by David H. Rommereim

​One of my deepest regrets is loss of play. Play provides the enthusiasm, laughter, and serious work for the things that may either harm or heal the soul. Play is the force that reconciles our fears and worries while developing courage.

Have you ever watched a child 3 years or under play? They are working so hard, diligently, and carefully to make sure they know what and how to make things work. They don't whine if they make a mistake. They don't blame, or shame anything or anyone. They just work hard at play. Then to help them "grow up" we begin to train them differently. Not by teaching right and wrong through adventure, play, and the joy of learning, but the zero sum game of being on the right side.

The photo above is one of my favorites. I took it at one of our first Children, Youth, and Family ministry gatherings. It was from a class I was teaching about Baptism. I am fully aware that children and adults learn by the poetic exchange of sound, words, touch, and physical exchange.  At the lesson, I had the kids dig into the font at the front of the sanctuary. We then met at Baptism. They dug into the font swishing the water and giggling. I believe that the only way to be a Christian is to be happy. What sort of God do you listen to if you are not filled with the joy and hospitality of grace, forgiveness, and love. Each is God's spiritual and religious nutrient provided for us through the story of Yeshua of Nazareth. Remember, he was a Jewish poet/prophet we later named Jesus, the Christ of God.

My goal for the ministry of Children, Youth, and Families at Good Shepherd was to turn the Soul Cafe into a living space for children. It was to be safe, honorable, respectful, and inter-generational. Most of the present members at Good Shepherd do not know that the Soul Cafe was not always the soul cafe. It was called "the transept?" and it was a dark, dreary, dusty, smelly large room with row upon row, wall to wall, pews in a space that needed a flashlight to move from one corner to another. We renovated it to create the Soul Cafe (a name which took three years to change).  It became the soul cafe by practice, practice, practice. We used the Soul Cafe so that our neighbors could enjoy a safe place in which to work through tough cultural/political/community issues. It was also designed for our children to be welcomed to church in a joyous spirit. Change was hard but God persisted.

I knew the Soul Cafe was becoming safe for kids when I saw many of them come in after a hard day at school, kick off their shoes, jackets, and heavy backpacks, then run and play together. Some of the older adults were not used to seeing that sort of play so close to the sanctuary. They thought that the kids may do something wrong. We had a lot of worry about play.  What if they upset an older member.  However, I remained faithful to the Gospel by sharing that to understand the experience of Baptism we need to dig our hands into the font of welcome; get a little wet. 1 Timothy 1.7 reminds us about what it is like if you are timid, and it's not good.

None of the children in the photo above are at Good Shepherd today. Their families have moved on. At the congregation festival of ministry on June 29, 2014, we welcomed over 23 kids and honored 22 adults who worked in some way in education (teachers, administrators, adjunct professors, etc.). Each one was named and counted in our ministry at Good Shepherd. Some are among us weekly. Some are among us a few times a year. Some are among us rarely. Each is an abiding resemblance of God's love and God's Baptism. Not one was better than the other. All were equal under God's canopy of Grace.

I have read an amazing book about some of the things our children are losing. Specifically, the courage of learning through play and imagination. Jay Griffiths is a writer from Wales, Britain. She reminds us that our children and adult community are experiencing the loss of adventure. She calls it the loss of "The Commons." The Commons is the place where individuals safely adventure, walk, and experiment. It is where learning happens in the most humane form, "The fun of learning."

The book is called, 'Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape.' Ms. Griffiths' riddle has to do with the loss of the commons where children can no longer play freely. I do not mean organized dance groups or sports. I am not referring to Sunday morning schedules which keep you from sacred sabbath time. I don't refer to the structures we build for families that let kids "go out and play." I used to take my children to those places while living in the South Bronx where we had 1.6 acres of park land developed for 150,000 residents in that part of the Bronx. We would drive into Westchester County and knew all the formal playgrounds developed during the 80s. By play and commons, I am not referring to the designed tunnels, ladders, or swings. I refer to the loss of free play. And I believe the ministry of the church must maintain that sense of free play before we get too smart for our britches and produce clones, or ventriloquists, rather than courageous theologians.

The loss of the commons and the loss of a place to freely play, forces the child to stave off imagination, develop less courage, and garner more fear.  Jay Griffiths writes that in England kids would always climb trees. That was true for me growing up. I climbed trees a lot.[1] In her book, Ms. Griffiths informs us that in England there were over 2,500 kids per year who were hurt from falling out of trees. So they made a law about climbing trees. It said: "No Tree Climbing Allowed!" However, she then reminded us that, at the same time there were over 3,000 kids hurt by falling out of bed. She wondered whether they should make a law, "No Getting Into Bed Allowed!"

The old Beetles song, "When I'm 64" reminds me of my age. But it also reminds me to work hard at play so that I may continue to learn, grow, mature, and resonate with the heart and soul of the ministry of Jesus. Play is the way I do my justice living. Play is the way I preach. Play is the way I visit the hospital bed. There is a way of listening, growing and maturing that will never keep me silent. Play is the way I march on any public issue for policy change. Play is the way I organize with other faithful leaders of the commons.

A dear friend and member of Good Shepherd was suffering with terminal cancer. We prayed. We administered the healing ointment of Jesus. We shared stories about the complicated web of medical science. We got the family aligned with significant medial advisers. We discussed the strategic plan needed in confronting his illness. We eventually moved to palliative care. Through it we laughed once hope was regained and the courage could be enjoyed. We embraced death, together, so that life could abide together. {Romans 8}.

Recently Rev. Tony Rose and I represented the Good Shepherd congregation at a Faith in New York public meeting on Race. It was at St. Francis Church in Manhattan on January 14, 2016. The session included about 60 persons from four boroughs of our City. They were all persons of faith seeking to regain the justice needed to live in this racially torn city. Four National PICO Staff were there to witness the event. It was a two hour seminar on race relations and the subtleties that that system plays on our subconscious. We laughed. We prayed. We were scared to say the wrong things. We were deeply hurt. We were angry. We were powerfully, wholly, loving.

I should also say that it was a massive group of Christians, Muslims, and Jews with various skin tones, cultures, languages, and nations of beginnings (Haiti, Trinidad, British Guyana, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Norway, Germany, Eastern Europe}. Each of us are the huddled masses and products of "Lady Liberty."

For two hours, Rev. Alvin Herring (National PICO Staff for Race Relations and Racial Economic Justice) allowed us to play and climb this massive tree of disparity that is many colored. We climbed and climbed this tree while most of our community says, "No Tree Climbing Allowed!" when it comes to race. Our culture does not want us to talk about it. We even think everything will be alright if everyone just works hard. We do not know the systemic dynamics of that historic disease of America. And that is why we were there climbing together this tree of life. The Commons, the playground, the neighborhood, the very soul of America is at stake.

The tree we seek to climb is the racial harmony tree. It is massive. I cannot climb it alone. I will need all those who went to the meeting this past Thursday at St.Francis. But I will need the communities they represent. Faith in New York represents over 70,000 persons of faith in NYC. Good Shepherd is but a small part numerically, but a large part of Faith in New York because of the latter's powerful voice. We have nurtured that voice as theologians and people of the Cross. Faith in New York has committed to climb this dignified tree together.

In the Thursday climb we stood together, one to one. We are all shy, embarrassed, and when the Reverend asked us to look into the other's face he was patient because he knew that it is not normal for people trained with a fear-based approach to common life. After some time of learning how to be comfortable in this unusual way of standing in a group learning about race and racism with intimate and revealing stories, we were relieved to announced to one another a Mayan phrase that set the tone for our future play together, our future climb. The phrase is this: "In lak'ech Alak in"  It means: "I am you and you are me, or you are another me." A few with African roots remembered this as Ubuntu or: "I AM  because WE are!" And many First Nations Peoples of America call this: "Of Many Names."

For me, Rabbi Hillel (30 BCE to 10 CE) and Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth (6 BCE to 30CE), came to mind. Each one said: "Love the other in the same way you love yourself." Rabbi Hillel also reminds us about love-justice by saying: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? Yet being only for my self, what am I?" Quite a tree. Quite a climb.  

So, let me return to the baptismal photo at the top. It reminds me that I presently see a loss of play in the church. And I see this as a potent harm to our children. For some, the Font is meant to be only discretely touched. I disagree. The font needs us to dive in and swim about. The waters need to be churned up ...  Played with.  I then invite you to remember that kids need to play. They cannot learn without it. Ultimately play develops deep gratitude. It invites courage. We learn courage only by climbing together the trees that are in our common forest.

I leave you with the most significant critique of our Children, Youth and Family Ministry.  It came from one of our Norwegian students named, "Nest-lovely" in 2012. When discussing the historic Lutheran and Roman Catholic conflict she said, "The difference between Lutherans and Catholics, is that Lutherans have more fun." What a perfect way to build a lovely nest... a strong faith...with an ability to enter this rough and tumble world with courage and joy.

I hope and pray you never lose that theology of play at Good Shepherd. Without it you lose the ability to climb. May God bless your play.
 
I remain,   
  
Rev. David H. Rommereim

[1]              The photo below is our high school age, family tree residence. 
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​By Rev. David Rommereim

It is hard to talk about race, racism and the institution of racism in all sectors of America. It rears its ugly voice in forms both known and unknown, verbal and silent. As a man raised on the institution of White Privilege I am fully aware that race can only be overcome through building strong relationships across racialized boundaries.

I know how hard it is to talk about our institution of race in America.  I know there are people who do not want to talk about racism--which tells me there is a serious spiritual dilemma--one that only God's Holy Spirit, God's healing balm of inspiration can heal.
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Last week, Rev.Tony Rose and I represented the Good Shepherd congregation at a Faith in New York public meeting on Race. It was at St. Francis Church in Manhattan on January 14, 2016. The session comprised about 60 persons from four boroughs of our City--all persons of faith seeking to regain the justice needed to live in our racially torn city.  Four National PICO Staff were there to witness this two hour seminar on Race, Relations, and the subtleties that that system plays on our subconscious.  We laughed; we prayed; we were scared to say the wrong things; we were deeply hurt; we were angry; and we were powerfully, wholly, loving. 

I should also say that it was a massive group of Christians, Muslims, and Jews with various skin tones, cultures, languages, and nations of beginnings (Haitian, Trinidadian, Guyanese, Indian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Norwegian, German, and Eastern European). We were the huddled masses and products of "Lady Liberty."
​
For two hours, Rev. Alvin Herring (National PICO Staff member for Race Relations and Racial Economic Justice) allowed us to play and climb the massive tree of disparity that is many colored. We scaled and climbed this tree of racial disparity,  even thought most of our community says, "No Tree Climbing Allowed!" when it comes to race. Our culture simply does not want to talk about it. We think everything will be alright if everyone just works hard. We do not know the systemic dynamics of that historic disease in America, particularly when it does not impact us personally, and that is why we were there last week together climbing this tree of life. The Commons, the playground, the neighborhood, the soul of America, and our personal souls are at stake.

Last Monday, at another public event the New Bay Ridge gathered on 86th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway. It was a Rev. Dr. M.L. King, Jr. National Holiday rally in solidarity with our Muslim neighbors in the wake of hate crimes. The action was in response to the woman who was kicked and verbally accosted at that 86th Street Bus Stop because she is Muslim. It was time to take a stand against such un-American behavior. 

The grassroots community march was a beautiful display of our new multi-colored Bay Ridge.  After the march, we convened at Salam Lutheran Church on 80th Street and 4th Avenue for warmth, refreshments, and to hear words of individual voices from the neighborhood, including those of children. Our Children's Chorus of Bay Ridge sang peace songs, and over 300 attendees listened!  We are grateful to the local organizers who planned this event.  I was honored to participate in the gathering with local residents, and am continuously honored to be part of a larger church community of faith which provides hospitality for these difficult conversations.  

So, I invite you to read this note (below) from our Presiding Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton. She also calls the church to do the right thing. She invites us to practice the spirituality which takes our voices into public life to stop the barbarity of economic disparity caused by the institution (known and unknown) of race.

Pleases note: "In 2013 the median wealth of white American households was 13 times the median wealth of black American households, the widest gap since 1989." (NY Times: 12-31-15, Paul Kiel.) Also, 40% of the collective wealth African Americans was completely lost in the 2008 crash. It has not been recovered. Such statistics say a lot about the words "racialized economic disparity."

I remain,
Pastor

 
ELCA presiding bishop urges church to have 'difficult conversations' around racism
Jan. 20, 2016
 
            CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has called on its 3.7 million members to "be the church that models for the rest of this country what it means to have these difficult conversations" about racial inequality. Eaton made her remarks during a Jan. 14 live webcast, "Confronting Racism: A Holy Yearning."
            Eaton and co-host William B. Horne, a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Clearwater, Fla., presented the one-hour webcast, which addressed the complexities and implications of racism in the context of the criminal justice system. This was the ELCA's second webcast focused on racism.
            Joining Eaton and Horne for the one-hour conversation were: Judge Yolanda Tanner, an ELCA member who serves as an associate judge for the Baltimore City Circuit Court; Leonard Duncan, an ELCA member and student at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia; and Charlene Guiliani, an ELCA member and former police sergeant who is a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.
            During the webcast Duncan, Guiliani and Tanner shared their experiences and careers in the criminal justice system. A portion of the webcast was also dedicated to answering questions submitted via email, Facebook and Twitter. 
            Eaton said that, although the webcast "serves as a way to keep the conversation going, it provides an opportunity for members and congregations to go deeper in our listening and in building relationships. We must commit to looking for ways to continue the conversation in our own congregations and communities."
            "But it's not going to work if we don't, if you don't, if all of us don't see that we are inextricably bound to each other, and as Paul says, 'When one member suffers, all suffer and when one rejoices, all rejoice.' When we can see that our story is the same and intertwined with everyone else's story, and, more to the point, that it's God story for us, then I think we might see not only the urgency but the beauty and holiness of this moment in time," she said.
            "Why can't the ELCA be the church that models for the rest of this country what it means to have these difficult conversations?" Eaton asked. "And trusting in our baptism, also believe and understand that we will never be snatched from Christ's hand. I challenge us to do that."
            The webcast and resources about this church's ongoing racial justice work are available at ELCA.org/webcast.

By Rev. David Rommereim

This week we, the Lutheran communion, celebrate the Reformation. Four-Hundred-Ninety-Eight Years ago the church was confronted by a reforming priest named, Martin Luther. He wanted the church and her people to become biblically literate. He wanted all people to align with G*d's Salvation History. He knew the established church must never accept payment for forgiveness (indulgences). He knew the teachings of Jesus and the radical nature of the Gospel were at stake in a property rich and fiscally hoarding church hierarchy.

We work in and through a church which has borrowed the name of Martin Luther, thus we are called "Lutherans."  It is through that name that we have worked with, prayed for, and created healing ministries over the last 498 years. Martin and his colleagues opened the doors of the church. They should never be closed again.

At Good Shepherd we continue to insist on being a reforming community of faith. That begins with keeping our doors open both physically and theologically. There are no sacred cows in the church.

One of the passages for Sunday's Reformation Worship comes from the poet/prophet Jeremiah. This Sunday one of our newest members, Leo, will read the lessons for the first time in his Chinese inflected English. Leo will read what Jeremiah says in Chapter 31:31: "I [Yahweh) make a new promise with 'the people of faith'. It will not be like the promise that I made with their ancestors. ... But this is the promised covenant I make now. I will put the Torah within them and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Jeremiah had a 40 year career in the destroyed city of Jerusalem. It looked like the South Bronx during the 1970s and 80s. All the wealthy had moved from Jerusalem to Babylon (modern day Iraq).  Jeremiah remained and ministered in a city full of poverty. There was no quality education and residents were oppressed by the upper 1% wealthy. Yet, Jeremiah knew in his soul (nephesh) that when speaking through G*d's Name only, doors opened toward hope.

During the early 1500s Martin Luther and his colleagues sought to reform the calcified church. It was named "the Reformation." We also borrowed Luther's name to build a church honoring the trajectory of the radical gospel of Jesus known through the study of scripture. We named this church, Luther(an), such as, Good Shepherd Lutheran, Salam Lutheran, Bethlehem Lutheran, Our Savior's Lutheran, etc.  Even though Pastor Luther did not want his name used as the name of this church, it stuck. From that tradition we have a responsibility to live with the theology that is continually reforming. We are reformation history.

A good example of this reforming effort is seen in the way we worship and teach our children. Our community worship is historic. However, it is best understood as deep time memory that lives in the present hearts and souls of a new emerging congregation. The beauty of Good Shepherd Lutheran church is that we have become a radical hub for diverse expressions of ministry. On any given Sunday, "Some of us believe all the time, some of us believe some of the time, some of us believe none of the time." I am fully aware that each person is seeking to learn, mature, and grow in faith, one day at a time.

As a reforming congregation it is also vital to remember that we train students in the faith not to make them robots of the church (such as the older of us grew up with.) We train our children in a church that lives in their world. Kids are not only the future, they are the present!

Likewise we are a church with older adults who are near the end of their lives. We are a church that walks with them in these changing times. We hold their hands in prayer. A few of them continue to study scripture weekly with me as they want to keep their minds active and their souls nurtured by the sacred text. I encourage their stories before it is too late.

In today's ministry among the Lutheran faithful the fact of climate change is asking us to remember that our historic scripture has been calling us to care for the planet since it was written. But we have been preoccupied with ourselves and forgotten to care for the earth, though in our sacred book, the psalmist continually declares: "The heavens declare the glory of God."

What is at stake for Reformation Lutherans today? We can only be theologically pure if and when we take our children's, children's, children's future seriously. We need a theology in a new key. Can we become biblically informed again, as we interact with a reformation that is less pietistic and more eager to reconcile with the people of faith, so that the earth may be restored and maintained with dignity. Ultimately this ministry is not done in Martin Luther's name but rather, in G*d's name. We must learn how to act through that name now more than ever.

The world we have offered our children is a world which will demand a new key to thinking about G*d, the church, society, and sacred scripture. The theology of a new key will be based on a reciprocal covenant.

G*d has provided a commanding promise (Jeremiah 31:31ff, Romans 5:1, and John 3:16). Now, in 2015, it is time to pay back that covenant with our own reciprocity.  Human life on G*d's earth is at stake. Our children need our promise that we will live in the covenant as a model of practicing our faith in a new key with G*d's planet earth as our stewardship.

Simone Weil (1901-1943)

"There is a reality outside the world, that is to say, outside space and time, outside man’s mental universe, outside any sphere whatsoever that is accessible to human faculties.
Corresponding to this reality, at the center of the human heart, is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased by any object in this world. …
Just as the reality of this world is the sole foundation of facts, so that other reality is the sole foundation of good.
That reality is the unique source of all the good that can exist in this world: that is to say, all beauty, all truth, all justice, all legitimacy, all order, and all human behavior that is mindful of obligations….
Although it is beyond the ready of any human faculties, man has the power of turning his attention and love towards it.
Nothing can ever justify the assumption that any man, whoever he may be, has been deprived of this power.
It is a power which is only real in this world in so far as it is exercised. The sole condition for exercising it is consent.…
The combination of these two facts~the longing in the depth of the heart for absolute good, and the power, though only latent, of  directing attention and love to a reality beyond the world and of receiving good from it~constitutes a link which attaches every man without exception to that other reality.
Whoever recognizes that reality recognizes also that link. Because of it, he holds every human being without any exception as something sacred to which he is bound to show respect."

(From: “Two Moral Essays” (written as part of her work for the De Gaulle government in exile when Germany occupied France in the early 1940s.) Quoted in Earth Honoring Faith, Dr. Larry Rasmussen, 2013.)

Posted above are thoughts from Simone Weil, written in 1942 occupied France. Encountering them one finds out she is writing on behalf of the exiled De Gaulle government during barbaric WWII. She says, There is a reality outside the world, that is today, outside space and time, outside man’s mental universe, outside any sphere whatsoever that is accessible to human faculties.

One could dismiss her as a contrarian mystic. You may think she is inviting us into a yearning far beyond scientific reality. Or, she may be what some say, “So heavenly minded and no earthly good.”

Listening to her writing some may jump to the conclusion she is speaking of angels, or divine majesty. One may be reminded of the rhetoric of church leaders who told us that God was ‘up there’ looking down on us, and ‘mad-as-hell.’  We are to fear him (always masculine). They told us that God seeks to unveil the mysteries by some fantastic eschatological or apocalyptic event. God will come down to fix the troubled world. We used to call that divine action, end times. Literally the word used for the end is “apocalypse.” It means unveiling.

Rather than a television version of apocalypse now in computerized technicolor, we could begin to think of the end as an unveiling, or a revealing of the end of the capacity of divine earth to feed humankind. It could be the end of humankind other than the end of the world as it is. In the ending process humankind has been able to take along thousands of species in some sort of revolutionized premature extinction. The Monarch butterfly is a species I’m rooting for. They are down by 75%. The present “end times” for most species is unveiled in the present catastrophe of 2 to 5 degrees of warming.

As Simone writes in the 1940's, she appears to lean into the thoughts that there is a reality outside the world making the humans of this known world restless. Could it be that my personal confidence in this world is jeopardized, therefore I lean toward another realm? Could it be that I am losing control of my known world, its special neighborhood? Could it be that there is a Divine power also restless to return to the original configuration of the created order; beauty, equity, justice, and shalom? Could it be we need to return to a biodegradable and continuously resurrecting biosphere, rather than a world riddled with plastic? Will the unveiling be a violent overthrow of the present regimes? Who will be “left behind?” Or is this simply an anthropocentric model of thinking from a species who plays and pretends to be as important as God?

We often think some other power is going to remedy the situation by getting rid of all the bad. It appears, as Simone Weil writes in the early 40's, that the polarization of good and evil often come to the same unveiling through opposing positions. Nazism and its learned Arian model of control sought to remove evil through what turned out to be a personification of evil. Likewise the West sought with the rhetoric of good, to rid evil from the European hemisphere through partnering with evil through the use of armaments all the way to the first use of the atomic threat on two lovely towns in Japan.

Today, America has become a nations of mass incarceration. Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary of the Chicago-based Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, is a leading voice of the faith community calling for an end to mass incarceration. She calls this a “nation in chains.” Where the U.S. incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation on earth. Getting rid of evil is to 'lock ‘em up and throw away the key.' Today our private prisons have developed a tax based income to the tune of $65,000-$75,000 per year per inmate. It has become profitable to fight evil by chaining persons to long term sentences without rehabilitation.

We tend to name that battle with evil as God. That same God we have trusted through a panoply of nicknames (Elohim, Adonai, YHWH, Alla, El, Lord God, etc.). A little less than two millennia ago the community known as the desert fathers lived in isolation and solitude; prayer, contemplation and a new Torah (instruction) focused and Christo-centric faith, working toward building a beloved community. The word they used for sin was not some pejorative moral incursion sentencing you to a life of solitary confinement. It was not a punitive culture (like ours). It did not blame nor shame residents for their wrong-doings. It simply spoke about doing wrong as harming the “beloved community” (Psalm 133). They simply tried to keep from “bad.” That is, bad talk, bad actions, bad.

The story of the Desert Fathers is similar to the second story of creation in Genesis (Bere’shit) 2: 4-25. The story of The Garden takes place when Adonai frees Adam (ish) and Eve (ishshah) from the interior of the garden due to their reluctance to maintain the status quo of their responsibilities (Genesis 2.23). Once they broke their promise that they would not eat from the tree of knowledge, in the process of accountability and renewal Adonai (YHWH-God) set them free from the obligation and set them apart to rely on their own ingenuity of connecting with the sublime encounter and the other, the mystery (Genesis 3.1-19).

In other words they were “on their own to negotiate the ways and means of living in the abundance of God’s creation. They have to set out on either own, without daddy always making sure all is well. They were in the dangerous realm of responsibility. What they did from here on out was not calculated and sure." They entered the realm of what I call the “ministry, the theology, of "perhaps."”

"Perhaps" is when  you and I set out on our own. We may find food and water to sustain our family. Perhaps Adonai (God) is with us. But faith refers not to certainty. Faith refers to the great “Perhaps.” You and I believe in the God of Perhaps. The God that insists on our faithfulness and spiritually enlightened behavior. We believe in this God. This God always surprises us with a new encounter with the challenge to faithful living.

Yet, perhaps we act like we don’t have faith. So far God has provided for us; every 'jot and tittle.'  But, after our mechanistic endeavors for the last 4 to 5 hundred hears of human exploitation and enlightenment, we are not sure. We have sought to eat up the world.  Is it because we worry about our comfort? Or, perhaps we actually believe the faith in the holy mystery cannot make us any more comfortable? Air conditioners on a hot day can do that. God can’t. Perhaps, this was their conversation as they entered the fullness of created order. Perhaps “all that is solid melts into air” and we are left with simply and exponentially, our faith. Faith in the God that accompanies and does not control. Faith in the God that breathes into the empty space and does not inhale our mistakes.

Ms. Weil goes on to suggest something beyond my own discomfort, or the discomfort caused by the rhetoric of bible thumping preachers. She suggests a deep dive into good. She writes, "The combination of these two facts~the longing in the depth of the heart for absolute good, and the power, though only latent, of directing attention and love to a reality beyond the world and of receiving good from it~constitutes a link which attaches every man without exception to that other reality. Whoever recognizes the reality of the good is engaged with the link."  Because of it, she holds every human being without any exception as something sacred to which she is bound to show respect. Needless to say that link provides an inhuman enterprise that calls sacred all that is not human. This the deep dive into good.

Through the stories of God expressed through the Semitic peoples 2 to 5 millennia ago, along with those stories of beginnings from many parts of the earth, we hear about the subliminal exchange with the other. Dr. Ulinov calls that the wisdom of the other… or, “other-wise.” Cute but true. Such an exchange with the wisdom of the other is always good. It is always loving. It is always a test of whether the faithful could perfect hospitality with the stranger.

Once we acknowledge the fact that humankind has consumed and controlled the earth's fabric of nutritional gravity, we quickly turn to that which is causing the plunge into end times, or the plunge into a limited future.

Lately I turn to historic genius to teach me how to live through these circumstances. I see this conundrum of evil and good, through the lens of a 1920 scholar, intellect, and spiritual mystic, W. E. B. Du Bois. He wrote in Darkwater: 'Voices from Within the Veil', published after being censored for 10 years from a frightened academy. The thoughts are printed on the second column on page two of this essay. He says, With Negro and Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in colored men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then the destinies of this world will rest ultimately in the hands of darker nations. 

In today’s language we speak of Dark Bodies, Brown Bodies, Yellow Bodies. For my sensibilities, both spiritually and politically, the wisdom of W.E.B Du Bois is clear and resolute. The lives of those who have been kept in a veil through economic exploitation and manipulation are the very lives who will save humankind from this catalytic catastrophe.

In my community the little children are noticing that there is talk of a “Race War.” Two have spoken about this specifically in the public conversation of our Sunday Worship. It is a frightening topic. It is highly volatile. And it is a topic that should never be dis-acknowledged by saying to a child, “Oh, don’t worry my child, everything is going to be OK.” Rather, it is worth worrying about. Public life can go good and bad. People of faith always pray and work toward the good.

Through the child’s inquiry the adult in the room must discuss and act out the full extent of that it means to be a human being today. We must also acknowledge our human obligations.

To be human first means we must be honest about place. The land we borrow to consume. The land we are asked to till and nurture. We are informed through interaction with the full garden (an Eden conscience) that God has shaped. Without that place as a beginning point we will quickly find our pocketbooks making the decision by going shopping. We will then be faced with the decision, ethical and moral decision, of what we purchase or refuse to purchase. This is the most remedial challenge for every consuming American. Each of us must remember that our food travels more than all the jet setters put together. My morning banana has traveled at least 3 K miles to get to my stomach. Love the fact that it is a convenient way to receive the potassium I need from day to day. But I get this 365 days a year. When out of season they come to my breakfast table from farther out. That is a simple banana.

Second, we must observe our obligations. What W. E. B.  Du Bois reminds us even today is that the whole of the earth is divine, not for those who can pay for it and privatize it. This is our most obligatory mandate for the last century. How we manage the wealth is the survival of life or the extinction of life, as we know it. Without it we all die and the earth remains injured. Sure it will take a long time to remove humankind. And we will take along with us many species in our reckoning. But the damage will be painful and irreconcilable.

We will contribute to the demise by sophisticated drone wars and poverty belts subsuming lives and killing folks through hoarding resources. A few have perfected hoarding. Each of us is good at it. So the end of humankind will take some time, but without our obligations we will enhance the process. As a white man, a Christian leader, and a pastor, it is important for me to come to terms with and be clear that I have received benefits Dark Bodies have not. Once I do that I begin to reconcile and place myself before the living God that stands for no nonsense, no bitterness, no deceit. This is the God of truth and we are expected to be free with it. 

Perhaps even the ‘canoeing in the fog’ photo that my friend, Dr. Arne, took of my son and myself can represent the holy mystery of the great emergence of the recovery of race, nationality and humanity, and the species' among which we live. We may not see beyond the fog but we know we must row into it with confidence. It is at that point we are obligated - when we do the deep dive into the good.

I remain,

Rev. David H. Rommereim