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| (MN DPS image) |
Here's a line from the Minnesota manual: "Did you order this weather?" It's like someone saying "how are you?" It's just a manner of saying hello. Small talk to indicate we're all aware of what's up with the weather. Holy cow it's just miserable on this Thursday morning. It's more than just the sheer wind and cold, or the ice or et cetera.
I personally sense gloom and this comes on the heels of the president addressing the nation last night. Every day it's something that has to do with this person who holds our highest elective office. I have sought to issue warnings about him all the way back to 2016. I have lost friends. My church has crumbled because of the forces led by Trump against "progressivism." He and his flock of course resist the forces of history.
This is not new in our history, hardly. People who resist change want us to envision and strive for an America that never even existed. Attack the Somalis? It's a different culture than mine obviously. But we have laws to deal with people who cannot behave properly. If the Somalis or any other ethnic group want to live here and obey our laws and pay our taxes, I welcome them.
Trump has actually targeted the Lutheran church. Something about our compassion and helping hand toward immigrants, which obviously our church is going to practice. Why? Because we reflect the teachings of Christ. Hope that isn't just an inconvenience for you. But it may be.
Christ Himself is not going to stand in the way of the zeal shown by Trump supporters. And holy cow, out here in western Minnesota - the sparsely-populated prairie - MAGA has had a bastion. And the sad part is that our churches have played into it so much.
The ELCA churches have been resolute in trying to temper all that. Holding our own? No. Sadly, First Lutheran Church of Morris with its proud history can no longer exist as stand-alone. It is accurate to say we are "dead" - just trying to be precise here. Not only have we been forced to partner with another local church, we have partnered with a non-ELCA church.
Meanwhile we have Faith Lutheran of west Morris doing the yeoman's work of remaining stand-alone. For the time being the local conventional wisdom is that Faith Lutheran is doing better than First. The CW suggests that Faith finds so much strength in the "young families" with kids. And on the surface that looks so heartening. How can you dispute that?
We always hear rumors about "how certain churches are doing" vs. each other. Then we learn of apparent contradictions. A friend who I think is knowledgeable - one never knows - says it's just a matter of time before the First Lutheran problems catch up to Faith as well. Faith does not have an official long-term pastor now. There is a terrible crisis of a dearth of ELCA pastors.
I can live my life without going to church. I do miss the small amount of socialization I got there. Life has its bumps in the road. I'll never forget how the late esteemed Truman Carlson left FLC and he was angry. He was a model for understanding how the more conservative folks got revulsed rather quickly by progressivism and how it seeped into the ELCA.
Frankly I don't notice that much progressivism at the grassroots level. I do sense offensive stuff within the church bureaucracy - the higher-ups - where some appear to be motivated by LGBTQ activism. We should try to put a stop to that. Enough already. Nothing should be allowed to supersede the gospel.
The once proud and rigid Methodist division has become fractured by politics in connection to you-know-what.
So I can sit on the sidelines, observe and not participate anymore, except to view services on YouTube that I think are in line with my beliefs and temperament.
Litmus test
When a church loses the Truman Carlsons of this world, that is nothing but a bad sign. His bitterness grew to a point where the only thing he considered about a political candidate was whether that candidate had an "R" by his name. I tried to go back and forth with him about this. I say "try," only, because there was no hope of really connecting. If I tried sharing with him a skeptical thought about Trump, he'd just smile. A totally dismissive smile. "I don't hear you."
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| Commands our attention |
So Trump calls the Fed chair a "numbskull." Classy guy, Trump is.
Of course there is a longstanding unwritten rule in D.C. that the president does not comment about the Federal Reserve which is independent. It needs to be independent because sometimes it has to make decisions that are bad in the short term but good in the long term. And if this approach is allowed to die out? Politicians always want the short-term fix.
Heavens, what side of that do you think Trump is on? Are you even aware of the background I am sharing here? Or do you just listen to your conservative preachers who may not give a thought to economics? Economics matter to you? Eventually it will, I guarantee you. I think it's already burgeoning in our consciousness. It will trump all the things you are hearing at the local (non-ELCA) churches.
Joe Biden came right out and said he'd have no comment on the Federal Reserve. That was professionalism.
We have a president now who assumed his position with no background in government or the military. Bone spurs? Whatever. But the Viet Nam war sucked.
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| Greg Lake |
Right now we are so close to Christmas. And the president in a nationwide address should exude sheer joy and love. He could keep his own personal skirmishes in the background. But no-o-o-o, not with Trump.
The Christmas spirit is being beaten down this year. "The Christmas we get we deserve," wrote the late Greg Lake in his lyrics for a well-known Christmas song. That's Greg Lake of "Emerson, Lake and Palmer." Indeed the American people are going to get what we deserve. Our congressperson Michelle Fischbach has been complicit in all the bad stuff.
The Greg Lake song was "I Believe in Father Christmas."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo
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