Following the Eddie Long story
Also posted at the CENTURY Blog
As yet another megachurch pastor grabs national headlines for alleged sexual indiscretions, I’m tempted to skip the story entirely. I’d rather pretend that the civil lawsuits accusing Bishop Eddie Long of sexual misconduct don’t concern me. I’d prefer to believe that Long’s leadership at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta doesn’t have anything to do with my rural church ministry in the Midwest. I wish I could just ignore the hubbub, but I can’t.
When a preacher hits the headlines, pastors everywhere must take note. Like it or not, we should stay up on the story, because many are painting all Christian clerics with one broad stroke—and it’s only a matter of time until we’re asked our opinion. So here are some highlights of the coverage so far:
- Anthea Butler attended Long’s church on Sunday and filed a report with Religion Dispatches. She describes worshiping with the hugely supportive congregation that gathered in the giant sanctuary. She also notes that as Long vowed to fight the charges, he also said no fewer than four times, “I am not a perfect man.”
- Christopher Hitchens, with his usual bluster, posted “God’s Bigmouths” at Slate. Hitchens jumps beyond the allegations and labels Long a classic charlatan. Even worse, Hitchens bemoans, Long tarnishes the legacy of the civil rights movement.
- Craig Washington at the Root writes a “Sermon for Bishop Eddie Long.” Washington sees the recent charges as symptoms of Long’s pandering to cultural anxieties and of a systemic failure of moral leadership. Whether or not the charges prove true, Washington finds Long guilty of a multitude of sins.
The Bishop Long story is dominating the bully pulpit of America’s 24/7 media, and we might as well digest the sermon thoughtfully. So take some pills for indigestion and read on.
This is an “urgent message”?
Also posted at the CENTURY Blog &
Last week, the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis endorsed the Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota—well, not really, but it only takes a little reading between the lines to draw that conclusion.
If you’re Catholic and you live in the Twin Cities area, you’ve received or will soon receive a DVD explaining the church’s teaching on traditional marriage and supporting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Didn’t get one? Try your neighbor—they sent 400,000.
Until now, the question of gay marriage has drawn very little attention in Minnesota this election cycle. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Independent Party nominees both support it, while the Republican nominee supports an amendment banning it. But this year in Minnesota, as around the country, same-sex marriage is largely a fringe issue due to more pressing concerns. Minnesota projects a six billion dollar deficit in the coming fiscal biennial. That’s six billion dollars.
According to Archbishop John Nienstedt, an anonymous donor gave the funds for the DVDs. Nienstedt doesn’t know their cost. The DVD label says, “View now for an urgent message.” But in a long interview with Minnesota Public Radio, the archbishop refused to accept the notion that the DVD is overtly political.
I’m a pastor. I understand the difference between preaching about a political issue and advocating for a specific candidate. I get that it’s a thin line sometimes.
What infuriates me here is that the DVD addresses, of all things, same-sex marriage—not teacher layoffs or cuts to local government aid. Not the unemployment rate or the thousands of children living in poverty. Not the six-billion-dollar deficit. Apparently these issues don’t deserve a single DVD, let alone 400,000 copies.
Many Twin Cities-area Catholics have joined social-media campaigns to send the DVDs back unopened. Eric Celeste suggests putting them in the offering plate. Maybe that’s a campaign Archbishop Nienstedt can speak to clearly.
image by abcdz2000
Where your bagel came from
Your eyes are not deceiving you. That, indeed, is the US Capitol, live wheat, and a combine. This isn’t the work of Photoshop, rather it’s the Urban Wheat Field facilitated by the Wheat Foods Council and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). And how’s this for cool points: a member of our congregational (and a member of the committee which called me) is Second Vice President of NAWG.
Last week, must have been big for agriculture on Capitol Hill, because a few days before Stephen Colbert gave his hilarious and compelling testimony (discussed here), the wheat industry came together to educate Members of Congress and the public of D.C. about wheat. Turns out it doesn’t grow in the back of grocery stories. Part of the Farm to Fork movement, the D.C. display included a quarter-acre of live wheat in pallets, and areas to learn about milling, baking, and nutrition.
Several Members of Congress were in attendance, and our congregation member Erik Younggren, even made it back to church on Sunday! Erik also blogs about his wheat farm at the awesome url MyWheatFarm.com
Farming has received some more time under the spot light in recent years, with Michael Pollan’s influential work and documentaries like Food Inc. Community Support Agriculture also seems to be taking off, and Farmers’ Markets are the new cool thing. But often and especially, what gets lost in the discussion is the less glamorous areas like wheat farming which supply most of what you eat on a daily basis. Here’s a few fun facts for you:
- 80% of wheat farms are family owned
- half the US wheat crop is used domestically
- one bushel of wheat contains about a million kernels, weighs 60 pounds and can produce 42 pounds of white flour (60 lbs of whole-wheat flour)
- Kansas in the largest producer in the US followed closely by North Dakota
- wheat is grown in 42 states in the US
A view about the wheat life cycle is below, and Erik also put up a nice post on how Family Farming is not Coporate Farming.
Sermon: Living Richly
First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.
Sept 26, 2010
Living Richly
Luke 16:19-31 & 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Ben Affleck, who wrote, directed, and acted in the new hit movie The Town plays a convincing bank robber. I know if I worked in a bank and saw Affleck’s character Doug MacRay and his crew of thugs in masks carrying enormous machine guns, I’d hand over the money faster than the Red River rises each spring. The Hollywood prognosticators predictThe Town is Oscar bound. It’s not the best film ever, but if you can look past the violence, it’s an entertaining one for sure.
On the surface, at least, The Town is about robbing banks and making money. … Continue Reading
Social media blackout
(Also posted at the CENTURY Blog. To get some discussion going over there, I’ve disabled comments on this post and invite you to comment at the new Christian Century website.)
Last week, students at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania gave up instant messaging, Facebook and Twitter—not by choice but by Provost Eric Darr’s order. “Often there are behaviors, habits, ways we use technology,” said Darr, ways “that we may ourselves not even be able to articulate because we’re not aware of them.” Provost Darr is a smart man.
Not often, at 27, do I feel like an old-timer. But I can remember the days before wireless university classrooms. I was attending seminary when our campus got its first one. All of a sudden, students in the back of the room had the best view—of Web surfing habits, that is. Unaccustomed to Internet access in class, many of us were on laptops Googling an idea the professor mentioned, updating our Facebook accounts, even checking up on fantasy football leagues.
Eventually the school had a more intentional conversation about appropriate use of technology in the classroom. But wireless Internet took some getting used to—professors didn’t use technology to their greatest advantage, and students just used it because we could.
One HU student had this to say last week: “I feel obligated to check my Facebook. I feel obligated to check my Twitter. [During the ban] I don’t. I can just solely focus.”
Thank goodness students and faculty are discussing the so-called obligations imposed by ubiquitous Web access. Perhaps temporarily closing the Internet can lead to lasting open dialogue about its effects.
image by Iva Villi
God bless America’s pastime
(Also posted at the CENTURY Blog)
“Please stand and take off your hats for the singing of ‘God Bless America.’” That’s how the announcer introduced the seventh inning stretch at a recent Minnesota Twins game I attended. Minnesotans are nothing if not rule followers, so we stood, many took off their hats, and some even joined in singing.
My experience with “God Bless America” is limited. I don’t think I’ve ever sung the song in worship or encountered it in many public gatherings. I learned the song in elementary school, but I don’t remember singing it outside class. But in recent years “God Bless America” has enjoyed a sort of resurgence, partly because “The Star-Spangled Banner” is so difficult to sing.
I have mixed feelings about the song; if I had my druthers it wouldn’t be sung in public venues with the assumption that the listeners are praying along with the singer. That’s my interpretation of the announcer’s instruction to “take of your hats.” The song is addressed to God; it is a prayer. I suppose that if you think it’s best to stand and take off your hat to pray, then the announcer was on to something.
But what of those who do not believe in God? What of those who would like to stand but aren’t able to do so? What about those who are believers but who are uncomfortable with the song’s words, which can be taken as self-centered and miss the possibility that God might be of a mind to send justice to or even curse America for her misdeeds?
Irving Berlin wrote “God Bless America” in 1918 while he served in the U.S. Army. Berlin revised the song in 1938, and thereafter it became Kate Smith’s signature song. Berlin was Jewish, and the song’s opening notes echo a Jewish folksong. Although some argued for its adoption as America’s national anthem, southern conservatives opposed the change because Berlin was Jewish and “a foreigner.”
Until now I didn’t know the song’s history as both a victory song and a peace song, but the 1938 version includes an introduction written for the commemoration of Armistice Day:
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
Back at the game, the Twins and Rangers players doffed their hats and enjoyed the song with the rest of us. It’s good, during the multimillion-dollar escape that is Major League Baseball, to remember that baseball is just a game, and that while we enjoy the September pennant races U.S. troops fight overseas. It’s good to reflect on God’s justice and peace on a beautiful afternoon at Target Field.
But I couldn’t help but wish that “God Bless America” would end quickly so we could move on to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” For a few hours, I wanted a diversion from the culture and religion wars. Can’t a guy just enjoy a baseball game in peace?
image by fishrmann
Sermon: There IS a Balm in Gilead
First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.
September 19, 2010
Balm in Gilead
Jeremiah 18:18-9:1
At his wit’s end Jeremiah shouts, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Now he wasn’t referring to Mount Gilead, Ohio or Gilead, North Carolina; neither to the Pulitzer Prize winning book Gilead by Marilynn Robinson. Jeremiah would have never dreamed of the countless companies which sell “Gilead Balm” on the internet these days. And Jeremiah, too, would never have predicted an African-American spiritual with references to Jesus Christ, Paul’s praying, and Peter’s preaching. “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Jeremiah wonders. His question was a rhetorical one, but the sentiments behind are all too well-known to us today. … Continue Reading
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