Reflections From a Concerned Padre…

  
As Denise and I hike around the beautiful environment that is our new home, we are constantly in awe of God’s splendor. You can’t help but feel the presence of the holy in such a place. It is indeed a thin place! I snapped this picture at the entrance to a condominium complex down the road from us. Of course, this setting was created by a landscaper yet even this is a thing of beauty.

However, even as we enjoy the beauty of the sacred space that is Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park, an ill wind blows. In a recent discussion about presidential politics and the ravings of a man who is a front runner, we both saw eerie similarities to what Hitler espoused as he roused German nationalism to an unhealthy, evil, and hate-filled level. I have been thinking more and more about that and what my response is as a Christ follower.

Being a Christ follower is often counter to being a christian (lower case intentional). In the 1930’s there was something called the German Christian Church. It was a blend of Nationalism and hatred. It was endorsed by and in turn it endorsed Herr Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) Party. Trump and others with their words of hatred and fear mongering wrapped in the American flag and supposedly the Bible sound an awful lot like Hitler… Instead of the Jews (although in many dark corners of this land, they are still vilified) being target number one, it is Muslims, Syrians, Mexicans, South American refugees, the LGBTQ community, among others who are the target of hatred and blame for what is considered the ills of Murica. And with whacko’s like Y’all Quaeda and others arming up and spouting insanity, this is indeed a very scary time to be living in.

 As a nation we are careening down a very slippery slope that is looking like Germany in the 1930’s. If we don’t watch it, there will be pastors and others authoring a new version of The Theological Declaration of Barmen (Barth, Bonhoeffer, and others were a part of the team) in response to the kidnapping of the evangelical church by politicians spewing venom, lies, and hatred! Will it come (or has it already come to this) to a time when a pastor has to choose between standing with the American christian church (I can’t bring myself to capitalize either) or standing on the side of Christ against it? Will I have to choose between comfort or being tagged as “one of those” like Bonhoeffer (and we know how it ended for him… At the end of a rope)?

I truly do fear for our nation… And I fear for what we are unleashing on the world stage. My prayer for this land and this world is that love will triumph over fear and peace over violence. That we truly will, in the words of Isaiah, beat our swords into plowshare and our spears into pruning hooks… And that we will study war no more! For those of who blame the other and arm to the teeth in defense of god, guns, the bible and the Murican way… Someone has to make the first move towards reconciliation and peace… I believe we have an excellent example of that in Jesus.

My prayer is symbolized in this picture from the chapel at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado where Denise and I were yesterday on hospital calls for the church I serve (Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado).

  
It is only when people of all faiths take back their “religions” from the fanatics who seek to destroy all that is different, that this dream will have any hope of succeeding.

Will you join with this Padre in prayer and action?