Community Stress and "Blood Done Sign My Name"

You still have time to join us for this weekend's performance of "Blood Done Sign My Name." You won't want to miss it.

We've been told that the title and posters around town don't

give much information about what to expect ... so here it is in a nutshell: the play honestly and unflinchingly examines the

civil rights struggle in the South. Considering the challenges we've been facing as a community of late, the timing couldn't be any better.

Drawn from a book that Amazon says "deserves the widest audience possible," the play tells the story of a young black Vietnam vet who was brutally murdered in his hometown of Oxford, NC. Set in 1970, the incident would fan the long-flickering flames of racial discord in the proud tobacco town. The details are chilling and sometimes painful, but they serve as necessary reminders of a poisonous racial legacy. 

If you've been following local news, you know the challenges we face as a community. Last night's Salisbury City Council meeting was loaded with concerned, angry citizens who are tired of the dramatic increase in violence. This past week alone the Salisbury Post reported occurrences of violent crime on a daily, front page basis. Residents are scared. Activists are angry. City Councilman are at odds with each other, frustrated by their eagerness to "do something" but uncertainty as to "what." 

There are no easy solutions. The affect of poverty in our community is rearing its ugly head. We are years behind in finding sustainable employment opportunities. The number of vacancies in our police and sheriff's departments is at a crisis level. 

What do we do? Lots of ideas are out there. Let's hope leaders will have the courage and fortitude to discern the "right" approach and begin now taking dramatic action. 

Behind the scenes we'll continue to do our part, as well. Our 3rd grade reading initiative at Isenberg is showing dramatic results. Armed with two years of data, soon we'll be inviting congregations throughout the county to provide volunteers in every elementary school so that ALL 3rd graders are reading at grade level. 

Two weeks ago 15 folks were trained to walk alongside prisoners who are transitioning back into our community. 400 men are released from prison into Rowan County every year. 400. Our goal is to build up faithful, trained volunteers who will walk alongside these prisoners as they reengage their community and their families. 

And soon we'll be announcing an exciting new approach to our Barnabas project, in which 12+ at-risk Knox Middle School students are mentored weekly by members of St. John's and the wider artists' community. One of our earliest students, Neeghba Reeves, just graduated from NC Central and accepted a position as a computer programmer in Chicago. He joined us in worship last Sunday and left Monday morning for this new, exciting adventure. 

These are long-term project, to be sure, but it takes hard work now to affect dramatic change in the future. 

This weekend's play is part of the plan. Our hope is that the two performances will invite honest conversation around a difficult issue. Expect a wide variety of ideas and reactions ... but may the Lord bless us with a willingness to engage the conversation in faithful, productive ways. 

I hope you'll join us. 

Pastor Rhodes

Of Christians and politics

Of Christians and politics | February 8, 2017

It's not uncommon for someone to tell me, "politics don't belong in sermons." 

Well, yes and no. Here's what I mean ... and yes, this is in regard to last Sunday's sermon which some folks thought was blatantly political. Two thoughts: 

1. We live in a hyper-political, wildly-divisive climate. There are few places in this country where one can have honest conversation about issues that matter without worry of being labeled or libeled. Surely the church is one such place. At its best the church is an incubator where all kinds of questions and problems might be honestly discussed by all kinds of people, each one (we would hope) clinging to a common denominator: Jesus Christ. Which leads me to number 2 ....

2. It might make us uncomfortable, but Lutherans have a long history of wrestling with touchy issues. In so doing, I've always found Luther's Two Kingdoms Theory a helpful tool. Luther says that God is the ruler of the world, and he rules in two ways: through a temporal (or earthly) kingdom and a spiritual kingdom. In the Gospels, Jesus reveals the ultimate vision for the spiritual kingdom. Take a look at the beatitudes in Matthew 5, Jesus' first words in Luke 4, or the "kingdom parables" throughout the gospels. It's a kingdom rooted in love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation among all people. It's a kingdom foretold by the prophets and affirmed by St. Paul. When I preach or teach about this kingdom, it's never rooted in politics. I'm simply looking through the lens given to us by Christ -- a lens that gives us a glimpse into the Kingdom of God. 

The temporal kingdom, on the other hand, acknowledges that we live in a sinful world, and as such we are governed by those who have been given earthly authority to do so. The tools, methods, and strategies they use will vary considerably. Some will use conservative means; others pursue a liberal agenda. Some will be be brutal in their tactics; others will be conciliatory. And here's the point: When we engage in political debate, it's over issues in the TEMPORAL kingdom, not the spiritual kingdom. That's a hugely important distinction.

In fact, I firmly believe that Christians can have wildly divergent opinions about things like walls and refugees and health care ........ as long as they are rooted in a common goal of "seeking first the kingdom of God." What does that mean? In terms of the president's idea to "build the wall," Christians are free to agree or disagree as long as the ultimate goal is reconciliation, peace, mercy, and the common good. I'd love to hear the president say: "We need to build the wall. Things have gotten out of control and we need to bring some order to our border security. But our ultimate goal is to foster a better relationship with our neighbor and create a better method of welcoming and training immigrants." That, friends, would be a two kingdoms approach to the political challenges we face. And that's what I'm longing for in our political discourse. Sadly, we don't seem to be anywhere close. 

When I'm preaching about the Kingdom of God, I do my best to avoid political debate. I'm simply articulating what I believe is abundantly clear and outlined in the gospels -- that the kingdom of God is our destination. It's our vision. It's our ultimate goal. We may well have different ideas for how to get there, but God's kingdom, not our own, remains the ultimate goal.

I'm so very thankful for a congregation that gives space for healthy conversation over issues that matter. But here is our charge during these perilous times: to set the tone for debate that is civil and kingdom-centered. The world desperately needs that of us. 

On refugees

On refugees | February 2, 2017

It's been a busy week in Washington. 

Like many of you, I've been trying to make sense of the President's order to ban all refugees from entry into the US and immigrants to/from seven countries. Setting aside politics -- because, let's be honest, this issue was politicized from the get-go -- I'm trying to understand how this ban compares to other bans on immigration (eg, Obama's ban of Iraqis for six months and Carter's indefinite ban of Iranians during the hostage crisis). No doubt there are similarities and differences. 

In each case there is a clear question: does such a ban/restriction affect national security? That's the question President Trump is wrestling with, and if this ban gives his team the time it needs to find the right answer, then so be it. 

But there are concerns. Mine are two-fold: Are we beyond the point where we can wrestle with that question honestly, without the worry of politics or being demonized by the "other side"? I'm not sure we can, which significantly affects how we come to an answer/decision/policy. 

Secondly, the issue of refugees. Christians and Jews have a long heritage of caring for the refugee. It's one of the most carefully outlined set of laws in the Old Testament -- laws that affected the life and movement of every single one of our patriarchs. We have long understood hospitality and "caring for the stranger" as a core value in the Judeo-Christian tradition. How does this ban on refugees -- all refugees, I might add -- speak to that core value? Add to that our own country's history with and among refugees and I think I'm free to say that the president's executive order is loaded with moral and ethical problems. 

Do refugees need to be properly vetted? Absolutely. But let's first speak to those who are in the business of vetting and resettling refugees before issuing a sweeping edict like this one. One of those groups is Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC), which resettled 460 refugees in the Carolinas last year alone. Ted Goins, CEO and member of St. John's, says there is no significant danger to the U.S. from refugees. The problem, he says, is that most people aren't familiar with the difficult vetting process that already exists.

"Most people don't deal with it on a daily basis and don't understand what a refugee is and how that differs from an immigrant," he said, citing people who may have overstayed a visa. "Refugees, these are people who have been in a camp for years just waiting on an opportunity where they can be safe and free. ... These are people who are running from ISIS, running from the Taliban, running from a dictator."

"Refugees are forced to leave their homes to escape death or persecution," he adds. "They come to the U.S. after already extreme vetting and with the full approval and invitation of the U.N. and the U.S. government."

These are the folks who have now been banned from entry into the US. 

"You must not oppress foreigners," reads Exodus 23:9. "You know what it's like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt."

Perhaps that's the problem: that we've forgotten what it's like. Perhaps we have distanced ourselves from the time our forebears were, themselves, refugees. The Irish, Moravians, Germans, Catholics, and Salzburger Lutherans, to name a few.  

More recently we think of refugees escaping genocide in Rwanda, a 22 year civil war in Sudan, and extreme religious persecution in Syria. Can you imagine if the Lost Boys had been denied entry into the US? Or Albert Einstein, who escaped Naziism in 1932? Or Madeline Albright, who fled communism at the age of 11?

I pray for our president and the difficult decisions he has to make. As we wrestle with a decision I happen to disagree with, may we all have the courage to listen to one another and to form decisions that are rooted in our core values. Then, perhaps, may we once again open our arms in welcome to the poor, the tired, the huddled strangers among us.   

Peace+

Pastor Rhodes