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| Elizabeth Eaton |
I did not take part because I have not felt comfortable "working," even if it's volunteering, for a long time. My last few months with the Morris newspaper induced a PTSD-like condition in me. Now that the paper has changed hands, we all can sense that the outgoing ownership did not have the best of intentions here. It helps everything make sense to me.
Let's move from this subject to the ELCA itself. Increasingly it is branded as politically liberal. The ELCA is shrinking and is striving to right the ship, but it will not compromise longstanding values. We will not kowtow to the Donald Trump cult. The churches whose members think highly of Trump are gaining momentum in the Morris community.
The term "evangelicals" gets tossed around. The media use this term for convenience - the media always seek convenience or shorthand - without enlightening us better on the nature of the beast. My, will the "evangelicals" in a particular state push Trump over the top? Will they help his allies or sycophants in other races?
Trump is simply intertwined with discussions of the Christian faith, when I thought we had a secular-based political leadership. Perhaps we don't any more. Can the "evangelicals" really trust the likes of Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress to lead them responsibly? Is it necessary to have such prominent leaders in the first place, or could the flock members trust their own judgment and brains more?
Exercising one's brain is all that's needed to realize that climate change is real, ominous and threatening, having consequences right now. But the evangelicals who feel such blind allegiance to Trump, his following and to Fox News are inclined to say it's all a "hoax," because this is how Trump has described it.
Meanwhile the ELCA takes care of its business even with the awareness that it is losing members and perhaps influence. Personally I think we need only one ELCA church in Morris. There are signs of increased partnering. People need to get over sensitivities about that.
Many of the people who describe the ELCA as too "liberal" have broken off to form the church in the country just to the north of town. It's just beyond the dog kennels. Evidently they spent a lot of money on a new steeple. I wouldn't have noticed.
I recently emailed Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop, with concerns I had about how our wonderful synod might face even more stress because of political factors. Why might we face those slings and arrows? Well it's for doing things and standing for things that I think are quite Christ-like, worthy of the Savior's blessing. But in today's reactionary U.S. political culture, the agenda can seem a little toxic in certain quarters. The ELCA churchwide assembly recently approved a resolution declaring the ELCA as a "sanctuary church body." It touts "discernment of care for our migrant neighbors."
Some of the other initiatives would come across as reasonable on their face, but the "evangelicals" would say the initiatives have "code" that suggests liberalism or progressivism.
The reactionary strain puts the ELCA on the defensive. And there is a danger here considering the habits of President Trump, how he so bluntly and mercilessly attacks his political critics. Political disagreements are supposed to be handled with a sense of decorum rooted in American tradition. Some of Washington D.C.'s "rules" don't have to be in writing because we just assume our top leaders will respect them. Thus we hear about the whole "whistleblower" thing where we learn that our current laws are with the assumption that the president himself would never do anything to trigger this.
But Trump is causing a re-thinking of everything. In the future, everything will have to be in writing. This is the fallout from a man so popular with evangelicals, it almost gives the impression that supporting Trump is a prerequisite for getting into heaven. Every time we think "it can't get that bad" with Trump, we cross a line and then we've arrived there.
Biggest danger for the ELCA?
I warned Bishop Eaton that if an ELCA critic really wanted to, that person - I'm suggesting Trump himself - could give a sensational speech in which he'd quote what Martin Luther said about the Jews. It is pure, virulent anti-Semitism of the type that fed into what happened to the Jews in the mid-20th Century.
Might Trump be able to wipe out the whole "liberal" ELCA overnight? It sounds outrageous but it is impossible to rule out anything with Trump now. We see Trump browbeating the Federal Reserve and its chairman regularly. This violates another unwritten rule in Washington, a rule that exists for a reason (obviously). Trump would want the Fed to do anything that would help him in the short-term get re-elected, even if the long-term effects would be negative.
Trump is starting to press for "zero interest rates or negative interest rates." Are we ready for this reality? He says the job of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is "safe for now," but I didn't think the president had a say in the chair's job status. I guess Powell could be fired "for cause." Trump will invent cause and even though it seems preposterous, Trump of course has a pattern of eventually getting away with anything and everything.
I get up in the morning and I find that Trump is still at it. It's amazing.
Bishop Eaton shared a kind response to my email, and in it she noted the ELCA's 1994 statement to the Jewish community. She shared a link. She added her own thoughts of regret about Luther's statements regarding the Jews. She wrote "we reject this violent invective, and yet more do we express our deep and abiding sorrow over its tragic effects on subsequent generations."
She added "I am grateful for your attentiveness to the church's ministry and witness, and I give thanks to God for your service in Christ's name."
Well, I take that to mean I was welcome to have my picnic meal Sunday at PDT Park! I figured that if I was being expected to skip church that morning, I was entitled to get a little food. I normally don't like to take advantage of free food. I'm not like a certain local resident - you know who he is - who has a reputation for this. He writes for the Morris paper.
God bless Elizabeth Eaton. My late parents smile down from heaven.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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