A Church for Starving Artists

What Do You See?

I am so struck by this photo of the Kennedy Space Center Control Room on July 16, 1969 when Apollo 11 was launched. What do you see?

I see lots of white shirts and dark ties.  I see eyes glued to a rocket launch happening outside their window.  I see clunky computer consoles. I see white men.  I see all white men – except for one woman dressed in black in the middle of the room.  Her name is JoAnn Hardin Morgan and she is an aerospace engineer.  Surely she was not the only woman in the whole USA with the chops to sit in that room, but she was the only one who got to be there.  She is brilliant – clearly – and she also had connections that helped make this happen.  (Her father worked at Cape Canaveral for the US Army rocket program.)

I wonder about the young boys and girls of color who were not encouraged to study math and science, whose school systems were diminished by Plessy v Ferguson. I wonder about all the girls who were discouraged from studying engineering, whose parents could not imagine any future that involved outer space, especially for their daughters.

There were women including – famously – women of color who helped make Apollo 11 a success fifty years ago.  This is nothing short of miraculous that – in a culture where women’s roles were so limited – someone noticed geniuses among them who happened to be women.  Katherine Johnson. Margaret Hamilton.  Christine Darden. Poppy Northcutt. Joanne Thompson, Lillie Elliott, Ruth Anna Ratledge and Anna Lee Minner.  And there were many more.

Surely there were men of color who also served NASA in those days, but I cannot find their names or their photographs.  African American men, Japanese American men, and other men whose ancestors did not come from Europe were still considered dangerous in the 1960s.  (And they are today in some communities.)

I wonder – as we see images of the great Apollo 11 moments this week – if our children and grandchildren will notice how white and male those images are.  When I hear people say “make America great again” I wonder if those were the great days they are talking about.

They weren’t so great for women and people of color.  Although there were extraordinarily gifted people who were not given the opportunity to share those gifts, we are so fortunate that – in these days – there are more opportunities for both women and all people of color.  But we haven’t hit “greatness” yet. There are still structures and systems that keep some of the most talented people out of the room.

When we look at these photos, what do we see?  Do we immediately notice who is not there?

Images of Kennedy Space Center Control Room on Apollo 11 Launch Day (top) and the great Dr. Christine Darden with a fan girl at Columbia Theological Seminary in 2017.

I was 13 years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.  I remember that our family watched it on television at Mamaw and Papaw’s house in Mooresville, N.C.  I remember that it was my cousin J’s birthday.  I remember that we were all gathered around the television.  I can’t remember if we watched in black and white or in color.

My Dad had just lost his mother six months before on Christmas day 1968.  He was the same age as all three astronauts – 39.  And he commented on how much Miss E. (his mother) would have loved this moment.  He often quoted her:

“It’s amazing what the LORD has let us learn.”

Consider how much we’ve learned over the past 50 years.  And consider what we will learn – by God’s grace – in the next 50.  Let’s hope it includes cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, ALS, diabetes, bipolarity, addiction and every other disease that wrecks our lives.  Let’s hope the future includes a way to clean the air and water for future generations.  Let’s hope there is still a place to enjoy quiet.  Let’s hope.

Image from AFP/Getty Images as published in The Atlantic magazine.

While on vacation last week in TBC’s neighborhood, I picked up a piece of trash on the sidewalk and it was a business card with the photo of a pastor and – in bold lettering – the words: “____ is an abusive priest” with an accompanying URL to learn more.

As we walked along the sidewalk, I saw more of these cards sprinkled along the ground for about a block.  And when we got home, I did some research.

It was clear that there had been a church conflict between a member and the priest.  It didn’t involve sexual or financial misconduct, but the member perceived that the priest had not been kind to his family during a difficult situation.  The priest had filed for a restraining order against the parishioner after being physically threatened.  The congregation was supporting the priest.

The member had printed up business cards to distribute throughout the neighborhood and – to put it lightly – this was not good for the congregation or their pastoral leader.

Suing somebody for slander is 1) a difficult case to win and 2) against some of our religious beliefs.  But what do we do about fake news especially when the news is about us?

All of us need to do our research.

If . . .

• Someone says, “You know, Pastor Z has had charges brought against her” and that accusation doesn’t strike you as true from what you know about Pastor Z –  do your research.
• You read in the paper that Presidential Candidate H is running a human trafficking enterprise out of a pizza parlor – which sounds a little crazy – do your research.
• You find a business card on the sidewalk with the name and photo of a local priest connecting him with abuse – do your research.

The only way we can stop fake news is to stop it.  Stop assuming the worst about people.  Stop looking for dirt on our enemies.  Stop spreading gossip – or worse – about our neighbors.  It’s destructive.

We can do better.  God commands us to do better.

Image of a priest accused of misconduct.  These “Most Wanted” signs were spread all over a suburb several years ago.  I don’t know whether or not he was guilty.

(. . .  I’ll get to that.)

I wrote yesterday about the problem of greed in our congregations and while I indeed believe that greed destroys our mission as followers of Christ, there is a larger issue destroying our mission and it encompasses greed.

But first, what do you think?

What would you say is the #1 reason why the 21st Century Church is struggling and by “Church” I’m talking about everybody from the Southern Baptists to the progressive formerly “Mainline” denominations to the Roman Catholics to the Orthodox denominations in the United States.  Is our biggest issue:

• Secularization?
• A lack of “young people”?
• Obsolescence?
• A lack of commitment?

The Rev. Lenny Duncan is an African American pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (Apparently the Lutherans are even whiter than the Presbyterians.)  He suggests an even bigger issue: White Supremacy.

Duncan has written Dear Church – A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S. that spells our what he (and I) believe is the #1 issue for all predominantly white congregations in the United States.

We must dismantle, destroy, and bury white supremacy. In this nation. In our pews. In our liturgies. As a church, as a people, and as Christians, this is our call in the twenty-first century.

The evil of white supremacy is so entrenched in our culture that we don’t even see it.  We picture KKK members or those guys with the Tiki torches in Charlottesville when someone says “white supremacy.”  But the fallout has settled upon every one of us.  And it shows up everywhere:

• We congratulate ourselves when people of color join our congregations where we welcome them heartily as long as they sing and pray like we do.
• We plan mission projects for “the needy” but rarely do we develop deep, lasting relationships that help us understand the perspectives of people Not Like Us white people.
• We might have Bible studies or book studies that challenge – but not too much.  We don’t want to be too uncomfortable.
• We use words like “plantation” or “picnic” or “states’ rights” without considering what those words might mean to people of color.
• We say “that’s just the way things are” when discussing racism or poverty, forgetting that Jesus taught us to pray and work so that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.  
• We fail to support people of color in seminaries and we fail to support our historically African American congregations as readily as we will support white seminarians and our own white congregations. (The lack of generational wealth in our culture is, of course, a consequence of slavery.)

Duncan writes that “there will be no recognizable Lutheran witness in this country in fifty years if we don’t participate in this work. Period.”

The same could be true for my denomination and for yours.  And this is not about perpetuating our denominational institutions.  This is about living out the message of the Gospel.  This is about following Jesus.

God has blessed the United States with an increasingly diverse population.  Some of our neighbors first came here by choice.  Many of our neighbors came here – historically – in chains.  But God has brought us together and Jesus has a message that requires us to dismantle white supremacy because it is the antithesis of God’s plan for this world.

We white people have had it good.  Even if we grew up poor and broken, it was always better to be white than to be brown or black because this country was made for us.  This is the truth.  The laws, the educational systems, the entertainment industries were all made for us.

White siblings: we have a lifetime of work to do. And if we don’t do it, our churches deserve to die.

We can do better.  We have got to do better.

Note: Here’s a last minute opportunity for some anti-racism training:  Check it out.  And read Lenny Duncan’s new book.

This post could also be called Greed Has Long Term Consequences. Also, I’ve never smoked weed, just to be clear.  Seriously, never.

[Note:  Upon seeing the billboard pictured here in NYC last week, HH said, “Hemp must be The New Black.”]

Apparently industrial hemp is the new everything:

• You can eat it.
• You can drink it.
• You can fuel your car with it.
• You can build a house with it.
• You can slather it on your body.
• You can wear it.
• You can save the planet with it.

You could smoke industrial hemp but it would only give you a headache.  It’s not the same as smoke-able weed.

So, I don’t know much about hemp but if both ends of the political spectrum are in favor of expanding hemp production in the United States, it sounds like it could be a good idea.  And if industrial hemp is so awesome and it won’t be our gateway drug into opioids, why has it taken so long to embrace it?

This is a post about greed.

Once upon a time in the United States of America all farmers were required to grow hemp and all pharmacists carried medicinal cannabis in their drug stores.  But in 1936 the film Reefer Madness came out as a propaganda project which kicked off an ongoing campaign to make cannabis increasingly illegal.

And then there were the Rockefeller, Dupont, Mellon, and Hearst families. Throughout the early 20th Century and continuing to these days, the Rockefellers controlled oil, the Du Ponts controlled chemicals (including the creation of nylon), the Hearsts owned newspapers (with an emphasis on paper) and Andrew Mellon was both the richest man in the country and Secretary of the Treasury (and an investor in nylon.)

They killed the hemp industry because it competed with the oil and wood pulp industries and their power was no match for hemp farmers.  And now we find ourselves – as a nation and planet – with some environmental issues that could have been avoided if we’d stuck with hemp. (Sources here and here.)

Greed fuels everything bad about our country today, if you ask me.  Even our churches struggle with it.  (Have you ever heard someone refer to the church as “mine” and not as a community identifier?)

Greedy choices made today have long term consequences that impact our communities, our congregations, and our planet.  Greed keeps people poor.  Greed keeps people sick.  Greed separates people from their Creator.

Why is it not one of the Ten Commandments then? (i.e. Thou shalt not be greedy?”)  Actually, greed plays a role in Commandments 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 10 – and maybe the other four as well.

One of the reasons organized religion struggles today is because of greed.  (It might be the #1 reason but – for me – it’s a toss up between greed, laziness, and fear.)

So . . . go hemp!  I hope you are The New Black and that you help save our environment.  And I hope – as we sit in meetings today with our congregations, our business partners, our government officials, our community leaders, our school staffs, and our neighbors – we will consider this:

Is greed impacting our decision in any way?  

We can do better with and for each other.

Image of a billboard in NYC at the corner of 53rd and 6th.

This is a line – written by Aaron Sorkin – spoken by the character Calpurnia to young Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.  HH and I got to see the play last week in NYC and I remember thinking – when I heard that line – that everybody should hear those words as least once in our lives.

I love what I see when I look at my children.

I love what I see when I look at the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team.

I love what I see when I look at our faithful church leaders.

I love what I see when I look at you.

This line falls in juxtaposition to the line from Ava Duvernay’s title When They See Us.   When the world saw Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, and Raymond Santana we saw rapists.  Some wanted us to see rapists when we saw those young men.  In fact, I believe that some love it when we look at certain people with fear or contempt or disgust.

This is not who God created us to be.

I believe that God loves us when God looks at us.  The truth is that we are ridiculous.  We are selfish.  We are cruel.  We are unlovable.  But God still loves us.  This is not to say that God doesn’t require us to be better humans.

How do we feel when we look at immigrants, refugees, brown people, black people, golden people, white people, elderly people, queer people, people wearing MAGA hats?  Do we generally feel afraid?  Safe?  Disgusted? Judge-y?

I do not love what I see when I look at some of our political leaders or people in detention centers or people who litter or church leaders who refuse to serve those outside their comfort zones.  I love the people (only because I try to see them through the eyes of Jesus) but I don’t love the behavior or the situation or the choices made.

Is this akin to loving the sinner while hating the sin?  Actually, it’s more than that.

When we look at each other what do we feel?  It’s a question that helps me check myself.  If I feel afraid, is that my racism creeping up?  If I feel disgusted, is that my white smugness showing it’s face?  If I feel deep love, is that Jesus in me?

I was in Our Nation’s Capital last week for the Fourth of July and I felt things. There Were Feelings.

There Were Feelings when I watched so many people wearing MAGA hats in that city I love.  There Were Feelings when I saw tourists on the Metro look at sleeping people on the Metro with disdain.

I’m wondering about this.  How do we feel when we look at each other?  Not what do we think.  Not what do we see.  But what do we feel?

I wonder if feeling love when we look at each other might be a spiritual discipline to try.  Can I feel compassion and love for someone even when I don’t understand them or I disagree with them or I fear them?

Monday Challenge #1: Try saying these words to someone and mean it.  I love what I see when I look at you.

Monday Challenge #2: Try to be the people God created us to be.

Also the play was very good.

Image of Celia Keenan-Bolger and LaTanya Richardson Jackson in the play To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theatre in NYC.  They play Scout and Calpurnia, respectively.

After a few days of vacation in NYC and DC, I was chomping at the bit to write about The Fourth of July.  I love this holiday and it’s especially wonderful to celebrate in those cities.

I love our country.  And we can do better. (The US Women’s National Team cannot do any better, but the rest of us can.)

Someone asked me once why I hated the Church so much (because I was always pointing to what needs to change.)  Loving someone or something, and wanting things to be better are not mutually exclusive.

This week my posts will be about being better than we’ve been. Maybe all my posts are about this, but our constant efforts as American citizens must be that we strive for liberty and justice for all.  And as The Church of Jesus Christ we must strive to be faithful disciples.

Go USA!

It’s Vacation Week for me and my HH.  No posting while we relax.

Have a wonderful week everyone and I’ll be back July 8th.

If you “don’t see color” in terms of skin tones you can stop reading here.

This is a post for people who see all the colors, who embrace the rainbow, who find joy in messy configurations of humans.

One of the truths about the Future Church is that it will be as diverse as its community – or it will die.  My own young adult children are constantly looking for community that looks like the world in which they live. That world is not predominantly white.

Maybe you live in an all white or all black or all brown or all golden area.  Or maybe you live in a very diverse area in terms of cultures but you only associate with people who look like you.  It’s an essential spiritual discipline that we branch out a little for the sake of the Gospel.

UPI reported in April that the United States will become a majority-minority country sometime around 2044.  If you are part of a congregation who embraces this reality but you wonder how you can adapt to these demographic changes, here are some questions to talk about with your people:

• Does your church leadership look like the congregation you hope to be in the coming years?  (The only racial diversity I see in many of our white congregations is found behind the scenes doing building maintenance or childcare.)
• Do you invite diverse preachers to your pulpit when the regular pastor is on vacation? (Different voices with different life experiences enhance the spiritual lives of our congregation.)
• How comfortable would your congregation be if you called a pastor of another race? (Especially if your congregation doesn’t look like the neighborhood around it, it makes to sense to call a pastor who looks like/sounds like the community. Or – if you hope to broaden your staff’s – and your congregation’s – perspective, it makes sense to call a pastor who stretches you theologically and demographically.)

These are serious questions to discuss with God’s people in your midst.  Systemic racism (and white supremacy) are in our DNA and it will take very intentional and uncomfortable conversations to move forward.

The rainbow is our future – and in many of our communities the rainbow is our present.  This is cause for rejoicing in that this is the world God created.  This is what the reign of God looks like.

Rainbows also represent LGBTQA+ Pride, and I pray we are also welcoming of those rainbows as well.

Image of a rainbow over a church building in Búðakirkja, Iceland.

I’m pretty sure that Donald Trump is not E. Jean Carroll’s type either.

Only the least educated among us doesn’t yet know that rape is not about sex.  It’s about power.  Rape is a weapon.

It happened in the Bible and it happens today in cars and hotel rooms and refugee camps and alleys and dorm rooms and department store dressing rooms.  75.2% of all rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows.

So keep this in mind: most assaults are not the classic movie versions of rape where a stranger with a knife is hiding under your bed or in your closet.

We who have daughters who go to parties have taught them never to drink from a cup they haven’t poured themselves or from a cup they left sitting on a counter while they turned their backs. 6% of all rapes are perpetrated by more than one person that the victim cannot remember.

And what strikes me as especially ironic is the fact that the person accused by E. Jean Carroll of an assault in the 1990s (and she wasn’t the only one)  famously accused the Exonerated Five of assaulting a stranger in Central Park in 1989.  He called for the death penalty for those boys who had nothing to do with that attack.  But in the meantime he was – allegedly – assaulting acquaintances and perhaps even his spouse.

I like wearing black anyway, but when I wear black on Thursdays, I’m remembering my siblings who have been assaulted and know that many people will never believe us.  Say a little prayer today for women.  Most of the women you know have been assaulted in some minor or huge way.

The World Council of Churches invite us to wear black on Thursdays to be in solidarity with those who have been victims of sexual assault.