Shining Together Capital Campaign Celebration Sunday

April 16, 2023/Second Sunday of Easter

Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN

John 20:19-31

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

The lesson that was just read is one of the Bible stories we’ve all heard at least annually in our Sunday morning worship services.

Even in 1978 when we North American Lutherans moved away from our old one-year lectionary (a lectionary, which is a list of  appointed scripture lessons for all the Sundays and festivals in the church year)….even when we started using a new 3-year lectionary that was designed to expose us to three times as many different Sunday scripture readings over the course of three years—even so we’ve still been hearing this Thomas story every single year on this Second Sunday of Easter.  

Why is that?   I think that we share this gripping story, which is told only here in John’s Gospel…because of the provocative and timely way it acknowledges that not everyone who hears the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection immediately believes it. 

Even if some folks who catch wind of the story of Easter don’t always believe it at first, they may well come to believe it later, as in fact happened to Thomas, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, Jesus’ closest followers.   

Thomas, you see, started out as someone stuck on the notion that “seeing is believing.” Later, though, Thomas became a proclaimer of Christ who learned that “believing is seeing” particularly when we’re grappling with the miracle of our Lord’s Resurrection. 

What wonderful news that is for all of us who have come to believe in Christ even though (unlike Thomas) we have not put our fingers right into the nail-holes in Jesus’ hands, let alone thrust our hands right into the sword-pierced side of our Savior.

Notice how the Risen Christ took Thomas by the hand and walked him through everything Thomas had asked for, everything Thomas needed to know in order to embrace the truth of Christ’s resurrection.

Amazing!   Rather than scolding Thomas—the Risen Christ took as much time as Thomas needed in order to proclaim boldly and clearly those powerful words:  “My Lord and my God!”

I believe that the reason the  Risen Christ was so patient with skeptical Thomas…was that Jesus knew there was a believer already living inside of Thomas…..and not just a believer, mind you, but a proclaimer of the Good News of Jesus’ saving life, redemptive death and miraculous resurrection.

As some of us preacher-types like to say:    Thomas the doubter became Thomas the shouter….Thomas who spent himself, losing his own life for the sake of sharing Christ wherever his feet took him.

But just where was that?  Where exactly did Thomas’s feet take him?

Fourteen years ago, Joy and I made our first trip to our synod’s companion synod in India, and it was during that pilgrimage that we learned how precious St Thomas has been and still is to our fellow Christians in India.   These believers who live way on the opposite side of the globe, have followed our Lord’s command to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

A tradition not found in our Bible but cherished by many of India’s Christians is that St. Thomas traveled over 4,000 miles from Jerusalem in Israel to Chennai (formerly Madras) in India, in order to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

When Joy and I visited the city of Chennai, we found ourselves surrounded by artwork, architecture, stories, and the 21^st century presence of Indian Christians many of whom belong to the Mar Thoma Church, that is:  the Saint Thomas Church, numbering over 1.6 million believers in India and around the world.

We began our first day in Chennai by climbing a small hill called St. Thomas Mount—the hill on which St Thomas is believed to have been killed by a spear thrust into him by an opponent of Thomas’s preaching of Christ, in the year 72 A.D.

At the bottom of St Thomas Mount, we visited the lovely Basilica Cathedral of St. Thomas, which was built in 1523 A.D. (during the lifetime of Martin Luther).    In the crypt underneath the cathedral we paused in a small chapel that housed a statue of the martyred St Thomas, lying in repose inside a glass-encased casket—next to a wall displaying a relic that allegedly contained part of one of St Thomas’s fingers.

Now I realize you may be wondering:  Why all this attention to St Thomas?

It’s because the Mar Thoma Christians and all other Christians around the globe, didn’t just come to faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ by accident.

Far from it!    For, you see, when the Risen Christ commissioned his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” they did indeed fan out from Jerusalem to eventually blanket the whole earth…including you and me and all our forebears in faith who’ve been brought into the Body of Christ, wherein we here at Trinity are now seeking fresh ways to shine together, bearing the light of Christ. 

But before we dove into our capital campaign, we took one of wisest, most significant steps we could have taken:  the initial step of creating a missional narrative for our congregation that boldly declares:   “God is calling Trinity Lutheran Church to shine the light of Christ into Downtown Moorhead and beyond.”

Thank God that this eye-catching, compelling call is now leading us to refocus our vision, renew our ministries, and refresh our facilities.  

In closing, I invite you to notice something in the order of worship in your bulletin…near the sermon…a unique symbol that comes from India.  It’s the emblem of our our sisters and brothers in Christ of India’s Mar Thoma Church.  

When I recently discovered this emblem, I was struck by the slogan "Lighted to Lighten”—a slogan from the other side of the world that is nearly identical to our congregation’s missional calling to “Be A Light!” here in downtown Moorhead and beyond.

 My dear friends:  on this Second Sunday of Easter, this “Shining Together” festival, may the Risen Christ take all of us by the hand and inspire us to shine the light of Christ wherever we go…especially into downtown Moorhead and beyond!

In the name of Jesus, the light of the world.  Amen.

 

My Renewed Appreciation for the Privilege of Voting

 

My Renewed Appreciation for the Privilege of Voting

My first exposure to the reality of elections in the U.S.A. was in the early 1960s when, on election day, I accompanied my parents to the Sterling Township Hall in Blue Earth County, MN.  Sterling Township is one of 23 townships in Blue Earth County, with the county seat located in Mankato, MN.

In those years my father was one of the “supervisors” of the township—sitting on the township governing board for a number of years.    The supervisors along with the township clerk also staffed the elections that were held periodically in the old town hall.  As I recall, the seriousness of Election Day was underscored by the presence of the township constable—along with all members of the township board.   The constable, as I recall, wore a shiny metal badge and carried a pistol--though I wondered whether, like television’s Deputy Barney Fife on the old Andy Griffith Show (1960-65), he was allowed to have only one bullet which had to be kept in his shirt pocket most of the time😊

Elections in those years were rather simple and basic, involving only paper ballots, pencils and a lock-box that was used to collect completed ballots in order to transport them to the County Auditor’s office in the Blue Earth County Courthouse in Mankato, MN-- about 25 miles north of Sterling Township. 

This past Tuesday I served as an election judge for the city of Moorhead, MN, and it dawned on me that I was serving in a capacity similar to what my father did, in Sterling Township, some 60 years ago.    This experience gave me a chance to discover “up close and personal,”  the inner workings of the election process in 2022.    I volunteered for this service in order to do my part in assuring our local election was run in accordance with Minnesota law—with honesty, integrity and trustworthiness.

For quite a number of reasons, serving as an election judge only increased my appreciation for and trust in the integrity of our elections in the great state of Minnesota.    For example:

• ·       Election officials are required to take training, based on the 74-page 2022 State of Minnesota Election Judge Guide.  This detailed guide is highly informative and clearly reflective of pertinent Minnesota State law.    My training included reading of the entire Guide, attending a 2-hour education session last summer, and  being instructed on-site regarding my specific duties.  It was also helpful to have a mix of experienced election judges serving alongside “newbies” like me.   In addition to the ten election judges responsible for the voters in Ward 1, Precinct 2 of Moorhead---we had two “head judges” on our team who were readily available to help out with questions and trouble-shooting during Election Day.
• ·       All judges were required to take the following oath before the start of Election Day: “I, (name) solemnly swear that I will perform the duties of election judge according to law and the best of my ability and will diligently endeavor to prevent fraud, deceit and abuse in conducting this election.  I will perform my duties in a fair and impartial manner and not attempt to create an advantage for my party or for any candidate.”
• ·       The facility where we were located—The Church of Saint Francis de Sales in north Moorhead—was ideal for our purposes, with ample parking, accessible restrooms, and sufficient space (all on one level) to accommodate a steady stream of voters throughout the day.
• ·       The election was conducted in a strictly bi-partisan and non-partisan manner.   Bi-partisanship was assured because each ward/precinct had election judges who were affiliated with each of the major political parties.   Non-partisanship was fostered by an expectation that all judges agreed to refrain from wearing any political clothing or buttons, and that they refrain from any political/partisan conversation during Election Day.
• ·       I was struck by how quickly and competently the head judges assisted election judges with any questions (from voters) they didn’t know how to answer, as well as how glitches with voting equipment were handled in a timely manner.
• ·       Along the way I learned two other things about how elections in Minnesota are conducted.  First we don’t “spare the horses” in terms of staffing of local polling places—I heard on MPR that Minnesota hired about 30,000 local election staffers like myself.   No doubt, this contributes to avoid long lines on election day.   Second, I also learned that Minnesota has a single, uniform election procedure used in all 87 counties of the state.  This stands in contrast to other states, e.g. Arizona, where every county has its own election procedures.  No wonder that it takes Arizona and other “don’t fence me in” states take days upon days to finish up their election processes.    Such delays have, I fear, fostered a climate of impatience and uncertainty that has contributed to the rise and spread of “election denialism” over the last few years.

·       My impression, at the end of the day, was that it would be hard to imagine a better way to conduct elections than the way we do in Minnesota.   No wonder that the final results of the election were accurate and available in a timely fashion that could be shared with all Minnesotans via the various news media in our state.

At the end of election day 2022 I was nearly exhausted, but also so very grateful that I played a small role in that most basic activity of citizens in America:   voting in a fair and free election, thus expressing the sovereign will of “we, the people.”

 

 

Decoding Congresswoman Fischbach

 Decoding Congresswoman Fischbach

Over the course of my lifetime, eight different Minnesotans have represented me in the U.S. House of Representatives.  These Congresspersons have included five Republicans and three Democrats—all of whom have regularly sent me newsletters I’ve received, read and (usually) appreciated. 

But U.S. Representative Michelle Fischbach is something else.   

Unlike my earlier Congresspersons, her newsletters are consistently grumpy, hyper-politicized and focused more on national politics than on what’s actually happening back home in western Minnesota.  What’s more, I find myself confused about just what she’s trying to say.  It’s as if she communicates in code language that leaves folks like me “on the outside looking in.”

Take Fischbach’s most recent newsletter, dated October 10, 2022.  Here’s the first paragraph:    

“Under current leadership, the government has become another arm of the Democrat party. They have politicized the FBI, proposed an IRS army to audit the middle-class so they can pay for their reckless spending, and targeted concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists’.”   

Say what?   The government has become “another arm of the Democrat party”—what exactly is that supposed to mean?     My best guess is that it bugs Fischbach when Democrats make legitimate use of the levers of governmental power to make good things happen for Americans:  addressing real issues like climate change (which Fischbach denies), firearm safety and health for all.  In stark contrast to her own “party of NO,” Democrats are working to build better schools, make it easier for persons to have the “necessities of life,” rebuild our economy post-Covid, and so forth.

And how have Democrats “politicized the FBI,” pray tell?   My guess is that this has to do with the multiple ways leaders of our nation (including the FBI) are trying to hold Donald Trump and his whole MAGA army responsible for disasters like the January 6^th insurrection—not to mention the current dust-up over governmental documents that Trump has been holding illegally.

Fischbach also raises hackles about “an IRS army to audit the middle-class so they can pay for their reckless spending.”      This wild claim simply is not true.  According to a CNN report, “Democrats, and [IRS Commissioner Charles] Rettig – who was appointed by former President Donald Trump – have said repeatedly that the intent is not to target the middle class but instead focus on making sure wealthy tax cheats comply with the law. It’s ultimately up to the IRS how the money is used.”[i]

Finally, what in the world is behind Fischbach’s allegation that Democrats have “targeted concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists’?”    This seems to be her way of lifting up various right-wing efforts to give parents—especially fundamentalists and other right-wingers--control over what public schools are teaching about matters such as America's long history with racism, sex education, gender identity and other “hot button” issues.

If Congresswoman Fischbach continues to express herself in such “coded” ways, I urge her to supply her constituents with a decoder ring or a computer program to “translate” what she’s trying to say.   After all, not all of us in Congressional District 7 watch Fox "News" 24/7.

---

[i] https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/politics/irs-inflation-act-funding-audit-enforcement/index.html

Fischbach's Misalignment of Words and Actions

 

Fischbach’s Misalignment of Words and Actions

Our 7^th District’s freshman member of Congress, Michele Fischbach, appears to be suffering from political schizophrenia.  Too often, her words say one thing—but her actions (her votes!) say the opposite.

In her May 16, 2022 letter to constituents in Minnesota’s 7^th Congressional District, she berated President Biden regarding the current shortage of baby formula:  “…Parents across Minnesota are scrambling to find baby formula, and we still haven't seen a sense of urgency from the liberal elites….I pray for a swift and decisive end to this catastrophe.”

It’s fine for Rep. Fischbach to pray, but why don’t her prayers inform her actions?  The “Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act” passed in the House with 219 Democrats along with 12 of Fischbach’s Republican colleagues.  (Fischbach, however, voted against this Act.)  If passed by the Senate, this act will free up $28 million in emergency funding to increase the number of FDA inspection staff, provide resources for personnel working on formula issues, help the agency stop fraudulent baby formula from entering the US marketplace, and improve data collection on the formula market, according to a release from the House Appropriations Committee.

Here’s a second example of Fischbach saying one thing but turning around and voting against the same thing.   In her May 16^th letter Rep. Fischbach proclaims:   “Rural broadband is a top priority of mine.”     But has she voted in ways that support this “top priority?”   Not when it really mattered last November with the passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.    Fischbach could have joined the 13 Republican members of Congress who voted in favor of this landmark legislation—which included $65 billion to bolster the country's broadband infrastructure and help ensure that every American has access to high-speed internet—including rural areas like the 7^th Congressional District.   But no!   ln voting against the infrastructure bill, Fischbach voted against her “top priority,” rural broadband.

A third example points to one of the most burning issues in our country right now:  mass shootings.  While Fischbach frequently proclaims her strong “pro-life” stance, apparently that doesn’t translate into action when addressing our country’s grievous epidemic of gun violence—the most horrific of which was the recent shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.    When the U.S. House passed its “Protecting Our Kids Act” this past Wednesday (June 8), by a vote of 223 to 204, Fischbach failed to join the five Republicans who voted in favor of this wide-ranging package of common sense gun measures.  So much for being “pro-life!”

     

Denominational Polity: Not Just for Church Nerds!

 

Denominational Polity:  Not Just for Church Nerds!

“Denominational polity” is a term that describes how a church body (a.k.a. denomination) is organized in order to carry out its mission and ministry.  In the United States there is a range of options for how churches are put together, how power flows through the denomination, and how local congregations relate to the wider denomination.

Some churches are organized hierarchically—with power flowing through a highly-structured system from the top down.  The Roman Catholic Church exemplifies this model.

Other churches are organized democratically, with power flowing through a widely-dispersed organization, from the bottom (a.k.a. “grass roots”) up.   The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is an exemplar of this sort of polity.

Still other churches exhibit elements of both hierarchical and democratic polities, such as the historic Protestant church bodies in North America—e.g. Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.

In the wake of the latest news emerging from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)—reports alleging that the denomination has failed to respond effectively and compassionately to hundreds of victims who have accused their religious leaders of engaging in sexual misconduct—it’s vital to understand the importance of the SBC’s denominational polity.    

The key unit in the organization of the SBC is the local congregation.   Each congregation basically “calls the shots” for how ministry is organized and carried out.   The wider denomination is primarily “advisory” in nature.    If members of a congregation cannot agree on potentially church-dividing issues, a faction of members who are at odds with their fellow-congregants will often withdraw and form a new congregation.   (As our family experienced many years ago on a vacation trip through the “deep South,” it’s common to see clusters of Baptist congregations within close geographic proximity to one another—reflecting a pattern of tiny faith communities that have splintered off from one another.)

Discussing the recent shocking report by Guidepost Solutions (an independent firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee to look into the reports of hundreds of clergy sexual misconduct cases in the SBC),  Christa Brown, a member of the SBC who is a lawyer, writer and victim of clergy abuse declared:  “What is absolutely critical is that the local church cannot function as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse….If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

I believe that what Ms. Brown identifies here is a challenge posed by the SBC’s “bottom up" democratic polity which is highly focused on each congregation being the primary unit of the denomination.   Despite the strengths of such a denominational polity, it’s also clear that local congregations usually lack the capacity to step outside their tightknit “family circles” to exercise fair and effective discipline when an often-beloved local pastor is called to account for misbehavior.   It will be especially fascinating to see how the SBC responds to Guidepost Solutions’ recommendation that the denomination create an “Offender Information System” that would inform local call processes for pastors across the whole SBC.   The creation of such informational systems has been a primary way of addressing the problem of an offending pastor leaving one congregation and then being considered for the pastorate of another congregation.   Doing so would involve changing the “culture” of the SBC—moving the denomination from being strictly a “bottom up” organization to incorporate elements of a more “top down” organization.

Lest we assume, however, that “top down” denominations are more adept at stopping clergy sexual misconduct, we need to ponder the recent history of the Roman Catholic Church’s agonizing attempts to reduce the number of offending clergy in its own ranks.    This has been a challenge for the Roman Catholic Church for a number of reasons, including

·       The revered status of priests whose ordination is understood to convey a permanent, “indelible image” that sets them apart from the laity of the church;

·       The fact that the laity of the church are highly dependent upon their priests (and bishops) who alone can preside at the sacraments that are foundational for Catholic faith and life;

·       The solidarity that celibate priests and bishops have with one another, often leading them to “close ranks” when individual ministers are accused of wrongdoing;

·       The challenge of incorporating laity into new pathways that have been designed to prevent and/or adjudicate clergy sexual misconduct.

I believe that, with the SBC situation right before us, we’re living in a time when both hierarchical and democratic church polities are in flux as the faithful members of churches seek to “change their stripes” in order to draw upon the strengths and opportunities provided by each of the dominant patterns for their respective polities.   Catholics have slowly but surely become more open to involving laity in investigating and adjudicating clerical malfeasance.   And now it would appear that Southern Baptists are being challenged to break free from their staunch “congregationalist” approach to carrying out their mission and ministry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funeral Sermon for Pastor Richard Radde

 

^{Funeral Sermon for Pastor Richard Radde}

^{Lutheran Church of Christ the King, Moorhead, MN}

^{April 13, 2022}

^{Scriptures:   Isaiah 43:14, 18-21; II Corinthians 5:16-21; John 12:27-32}

 

^{In the name of Jesus.  Amen.}

^{Two years ago, when we were just entering the pandemic, Richard Radde decided to take another crack at writing his memoirs….something he had TRIED to do a few times earlier in his life, but never got very far…}

^{Then in January of 2020—when Covid19 was starting to confront us with our mortality in ways most of us had never experienced before-- Dick put pen to paper (or more accurately: “fingers to keyboard”) and wrote up one memory a day for nearly three months.   By March 21 he had filled or partially filled 127 pages, which (thanks to Rachel!) I was able to read over the last ten days.}

^{Dipping into these first-person recollections--written in a “sort of” stream-of-consciousness manner by our brother Dick—three themes stood out for me:}

^{First of all, I gained an appreciation for the very real, down-to-earth life Dick had lived.  Born at home in the tiny town of New Germany, MN…he entered the world with his twin brother on August 6, 1933.  Baby Richard weighed 5 ½ pounds and his twin brother Baby Robert weighed 5 pounds.}  

^{When their maternal grandmother--Grandma Kubasch--learned the babies’ names, she bluntly observed:  “Robert and Richard-- Ja,  that’ll become Bob and Dick—horses’ names!”}

^{And most of Dick’s memories were expressed in a similar vein—offering open, honest, unadorned, “back-door views” of a fascinating life well lived.    Always with an eye toward the humorous side of life, Dick’s memoir wasn’t focused on making himself look good—but rather:  noticing the highs and lows in the everyday experiences he had!}

^{There were bright spots, to be sure…especially whenever Dick wrote about the sports he loved—whether football or basketball or his lifelong favorites:    baseball, golf and fishing.}  

^{Did you know, for example, that when he was 12 Dick Radde was the pitcher for his hometown team in the Minnesota State Little League Championship series?}

^{But there were sad and troubling events, as well, that came to Dick along the way…and in his memoirs he delves into a number of them, starting with his family’s hardscrabble life in a couple German-immigrant towns in Carver County, just on the western edge of the Twin Cities.}

^{The young twins, Dick and Bob, lived with their parents in modest houses (the first couple of which were without indoor plumbing), and their father struggled to make a living as a butcher during the early years of the Great Depression.}  

^{Looking back over his dad’s relatively short time on earth Dick described Howard Carl John Radde as “father, drunkard, breadwinner, super athlete” whose last 14 years on earth were not happy.   “He was a lonely man when he died,” Dick recalls.  “I think I was among the few who visited him.” (p. 72)}

^{That poignant observation brings us to a second theme that runs through Dick’s memoir.    From his earliest years and throughout his adult life, Dick Radde consistently had a heart for and stood with folks whom he encountered on the hard edges of life.}   

^{When he was growing up, Dick cared about other kids who were odd or avoided by their peers….kids like his friend Donald who was uncoordinated because he was born with webbed feet.   Dick wrote:  “Donald the kid with the webbed feet, never learned to swim even with such an inborn advantage, nor was he ever able to throw or catch a ball, run, or even walk:  he sort of side-winded and stumbled along.  Sad to say, [Donald] was picked on.  Proud to say, I was on his side and defended him.”  (p. 34)}

^{Donald proved to be the first among a host of marginalized persons whom Dick encountered, befriended and for whom he advocated….for example:}

^{·               A Jewish man who lived in Watertown despite the rampant antisemitism of the community…where in 1945 it was not unusual to hear comments like:  “It’s good we licked Hitler, but we should have let him kill off all the Jews first.”  (p. 32)}

^{·               Dick also got to know}

^{o      Native American neighbors in one of the northern MN towns where Dick pastored in the 1960s…as well as African Americans in Selma, Alabama alongside whom Dick walked  across the Edmund Pettis Bridge in 1965}

^{o      Persons dealing with addiction issues or same-sex attractions who came to Pastor Dick for counseling and friendship…as well as…}

^{o      Active-duty soldiers (when Dick spent a year in Vietnam as a military chaplain stationed about 2 miles from the site of the My Lai Massacre) and retired soldiers to whom Dick ministered as a VA Chaplain--veterans who struggled with addictions or other health issues}

^{Dick opened his arms to so many persons who were “on the outside looking in”—not just because of his moral convictions or political leanings….but first and foremost because of Dick’s understanding of God and the kind of life followers of Jesus are called to live….which leads me to the third theme in Dick’s memoirs—a theme that speaks directly to our aching hearts, minds and spirits today….}

^{3.  The third theme I noticed in Pastor Radde’s memoir, was about treating all his neighbors with grace and unconditional love as a direct consequence of his Christian faith and his calling as a Lutheran pastor…}

^{For Dick, along with most pastors, it started young as he attended a rural parochial school near Watertown, MN.  He and his twin Robert were blessed with a confirmation pastor—John Spomer—whom they actually liked despite the fact that Pr. Spomer made them “overlearn Luther’s catechism with all those extra Missouri Synsod Bible verses, psalms and hymns…and I excelled as a student.”}

^{Dick goes on to say:  “The best thing about [Pastor] Spomer was that he knew the Gospel, preached Christ, [and] he spoke from the heart when he told us what that cross on the steeple on the church meant:  God loves us and will never stop loving us.”}

^{In addition to forming the bedrock of his faith, young Dick also discovered his calling to pastoral ministry, through paying attention to Pastor Spomer:  “Eventually I became a Lutheran pastor,” Dick writes.  “Spomer got me going.”  (p. 14)}

^{Of course not all of his teachers and mentors were as clear about God’s sheer, unadulterated forgiveness and grace in Christ Jesus our Savior.  When Dick attended the funeral of LeRoy, one of us best friends from seminary, whose severe depression had led him to take his own life…Dick was greatly troubled by the “terrible sermon” their bishop preached—a sermon in which the bishop declared “there was an outside chance LeRoy went to heaven.” (p. 46)}

^{Later, when he was Chaplain at the Fargo VA Hospital, Dick attended another funeral for a veteran known as “Hunce the Barber”—a man who struggled to stay sober and came to Chaplain Radde often to confess his sins, receive absolution and be fed at the Lord’s Supper.   When the preacher at Hunce’s funeral “told about God’s grace and how the worst of us can still (barely) make it to heaven, although there were some doubts about Hunce” Chaplain Radde had had enough, so he stood up and asked if he could share a Word at the funeral:  “Hunce confessed his sins often.  He received forgiveness.  He communed.  God grant rest to our brother, my friend.”(p. 63)}

^{What Pastor Radde proclaimed to others, he also claimed for himself, and it is in that confidence that we commend him to God’s eternal care and keeping today.}  

^{In closing, I want Dick himself to have the last word from pp. 71-72 of his memoir:   “Jesus came so that the world through him might be saved…Everyone in; all together at last.  No musical chairs…..The army chaplaincy [in Vietnam] opened my eyes to…the universal grace of God.   These different-looking, different-acting people throughout the world all over the place, are brothers and sisters forever, destined to be together by the love that never ends which is the love of Jesus Christ.”}

^{I have nothing more to add except:  Thank you, Laurie, Rachel, and your whole family for graciously sharing Dick with the rest of us.}  

^{And thanks be to God for the life and witness of his faithful servant, our dear brother Pastor Richard Radde.}

^{In the name of Jesus.  Amen.}

 

 

David's Adultery and Vlad's Treachery: A Lenten Reflection

 

Every year, on Ash Wednesday, we pray with King David the powerful Psalm 51:   “Have mercy on me, O God….Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…”   To plumb the depths of this beloved psalm, we must revisit the tawdriest episode in King David’s life when he committed adultery with his neighbor’s wife, Bathsheba (see II Samuel 11 and 12 for the whole heart-rending tale).   So infatuated was David with Bathsheba that he went to great lengths to seduce her, including his willingness to arrange for the murder of her husband.

Reflecting on Psalm 51 and its biblical back-story, I’m struck by the resonances between David’s treachery and the tragedy playing out these days in Ukraine.  Not unlike ancient King David, Vlad the Destroyer gazed westward, lusting for his neighbors in the beautiful country of Ukraine, leading him to take by force what was not his.  

The brave, stern prophet of the LORD, Nathan, confronted King David and forced him to realize the error of his ways:  “You are the man!”  (II Samuel 12:7).    Today the freedom-loving democracies of the world are taking the part of Nathan in proclaiming to Vlad the Destroyer, “You are the man!”

This is, of course, my own interpretation of how both the biblical story and the tragedy of Ukraine might be playing out right before our eyes.    Some may write off such ruminations as “more politics   But I believe it is incumbent upon us all to seek to discern the mysterious ways of God as they are interwoven in real-time events in our own day.

In this regard I call upon Abraham Lincoln—not much of a church-goer, but the most profound lay theologian ever to occupy the White House—in the stirring conclusion of his magnificent Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865, during the waning days of the Civil War:

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.  Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another draw with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’   

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”    (Henry Steele Commager, editor of Documents of American History, Volume I, pages 442-443)