We’re All Veterans HereOne of the lines in a James Russell Lowell poem reminds me that war is not just a matter of marching off to foreign lands with guns & tanks—it is a matter of choice, a matter of choice for individuals & nations.
“Once to every heart & nation
comes the moment to decide,
in the strife of truth with falsehood,
for the good or evil side.”
There is a war that is always & continually going on in every heart & in every nation; it is commonly called the “culture war,” & we are all scarred veterans of that war, especially church-goers
Church is not all that important to people in this day & age. The vast cathedrals of England & Germany are sparsely attended & times have changed. We, as people in the church, are all wounded veterans of this war— We are here today on Veterans Day,which is not a day of celebration—but it is a day of remembering those
who’ve made great sacrifices for their homes, their families, & their country.
Looking back & remembering is a good thing if it helps us to look forward.
We can’t change the past & constantly looking backward, “remembering when” doesn’t really help anyone. Many are haunted & deeply scarred by what happened in the war. Some are so deeply affected by what the war did, whichever war it was, that it’s always foremost in mind.
We all have things that have scarred us in the past, & we all know that it is difficult to let them go, but we also know that it is the best thing we can do for ourselves & for our loved ones.
So—as veteran Christians what can we do to let go of some of the things of the past that no longer work & to look forward to the future? We need to adopt a sense of renewal; we need to form new ways of attracting people to our church.
Because our church is connected with the United Church of Christ & the Unitarian-Universalist Association, we are by definition a progressive church with a liberal theology. This means that we are, more or less, hopefully more, open & affirming in our theology. Both of our “parent” denominations accept people regardless of age, race, gender, or sexual orientation. Both the UCC & the UUA ordain men & women, gay or straight.
Church should be a place that challenges us to think about the important questions of our lives. Church, our church, should be a place that calls us out of ourselves & challenges us to respond to the ethical issues of our day & age, based on the teachings & stories we find in our faith tradition.
The very first teaching of Jesus came from the Prophet Isaiah, not the law-giver Moses. Jesus was someone who taught like the prophets, not like the lawmakers. Jesus sought to educate & enlighten his followers, to excite their minds & enliven their curiosity, Jesus, like Isaiah & Micah before him & like Gandhi & Martin Luther King after him, looked at the ethical issues of his day with an eye towards harmony & compassion, not conformity & submission.
The time of our church renewal might well be now—or it might well be never.
It’s up to us—we are the church; the health of this faith community depends on us.
Let’s exercise our spiritual muscles. So be it.
