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Holding it Together: Being and Doing

~ philipamerson

Holding It Together: Being and Doing

Knowing of my friend’s health concerns, I asked “how are you doing?”  “I’m barely holding it together,” he responded. “It’s not the aches and pains; I’m not sleeping. I carry a dread for the future.” His insomnia was a fretting over our national trajectory and the deceits that appear to be a “new normal.” I understood. Divisive and demeaning language, dehumanizing others, greed and grifting, scapegoating, talk of retaliation and efforts to upend democratic institutions.  Mostly, my friend’s concerns were the loss of our nation’s moral center.

Women’s Park, Chicago: Jane Addams “Helping Hands” memorial.

“Barely holding it together” – honest, sharp-edged reality. Like the patient waiting to hear that dreaded diagnosis, or the father learning of an active shooter at his child’s school, or the undocumented mother who, after years working in a menial job and proudly sending her children off to college, who now fears deportations. After the 2024 election we live at the edges of hope and dread.

My first U.S. Presidential vote was in 1968. Fifteen elections later, my politics have changed, but not my trust in our future. That is, until now. Has our nation changed?  Will we hold it together?  Did the fear-saturated-campaign of 2024 and promises made with fascist overtones indicate a shift in our body politic?  Has racism, greed, misogyny and xenophobia reshaped our national identity or simply uncovered what was there?  Haven’t these dynamics always played a role? Of course, bigotry has been “background noise” but now, blatant discrimination and retribution are “baked-in” as a publicly endorsed strategy.

Is the seeking of truth sublimated to seeking revenge? Do computer algorithms prevent robust honest, dialogue among citizens?  Are “news” feeds turned into a diet of “ideologically-preprocessed-information-meals.”  Basic civic creeds that “all persons are created as equal,” or “the separation of church and state,” or “equal justice under the law” appear to be devalued, seen as outmoded and divorced from ethical political and civic practice.  As grievance becomes the coin of the realm, an inflation of conspiracy theories, dictatorial impulses, and a sense of helplessness emerges. Can we hold it together?

Pro Democracy Banner, Barcelona, 2019

We are heading into choppy national waters, bouncing along without a shared vision of common-wealth or personal responsibility. The Ship of State as conceived of by Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams and Madison, refined by Lincoln or Susan B Anthony and the wisdom of many more recent leaders is threatened. Our nation may founder on dangerous shoals of division, greed, and authoritarianism.  In his 1960 inaugural address John F. Kennedy challenged, “Ask not what your country can do for you but rather what can you do for your country.” 

My friend, the Rev. David G. Owen, now deceased, spoke of the importance of living a seamless life, where our actions (personal and social) are aligned with our core beliefs. These need to be “held together.”  How shall we live more fully, as if our nation’s creeds and our religious beliefs are reflected in our daily actions? 

Recently, prior to a meeting, a friend advised, “It is best if we leave Jesus in the parking lot.”  Perhaps he feared that as a clergy person I would divert our attention from the stated agenda.  I had heard this “leaving Jesus in the parking lot” talk before. I might have said, “O Jesus is already in that board room, don’t worry” but, instead, I was quiet.

“Holding it together” requires moral, judicial and behavioral consistency – being and doing.  This is not a call to Christian Nationalism, NO!  It is quite the opposite. It is a call to a patriotism linked to virtues taught across the centuries, religious and non-religious. It is a turning away from the threats and abuses commonly practiced by mob bosses toward treating each neighbor as we would choose to be treated. It is a move toward a seamless patriotism and away from the tyrannical. When the allegiances we pledge are not matched by our actions or by facts, trust is impossible, and a civic brokenness inevitable.  Historian Tim Snyder writes in “On Tyranny”: “A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best… A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it well—and wishing that it would do better.”

Philip Amerson, November 27, 2024

The Ugliest Four Letter Word

~ philipamerson ~ 3 Comments

The Ugliest of All the Four Letter Words?

News came of the death of my dear friend Bill Pannell, evangelist, retired professor at Fuller Seminary. Our nation and the church have lost a great leader, a remarkable person. His clarity, his witness, helped hundreds-of-thousands of Christians follow the path of Jesus of Nazareth.

So many memories: I last spoke with Bill in the spring. We recalled a worship service at Goshen College Mennonite Church several years ago. Bill preached. The sermon was on “the ugliest four-letter word of them all. ” That word? “THEM.” Turning others into an enemy — separating one another from God’s purposes. “THEM.” This, Bill preached, was the ugliest of all words in the English language.

Bill offered another way, the Jesus way. He spoke of a nonviolent welcoming of the stranger. He called for an inviting all to our tables of conversation and care. Bill was not naive. He knew deeply and personally the pain of exclusion and bigotry. Even so, he understood that hate, revenge and retribution were only a road to human tragedy. Turning others into “them” contridictied the core of the Christian message.

His books “My Friend the Enemy” and “The Coming Race Wars” call for a discipleship that includes ALL. Today, Jemar Tisby carries on much of Bill’s witness.

Forgive me this prideful note, but I still remember that as Bill stood to preach in Goshen College Church that Sunday, he looked out and said, “Phil, is that you?” I was stunned. There were several hundred others there. It had been several years since we had last spoken. I nodded “yes.” He then said, “How good to fellowship with one another!” Neither of us were Mennonites; although we loved their faithful witness. I didn’t know Bill was going to be the preacher that morning. Elaine and I went to hear the glorious harmonies of Mennonite hymn singing. Bill, understood and expresed a note of the gift of the Anabaptist witness — “How good it is to be in fellowship with all.”

Today, I give thanks for the witness of William Pannell — Our nation needs his wisdom and faithful word today, perhaps more than ever. Jim Wallis captures this in his recent article about our mutural friend, Bill Pannell:

https://religionnews.com/2024/10/18/the-gospel-according-to-bill-pannell/?utm_source=RNS+Updates&utm_campaign=e19d65e382-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_20_06_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c5356cb657-e19d65e382-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

And I Did Not Speak

~ philipamerson

And I Did Not Speak*

  • First they came for the immigrants
  • And I did not speak
  • Because I was not an immigrant
  • Then they came for election poll workers
  • And I did not speak
  • Because I was not an election worker
  • Then they came for the journalists
  • And I did not speak
  • Because I was not a journalist
  • Then they came for prosecutors and judges
  • And I did not speak
  • Because I was not a prosecutor or judge
  • Then then came for teachers
  • And I did not speak
  • Because I was not a teacher
  • Then they came for me
  • And there was no one left
  • To speak for me

*[In these perilous times for our nation I recall the words of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller on January 6, 1946.  The “Then they came” poem speaks to the silence of the German church during the rise of Nazism.  Below is a poetic rendering of the original.]

“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”

[German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller]

A Lovely Day at Wrigley, Spoiled

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

A Lovely Day at Wrigley, Spoiled

Saturday September 7th, 2024 the Chicago Cubs vs. the New York Yankees and it is a lovely day.  Well mostly.  My daughter Lydia, and her spouse Tom, have taken Elaine and me to the game.  So many good memories at Wrigley.

A favorite Cub player is on the field at first base.  It’s Anthony Rizzo. But wait, he’s in a Yankee uniform! Whoops. That 2016 World Series champion team (Contreras, Lester, Bryant, Fowler, Pena, Ross, Russell, Baez, Hendricks, Schwarber, Szczur, Almora, and more) have all been blown away to other teams – or retirement.  That team was dispersed, suffering with a bad case of the “Ricketts” (family team owners).  Okay, I know things didn’t go so well in 2017 when many of these champs were still in Chicago.  Still, the Cubs are the Cubs.  Why pass over a foolish trade when it is available?

Among the over 40,200 in attendance are Kerry Wood and Rick Sudcliffe!  They were keepers, good to see on the big screen.  When Rizzo comes to bat for the first time there is a prolonged ovation.  NICE.  Still, it is a bit unnerving to realize that many, maybe half of the crowd standing and cheering are wearing Yankees gear.  Rizzo tips his hat several times.  Nice – but so many Yankee fans?

One reason is because of another Yankee player, a little fella named Aaron Judge.  He is a giant among other players, at a muscle bound 6’7”.  His .321 batting average and 51 home runs also dwarf others.  So, Yankee fans have come to see JUDGE and rizzo.  I am prepared not to like Aaron Judge despite hearing all the stories speaking of him as a genuinely good guy.  On the field and with the crowd he displays this good spirit and warm demeanor.  I soften in my judgements about Judge.  He is a nice guy. 

In the sixth inning, Judge is walked. There are a series of other events I choose not to remember – a hit, stolen bases, and then a long fly ball to center field.  The inning is ending! But no. The ball falls from the glove of a not to be named Cub and the Yankees take a 1-0 lead.  The Yankee who hit that long fly, that should have been caught?  You have already guessed.  It was Antony Rizzo!

Is this what spoiled my otherwise wonderful afternoon at Wrigley?  Well, no, I have suffered worse. (Insert your worst memory here.) In the fourth inning the four Yankee fans directly in front of us return from the concession stand.  Like Aaron Judge, they seem nicer people than one would otherwise expect from Big Apple supporters.  What spoiled it all was the desecration these Yankee fans brought on to Wrigley field.  There they were with hotdogs (not even brats) and covering each of the dogs was, yes… it is tragic… large dollops of ketchup!  Any respectable fan at Wrigley knows this is in bad form.

It is such inconsiderate etiquette!  Ketchup at Wrigley?  It is like me trying to speak French in a French restaurant or mentioning the Northern Illinois football win over the Irish on Saturday in South Bend.  Just bad, inconsiderate form among decent folks

The game ended with the Yankees winning 2-0.  There was some redemption.  Cubs beat the Yankees the next day to prevent a sweep by a score of 2-1!  Still, the image of ketchup on a hotdog at Wrigley can spoil a summer.

Jesus Wrapped in a Flag

~ philipamerson ~ 2 Comments

Jesus Wrapped in a Flag

So-called Christian Nationalism appears to have mushroomed in our body politic. Books like Taking Back America for God (Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry) and The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory (Tim Alberta) document the spread and extent of this ideology across American faith communities. Is this new? Or is it reappearing after years buried in the subsoils of our common life?

Do your recall the l-o-n-g word Antidisestablishmentarianism? In elementary school I learned it was the longest word in the English language. Well, not quite. At only 28 letters, it now is said to be the fourth longest. I won’t try to spell or pronounce the top three. The folks at Merriam-Webster say it doesn’t qualify for a dictionary; it is so little used. Okay – but I have burned too many brain cells learning to spell it. Antidisestablishmentarianism arises from historic struggles in Britain over the role of religion in government. This word argues religion (the Church of England in this case) should receive special government benefits, support, patronage.

Increasingly unmerited claims that the United States was to be an exclusive Christian Nation are made. Stephen Wolfe’s book The Case for Christian Nationalism, widely read and oft cited, is a core effort in this “restorationist” project. This desire to return a simplistic narrative about our nation’s founding, our diverse communities of faith, and multiple cultural expressions is misleading, even antithetical to what Jefferson referred to as our “Great Experiment.” In fact, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (known as the Establishment clause) opens with the words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Something fresh, never seen before, was being birthed with the American experiment. Something untethered to a monarch, or a single faith tradition was begun.

Evangelical scholar Kevin DeYoung acknowledges an understandable hunger among some Christians for something like Christian Nationalism; however, after reviewing Wolfe’s book, he concludes “Biblical instincts are better than nationalist ones, and the ethos of the Christian Nationalism project fails the biblical smell test.”

DeYoung offers a clear window on the rootage of Wolfe’s narrowly drawn and grievance informed “research” as he writes “The message—that ethnicities shouldn’t mix, that heretics can be killed, that violent revolution is already justified, and that what our nation needs is a charismatic Caesar-like leader to raise our consciousness and galvanize the will of the people—may bear resemblance to certain blood-and-soil nationalisms of the 19th and 20th centuries, but it’s not a nationalism that honors and represents the name of Christ.” He concludes“Christian Nationalism isn’t the answer the church or our nation needs.” (DeYoung, Kevin, “The Rise of Right-Wing Wokeism”, Christian Living, Nov. 28,2022)

As a teenager, in the early 1960s, I recall sermons warning if John Kennedy were elected, our first Roman Catholic President, he would receive orders directly from the Pope and the Vatican. Fortunately, a majority of U.S. voters didn’t buy that argument. Today, the benefits of Kennedy’s presidency and the tragedy of his assassination continues to shape and haunt our national self-understanding.

In my early adulthood (late 1960s and early 1970s), I heard the black evangelist Tom Skinner preach. He said “All the pictures of Christ were pictures of an Anglo-Saxon, middle-class, Protestant Republican. There is no way that I can relate to that kind of Christ.” (See Jamar Tisby, Footnotes, October 24, 2023.). Skinner painted the image of a white Jesus wrapped in an American flag. He was saying “the Jesus long marketed by the American church wasn’t a faithful representation of the Jesus of the Gospels.” Teaching in a United Methodist school in the Republic of Panama in these years further sharpened my awareness. Skinner was right.

Today’s Christian Nationalism continues to market a fraudulent version of the Christ. It is often linked to the “great replacement” theory that rests on the notion that immigrants and nonwhite, nonChristian persons (especially “Jewish elites”), are engaged in an international plot to take power away from those with birthright privilege in the United States. Do you remember the torchlight parade and the chant “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017? Such entitlement beliefs are not only profoundly racist and antisemitic, but they are also neither faithful to U.S. history nor the Christian message.

Whether as Christians or patriotic Americans, or both, how shall we respond?

My friend, Lovett H. Weems, has outlined seven strategies “for responding to Christian Nationalism in measured and faithful ways.” (Leading Amidst Christian Nationalism, LEADING IDEAS, Lewis Center for Church Leadership, June 25, 2024).  Weems offers a helpful overview especially reflecting on the church’s historic endorsement of a civil religion. He is clear about the dangerous ties to the racist agenda of many that Christian Nationalism brings. The strategies offered start with “Be Cautious” and conclude with advice to “Understand the broader social, historical and political landscape.” In between are calls to love of country, to be humble, to stay positive and focused, and to remind others that Christians are called to give witness. These are more a starting point than a guide.

Missed is an awareness of the multiple and diverse contexts and callings of Christian congregations. Few people understand this more than Weems. In many places a more robust response is appropriate. The cautious tone of these “strategies” reflects the tendency of many denominational leaders in recent years to avoid conflict. It reminds one of the crouching stances that have marked too many “leaders” in handling the recent divisions in United Methodism. Perhaps it is, as Weems admits, a “soft civil religion,” but it can none-the-less be misunderstood as a draping of the American flag across the shoulders of the cautious contemporary U.S. church. I suspect the author knows the suggestions offered focus more on what should be avoided and miss some options of what Can Be Done to faithfully respond to Christian Nationalism.

In future days I will offer what I believe may be more effectual responses. I close remembering the words of British Methodist leader Donald English when he said, “The world has enough salesmen of the Gospel.  What we need is more free samples.”

A Corpse at Every Funeral…

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

The Corpse at Every Funeral…

It was Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who in speaking of her father, Teddy, said he wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening. I first heard this from my friend Thomas Lane Butts, a remarkable United Methodist pastor from Monroeville, Alabama.  Yes, that Monroeville! In fact, over the decades Tom would have breakfast every week, at Hardees fast food restaurant, with Harper Lee.  Yes, that Harper Lee!

It took a while to discover that Tom, who would often speak of “a bride at every wedding and corpse at every funeral,” had borrowed and reshaped the quote to his purpose. I remember Tom’s sonorous southern cadence as he would identify some attention-starved politician, bishop, power hungry legislator, university administrator or professor, or pompous preacher or rabbi, as one who fit the category.

My prayers in recent months often have been that a narcissism-neutralizer could be invented. It could be marketed as a humility-pepper-spray and deodorize any power-hungry-stench. I have prayed that an election, a court verdict, a news editorial, an honest phone call from a friend, a speeding ticket, a failed speech, or a glance in some other “reality mirror” might burst all pomposity balloons. I’ve looked in a few such mirrors myself over the years. I recall the Sunday I thought I had preached a fine sermon, and a woman took my hand at the door and said, “Every sermon you preach is better than the next.”  Great timing – a glance in the reality mirror.  I was remembering the true meaning and joy of worship.

My dream of some ego-adjusting-comeuppance is likely not to happen… probably can’t happen given all that is at play in our day.  Our national-body-politic, gerrymandered-legislatures, embattled-universities, overly-cautious-conflicted-churches, profit-only-driven-corporations, or ideologically-ensconced-media-enterprises are in their own protective enclosures. 

In the meantime, sadly, attention is taken from those who genuinely deserve our honor, memorials, respect and shared joy.  Here is an invitation to you to join in remembering and celebrating those who have died, those getting married and all those we name as children of God.
 
 
 

Planet or Plastic? Earth Day 2024

~ philipamerson

 Planet or Plastic?

Plastics are overwhelming our earth. Micro-plastic pollution is found in our drinking water, our food and even in our own blood streams. Every piece of plastic ever made is STILL in our environment. Amazing.

Today is also the beginning of Passover, Pesach. A time of remembering. A time to retell the story of what we are called to do and who we are to become as God’s people. It is a retelling of the escape from captivity. It is a time to reconsider where we have been and where we are going. Can we remember, turn around and move in another direction?

We have been living in a captivity to our hungers for extracted wealth from our earth, a tragic environmental Ponzi scheme, a plundering of nature — a using resources which should be set aside for our children and grand children. This over-exploitation has been increasing each year.  We in the United States lead in extractive exploitation.  If the entire world lived as we do it would take the resources of FIVE EARTHS to provide sufficiency.

We face the question today, how then shall we proceed?

Enter Wes Jackson — someone who has been thinking about this dilemma for four decades.  Jackson is co-founder of the Land Institute in Salinas Kansas.  Elaine and I stopped to visit back in 2019.  I had read his work.  I knew of his friendship with Wendell Berry; and, I confess to being more than a little star struck.  After all Wes was one of the early recipients of a MacArthur Fellowship.  I expected our visit to last an hour and then be on my way.  

IMG_0950
Wes Jackson and his “computer” July 2019

We talked through the entire morning and toured the institute research facilities and farm research plots in Salinas.  (Other research goes on around the world where institute scientists are working to discover new paths of regenerative agriculture.) 

I found in Wes a friend… and mentor — someone with a deep concern, clarity about his vocation and a surprising light-heartedness.  He confessed the dilemmas we all face.  The human contradictions faced as we move from our extractive and fossil-fuel based systems.  We laughed often; spoke of authors who had influenced us (Ivan Illich, Walter Brueggemann) and spoke of the need for a broader dialogue between science and religion.  I loved it when Wes brought out his “computer” to take notes. It turned out to be his old Underwood typewriter!

Wes Jackson was more than a farmer and scientist. He is a person who has done his theological reflection about our creatureliness and relationship with the ecosphere. There were more than two dozen scientists and interns at The Land Institute seeking to establish perennial polycultures, developing perennial grains, legumes and oilseed varieties that can be grown together replicating the patterns evident in native ecosystems.

IMG_0953
Wes Jackson at Land Institute, July 2019

We stopped on a hillside and Jackson pointed out the native prairie grasses and the cultivated fields below. “Modern agriculture” he argued has been moving in ever more destructive ways for the past 10,000 years. The Green Revolution, and the heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers, did produce more in the short term; however at the same time they were depleting the resources of our soil, water and fossil fuels ever more rapidly. 

In late June, we will come to Earth Overshoot Day. The day we have used up the energy needed to see us through a year without extracting more. It is a day when we can admit our captivity to oil and gas — and their extract — plastics. Forgive my saying it, but it is about theology. It is about who we are and where we are headed as we live before a God and who asks us to continue in the co-creation of our planet.

I give thanks for the true “master theologians” of our time like Wes Jackson.  He told me he had been “excommunicated” from his United Methodist Church in Kansas several years earlier by a pastor who considered him a heretic. On this Earth Day, I wish the church had more heretics like him.  Maybe with time it will.  Whatever your theology — or even if you have none — let’s work to make this happen sooner rather than later.

This is also the beginning of Passover 2024. Pesach — a time to remember who we are and what it means to live with responsibility for our actions.

Changes in our behaviors must come if our grandchildren are to receive the gifts of this wonderful planet with which we have been blessed. We are using up our natural resources 1.75 times faster than they can be replenished! 

Woke Smoke

~ philipamerson ~ 4 Comments

Woke Smoke

I work up this morning, birds chirping outside.  Good thing.  It “beats the options” as they say.  Sorting through “news” of the day, I read a strange, recurring theme – one word repeated in many places.  The word?  WOKE.  It has been used in disparaging ways for a few years. In government, education, religion, and more there are warnings of the dangers of “woke-ness.”

Dozens of arguments in recent months seem to begin and end with stressing the dangers of being “woke.”  Nothing much more.  Just a label, a four-letter word that carries a dumptruck load of fear and grievance.   Here are a few examples from this past week:

  • Bill Barr, former U.S. Attorney General, warns of “wokeness” as a reason he would support the former president, that grievance-filled ghost of an administration-past. Mr. Barr earlier called him “a grotesque embarrassment” but one idea had tipped the scales, had caused him to reverse.  It was a concern about being W-O-K-E!
  • After 92% of the Indiana University faculty voted “no confidence” in President Pamela Whitten, sadly, the response from many was the claim this was ALL about “woke-ism in the academy.”
  • Well documented and tragic reports of the destruction coral reefs around the globe are presented.  Sure enough, there it is – responses calling it “woke science.”
  • Pope Francis is viewed favorably by 3/4ths of American Catholics, even so, there are disgruntled ones, some bishops and cardinals, who call him the “woke pope.” 
  • The newly formed “Global Methodists” are issuing warnings that upcoming United Methodist General Conference will be overrun by persons with “woke theologies.”

There is, of course, a history of how this word has evolved in use.  For some it is a verb, as in the past tense of “wake.”  Here it means to be alert, aware, attentive.  A decade or more ago scholars began to employ it as an adjective common in African-American vernacular speech, as in an awareness of racial discrimination and prejudice. This was the threat – and the opportunity – presented to many who didn’t want to be awakened to the racism in our society.

The word was repurposed, turned inside out and upside down.  It became a quick way to avoid dealing with the realities of discrimination in our society.  It is a way to flood the zone with smoke – to hide and obscure the need for conversion.  It gained currency as a powerful “code word” allowing the user to avoid thought or conversation.  It avoids the hopes for a civil society.  Rather than being alert to a new day, experience or danger, it is turned into a verbal cudgel.  It becomes an imprecise way to avoid facing our nation’s history and bigotry.  An avoidance mechanism.  Our nation’s original sin of racism is dodged by using a single word.  Nice trick – avoid and redirect the word as a weapon.

Critiquing something as “woke” is lazy.  It is a way to obscure, suppress, and avoid any call to rethink the old assumptions and categories. It demonstrates that change is always resisted; it is difficult. What’s the old saw?  Only a baby with a wet diaper is comfortable with change. 

For a fine reflection on a Biblical way of understanding the importance of “woke” as a spiritual activity, look to Dr. William Lawrence’s, “When the Church Woke.”  Bill, former dean of the Perkins School of Theology, points to the Biblical call for wokeness – it is about conversion, metanoia, deep personal and social change. 

https://www.umnews.org/en/news/methodism-overdue-for-becoming-woke-author-says

Glad I woke up this morning.  I am reminded of Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 

As with many things, one can choose the lazy path of chirping out the fearful words, “woke, woke” and avoid an honest, healthy way forward.  Instead, one can let the smoke clear and choose to be woke in “hope, hope” shaped by active care for others and for the healthy and honest ways forward.

The “Good” in Good Friday

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

The “Good” in Good Friday

Perhaps I was six or seven when the question first came.  What is “good” about Good Friday?  Our lives are full of questions; or at least mine is.  These days most of my questions are about more mundane things, like “How did those spots get on my shirt or on my necktie?”  Any man over seventy-five will understand.

After more than seven decades, the more profound and intellectually jarring theological question about the goodness of Good Friday still stirs in my spirit. I don’t have the one right, true answer as many of my conservative friends suggest they have.  The soup stains on my necktie are so much more easily explained.

Other friends, more secular searchers, ask, “Why a focus on the cross? Isn’t there a better, less violent, symbol?”  Without answering, I think of all the modern-day crosses people bare. I have been with families after a painful death, a murder, a rape, or a drowning.  There are realities of starvation, war, captivity, and financial ruin. Abuse and discrimination are crosses of a different sort. Sin is woven within the human condition.  Evil is present. No matter our desires for something less violent and more velvet — there is brutality and death.

Catehdral de San Isidore in Argentina

I recall the historic theories of the atonement.  Jesus’s death is portrayed as Ransom, Substitute (suffers for), Penal (suffers instead), Example, and Victor. Each theory today is understood in decidedly individualistic ways.  It is a quid pro quo formula as in Jesus did this and I get some reward. Such theology appears deeply embedded in St. Paul’s perspective (I Corinthians 15 or II Corinthians 5).  

It was my beloved New Testament professor, Robert Lyon, who challenged me to think beyond this; to think more deeply and widely.  The word study he assigned me was on the word λύτρον, meaning either redemption or ransom (Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28).  I can still see the twinkle in Bob’s eye as he said, “And the context? Who is this ransom for and why?  What is the larger Biblical frame?”  These were the years of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights struggles over racism and sexism.  Bob wasn’t dismissing classic atonement theories out of hand; he was asking for more – for a deeper grasp of the whole of the scriptural story.  What does “ransom” have to do with justice?  What if this is bigger than an individualistic transactional act? What if it is transformational for the entirety of God’s purposes?  What if it is not primarily about one’s personal “free of sin” credit card?  What if it is for ALL and for the entire Creation!

Walter Brueggemann suggests we speak of the execution of Jesus rather than his crucifixion. ALL THINGS are seen as potentially redeemed and redeemable: corrupt institutions, the violence of every empire, the despoiling of creation.  Brueggeman speaks of God’s purposes as displayed in the life of Jesus as prophetic imagination.  He speaks of “the alternative world that God has promised, and that God is birthing before our very eyes.

For me, even with food stains on my shirt, the questions in my spirit find greater meaning. This is the GOOD in Good Friday – God’s promise displayed for all persons and all creation.  If we have eyes to see it and the will to live into it.

Ides of March 2024

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

Headlines from Bloomington, Indiana – Ides of March, 2024

Local woman wears a hardhat when outside in her yard; permanent jewelry store opens; wheelchairs available in state parks; and, seven in ten (7 in 10) pregnant women test positive for toxin found in weed killers. 

Story one: Angela Connor, 64, has been doing battle with a pair of red shouldered hawks in her back yard.  For over a year, the protective raptors have dive bombed down attacking her from behind when she is gardening.  After suffering several attacks and lacerations from their talons a friend offered a remedy of sorts.  “For some reason they don’t attack the white DeWalt hard hat” when I wear it she said.

Story two: “Permanent Jewelry Store opens in the Mall.”  Is it the jewelry that is permanent?  or is the store?  I suspect neither.  Perhaps my epistemological understanding of “permanence” needs an update.

Story three: Motorized wheelchairs are now available for free in many Indiana state parks.  Good news.  Thanks to the ADA this may be a permanent option — for a while at least!

Story four: Speaking of permanence and mobility, recent research finds four times more amounts of the poison dicamba in the urine of pregnant woman than was present ten years ago. In Indiana, we value healthy corn and soybean crops, (5.4 and 5.5 million acres respectively) and our lovely lawns.  Are we choosing healthy corn and weed-free-yards over healthy children?  Weed killer residue is carried in wind and water miles away from where it was applied.

Summary: I’m glad (sorta) that raptors are protected by federal law; in the future my impermanent body may still see natural beauty via a motorized convenience; I pray we learn to value healthy soybeans less and healthy children more.  And, amid this cavalcade of news, I failed to mention the governor authorizes carrying of firearms in State House. That’s the news that’s “printed to fit” the majority sentiments from Indiana today.