Pastor's Notes

I remember the shoes. Baby shoes. A large pile of them forming a pyramid in a glass enclosure. The setting? A museum in the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald, located on a very bucolic hill above the equally pacific looking town of Weimar, Germany.

These were the shoes taken from babies and toddlers prior to the gas chambers and ovens of Buchenwald. How could I or anyone possibly forget those shoes or the experience of touring such a death camp?

We twenty-first century sophisticated ones are horrified about such atrocities and grateful we are living now. We are fooling ourselves. Rwanda: where Christians would slaughter Christians, one saying to another as they struck a blow, “God doesn’t need you anymore.” To the world around us, how did January 6 appear? To those with whom I am acquainted, it appeared a world-leading major democracy was teetering on its edge. What would have happened in our sophisticated land and time had the insurrectionists been able to accomplish what they were chanting?

In recent times we have had Charleston, Charlottesville, and smaller, less publicized eruptions of racism and white supremacy and we see such is not just wrong or bad, but evil and dangerous. We have elected leaders using words of violence to attract, stir up, and incite I do not know what. But I do know none of what it creates is good.

Recall your history. Nazism had such rumblings prior to its takeover. Hitler was arrested and jailed so he and the movement could be silenced. It was thought this “problem” was dealt with. Ideologies, however, cannot be imprisoned and not even death can silence them. Remnants remain underground and surface when it appears safe.

What makes me fear most is not just the violent language, the hateful rhetoric, and the bubbling up of such twisted and evil demonstrations and deeds. What I fear most is the silent indifference with which these things are often met. A leader says something horrific and frightening and no one around them denounce it. This grants permission to carry on. This creates the impression support is greater than it really is or, at least, there will not be resistance. Thirty percent will be able to control the seventy percent.

Whom have you contacted to denounce the words and events that are so contrary as to how we once saw ourselves? Do those for whom you vote know your stance? Are those saying and doing such things aware there are many who denounce their words, positions, and actions? Do they know many within their group are opposed? Have you encouraged those who do speak out and let them know they are not solitary voices speaking to an empty chamber?

I don’t know what the future holds here. I do not know if the seed for violence and hatred of those different is growing, remaining stable or in a state of atrophy. I do know its volume is being turned up. A death rattle or a call to mobilize and march on? Time may tell, but so can our resistance. It is time for those who deplore what they see and hear to do more than shake their heads in disgust or simply say they disagree.

It is time for everyone to remember those shoes in Buchenwald. During the time of Buchenwald over a quarter million people stepped off trains into vehicles carrying them up the hill to the camp, never to return again. The good and silent people of Weimar said they didn’t know what was going on. How could they not know? Why did they think none ever returned and boarded a train to depart? Upon liberation of the camp, Gen. Eisenhower marched the local citizenry through Buchenwald to see what had been done there. He wanted them to see what Nazism was at its very core.

With televisions and computers we have marched through Charlottesville, Charleston, the U.S. Capitol, and far too many other places. Do we see what those groups who do such things believe at their very core? Can we remain silent?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a letter from his cell in the Birmingham jail. He wrote it not to the politicians, police, clergy, and citizens who opposed him and his movement. He wrote it to those clergy who supported him. In essence he said their call to move more slowly was a greater enemy than police dogs, billy clubs, and fire hoses. Support is not soft applause from the gallery, but callouses and bruises created in the trenches.

We do not want a museum with a pile of children’s shoes, pictures of rubble, videos of atrocities, or artifacts from events and places of terror. Perhaps your speaking out to enough of the right people can encourage them to abandon their permissive silence.
Perhaps more people need to envision a pile of baby shoes. More need to say “NO! This will not happen here!”

What a complex organism is the human being! A mixture of flesh, blood, sinews, bone, organs, and many of the minerals found in the earth. Yet, the word organism doesn’t quite do it. It seems to me we are better called beings than simply biological organisms.

Being for us humans means more than existence; breathing in and out, pumping blood, moving, reacting, and thinking. Humans have tried to think and act in moral ways; even ways that can benefit others without benefit to oneself. Someone once created the word “soul” as a way of recognizing we are more than mere biology.

The age old debate concerning us humans is the debate as to whether we are basically good or bad. Genesis says upon our creation we were “good.” Genesis also says it is we and we alone responsible for sin. That is “bad”. Sin is downright evil at its core.

I wonder if the real answer to the debate as to whether we and all are good or bad is this: it depends upon the moment the question is asked. This may or may not be an answer that satisfies, but tread lightly here. Martin Luther said we are simultaneously saint and sinner; good and bad, if you will. Simultaneously. As we do a good deed, we are simultaneously yet a sinner. As we cheat our neighbor, we are simultaneously loved by the God who created us. We are like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. One can never taste just the peanut butter or just the jelly. Both flavors are there simultaneously for the palate.

We never debate such things as: Is the Mississippi River a “good” river or a “bad” river?
It provides water for many important uses, it is a natural partner in much transportation. Even in flooding it deposits new and rich soil. Yet that same flooding can and often does destroy lives. That same flow can transport not only cargo and people but chemicals and pollutants. But we do not, and should not, debate its goodness. We simply accept it for what it is. We enjoy its benefits, and build levees and such for its more wanton ways.

With our ease of ability to accept much of nature as it is, why can we not accept humanity as it is? Flawed, often ambivalent, humanity. Puzzling, joyous, frustrating humanity. Why must we work to pigeon-hole humanity into a cage of good or bad?

As followers of Christ, we are neither called to judge nor repair humanity. As simultaneous ones ourselves we can do neither. Jesus did not come to fix us. Jesus came to redeem us; a much more arduous task. This is our call as well. We are called to pass along that redemption, pass along that news of redemption, by sharing it with others who are simultaneous ones.

Redemption is the call to love, to forgive, and to bring new life to places of death. Redemption is for simultaneous ones to not let that sinner part hold them back from the saintly portion. Redemption for followers of Christ is to now repeatedly throughout life God does not let the worst of our sin separate us from God or God’s love. This does not fix us, but it enables us to live with us. Can we simultaneous ones ask for more?

As the toe bone is connected to the foot bone, so, it seems, is sin and goodness connected to the human person. Worry less about whether we are good or bad. Rejoice more that even though we struggle with accepting ourselves, we see in Jesus that we have a God who accepts us…..all of us.

Recently PBS was doing fund-raising. One segment was devoted to musical groups and music from the 1950’s. There on stage were singers and groups whose hair had become gray or AWOL, still singing the songs that made them popular. In the audience were many with similar hair color smiling, nodding along, and, in some cases, singing along. I don’t remember much of the ‘50’s but was surprisingly familiar with most all of the music. For me the experience was one of remembering the music. For the audience it seemed the experience was about going back in time and reliving at least some of the era.

Nostalgia versus memory. Is versus used properly here? I am not sure nostalgia is really an opponent of memory, but I am convinced nostalgia and memory are not the same thing. Nostalgia has as its root the Greek word nostos, meaning return. What I witnessed with the PBS audience was nostalgia. With my lack of encounter with the music when it was most popular, I was just exercising memory of songs once heard.

Now I must admit, I have my nostalgic moments. Sometimes even a smell can take me back decades to some past experience. I have noticed with many collectibles such as toy trains, baseball cards, Barbie Dolls, etc. that their financial value typically goes in steep decline once those who had these as children are no longer around. Better than even Star Trek’s transporter, many collectibles seem to take us back more quickly to what we often view as some ideal time in life.

There is a saying that says “Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson. It finds the present tense and the past perfect.” That it does. It seems nostalgia is experienced best through rose colored lenses. Memory, on the other hand can also edit out pain and struggle, but it also can include it so strongly that years later an experience still hurts enough to at least cloud the eyes.

Christians are human. We are both nostalgic and people of memory. While it is fine to be nostalgic about certain things, experiences, and times, we cannot live there. Nor can we always live in memory. Christians are to live primarily in the present with hope for the future, God’s future.

This is why Jesus’ death on a cross is so significant for us. We need not invent and hide behind some illusory past. We can remember pain and hurt put upon us as well as caused by us. We are those reconciled by the cross of Jesus. We are those whom God forgives. Jesus did not simply forgive sins. More so, God forgave sinners. Sinners are you and I and sinners are those who caused us hurt. Can we remember the past, enjoy it where appropriate, and also, where needed, can we forgive the past? This, actually, can be one of the tasks before us in living in the present as we continue now to struggle with forgiveness of deeds long behind us.

We need not weigh down the present by thinking we had some idyllic past. That would be an unfair burden added to an imperfect present. Enjoy old works of music, collectibles of childhood, or wherever nostalgia takes you. Just don’t live there. We can’t. We live in the only place where we can truly live: in the present. It is okay and even necessary to bring out the memories of tough times. It is only by having them out and in front of us that we can deal with them and have any hope of forgiveness and moving on.

Neither the past nor the future are places where God seems most to be present. God is most with us now. God wants to be part of the pain and struggle. This is where God’s presence is strongest; in the here and now. This is where prayer and praise of God needs to happen; in the present. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be! Certainly not. But the present is where God operates best. God is still what God used to be and will be.

Did you watch the Olympics? I was able to catch some of the events. To be honest, the (former) Coloradan in me prefers the Winter Olympics. However, what I try hard to not miss at both Olympics are the opening and closing ceremonies. Due to COVID, this year’s ceremonies were not nearly as spectacular as in past years, yet they had their ooh and aahh moments.

As I watched the Olympics I saw athletes from many nations embrace each other as they gathered at the opening and closing ceremonies. When an athletic event ended I often saw losers embrace the winners and silver, bronze and gold medalists embrace each other moments after they were giving their all to defeat those now being embraced.

I couldn’t help but wonder: do sports do a better job at coming together in unity than the church? Through their actions, might the Olympics exceed the church which proclaims there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one? It is, after all, one thing to preach and teach a concept and quite another to live it out. Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. say Sunday morning at 11am is the most segregated hour of the week. Unfortunately, this may remain true.

What do you think? Sports were not unknown in biblical times. After all the Olympics are older than the writings in scripture. Paul uses sports, running in particular, as a metaphor for the Christian life, Timothy’s author speaks of finishing the race, and the Old Testament book of Habbakuk also makes use of the image of running.

The Bible, however, is more interested in unity as a people of God. Unity, oneness, a coming together of those who follow Christ….how does the church score on these? What medal might the church be awarded?

First, medals are not awarded until the competition has ended. Creating unity, creating community and oneness are an ongoing task of the church taking place over untold numbers of generations. Second, unity does not mean sameness. For the church unity is to be found in following Christ and in a unity of purpose: bringing the Good News of this Christ to the world in word and deed. This race of serving and proclaiming is never ending. Third, I am not sure the Olympic unity impressive as it is, lasts once the athletes return home. Some feeling of unity may remain, but the embrace is no longer possible.

The Olympics, however, do have one advantage many of us do not have. For many of us our experience of other nations is through maps, photos and articles in National Geographic, or news reports. And let’s face it, neither Fox, CNN, or MSNBC usually show the best side of other nations. Doing such does not increase ratings as much as tragedy, violence, or horrific events. Olympic athletes have personal experience with other peoples and other nations that many of us have not had.

This is not to encourage us to get out and travel to other lands and people. While that would be a good thing, it is often beyond the realm of possibility for many. This is, however to remind us we can only know so much from pictures, documentaries, books, and maps. We cannot have a relationship with those things. We need to be reminded we do not usually know all we need to know about a person or nation.

The recent US census report reveals what we already know: we are becoming more diverse as a state and a nation. This behooves us to work even harder to be a sign of the unity God wants for all God’s people. Do any of us live in neighborhoods that are not diverse? Let’s get to work intentionally to reach out. Our churches need to look like the communities that surround them. We cannot allow National Geographic to be our experience of diversity.

This is also to encourage us to look for unity not in any sameness but in the humanity we share and above all, in the God who created us all, and the God whom we follow in our Christian path as we follow Christ. We need to surrender our too often feeble understandings and attempts at unity to the unity we see in Christ. Let Christ be the unity we cannot seem to be. This, you might agree, would take an Olympic effort on our part. Lace up your racing shoes!

Perspective is everything. For years my family and I would travel to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Looking at the jagged peaks from ground level was a very impressive viewpoint. They are huge and dominate the landscape. One time we hiked into the mountains. Looking at them from part-way up while standing before a large waterfall was quite another impressive view. A few years, later while on a flight to Alaska, we flew over the Tetons at about 33,000 feet. They looked absolutely tiny. Of course nothing changed with the mountains. Only the perspective had changed.

How we perceive an event or understand words written or spoken can be a matter of our individual perspective as well as the event’s happenings or the words written or spoken. Our individual perspective can be influenced by our mood, our intellect, our knowledge, our emotions, our upbringing, timing, and our environment. Our view of God in good times might be different than our understanding of God in difficult times, say a pandemic.
I am reading a book on the historical Jesus. It begins with a break-down of many scholars understanding of Jesus over the centuries. Talk about different and differing perspectives! I have noticed similar divergent understandings among my colleagues and among the parishioners I have been privileged to serve these four plus decades.
Jesus was a miracle worker! Miracles are a myth! Jesus was a great teacher. How can we know the stories of Jesus written in scripture were actually told by Jesus? Jesus is a role model, an inspiring figure. Jesus was human, Jesus was divine, Jesus was both human and divine. You get the idea.
Middle class Americans tend to see Jesus as someone affirming their values, the poor see Jesus as one who advocates for them and stands on their side over the rich. People of color see Jesus as a first century Palestinian Jew, a person, like them, of color.

What I have most learned about the historical Jesus from both my current book and previous books on this topic is this: We do not and cannot know much about the historical Jesus. We can only know about the Jesus who spoke, touched, and shaped the authors of the New Testament and the early church. As of yet no archeological evidence of Jesus has been found. Writings contemporary to the time of Jesus mention scant little of importance that would give us a glimpse into the personality or details of Jesus or his life. Even the gospels written 30-60 or more years after Jesus life do not agree on many details concerning Jesus. And Paul, writing shortly after Jesus’ life and death is concerned with the meaning of who Jesus was, not the biographical history.

What are we to make of all this? Without a complete picture of who Jesus was, can we know what Jesus was about? With many divergent perspectives concerning Jesus, are well all lost? Or are only some lost?
We encounter Jesus through scripture. In the gospels we see a Jesus who may, at times, chastise people coming to him for their faith, but never casts them away. In the gospels we see a Jesus who comes to people, heals, teaches, and gives of himself. In Paul’s letters we see a Jesus who does what his followers cannot do: justifies and saves them. This is the key: we work to encounter Jesus, but it is he who encounters us. We struggle with our various perspectives, but there is only one perspective that truly matters: the perspective Jesus has regarding humanity. What is clear, and what all seem to agree upon is that the perspective of Jesus is that humanity is worth saving.
This is such good news because far too often we wonder if humanity is worth saving. We wonder not only if we are doomed, but we wonder if we deserve to be doomed. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” we read in John’s gospel. For God so loved the world he did not and could not give up on the world or its human inhabitants. May this, above all, be our lasting perspective.