“I submit that the ultimate religious question today is no longer the Reformation’s “How can I find a gracious God?” It is instead, “How can I find God in my enemy?” What guilt was for Luther, the enemy has become for us: the goad that can drive us to God.” (Walter Wink) Since reading this thesis of Wink’s, I’ve been gnawing at it. He’s probably right, though it’s not a thesis you can accept all at once. Like God’s grace,... Read more
In short, precisely that which was generally considered piety (religion or eusebeia), reverencing the many gods, was, for early Christians idolatry, impiety of the gravest sort (Larry Hurtado, Destroyer of the Gods). Reverencing the many gods. Reverencing the many gods. The scandal of Christian preaching is precisely this–it names idolatry among the very people who believe they’re practicing the reverse. It calls us to name idolatry in the very places those practicing it are most convinced they’re doing otherwise. Notice, for... Read more
τοῦ λόγου δὲ ἐόντος ξυνοῦ ζώουσιν οἱ πολλοί ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχοντες φρόνησιν I. Burnt Sage The abandoned car wash shelters the ecumenical assembly orange vests become beacons of anarchist coordination and as the drums drum and the chants chant the righteous anger of a people proud of who they are cries out, “You want to send us back but our back was always here.” Back here is here, on the far side of an interstate inhospitable to... Read more
Because I pastor a Lutheran Church in Arkansas, and because many people who come to our church and join it aren’t originally Lutheran, one of the most common questions I get asked is, What does it mean to be a Lutheran? I often have some discomfort answering this question because I don’t want to individually or single handedly define an entire tradition. I can’t and shouldn’t. Lutheranism is really big, its global. There are many people who are Lutheran. And... Read more
First, there’s the law of Israel, exemplified most clearly in the Decalogue, which prohibits the making of idols or graven images. Exodus 20:3-5: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Then, there’s the wider orbit of... Read more
A resolution on detention divestiture and shareholder advocacy Whereas, “Don’t mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” (CEV Leviticus 19:33-34); Whereas, “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you... Read more
“In the ELCA, the proportion of churches with average attendance of 50 or less increased 15 percentage points from 2000 to 2015—it’s now at 37 percent. The Episcopal Church had an even larger proportion of small congregations in 2000 (33 percent), and it too saw a large increase—to 47 percent in 2017—rapidly approaching half of all Episcopal congregations. “ Okay, so half of Episcopal congregation, and over 1/3 of ELCA congregations, have average attendance of 50 or less. How are... Read more
June 20th marks Refugee Day – the 18th time the United Nations-designated day has been observed. This year’s celebration comes as a record number of people are forcibly displaced around the world – 42,500 people a day are forced to flee their homes because of conflict & persecution. World Refugee Day is dedicated to both remembering the struggles that refugees face while fleeing violence and to celebrating their invaluable contributions to the societies of which they become a part. This... Read more
Gracious Lord, I beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, give our President Donald Trump restful sleep. Help him, in every way, in the exercise of his office, that he might advocate for and support those most in need in our nation, and welcome those abroad most necessarily dependent on our amnesty, security, and care. Bless him in his family relations. Help him, in the midst of his many duties, to love and serve especially children, mothers... Read more
Edwin Friedman said there are basically three characteristics common to any system that becomes imaginatively gridlocked. Such systems are always trying harder, looking for answers rather than reframing questions, and engaging in either/or thinking that creates false dichotomies. In his now classic A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, he helps readers consider strategies for breaking through such gridlock by considering third ways beyond false dichotomies, reframing the questions, and trying differently. He then says, “Many have pointed... Read more
Clint Schnekloth
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