Shhh! Don't Wake the Mainline.

A recent AP News article noted that the 2020 election seemed to have passed by the mainline Protestant churches. “We don’t endorse or oppose a particular candidate, but we do try to uphold moral principles and values that are key to our faith,” said (Episcopal Presiding Bishop) Curry." 

How very 2016. 

Or 1856. This from the "Crusty Old Dean" Tom Ferguson

in 1856, the General Convention refused to say anything about the violence or about how slavery was tearing the country apart.  It issued the following statement: the Church has “nothing to do [with] party politics, with sectional disputes, with earthly distinctions, with the wealth, the splendor, and the ambition of the world.”

Would it have been okay to vote for Jefferson Davis? Many famous Episcopalians supported secession and slavery. Could we have opposed Chancellor Hitler by name? "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Mussolini made Catholicism the official state religion.

True, the "mainline" has relatively so few members, that it is already largely politically irrelevant. (The AP also notes that the historic St. John's - Lafayette Square presidential photo op was the rare exception; it moved the Episcopal Church to outrage.) But how much worse does Donald Trump and the current incarnation of the Republican party have to be before what's left of the old Protestant church says "no". We all love to quote Bonhoeffer from "The Church and the Jewish Question". 

There are thus three possibilities for action that the church can take vis-à-vis the state: first (as we have said), questioning the state as to the legitimate state character of its actions, that is, making the state responsible for what it does. Second is service to the victims of the state's actions. The church has an unconditional obligation toward the victims of any societal order, even if they do not belong to the Christian community. "Let us work for the good of all." These are both ways in which the church, in its freedom, conducts itself in the interest of a free state. In times when the laws are changing (e.g. Gleichschaltung), the church may under no circumstances neglect either of these duties. The third possibility is not just to bind up the wounds of the victims beneath the wheel but to seize the wheel itself.

Then satisfied, we stop.

I know of one exception to this general rule; Nadia Bolz-Weber, aka the Sarcastic Lutheran. She has endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket. 

As a woman of faith I am supporting the Biden Harris ticket because I believe it is foundationally patriotic to do so. It is to say, I will hold this country’s feet to the fire until we finally resemble in reality what we have always claimed to be in theory. I will not abandon this country to those who would wrap their bigoted self-interest in the flag and call it “God’s will”.

Amen.

I understand why a fragile church made even more so by the pandemic  would want to avoid conflict, to exercise self-care, to husband its resources, to stay clean and safe. Even my limited experience with politics tells me it is a mess. You can ask me about it sometime.

 

But  I wouldn't want to wake you.

How's Retirement ? (One year)

 

 

How's retirement? Better or worse than it was at six months? 

 

Better! Turns out the timing of my retirement was pretty good. It was so nice of everybody to stop going to work at just about the same time I did.

 

 

- COVID 19 has become the story of the last six months of retirement. My relative inactivity in retirement has contrasted with Katy's hyper-activity at Food Finders during the same period. God bless her. The churches may have been closed, but Jesus was still out there.

 - Because of the corona virus the City Council President has learned WebEx (city), GoToMeeting (county), and ZOOM (everybody else). I have learned to set the computer in just the right way so that my old campaign posters show in the background over my left shoulder. Resolution # 6-20 - "A Resolution Waiving Certain Procedures and Formalities During (a) Disaster Emergency Pursuant to I.C. 10-15-3-17 and Authorizing the President of the Common Council To Act For and On Behalf Of the Council If Required" gave me the power of a god.

-  "ZOOM" Church? It feels funny. Institutional religion? Well, I don't seem to miss it as much as I thought I would. Which is probably a good thing, since it is hard to imagine what will remain of mainline Protestantism after the pandemic. Want worship? Click the link for the Washington National Cathedral. Need a sermon? Pick a podcast. One town, one church, one parson, will disappear like your local post office under Trump. The Hamilton parody that went viral on YouTube is in perfect, precocious Anglicana style. But King George never came back. There is a plague destroying the poor. Black lives matter. The republic is run by a narcissist and the oligarchs. Do we need cute?
 

 

- Here's the place for cute. We have a new puppy; "Darby" (Derbyshire - Cavalier King Charles spaniels should have English names.) I love my wife, so I love our dog. (That's Copper Harbor, MI in the background.) We went to Eagle Harbor this summer, but I didn't have to work because St. Peter's was closed.

 

- I still babysit Rowan. Isn't she cute?


 

Wilting

Rev. - BBC - Season #1 Ep. 2 "Jesus is Awesome"

 

The Rev. Canon Jeremy Haselock is the retired vice-dean and and precentor of Norwich Cathedral. He is also a Chaplain to the Queen. (This introduction takes me to a level of Anglican esoterica from which I may never escape!)

Canon Haselock wrote in the Summer 2020 edition of The Anglican Digest :

" I adore our church. I see it wilting before my eyes, 

       failing to rise to the occasion, failing to realize there is an occasion to rise to,                 It has become obsessed with process, terrified by risk, incapable of hearing 

dissenting voices. It has become a bureaucracy . . . "

Wilting.

Canon Haselock is reflecting on the Church of England's response to covid-19 epidemic, but it also applies here. In spite of our attempts to resurrect the "Jesus movement", the Episcopal church is known more for our religious aesthetic and an emphasis on self-care. So, like museums, theaters, and gymnasiums, we are closed. 

I am embarrassed that we are non-essential. 

I agree, the church is not the building. But what if you wanted to go to a place made holy by decades of celebrated births, marriages, and deaths, a place consecrated much as the bread and wine is by, time after time after time, retelling the story and repeating the gestures of Jesus of Nazareth? What if you wanted to go there and pray for the plague to pass by your house, only to find that house locked up?

We have spent the last fifty years moving the Holy Eucharist to the center of the church's liturgical life. Did we mean that? If "Zoom" morning prayer and an on-line coffee hour is really sufficient to sustain a community, why open back up at all? Sell the building. Stay "virtual". Tell the clergy to go with "Webex" office hours. Let somebody else take homemade peach ice cream to a sheltered cancer patient.

The church could have redeemed itself by dramatically increasing the number of hours it opened its' food pantry, or hosted National Guard staffed mobile "pop-up pantries", as did the Church Women United here in town. The Episcopal church might have done that, if it hadn't earlier in the winter closed its pantry in search of a more "relational" model of helping the poor which unfortunately never materialized. Our local food bank moved an astonishing 990,000 lbs. of food out into a community where the April 4th. unemployment rate was up 7,748.3% from last year.

I grew up a Roman Catholic, regaled by largely apocryphal stories of priests rushing into burning buildings to save the Host, and inspired by the mostly true stories of Father Damien tending lepers and Mother Teresa feeding beggars. A website link to "Heart/Soul/Mind Yoga" is good. A prayer service on "Alexa" is handy. But isn't there somebody who sacrificed something for someone? 

Some churches will break now; will literally go broke. Our diocese has a large endowment, so it will probably just wilt. It will loan money to drooping congregations. College work is close to my heart. The Indiana University campus ministry sent out a letter looking to raise funds to cover a 55% reduction in its diocesan support, and recruiting new board members willing to work without interim leadership. That ministry will sag.

If you have never watched the BBC's Rev (Hulu, Prime, Britbox) with Tom Holland and Olivia Coleman, you have missed a fantastic satire of a particular church, a disappearing vocation, and a flagging institution which may not be long for this world. I wish the Rev. Adam Smallbone would have had a chance to deal with the pandemic. The response we picked cries out for parody.

 

The Rev. Peter Bunder Funeral Bulletin

What  did you do during your quarantine? My wife went off to work feeding the poor in 16 counties in north central Indiana. I decided to meditate on what would happen if, because my wife went off to feed the poor in 16 counties in north central Indiana, she brought the covid 19 virus home, and I died.

This is what I came up with; my funeral service bulletin. (Click on the content and it will get bigger.) My family was not particularly amused. As I do not  plan on dying tomorrow, I suspect there will be changes throughout the years. Some details will have to be filled in. (Should my daughters or their children read the lessons?) But on the whole, I am pleased with this forward looking memory. Here are some things that caught my eye.

I always loved that Mary Olson liturgical dance banner. I always thought Dr. Olson's story was an inspirational one. You have no idea how pleased with myself I was when I took Al Allen's Good Shepherd drawing and added a red door. Sharon Park's "mentoring community" was my gospel.

I hope she won't mind, but I would invite Bishop Cate lead the service. We were not close personal friends, but she was my bishop for twenty years and, with Tom Wood, a great benefactor of campus ministry. Credit is due her. You can thank the University of Toronto/University of St. Michael's College for the quotes on the inside left page. It was a great place to do theology. Some of you may remember when priests studied theology.

I never warmed to our standard liturgical expressions. I would like to thank Mike Bloy and John Van Brederode for showing me a way through the several pretensions of the Episcopal church.

Try and write your own obituary sometime! The Basilian Fathers motto is from Ps. 119,66. "Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I believe your commandments." (KJV). I may be  giving my family short shrift in here. (Can you hear the chorus of "what's new"?) They can tell their stories at my wake. Obviously, they will write the definitive version. FYI: I put my will and the CPG's "Getting Organized After Losing a Loved One" in my far right bottom desk  drawer :)

NETFLIX "Prodigal Daughter"

This is a WONDERFUL episode. Makes me wish I was still doing "Friday School"!
NETFLIX "Easy" Prodigal Daughter (Season #2 Episode #6 2017) - IMDb - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7695360/   
If only this were just a parody of our history instead of local and contemporary.
"Does no one else think this is insane?" Salvation through a food pantry :)

Safe Church

"On the whole, I do not find Christians outside of the catacombs sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense or the waking god may draw us out to whence we can never return" - Annie Dillard

I admire the mad Christians of the American south meeting Sundays in the middle of a plague. "Our faith requires it, our duty demands it, and no law or government can prohibit it." I admire the ultra-orthodox Jews of Brooklyn gathering for Passover in the middle of a pandemic. "The Torah protects us and saves us."

Most of us belong to non-essential churches. 

In spite of our attempts to resurrect the "Jesus movement" (does no one believe a word of it?), we are known more for our religious aesthetic and an emphasis on self-care. So, like museums, theaters, and gymnasiums, we are closed. The early catacomb Christians, writes Diarmaid Macculloch, familiar with sacrifice, were noteworthy in that they cared for the poor and buried the dead. We like to discuss the poor and the sick and the dead. Stay safe. 

I admire the mad Christians and the ultra-Orthodox. They still believe in the magic. Their assemblies pass judgement on a failed culture. We do not much value community. Community is part of their cult. We are isolated and cocooned now. We were isolated and cocooned then.  

Their dying stands in an odd, ideologically inverted solidarity with the "essential" poor, with the old and sick, those who must always live huddled in their shelters with diminished and imperfect resources. You can't buy toilet paper or cleaning products with SNAP/EBT. Two liters of soda is always cheaper than a quart of milk. Health tests and treatments are always hard to obtain.

I am embarrassed that we are non-essential.  

The sleeping god may awake some day and take offense. The waking god may draw us out to whence we can never return.

I Saw Jesus Yesterday

I saw Jesus yesterday. The churches are closed, but there he was.

Taking a little break from the hospitals in Italy, I guess. Maybe on his way back from taking Don Giuseppe Berardelli to heaven.

Not the sentimental Jesus, the high tech Jesus, but the real guy. He was in the rain outside an urban elementary school while cars lined up along Ball St., wove back into the school parking lot, then out on to 13th St., snaking up Greenbush almost to 18th. He was standing with Katy (I wish she'd worn gloves) and her worn out warehouse people and the motliest group of volunteers ever handing out soggy cardboard boxes of food (food that's harder to get because many of the usual suppliers are canceling orders, either supplying retailers hit by hoarding or holding out for higher prices) to the regular needy and the new needy and sometimes the greedy. I think he appreciated their sacrifice. He loves the poor, the sick.

He didn't stay long. But since the churches are closed, he had to go somewhere.

How's Retirement ? (Six Months)

"How's your retirement going?" If you have bumped into me somewhere recently, you probably began our conversation that way. Either that, or you told me how much you loved Rowan Grace Gilhooly's pictures on my Facebook page. (This, of course, relates directly to "how's retirement going" !)

Okay, maybe you were just being polite.

But it has happened often enough that I sometimes wish I had an 8 x 11 hand-out I could share. Consider this post that. 

 -  I am glad you asked. Really. This is a big deal for me. I would love to be nonchalant about it, but after 40+ years on the job, I am still working on my new rhythm.

-  I was disappointed by the performance of the Episcopal church as I headed out the door. I know institutions can't love you, but I would have thought that my 34 years there might have earned me a little more respect. I wish Good Shepherd had been allowed to grow into and through the promised search process.

- It is good to have a hobby when you retire. Or a part time job. Or both.  I can now go to all of those meetings the President of the West Lafayette City Council used to skip because I had a day job. Everyone seems happy enough to have me around. There are sometimes free lunches.

- You get a new sense of, a new appreciation for, your family. You have more time. I trail my spouse to more of her Food Finder events (and her class) and can admire how well she does a very difficult job. Rowan is bright and funny and pretty, which makes us remember how bright and funny and pretty is her mother Emily. Molly's New Year's Day open house was a mashup of Polish neighbors, old friends from here, and millennial artists and musicians. Cool.

- My retirement has inspired Katy to firm up her retirement plans. (It is exhausting to raise millions of dollars every year.)  My wife is a Purdue "Subject Matter Expert" in non-profit management teaching in the COM department. This could become part of her exit strategy from Food Finders.  

- We're attending (sporadically) Our Savior Lutheran now. Given the church's decades long connection to Sonya Margerum, it feels vaguely like the West Lafayette Democratic party at prayer. It is very comfortable. Pastor Randy Schroeder, their recent call, is down to earth. I had He Qi prints in my office for years. They have He Qi prints on the walls. Our Savior reminds me of the catholic church I grew up in 40+ years ago.