Oh, why not make July 4 into a two-day holiday? We have the excuse to do that this year. If the Fourth is Tuesday, let's just let all the R&R seep into Monday too. I don't mind writing a blog post on Monday. Of course this is an avocation. I was reminded last week of my past vocation.
A friend gave me the heads-up that an old article of mine was in the Morris newspaper. I have odd feelings upon learning of this. I'm the same person today as I was back in 1986. That's when I wrote the article on Stan Kent. I vaguely remember writing the article. My friend said the re-printed article "seemed like your style." Well then, that makes it a slam-dunk that it was mine.
I went to the library last week which is where I check out the contemporary Morris paper. I can't complain about it because I don't buy it. I will not bring myself to open last week's issue. I needn't open that window to my past experiences. The Morris paper published twice a week then. Those were pre-digital times so processes were different.
When did the digital age really start moving in? Maybe 1992? Remember how exotic "email" first seemed. We spelled "email" with a hyphen back then. When all things are equal today, trim and eliminate, so we have. "Angi" instead of "Angie's List."
Speaking of trimming, there is so much less to the Morris newspaper's content, i.e. the quantity of product. The public has absorbed price increases as if by magic. I remember when raising the price by 25 cents would cause considerable grousing. It seems the paper can just name its price now.
We were so worried about "inflation" in the 1970s. The news tells us it's pretty bad again now. But I hear little if any talk on the street about it. Are people just relying on credit cards to cover everything? Will that work indefinitely?
A friend joked with me about how our UMM band director might react to the July 4 holiday. He's a Brit! Pleasant and talented fellow and with a touch of British in his speech. I worry a little about him relying on bike so much to get around. I inquired with a UMM music faculty person Sunday after church whether progress is being made toward getting a new choir director. Seems like the hour is getting late for this to happen. Laura Wiebe who was also the choir director at my church has left us.
Should never be a surprise with UMM people: leaving us. So I guess her heart is in San Francisco now. I sent her an email advising her to be careful not to step on any hypodermic needles out there. Lots of homeless people, more all the time I guess.
My church is First Lutheran in Morris. These have to be troubled times for this church. Not only is UMM without a choir director, First Lutheran has lost its pastor and choir director. I wonder regularly if the institutions with which I have affinity are dying. Yes, literally dying. A friend of mine sees discouraging info about First Lutheran's financial status. We have had "lay leadership" for several weeks now.
Actually I think the lay leadership has gone well. The atmosphere is more light and fun Sunday morning. I think we're accenting the simple "fellowship" air of church. I could raise a toast to that. Really, I do not need or expect the serious and weighty sermons that are so common. We all know the basic Bible story.
First and foremost, I do not need to hear about the literal torture of Jesus Christ in such stark terms in the days or weeks leading up to Easter. I literally skip church around Easter. Strikes me as gratuitous violence. I do not remember this kind of emphasis from when I was a kid.
And most certainly, I do not recall such a tight connection between the plurality of Christians and a political ideology. Not just a political ideology but a cult of personality.
It is a holiday now (sort of) so maybe the media will put on the brakes reminding us all how we put a certain unsavory person in the White House from 2016 to 2020. I have awaited the momentum of the public waking up, and this in turn would influence the media. The media would then start to reflect the consensus. Well, the consensus appears not to be even close to where it should be, yet. Donald Trump is a factor and could well get his party's nomination and go on to actually win again.
Maybe we'll need a space alien visitor like "Klaatu" to come and slap us all, bring us to our rational senses. But maybe Americans are beyond that.
What is to become of my church of First Lutheran in the "liberal" ELCA? I mean, when a family as wholesome and mainstream as the Witts (the retired football coach) feels it has to leave the ELCA, there's problems. The Witts were once with Faith Lutheran, quite exemplary members. Today they live in Alex, belong to a non-ELCA church.
My late mother believed in common sense basic rights for all. Same with me. We're inclusive. But I wouldn't even want to try to explain to her some of the current phenomena related to "sexual identity." There's such a thing as believing in personal modesty when it comes to sexual identity. We need to cool it sometimes and leave it in the background. Heterosexuals take note also.
My goodness, "LGBTQ, trans, non-binary." Frankly a lot of this has overcome me.
Will the liberal trend actually suffocate the ELCA with our local First Lutheran Church? So much has been invested in church facilities through the years. So many memories. And now families who could give needed $ to continue the church's mission are questioning staying involved, are leaving.
Case study
I can give you an example of what perturbs me. It's in the current issue of "Living Lutheran." We see ELCA retrenchment even in connection with this magazine: it will go online-only after this year. Online-only is not a routine transition - I figure it's the equivalent of dying. Like maybe the whole ELCA is dying?
The magazine has a regular feature called "I'm a Lutheran." It profiles individual members. We always get to know the town where they live and their church. Not so simple now: the current profiled individual has name of town and church omitted "for privacy reasons." I've never seen this before. Normally it is such a benign feature, who would care? It's nice to learn about these other churches.
Secrecy? So let's read further: "author of 'Raising kids beyond the binary: celebrating God's transgender and gender diverse children.' " The introductory paragraph for the article states that this individual, Jamie Bruesehoff, is an "LGBTQ+ advocate and ELCA church council member." I don't even know what the "plus" means, and I didn't come into town on a turnip truck.
Mom was a loving person which is what I aspire to be also. But maybe gay rights should stay more in the realm of politics and the courts. Good luck on the latter as we now have the three Federalist Society justices named by Trump. Are we waking up to how "elections have consequences?"
So many of you vote on the social or moral issues. But do you really know what all the so-called conservatives are going to do with their power? Don't like Hillary? At least she would have given us judges.
If Bruesehoff thought it so essential to keep her church and its location under wraps, she should not have agreed to the magazine feature.
If the ELCA really is walking on eggshells now, facing an existential crisis, maybe it's time for some belated moderation. Just shut up about some of that stuff. It's too late, alas, just like "Klaatu" realized it was too late to wake up us Earthlings on climate change.
But we have the First Lutheran building in Morris - what a shame if the church can literally not continue. Leaders will probably try to keep this a whisper until it actually happens.
And what about our UMM? Will the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision have ramifications here? My point is, as lawyers scrutinize the decision, most certainly there will be programs and policies outside of affirmative action per se that get endangered. When lawyers loom, look out.
Nothing to rule out
I have a theory that we might see a total sea change at our UMM. Sviggum's words might get heeded after all. Oh hell, we're not going to become bigoted or anything like that. Instead, we will turn over a completely new leaf, perhaps with new top administration that has no cooked-in notions, and proclaims that we're committed to serious academic studies only, and that we discourage open political activism and sexual identity prioritization. "It's not what we exist for." "Keep your personal opinions outside of your active UMM life."
We've dealt with UMM's current institutional personality for so long, many of us probably think it's set for perpetuity, would merely shrug if thinking about it. Anything can change. When money gets involved things can change.
We could have a whole new regime that would have the power to wipe out the oddball image that UMM has presented so often. When these things get attention in the Twin Cities media, it is embarrassing. Remember the new student organization called "gay devil worshipers?" That is what I speak of, and there are other exhibits. A general lack of discipline is what caused the UMM goalpost incident. "Let the kids run wild and free."
We might get a mandate from the very top that all the foolishness has got to end. Now. We might wonder why it took so long.
In the meantime, I sure hope we can get a new choir director. I hear no encouraging words about UMM music. Music ought to be out front making us all proud of UMM's presence. Right out front, brilliant, inspiring. Instead we got a recording of Pomp and Circumstance for the 2023 graduation. Lordy.
Will I have to step away from both First Lutheran and UMM?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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