choosing real life instead of power in 2020...

For a few years after seminary, I tried living into a radical evangelical theology.  To me, evangelicals had a lot going for them back in the day. After growing up in an overly intellectual and emotionally restrained tradition, the evangelicals had: passion, certainty, moral righteousness, the assurance of salvation, a prophetic social justice witness, and a culture that was changing the face of American religion. CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) or worship and praise songs were becoming the soft-rock standard for churches as savvy promoters, writers, and artists linked Boomer aesthetics with my broken generation's yearning for grace. John Wimber, a talented jazz pianist who once managed the Righteous Brothers, was instrumental in fusing the emotional catharsis of rock and soul music with simple, mantra-like phrases of assurance from the Bible. In short order, songs like "Spirit in the Sky" and "Put Your Hand in the Hand" ruled the airwaves while "Seek Ye First" and "Spirit Song" dominated most Sunday mornings. 

It was an exciting experience to encounter bold emotions in worship. Feeling the Holy Spirit sweep through a congregation in song and prayer was ecstatic. So was speaking in tongues. I will never forget being at a conference with the Community of Celebration outside of Aliquippa, PA when a prayer request for healing went up in the hall. At first there was absolute silence among the 300 participants. Slowly a strange humming of sorts filled the air before morphing into an a capella song in four part harmony: "Jesus How Lovely You Are." I was forever changed as we were all lifted into another realm beyond time and pain. In so many ways, the charismatic evangelical movement of the 70's and 80's fit the era: it linked the disillusionment of once idealistic white, middle class hippies with an inward spiritual grace that was palpable. It raced through Roman Catholic and Reformed churches alike. By the time Bob Dylan released the born again "Long Train Comin'" and "Saved" albums, religion in America had a new lease on life. I insisted we play "You Gotta Serve Somebody" at my ordination with all the gospel funk we could muster.

I loved the groove. I felt liberated by the prayers. But two problems increasingly became impossible to ignore: the movement's fear and loathing of the LGBTQ community, and, their violent opposition to a woman's right to choose. God knows I tried to get my head around these obstacles ethically and theologically. I could, for example, proof text Judeo-Christianity's aversion to homosexuality. And while I couldn't reconcile the hatred with the people I loved, there was the Word to wrestle with. The late Walter Wink's powerful articulation of at least three different, competing, and opposing traditions within the Bible re: homosexuality gave me a path out of this darkness. His wise counsel was clear: Christians are called by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to advance the cause of compassion. (An excellent summary can be found @ http://www.stpetersloganville.org/ images/ Homosexuality _and_the
_Bible.pdf) The Roman Catholic "seamless garment" argument against all acts of violence also held some intellectual and ethical resonance for me as I was a Conscientious Objector to the Vietnam War and a practicing vegetarian. (A useful summary of a consistent ethic of life can be found @ https://www.
americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/17/can-seamless-garment-approach-pro-life-issues-make-comeback-catholic-church) I continue to be ethically wary of most acts of euthanasia, war, and the death penalty as part of the slippery slope of moral relativism.

But it became impossible to tolerate the human carnage caused by evangelical hatred of the LGBTQ community to say nothing of the violence enacted by anti-choice warriors. Demonizing responsible, loving human relationships; denying the changing wisdom of science in the realm of human sexuality; and denigrating women and men of integrity as immoral was incongruous with an ethic of love. The evangelical anathema against the gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered people I had come to love was irreconcilable with the Jesus I had come to cherish. And the so-called right to life movement's obsession with abortion while ignoring the violence and terrorism within their own ranks was increasingly bankrupt. For a few years I tried to live as a bridge-builder between my evangelical sisters and brothers and a faith that was open and affirming, but in short order I was rejected as reprobate. 

In the 80's and 90's as my ministry matured, the culture wars in the USA raged. The once mainline faith traditions found themselves pitted against a new conservative Catholic/ Evangelical alliance hellbent on denying a woman the right to choose control over her own body. The rise of the Religious Right, the political clout of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, as well as the wealth of TV evangelists like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, and Ted Haggard ginned up the stakes. George W. Bush and his strategists enlisted the help of evangelicals to boost voter turn-out in several close elections: pandering to homophobia and the other conservative obsessions made certain they held on to power. (See https://www.nytimes.com/ 2000/02/21/us/the-2000-campaign-the-christian-right-evangelicals-found-a-believer-in-bush.html or go to https://www. washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-helped-push-gop-towards-evangelicalism/)

Evangelical fear-mongering briefly took a backseat during the economic free fall that helped catapult Barrack Obama into the presidency in 2008. But it was revived with renewed and racist vigor as the Tea Party exploded onto the scene in 2009. Funded by right wing money and guided by Ralph Reed and the former denizens of the Moral Majority, the new/old movement became the deciding factor in the Clinton/Trump election of 2016. In key rust-belt states with an active white evangelical population, these so-called "issue" voters turned the tide in favor of Trump. (NOTE: It should also be stated that Mrs. Clinton's missteps and the strategic arrogance of her advisers didn't help.) Donald Trump's assurance that he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would dismantle Roe v. Wade turned voters out in decisive numbers. 

This strategy has been renewed after the recent conservative magazine, Christianity Today, called for the President's removal from office (See https://www.christianitytoday.
com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html)  Small wonder that in anticipation of the 2020 election, the president who never feels the need for confession, rarely attends worship except for show, and has no legacy of personal prayer or knowledge of the Bible, announced he and the First Lady would attend Christmas Eve worship at an evangelical stronghold in West Palm Beach, FLA: The Family Church. He has also scheduled a rally at a massive evangelical megachurch for January 3, 2020. (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-trump-christian-rally-20191221-avvcye736beyvj7zh4vjdzea3a-story.html)

For two years before his election - and regularly throughout his first year in office - I raised ethical and strategic questions about Trump's manipulation of the evangelical Christian vote. Then, as well as today, it is nothing but a craven bid for political power. The evangelical leaders who have allied themselves with the president, notably Franklyn Graham, Paula White, and Jerry Falwell, Jr., have betrayed the Cross and bowdlerized the witness of the thousands of women and men who have given their lives to safeguard the Lord's most vulnerable. Sadly there is nothing new under the sun: the Church has often collaborated with the powers of darkness. And while the historic evidence is too vast to list, please recall the American Church's historic support of slavery or the ambiguous relationship Pope Pius XI had with the fascists of his day: (https://www.vanity fair. com/style/1999/10/pope-pius-xii-199910)

We are entering a time of great testing. My heart suggests that Trump will likely win again in 2020 - and this will bring greater suffering to God's beloved as the poor and powerless are cast away. In the days ahead, I pray that we stop the name calling and cheap jokes. This is not resistance. Nor will it stem the tide of hatred and fear. Rather, let us find clear and credible ways to publicly and privately build safe spaces with and for people of every faith, race, gender and class who will feel the wrath of this regime. Let us open our own homes that they become sanctuaries for the persecuted. And let us shine the light of love in the growing darkness in ways that do not degrade our opponents, but rather strengthen all people of good will. My soul today looks to Frère Roger, founder of the Taize community, who:

In 1940, at the start of World War II, felt called to serve those suffering from the conflict, as his maternal grandmother had done during World War I. He rode a bicycle from Geneva to Taizé, a small town near Mâcon, about 390 kilometres (240 mi) southeast of Paris. The town was then located within unoccupied France, just beyond the line of demarcation from the zone occupied by German troops. He bought an empty house, where for two years he and his sister, Genevieve, hid refugees, both Christian and Jewish, before being forced to leave Taizé, after being tipped off that the Gestapo had become aware of their activities. In 1944, he returned to Taizé to found the Community, initially a small quasi-monastic community of men living together in poverty and obedience, open to all Christians. (Wikipedia)

We know that speeches must be made. And letters to the editor written. And periodic rallies organized and attended. We know that we must not only register to vote and get out the vote, but oppose all voter intimidation. But let us also praise God by using our hearts, souls, homes, voices, flesh, and resources to quietly go beyond the obvious and become living sanctuaries of safety. Let us start by bringing strangers together to feast. And sing. And tell one another our stories. And poems. In our homes. And churches. And mosques. And synagogues. And temples. Jean Vanier once said, "People cannot own their own evil if they do not at the same time feel loved, respected and trusted." 

There is so little trust in the public square today that change feels impossible. Vanier went on to say, "So do not put your sights too high. We do not have to be saviors of the world. We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and hope, who have been called together to change our world one heart at a time." Let this poem by the Russian Jewish refugee poet, who was awarded the Nobel Prize, Joseph Brodksy, serve as a catalyst. (Thank you, Laura Everett, for sharing it.)

"Herod reigns but the stronger he is,
the more sure, the more certain the wonder.
In the constancy of this relation
is the basic mechanics of Christmas."

"December 24, 1971" BY JOSEPH BRODSKY
For V.S.

When it’s Christmas we’re all of us magi.
At the grocers’ all slipping and pushing.
Where a tin of halvah, coffee-flavored,
is the cause of a human assault-wave
by a crowd heavy-laden with parcels:
each one his own king, his own camel.

Nylon bags, carrier bags, paper cones,
caps and neckties all twisted up sideways.
Reek of vodka and resin and cod,
orange mandarins, cinnamon, apples.
Floods of faces, no sign of a pathway
toward Bethlehem, shut off by blizzard.

And the bearers of moderate gifts
leap on buses and jam all the doorways,
disappear into courtyards that gape,
though they know that there’s nothing inside there:
not a beast, not a crib, nor yet her,
round whose head gleams a nimbus of gold.

Emptiness. But the mere thought of that
brings forth lights as if out of nowhere.
Herod reigns but the stronger he is,
the more sure, the more certain the wonder.
In the constancy of this relation
is the basic mechanics of Christmas.

That’s what they celebrate everywhere,
for its coming push tables together.
No demand for a star for a while,
but a sort of good will touched with grace
can be seen in all men from afar,
and the shepherds have kindled their fires.

Snow is falling: not smoking but sounding
chimney pots on the roof, every face like a stain.
Herod drinks. Every wife hides her child.
He who comes is a mystery: features
are not known beforehand, men’s hearts may
not be quick to distinguish the stranger.

But when drafts through the doorway disperse
the thick mist of the hours of darkness
and a shape in a shawl stands revealed,
both a newborn and Spirit that’s Holy
in your self you discover; you stare
skyward, and it’s right there:
a star.