The Power of Forgiveness

On my run this morning, I listened to the fourth and final episode of “Road to Rickwood,” a podcast from NPR. It’s all about Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama – the oldest professional ballpark in America – and the history of segregation and racism in professional baseball. If you’re a baseball and/or history fan, I highly recommend that you listen to this four-episode podcast. Click through the link above to access it.

The host, comedian and Birmingham native Roy Wood, Jr., tells the story of Rickwood, all the way from its first game in August 1910 to an MLB game played there this past June. He interviews several Negro League players who played for or against the Birmingham Black Barons – a team that shared its home games at Rickwood with the all-white Birmingham Barons. It’s really fascinating to hear their stories of what their lives were like during the era of segregation and open prejudice in the United States.

In an interview with Ayesha Rascoe (the “Extra Innings” episode of the podcast), Roy Wood, Jr., answered Ayesha’s question about what he learned from his interviews with the Negro League players. Wood said something that made me stop in the middle of my run and jot down his words:

You cannot hold a grudge longer than the one who was aggrieved. – Roy Wood, Jr.

What did he learn from these men who had endured years of racism in the world of professional baseball? He learned that they were not angry. They found joy in their sport. They endured and overcame. They did not hold grudges against the people who treated them so badly.

In a word, they forgave.

These Negro League baseball players did not hold grudges against those who treated them poorly through racist and discriminatory actions. That reality affects how Wood approaches those past actions, too.

There is power in forgiveness. Sometimes we talk about how forgiveness benefits the culprit and the one who has been harmed. But Wood’s observation takes it one step further: forgiveness releases others from the burden of carrying grudges on our behalf! Have you ever thought about that?

When we forgive someone, we are allowing ourselves to move on – and we are allowing people who would support us to move on, as well. Forgiveness is not simply an internal, personal experience. It is an experience that affects our entire community, our circles of friendship, our connections and relationships.

You can’t hold a grudge longer than the one who was aggrieved.

You know me – I’m always going to turn the discussion toward Jesus to see if there are any similarities. Did Jesus ever practice forgiveness? Does he call us to forgive others? Are we released from holding grudges on behalf of our friends who have been harmed but have found ways to forgive those who have harmed them?

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” – Jesus in Luke 23:34

In the worst moment of his life, while he was actively being nailed to a cross as part of the crucifixion process, when he was experiencing tremendous pain and the anticipation of certain death, Jesus voiced this prayer of forgiveness. He forgave the Roman soldiers who were killing him. This action released Jesus’s followers from holding grudges against the Roman officials and Jewish authorities who had called for his crucifixion. After all, you can’t hold a grudge longer than the one who was aggrieved, and Jesus let go of that potential grudge immediately.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” – Jesus in Luke 6:37

Jesus calls his followers to forgive those who oppose them, harm them, stand in opposition to them. Just two verses earlier, he calls us to “love your enemies” and “do good to them.”

When we forgive, when we love our enemies, when we stop holding grudges, we free ourselves – and those around us – from the pain we have experienced.

It’s a simple but amazing reality. And it points us to the importance of community life. Our lives are intertwined more than we realize, and our choices affect more than just ourselves.

The next time you ponder whether or not to forgive someone who has harmed you, take a moment to think about who else will benefit from your act of forgiveness. Who else will you release from the burden of carrying a grudge on your behalf? One act of forgiveness can bring about so much good in the world, often more good than we realize in the moment.

Responding Theologically to an Attempted Assassination

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Jesus in Matthew 5:44-45)

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Jesus in Luke 13:4-5)

Last Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania. One attendee was killed, and a few others were injured, including former President Donald Trump, who was hit by a bullet in his right ear.

In the days since that horrific incident, I have observed various reactions, both private and public. Most importantly, we should all agree that (a) political violence has no place in the United States of America, and (b) it is a good thing that no one else was killed, aside from the one man who, tragically, died.

However, some widely divergent responses are evoking a response from within me. These responses come from people on opposite ends of the political spectrum: those who are strongly opposed to Donald Trump and those who are strongly supportive of him. Each response is troublesome in its own ways.

Response #1: What if?

First, this attempted assassination has caused many people to ask the “what if?” question. Probably all of us can ask it on some level: “What if the bullet had been just an inch or two to the right?” But for those who oppose Donald Trump, this can be a very dark question to ponder. It’s not a question that many are willing to ask out loud. We know that we should not wish harm on those whom we dislike, but there is a very real temptation to wonder what would have happened if the assassination attempt had been “successful.”

This is not a healthy thing to consider, of course. Yet it’s important to acknowledge when our baser instincts would have us wish harm upon others. That kind of darkness must be recognized and rooted out, so that we might live in the light of God rather than in the darkness of our worst impulses. Jesus said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35).

Every person is created in the image of God and is deserving of God’s love and of our respect as fellow human beings. This goes for the neighbor across the street, the stranger at the store, the driver on the highway, the immigrant crossing the border, the person sitting on Death Row, and the politician of the “other” party. There is no room within Christian faith and practice for wishing another person to be harmed – especially by the wretched evil of public assassination.

Response #2: Thank God!

A second response to Saturday’s attempted assassination is equally troubling to me. This response tends to come from Christians (and pastors) who support Donald Trump. Many people see this event as an act of God’s grace, even an act of divine intervention. God spared Trump’s life. The Holy Spirit intervened and moved that bullet just far enough so that it did not seriously injure the former President.

There are problems with this kind of thinking, too. Let me ask a simple question: What if we changed the name “Donald Trump” to “Joe Biden” in the headline about the attempted assassination? Would the survival still be seen by the same people as an act of divine intervention? Would it feel the same? I rather doubt it.

This second response is an example of confirmation bias: we believe something to be true if it confirms or supports our preexisting beliefs. For those who support Donald Trump and view him in a very favorable light, it is easy to interpret his survival of this assassination attempt as an act of God. It’s a sign that God has chosen Trump and has big things in store for his future (and, consequently, for the nation’s future).

It is problematic when we use our religious beliefs to support and validate our political beliefs. God is not a Republican. God does not vote in our elections. God loves all people and does not want any of them to perish. It’s bad theology to say that Donald Trump is more important than other people who have not survived gun violence – such as the man who was killed at the rally last Saturday, or any of the thousands of people per year who have died due to gun violence (self-inflicted or otherwise).

Response #3: Fight, fight, fight!

This third response was, of course, spoken by Donald Trump himself just moments after the shooting took place. It has become something of a rallying cry in the past few days, and I understand why he said it in the moment. Yet the posture of fighting – and, perhaps, seeking revenge – is troublesome to me, too.

In my social media feeds, I came across these timely words from Wes Granberg-Michaelson, a minister and former General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America. I encourage you to read his thoughts as well: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/jn5vNitKHaxqG8Bv/

Response #4: Introspection and pursuit of peace

These two actions are how I think we should respond to an attempted assassination of a high-profile figure like Donald Trump.

Introspection. Let’s examine ourselves, our motives, our impulses, our desires. Let’s compare those to the way of Jesus. Let’s ask hard questions of ourselves. Let’s make sure we are not idolizing our political allegiances. Let’s not allow this tragedy to make us any more or less likely to vote in any particular way in November. Let’s root out any desire for violence or vengeance.

Pursuit of peace. Let’s be peacemakers, not just peace-wishers. Let’s respond to violence with compassion and empathy, not with retribution and more violence. Let’s pursue peace, because we know that peace is still some distance ahead of us and we haven’t reached it yet.

Most of all, for those of us who are Christians, let’s make sure our primary allegiance is to Jesus and his kingdom, not to a political party or presidential candidate and the nation to which they belong.

During the afternoon of this past Sunday, June 2, there was a shooting at the Midland Olive Garden. According to the Midland Police Department, around 4pm a domestic dispute between two 41-year-old people escalated into gun violence, with the victim being shot in the neck area. She was transported to the Midland hospital for treatment. The suspect was quickly apprehended by the police and taken to the county jail where he awaits arraignment.

This event is obviously tragic and shocking, because shootings in public areas don’t happen very often, especially in Midland. Clearly, this will be traumatic for the victim who was shot, but it will also have a lasting impact on the other customers and staff members who were present at the time.

An act of public violence like this might also raise questions about our general safety as we go about our daily lives. Our congregation has a few members who work in the food service industry not far from the Midland Olive Garden, so those kinds of questions might be particularly important to them.

Also on Sunday, after morning worship, several of us were engaged in a conversation about a potential ministry opportunity. During that conversation, one person commented that “we are not so isolated” out here in Mt. Haley Township – meaning that acts of violence can occur anywhere, even in a relatively remote location like our church building.

Is nowhere safe? Are we constantly in danger? How should we respond to acts of violence and threats of violence?

These are age-old questions, and, frankly, it’s a sign of peaceful privilege that we don’t have to think about violence on a daily basis. There are millions of people in various parts of the world (Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, and Haiti, among others) who are constantly enduring horrific tragedies much worse than a domestic violence shooting in a local restaurant. There are parts of our own nation in which public acts of violence are an everyday occurrence, not a front-page news item.

What is a faithful response to the violence of this world?

Let me point to two passages of scripture. First, Psalm 20, which will be our responsive reading during worship on June 16. The psalm begins with the words, “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.” Toward the end of the psalm, we read, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

It’s a psalm asking God to protect the King of Israel, but its principles can transfer to regular people like us, too. When danger threatens us, do we trust in chariots and horses? Do we trust in our military strength? Do we trust in armed guards and metal detectors? Do we trust in our own weapons and our right to defend ourselves?

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Now, certainly, that didn’t mean that the ancient nation of Israel got rid of its chariots and horses. But the starting point for ancient Israel’s self-understanding was its trust in God, not its own ability to wield weapons of war.

The other passage of scripture that comes to mind is the Great Commandment, found in Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-28. Jesus summarizes the entire law of God with two simple (yet difficult!) commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. The teaching in Luke 10 leads right into the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus tells a story about what it looks like to love your neighbor as yourself.

In a world filled with violence and chaos at every turn, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We love our neighbors because we are connected to our neighbors; we are fellow human beings on this giant and amazing planet. We are each created in the image of God who created us all. Our responses to threats and acts of violence – both to its victims and to its perpetrators – should be guided by our love for our neighbors.

Trust in God and love for our neighbors: these are two faithful responses to the violence of the world.

My suggestion for you: the next time you go to a restaurant in Midland – perhaps even the Olive Garden – take note of the other customers and staff members in the room. You might even strike up a conversation with your server and ask them, respectfully, how they are doing in the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting. Show honest concern for your neighbor – and leave them a good-sized tip, while you’re at it.

Why “Deconstruction” Isn’t a Bad Word to Me

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

Matthew 7:15-20

These words from Jesus get to the heart of the matter: our attitudes and intentions are of utmost importance. The results of our actions are significant. Knowing Jesus, really knowing the heart of Jesus, is the crucial test of our discipleship (see verses 21-23).

A serious phenomenon has been taking place within Christianity, and specifically American Evangelical Christianity, over the past several years. This phenomenon is called “deconstruction,” a word that is often tossed around without much concern for either the people experiencing it or the reasons for which they are experiencing it. In this sense, “deconstruction” is much like several other words in modern society – words which have real meaning for those who describe themselves with these terms, but words which have been twisted and misused by others. (Another example is “woke,” but that’s a different discussion.)

To experience deconstruction is, according to one Baptist Reformed theologian, “apostasy.” A newly published book calls deconstruction “a postmodern process of rethinking your faith without regarding Scripture as the standard.” (Ah, there’s another twisted word: “postmodern.”)

There is much, much more nuance to the experience of deconstruction than this definition lets on.

Deconstruction is not a bad word to me. It is not apostasy (wandering away from the faith). It is not the practice of jettisoning the Bible and determining one’s own truths.

Deconstruction can be a faithful response to spiritual growth. Deconstruction can be a faithful response to poor construction.

Here is a technical definition from Merriam-Webster. Deconstruction is:

a philosophical or critical method which asserts that meanings, metaphysical constructs, and hierarchical oppositions are always rendered unstable by their dependence on ultimately arbitrary signifiers

In a sense, deconstruction in the Christian world can be compared with a reaction to the song lyric “for the Bible tells me so.” Yes, Jesus loves you and me, and it’s certainly appropriate to believe that truth because it is scriptural. But building a spiritual system on certain principles simply because the Bible says so – or because a parent, a pastor, or a denomination says so – is not always satisfactory. For those who deconstruct, these authorities appear to be “ultimately arbitrary signifiers.”

It’s as if a house of cards has been built, and up to this point the house has been pretty sturdy. But after inspecting the foundation carefully, people who deconstruct are finding that the structure is not stable. It needs to be rebuilt in order to meet the challenges and opportunities of a new day.

Part of My Story

I know deconstruction is a real experience for many people in the Christian world, because I am one of them. I have experienced deconstruction and, I believe, a reasonable amount of reconstruction in my Christian faith over the years.

This process began for me back in my early adulthood, especially after I graduated from college and then continued my education, first as a student of mathematics and then as a seminary student preparing for ministry. I never stopped loving Jesus or the message of scripture. I just began to peel away the layers of a Christian worldview that revealed itself to be built on shaky assumptions. Truth be told, the signs of this deconstruction were evident even in my high school years.

Let me give one example. When I was a teenager, my high school youth group went on a trip to a week-long youth retreat in another state. On the way there, we stayed overnight on a Saturday at another church and then participated in their Sunday morning activities. During the Sunday school hour, we attended that church’s class for students our age.

I have a vivid recollection of the discussion led by the teacher that morning. She asked, “How long did it take God to create the world in Genesis 1?” We all knew the answer: “six days.” Then she asked, “And what does the Bible say about what a day is like to the Lord?” This one was a little tougher, but the answer was: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Then the teacher made her main point: “So then, six days of creation, and a day is like a thousand years. That means the world is only six thousand years old!”

My mind reeled. This was silly. This was not scientific. This wasn’t even logical. This wasn’t what the Bible was meant to be used for – somehow proving a “young earth” theory. This was not a good foundation for a Christian worldview.

That moment was, perhaps, the beginning of my process of deconstruction.

One of my most beloved Christian teachers, Father Richard Rohr, often speaks about three movements in the spiritual life: “order, disorder, and reorder.” Deconstruction is related to that “disorder” movement. It’s what people experience after their initial system of “order” proves to be unsatisfactory. It is very much possible to move from there into “reorder,” or reconstruction, on a more firm foundation.

Back when I first began serving as a pastor, a dozen years ago or so, I attended a presentation at a local Christian high school. This presentation was about creationism and, more broadly, how Christians need to interpret the Bible literally, in every instance, in order to be real Christians. The presenter spoke for quite a while about the impossibility of evolution. Toward the end of his talk, he set up several large Styrofoam dominoes, one in front of the next, in front of the next. He said that if we take away the literalness of the creation story in Genesis 1, then we take away the literalness of the next passage, and the next story, and the next book of the Bible. Pretty soon, we take away the literalness of Jesus himself. To demonstrate his point, he then knocked over the first domino, and they all fell down one after the other.

I just shook my head. His presentation did not describe how I had come to find reorder in my Christian faith. I had deconstructed and reconstructed, over the span of many years. Many teachers, many books, many conversations with friends, and many nudges by the Holy Spirit were involved in this process. I was not threatened by the idea that some parts of the Bible were not necessarily literal accounts of historical events.

I had learned that the world is more complicated than simple questions of “right” and “wrong.” I wanted to produce good fruit, not simply to have the right answers.

Deconstruction Today

Why have many people walked away from Evangelical Christianity in recent years? Why is there so much talk about deconstruction these days? The book and theologian mentioned above, for all their opposition to deconstruction, have done well to note five key reasons for this phenomenon. They say that many people today believe the church emphasizes:

  1. A literal reading of the Bible
  2. The belief that women are to be submissive to men
  3. A belief in the sanctity of heterosexuality and the rejection of homosexuality
  4. The assumption that the American way of life is best
  5. Identification and partnership with political and social conservativism

These were not surprising for me, because I have heard these same reasons in previous books, articles, and research. For instance, in 2007 the book “unChristian” by David Kinnaman and others with the Barna Group identified several reasons young adults (who are now closer to middle age adults!) have left the Christian faith. Christians are often seen as:

  • Hypocritical
  • Too concerned with getting people converted
  • Antihomosexual
  • Sheltered
  • Too political
  • Judgmental

That was in 2007! Four years later, Kinnaman co-wrote another book called “You Lost Me” in which the authors identified several points of disconnection. Young adults (who, again, are more than a decade older now) view the church as:

  • Overprotective
  • Shallow
  • Antiscience
  • Repressive
  • Exclusive
  • Doubtless (rejecting all doubts)

These are all reasons for people to go through the process of deconstruction. The foundation of Christianity, at least as they have experienced it so far, has been shown to be faulty, shaky, not sturdy. The building needs to be rebuilt. The fruit is not good; the tree needs to be pruned.

Examining Assumptions

Let me take a moment to explore the five numbered items above and suggest why, through the lens of deconstruction, these items are not requirements for Christianity in the twenty-first century.

  1. A literal reading of the Bible

Is everything in the Bible literally true? I sure hope not. Our church is reading through the “Chronological Bible” this year, and recent daily readings came from Leviticus 13 and 14. Let me just say that I hope no one approaches me to have me, as their pastor, inspect their skin diseases, unusual hairs, and open sores.

On a more serious note, earlier this year we read the book of Job. That was an interesting editorial choice by the publishers of the Chronological Bible, because the book of Job is undated and lacks any historical indicators. It’s surely a very old story. But is it necessary for Job to have been a real person? Is it necessary for us to believe that the accuser (the meaning of the name Satan) appeared twice in God’s presence in chapters 1 and 2, without anybody batting an eye? Is it necessary for us to believe in monstrous sea creatures because God spoke about Leviathan in chapter 41? Or can we, along with most biblical scholars, recognize that the book of Job is a different type of literature than an historical record?

My reconstructed faith does not require every last detail in the Bible to be literally true. The scriptures are full of lots of different types of literature. The way and message of Jesus is still true and valid and beautiful to me. Viewing scripture in this way has deepened my spiritual journey, not caused me to abandon the faith altogether.

  1. The belief that women are to be submissive to men
  2. A belief in the sanctity of heterosexuality and the rejection of homosexuality

These two items are more closely related to each other than they might appear. And they are controversial, each in their own way. I will simply say that I have come to realize that there are many honest, authentic Christians who firmly hold both of these beliefs. There are many honest, authentic Christians who reject one but hold onto the other. And there are many honest, authentic Christians who reject both of these beliefs.

What is true? What is right? How you and I answer those questions probably depends a lot on how we react to point #1 above: the question of whether or not the Bible is meant to be read literally in every instance. Suffice it to say that these two beliefs, regarding gender roles and human sexuality, are not always seen as requirements by Christians who have gone through the process of deconstruction.

  1. The assumption that the American way of life is best
  2. Identification and partnership with political and social conservativism

These two items go together, as well. Generally, it seems that someone who agrees with one of these two will likely agree with other one. On the face of things, it is not inherently wrong to identify with political and social conservatism. It’s also not inherently wrong to prefer the American way of life, although it does smack of ethnocentrism to claim that the American way of life is best.

The trouble is when these become core beliefs of Christians, congregations, and church groups. Evangelical Christianity’s default stance of agreeing with these two items is deeply problematic, because the way of Jesus is neither culturally nor politically aligned with Americanism or conservatism. The way of Jesus transcends culture and is apolitical; the way of Jesus can and should be able to critique any culture and any political system.

If the American way of life is unquestionable, and if political and social conservatism are unquestionable, then they have become idols, gods, deities unto themselves. (The same is true of the Bible, incidentally. If the Bible is unquestionable, then it also has become an idol.) Faithful discipleship will allow for honest critiques of nationalism, political policies, and social systems.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Deconstruction is not a bad word. It doesn’t mean apostasy. It can be a faithful response to God’s movement in a person’s life, as they grow from order through disorder to a new reorder, a new way of following Jesus in the path of discipleship.

The process of deconstruction is necessary for many people to wrestle honestly with serious issues, because if they do not wrestle honestly, then they will produce bad fruit – or no fruit at all. I believe that deconstruction can be one of the tools God uses to help prune us so that we produce the good fruit associated with faithful discipleship.

Of course, not everyone who deconstructs will then reconstruct and resume the path of Christian discipleship. I know many people who have walked away from Christianity because of the above issues, and they have no intention of ever returning.

That’s not a reason to point fingers at them and blame them for walking way. That’s a reason for those of us who still follow Jesus to examine ourselves, our beliefs, and our assumptions even more carefully – lest we too become part of the reason others walk away.

My advice to my fellow Christians is this: When you hear someone talk about their deconstruction from Christianity, listen more deeply. They have a story to tell. They might have some wounds to share. They have a perspective that matters. Let your primary goal be to demonstrate the love of Jesus to them, not simply to “win them back” to Christianity. Read Matthew 7:15-23 again, and really ask yourself what “good fruit” looks like in relation to people who go through deconstruction.

Moving Sunlight

Sometimes I am reminded of the smallness of humanity compared to the vastness of the universe and, in particular, the immensity of our solar system. I always catch my breath and pause in wonder when I remember that all of us humans exist on this tiny blue ball, tilted at around 23 degrees, orbiting around a relatively average star some 93 million miles away from us – a distance which in galactic terms is not very big, but is way bigger than any of us will ever travel in our lifetimes.

I saw two signs of this physical reality today.

First, on my morning run, I was running due west on Dopp Road, a two-lane road with white lines painted on either side. When there’s no traffic around, I will run pretty much on top of the white line on the left side of the road. On Monday morning, when I last ran, the sun was rising directly behind me. I noticed that my shadow fell exactly along the white line. This was unusual because all summer long, the sun has been further north in the sky, meaning my shadow has fallen off the road to the left.

But today, for the first time this season, I saw that my shadow just barely fell inside the white line, on the road itself. The season is changing, and the sun is on its southward quest for the next four months until it turns back north at the winter solstice.

Second, this afternoon, the sunlight came in my office window and shined directly on a little solar-powered mechanism that sits on my desk.

a marble in motion

The solar panel converts the sunlight into electric energy, which makes the motor turn the small gear, which turns the large gear, which slowly brings marbles up to the top, where they drop into the spiral slide which brings them back to the bottom once again.

This toy was a birthday gift and has been sitting on my desk for about a decade, I think. And in this time of year (also the late springtime), when the afternoon sun shines directly onto this corner of my desk, this little mechanism goes crazy. It gets so much direct sunlight for a few minutes that a marble drops about every thirty seconds. Normally, with ambient sunlight, one marble might drop every five minutes or so.

We live on a tiny blue ball orbiting a larger yellow ball, and we can only sit back and enjoy the cosmic show as little reminders of our physical universe make their way into our awareness.

The sunlight is moving. The seasons are changing. Of course, the sunlight is always moving at the same speed in all directions, outward from our sun. It’s just that our perception, our reception, of that sunlight is changing because our orientation toward the sun is changing. The sunlight isn’t really moving; we are.

Our scriptures contain lots of celebrations of the created order and the God who created it. Take, for instance, Psalm 104. It includes such lines as “[God] made the moon the mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. … The sun rises, and [the lions] steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. Then people go out to their work, to their labor until evening.”

I encourage you to read the whole psalm today, maybe while the sun is setting. Or tomorrow morning as the sun rises. God has created this universe with rhythms and patterns and routines, and we can rejoice in the beauty of this world in which we play an extremely tiny but extremely important role as its caretakers.

What I Experienced at West Middlesex

the welcome sign at the entrance to the West Middlesex campground

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a couple of days of the camp meeting at West Middlesex, Pennsylvania. This was the 107th annual gathering of the National Association of the Church of God, and it was my first time to visit this area and attend services on “Zion’s Hill.”

Zion’s Hill is the name given to the hill on which the campground sits. Zion is a biblical reference to Jerusalem, the holy city of God. You can get a sense, just from the name, how people view this place and value the experiences that generations of Christians have shared there. I heard people use the phrase “sacred ground” multiple times during my visit.

Getting to the campground is a pilgrimage, in more ways than one. West Middlesex is in extreme western Pennsylvania, and the campground is a few miles outside of that town. From our hotel room, I drove through the forested Appalachian foothills along winding roads, which were barely wide enough for two vehicles and were not painted with lane markings. Finally, a clearing appeared along Campground Road, and I pulled into a spacious and beautiful area. Past a large and neatly mowed field of grass stands the sanctuary, a large white brick building. Beyond the sanctuary, further up the hill, I saw a number of houses and cabins where people live during the week of the camp meeting.

the sanctuary on Zion’s Hill

One important thing to understand about West Middlesex and the National Association is that this camp meeting is predominantly attended by African-American Christians in the Church of God. It’s been that way since their first gathering on Zion’s Hill in the early 1900s. We have a great deal of racial and ethnic diversity in the Church of God, more than in many other denominations, but we don’t always visit each other’s spaces. One of the preachers last week said, “We have too many separate spaces in the Church of God.”

We don’t always make the effort to see things from others’ perspectives, to worship in other styles, to experience being in the minority. (I say this from the point of view of a white man who lives in a 98%+ white county in central Michigan).

So I went, and I experienced lots of warmth, welcoming smiles, pleasant conversations, and joyful connections. I arrived alone but was glad to run into many people I’ve met in various places in the past.

I attended three worship services on Zion’s Hill before traveling onward. Much of what I experienced was familiar to me from other African-American worship services I’ve attended. Also, many of the songs we sang were quite familiar – old Church of God standards like “I’m Going On” and “In the Light of God.” But some things were new to me: The role of the chairperson, who actively directs or emcees the service from one element to the next. The offering time, when everyone who gives an offering marches up to the front to drop their gifts in the offering buckets. The ministers’ procession on Thursday night, when all ordained ministers are honored as they process into the sanctuary and sit in the very front pews.

a worship service inside the sanctuary

But one thing in particular stood out to me. It’s something I’ve read in books and heard in talks about African-American worship and probably seen before, but it’s beautiful to observe afresh:

People often sway from side to side in absolute unison with each other while they are singing. Not always, but often, and usually in response to the choir’s movements on the platform. It’s a way for these fellow Christians to embody their unity in worship. With every step they take, they are supporting others and are supported by others who are taking the exact same steps. They carry the messages of hope, sorrow, joy, peace, comfort within their bodies. That embodied sense of connection with each other shines through powerfully in how the people sway – even people who come from different parts of the country and may not know each other very well. The sense of embodiment reaches back through generations of believers who have swayed to the same music in that exact same space. This is a crucial component of African-American Christian worship which developed and grew through the horrors of slavery and the injustices of racial discrimination. This type of embodied corporate worship is something that I, as a white person with a white church background, simply do not have in my cultural vocabulary. It is something I deeply appreciate about the brief time I spent on Zion’s Hill last week.

gathering for the annual Ministers’ Photograph

On Thursday evening, before processing into the worship service, all the ordained ministers gathered near a large church bell for the annual ministers’ photograph. I stood at the back of the group because of my height, and as I stood there, I thought about the generations of pastors, chaplains, ministers, preachers, and servants who have stood there in the past. I am grateful for this first visit to West Middlesex and for the connections I made there. I have every intention of visiting again in the future – hopefully with more first-time visitors, too.

Earlier this month, I attended a brilliant presentation by Petra Alsoofy, the Outreach and Partnerships Manager from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). You may not be familiar with ISPU: it’s an organization based in Dearborn, Michigan, which was founded after the attacks of September 11, 2001. According to their website, “ISPU provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making.”

ISPU seeks to help everyone understand more about what life is like for American Muslims. That was the emphasis of Petra Alsoofy’s presentation a few weeks ago. She shared lots of information with about fifty of us who gathered together at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Midland. (You can watch her presentation at this link; enter the passcode Xffx&8s9 and you’ll get access to it.)

After Petra’s presentation, I signed up for the ISPU email list. It’s important for me to hear perspectives that are outside my tradition. That’s why, among other things, I have listened to the podcast Inspired (by Interfaith Voices) every week for around fifteen years.

Yesterday, ISPU sent out results of a survey on what American Muslims believe about climate change. The title of the report reads like this: “The Majority of American Muslims Believe that Climate Change is the Result of Human Behavior and that Government Regulation is a Way to Solve for it.

What I’m writing about today is “Why I’m Not an Evangelical.” I promise, these things are related to each other. Continue reading

Dynamic tension. Compromise. Beauty.

I found these three practices today in a book written by Brian McLaren. It’s called “A Generous Orthodoxy” and was published in 2004. In a chapter titled “Why I Am (Ana)baptist/Anglican,” he explores the reasons why he is attracted to both the Anabaptist and Anglican traditions within the broader Christian family.

The Anglican tradition offers these three practices, which McLaren summarizes in a few paragraphs. These practices speak clearly to what I want to be about as a Christian and to what I believe is important during this season of life in the Church of God and, more broadly, in Christianity (at least in America). Continue reading

Two remarkable things happened in my life this past weekend: card games and a choir rehearsal. Now, in and of themselves, playing cards and singing with others are not unusual activities for me. But the specific things we were doing? Those were noteworthy to me:

On Saturday evening, we played euchre in our church’s fellowship hall. On Sunday evening, we had the first rehearsal for the upcoming “Lamb of God” choral/orchestral production.

The last time both of those things happened was three years ago, immediately before the covid-19 pandemic began.

Continue reading

Today I would like to introduce you to a little-known Christmas carol called “The Christmas Candle.” Its lyrics were written a century ago by an American poet named Anna Hempstead Branch. These lyrics were set to music by another female American, a composer named Roberta Bitgood, in 1937.

I discovered this carol when Tara and I sang it with the church choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bay City during their Christmas concert this past Sunday afternoon. I can’t find an online recording of the carol for you to listen to, so we’ll have to make do with just the lyrics. But they are powerful enough by themselves. Read them slowly, thoughtfully, carefully: Continue reading