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On The Trump Administration’s Unjust Immigration Policies

I’m pro-life; I don’t feel the need to qualify that statement at all (cf. Matthew 6:3). I am deeply troubled by one major political party in the United States virtually requiring no restrictions on abortion. This is a position that places us on the outer edges of the developed world. [1] If, like me, you live and move and have your being in conservative Christian circles you are well aware of the issues concerning abortion in America. Plenty of leaders inside this ecosystem are clear about the tragedy of abortion and how it is a foundational position for conscience-bound voters. There is no reason to qualify support for the vulnerable in utero. This is indeed an issue of justice.

The challenge inside the world of conservative Christianity is not to convince people to care for the unborn, it’s to get people to care about issues of justice as they relate to the immigrant. There are voices in the wilderness of conservative Christianity but they are few compared to the multitude of voices championing the protection of the pre-born. The reason I feel it is important to speak clearly about the injustices of our immigration policies from inside the conservative Christian ecosystem is due to issues of volume and proximity. There is no shortage of volume for the in utero in our midst; the same is not true for the immigrant among us. 

Immigration issues are not new to this country, a large part of our citizenry was seeded through immigration in the twentieth century. Immigration as a modern hot button political issue probably began towards the end of George W. Bush’s presidency when congress failed to deliver a comprehensive overhaul of the system. This is the issue from which Donald J. Trump launched his campaign in 2015 when he infamously referred to Mexicans coming over the border as “rapists” and elaborated further saying, “They’re bringing drugs,” and yet did allow for the possibility that, “some, I assume, are good people.” [2]

More than his callous words it is important to look at the current president’s callous actions. The “zero tolerance” policy that deliberately separated young children from their parents (sometimes nursing infants from their mothers) was a hideously unjust policy. And it was a policy. Barack Obama’s administration did build the cages that were used but they never set as policy the deliberate separation of families as a means of deterrent for entering the country. This is what President Trump’s administration has done and it was on purpose. [3] While the president doesn’t need any goading into cruelty the architect for this particular policy was his adviser, Stephen Miller. [4] Cruelty was the key to deterring refugees and immigrants from crossing the American border.

Many conservative Christians will champion being law-abiding and that, among other things (like, "they take our jobs”), people who cross our border illegally are criminals. The problem with the Trump administration’s posture and policies on immigration is that they are unjust. Full stop. Christians know from St. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all and while economic theories about how much and what kind of immigration is beneficial to a nation are interesting they are not Christian positions. The Christian church has a responsibility to let the government know when it is being unjust. When it comes to the inhumane treatment of fellow creatures of God we are not discussing the finer details of the minimum wage debate; we are talking about separating children from their mothers—some of whom will never see their mothers again. You might think, “Well, they shouldn’t have broken the law,” and that’s all well and good but your position is not a Christian one—it’s a political one. Luther’s two kingdoms does not absolve us from requiring justice for our neighbor.

In addition to the hard-hearted “zero tolerance” policy this administration has also dramatically reduced legal immigration. There are persuasive economic arguments for and against limiting legal immigration and how it affects the national economy, but the reason why these actions are unjust is due to their impact on refugees. The United States has gone from resettling over 100,000 refugees in 2016 to a commitment of only 15,000 this year. The Trump administration apparently doesn’t see that number as a goal; last year they resettled just 65% of their allotment. [5] Cliff Sims, a former White House staffer locates the administration’s refugee policy also in hard-heartedness. He quotes Stephen Miller as saying, “I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched America’s soil.” [6]

Although I’ve tried to spread out the sources for information in this short piece I am not under any delusions that many inside the conservative Christian ecosystem from which I write will accept it. The sources I cite will be dismissed as part of “the left,” or the “main stream media,” and will be derided as “fake news.” That’s okay. My conscience is not bound to silly descriptions of public information. My conscience is bound by the Word of God. And first and foremost that Word of God is Jesus Christ himself. Detractors to this piece will want proof texts from the written Word of God about how America’s current immigration policies are unjust. Proof texting is one of the last desperate gasps of people who can no longer think in a theological way. Just as I am sure that the personal Word of God—whose incarnation happened upon the world at his conception—would disapprove of abortion; I am also sure this same Jesus— whose living body in this world is the church—would find these immigration policies unjust. 

I am writing this on the eve of Election Day in America. I understand that Christians will vote for different candidates for president, just as they will vote for different candidates for congress and take different positions on local ballot questions. That’s okay. What’s not okay is looking at politics as a zero sum game if you’re a Christian. What’s not okay is celebrating injustice against your neighbor, even if it comes from a president whom you otherwise prefer.

The church is bound by the Word of God in Christ Jesus and not by secular politics. All of us, no matter how we vote, are stained by sin and begin each day remembering whose we are in baptism. Each day we wake from death to sin—our turned inwardly on ourself instincts—and rise to new life in Jesus. The personal Word of God is where we find our justification, that is, our standing before God and the world. This justification does not excuse slipshod living, especially when our neighbor is negatively effected. The problem with the Trump administration’s policies towards immigrants and refugees is that they are intentionally cruel and their impact results in harm to neighbor. Families have been broken up on purpose, some children will never see their mothers again, and indefinitely holding not just “illegal immigrants” but also legal, asylum seeking migrants is both cruel and unusual.  

The immigrant, “legal” or not, is your neighbor. The refugee is your neighbor. No matter your views on this year’s presidential election it is your responsibility from the place of your baptism to say no more to the cruelty against folks at the border. We are the living body of Jesus as the church and it is a practice of stewardship to call for justice. You belong to Jesus; not to any president or political party. Remember that, and remember your baptism.

Notes

[1] See Washington Post fact check here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/09/is-the-united-states-one-of-seven-countries-that-allow-elective-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy/

[2] See Donald J. Trump’s 2015 campaign speech here: https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/

[3] See The New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/us/politics/trump-child-separation.html. To this day 545 children are still separated from their parents and our government does not know if they will ever be reunited.

[4] See The Atlantic here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/stephen-miller-family-separation/563132/

[5] See Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services press release here: https://www.lirs.org/trump-signs-lowest-refugee-admissions

[6] See The Atlantic here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/obscure-white-house-aide-writes-stunning-trump-tell-all/581416/

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Pro Life

I’m posting this on the occasion of the annual March for Life and specifically this year’s keynote speaker, the president of the United States. I also post this fully aware that people I know and love, and the church body I serve and love, apparently feel the exact opposite from me. 

If the laws of our society reflect that life in utero is not an impediment to life but is proof of life itself that will be cause for thanksgiving. However, codified prescriptions by judicial fiat will not create a sustainable life-first society. For that to happen, transformation will need to come by the renewal of minds. While this president may appoint certain judges, for a time that benefits himself personally, he is not the leader for causing a culture of life. 

When your leader uses expletives to describe human beings in other parts of the world and spends a career de-humanizing people who have different shades of color from his own you don’t have a leader for causing a culture of life. When your leader for life brazenly and unrepentantly treats half of the population of all human lives as objects of his fleshly desire you do not have a leader for causing a culture of life.

Instead of leadership you get momentary wins. These wins may feel good now, but since they are backed by this man they undermine the culture we seek to build. A holistic culture of life builds up, it does not tear down. The strategy of this president is to tear down. If we hitch our wagon to this president now, who demonizes the very people that need to be persuaded, what happens when the demonized seize back power? All Donald Trump has ever cared about in his life is Donald Trump. His taking the mantle to be a champion for life is as cynical as it is sanctimonious. Donald Trump is not what makes this movement great. What makes the movement for life great is its grassroots organizing and it’s building a culture of life against all odds—against all power. 

Transformation will come by the renewal of minds, not by trolling them. At present we are choosing the way of trolling the country into building a culture for life. What trolls build is flimsy and always comes down. Some of it may come down on our heads, but much of it will come down on the heads of those still not yet born, and none of it will come down on this president who leads us in this way. This hero of ours will be long gone, without a care for the movement at all, and we will be left picking up the pieces from the vain game he played.  

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Sesame Street

Yesterday, November 10th, marked the fiftieth anniversary of Sesame Street’s premiere episode. I am a Jim Henson/muppet (super)fan and have always parked that fandom in particular on Sesame Street and The Muppets from The Muppet Show. Several years ago I read Brian Jay Jones’ biography of Jim Henson and this past spring I read Michael Davies’ “definitive” account of Sesame Street. As a father I’ve seen to it that one of the things I pass on to my son is a love for the muppets. And so to celebrate Sesame Street’s fiftieth birthday we took a family trip to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria to watch a special presentation of that premiere episode.  There were several things that stood out about Sesame Street’s first episode. The characters were early and underdeveloped: Big Bird, though his famously tall self looked like he had a run in with a weed whacker and he “walked” like a chicken walks, Bert and Ernie were their classic odd couple selves (though Frank Oz’s arm was clearly visible in handling Bert), and Oscar the Grouch was *orange* in color (sometime in 1970 Oscar turned green after being away on vacation and permanently growing mold and mildew). But two things that most stood out to me about Sesame Street was how it was unmistakably urban and culturally subversive.  While the show has changed in a lot of ways over the years it has long remained a celebration of the city. There are parts of Sesame Street that do not take place in the city (including an unintentionally amusing song about milking cows from the premiere episode), but the show’s place is in the city. Sesame Street has always been shot in New York and it also has an unmistakably New York vibe, but placing a children’s education show in the city was as subversive as it was brilliant. I know from reading volumes of history concerning the show and the muppet puppets in general that this was intentional, but fifty years on we should still be surprised by how daring this was. 

As essential to its celebration of the city was also its culturally subversive role of casting African Americans as lead actors. This intentional move would probably even rock boats in contemporary television, but transport your mind back to 1969 and consider that we were just a year removed from Dr. King’s assassination and the choice becomes all the more audacious. Making sure African Americans were included front and center, and not as centerpieces, was an integral part of the vision of creator Joan Ganz Cooney. The obvious stars of the show were a married African American couple named Gordon (played then by Matt Robinson) and Susan (played to this day by Loretta Long). They led a newcomer to the neighborhood, a girl named Sally, around introducing her to other important people and muppets of Sesame Street. They were not there for show, they were the show.

The city and experience of African Americans is as much of the foundation of Sesame Street as anything else. And this wasn’t a souvenir with respect to place and people, it was a lucid portrayal of normalcy for a place and people who were not viewed as normal.

Sesame Street has always been on the cutting edge of normalizing people, places, and things for America. In the early days there was a muppet character named Roosevelt Franklin that was inspired by African Americans (later when Kevin Clash took up Elmo he would remark how since he was a black man it always made sense that Elmo’s essence was black). Sesame Street has long helped children and adults become more accepting of the others in society. More recently characters living with autism, homelessness, and even a child of a drug addicted parent have been introduced.  One of the unifying hallmarks of Sesame Street that ties all of this together is its realness. It was crucial to Jim Henson that the muppet characters would be seen as real to the children. Along the way not only did the muppets become real to the children but even to the adults. And not only did the muppets become real, but the place itself became real. This show has been able to project the real better than most. It has tackled real issues both subtlety and overtly and presented them with grace. Sesame Street’s realness is its enduring legacy for me. Sesame Street is a place you can go to, it’s a place where you can learn, it’s a place where you can make friends, and it’s a place where you can foster family. Sesame Street is and always has been real, and that is a piece of the show that has made the difference.

While the show has changed in dramatic ways over the years (especially having its primary home on HBO due to cuts in federal funding for public television), it is still a celebration of the city, of inclusion, and of normalizing reality. Though fifty years may feel like a long time ago, the show remains a prescient piece of the conversation in our bifurcated America. Sesame Street still has much to offer a country bent inward on polarization. Those of us who tune in may even have the courage to discover that the way through the counterfeit present is to be led by a child. May we who care for our children and who care for what’s real have ears to hear.  Congratulations and thank you to Sesame Street on fifty years, here’s to fifty more!

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Lennie

“Close your eyes and listen for Trey’s guitar.” I was fifteen years old and I was at my first Phish concert with my Uncle Lennie. The show was at Nassau Coliseum and it was February 28, 2003. I distinctly remember him telling me to close my eyes and to find the guitar as we stood in the penalty box at ice level during the second set. It was as great an experience as it was bizarre. How we ended up in the penalty box that night is still a bit of a mystery to me, but it involved Uncle Len knowing someone who was going to upgrade our seats. The seat upgrade didn’t exactly happen, but expectations were exceeded anyway.

When I think of it, most experiences with Uncle Len were somewhere between great and bizarre, certainly so when Phish was involved but also in other ways. 

Lennie is my godfather so we’ve always had a special connection. But when I started coming of age he became a mystery to me. He was the adult uncle who lived upstairs at grandma and grandpas. “Uncle Lennie’s room” was something that added to the mystery, especially since the other adults spoke about it (and him) in mysterious ways. I realize now this could be in part a projection but reality experienced is the only tangible reality we have. When I was ten and eleven years old I began receiving invites into the rarified airspace of Uncle Lennie’s room. This was because Uncle Lennie saw to it early to introduce me to Phish. I remember listening to cassette tape recordings of shows and asking questions about why we were listening to tape cassettes of live concerts and not CDs of studio albums. I also remember Lennie never really giving me an answer other than telling me to just listen.

What’s a kid who desires a relationship with his mysterious uncle to do? I listened. Then I listened some more. And then I couldn’t stop listening. At my eleventh birthday party (and my youngest brother’s baptismal party) he presented me with a gift (unwrapped like always). The gift was a Phish studio album called “A Picture of Nectar.” I remember this moment vividly and I remember a friend asking me if the music Phish played was anything like the music they played on Z-100 (spoiler alert: no). 

Within a couple years of this, Phish would take their first of two extended breaks. When they announced that they were returning I remember the phone conversation with Uncle Len and the promise that we would see a show. I was fifteen and this seemed like a long shot but Lennie was sure it would happen. And so it did. Again, I’m not certain how it all came together but I remember that first concert at the coliseum as much as I remember any other major event in my life. 

There’s a lot to make fun of in this, and I’m not naive to that. But more than the music, Phish means family to me. And while a lot of people who listen to Phish say similar sentiments—usually as they are on their way out the door for an entire summer neglecting whatever few adult responsibilities they have—for me it was and is actually family. Phish enabled me to have a connection to my godfather that if it would have existed at all it would have been entirely different. It wasn’t just Lennie; Phish enabled me to connect with other family members in ways that I couldn’t have dreamt up or written up. Older cousins, another uncle, and even another reason for my unbreakable relationship with my cousin Shaun. 

Our first family show was November 28, 2003—Black Friday. Lennie and our cousin Jen pulled me and Shaun aside during Thanksgiving dinner to tell us we were going to Phish at the coliseum tomorrow night. I’m not sure why or how my Dad and Uncle Tim dropped us off at the Marriott that night, but they did. And there we were: me and Shaun “pregaming” at the bar inside the Marriott with Uncle Lennie, Uncle Brian, cousin Jen, cousin Patrick, and others. The most notable other was an honorary family member, one of Lennie’s best friends who received me and Shaun with Lennie from our dads. I think I remember my Mom and Aunt Donna feeling better about the whole thing because “Mic” was there. We had an incredible night and we came home tearing through my parents pantry for late night snacks. 

Even though Phish would soon take their second extended hiatus the lore of Lennie and Phish would grow. I’ve never plotted it out exactly but there is good anecdotal evidence to conclude that Len is the epicenter (some may say ground zero) of Phish fandom in the town of Islip. All of my high school friends who also listened to Phish traced their own fandom back to older siblings and relatives, or older siblings friends, who somehow knew and had a connection to Lennie. The connection largely had to do with Lennie taking them to their first shows and chaperoning them. Much of this really is one giant mystery.

My uncle (or *your* uncle as he was often affectionately called) possessed a deep and abiding love for Phish. He took the second hiatus (at the time billed as a breakup) really hard. Again, it’s easy to poke fun at this but my Uncle is someone who lived his entire life with a profound sense of pain. I’m not doing this to pronounce an amateur diagnosis but I truly believe Lennie felt the pain of being alive. He was always highly intelligent, but he was also always in great need. He tried a lot of things in his life to satisfy that great need, and all of them failed him. Phish was, fair or unfair, the one constant in his life. When Trey ended things it was devastating for Lennie. In this interim he lost his dear friend Mic to cancer and began dealing with some other issues. 

Once Trey got clean we all knew it was only a matter of time until Phish got back together again. I remember waking up early one morning in October of 2008 from a phone call from Uncle Len that the Phish website had an announcement that I needed to go check out. Sure enough, Phish was back. Their first shows back were going to be three nights in March 2009 at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. The dates lined up with my spring break for my senior year of college. I had to find a way. And I did find a way. I scored two tickets in the public on-sale on Ticketmaster. I remember calling Len to ask how he faired. He was utterly dejected, he didn’t get through and didn’t get any tickets. I was so excited to tell him that I did get through and that he was getting my second ticket. Lennie was over the moon and we were both walking on air. That March, March 6th to be exact, we drove down to Hampton, Virginia and we saw the first Phish show in nearly five years. Uncle Brian was there too, and so was Mic’s sister Christine. It was yet another incredible experience. And so began some great experiences of seeing Phish shows together. There were also even experiences of doing “couch tour” together on New Year’s Eve (when I wasn’t going to a New Year’s Eve show myself). 

Then Lennie’s life bottomed out. His substance abuse had long reached the point of being beyond sustainable and as a result his life around him crumbled. He resolved, through a lot of outside assistance, to get treatment and help down in Tampa. And he got clean for a year. When he moved back to New York he looked great. I honestly couldn’t remember a time he had ever looked so good. He was healthy, and it was cool. Not long after moving home he began having pain, and although it was pretty rough he had experienced similar enough pain before and initially wasn’t too worried about it. So a year after he went to Tampa me, Uncle Len, and Uncle Brian met at the Garden to try and catch a New Year’s run show. Len was insistent to me and Bri that he had it, that he had a connection and would get us tickets. In years past he would come through; this time he wouldn’t. 

The pain never got better, in fact it would only get worse. Lennie would soon be diagnosed with cancer, a really awful kind of cancer. Cancer always changes the lives of the person it meets, and it was no different with Len. He would live with a colostomy bag following major surgery. Most people with colostomy bags wind up living decent and normal lives, so this was always a possibility and it was always within reach. But that’s always been the thing with Lennie: a different sort of life was always within reach. Lennie had lived an intense life, a life that was always on the precipice of being delivered to something new. I think an intense life lived on the precipice of something new is what led to the so many mysterious decisions (and non-decisions) during the course of his life. It was all too much for him to handle.

Lennie became dependent upon pain killers following his major life-altering surgery. I can’t tell if he ever saw it, I’m not sure he’s ever really admitted as much. For him it’s always been about managing his pain, that’s been his whole life’s story. The surgery got rid of the first cancer, but it left him with a different sort of life and he never seemed to work through that. He soon developed a hernia that he never addressed, which became unbearably painful. The hernia may be why he didn’t first notice the pain pressing down on his hip. In October of 2017, nine years after Phish announced their return, Lennie was diagnosed with stage four cancer. For the last year and a half a growing tumor applied pressure to his hip making life unbearable and unsustainable. It’s been hard to watch him, and especially hard recently. Lennie always had a strange resiliency about him, but that resiliency was gone.

When he first got diagnosed with cancer a few years ago I remember driving with him and him expressing his fears and sadness. He was especially concerned that he may never see Phish again. To the outside observer this may seem like an unbelievably tone deaf concern, but for Lennie it was everything. In between his first and second cancers he did get to see Phish again, twice in three nights during the famous thirteen night run at the Garden in the summer of 2017. Lennie wasn’t in great shape then, the hernia was making life difficult even if the cancer hadn’t already made its presence known. But he was there, and we were there. And I choose to remember him that way. 

I especially choose to remember him during the end of the first set on July 30, 2017. Phish was playing two songs that they always play together: Colonel Forbin’s Ascent and Fly Famous Mockingbird. During Mockingbird I remember turning around and catching Len amidst a climactic point of the song. He was standing in the middle of the aisle a few rows behind our seats basking in the glow of the lights. The lights weren’t colored or distorted, they were spotlight-like and I remember them shining directly on Lennie as he held his head back and wore one of his mile wide smiles. It’s a smile that all of us who know Lennie recognize. And it’s a smile that I had seen more times than I can count while seeing a show with him. That brief moment at the Garden is the moment that I choose to have seared into my memory in these days.

There are many other ways a reflection like this can go. I could share many other memories and many frustrations, but it’s enough now. This isn’t about revisionist history or anything like that; it’s about a recognition that rest is being granted to someone who lived a restless life. Saint Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” I strongly believe that Lennie understood this—he may have understood it in his own way to be sure, but he understood this. Len felt deep within himself that something wasn’t right with the world and he spent his whole life acutely aware of it. I don’t mean to excuse him, but I do mean to absolve him. It’s okay now. It’s okay. Fly, famous mockingbird. Fly. 

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may Light perpetual shine on him.

[revmattnyc]

Fear and Loving in the City

Just over a year ago I wrote a version of this for my e-newsletter while I was serving as pastor of True Light. Yesterday’s attack in Lower Manhattan, literally on streets I walked daily, made me look for this newsletter. Obviously some things are different now a year later, and I have made edits where applicable, but I stand by the message of hope over fear. During the waning days of the Roman Empire a plague wreaked havoc killing many and driving even more from their cities. It is said that in response to this plague-induced panic that Christians did not join in on the hysteria, but rather remained in their cities. As many died, and as the healthy fled, the Christians stayed behind to care for and minister to the dying. Why? Simply because Christians are called and, in their calling, Christians know they belong to God.

The current situation in our city in this day and age is not quite at the level of a crumbling empire facing a catastrophic plague, and for that we are thankful. And yet, the events yesterday in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood should bring a feeling of uneasiness. I know that my hyper-awareness is..well...hyper as I simply go about my business prayerfully for the area I called home for five years. That feeling of uneasiness should also produce a question in such times, something along the lines of, What should a Christian do?

There probably is not a single answer to that question, definitely not a single right answer to that question. But for our purposes, I am going to focus on what I think is one right answer, and I draw my inspiration from the responses of the faithful in centuries past. And while I recognize that the situation we currently face is not quite like the situation faced by the plague-ravaged crumbling Roman empire, I do think it is an appropriate time to advocate staying in the city in the face of uncertain danger.

It may be helpful to provide a little context before advocating. One of the more unique features of the city, New York in particular, is its endless opportunity. The city has so much to offer, and is a life force all on its own, that any disruption to it proves to be disturbing. After all, many folks who move to the city do so for a time because of such opportunity. The opportunities offered are myriad: career, educational, cultural, and entertainment immediately come to mind, but I am sure there are others. I'll admit these opportunities are incredibly attractive. At the same time, however, when the opportunities of the city become synonymous with life in the city itself, well, the city itself becomes lost.

When the opportunities of a city become synonymous with the city itself we lose a sense of place in the city. Losing a sense of place in the city is hardly unique to New York, this is an issue all across America, but it seems exasperated in a place like New York. The event on West Street yesterday reminded me about what happens to the city itself if rare uncertain dangerous events chip away at the myriad opportunities. What becomes of a place like New York? The city has been proudly beaming for a couple years now about the redevelopment and renewal of downtown Manhattan since 9/11. It's true by the way, as someone who lived and worked downtown I can attest to the remarkable redevelopment and renewal in not only the last 15 years, but especially the last 5 (I should note that in Manhattan "downtown" does not mean the center of the city like it does in other cities. It is literally "downtown" and is a particular place itself). Despite remarkable redevelopment and renewal, what happens to a place like New York if uncertainty and danger chips away at its seemingly endless supply of opportunity?

While we are probably a long ways off from a situation similar to the plague-ravaged crumbling Roman empire, I don’t think it is crazy to say that as opportunity wanes, so will the desire for people to stay. As it is, even without uncertain danger, New York already has an impressive turnover rate for its residents. As a place like New York becomes less like a playground, and more like a place, will its appeal drop? After all, you do not need a degree in economics or extensive experience in real estate to understand that the current pace is unsustainable. But I digress. So then, what is a proper Christian response in the face of not only current challenges, but especially ones that present themselves as uncertain dangers? Without imposing unnecessary and burdensome laws on folks, I think it is important for Christians to stay in the city. Here is the reason: long after the redevelopment and renewal of downtown wanes; long after the myriad opportunities of career, culture, education, and entertainment wanes; and long after Christian interest in "loving on" or "investing in" the city wanes, there will still be a need for Christian ministry in this place.

We all need to understand that the church is not in a place for opportunity, the church is in a place for ministry. The church is especially in a place for ministry in the face of terror and evil. Where there is suffering, the church must be there. Where there is terror, the church must be there. Where there is evil, the church must be there. Why? Because Christians are called and, in their calling, Christians know they belong to God.

The great prophet Isaiah spoke about this in the face of terror and evil during Israel's banishment from one city, Jerusalem, to another, Babylon:

But now thus says the Lord,he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:1-2).

Here's the deal: the church does not exist in a place to promote itself. The church simply exists in a place to minister to others. The church exists in a place to serve the city and alleviate the suffering it endures. The church exists in a place to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ who overcomes such suffering, terror, and evil through his crucifixion and resurrection. All of this is predicated on the reality that the Lord says to his people, "I have called you by name, you are mine." When uncertain dangers strike terror and display evil people do not find their refuge in their myriad opportunities, people find refuge in love. Fear seeks to terrorize people, love seeks to comfort them.

What we as Christians need to know is that evil is relentless and insatiable, but the love we proclaim in the crucified and risen Jesus is up to the task. Evil behaves in the way that it does because it is flailing, because its days are waning. Like a desperate person kicks, screams, and flails, so a desperate evil kicks, screams, and flails. It can come out in gut wrenching ways like on 9/11, it can come out in uncertain ways like in Tribeca, and as many as the opportunities exist for good and fun in the city the opportunities for evil meet them.

In the face of terror and evil comes the promise from the Lord to his people, "I have called you by name, you are mine." In the midst of uncertain dangers, in the midst of terror and fear, in the midst of suffering, love rises. And this love does not rise in a generic sense that provides little more than cold comfort, but it rises as a crucified man who looked uncertain danger, terror, and evil in its eyes and told it where to go.

Why does a church exist in a particular place? Why do Christians stay? Because love rises. In Christ Jesus love rises over and above terror and fear. In Christ Jesus love rises as it raises the people of God to minister in such times. And in such times what we fear is met by what we love, and what we love is predicated upon the call of a God who first loved us. Since we are so loved we are able to minister even as the world seemingly crumbles around us. The world of terror and fear is waning, even as it belches out sporadically, and the world which is to come is just beginning to dawn on our horizon. As surely as the sun rises each morning, so love rises in our midst. Our great privilege is that we get to minister in a place in which love rises to the occasion. Love rising to the occasion becomes the place of our ministry. Our place of ministry is what remains, even after the people and stories have waned. It's in the face of such love that even we get to rise.

[revmattnyc]

Semper Reformanda

One of my favorite places in the world is St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York. This can hardly be unique to me as I am sure St. Pat’s is a favorite to many people in this world, but especially those fellow Christians who walk this pilgrim road. The day after my wife and I got engaged we made a quick pilgrimage uptown from Chinatown (where I was serving as pastor) and lit a candle at one of the side altars, the holy face of Jesus. Every time we bring friends and family to the cathedral we are sure to bring them to that altar.

Cards on the table here, I have a deep and abiding love for the Roman Catholic Church. This admission would no doubt bring about groans from within my own Lutheran communion as well as from the Roman communion. How can I have a deep and abiding love for a communion that anathematized Luther and the early reformers? How can I remain separated from a communion for which I have a deep and abiding love? 

My immediate family of my parents and brothers are the only Lutherans in my rather large family. The extended group are all Roman Catholics, those that still remain in the faith anyway. Much of my early formation in Christian worship included the liturgy of the Mass. It may not have been the Latin Mass of old, but it was deeply and profoundly Roman. The Lutheran parish of my youth drank deeply from the well of Vatican II in its use of the Lutheran Book of Worship. This admission would no doubt again elicit groans from both sides, but nevertheless the reality that this worship was Catholic and Lutheran cannot be denied. 

Given what I call a deep and abiding love for the Roman Catholic Church, why would I remain a Lutheran? All jokes aside about pensions I take this question very seriously. Stanley Hauerwas recently wrote that the Reformation is over in the Washington Post, so why do Protestants remain? Hauerwas answers that, among other reasons, he remains on the outside to keep the Roman Catholic Church honest. In other words, he remains in his position as a Protestant to keep the Church honest. I think the good professor is onto something, but I do not think he went far enough in the op-ed. Please allow my hubris to take over while also forgiving me for thinking I can supplement Professor Hauerwas’ answer.

Martin Luther is reported to have said that the article on justification by faith alone (being made right with God through grace alone on account of Christ alone) is “the article upon which the church stands or falls.” While Lutherans are not particularly bound by Luther’s statements we are bound by statements that appear in the documents in the Book of Concord. The Formula of Concord says, riffing on the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, “This article concerning justification by faith is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine.” Justification is, in fact, the article upon which the church stands or falls. This claim is still a sticking point even though the centuries have helped Lutherans and Roman Catholics overcome many incredible obstacles.

It’s a sticking point because for Lutherans it is the starting point for all other articles of faith, including ecclesiology. This would not be true for Roman Catholicism. And that’s okay! It’s good to know where we stand on these issues. But this is why I want to draw out and expand upon Professor Hauerwas’ op-ed. If we are to proclaim the cry, “Semper Reformanda!” (or it’s longer version: “Ecclesia semper reformanda est,” “the church must always be reformed”), then we need to consider what that means in light of these starting points. For Rome “semper reformanda” must always be from above (hence Vatican II and current reforms being advanced by Pope Francis). For Lutherans “semper reformanda” must always be from below, that is, from the gospel.

One of the things I love about Rome is her episcopal succession and her church hierarchy with her magisterium and the like. Lutherans simply do not have that and, to be honest, we have always struggled with what it means to be church in no small part due to this lack. What we do have is the gospel front and center. If Lutherans are to proclaim the cry, “Semper Reformanda!” then we need to proclaim it with the gospel front and center. The gospel is this: “justification is received through the free promise” of God in Christ Jesus. This is a move from below just as surely as Jesus Christ himself lived, moved, and had his being from below here on earth. This is a move from below just as surely as we receive the promise of God by drawing living water as from a well. This is a move from below just as surely as we receive forgiveness of sins and life in wheat and wine which sprout from the ground. If we are to desire reform in the life of the church then we need to desire the gospel in our lives. 

There have been many cracks at reform within the church over the centuries (and a goofy blog post is not going to offer anything new on that front), but on the occasion of this momentous anniversary we who bear the marks of the Reformation need to bear the responsibility for always reforming. If you’ll indulge a block quote, Arthur Carl Piepkorn put it this way,

Lutheranism is not a particular way of organizing the church. World Lutheranism includes every conceivable form of church government--episcopal, consistorial, presbyterial, congregational. In fact, under certain circumstances it would be possible to be under the papacy and still be Lutheran. Nor is Lutheranism a particular way of organizing theology. Lutherans do not hold doctrines peculiar to themselves; they claim that their doctrines are those of the Sacred Scriptures taught and confessed by the catholic church of the past.

Lutheranism is rather a confessional position. To be Lutheran means to stand for a certain point of view or attitude concerning the central teaching of the church. To be Lutheran means to elevate the Gospel, the good news of God’s great work of rescuing men from death for life, accomplished by the atoning work of Jesus Christ and imparted through the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was the Gospel which the Lutheran Reformation proclaimed in opposition to certain teachings and practices of the sixteenth century church which negated or obscured God’s saving work. It was primarily because the Lutheran reformers felt some teachings of other reforming groups did not adequately present the Gospel that they remained distinct from them. To be Lutheran means to see the church’s teachings in terms of the Gospel. (Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Vol II, 195).

May Lutherans always see the church’s teachings in terms of the gospel. May we always be reforming the Church through the elevation of the gospel. May we always take seriously the responsibility we owe to Rome and to the other branches of the Protestant Reformation by elevating this gospel. May we always seek peace within the Church--local and global--through the proclamation of the gospel. May we always take the gospel so seriously that we can afford to take ourselves less seriously. May the gospel of free forgiveness begin in our own hearts and work its way to our own lips to speak freedom to one another. May the joy found in being forgiven freely lead us to freely give of ourselves to our neighbors. May we Lutherans, of all people, bear the cross’ gospel in our very lives. 

Semper reformanda!

[revmattnyc]

“God our Father, help us to hear your Son. Enlighten us with your word, that we may find the way to your glory.” - For All the Saints, I, 816.