Roger Anderson, a member of United, an elder, and a member of the Presbytery of Northern Waters Committee on Ministry, spent a week volunteering at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) down in Minneapolis. Here are some of his reflections on his time there.
Continue reading "Roger Anderson's General Assembly Diary" »
We are moving quickly into a time of year where almost everything is festooned in red, white, and blue. As the weather gets warmer something patriotic stirs within and we begin to show our colors. Memorial Day is followed shortly by Flag Day. Flag Day leads quickly to Independence Day. We are treated to parades and speeches and fireworks and air shows and other expressions of our national identity.
With July 4 falling on a Sunday this year we get into the sticky and interesting issue of how much our patriotic fervor should be expressed in our churches. Is it appropriate to display the American flag in the sanctuary? Is it advisable to include the Pledge of Allegiance in a service of worship? Where does one draw the line?
One of the joys of this country is a guarantee that the government does not establish any particular religion or denomination as a national (or state) religion. We are free to choose how to worship with our own conscience. Our churches and places of worship are not supported by the state in any way. And this is just because the church is bigger than any one nationality. Christianity knows no national distinction. As Paul said, in Christ we are neither Jew nor Greek.
Likewise, as Paul said, we hold our citizenship in heaven. And if we are citizens of this heavenly kingdom, we are sojourners here on earth. Churches are, thus, embassies scattered around the globe. As ambassadors, we have a diplomatic duty to engage the culture in which we serve. We admire, partake, observe, and enjoy. We honor the things in the culture which are honorable.
But, that said, we worship God alone. Worship is our sacrifice of praise to the most high, not to earthly allegiances, no matter how important. Our ambassadorial duties to be engaged in the cultures in which we've been placed do not abrogate our primary allegiance to God. In some ways we must guard against "going native."
Now, this being said, expect to see me at patriotic concerts by our fabulous Town Band. Watch for me at the fireworks shows saying "ooh" and "ahh." Expect to see me with my hat over my heart at a baseball game when we sing the National Anthem. But also expect me at worship to be proclaiming Christ crucified and risen, hope of the world, and healer of the nations.
In Christ,
Pastor Lawrence
Email - pastor@ucth.org
Pastor Lawrence has been the pastor of United Church of Two Harbors since August 1, 2003. He has a passion for preaching, teaching, organizing worship, the sacraments, social justice, and youth ministry. He's known for his very personal preaching without the use of notes.
He has a special interest in Taizé worship services and labyrinth prayer. Influential thinkers and writers for him have been Philip Berrigan (a native of Two Harbors), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Dorothy Day, Jacques Ellul, Anne Lamott, CS Lewis, Martin Luther, JRR Tolkien, and Walter Wink. He graduated with honors in New Testament Studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and he has a special interest in the epistles of Paul.
The other day while walking through Two Harbors I spotted a sticker in the back window of a car. It was what is commonly called the "peace symbol." This symbol actually got its start as a symbol for Nuclear Disarmament, formed by combining the semaphore for "N" and "D." It's not a very old symbol, as symbols go, celebrating its 52nd birthday this coming February.
Written around this symbol were the words "Peace through Superior Firepower."
We are moving into the season where we celebrate angels singing over the plains "Peace on Earth" but I'm reminded by this sticker that peace can mean a lot of things. So the question of the moment for me is, what kind of peace?
For many the only imaginable peace is a peace that must be enforced by the threat of force. Some people hope for a Pax Americana harkening back to the Pax Romana, a period of some 200 years where Rome was the world's sole superpower and dominated all of the lesser forces into submission. This created a period of time where aqueducts and roads were built and commerce flowed freely around the Mediterranean. Likewise some hope that America, as a sole superpower, can by threat of arms create a world where infrastructure can flourish and economic forces can create wealth, if not for all, at least for some.
It was exactly this "peace" into which Jesus was born. This "peace" was really no peace at all. Otherwise, why would the angels hope for peace? This peace by brute force was simply domination in order to bring order, and that order was called "peace."
But the peace the angels proclaimed was not this kind of peace at all. Nor was it some kind of idyllic cessation of hostility among nations and people. It was a peace between God and humanity.
For we were and have been at war with God, in big and small ways. We declared the war when we, in the guise of Adam and Eve, tried to become gods ourselves. And that's been the struggle ever since.
In this ongoing conflict God declared an amnesty in the person of Jesus Christ and called us to lay down arms and stop our warring ways, because the war wasn't hurting God, it was hurting ourselves and each other and creation itself. We needed a different way, a different peace.
So, this Christmas, let us know peace. Let us know peace on Earth and celebrate God's goodwill to all.
We're in the midst of a communication revolution and you are a part of it.
Over the summer I polled you on how you use media in your daily life and we got great feedback and fascinating results. Of those who responded here are some interesting statistics:
So, given all this, here are some things we've done:
The wonderful thing about this form of communication is that is driven by you. I don't want to talk to you; I want to talk with you. Already on our Facebook page we have polls, discussion topics, videos, pictures, and so on, and you can comment on any of these. You can leave messages on our Facebook wall and share what you are thinking.
The internet can be a place where we can stay in communication all week long and, I'm grateful to note, that several of our young adults who have grown up in the church but now live in far flung places have joined the site so that they can stay connected to their home church.
So, let's have a conversation and be reminded that the body of Christ is much bigger than those who gather in a sanctuary on a Sunday morning.
Yours,
Pastor Lawrence
The automobile industry in this country has been called unresponsive to the needs of the common person, out of touch with societal trends, and uncaring about global changes. As a result the industry is suffering mightily and is quickly trying to retool to respond to the needs of a changing world.
Likewise, I've heard the same arguments over the last 20 years about the church and, let's face it, the church is suffering as well.
Maybe both deservedly so. So, what can the church learn from Detroit's collapse? While the analogy isn't perfect, let me suggest a few things.
Refocus Mission - The auto industry is desperately heading back to the drawing board and asking itself key questions about its mission. In other words, what are we meant to do? Often success breeds complacency and we can get focused on irrelevancies that take our focus off our core mission. A few years ago here at United Church we started using our Mission Statement in every publication and at every service of worship and at every council meetings so that by now, hopefully, everyone in our church, young and old, have committed it to memory. What are we about? We are about welcoming all people and nurturing followers of Jesus Christ.
Reconsider Distribution - One of the things that is much talked about is how Detroit distributes its product and how it relates directly, or indirectly, with the consumer. In the same way I think the church needs to rethink how we relate to people. Our old model, and Detroit's old model, is that the people come to us and their choices are limited. In today's world the people don't need to come to us and the amount of information they have is great. The church, like Detroit, needs to reorient to a much more savvy and less beholden public.
Brand Loyalty is Nonexistent - In the past there were Ford families or Chrysler families who would only buy a particular brand of car. They were fiercely loyal to that company and would extol its virtues. Now people will buy cars based on their circumstantial needs without regard to the brand. Likewise denominational loyalty no longer holds sway in today's world and that's just a fact. Just because you grew up in a United Methodist home does not guarantee that you won't go to a Pentecostal church later in life. Loyalty must be earned and people look at congregations on a case to case basis. Churches whining about this fact changes nothing and, actually, there is a great opportunity here.
Economies of Scale vs. Changing Consumer Need - Detroit made it big using assembly lines and creating economies of scale to drive down costs. The problem is that the consumer's need is not always met by this cookie cutter approach and it made Detroit very slow to respond to the changing world around them. In the same way churches need to be nimble and ready to respond quickly. This, actually, is where the church, especially small and midsized churches, like our own, has a perceived advantage. The church works on a decentralized model where each congregation is given quite a bit of autonomy within our basic guidelines. This should mean that every congregation is free to adapt and change to its context. The challenge is sharing these innovations to other congregations to spark creativity and renewal. The good news is that this is happening and, largely because of the internet, there is more peer to peer sharing of innovations within the church than ever before. This is truly an exciting chapter in church history.
These are four parallels, in an admittedly imperfect analogy, that I could think of right off the top of my head. What are some that you see? How do you think the church can learn from other circumstances in the world today? Where does the analogy break down for you? Let me know. Leave a comment.
Peace,
Pastor Lawrence
Thinking theologically doesn't come naturally. It takes work.
A few weeks ago, around the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin, I decided to lead our Confirmation Class in a theological discussion of the theory of evolution.
It's unfortunate, really, that much of what we learn of argument comes from television pundits who characterize dialogue as two people who take opposing points of view and then go at it for 6 minutes at a time, taking breaks for the network to sell you soap or beer. I'm hoping that we can teach our children that true argument is not about defending positions, but about a shared search for the truth.
To guide our discussion I employed Wesley's Quadrilateral of Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason. As stated in the Book of Discipline:
"Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason. Scripture is primary, revealing the Word of God 'so far as it is necessary for our salvation.'"
So we started with Scripture and read the first account of creation, found in Genesis 1. We recognized that the purpose of this text was not so much to describe physical creation, as the creation it describes is significantly different from the world as we know and perceive it, but to state in unambiguous terms that God creates and what God creates is blessed and called "good."
We then turned to Tradition, looking at the teachings of the church. We looked particularly at the official teachings of the Presbyterian Church (USA)...
"Our responsibility as Christians is to deal seriously with the theories and findings of all scientific endeavors, evolution included, and to enter into open dialogue with responsible persons involved in scientific tasks about the achievement, failures and limits of their activities and of ours... Unless it is clearly necessary to uphold a basic Biblical doctrine, the Church is not called upon and should carefully refrain from either affirming or denying the theory of evolution. We conclude that the true relation between the evolutionary theory and the Bible is that of non-contradiction."
and of the United Methodist Church...
"We recognize science as a legitimate interpretation of God’s natural world. We affirm the validity of the claims of science in describing the natural world, although we preclude science from making authoritative claims about theological issues."
The we turned to our own Experience and what Reason tells us. We talked about the Scientific Method and how we use our senses and our logic to interpret the world around us. I was grateful to have Roger Anderson present to talk about his own journey as a teacher of science and a person of faith and how he sees these pursuits as not only compatible, but complimentary.
We did not all agree in our discussion about what to think about evolution, but what I hope we learned by our discussion is that neither science nor theology have anything to fear from the truth.
Out of human hubris the church insisted for centuries that the earth was the center of the cosmos and used the creation story to support the claim, but now we commonly accept that the earth is not a flat disc under a dome through which the planets and stars process, but a smallish planet that hurtles around a nuclear furnace on the edge of a galaxy that is only one among innumerable galaxies. Does this impoverish our theology? Not in the least. It enriches it because it reminds us that we are but a small part of a much larger cosmos.
The Bible is not a book of science. It does not do a good job of describing the physical world. But it does do an amazing job describing our spiritual reality. We are created by God and we are blessed to live in a world that has been lovingly prepared. We have responsibilities as keepers of the garden. We are wonderfully and fearfully made.
