Preaching in the Midst of Evil

This past weekend, we experienced yet another mass shooting of innocents. We saw the pictures on TV of the theater in Aurora, CO and were once again dismayed and bewildered by the horror we inflict upon each other in this world.

One man - a mentally ill person, a modern day terrorist, a bad man, or just a mixed up guy - used the guns he had acquired to rain terror on a group of innocents at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. It was evil and violent. It was tragic and horrific.

So what happened on Sunday in worship services around the country?

Some preachers discussed the shooting only in their prayer time, some had a moment of silence for the families involved, some addressed it fully in their sermons, and some avoided it because they did not know how to address the evil from the pulpit.

The truth is - we as preachers of the Gospel - must address the evil around us. We must name the bad stuff and acknowledge that these acts are not God's will for our world. We have to be willing to speak the truth. We have to be willing to preach a Word of grace and love in the midst of violence.

We have to state clearly that God does not punish people with hurricanes and earthquakes. We have to be firm in our conviction that God does not want us to inflict harm on one another. We have to speak the truth that violence is not the way we are to live.

Sometimes there is serendipity in the chosen text for the day. Sometimes the text speaks a word we need to hear, as the lectionary did the week after September 11, 2001. Sometimes, though, the text for the day does not speak to the events happening around us. When this is the case, we need to consider changing the text of the day to find a word of grace more appropriate to the events and emotions to which we need to minister.

Speaking truth in these circumstances means acknowledging that God does not wish evil for us, but God is certainly present with us in the midst of evil - holding us, calling us, challenging us, and leading us out of the dark.

So let’s preach the Gospel of grace, love and hope to the people in our pews, folding chairs, park benches, couches, and everywhere else we encounter folks who need to hear the Word.

Preach it, people. Preach it.

Taking a Leap of Faith

My family just moved into a new house. It is a faculty house belonging to my seminary where I teach and I am delighted to get to live there. The move went well - for about a day. Then I got sick and ended up in the hospital having two surgical procedures in two days.

Luckily, we had family coming to help with the move and they did more than could possibly be expected of family members during a move. They helped us clean, unpack boxes, and hang pictures. They helped us shop for new items for the house, carried out trash by the barrel, and helped us get organized. I am so grateful they were all here to help us out while I was sick and recovering from my surgery.

Today we were listing moves we made as a family. Since my birth I have lived in 21 different homes. That is 21 different moves. Some were just across town. Some were across country. Some were when I was too young to help. Some were with my own son who barely remembers the move. Some were painful and some were joyous.

Moving is never easy. Packing up and moving means saying goodbye to one reality and hello to a new one. Saying it 21 times means saying a lot of goodbyes to realities.

When I was a kid there were moves that made me angry. As an adult several of my moves were to grand new adventures - to college, to my first job, to attend seminary, to serve my first church, to grad school to get my PhD, to my first teaching job, and to Philly to teach at Lutheran. These were amazing new adventures.

But each and every one of them required a leap of faith. The moves required a sense of trust in the possibilities ahead. That trust is sometimes hard to come by. But trust must be lived out in the midst of change.

My prayer for this move and for the ways your life is changing is that trust comes to you. It takes small leaps of faith - trusting that God is present in the midst of the change, trusting that things will work themselves out, and trusting that you are not alone in the journey.

I'm leaping here, people. Wanna jump with me?  

Civility in Discussing Monumental Decisions

Like many in this country I was up and ready to hear the Supreme Court decision this morning on the Affordable Care Act, or as many like to call it - Obamacare. Many were waiting anxiously to have the entire law upheld. Others wanted all of it ruled unconstitutional. Still others thought maybe if they kept everything but the individual mandate they could live with the rest of it.

When the ruling came down, there was some serious confusion. Getting accurate information from Twitter was absolutely impossible. Even CNN and Fox News got it wrong for a few nervous minutes. Then the ruling was disclosed accurately. Obamacare – the ACA – was upheld -- all of it.

Some screamed for joy, while others wept for what they saw was an unjust decision and an overreach by the government. I was joyous. But I fully acknowledge that there are quite a few folks who are so disappointed right now. I feel for these folks. Sincerely.

Many times decisions that are monumental in nature leave us breathless. Sometimes with great joy and satisfaction that our side "won" the day and others determined to overturn the decision due to their side "losing." I have been on the losing side many times - and on the winning side - but it never feels like winning when people you love and care about are distraught.

However on this decision - I wholeheartedly believe that the Supreme Court (and the Congress) got it right. We have a health care crisis in this country that has to be addressed. And in the ACA a lot of those issues were indeed addressed - mandatory coverage of persons with pre-existing conditions, continuation of coverage for young adults until age 26, protections against going bankrupt from healthcare costs, coverage for all persons, and a way forward to care for all Americans. Yet, there are still going to be problems for us to address.

And I hope we can do that in a civil and open manner. This is what I posted on my Facebook page right after the decision:

I know that some of my friends are not happy with SCOTUS upholding Obamacare - but it helps so many people. I am proud that many poor and underemployed will be covered and that pre-existing conditions will continue to be covered. Seems that children up to age 26 can still be covered by their parents' insurance. I am proud of my government for caring for all. I acknowledge that for some this is a tough day and I want to say I care about you, too.

So far the responses have been positive. However, some have expressed their dismay. We can have civil conversations about policy and politics, religion and beliefs in humane and open ways. We have to acknowledge that whoever “won” means someone they care about “lost.” And we have to stop using win/lose analogies like I just used.

As I read scripture, God calls on us to care for one another, to uphold one another, and to love one another. Today, I think we can show how we understand this and care for each other during the debates about this monumental decision.

I pray for us all. And for our continued civil conversations on this and other monumental decisions in our lives and in our politics.