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:002019-01-03T07:13:35.609-08:00Collateral Damage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_a3PVZlUux5ltde1hmzspEjlNWlDQergzKVrZbrELhejV9alqFs5c3bGFHAIZqRI5ktCt-HCAOGM82WZObdJVg2O2UQm9QwocmOADsVCU6vqtEYK9hyn7tgNf3jeINz_akaX0j53uv_s/s1600/Hypocrisy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="173" data-original-width="291" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_a3PVZlUux5ltde1hmzspEjlNWlDQergzKVrZbrELhejV9alqFs5c3bGFHAIZqRI5ktCt-HCAOGM82WZObdJVg2O2UQm9QwocmOADsVCU6vqtEYK9hyn7tgNf3jeINz_akaX0j53uv_s/s400/Hypocrisy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the
weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you
ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>You blind guides! You strain out a
gnat but swallow a camel!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Matthew 23:23-24<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We need to be absolutely clear that
in the Christian Church’s war on LGBTQ persons, our LGBTQ siblings have borne
the overwhelming weight of the suffering. The Traditionalists often claim that
they have had no desire to hurt anyone, but that does not mitigate the pain
they have inflicted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But there has also been collateral
damage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And the collateral damage should not
be underestimated. It is wide and deep and it will have lasting effects on the
whole church.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We have trivialized our
understanding of the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We are straining out gnats and
swallowing camels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">There are seven passages in the
Bible that are typically used to “prove” that the Bible condemns same sex
relationships. They consist of a few hundred words; a small fraction of the
total word count of nearly a million.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And these seven “<a href="https://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2015/07/gay-marriage-and-bible-even-devil-can.html">clobber verses</a>” are
all problematic in one way or another. When Christians act as if an
authoritative biblical witness can be found by lifting these seven passages out
of context we trivialize the whole Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Those who read the Bible this way become
de facto literalists and they make it much more difficult to appreciate the
Bible as a guide to faith. It becomes a rule book rather than an inspiring
narrative. Instead of being a book of big ideas, it becomes a book of isolated
verses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And those who have tried to counter the
condemnations of the traditionalists have typically joined the debate on those
same terms. We counter one series of passages with another. We cite verses. And
even though we may be using those verses as illustrations rather than as proof
texts, to the secular world it looks like proof-texting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">It is more like a game of biblical
trivia than an honest exploration of the biblical witness. And the result is
that we diminish the meaning of the Scriptures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We appear to care more about archaic
and anachronistic rules than we do about actual human beings. The
traditionalists may claim to be honoring Scripture. And that may be their
honest intention. But in practical terms, they achieve a high view of Scripture
by making a few verses more important than the people for whom the whole
biblical witness is intended.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We have trivialized the meaning of
sin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Paul Tillich, one of the greatest
theologians of the twentieth (or any other) century, </span><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2017/07/sin-is-not-about-sex-or-dessert.html">questioned </a>whether the Christian concept of sin
could survive in the modern world. He argued that for modern people a more
helpful word for sin </span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">is separation. In his famous
sermon, “You Are Accepted,” he described sin as a state of separation:
separation from God, from others, and from ourselves. And he defined grace as
the acceptance which overcomes that separation and reunites us with God, with
others, and with ourselves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">If sin was a difficult concept in
the middle of the twentieth century, it is nearly impossible now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The traditionalist focus on the
“sin” of same sex relationships is spectacularly unhelpful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In the 21<sup>st</sup> century we do
not see sex as inherently sinful. Forced sex is sinful. Unfaithfulness we can
see as sinful. But sex between consenting and committed adults is not seen as
sinful. Almost every couple I have married has been living together. And those
that weren’t living together were typically splitting time between houses or
apartments. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Focusing on the sin of same sex
relationships comes off as hypocritical.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But that is not the biggest problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">When we try to identify sin with
same sex relationships we lose focus on the sins that are central to the
biblical witness: economic and social injustice. The Bible is far more
concerned with how we treat poor people than with our sex lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The focus on sex is petty and
hypocritical and it takes away from issues that really should concern us as
Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We have made it look like we do not
believe in science.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The American Psychiatric Association
removed homosexuality as a mental illness from its Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) approximately twenty minutes after the United
Methodist Church declared it to be “incompatible with Christian teaching.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Those of us who actually believed in
the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Experience)
assumed it would not be long before the Book of Discipline caught up with the
science and revised our understanding of same sex relationships. But we
underestimated the growing influence of right wing theology and selective
biblical literalism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We are at odds with the best
insights of science and medicine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We appear backward, primitive, and
superstitious. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And United Methodists find
themselves lumped together with those who think the world was made in seven
days five thousand years ago, and evolution is a hoax. Not surprisingly, this
costs us credibility. But it goes far beyond sex and biology. The bad science
undermines the biblical witness across a broad spectrum of ethical and moral
issues.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">It makes us appear irrelevant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And then. Finally. We just look
stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Traditionalists can talk about being
counter-cultural, and that could be a good thing. We should be counter-cultural
in our rejection of violence, and greed, and selfishness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">At its core, Christianity is
profoundly counter-cultural.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But this. Is just. Stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">As a wise person once observed,
“Just because you are a fool does not mean you are a fool for Christ. Sometimes
you’re just a damned fool.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Those of us who are still affirming
a faith that is open and accepting might hope that we would not be affected by
the loud condemnations of the traditionalists. But it just doesn’t work that
way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Those who condemn our LGBTQ siblings
do not speak for the whole church. They certainly do not speak for the whole of
the United Methodist Church. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">They do not speak for the Episcopal
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Presbyterian Church USA, the
United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalists, and others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And in a broader faith context they
do not speak for Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist Judaism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But to much of the secular world,
and among many casual Christians, those voices of condemnation sound like the
official voice of Christianity. And, in a general sense, condemnation seems
like the singular voice of organized religion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In the war on our LGBTQ siblings,
Christianity is just collateral damage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">*It is important to read the 23<sup>rd</sup>
chapter of Matthew within the context of our understanding that <a href="https://thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com/2016/02/jesus-was-pharisee-seriously-he-was.html">Jesus was himself a Pharisee </a>and that what he describes is an internal conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always
welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-45819287603732390262018-12-21T09:27:00.000-08:002020-01-01T10:40:34.477-08:00Was Mary a Virgin? (A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeNXHNdcw6jykKbqVpAb0LCND2BG1TxQTHtMZqddjHYdx6jJKpu561r9HcJEDYtG2vyQ62y2cSD9aHVvGa3uvsqr84dtjjQYHPxdmcZQFKIp0pNo-DVz9ulZCE7cWyqWXUJBQmK768RA/s1600/Mary+and+Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeNXHNdcw6jykKbqVpAb0LCND2BG1TxQTHtMZqddjHYdx6jJKpu561r9HcJEDYtG2vyQ62y2cSD9aHVvGa3uvsqr84dtjjQYHPxdmcZQFKIp0pNo-DVz9ulZCE7cWyqWXUJBQmK768RA/s320/Mary+and+Jesus.jpg" width="212" /></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Mary
said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said
to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be
called Son of God.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Luke
1:34-35<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Christianity
has a marketing problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Our
most important marketing problem is that the Christian message has been hijacked
by right-wing political groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But beyond
that, we have a problem with our messaging. Christmas ought to be a slam dunk and
it isn’t. In congregations that follow the lectionary, you know what I mean.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Over
the first three Sundays of Advent, while the secular world is making spirits bright,
we dedicate Sunday morning worship to the Apocalypse, John the Baptist, and
John the Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Because
apparently you can’t have too much John the Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Nothing
expresses the joy of the season better than “You brood of vipers! Who warned
you to flee from the wrath to come?” Finally, three paragraphs later, Luke says
that “with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it is a relief on the Fourth Sunday of
Advent when we finally get to Mary and Elizabeth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But Mary
brings us another problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In
his wonderful commentary on The New Testament, William Barclay observes that in
Mary’s story, “we are face to face with one of the great controversial
doctrines of the Christian faith—the Virgin Birth.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Today,
when much of the Christian Church has become captive to the biblical literalism
of the Religious Right, it is important to reflect on Barclay’s perspective.
When he was writing, in the middle of the last century, Barclay was one of the preeminent
biblical scholars, and the very embodiment of orthodox scholarship. His work defined
the center of Christian biblical scholarship and theology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In
terms of the Virgin Birth, Barclay declares that “the church does not insist
that we believe in this doctrine.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We
may choose to believe it, says Barclay, based on a literal reading of this passage
as well as Matthew 1:18-25. And, he writes, “It is natural to argue that if
Jesus was, as we believe, a very special person, he would have a very special
entry into this world.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But
there are also excellent biblical reasons not to take the story literally.
First, the genealogies in both Matthew and Luke trace Jesus’s ancestry through
Joseph. Second, when Mary and Joseph finally find Jesus in the temple (Luke
2:48) she tells him that “Your father and I have been looking for you
anxiously.” Third, there are other references to Jesus as Joseph’s son (Matthew
13:55, John 6:42). And finally, the rest of the New Testament (Mark, John, and
Paul’s letters) knows nothing of this story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Barclay sets the story in the context of Jewish belief. “The Jews had a saying that in
the birth of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i> child there are three
partners—the father, the mother and the Spirit of God. They believed that no
child could ever be born without the Spirit.” So these stories are “lovely,
poetical ways of saying that, even if he had a human father, the Holy Spirit of
God was operative in his birth in a unique way.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">This
is more than an academic discussion because it goes to the very heart of how we
understand the Bible. The insistence of literalism in this case suggests a literalistic
approach to the Bible as a whole. When Christians (especially pastors and
Sunday School teachers) insist on a belief in the Virgin Birth, they
invite prioritizing literalism over religious meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">And when we focus on literalism, it's easy to lose the meaning altogether.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The
meaning of Jesus’s birth does not depend on a DNA test.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Thank
you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel
free to share on social media as you wish. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br />Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-46605965158314384882018-12-19T11:41:00.001-08:002018-12-19T11:44:08.599-08:00Listening to Marley's Ghost<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcExsc4e4UIA2ZU0sXGKCtwep_b1v5zABrxbJcDU9gLUKv8uYSHskGQOKOCn6wAhkdwUz7fYc6uGlmZ2N3w6sRd25adzXqzv6SWK7anPjmZYK_PlTHIsrXR9PFFtC9VpCgnU629S8W5I/s1600/A-Christmas-Carol-2018-Jacob-Marley-by-Jeffrey-Roark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="770" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcExsc4e4UIA2ZU0sXGKCtwep_b1v5zABrxbJcDU9gLUKv8uYSHskGQOKOCn6wAhkdwUz7fYc6uGlmZ2N3w6sRd25adzXqzv6SWK7anPjmZYK_PlTHIsrXR9PFFtC9VpCgnU629S8W5I/s400/A-Christmas-Carol-2018-Jacob-Marley-by-Jeffrey-Roark.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">“A
Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, was published 175 years ago today. It is
a message worth remembering, especially in a time when we seem to value the old
Scrooge of greed over the new Scrooge of generosity and goodwill. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">One of the very odd things about our popular culture is that we often seem to have a universal reverence for books or movies that ought to be deeply controversial. And this is particularly true with regard to two of the most cherished productions of the Christmas season. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The movie Frank Capra movie, "A Wonderful Life," and the Charles Dickens novel, "A Christmas Carol," both present stinging critiques of the worst excesses of capitalism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">In this iconic
scene from "A Christmas Carol," Scrooge is confronted by the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley
who has come back to warn him that selfishness is ultimately self-defeating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">“Jacob,''
said Scrooge, imploringly. ``Old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to
me, Jacob.''</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Oh!
captive, bound, and double-ironed,'' cried the phantom, ``not to know, that
ages of incessant labour by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into
eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to
know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it
may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness.
Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's
opportunities misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!''</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">“But
you were always a good man of business, Jacob,'' faltered Scrooge, who now
began to apply this to himself.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">“Business!''
cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The
common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in
the comprehensive ocean of my business!'' </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">We live in a time in which Old Scrooge's definition of business triumphs over that of Marley's ghost. Dickens tells a story that we need to hear again.</span></span></div>
<br />Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1954032186621541669.post-77069194980777926422018-12-14T17:15:00.000-08:002018-12-14T17:15:01.722-08:00A Craven Madness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjud0-l1LzTl1Mr6f7oWSVWML-i59PivgOO3zu29_UOsztwa3_3bGw41BqZqGXsClUOIhHkmEddv9V0pnjvGliDu_9VcxipItZLqQmqiRpi6AYMXviCssI9cI9K7vLnCskzXd75knxR42s/s1600/Children+Killed+at+Sandy+Hook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="746" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjud0-l1LzTl1Mr6f7oWSVWML-i59PivgOO3zu29_UOsztwa3_3bGw41BqZqGXsClUOIhHkmEddv9V0pnjvGliDu_9VcxipItZLqQmqiRpi6AYMXviCssI9cI9K7vLnCskzXd75knxR42s/s400/Children+Killed+at+Sandy+Hook.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>For God did not give us a craven spirit, </i></span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>but rather a spirit of power </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>and of love </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>and of self-discipline.</i><br /><b>II Timothy 1:7</b><br /><br />I have been thinking about the children and teachers who were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, six years ago today.</span><div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">But those reflections led me to another multiple shooting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />My guess is that you do not remember the May 23, 2014 killings in Isla Vista, California.<br /><br />Neither did I.<br /><br />There are so many killings, it’s hard to keep track. <br /><br />I came across a reference to Isla Vista as I was researching gun control issues in relation to Sandy Hook.<br /><br />I found that I wrote a blog post about it at the time, but I still had only the vaguest recollection. The bare facts are that a 22 year old young man named Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others before killing himself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">In a manifesto he posted on “You Tube,” he called his plan “Rodger’s Retribution.” He said he planned to punish women for rejecting his sexual advances, and men for having more active sex lives than he did.<br /><br />In the days following the killings, a Facebook “friend” had posted a link to Richard Martinez’s <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/05/27/316348718/rampage-victims-father-inaction-of-gutless-politicians-killed-his-son?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140527">impassioned plea for gun control</a> in the aftermath of his son’s death in Isla Vista, </span><div>
<br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">In a series of interviews, Martinez had called out the “gutless politicians” whose unwillingness to implement any meaningful restrictions in the availability of firearms was a major factor in his son’s killing. "Why did Chris die?" he yelled in one interview. "Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Near that same time, another “friend” posted a link to </span><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this,36131/" style="font-size: xx-large;">an article in The Onion</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">. I love the satire in The Onion, but this seemed in very bad taste. Above a picture of grieving college students was the headline: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” The article is short and it isn’t funny at all.</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">ISLA VISTA, CA—In the days following a violent rampage in southern California in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Tuesday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said North Carolina resident Samuel Wipper, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Why are we unable to do anything? Why are we so addicted to guns? And I know that three of the seven victims at Isla Vista were killed with a knife, so we could also ask why we are so addicted to violence. But guns are the common denominator in mass killings over the years.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">As comedian John Oliver once observed, "One failed attempt at a shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings since Columbine and no change in our regulation of guns."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">After 9/11 we made drastic changes in airport security. Basically, we search everyone. We won’t allow anything more deadly than a paperclip carried on an airplane. We limit shampoo bottles to 3.4 ounces. We won’t let anyone park anywhere near the boarding areas. We tolerate restrictions that once would have seemed bizarre. And we do all of this to prevent another tragedy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">The total death toll on 9/11 was 2,996. The number still looks horrific. Even one death is too many. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">But more than 30,000 people die each year in America from firearms. For the math-challenged, that would be ten times as many deaths every year.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">About two-thirds of those deaths are suicides. If you don’t care about those deaths (and many don’t) you can feel free to discount them. Nine to ten thousand per year still seems like a lot, but maybe that’s just me. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">And yes, I know people die all the time from all sorts of causes. I’m a pastor. I am well acquainted with grief. But that does not seem to me like a good excuse to do nothing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">We have lost approximately half a million lives to firearms since 9/11. This is madness. To borrow the word shared by Mr. Martinez and the Apostle Paul, this is craven madness.</span><br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /><b>Thank you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel free to share on social media as you wish.</b></div>
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*Parts of this post were originally published in May of 2014.</div>
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Bill Trenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055902411464959661noreply@blogger.com0