Iowa Lutheran Day at the Hill

I think this is a great idea and think every synod should do something like this.

So basically a bunch of Lutherans are bussed into the state capitol to talk to their representatives about important issues.  They handed out blue T shirts for everyone to wear.  It was cool to see all the blue shirts around the capitol but my mama didn't raise me to meet my representative at the Capitol wearing a T shirt.  To me this was a collar day. 

Ours was sponsored by Lutheran Services in Iowa, and funded by a grant from the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Monday we were asking our legislators to increase funding for Human Services by 5%.  Which isn't much to ask, considering it was defunded by 5% in 2009 during recession and now we have a budget surplus.

We got a little pep talk before hand and were encouraged to talk about how we are doing this because of our faith.  I took a little different tact.  Yes my faith compels me to care for my neighbor but I don't know that is a good reason to convince my government to take care of my neighbor.

I argue that it is in our best interests as a country and state, city, community to take care of the most vulnerable in our society.  We are all better off when nobody goes hungry.  It is good for us when addicted people get treatment, troubled youth get counseling, dysfunctional families have resources, disabled get job training, refugees get help adjusting to a new country.  This seems really obvious to  me.  You don't have to be a Christian, Jew, Muslim or Wiccan to see how this is a good thing.  Yes it is costly, but not addressing these concerns ends up costing us a lot more, if not in prison costs, but potential loss of contributions by people who just needed some help. 

So I got to see my state senator and I didn't have to do much convincing.  "Oh I absolutely agree" she concurrs.  Then she points across the room - the the State House.  "That's your problem.  We put together a budget including increases for human services.  They have a different budget"  Need a say the Iowa Senate, like our Congress is mostly Democrat and our House is Republican. 

There was at time when this was NOT a partisan issue.  When everyone agreed it was good provide human services.  Now even though we can afford it in Iowa anyway, partisan ideology is getting in the way of helping people.  That sucks.  It also sucks that my Republican representative did not answer my email when I told him I was coming, nor was he available.  A lot of representatives were not available.

Anyway I think this was a great experience for people.  Very educational to learn how our government works.  To have an opportunity to speak for people who don't have lobbyists to represent their interests.  To let representatives know there is another Christian lobby that is interested in something other than abortion and gays. 


For more information about Lutheran Day at the Hill.

Knowing only Christ

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  I Corinthians 2:1-3

Yesterday was my last Sunday.  

Next Sunday the church I have served the passed five and half years will vote to leave the ELCA and the day after that I will move to a new home.

I usually use the above text for my farewell sermons.  This time there was no farewell sermon.  I just didn't have it in me to preach that kind of a sermon under these circumstances.  

It's been very difficult for me to find the balance between forgiving, leaving gracefully but not being "Minnesota nice" and pretending everything is okay and normal.  To me the answer as been to live those words of Paul - to decide to know only Christ and him crucified.

I've been in conflicted congregations.  I've been targeted by "alligators"  I've been a scapegoat.  Most pastors have.  It's not pleasant but you learn to deal with it.

I've never been in a congregation where the people just basically stopped listening to you.  

The last year there has basically been absolutely no respect for me as the pastor.    People chose to believe things they read from strangers on the internet instead of me.   People pretty much ignored me except for that cursed "Minnesota nice" where they are nice to your face and turn around and say God knows what about you behind your back.

But the one power they could not take away from me was the power to preach the gospel.  

I still got in that pulpit every Sunday and preached the Gospel.  The more they complained about "Gospel lite" and "too much grace"  the more I preached grace and forgiveness and God's love.  

Many ignored it, some tried to argue against it, but I'm convinced some heard it.  

All I had was Christ and him crucified and the Gospel and I preached it.  

And that's how I survived.  

Until the last day when I had no sentimental tear jerking farewell sermon.  All I had was Christ and him crucified and that's what I preached.  

And to me it just proves what I've suspected all along---there's lots of things people think pastors ought to do these days and that's all fine.  But Lutherans have always taught the ordained ministry is about the Word and the Sacrament.

  Yesterday all I had was the Gospel and the words - "Take and eat, the body and blood of Christ, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sin "

I will say more about what I learned this past year.  But I still need time to figure out how to say it in a way that helps me forgive this congregation but also recognizes that they do need my forgiveness.

I needed forgiveness too and of course part of the problem was that they were pretty unforgiving.  

Pastors need forgiveness.  Forgiveness helps me repent.    

It's so backwards when we insist repentance comes first.  

It is when forgiveness is withheld from me that I turn to justifying and rationalizing and excusing myself.  It is when I am forgiven that I can humbly accept my error and resolve to do better next time.  

Being unforgiven leaves a gaping wound.  

If forgiveness is  not forthcoming then the only way to heal that wound is to forgive the unforgiveness.

Love.  Grace.  Forgiveness.  That is all there is.

A Sweet Find in the Church Library

I found a sweet little book in the shelves that we call the church "library" the other day.  Parsonage Doorway; by Anna Laura Gebhard, published in 1950.  It's a simple story from a simpler time about a pastor's family in Minnisota before World War II.  

If stories about women cheerfully supporting their husbands and revolving their lives around their children make you crazy, it's not the book for you.   I liked it.  In another life, I could have seen myself do that.

Back on my internship a budding photographer was hoping to publish a book of photos of women in non-traditional careers took some pictures of me.  When I mentioned that at the bible study, one of the women (with whom I had already had some clashes) said in a way she probably hoped would seem like a joke but seethed with her resentment of her life, "Oh I guess no one would want to take MY picture because I'm JUST a HOUSEWIFE!"   

She envied me but after I had children I envied her.  Ironic I ended up with a husband who stayed home with the kids (we were in agreement that we would not hand our children over to strangers to raise) and supported me in my ministry the way Anna Laura supported her pastor husband.  

Now it seems nobody supports anybody but everyone whines about not being supported.

Anna begins her book with a description of the parsonage in which she raised her family:

The house settled down under the eaves of the church on the corner, a tacit reminder that these two were in partnership, the home as well as the church a part of the spiritual ministry of the community

I never thought the massive sell off of parsonages and encouraging of pastors to become home-owners was a good idea.  Mostly I thought of that in practical terms, especially in small  towns.  There is also something to what she says about the partnership of the home and the church.  But it is a different time.  Both wives and husbands of clergy have other callings and gifts and should not and cannot be expected to be "assistant pastors" to their spouses.  But it worked while it worked and I enjoyed reading a little slice of that life.




I don't know what denomination Anna and her husband were.  Being in Minnesota I'm tempted to think of them as Lutheran, but some of the details sounded Methodist.  Nevertheless the whole book was just infused with a sense of grace  And her stories were all about teaching her four little children about God's love and living in love and grace and gratitude and that's what I liked about the book. 

For God has called you, and your labor in the Lord is not in vain

I went to an ordination this afternoon.  I honestly cannot remember the last ordination I attended.  If it wasn't my own, it was probably a classmate's.  It was just wonderful.  We must have had more than a dozen pastors process and lay hands on the candidate.  It was a beautiful service and though I did not need a reminder, it showed me again why I love being part of the ELCA.

I've been looking at old pictures so I got out my pictures from my ordination, July 6, 1986 at Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco.  

There was one sad point when I looked behind me to the people in the pews and saw a former colleague who has left the ELCA, sitting in the pews, unable to join us in the procession because he has chosen to cut himself off.  I thought it must be sad for him as well, even though it was his choice to leave.

The whole service was very moving - but here is the part that brought on the tears.  The charge to the ordinand - we pastors should hear this charge more often:

.........Care for God's people, bear their burdens and do not betray their confidence.  So discipline yourself in life and teaching that you preserve the truth, giving no occasion for false security or illusory hope.  Witness faithfully in word and deed to all people.  Give and receive comfort as  you serve within the church. And be of good courage, for God has called you, and your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Sorry - Christ and his Church is a Package Deal

Ho Hum Anne Rice has quit the church.  Honestly I was always a little wary of her conversion to begin with.  Which is really uncharitable and hypocritical of me considering what I am about to say about her renunciation of the church.


Anne Rice is disillusioned with the church.  She was expecting Christians to act like Christ.  They won't and so she's out.

"I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group"

Anne Rice is looking for some kind of ideal Christian community.  Aren't we all?  But if we are honest we'd realize we could not be part of that ideal community because we aren't particularly good followers of Christ either. I don't see how her stance is any different than those "judgmental" Christians who want to exclude gay and other sinners because they don't belong in the ideal community.

Anne Rice needs to read "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer .  I love this quote:

"He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial"

The church has disappointed Anne Rice and now  her solution is to cut herself off from it and just hang with Jesus.   But Jesus calls us to community.  Not a perfect community, but a community of sinners.  You don't get to pick what sinners you will be associated with and which ones you won't.


I hope Anne realizes that.  When and if she does, she's welcome  back because like the old joke says, there's always room for another hypocrite in the church.
 

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/christianityfortherestofus/2010/07/anne-rice-leaving-christianity-and-a-new-reformation.html#ixzz0vBJlhBiE

Spontaneous Gesture to make a Stranger feel Welcome or Outrageous Sacrilige?

 "...it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner – a first timer at the church — feel welcomed"  is how the vicar, the Rev. Margurette Rea explained handing a communion wafer to Trapper, the dog of a newcomer.  ONE person complained and now Christians all over have the their panties in a twist because a dog ate the Body of Christ.

I'm not advocating a regular inclusion of animals in the celebration of Holy Communion.  HOWEVER.  Anytime Christians are upset at the idea that the wrong people and/or CREATURES are receiving the Body of Christ, I see a problem.  This man was a stranger, someone who had been hassled by police in the past for sitting on the steps of the church.  He was invited and included.  The pastor's instinct was to include Trapper, who was very important to  this man.  I say the pastor's instincts were right on.  Welcoming the stranger always trumps protecting the rituals of the church.

Besides, the way I read the Martin Luther's Small Catechism, Trapper did not even receive the Body of Christ.  He received a wafer.   "It is not the eating and drinking that does these things [bestow forgiveness of sins, life and salvation] but the words "given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins" along with the eating and drinking... that make up the sacrament"  For Lutherans, handing a dog a communion wafer is not giving him communion.  I have often handed a small child who reached out his hand to me at the communion rail a wafer or piece of bread without the words.  It's a gesture of welcome.  It's supposed to be what we are about.

 Can a dog receive communion? - thestar.com

Outrage as Anglican vicar gives sacrament to a pet dog

It's Not so much about a Name but a Relationship and a Purpose

The Holy Trinity, Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I'm still on the Trinity.  Did a little brushing up and really it's not all that hard. 

 It's the will. 

 I thought this was Augustine's idea but it goes back to the Nicene fathers.  Three persons.  One will.  One purpose.  One love.  One desire.  One action.  What the father does, thinks, wants, wills and desires  --the Son and the Spirit think, want, will, desire and even do.  

So even though the dear sainted Martin Luther himself called the godhead Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, that really won't do.  They all create, redeem and sanctify.   

What differentiates the persons of the trinity is not what they do but how they relate to one another.  The Son is not the Father.  The Spirit is not the Son.  The Father is not the Spirit.

Well, they do have some different purposes.  The Father is the incomprehensible God - the Son - the Word, makes the Father comprehensible.  And Augustine said the Holy Spirit was the love between the Father and the Son, the glue that holds them together.  I like the idea of the Holy Spirit being the love we have for God and for each other.  

Does it have to be a Father?

  It has to be a Father or a Mother and Father is what we are stuck with biblically.  The Father cannot be the Creator - the Father creates through the Son and the Spirit.  And more importantly, as many monks fought and beat each other up to defend...the Father begets the Son, the Father does not create the Son.  

It could just as easily be the Mother who gives birth to the Son...but that gets very confusing when you throw Mary into the mix.  And Father is what we have in the scripture.  Nope--I'm sorry it has to be the Father.

And that's really unfortunate.  I think it's only a Father because well Mother would just never go over in those days.  

It's not because of Jenson's crazy convoluted and downright gnostic (not to mention bizarre to my mind) argument about mothers being more connected to their babies than fathers are.  

And it has nothing to do with God having male parts but unfortunately because of all this father language, people really do still in this day and age believe God is a male.

To me that is the problem with all Father all the time.  Not because some human fathers are abusive because God knows there are abusive and absent mothers ...plus you ask anyone abused by a father how much respect she has for her mother for either allowing it or being too weak to prevent it.  

 The problem is that people can't seem to get that to say the Father is making a theological statement about the Son's equality with God - the Son is not a creature so he is not created but begotten by the Father.  Instead, they just think male parts!


I kind of gave up on the inclusive language battle years ago because Lord knows there were other battles.  But again in Sunday school last week I got this blank stare when I said "Well you know God is neither male nor female right?  Right?  RIGHT?"  "But Pastor, it's the FATHER"  

It took all the self-discipline I could muster not blurt out "Really - you think God has a penis?  You think God has testosterone?"  

It's such a shame because when we get all caught up in language and what is God's proper name we miss this idea of what makes the Father, Son and Spirit ONE is that they all will the same thing - which is the redemption and salvation of the world.  

And when Jesus prays that we will be one as well --it's not that we will all stop being Lutherans and Catholics and Baptists (though it would be nice if we would stop FIGHTING) - it's that we be united in one will - to love and redeem the whole world. 

So that's probably what my sermon is going to be about.  I'll probably have to leave out the part about God not having a penis but really it does need to be said.

WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT??????

So according to Pretty Good Lutherans,  Lake Wobegone has a new interm lady pastor, Pastor Ham who ate three caramel rolls in one sitting and "filled out" the pulpit.  Needless to say, many of us are very disappointed that he chose to portray a female clergy in this manner.

Let me just get this out there.   While I enjoy a lot of the Lake Wobegone stories, I am not a particular fan of Garrison Keillor especially after he threw a hissy fit  and quit when the New Yorker hired Tina Brown as editor.  I think he's sexist and not a little arrogant.  But then talented people often are, arrogant that is.

But let's be honest here.  There are a LOT of overweight female clergy.  Yes, plenty of men too but I think there are more women.  Sorry.  I'm overweight.   But let me justify myself by saying a) I am in good enough shape that I can hold my own in weekly 6 am power skating class with 10 year olds and teenagers  b)  I will only eat one caramel roll even though I want 3  c)  I still don't have to shop at Lane Bryant.

We clergy don't take good care of ourselves.  And dispite all the workshops and speakers that are thrown our way about "clergy self-care" the honest truth is that the church does not support or make it easy for clergy to take care of themselves.  A lot of clergy drink too much and engage in all kinds of self-destructive and community damaging behavior so really if a lot of us are self-medicating with caramel rolls...it could be worse.

My late husband had a method for dealing with our kids whining "Sarah called me stupid"  my son would whine.  Loren:  "Are you stupid?"  "NO!"  "Okay well then what does she know"  That worked with our kids.  When he tried it on a kid in the home for troubled adolescent boys where he worked it went like this...."He called me stupid!"  "Are you stupid?"  "Well, yea but he didn't have to say it!"

Are a lot of clergy women fat?  Yea but he didn't have to say it!  Garrison Keillor makes fun of Lutherans and midwesterners in general.  A lot of people might argue that ALL of his stereotypes are outdated.   A lot of feminists and Gays have been annoyed with him for some time.  But he's been married  enough times, he should know -  you NEVER call a woman fat.  Unforgivable.

So Do I even NEED to explain the IRONY?

So nearby ELCA church votes to leave the ELCA and affiliate with the LCMC.  Pastor comes to ELCA conference rostered leaders meeting and asks to continue to be invited and says how important it is as a witness that we continue to work together.

Of course we said yes but am I the only one who sees an inconsistency here????

Telling the Truth, the Whole Truth

If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  1 John 1:6-10⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

An unnamed ELCA seminary professor criticized Susan Hogan over at Pretty Good Lutherans for talking about suicide and domestic violence in the church.

Perhaps he thinks if we don't talk about it, it will go away.  Oh wait.  We tried that for generations.  Nope, it didn't go away.

In fact, sweeping it under the rug is what helps perpetuate it.  It reinforces the idea that there is something shameful about depression and suicide and therefore keeps people with depression from seeking help, adds to their despair and puts their lives in even more danger.  Pretending that there is no domestic violence in the church keeps women from seeking help because they assume there must be something wrong with them and puts their lives in danger.  

And lets not EVEN go into what damage sweeping sexual abuse in the church under the rug has caused. 


The Church is not perfect and Christians are not immune to the same sins, illnesses, and tragedies that befall non-Christians.  What we do as a Christian community is share one another's burdens, uplift, pray and care for one another.  We cannot do that if we are discouraged from sharing our burdens whatever they may be.

I am frankly disturbed that an ELCA seminary professor thinks this way and I believe he should be named.  Since he wrote to share his criticism I assume he is not ashamed of his position and should be held accountable for it. Oh but that's right.  He prefers the darkness.

OUCH!

A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God.  A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.  When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to wee whether the trouble is not due to his wish dream that has been shattered by God...

Life Together

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, died April 9, 1945

One Day Without Shoes

 

ne Day Without Shoes - Join Us April 8th - TOMS.com

In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.  
Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.  
Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.  
In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.  
Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.  

So this guy starts a shoe company with the purpose of donating shoes to needy children.  There are SO SO many ways to help and make a difference in this world.

 But I really HATE going barefoot.

A Little Rant about Church Transfers

When I started in the ministry – church transfers were handled in this way. If someone wanted to transfer their church membership within the ELCA and its predecessors – the new church where they were attending would write a letter to the church they were a currently a member and ask for a transfer. As a pastor I would not approve transfers until I had heard from the church itself that they were indeed taking responsibility for that person. That was an orderly way to ensure that the person was entrusted to the care of a congregation.



Well none of that happens anymore. People call up the church and ask for a transfers all the time. I used to try to fight it and get confirmation from the church to which they were transferring but people treated me like I was crazy and when I didn’t even get support from my bishop in a former synod when people in my congregation complained that I was doing that I gave it up. So now I just sign the transfer papers having no idea if these people really are going to join the church or not.


When I moved into this synod and the Bishop told us  pastors that if someone from a nearby colleagues’ church was showing interest in transferring we were to CALL that pastor and have a discussion, with the idea in mind that there may be some sort of misunderstanding or reconciliation that could take place to keep the person in their original church. That never happens here either. There’s a church a few miles away that is leaving the ELCA and that pastor never calls me to tell me that my folks are going to church over there or that they are thinking of transferring. I just get the call from the folks asking for a transfer. I once even marched into his office and confronted him about it, quoting the bishop and he gave me no satisfactory answer. Now that they are leaving the ELCA I suppose I’ll see even more of those transfers.


It’s not about being possessive about members. It’s about community. It’s about spiritual care of one another. It’s not good for people to be able to just hop around from church to church because they don’t like what this pastor is saying or what hymns this church is singing or if someone looked at them funny after church. It’s about seeing ourselves as part of the larger church and individual congregations are expressions of that so we can work together to make sure people are care for. My secretary just looks at me and says “Nobody does thinks that” Oh well. At least my bishop sees things my way.

"The Fairly modest Requirements of the Mother Denomination"

I have mentioned how much I enjoy Magdalene's Egg.  Sometimes it takes a little patience to figure out where Father is going with his reflections.  Today it was worth it to go back to his home town, his detours on "Old Catholicism", ancient gossip about a church scandal, and a hippie priest and you will get to this - what it really takes to be part of community:

"...don't sleep with your church members, for example.  Put up with meetings where nothing gets done, and learn to work and worship with people who share your creed but not your reading of it.  And all the other stuff that the rest of us do more or less easily, because we know that living in community, while difficult, is worthwhile."

A Plug for Pretty Good Lutherans

Yesterday Susan Hogan, the writer for the independent ELCA news blog Pretty Good Lutherans disappeared from the face of the internet.  Her blog went down.  Her twitter was de-activated and she didn't answer emails or phone calls. 

And her friends, people who only knew her online got worried.  I was ready to try to figure out who her pastor was and call that person.  Because people who poo-poo the internet and social networks as not a "real" community just don't know what they are talking about.   I actually have met Susan in real life but even if I hadn't, I would not have been less concerned.

She's back, the site is back up and she explains what happened over there.   Basically she's burning the candle at both ends.  She thought the blog was just her little hobby and no one would notice if it qietly disappeared.  She was shocked at how wrong she was.


But that blog takes a lot of work.  I read it everyday and had ignored the donation button.   When it went away and came back I realized I could not afford to ignore that donation button.  It's a full time job to keep that site going.  Susan says she doesn't like to ask for donations because of Haiti.  Oh please. EVERYONE reading this can afford a donation for the PEOPLE of Haiti, the ANIMALS of Haiti, your  Sunday offering, a $3.00 cup of coffee AND  a donation to Pretty Good Lutherans.

Where Your Treasure is...

So it looks to me like the Word Alone, CORE types are on the defensive about their "Well we will stay, call ourselves members of the ELCA, keep our jobs as pastors and other positions in the ELCA, vote in conference and synod assemblies, insist bishops and other leaders in the ELCA listen to us, scold and lecture the ELCA but will not sully our pure wallets by supporting the ELCA with our gold and silver" stance. In this article over at Word Alone they actually compare the ELCA to an international corporation profiting from Apartheid! Everything I learned about the redirection of financial support, I learned from the ELCA

The church is not an international corporation. It is the Body of Christ. It is made up of YOUR Christian brothers and sisters. People you went to seminary with. People who love Jesus as much as you do. People who pray they are doing the right thing but are ready to fall on the mercy of Christ if they are mistaken.

I tell you what -- if I EVER thought the church I belonged to was as cold hearted and profit minded and evil as a soulless multi-national corporation that had no problem profiting from the oppression and torture of other human beings, I would not mess around with "redirecting my funds" I would renounce my membership in that organization. Pronto. Yesterday. And take the consequences.

Either the ELCA is evil and you need to leave today or it is the Christian community made up of saints and sinners with whom we don't always see eye to eye but need to figure out how work together for the mission of Christ. For a group that is so so very sure they are the ones on top of this authority of scripture thing, I'm still waiting for the SCRIPTURAL justification for using your money to teach your church "a lesson"

It's Always Exciting to be Part of a Movement

One of the common criticisms of the decisions made by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly regarding roster leaders in same sex relationships is that all of the arguments were made on the basis of human experience and not the WORD OF GOD.

Well I was there and there was plenty of emotional arguments on the other side and I heard biblical arguments for the changes. But more on that later.

For a group claiming to be above emotion and experience, I'm a little amused (I was annoyed until I figured this all out) at the emotional and enthusiastic ravings of how "inspiring and uplifting" the Lutheran Core gathering in Indianapolis has been for those who are attending. I even read one blog about how wonderful it is to sing "A Mighty Fortress" with Lutherans "who really believe it"

Because you know, I never really believe it when I sing it. But truthfully, I've been in church a lot of times when folks including myself did not sing it as though we really believed it.

The ELCA is pretty much a dying mainline church, like others and it doesn't have anything to do with being liberal or having gay ministers. We've stopped singing like we meant it. I gotta tell you these Core folk in Indianapolis remind me of bunch of kids who have gone to church camp and singing Jesus songs like they meant it after years of boring lifeless liturgies. It's exciting to be part of something. It's heady stuff to think you are going to change the church. The church needs you! The church is going to head off a cliff if YOU don't stop it! Sound the ram's horn! Gird up your loins!

But what are you girding up your loins for? To deny your Christian brothers and sisters their pastors because you read scripture differently than they do? That's what it is about. These people in CORE are not hateful people so they insist it's not about homosexuality at all. It's about the authority of Scripture. THEY are protecting it while the rest of us are not.

That is just not true. They read scripture through the same lens the rest of the ELCA does. They use the same historical critical tools. Otherwise there would be no women clergy among them. (I actually think those women are in some danger when they figure that out but that's another argument) That's a fact. They just have been able to use those methods to hold on to the authority of scripture and see that it does support women in ministry but they cannot see that it may also support gay people in same-sex relationships. This is not an argument about the authority of scripture. It's about interpretation. It should not be church dividing.

But it's fun to go to camp. When kids come back from camp its really important you channel that enthusiasm to some purpose to keep it going or they will lose it or worse, go to some church with a rock band. We as a church need something to be excited and enthusiastic about. It should be about opening up the doors of the church and the ministry to more people, not tightening the requirements. I fear we are all fighting about how to arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. We need a new wind blowing and a reformation. But CORE ain't it.

This will make you smile - Dancing at the Assembly

This took place before I got there. I promise you if I had been there, I'd be on there.

Three Deaths This Week

Farrah Fawcett died of cancer yesterday morning. When I was in high school I never missed an episode of "Charlie's Angels" This was commercial TV's version of "Women's lib" where women didn't wait for a man to rescue them, they solved mysteries, they kicked fought their way out of trouble...all with sexy figures, heels and hair dos that my friends and I spent hours with curling irons trying unsuccessfully to emulate.

But all I can think of is her boyfriend Ryan O'Neal's troubled daughter Tatum telling of how the two of them were so wrapped up in each other there was no room for anyone else, not even their own children.

Nobody is perfect we all make mistakes and one is not supposed to speak ill of the dead. But when we idolize celebrities, especially at their death, this failure on her part needs to be acknowledged. I think your children are a much better legacy than your work. When I think of Fawcett all I can think of is Tantum and Redmond.

And then yesterday afternoon came the shocking news of the death of Micheal Jackson. We thought we'd always have Micheal Jackson around to make fun of. Of course no one is making fun of him now. He's a tragic heroic figure. Everybody loved Micheal Jackson but it seemed nobody loved him enough to say no to him. Not the doctor's who kept operating on him until he looked like a freak. Not his agents. Not the women who handed their children over to him to be raised in his isolated freakish world.

I never was that big of fan of his music, though I recognize his genius. I just hope those who admire his work so much realize at what cost it came. It is a mystery to me as to why the genius that produces the art that gives joy to so many costs the artist such a high price.

Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson were not heroes. A real hero died earlier this week. His name was Ed Thomas and he had coached high school football in Parkersburg, Iowa for 37 years. He served as an elder in his church and taught Sunday School. He was instrumental in getting the football field rebuilt after it was destroyed when a devastating tornado ripped through the town last year.

He was more than a coach but a mentor to his students. Detroit Lions defensive end Jarod DeVries said in a statement: "Aside from my own father and mother, no one had a more profound impact on my life than Coach Thomas. He truly was like a second father to me and to the hundreds of players from our community he coached over the years. "

He tried to help a troubled former member of his team, Mark Becker. Wednesday, for reasons no one knows and probably will never understand, that troubled young man walked into the weight room of the high school where coach Thomas was working with other students and shot the coach to death. Ed Thomas was a real hero. His death was a real tragedy. When the media laments the loss of our "icons" this week, I remember a community who lost someone whom they knew and loved, a man who truly gave his life for others.