Count it All JOY!

~ philipamerson ~ 3 Comments

Joy in It!

I am told that Thomas Langford when dean at Duke Divinity School had a license plate on his pick-up truck that read “JOY N IT.”  My suspicion is that folks who didn’t know Tom, might have mistakenly thought he was expressing his joy in driving that truck.  Others of us who knew Tom, knew better.  He was perhaps speaking of the joy of the truck, but suspect he was also talking about the joy of a life of faith, of living and leaning forward, of imagining the joy of a life of gospel relevance.

After writing about the current United Methodist General Conference an email came that challenged my call for repentance and accountability on the part of all of us, if we are to find a way forward.  The writer said he had no complicity in the current impasse and didn’t IMG_1003need to repent.  He said I offered no positive alternative.  Or, as he put it, “you call us to a whimper and a pout in our separate corners.”  Yikes, I thought.  Whimpering and pouting?  People who know me, know I like little more than a GOOD “conversation” — a solid and respectful debate often helps all sides come to fresh understanding, new truth.  There is, for me, Joy In It.  For me, a good learning experience is akin to my grandson Gus’ delight in cleaning up a bowl of chocolate cookie mix.

Conference gatherings for Methodists began in 1744.  The goal was to reason together about what should be taught, how it should be taught and how Methodists should live.  In recent decades our annual conferences leave little space for such conversations.

Annual Conferences are held in expensive (and expansive) convention centers where various interest groups and caucuses meet to plan on how to “win.”  Candidate slates are put together, text messages fly through the ether as partisans do their work.  Little time to listen to others here.  Worship becomes a show where some, up front, perform and we are to passively listen, or perhaps clap along.  I wonder when it was last suggested that we might sing together in harmony?

In my annual conference the expense of the big convention center means that we need to shorten the length of annual conference to avoid any extra expense.  Thereby we avoid more floor debate, time in small legislative gatherings and time for the inadvertent joy of making new friends.  “Come let us reason together” has been turned into “come-let-us-pass-the-budget, hear-reports, nominate-and-elect, have-performers-on-stage-and-avoid-lengthy-controversial-conversation.”  And then, a dear brother assigned to the role of speeding things up, comes to the microphone and moves to limit the number and length of speeches.  We are reminded of the expense of meeting in the convention center and we press onward and downward.

There is growing evidence of the health benefits associated with choral singing, the value of listening and harmonizing in song.  During our debates over human sexuality I have been aware that our Mennonite brothers and sisters are in the midst of a similar controversy.  Yet, they seem more able to hear those who differ, to make a welcoming space for diverse points of view.  Along with the Mennonite commitment to peacemaking, I can’t help but wonder if their practice of singing hymns in harmony (and not just having only performers on stage) might be of benefit to the health of the whole body gathered.

Today, J. Steven Harper wrote a hopeful piece regarding the decision made to support the U.M. bishops in hosting another meeting in a couple of years based on recommendations of a study commission on human sexuality (Steven Harper).  While I am more doubtful about a positive outcome, I join Steve in believing any positive way forward will require those who are involved to come with a humble and contrite spirit — a willingness to listen and set aside preconceived agendas.  If this could happen — what joy there might be.

Joy in it!  Hear the words from the epistle of James 1:2-5:  My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.  5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (NRSV)

Compass&BibleAt root, our differences will call for us to struggle with our interpretation of scripture and our various “captivities to local cultures” and step away from the worlds of narrow experience.  Folks like me will need to know how we can focus so narrowly on excluding gay folks based on a limited and questionable scriptural basis, and at the same time ignore other scripture “rules.” There are also “scriptural rules” on the role of women, divorce, the eating of pork, the wearing of synthetic clothing or the call to stone folks to death for many of our modern practices.

Fortunately there are good people who differ and yet who can joyfully engage in conversation with others who can provide us with helpful interpretive guidance.  Knowledge, reflection, empathy, relationship with those who differ can be helpful. I would like such a group to respond to questions about the dimensions of a scriptural hermaneutic behind the exclusionary paragraphs in our current Book of Discipline.

So… I offer to my friend ,who sent his email critique, more than a whimper or a pout.  My response might come with singing — learning again to sing in harmony.  It might come in talking and moving our annual conferences beyond being just about budgets, reports and votes.  It might change the ways we do charge conferences.   Might we sing and offer constructive conversations?  If we could, we just might be that we could again find JOY in being together.  If we could learn how to have annual conferences and charge conferences that offered space for relationship and for honest debate and conversation, we might lay the groundwork for more constructive general conference gatherings.  The burden is not just on the as yet unnamed study commission — it is on all of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Wrong Tool — General Conference

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

United Methodist General Conference Is A Lousy Tool

A friend who grew up in a Midwestern farm family speaks of the way his father would care for the farm implements.  After each use of a plow, a shovel or a hoe, the tool would be cleaned and sharpened.  It would be oiled, re-calibrated and made ready for the next chore, the next planting or cultivation. In this way, would the wise farmer care, year on year, for the tending of God’s good creation.

Recently I wrote of the value of having the right tool for work on my small remodeling project at home.  At the time, I was not just thinking about “the right tool” for carpentry and remodeling.  I was also thinking about institutions that are our tools as we seek to end homelessness and inadequate housing.  In my thoughts, there were other tools that are essential to our our common life, our health as a society and a church.

For example, our health care systems and our public education in the United States are examples of tools when properly cared for can be of benefit to all.  Instead of these tools being improved and used to assist, my sense is that in many places they have been cynically and actively undermined and misused.

This week, we have seen the dysfunction and inadequacy of the United Methodist General Conference as a helpful instrument.  General Conference is a dull and unwieldy tool that to my eyes destroys more than it builds up.  General Conference, built as it is on Roberts Rules of Order, could hardly be a more inappropriate tool for the tasks facing the contemporary church — especially a church that seeks to be global AND also inclusive.

Since the failed conference of 2012, I feared this would be another waste of the time, treasure and talents of many good people.  And so it appears to have been.  It has become more of a test of raw power and competing caucus groups seeking to win by any means available.  Hospitality has been replaced with tactics, legislative maneuvering and strategy wars.

This is not new to our denomination.  In fact, many of the wounds we now suffer go back to the racism and patriarchy of the past.  The whole notion of “jurisdictions” in the church in the U.S. goes back to a fundamental distrust rooted in differing views of racial segregation and fear of regional dominance.

Efforts to use a different tool, one identified at this conference as “Rule 44” were defeated by the body early in the conference.  It was perhaps not the best instrument — but it was an effort to try another approach for making difficult decisions.  It failed and no “better way” was offered.  So — now other ways to do our work are proposed.  A vague outline by the bishops — a call to prayer, a study commission and another gathering of the body in a couple of years.

Let me confess my doubts that this will bring success.  Not now, not in two years, not in four, not in ten years.  Why?  Because there are many different  tasks confronting the many constituencies and cultures of the church.  These each will require different instruments… not a one style fits all polity or theology.

However, there is another reason I have doubts about the efforts to use General Conference as a tool.  It is not the conference itself.  It is not Robert’s Rules. It is not Rule 44.  It is not the wisdom of our bishops or a study commission.  It is, the inability of us ALL to admit our sinfulness and culpability in contributing to the omnishambled morass we now experience.

Back in 1971, Elaine and I returned to the United States after an appointment as missionaries in the Republic of Panama.  The experience for was transformative.  We left as young idealistic Evangelicals.  Living among great people engaged in significant mission, we also saw the colonialism and paternalism of the church’s well intended efforts.  We saw the ways indigenous people would damage one another.  We saw the jealousies among missionaries and international aid workers.  We saw the ways governmental foreign aid was abused and misdirected toward benefiting U.S. corporations rather than truly assisting the needs of the people.

We were changed, and in this change we experienced something deeper than words or theology.  We were newly aware of our own complicity, our own sinfulness, our own addictions to the wealth and privilege.  And, we saw the lives of great people who likewise could acknowledge their failings and still keep seeking to live ever more responsibly even in confusing situations.  These were people who knew that the tools at their disposal (schools, churches, clinics, social service), might be small and dull, but they could be cared for, sharpened and re-calibrated.  They were also people who could argue well and respectfully and welcome persons who differed.

We saw great and good people (missionaries and indigenous leaders) whose lives modeled a way of integrity that was exemplary.  They were life-shaping models for us.  They were United Methodist missionaries, Catholic priests and lay people, Lutheran missionaries, Pentecostal fathers who would bring bags of nickels to school to pay a daughter’s tuition and mothers who would pray dawn to dusk for their children.  They knew a brokenness in their institutions, their nations and within themselves.  They modeled something deeper — something too rare in our world.  As the great leader, Bishop J. Waskom Pickett wrote from his missionary experience, “in the places where it was least expected the lives of believers became confirmations of the gospel.”  We watched with joy as Baptists, Catholics, United Methodists, Lutherans and Nazarenes worked together on evangelization teams.

In our first month back in the U.S. in 1971, I found myself speaking at an early gathering of the Good News organization.  In trying to tell of the integrity of people of faith (from many traditions) and of the pain of seeing our own personal complicity, I was struck by the response.  It was a dualism, the sense that no one wanted to hear such talk.  As it turned out, for many in the Good News movement, there were only two ways to view every matter — It was their way and the wrong way.

In one session that week, I listened to a leader who spoke of his visit to Panama and then critiqued United Methodist missionary efforts in Latin America.  I listened, astonished, as some of the persons we had come to love, were said to be communists and heretics because of their theologies or divergent political views.  It was all untrue, about being heretics or communists, but spoken with a certainty in these public gatherings.  I was amazed.  I was even more amazed when I spoke to one of the leaders of the Good News Movement about the misinformation being spread.  His response? “Sometimes things get a little overstated, but it is for a larger good.”  I asked what this good might be?  And was told it was the reformation of the church and to gain power in the denomination.  In other words,  it was about control.

Stunned, I simply muttered… “And, when you win, if you control the denomination as it is, what will you have?”

Today, May 18, 2016 it is clear that the Good News folks, forty-five years later, have WON.  The denomination is now in your hands.  I would ask, will you join in acknowledging the many ways good people have been harmed, truth has been shaved and repentance is required on all sides?   It is my view that the simplistic, either/or ways of proceeding have not changed over the decades.  And, yes, it is not just this one caucus that is shamefully one-sided and works with dull, broken and inappropriate instruments.

Today, I wrote my bishop and asked if he could join me in understanding that “complicity” is spelled with the letter “I” in it.  I acknowledge ways I have been complicit in the brokenness we now experience.  Can he?  I suspect not, because the spiritual muscle of dialogue with those who differ and disagree has atrophied.

How will we read scripture?

My reading of scripture and my theological study over the years brings me to the belief that until we ALL acknowledge our complicity and sin, the denomination will stay stuck.  And as long as we are stuck, my question from 1971 stands — “If you control the denomination as it is, what exactly will you have?”  Wesleyan “holiness,” you see, good Methodists, was always in the context of repentance and accountability.

It is how we kept our spiritual (and organizational) tools sharpened and in good working order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Value of the Right Tool

~ philipamerson

The Value of the Right Tool

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”  This idea is attributed to Abraham Maslow (and sometimes to Mark Twain).  It is variously known as “Maslow’s Hammer” or the Law of the Instrument. 

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A variant version is “If all you have is a hammer, every challenge looks like a nail.”  I am learning again of the importance of having the right tool for the job at hand.

This past month I have been remodeling the basement of our home.  Don’t know what caused this lapse in my good judgement as I have only modest carpentry skills.  A true carpenter friend named me years ago, “just a TINK.”  I can tinker.  Still I have undertaken a rather major project of adding a bedroom and children’s play space downstairs. 

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Fortunately my friend, Jim Noseworthy, who has more experience “tinkering,” has been teaching and assisting me.  In the process I have leaned again the value of having the best tool for each task.  Things go much better if I have multiple tools and know which to use for each task.   Thanks Jim — and I have learned that hammers have little use in hanging sheet rock!  Squares and levels and cutting knives are a better choice!

In the process of learning, I have discovered again that I, too, am a tool.  There are things I have been designed to do, things I have learned, calling in my life where I am better able to make a difference.  While I am a “Tink” as a carpenter, there are other places where I add more value.

It is estimated that on any given evening more than one million folks are homeless in the U.S.  Another 12 to 15 million live in dramatically substandard and/or dangerous housing.  There are many tools out there one might use.  Some good ones.  Over the years I have a favorite — it is Habitat for Humanity.

thAs some of you know, it has been my goal in my 70th year to build a house through the good efforts of LaPorte County Habitat folks.  Last winter the local Habitat board was alerted to the fact that a matching gift of up to $35,000 was available.  Thus far, more than thirty (30) friends have given over $14,000 to this effort.  And, along with contributions from the donor so far (who has done more than matching these gifts) we have raised more than $32,000!  What a joy!!

There are many good tools to address homelessness and inadequate housing… Finding the right one is critical. Thanks to all who are joining in this summers build in LaPorte.  The foundation is poured and “Tinks” will be needed this summer.  Any volunteers?  Come and join — make a gift — follow the progress online at Website for LaPorte, Indiana Habitat for Humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turning Bad News to Good

~ philipamerson

First, Confess The Sin of Racism

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Racism in Plain Sight*

It is a clarifying moment… The x-rays are back from this laboratory.  These hypothetical x-rays come from Super Tuesday of the 2016 presidential primaries.  And what can be seen in these images?  There it is — the often hidden, not-so-attractive, practices and support of racism.  Surprisingly this racism comes from those who call themselves Evangelical Christians.  It is painfully clear.  Support for racial bigotry and discrimination is all too apparent in the way they vote and self-identify. 

The voters have spoken: Donald Trump won seven of the twelve primary elections in states.  He claimed the largest percentage of the so-called white Evangelical voters.  Just hours before these elections Trump dodged questions about support he was receiving from the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke, a well known white supremacist.  In what has become a typical media ploy, after he winked his appreciation for the racist support, Trump then changed his tune, saying that he had always opposed racism and, in typical form, he attacked the media saying that he was again being mistreated.

Can there be any doubt that behind the scenes and often breaking into the open racism has been employed to weaken the presidency of Barack Obama?  Like many things, few people are as articulate in identifying such realities as is poet, novelist, conservationist Wendell Berry.

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Wendell Berry**

Berry writes: “A good many people hoped and even believed that Barack Obama’s election to the presidency signified the end of racism in the United States.  It seems arguable to me that the result has been virtually the opposite:  Obama’s election has brought about a revival of racism.  Like nothing since the Southern Strategy, it has solidified the racist vote as a political quantity recognizable to politicians and apparently large enough in some places to decide an election…

Nobody can doubt that virtually all of the President’s political enemies would vehemently defend themselves against a charge of racism.  Virtually all of them observe the forms and taboos of political correctness.  If any very visible one of their own should insult the President by a recognized racial slur, they would all join in the predictable outrage.  But the paramount fact of this moment in the history of racism is that you don’t have to denominate the President by a recognized racial slur when his very name can be used as a synonym.” (Wendell Berry, Louisville Courier-Journal, September 15, 2015.  See more at: Berry, Revival of Racism.

I was stuck by a recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center that provided the recent history of active hate groups in the United States.  During the first eight years of the twenty-first century there were roughly 150 groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, White Nationalist, Racist Skinhead, and Neo-Nazi.  Their numbers changed very little in the period between 2000 and 2008.  However, in 2009, following the election of our president, the number of hate groups rose to over 500 — and today there are nearly 1,000 such groups in the United States!

I am not saying that white Evangelicals are all racists.  Still it is more than a little suspicious that there is not more resistance among these folks to Mr. Trump’s dog whistle to the racist fringe.  I still remember visiting a family farm, shortly after the election of Mr. Obama.  These were good people, church going folks, active in state politics.  I have known them for years.  As we talked my friends began to share email “jokes” about our president.  The language was crude, ugly, bigoted and demeaning projections.  It was raw, blatant racism in the depiction of our president. I was stunned — didn’t join in the laughter and spoke only a halting word of disagreement.  In hindsight, I wish I had said more.  In hindsight, I understand there are such “God fearing” folks and how they could vote for Mr. Trump.

In his insightful study One Nation Under God Kevin Kruse of Princeton University outlines the way the Christianity shifted in the twentieth century to become a public spiritual spectacle, useful to politicians and corporate leaders to pursue their goals of power and wealth.  Kruse cites William Lee Miller of Yale Divinity School who spoke of the American people who followed their president, Eisenhower, and “had become fervent believers in a very vague religion.”  (Kruse, p. 68)  Or, as Robert Bellah put it, “Is this not just another indication that in America, religion is considered a good thing but people care so little about it that it has lost any content whatsoever?” (Kruse, p. 68) This vague religiosity has been filled with many things — and as Evangelicalism has gained ascendancy too much of the “vague” content has been long on self concern and short on self criticism.

The vague content of American Christianity — Evangelicalism in this case, has been filled with patterns of thought and behavior that have almost no connection with the message or life of Jesus the Christ.  In fact, the vague content has been filled with shabby self indulgent understandings that are amazingly at odds with the Sermon on the Mount or the Lord’s Prayer. 

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What would a beliefs x-ray show about a person’s real commitments?***

I do not seek to salvage this word “Evangelical.”  The damage, the identity theft, has been done.   Such a project belongs to others.  Thankfully, they are already at work and know it will take generations to correct what has gone amiss.  As suggested in an earlier post, these elections provide an x-ray into the flawed theological and faith perspectives of such Evangelicals. Sadly, the x-ray comes back saying the illness is at a critical stage.  This religiosity is shaped more by culture, history and prejudice than it is by the scriptures or sound theology.  Honestly, it is more a folk religion than a coherent faith practice.

What are we to do?  What is the church to do? In his column, “The Governing Cancer of Our Time, ” David Brooks speaks of the rise of authoritarianism (Brooks, Governing Cancer).  Over forty years ago, I served as part of a national research project on the church and racism.  In this work we discovered the connections between authoritarianism, status concern and racism in its various forms.  The question became how should the church, the People of God, respond?

We learned three important things:

  1. The church — especially the leaders in the church — must say NO to racism.  That which is obvious and that which is more subtle.  I wonder what difference it might have made if religious leaders and political leaders had stood up against Mr. Trump’s “birther” comments in 2008, or every year since?  One can’t help but think that the current dilemma of the Republican Party was brought about by their own silence and disrespect all along the way.
  2. Sermons and study groups alone have little effect on changing racist attitudes or behaviors.  (Sorry about this preachers and teachers.)  However, when sermons and education are combined with activities that engage parishoners with persons of a different race, especially activities that seek cooperatively to address racism, real change is possible.  We saw it in Chicago, South Bend, Fresno, Dallas and Los Angeles.
  3. Finally, a denomination’s commitment or congregation’s commitment to battle racism can be measured by the way budgets are made and expended.  In 1974 we found that almost all congregations reported they spent more on toilet paper or light bulbs in a year than they did on efforts to address racism.  Nothing much has changed over these four decades in this regard!

Silence.  Vague content to our faith.  Low commitment to change as evidenced in our practices and budgets.  These things, good reader, may be among the reasons for our current embarrassment.

Phil A

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Attributions:
  1. *Women viewing x-ray. Copyright: http://www.123rf.co/profile_rmarmion’>rmarmion / 123RF Stock Photo</a>.
  2. **Photo of Wendell Berry from newsinfo.iu.edu, (Indiana University media)
  3. ***Simulated x-ray of brain. Copyright: <a href=’http://www.123rf.com/profile_scottff72′>scottff72 / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
     

When Good News Becomes Bad News

~ philipamerson

The Evangelical Embarrassment

Evangelical

Agata Gladykowska, stock photo

 

The presidential primaries of 2016 are an embarrassment — to our nation, to thoughtful public discourse and, perhaps most tragically, to the witness of people of faith.  This trend has been underway for quite some time.  In an earlier post, I wrote of “Christian identity theft.”

Today is the so-called Super Tuesday, March 1, 2016.  Primary elections are being held in twelve states with hundreds of delegates in play for both political parties.

Over and again it is reported that the Evangelicals are a crucial and determining voting block.  The New York Times this morning says that “Donald Trump’s success with evangelicals is expected to help him dominate” in several of these elections.  REALLY?

The vileness and ugliness of this primary, especially on the Republican side, is so full of meanness and junior high potty mouth jokes as to make mud-wrestling look like a noble enterprise.  But most troubling for me is the use of that word “Evangelical.”

Sadly, this primary has proven to be a DNA test, or an x-ray image, showing the actual make-up and inner organs of many who claim to be Evangelicals.  Really?  Donald Trump represents the best hope for the future among people of faith, the desire to have a God-fearing nation?  Really?  Or, the juvenile, divisive and snarky comments of Mr. Rubio or Mr. Cruz — are these the marks of an “Evangelical?”  Thank God, there are Mr. Kasich and Carson who represent something better; but they seem to have little appeal to those who call themselves “Evangelicals.”

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For Evangelicals the whole of Scriptures was 0nce the guide
Wavebreak Media, stock photo

Evangelical at one time spoke of a person who believed the good news of God’s love for the world, each one and all.  An Evangelical once was a person who sought to follow Christian scripture, especially the major themes.  Today it has been distilled down to a test on two or three current cultural issues, abortion and gay marriage mostly. 

The x-ray machine which is the 2016 Republican Primary, shows that the core of the Biblical story is either ignored or little understood by this group, who claim the name Evangelical. Things like the care of God’s creation, the welcoming of strangers and refugees, sharing with the poor or living a life of service have dropped out of the body.  These organs critical for life have disappeared.  In its place, Mr. Trump and others have substituted fear, racism, xenophobia, distrust and envy.  Good news has become bad news.  This look inside those who call themselves Evangelicals suggests a perhaps incurable soul sickness, a brokenness.  I fear it is a sickness unto death.

Evangelical has been a word of richness and diversity.  Many won’t understand, but Hillary Clinton, as a United Methodist, stands as much (or more) in the classical definition of Evangelicalism as do any of the Republican candidates.  As a United Methodist her heritage links her to the work of John Wesley and Martin Luther.  While both were men of their age — I think it is clear that neither would recognize what has been going on in these primaries as in any way “Evangelical” in its basic theological DNA structure.

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John Wesley (1703-1791) Engraved after original artwork by J. Jackson

Having served as president of a school called “Garrett-Evangelical” I have sought to understand this word and place it in its historical and proper theological context.  The categorization that has been done in recent decades has resulted in a division that seems to allow no breadth of understanding.  I consider myself a “progressive-evangelical,” a place to stand that is, I believe, consistent with Luther or Wesley in their day or millions of Christians outside the U.S. today.

It is tragic that the word has been turned inside out, upside down and backwards in contemporary American thought.  Too long the word has been defined by Fox News and talk radio — too long certain preachers have used the word to divide rather than to heal.  Too long, well meaning pastors and bishops have remained quiet, allowed others to commit identity theft.  Too long, well meaning pastors have said, “It is in God’s hands, you don’t have to worry, it will all work out.” Perhaps it is their own fear that prevents them from speaking against the ugliness of this mean-spirited time.  And now, not surprisingly, “we have sown the wind and are reaping a whirlwind.”

Of course, all of this didn’t happen over night.  In his excellent column, The Governing Cancer of Our Time, David Brooks speaks of the distance we have traveled from our political and civic heritage and speaks of our current situation as “anti-politics” (Brooks, Governing Cancer).

In this column, Brooks notes that politics as a constructive art is in retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise world wide.  What might the church say in such a situation?  Where might Evangelicals seeking to be true to the deeper and richer meaning of the tradition find a constructive voice?  Stay tuned — more to follow.

Phil A

 

 

Of Blessed Memory

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

“OF BLESSED MEMORY”

Only yesterday I was thinking of the three words spoken all too often these days — “Of Blessed Memory.” This is a phrase that typically follows the mention of the name of a friend who is now deceased.  That list among my friends “of blessed memory,” sadly, continues to grow.

Little did I realize that today, less that 24 hours after this awareness, I would speak those words about two GREAT women — Harper Lee and LaVerta Terry. They were both 89 years old — they certainly experienced life over the same decades, yet in very different ways.  I think they probably saw the world – its joys and challenges – in similar ways and would have been dear friends had they met.  Both will remain among my greatest teachers.

Harper Lee

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Harper Lee 1961 Monroeville Courthouse

Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Although I met Harper Lee only through her writing and the occasional news stories about her, I felt she was a friend.  We had a mutual friend, Thomas Lane Butts.  Tom who for years would visit with Harper weekly would keep me updated about Ms. Lee.  A treasured book on my shelf is a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that he arranged for me during one of his weekly visits. I did meet Harper Lee’s older sister, Miss Alice Lee, at a church event over twenty years ago.  Every United Methodist active in denomination-wide activities knew of Miss Alice.  She was that remarkable lay leader and attorney from Monroeville, Alabama.

Harper Lee won a Pulitzer for To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 which was an immediate success.  I can still remember reading late into the night while a senior in high school, caught up in the drama surrounding the trial of Tom Robinson in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.  It was fictional but I knew it was about real life, real bigotry, real threats, real racism.  I loved picturing Scout, Jem, Boo and and most of all Atticus Finch in my mind’s eye.

So, it was a quite a joy this past year to read Go Set a Watchman, a

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Harper Lee 2006

novel that was written prior to Mockingbird.  It was not as polished… and less idealistic.  It was not published back then.  Too bad.  In Watchman, Good and evil are not as easily separated… and Atticus?  Oh, sadly he turns out to be more true to real life as he buys into the racism of the town — for a larger “good.”  Alas.

I must say, however, that I found Watchman to be a great read, full of humor and a clear-eyed view of life.

LaVerta Terry

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Source: Bloomington, Indiana Herald Times

LaVerta Terry became my friend and mentor when I served as her pastor in Bloomington, Indiana.  You can catch a glimpse of her dignity, intellect, her direct manner and memorable presence in this brief piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRrZTKik8L8

Nothing was better for me than hearing LaVerta Terry laugh — and usually at my expense.  She would tease and I would tease right back.  She usually won. However, one evening when Elaine had other commitments, I asked LaVerta to accompany me to the opera at the Indiana University.  (The opera is one of the great gifts of I.U. and LaVerta was a fine musician.)  When we arrived at the auditorium, LaVerta looked at me and said “What will people think, the two of us out on a date.”  I was ready for her and replied, “Don’t worry, they will think you are Elaine.” LaVerta was still laughing at the end of the first act.

In 1963, LaVerta Terry was the first African American hired by Public Schools in Monroe County.  Twenty years earlier, in 1944 she had won a scholarship to the Indiana University School of Music.  The remarkably sad story is that she had won first place in auditions with the Metropolitan Opera; however, when she arrived at I.U. with her luggage, she was denied a place in the dormitory because of her race.

Sadly, the persistent racial discrimination she found led her to complete her bachelors degree at Jarvis Christian College after some study at Tuskegee Institute.  What a sad story and yet she was a great spirit.  Later she became Assistant Director and Director of the Groups program at Indiana University.  This program focused on encouraging and supporting racial ethnic minority students, most were the first generation from their family to attend college.  Her students now are in places of leadership all around the world.  When I was pastor in Bloomington, I would often meet them and hear of the way Mrs. Terry had been a “difference maker” in their succeeding at the university and in life.

Laverta-Terry-1455972308 My friend La Verta Terry taught me much.  Mostly, she tried to teach me to speak the truth about difficult things with grace, elegance and style.  I will never match her in this; but often I can hear her voice in my head cheering me on.  And, like many of my dearest friends, she knew how to be a loving critic if I said or did something she thought might have been handled better.  LaVerta, lived on the other side of the white-privilege Harper wrote about.  They both knew the bitterness of racism and shaped beauty and meaning from the ugliness.

There are many, many others about whom I speak of with the words “Of Blessed Memory.”  Mostly I speak these words about folks I knew, some very well, and folks who shaped me for the good.  People like Daphne Mayorga Solis, Carl Dudley, Earl and Ethel Brewer, Stella Newhouse, Bob Greenleaf, Clarence Jordan, Scott Lawrence, Ernie and Polly Teagle, Ray Dean Davis, Bob Lyon, Gil James, Dow Kirkpatrick, Parker Pengilly, Liz Shindell, David Stewart, Jerry Hyde, Kenda Webb, Will Counts and Jane Tews… I am realizing this list could continue on and on.  It does.  Yes, the list goes on and on.  It is called “the Community of the Saints.”  Blessed are we who have known them, in person or otherwise; blessed are we indeed.

(You can read more about Tom Butts in the February 4, 2015 post Southern Exposure.  See: https://philipamerson.com/2015/02/04/hands-of-the-strong-southern-exposure-people/)

An Ecological Dawning?

~ philipamerson

An Ecological Dawning

I am an early riser, one who enjoys watching the sun spread across the sky.  This morning I couldn’t help but consider it a metaphor for the new light I believe is on the horizon regarding our environment.  One reason for this is the reading I have been doing of late on this topic.  Yesterday, it was my honor to preach at Wesley United Methodist Church adjacent to the campus of the University of Illinois.  It was called a “teach in” as part of a national focus on faith and the environment.  I believe a new day is dawning in terms of public awareness and constructive action.

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It is not my intent to offer a reprise the sermon here.  Instead I have attached a link to a copy for those who are interested.  Here is my take away.  First, we face enormous challenges as a society, as a global community.  The damage has been severe, it will be difficult to reverse.  NASA now suggests that climate change is our nation’s most serious security risk.  Note the changes in the Arctic as our early warning system.  (The Petermann glacier in Greenland is receding more than twenty miles a year!)   Increasingly we are seeing a link with floods, wild fires and drought.  We will have more than fifty million environmental refugees by the year 2020.  This doubles the number of the estimates just twenty years ago. 

I know the dangers of climate change are very real — difficult (some say impossible) to reverse.   On the other hand, there are signs of hope, a dawning of awareness among nations, corporations and the general public.  It is my sincere hope that the U.S. Congress will one day soon catch up with the scientific evidence.  As the research is overwhelming clear, the Paris agreements are tentatively in process, and corporate and technological leaders are investing billions of dollars toward constructive change, it is our duty as citizens to press the case with Congress.  The cost of solar and wind energy continue to drop in price.  

It was a joy to be with a university community and see the commitments made by that congregation.  I spoke with several students who indicated a deep appreciation for the sermon — but more importantly a personal commitment as future engineers, chemists, business leaders and farmers to a different way of thinking about our economy and ecology.  Hooray for the gifts of great universities!  (Look for a post soon challenging the larger church to rethink our investments in and valuing of campus ministry.)

I know that change will be difficult.  Actually, it calls for a conversion — an ecological conversion, on the part of individuals, the culture and the economy.  The witness of people of faith is essential as part of any solution. All people of faith – especially the local church… these communities will need to find voice on these matters. As Pope Francis demonstrated with the issuance of the encyclical Laudato Si, Christians can bring a perspective, insight and inspiration for the future — for the dawning just ahead.

For the complete text of the  sermon, see: WesleySermon – Feb 14, 2016

Upsidedowning: Inauguration 2017 Ups or Downs

~ philipamerson ~ 4 Comments

Upsidedowning and January 20, 2017

One year from today — January 20, 2017 we will be watching the inauguration of the next President of the United States.  Trump? Clinton? Cruz? Sanders?  One of the others?  All flawed.  Some seem to threaten the very fabric of our democracy.   I am often asked by younger folks (you know, folks who are 40 or 50 are YOUNG to me) if I can remember a time when political conversation was this, well, nutty, this far off the rails, this unhinged from facts.

WhiteH8015375_sThe honest answer is NO.  Absolutely not.  I remember well the campaigns of George Wallace, Gene McCarthy, Ross Perot, John Anderson, and I remember my high school infatuation with Barry Goldwater.  None of these are comparable.  This is a time when facts seem to matter little.  Anger, make that rage, is in vogue. 

It is as if our national identity, our political assumptions about integrity and well reasoned analysis of the national and world situation has gone down a rabbit hole.  We have entered a period of UPSIDEDOWNING.  What once was up is now down and…

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Ridicule of others is now the currency to win votes. Wealth is either a measure of ones value or decadence.  No space is left for the virtues of thoughtful dialogue, learning, humility.  Intemperate statements are valued by the electorate.   Reasoned and careful action by the current president is seen as weakness.  No, I don’t recall a time like this in my memory when behavior like that of a junior high school bully is seen as a positive credential for a future president.

Of course there is a history as to how we got to this place.  Persons, it seemed on all sides, decided it was better to demonize others than find common ground.  You add the complexities of a modern world with 24/7 news coverage and throw in a large dose of racism, bank malfeasance (see or read THE BIG SHORT) and economic uncertainty and you come to the presidential race of 2016.

So, what’s a person to do?  Honestly I don’t know — I have no big idea.  I do remember the bumper sticker that read “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!” 

Here is my small modest proposal.  You and I, good reader have one year, 366 days (its leap year) to engage persons at a local level with good caring but critically factual conversation.  My pledge is to every day speak to at least one person, preferably someone whose opinions differ from mine, and see what I can learn.  What do I need to know to be a better citizen? And, of course, what can I share that encourages another person, perhaps a stranger, to understand that we are neighbors – even when we disagree.  This might do a little bit to lower the temperature on the language that continues to boil over into vitriol. 

I will do other things, of course, to help the candidate I believe who can best move us out of these mean-spirited times and contribute to our being a place of honest and constructive disagreements.  It is what is called democracy.  Depending on how high the stakes may be, I may do a lot besides talking with my neighbor and stranger trying to bring more light than heat to the political dialogue of our time.  But for the next year (or until next November’s elections) I pledge to work toward honest, factual dialogue… that builds up rather than destroys.

My sense is that our nation can ill afford to elect a president who will encourage us to try ignorance.  The stakes are too high — the world is too complex.  We need cool wisdom and not hot revenge to make it through the challenges ahead.  Meanwhile, I tell my young friends, those under 50, that “NO, I have never seen a political season like this; and, it is time to seek factual information and to speak honestly and respectfully.” 

This is the stuff (honest dialogue and respectful disagreements) of a healthy democracy.  This is the way to RIGHTSIDEUP our national life.

What you take into your Hands, You take into your heart

~ philipamerson ~ 1 Comment

Via Hand and Heart: Part II

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The Knotted Gun sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reutersward, United Nations, New York

 December 14th, 2012.  Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut.  It has been three years — such horror.  If there were ever evidence that we are following a misguided path regarding access to guns in our nation, Newtown is the evidence.

Twenty-seven murdered.  Children, teachers, a principal — all sacrificed to our nation’s inability to think or act rationally to protect the innocents.

In the early autumn of 2013, ten months after the tragedy, I was invited to preach in a congregation in downstate Illinois.  During the sermon on the text of “reaping and sowing,” I spoke of our inability to address the gun violence in our culture.  At that point, ten months after the Sandy Hook murders, Congress was still unable to offer even the slightest form of intelligent response of healing or hope for an alternative approach.

Following the worship service a well-spoken gentleman approached.  He didn’t appear angry but he did begin by saying he wanted to disagree with the sermon.  “Okay,” I said, “Please share; I am eager to learn.”  At this point he said that I should not have mentioned guns — “talk about violence, if you must, but when you make it ‘gun violence’ you make it political.  People can also hurt others with a knife.” He went on “if more people were armed the innocent could be protected from the crazies.” 

I was speechless, frightened really.   I didn’t want to have an argument right there in the fellowship hall.  A long pause followed.  I prayed.  He was obviously a sincere, intelligent man — one who had the courage to speak of his disagreement.  After what seemed like an eternity, I reached out and took his hand, still not knowing what to say.  Then, these words came, “How long have you worshiped fire arms?  Is it possible that you may have substituted trust in guns for trust in God?”  To my surprise he squeezed my hand and instead of taking up the argument he said, “I’ll have to think about that” and dropped his head.

Later I found out that this man was active in state politics… If he changed his perspective on the gun lobby his work would be in jeopardy.  He too was frightened.

The scripture lessons at Christmas tell the story of the birth of Jesus, yes.  There is more.  This story continues as it moves toward the story of the slaughter of the innocents and Jesus’ family becoming refugees to avoid his murder.  Herod sends out word that all the male infants should be killed.  I am reminded of the cover of the New York Post the day following the Sandy Hook tragedy.

tumblr_mf2xwj6iFj1rv4aqro1_1280Congress continues to give more protection to gun owners than to the innocent ones who face the terror of sick, troubled and misguided folks who find it easier to own a gun than have a license to drive a car.  We are not helpless… even in the face of difficult odds against change.  Let me suggest that you look to the work of the Brady Center at Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In Part I of this reflection I spoke of the movie Witness and the scene where the grandfather Eli is speaking with young Samuel about the gun he has found.  He says to the child “What we take into our hands we take into our hearts.”  This is one of two scenes I will always remember.

When the movie first came out in 1985, I was teaching an urban studies class for future pastors in Chicago.  One afternoon the class went to see the movie and then came back to discuss it together.  There were about twenty students in the class, approximately half of them were from the Mennonite or Brethren traditions.  The other students were a mix of Presbyterian, Baptist, Reformed and Methodist. 

The discussion turned to the second unforgettable scene for me from the movie.   It is near the end of the film.  Gunmen come to the Amish farm to track down and kill Detective Book and members of the Lapp family who witnessed a murder in Philadelphia.  What ensues is dramatic, haunting and amazing all rolled into one.  I won’t spoil you by giving you the ending of the movie, but I want to share the reactions from my class to one scene in particular.  The grandfather is facing an approaching gunman.  He looks into another room where Samuel can see him as he motions.  Grandfather Lapp’s hand is out at his side, clenched and moving slightly up and down.  The boy understands and runs to perform the unspoken task. 

In the debriefing of the movie Witness with that class in 1985, I asked how many thought the grandfather was signaling for Samuel to go ring the bell to gather the neighbors.  All of the Mennonite and Brethren students raised their hands.  I asked how many thought the signal was to go get the gun… almost all of the rest of us thought it was signal to get the gun.

The difference in what was seen by the two groups continues to haunt.  One group had grown up knowing the power of community when faced with danger; others of us had learned to prefer force and power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you take into your hands, you take into your heart.

~ philipamerson

Via Hand and Heart: Part I

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The Knotted Gun sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reutersward, United Nations, New York

 

The movie Witness opens with eight year old Samuel Lapp (Lukas Hass) witnessing a murder.  Philadelphia detective John Book (Harrison Ford) questions the boy.  What did he see?  Detective Book is aware that young Samuel is now in danger.  As the plot unfolds, the detective is shot identifying a suspect; still he manages to drive the Amish boy and his mother to their farm. 

Upon arrival in Lancaster county, Detective Book collapses from his wounds.  He is now in the care of this Amish household/community.  Two scenes from this movie are particularly thought provoking for me.  The first scene is of Eli, the grandfather (Jan Rubes) talking with Samuel about the discovered gun.  Witness Youtube video: Eli and Samuel.  Eli says to the youngster “What we take into our hands, we take into our hearts.”  The scene is a too easy summary of one pacifist’s philosophy — still it carries power when thinking of the violence in our modern world.

In the wake of Paris, San Bernardino, Charleston, Colorado Springs, Newtown… [This list of the massacre of innocents can go on for pages] what will we take into our hands and hearts?  Thus far in 2015 there have been more than 40 mass murders in the U. S.  Of these, two involved persons claiming Islamic motivations.  Of over 12,500 gun deaths thus far this year, 19 were done by persons claiming a perverted radical Muslim identity.  We in the United States now have more guns than people.  To what end?

Congress is so controlled and manipulated by the gun lobby that all sensible legislation is blocked.  A majority of Americans are seeking restrictions on gun ownership and usage.  Does this change any thing?  No.  Background checks?  Nope.  This week there was a vote asking that those who are unable to fly, who are on a terrorist watch list, be restricted from purchasing guns.  One would think this is an easy “yes”, right?  No way!   Can we limit the purchase of guns designed for military style use?  Nope.  Limit the amount of ammunition in a cartridge?  Not a chance.  Have electronic finger print control allowing only the licensed owner to fire any new weapon?  Are you kidding?  Not in the U.S.!  We are suffering from a suicidal social addition.

In Indiana we have the added burden of being the major supplier for the armaments sold that are used in the murders on the south side of Chicago.  Will the Indiana legislature act to have universal background checks on gun purchases?  You know the answer — it is “No, no, no.”

At Liberty University this week, Jerry Falwell Jr. encouraged every student to have a handgun — this as part of what a Christian should be about in these days.  He praised the ability to have a concealed weapon and said this would take care of our “Muslim problem.”  Alas.

Two of my friends made cogent responses to Mr. Falwell.  Let me close this Part I of “What we take into our hands” by sharing links to these.   My friends Will Willimon and Sara Wenger-Shenk give us perspective on how we proceed.  They help us better understand what it means to respond to Falwell as a different brand of Christians.

See Willimon’s at: Pistol-Whipped Preacher

See Wenger-Shenk’s at:Practicing Reconciliation

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