I believe that, in light of the current religious and political landscape in the US, it is time for me to revisit an old friend and mentor of mine whose writings I was first introduced to in seminary in 1984. In class we had the opportunity to read Howard Thurman’s writings and listen to cassette tapes of his talks. This African American theologian and mystic has had a profound influence on my own ministry.
Many and varied are the interpretation dealing with the teachings and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of these interpretations deal with what the teachings and the life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall. To those who need profound succor and strength to enable them to live in the present with dignity and creativity, Christianity often has been sterile and of little avail. The conventional Christian word is muffled, confused, and vague. Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples. — Howard Thurman (Jesus and the Disinherited, p. 11-12)
As I watch the continued unfolding of christian nationalism, especially in light of the results of the 2024 Presidential election, I am at once horrified, angered, and deeply saddened. Notice that I didn’t say that I was surprised. I have seen this rise coming and even experienced it during my time in the military as a Chaplain. The idolatrous images of guns, flags, the cross, and the Bible being wrapped into a horrid package have been around for a long time. Watching christian nationalism being normalized in the media and in some parts of the “church” has not been easy.
The older (and hopefully wiser… 😉) I get, the more I have experienced my faith development as a deeper study and embodiment of the message of Jesus and the prophets and a broadening of my understanding of who Jesus is calling me to be. As long-time readers of my blog know, I call myself a Christ-follower to differentiate from the lower case “c” christians who have hijacked Jesus and wrapped him in the American flag and given him a golden assault rifle to carry. I am not alone. I have been hearing from and reading blogs of pastors who are struggling with their calling and specifically the churches they serve. They feel isolated and are afraid when they face those within the church who are hostile.
I’ve had those experiences myself and know how challenging they were for me. I was condemned by a young airman in a deployed location because I was teaching an Introduction to Islam course at the chapel. Besides confronting him with the fact that he was disrespecting a senior officer, I told him that I supported the commander’s thinking that we should learn about our host country and the majority religion of that country. After retiring from the chaplaincy and going back to the church, I’ve been condemned as a pastor (and they tried to shame me as a retired military chaplain) for seeking to remove the flag from the sanctuary or preaching the Gospel message that they find offensive. They didn’t stop me. While it isn’t easy these experiences make me thankful for the support and encouragement that I have also experienced in the midst of the fight from parishioners and friends.
I am well aware of my privilege as a cis-gender, white male minister who is retired from the military and the church. At the same time I am aware of those who are condemned or made to feel like second-class citizens by the church and society and my heart is breaking as they suffer. Where do I go from here? To be honest, I don’t know.
I am prayerfully trying to discern where God is calling me to continue ministry. I firmly believe that Jesus is walking with me as I stumble along on his path. I am also seeking opportunities to listen to and support those who are being oppressed and are under attack. In that journey, I will also continue to pray with another of my spiritual mentors, Thomas Merton. Like Thurman, Merton was an activist and a mentor to many in the peace movement. He wrote from the solitude of the monastery and later his hermitage on the grounds of the monastery. Thurman’s writings encouraged leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, and so many others in the civil rights movement. Merton’s writings and retreats encouraged peace and anti-war activists like Fr. Daniel Berrigan and Dorothy Day to keep up the good fight against the forces of war and oppression. And so, I will leave you with Merton’s prayer.
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Source: Thoughts in Solitude, p. 79
Dear reader, will you pray with me and walk with me as I seek to be, in the words of St. Teresa of Avila, the hands and feet of Christ in this broken and hurting world?
“It is an unshakable faith with me that a cause suffers exactly to the extent that it is supported by violence.”—Mahatma Gandhi, Young India
“Now I know that true love consists in bearing all my neighbors’ defects, in not being surprised by mistakes but by being encouraged by the smallest of virtues.”—St. Thérèse of Lisieux
The presumed immortality of the empire has a horrid price attached… the death, even of great numbers, even of the innocent, must be rendered plausible, even normal. So the victims are variously demonized or stripped of their very dignity, their very faces. They are abstractions, “the enemy,” “the tyrant,” and so on. They are expendable. To the numbed citizenry, such lethal behavior on the part of authorities becomes a sort of wearisome abstraction… As we have seen it again and again in our lifetime, in our own country: Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It is really astonishing, that from Babylon to Assyria to Egypt to Rome, the biblical story is the same. The empires rise, the empire does unutterable harm to the world, then the empire declines and falls. — Daniel Berrigan (Testimony: The Word Made Flesh, p. 176)
Last night on All Hallows’ Eve and today on All Saints’ Day, Denise and I have been thinking a lot about our parents. My Mom was the first to cross over the threshold from this world to the next (Nov 2017), followed by Denise’s Mom four months later (Mar 2018). Four years later Denise’s former mother-in-law Betty (loving Grandmother to Denise’s two boys and a dear friend to both of us) crossed over to be followed by her Dad two weeks later (Sep 2021). My Dad was our last parent to cross over the threshold just over a year ago (Jul 2023). There are days when it seems surreal that we would be orphans before either of us hit the age of 63. We miss them so deeply and yet, for them, they have experienced perfect healing and peace.
Perfect healing… I believe that they have, in a sense, experienced what Thomas Merton wrote about as he described his Epiphany on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in the shopping district of Louisville, Kentucky in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (p. 191, Kindle edition). Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed….
May the Saints and our Ancestors continue to shine like the sun and live on in our memories.
“Catering to fear and pessimism is a function of the most dangerous belief: that violence can bring order out of chaos. Healing the world requires recognizing the damage this story has done.”—Gareth Higgins, How Not To Be Afraid
The person who’s in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community)
In the light of the cesspool that was a “rally” in Madison Square Gardens in New York City I offer this excerpt from a speech which Dr. King delivered in New York City. Dr. King’s call for leaders to rise above and actually be leaders is much needed. I am so sick of the incessant lies and am deeply angered by the slanderous comments about the beautiful island of Puerto Rico which is a part of the United States. I have served along side of Puerto Rico’s finest in the United States military and have nothing but respect for my siblings in arms. I have also been honored to work with friends and co-laborers in ministry from Puerto Rico. The hospitality and welcome shown to us when we were in Puerto Rico for a wedding was absolutely stellar. It is not a floating island of refuse!
Dr. King’s message and the sort of leadership he is talking about is sorely needed in this nation and in the world.
May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership… [We need] Leaders who somehow understand the issues. Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause. God give us leaders. [applause] A time like this demands great souls with pure hearts and ready hands. Leaders whom the lust of office does not kill. Leaders whom the spoils of life cannot buy. Leaders who possess opinions and a will. Leaders who will not lie. Leaders who can stand before the demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Desegregation and the Future,” Address Delivered at the Annual Luncheon of the National Committee for Rural Schools)
Thus when Christianity becomes subordinated to a practical cult of one’s nation, one’s society or one’s secular way of life, and when religion becomes indissolubly wedded in fact to a totalist social structure (even one that still aspires to be called democratic) it happens that the secular society itself assumes the functions of a Church mediating between God and [people], to such a point they the pastors themselves rebel to look to the state as a font of divine decisions in the practical order. All dissent in the civil sphere thereby automatically becomes a religious betrayal and a spiritual apostasy. — Thomas Merton (Faith and Violence: Christian Teaching and Christian Practice, p. 203)
Continuing with my study and sharing about christian nationalism, the political atmosphere we find ourselves in, along with the horrifying display at Madison Square Gardens yesterday. We are living in dangerous times. And these times cry out for this nation to open its eyes and truly see the horror of nationalism for what it is. A threat to democracy!
If you think that peace and happiness are somewhere else and you run after them, you will never arrive. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Nguyen Anh-Huong (2006). “Walking Meditation”, p.11, Sounds True
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