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emotions

9/11

Three September 11 messages in church

Father Brian Jordan (L), a Franciscan Priest, blesses The World Trade Center Cross, made of intersecting steel beams found in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the September 11 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, before it is transported and lowered by a crane into an opening in the World Trade Center site below ground level where it will become part of the permanent installation exhibit in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, in New York, July 23, 2011. REUTERS/Chip East

As we remember September 11, 2001 in our culture, church goers will look to churches and pastors this weekend. Speaking about September 11 in church, a sermon, or prayer will be needed.

With the 14th anniversary of September 11, 2001 here, many Americans are sorting through their minds and hearts.  How have I changed from 14 years ago? What do I feel when I think of September 11, 2001?  Where was I on that fateful day? Why am I still sad? Where can our country go from here?

As we reflect and look back, we have three main messages to the attacks on September 11, 2001:

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Churches, Guns

Guns in churches: help or hinder?

The first time I was confronted with the idea of a gun being in a church was when I visited The Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, KS.  I walked into the church and I saw a small sign on the window. The sign had a picture of a gun surrounded with a red circle and a red line going through the gun. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, do they have a gun problem here? In the ‘burbs?”

With gun legislation on the President Obama’s agenda and the National Rifle Association fighting against more gun restrictions, it seems every organization in our culture is thinking about guns. That includes churches. Many states, mostly in the Mid-West and the South, have laws protecting a gun owner’s right to carry a concealed weapon in a house of worship. Arkansas’s Senate just approved a bill that will allow handguns in churches and North Dakota is eying a similar bill.

With Sandy Hook still fresh on our minds, a number of politicians have come up with ideas on how to solve the problem of mass shootings in schools. In the same vein, church leaders are considering how we can better protect churches. Evacuation plans, lock down procedures, and child protection are all issues that pastors and lay leaders are looking at.  But, should a plan include guns?

Rev. Walter Van Zandt Windsor, pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas was interview about his state’s bill on guns in churches. He said:

“I can’t imagine the need to bring a gun into a church. I just think that’s unnecessary, and I think it sends a terrible message… Religion can be an emotional thing in people’s lives. I would hate to see guns present when people’s emotions are running high.”

The American Baptist Home Mission Society recently called for “common sense” approaches to solving gun violence and issued this statement:

Firearms are a part of the history and fabric of our nation… The Supreme Court has held that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees an individual right to “keep and bear arms,” while also making it clear that this right is “not unlimited.”1 Nor should it be. The liberties we enjoy are often in tension with one another and no right should be so broadly construed as to undermine the ability of the broader community to maintain order and the peace necessary for human life and flourishing.

Does allowing a gun in a church conflict with this idea of maintaining “order and the peace”? This is the tension that the above statement addresses. Perhaps instead of coming out and making a statement, I’m pondering these questions:

  • Do we feel more safe with guns in church? Or does it make us more fearful?
  • Does a weapon belong in God’s house of prayer?
  • Does the need to carry a weapon in church send the wrong message to those affected by violence?
  • If we call our places of worship “sanctuaries”, do guns follow the concept of having a religious place of refuge and protection?

What is your response to guns in churches? Read. Respond. Render.

American Baptist Churches, Israel Trip

Peace mission to Israel

Just six days from today, I’ll embark on a peace mission on behalf of American Baptists to travel to Israel. This trip will serve as a good-will delegation to Israelis and Palestinians. In light of the recent conflict and violence, it is more important than ever to find a peaceful solution for this area of the Middle East.

This is no Holy Land Tour.

The delegation consists of the American Baptist Churches General Secretary, Roy Medley, the President of ABC-USA, Ruth Clark, and a handful of lay and clergy leaders within the denomination. We will meet with local leaders in business, media, health care, education, human rights, faith, culture, and politics. The delegation will be guided by a panel of experts who will also help balance and interpret these meetings so that, by the end of the trip, the delegation will grasp the basic issues of the conflict and a variety of perspectives and emotions. We will meet with both Israelis and Palestinians.

So, what is the purpose of this trip?

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anger

Two Pastors, An Angry Man, and Funeral

Being a pastor, I have always had positive experiences with funeral homes and funeral directors but, one of the first funerals I ever did, as an ordained pastor, was memorable.  A well known hometown gentleman died young, and his family contacted me and a retired minister on staff at my church to officiate the service.  As the two of us are about to begin the funeral, a wife of a pallbearer came up to me and asked if it would be acceptable for her to sit with her husband during the service.  I looked into the sanctuary and saw that all the pallbearers were to sitting on the front row, and I really thought nothing of it for her to sit with her husband (and the other pallbearers) during such an emotional time.  Boy I was wrong.

The funeral director came up to me and asked why I let her do that.  I explained that it is a difficult time for the family and I would want to have my wife with me if I was going through a difficult time.  The funeral director replied quickly,“That messes up the plan.  It doesn’t look right for her to sit with all the other pallbearers.  She isn’t even an immediate family member.”

I apologized and politely said that it might not look right to him, but to the family it means a lot.  “Who do you think is in charge here?” He  said aggressively.  I could immediately sensed that this funeral director was feeling threaten by me, a young whipper-snapper. I thought in my mind of all of the conceivable things to say to this man, who was being a jerk quite frankly.  “I’m sorry you feel that way, but here at this church we are very concerned about people, and not about looks.”  I said.  The funeral director got in my face, real close, about 6 inches away.  His face was bright red.  Like a stop sign.

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