Are we in flux locally and nationally?

Church attendance seemed pretty sparse Sunday. The people in the pews are most agreeable folks. Mention the limited numbers and the response is predictable for this community. "It's summer." In other words, you know how it is in Morris.
It's hopeless?  That's what people are pretty clearly indicating. They do this with a shrug. No big deal? "No big deal" is part of the vernacular of Minnesotans. It's a cousin to "heckuva deal" which is a back door, non-commital way of acknowledging that something is big. It's a way of staying calm and encouraging perspective, because in Minnesota the really big deals have to do with coping with weather. If we can do that, we reason, life is a pipe.
Seems like we only got about three weeks of true summer this year. The belated onset of pleasant weather caused me to delay planting my zinnias three weeks. I'm delighted to announce they came up fine anyway. Please drive along Northridge Drive and take a look. But the late planting was an issue along with our abnormally wet summer.
Figuratively speaking, it seems as though tumbleweeds blow through this town in summer. There seems no sense of panic about it. We have pulled the plug on our longstanding Prairie Pioneer Days in summer. My concerns about this appear not to be shared. Well that's fine - I'm an outlier, but I do have vivid memories of when the summer festival was genuinely vibrant. Aren't my memories shared? Are too many of you just fixated on "going to the lake" in summer?
Well congratulations if that's your outlet, but it's not an outlet chosen by everyone. I once discussed this lake fixation with friend Donnie Eich. We were kindred spirits, as we felt no special affinity with lake activity.
 
Morris lake history
Perkins Lake north of Morris was once a hub of genuine lake activity. I am belated in writing about that very important chapter of Morris area history: the lake fun complete with its roller rink! Sometime in the near future I will share at least one blog post about this.
Perkins was past its prime for this fun when my family came to Morris. It was still a place for swimming lessons. It appears the water has become less clean through the years.
Many married couples owed their first meeting to the Perkins Lake hub of activity, and again I'll remind that there is rather irritating ambiguity about the lake name. The sign at the public access has welcomed people to "Pomme de Terre Lake." So is it Perkins or Pomme de Terre? I tried raising the issue in my writing several years ago, but my cries are faint.
The Pomme de Terre Lake chain is a series of three lakes only it seems more like two. One must often differentiate between Pomme de Terre and the city park with the same name just east of Morris. "Pomme de Terre City Park" is on the dam reservoir, a body of water which was once known as "Lake Chrissey," named for a civic VIP. Clarification on place names would be nice someday. Someday. Morris is not a real fired-up place.
 
Trends with churches
And now we're shrugging shoulders over sparse church attendance in August. Well, "it's summer." Summer in Motown when we might imagine tumbleweeds, eh? So we merely shrug. We could dissect churches and see if there's something afoot affecting behavior. And unfortunately this discussion turns political.
I attend a mainstream Protestant church. Is that OK? Anyway, we received a flyer Sunday that included, among other things, announcement of the ELCA's resolution of being a "sanctuary church body," which means that we have humanitarian, Christ-like values.
That's pretty edgy in the age of Trump. I suppose it puts us at loggerheads with the local Apostolics who sometimes look as though they're prepared to worship Donald Trump as an extension of divinity. Maybe he's pure divinity. I tend to view him as quite the opposite. But I'm in league with mainstream Protestants who seem rather in retreat, if you just look at the numbers in the church pews.
The momentum is with the Trump crowd and their churches, what might be termed "fundamentalists." The media often talks about "evangelicals" without providing much of a definition, but we can be sure it doesn't include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
I actually sent an email to Bishop Elizabeth Eaton recently, advising her on how the synod's critics could eventually try to hurt us. Hurt us because of our political affirmations which increasingly are viewed as "progressive." We just don't buy what Trump is trying to sell us, not like the Apostolics or other local zealots. I'd like to see Trump in prison. He is stomping all over the norms that ensure steadiness in our society.
"Conservatives" used to believe in steadiness (and calm) as a pillar of American society. Don't rock the boat. Trump supporters fancy themselves as "conservative" but they put the Weekly Standard out of business. Conservatives are supposed to believe in minimal government. But we have a president who acts every day like he must grab our attention and make us reverential toward him.
My ELCA talks about "discernment of care of our migrant neighbors in our context, and the promise of forthcoming resources for this work."
We live in a confused time when many of us see these as fighting words. I advised Bishop Eaton that if our detractors really want to do us harm - something Mr. Trump never hesitates to do - they could just cite Martin Luther's extreme anti-Semitism. It's so anti-Semitic we ought just excise it from the historical record.
One inflammatory speech from Trump or a sycophant about this, and Lutherans would be thrown on their heels. Might it totally wipe out at least parts of the Lutheran faith, like the ELCA? It could.
Bishop Eaton sent me a thoughtful response in which she made clear the synod has acknowledged the problem and felt shame about it. She shared a link with a formal statement. We try to leave this soiled linen in the past.
A common excuse is that Martin Luther was just getting old and cranky. We might write off this part of Luther's life, the way Trump's people dismiss the memory of John McCain. Can you believe that McCain and then Mitt Romney actually carried the GOP banner in national elections? And now they're on the suspicious fringe in the mind of Trump's loyalists.
I could pray for this country but I'm not much into praying. Maybe we should pray for the Morris community.
 
Addendum: I'll share a quote toward people who would put themselves forward as my adversaries. The quote is from Jesus Christ: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com