Category: Pastor Tim’s Ponderings

Cooperation or Coercion?

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Pastor Tim's PonderingsLeave a comment

Cooperation: an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit; joint action.

Coercion: use of force or intimidation to obtain compliance.

This week I was able to visit the site of Alex Pretti’s killing. With my clerical collar on, several persons came up and just hugged me, too traumatized to barely speak a word.

As I left the mournful scene, I understood that although we were all strangers, we had gathered together for a common purpose, seeking to work with one another for the benefit of justice and peace by means of a collective solidarity of humility and lamentation with a determined non-violent stance.

Right now, Minnesotans have an existential understanding about what it means to cooperate with each other. And they are equally clear about what non-cooperation is.

In recent weeks, in conversing with others not from Minnesota, some of them wrongly place the train of tragic events within the state at the feet of its leadership stating, “If they would just give some cooperation, then these killings and I.C.E. tactics wouldn’t have happened.”

Setting aside for now the bold-faced form of victim-blaming, there is here a very curious use of the word “cooperation.”

In December, when the Director of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, came to the city of St. Paul, she did not come with an attitude or intention of cooperation but of coercion.

The Director unfortunately framed the concept of cooperation not as sitting down with Minnesota leadership as equals, working together and coordinating together in order to handle the “worst of the worst” when it came to immigrants.

Rather, Noem’s idea of cooperation is to have both the leadership and citizens of Minnesota keep out of the way of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and leave them alone. She also made it clear that if anyone got in the way of ICE (which for her meant protesting) there would be consequences.

From the get-go, ICE had a mandate from the government not to cooperate with state and local officials, but to coerce them through whatever force they could leverage in order sweep those state officials aside, and then do whatever they wanted to do to the state’s immigrant population.

It is a sad reality that the present Trump administration seems not to care a wit about cooperation (even though they keep using the word). They evidence not understanding at all what cooperation really is. They’ve intentionally used coercive tactics from the beginning of their entrance to Minneapolis.

The approach of DHS and ICE has nothing to do with cooperation. Cooperation is built on mutual trust, whereas coercion’s base is always a use of raw power. And that what I and the rest of my fellow Minnesota residents are presently experiencing. It is literally impossible for us to cooperate with ICE because they have no concept of the term.

Why am I bringing up all of this? Because ICE and its federal government backing is not only oppressing and abusing power; they are also about as far as one can get from the words and the ways of Jesus Christ.

Interestingly, and sadly, when I mentioned this to a Christian who embraces the Trumpian “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) philosophy, his response was: “Funny you should bring Jesus into this,” as if the Lord Christ whom he claims to serve has nothing to do with any of the things happening to the residents of Minnesota.

Somewhere along the line, this person who confesses the name of Christ bought into the redefinition of the word “cooperation” to such a degree that he allowed Jesus to be purged away along with the state’s immigrant population.

Even the almighty and all-powerful God does not rely upon coercion in dealing with humanity. The Creator God, instead, invites human creatures to participate with him in a divine/human cooperative. There is no arm-twisting, no power plays, no threats. There’s only an invitation of participative commitment to love and good works in the world.

Wherever there is an incongruence between belief and action, and a reliance upon coercive power, there we find in Holy Scripture the encouragement and exhortation toward cooperation.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1-4, NIV)

My experience in the Twin Cities has been, in may ways, difficult because I’ve seen the destructive and damaging power of coercion by the likes of DHS’s Kristi Noem and White House’s Stephen Miller, and ultimately of President Trump.

Yet, on the other hand, I’ve also experienced the beauty of vulnerable humanity coming together in a cooperative spirit of concern and love for one’s neighbor.

If it seems to the President that there is an organized effort in Minnesota with protesters, what he is actually observing is true community and neighborliness – something that, sadly, he nor anyone else on his senior staff seems to  understand nor comprehend.

And that inability to see community when it is front of their faces is perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of all. Because without federal officials seeing this spirit of neighborliness and community cooperation, the hard tactics of ICE will continue, and the violence will not end.

Nobody here in the Cities is going to compromise or stand down from practicing loving cooperative community, nor should they have to.

Real cooperation and true beauty is not found in the halls of power; it is discovered in the places of weakness and powerlessness. And it is in this place of vulnerability that I choose to live and move and have my being in solidarity with the Lord Jesus.

An Open Letter of Encouragement To the Residents of Minneapolis (and Minnesota)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Pastor Tim's Ponderings1 Comment

I am, like you, a resident of Minnesota, specifically of the greater Twin Cities area. I have children, grandchildren, and relatives in the city of Minneapolis. So, I am regularly and often in the city’s neighborhoods. I am existentially involved in what is presently happening to the city with the presence of thousands of Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agents.

I am not someone who is observing from afar. I see you, up close and personal. And I want you to know that I understand and feel your abject fear, but most of all, your incredibly deep sadness at what is happening to you and your neighbors.

Yesterday, when at a healthcare appointment, with tears in my eyes, I bemoaned that, because of my health, I am unable to be with the protesters, providing spiritual care and emotional encouragement as a retired hospital chaplain and church pastor.

Hence, the writing of this letter. It’s my way of doing something, anything, to help in a time of trouble, in which there seems to be no law but the law of forced power and the might of militarized against the un-militarized.

Yet, my most potent form of help, I believe, are my abiding prayers lifted to God on your behalf and for your wellbeing. I know you are suffering, and I suffer with you. Please think of me as someone who is helping to carry your ridiculously heavy load of grief, confusion, and wondering.

I am with you in feeling like your neighborhoods are back in some COVID-style isolation. Communities have become ghost towns with people afraid to go outside for fear of being treated like “garbage” from a “garbage country,” even though many of you are United States citizens born and raised in Minnesota.

I see what the rest of the country and the world may not see: In the face of real oppression and abuse – designed to break your spirits – so many of you have risen to love your neighbors as yourselves.

Churches, faith communities, non-profit organizations, and individuals are providing meals and running errands for those fearful of going outside to likely face people dressed more like terrorists than fellow citizens.

Even you who help are getting stopped by I.C.E. agents and, in many cases, are detained for hours at a time. But you keep going out, nonetheless, because you are determined to do what is needed to achieve justice and mercy.

I see and applaud your efforts at helping each other. I know that you, including me, are a traumatized people, and for good reason. Please keep up your resilience and maintain your perseverance. It shall be rewarded.

Moreover, I also applaud those concerned citizens from neighboring states who have come with their fresh anger, righteous zeal, and words of encouragement, in order to protest with peace and non-violence. My thanks and gratitude to them for interrupting their own lives to be with us.

My friends, don’t give in to the massive gaslighting project that is directed toward you by the current federal government administration. They, along with their militarized lackeys, are trying their best for you to adopt their twisted view of reality.

No matter which way the Director of Homeland Security wants to spin it, a water balloon and a sub sandwich are not threats to body armor and helmets. But the clubs, tear gas, lack of respect, and very real bullets of I.C.E. agents are vital threats against us.

They may be armed with things which can harm the body, but you have spiritual weapons that they neither understand nor can see because of their spiritual blindness.

They’re trying to make you think that there’s something wrong with you when there isn’t. They want to force the view that sheer power is what’s important. But all along you remember, know, and are practicing that the way of love and compassion has more power than any sort of hate and lack of mercy.

In the future, you will be remembered for your steadfastness in showing grace to the weak and powerless, the immigrant and the alien among  you.

No matter who you are – whether white, black, brown, citizen or immigrant, rich or poor – you are all, in my Christian belief, created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore each one of you has inherent worth, and ought to be treated with respect and dignity befitting your status as human beings.

Please also know that I am on my knees in prayer for you each day. I often intercede for you with many of the biblical psalms, because they are prayers meant for us to use as our own. Today I offer Psalm 140. As I pray, I use nouns and pronouns which refer to you and me, as I believe the original psalmist wanted us to do…

Psalm 140

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

Rescue Minneapolis, Lord, from evildoers;
    protect them from the violent,
who devise evil plans in their hearts
    and stir up war every day.
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
    the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep the residents of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and all of Minnesota safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
    protect us from the violent,
    who devise ways to trip our feet.
The arrogant have hidden a snare for us;
    they have spread out the cords of their net
    and have set traps for us along our path.

I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
    Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
    you shield our heads in the day of battle.
Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
    do not let their plans succeed.

Those who surround us proudly rear their heads;
    may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
May burning coals fall on them;
    may they be thrown into the fire,
    into miry pits, never to rise.
May slanderers not be established in the land;
    may disaster hunt down the violent.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy.
Surely the righteous will praise your name,
    and the upright will live in your presence.

May the grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the encouragement of the Spirit be with you all, now and forever. Amen.

Rev. Tim Ehrhardt, MDiv, MA, BCC

Remembering Dr. King

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Pastor Tim's PonderingsLeave a comment

So the angel swung his sickle into the earth, and cut the vineyard of the earth, and he put what he reaped into the great winepress of God’s passionate anger. (Revelation 14:19, Common English Bible)

One of the things to keep in mind about Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr., especially on this day remembering his life and work, is that he was a committed Christian clergyman who had deep theological roots in everything he said and did.

King’s public speeches were filled with biblical allusions to the Old Testament prophets, and the New Testament writers. In his address to the Selma marchers, he said:

“How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?… It will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow… How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

How long? Not long, because: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet! Our God is marching on.”

It seems to me that Dr. King would clearly understand our present moment in the United States of America. Two months before his assassination, King preached to his Atlanta congregation, stating:

“God didn’t call America to do what she’s doing in the world now.”

Dr. King could say that because he knew the keen distinction between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is a critical affirmation of one’s own country with the desire and attempt to help correct it, peacefully and non-violently, when she is in error. Nationalism, however, is an uncritical support of one’s own nation, regardless of any immoral speech or unethical actions in the world.

King was able to hold a fierce patriotic spirit, while at the same time understanding a nationalistic fervor which contradicted true and real patriotism. In his “I Have a Dream” speech of 1963, Dr. King reminded his listeners:

“My dream is deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true mean of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

Along with King’s hopeful patriotism, he expressed the sad reality of what he saw. Speaking a commencement address to Lincoln University students he said:

“Since the founding fathers of our nation dreamed this noble dream, America has been something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against herself.”

Dr. King warned against a selfish and arrogant nationalism that champions one’s country at the expense of the world’s common welfare. He discerned that such narrow self-interest puts morality and ethical principles on the back burner of policy and practice. And once down that road, a nation will not stop “because of our pride and arrogance as a nation.”

A year before his death, King spoke at New York’s Riverside Church and called for “a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation,” insisting that this is “in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men.”

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I choose to remember that King’s words came from a place of scriptural wisdom which was hewn in the crucible of dedicated study, along with decided Christian conviction and practice that placed him in a long tradition of suffering saints who upheld what is most important in this life.

God’s justice for the weak and powerless, and God’s judgment against oppressive abuse, go hand-in-hand. It behooves us all to know which side of God we are really on.

A Psalm of Lament For the Government of the United States of America

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Pastor Tim's PonderingsLeave a comment

Many, if not most, people fail to acknowledge their grief, and therefore fail to lament their significant changes and losses in life.

What’s more, many, if not most, Christians do the same thing because they focus too much upon triumphalism to the exclusion of dealing with suffering. “Just get over it!” is the mantra to themselves and others.

But that is not a biblical approach to change and loss. 62 out of the 150 Psalms in the Old Testament are laments; some are communal, and others are individual expressions of grief.

Even God laments. We must never forget that a major role of God in our own loss is that the Lord grieves and laments along with us.

Keep in mind that grief can attach itself to any significant change or loss; it is the normal emotional, spiritual, physical, and relational reaction to that loss.

Lament is an intentional process of letting go of relationships and dreams, and living into a new identity after the loss or change.

Please know that everyone’s grief is personal; there is no one-size-fits-all. Thus, the following psalm of lament is my own. It is not meant to be a dig on someone else who rejoices in what I happen to lament. It’s just simply my own sadness over the state of affairs in my beloved nation…

O Lord, I’ll get right down to it: Help!

          I have always taken my refuge in You.

Rescue us, the American people;

          free us from the injustice and unrighteousness rampant in our government.

Be a strong rock to which the oppressed may rely upon;

be a place where I may always go.

You, O God, have saved us many times in the past,

          and Your divine providence has guided us, despite our past and many sins.

My God, free the innocent and the poor from the hands of wicked persons,
         from the grasp of the cruel and unjust President of the United States.

For decades, members of both political parties agreed to safely regulate business;

they’ve decided to provide a social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights.

Ideally, the U.S. government has sought to protect every American,

by access to education, healthcare, transportation, communication, employment, and resources.

And elected officials thought primarily of the common good,

so that every American could work hard and prosper.

But what is happening today in the United States,

is the same thing which occurred so long ago in ancient times.

We are in similar situations when the Old Testament prophets called out greed,

          injustice, and abuse in Israel and Judah.

Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel…  

They [the rich and powerful] hate the one who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
Therefore because you trample on the poor
    and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
    and push aside the needy in the gate.

Hate evil and love good,
    and establish justice in the gate. (Amos 5:1, 10-12, 15a, NRSV)

Perhaps because so few persons even read the prophetic books anymore,

our ignorance has allowed evil means and ways to take over the government.

We are in a nation and in a world full of oligarchs,

who care only for their exorbitant wealth, abuse of power, and self-interest.

As for me, I will not amble down the path of injustice,

          but walk the path of light and life.

I will embrace truth and harmony,

          unlike so many Republican politicians and their lackeys.

They say one thing and then do another;

          lies and corruption are on their lips.

If we say we are in harmony with him [God] yet walk a path of darkness,
we are living a lie and not following the truth…
If we say that we have no broken ways,
we are lying to ourselves,
and the truth is not alive in us.

(1 John 1:6, 8, First Nations Version)

I must, I will, view our problems differently,

because You are my hope, O Almighty Lord.

You have been my confidence ever since I was young;
          I depended on You through many hard times.

My songs of praise constantly speak about You,

for You are my strong refuge,

the Rock I have built my life upon.

Therefore, my mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all day long.

I make my appeal to You, merciful God;

          I ask for divine intervention and deliverance,

          from the ignorant and sinister machinations of the U.S. President.

Do not reject us forever, O Lord,

or abandon us whenever we are too weak to carry on.

My political (and spiritual) enemies talk about me behind my back,

and plot their evil schemes to silence the truth.

They say, “God is not with him and his nonsense;

          put him in his place because no one will help him.”

O God, be close to me, and to all who love the truth;

          O Lord, come quickly to my aid.

Let those who traffic in lies come to a shameful end;

          let them be covered with disgrace and humiliation.

As for me, I will always have hope,

          because You are the God of all hope.

I vow to testify when Your righteousness wins the Day;

          I will never cease to praise Your sacred way of life.

Even when I am old and my mind is no longer clear,

          do not abandon me, O God.

Let me continue to tell the people of this age

what Your divine strength has accomplished,

to someday tell about how Your power delivered us from evil leadership.

Your righteousness and justice reaches to the heavens, O God;

You have done great things.

O Lord, who is like You?

          saving the poor from injustice,

          and delivering the oppressed from evil.

We, indeed, are enduring many terrible troubles;

          yet You, God, are expert at restoration, right relations, and harmonious ways.

You are the One who comforts the afflicted,

and the One who afflicts the comfortable.

Because of your faithful and steadfast love, O God,

          I will give thanks to You as long as I live.

As long as I have a mouth to speak,

          I will tell about your righteousness all day long.

Evil will not prevail;

          ungodly leadership shall not endure.

May Your divine and loving ways come to this country, O God,

          and may your moral will be done,

          on this earth, as it is always done in Your heaven. Amen.