Pope Leo: 'I cannot be in favor of war,' talks migration, same-sex blessings, in press conference 23APR26

 

I am not a Catholic but I am a Christian and I appreciate Pope Leo XIV's commitment to our shared faith and his dedication to living our faith as a testimony and a teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I also appreciate his commitment to drawing Christian faiths together in peace and love as well as recognition of our different practices and beliefs. I am thankful Pope Leo is continuing the good work of Pope Francis and I hope and pray God will continue to bless and guide Pope Leo's papacy. This from National Catholic Reporter

Pope Leo: 'I cannot be in favor of war,' talks migration, same-sex blessings, in press conference

by Justin McLellan

Vatican Correspondent

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Aboard the papal plane — April 23, 2026

"As a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war," Pope Leo XIV said about the war in Iran during his airborne press conference upon his return trip to Rome. "If there is regime change or no regime change, the question is how to promote the values in which we believe without the death of so many innocent people." 

Flying high over the Sahara Desert after leaving Equatorial Guinea, Leo once again expressed his concern over the war in Iran, a position which garnered a vociferous social media attack from President Donald Trump at the outset of his trip through Africa 11 days ago. 

Returning to Rome on April 23, the pope took questions from journalists in the traditional post-trip, in-flight press conference on topics of war, migration, same-sex blessings and the nature of his visits with the authoritarian leaders throughout Africa. 

On the negotiations around the war in Iran, he said that Iran's innocent civilian population must be kept in mind and that the stop-and-start peace negotiations between Iran and the United States "has created this chaotic situation for the global economy."

The pope called for the warring parties to "make every effort to promote peace" and to respect international law. 

"It is very important that the innocent may be protected, which has not been the case in many places," he said, before continuing to reveal a personal anecdote. 

The pope shared that he carries with him a photo of a Muslim boy holding a sign that reads "Welcome Pope Leo," taken during his December trip to Lebanon. He said that the boy was recently killed during the war, without specifying at what stage of the fighting or by which side. 

The pope was asked directly if he condemns the Iranian regime, which has been accused of carrying out executions against prisoners and violently cracking down on protests that began in February. 

"When a regime, when a country, takes decisions which takes away the lives of people unjustly then obviously that is something that should be condemned," the pope said, without explicitly naming Iran. "I condemn all actions that are unjust. I condemn the taking of people's lives. I condemn capital punishment."

Ahead of his June 6-12 trip to Spain where he will visit the Canary Islands, a migrant hotspot for African migrants entering Europe, Leo said that while borders should exist, the developed world must assist the Global South to support and receive migrants.

"I personally believe a state has a right to set rules at its borders. I am not saying that all must enter as if without order, sometimes creating more unjust situations where they arrive than those that they had left," he said. "But in saying this, I ask what we do in richer countries to change the situation in poorer countries," suggesting that governments and corporations help underdeveloped nations to reduce the need to emigrate. 

Leo added that even if a country has no capacity for migrants, they must be treated "in a humanitarian way" and not "worse than house pets, animals, et cetera." 

"When people arrive they are human beings and deserve the respect that every human being deserves," he said. 

Related: Asked about same-sex blessings, Leo says other issues will take priority

Although the pope has not taken a strong public position on same-sex blessings within the Catholic Church, he was asked about the decision of Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising to issue in his diocese a guide for blessings of people in relationships outside of sacramental marriage, which includes same-sex couples.

"I think it's very important that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters," Leo said, since issues of justice, equality and freedom of people and religion "would all take priority before that particular issue." 

That said, Leo noted that the Vatican has already spoken to the German bishops to make clear its disagreement with the formalized blessing of same-sex couples "beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying that all people receive blessings." 

A 2023 document approved by Leo's predecessor made explicit that "couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples" may receive an informal blessing from a priest, but without a formalized type of ceremony comparable to sacramental marriage.

"To go beyond that today, I think that the topic can cause more disunity than unity," Leo said. "We should look for ways to build our unity on Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ teaches."

Leo was also asked about whether his tour through Africa, in which he traveled to four nations considered to be authoritarian, would legitimize the rule of their leaders. "We are actually trying to find a way to apply the Gospel to concrete situations so that the lives of people can be improved," he said. 

"We don't always make great proclamations, criticizing, judging or condemning, but there's an awful lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to promote justice, to promote humanitarian causes, to look for at times situations where there may be political prisoners and finding ways for them to be freed," the pope continued. 

After Leo's trip was initially overshadowed by the virtual invective spewed at him by President Donald Trump, and his subsequent response that he had "no fear of the Trump administration," the pope told reporters before answering questions that the purpose of his apostolic voyages is "to meet, accompany, to know the people of God," even though "many times the interest is rather political." 

"I have talked about justice, and there are issues there, but that is not the first word," he said. "The trip is to be interpreted above all as an expression of wanting to announce the Gospel." After the pope decried the state of the world "ravaged by a handful of tyrants" in northwestern Cameroon, he told journalists that his message was not directed toward Trump despite much media coverage framing his words as such. 

The moment marked a rare instance of a pope weighing in on his own depiction in the media, and by presenting the motive for his trip on his return flight in an unprompted move Leo showed once again that he is willing to intervene in the narrative around his pontificate.

"It is true that many times it is necessary to make comments, or look to how to encourage the people themselves to assume responsibility for their lives," Leo told journalists at the outset of his flight before taking questions. "The trip is to be interpreted above all as an expression of wanting to announce the Gospel, of proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ, which is a way of being close to people in their happiness, in the depth of their faith, but also in their suffering."

The National Catholic Reporter's Rome Bureau is made possible in part by the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath.

Read this next: As Pope Leo leaves Africa, nuns say harder task begins: Turning his message into reality

This story appears in the Leo XIV in North and Central Africa feature series. View the full series.

Andrew Wilkes Is Convinced That the Gospel and Socialism Go Together 26NOV24

 

WHEN I turned 18 and registered to vote in Pennsylvania I registered as a Socialist, not just because I was against the military-industrial complex, war and American imperialism. I registered as a Socialist because of my faith. I was confirmed in the United Methodist Church and believed (and still do) in the teachings of Jesus Christ and was and am still inspired by the Beatitudes. I think the Beatitudes are the inspiration for secularism's attempts to address the inequalities in income, housing, education, health care, nutrition, child care and whatever other obstacles cause harm to others in our communities. The gop / greed over people-republican party never was and is not interested in the teachings of Jesus, and the Democratic party never agreed and will never agree to totally implementing the teachings of Jesus to guide their governing. I am still a Christian and a Socialist though I am a registered Democrat just so I can more fully participate in the democratic process of our political system. This from Sojourners......

Andrew Wilkes Is Convinced That the Gospel and Socialism Go Together

Josiah R. Daniels

Josiah R. Daniels is senior associate opinion editor at sojo.net.

This interview is part of The Reconstruct, a weekly newsletter from Sojourners. In a world where so much needs to change, Mitchell Atencio and Josiah R. Daniels interview people who have faith in a new future and are working toward repair. Subscribe here.

26 November 2024

Back when X was called Twitter, and back when I had social media, I met Andrew Wilkes. I had read some of Wilkes’ writings on Black radicalism and capitalism, and immediately decided he was someone worth following. Not only was he writing on topics that occupied a major preoccupation of my own, but he was also a Black Christian.

While I think it is largely a myth that leftist politics is primarily a “white space” (whatever that means), I think it’s fair to say that Black Christian leftists are a rarity. So when I discovered Wilkes, I made a commitment to follow his work.

Far from being some theorist in an ebony tower, Wilkes is both a thinker and a doer. Wilkes recently completed his doctorate in political science at The City University of New York; he co-pastors the Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn with his wife, Rev. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes; he has written one book with Rev. Cudjoe-Wilkes about Psalms for Black Lives; and he’s written another book about how Black radicals can help us imagine an economy outside of a scarcity mindset.

Wilkes is the co-chair of the board for the Institute for Christian Socialism, an organization committed to awakening “among followers of Jesus an awareness of and commitment to the socialism that is inherent to the Gospel.” I first heard of ICS and its publishing outlet, The Bias, after interacting with Wilkes on Twitter. In fact, I even became a dues-paying member and participated in a 2022 base society — which was ostensibly a small group dedicated to reading leftist Christian literature. However, due to a lack of transparency around organizational changes, I ended up suspending my membership. I spoke with Wilkes about this and asked what ICS has done to improve transparency with its members.

In my conversation with Wilkes, we talked about the 2024 election, the difficulties in organizing the Christian left, and his new book, Plenty Good Room.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Josiah R. Daniels, Sojourners: Who are you and what do you do?

Andrew Wilkes: I describe myself as a pastor, as a political scientist, as a writer, and as someone who tries to bring a bit of a contemplative spirit to both of those things.

And I think the hunger for love, for justice, [wondering] how else could we organize society ... is connected to the question of peace and calm in one’s interior life. And when you have regimes of austerity and injustice, it disfigures us on the inside as well as globally.

Tell me about your book, Plenty Good Room.

Plenty Good Room is grounded in the Black church tradition and a saying [that can be interpreted] in two ways: There’s “plenty of good room for all at the foot of the cross” and there’s “plenty of good room for all in God’s kin-dom.”

What I’m particularly pushing against in the book is scarcity. I’m attempting to push back against scarcity and austerity not only in our politics and economics but also within social justice communities.

I’m trying to make the case for what solidarity economics at scale looks like while being in deep conversation with the Black radical tradition.

Say a bit more about what you mean when it comes to a scarcity mindset in social justice communities.

In some social justice and “beloved community” spaces we miss that sense of having a deep emphasis on universal basic income, federal job guarantees, and public banks. These are not things that are supplemental or nice to have, they should be at the core of what we’re praying for and pushing for.

So, sometimes social justice movements simply settle for what’s possible?

I think that’s very much it. And, when we talk about a vision of public health and a “cooperative commonwealth,” as W.E.B. Du Bois called it, it points us in the direction of what’s doable and what’s desirable.

We should be pushing the horizon of what collective action is actually trying to accomplish. If you had the resources, if you had the numbers behind you, what would you do with them? I think that helps us to articulate a more compelling narrative.

[For example], if the goal is simply kinder, gentler policing and not public health, then we end up making concessions and missing the connections between the carceral impulse not only in neighborhoods but in schools and on college campuses and in foreign policy. Whereas, if something like public health or cooperative commonwealth and a robust sense of abundant life is the kind of benchmark against which we’re assessing policy and politics, I think it helps us to see what we’re after in a much more humane register.

Tell me about the Double Love Experience Church, which you co-pastor with your wife, Rev. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes. Why are you still committed to church?

The church is in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. [We are a part of the] Progressive National Baptist Convention — [Martin Luther King Jr.’s] denomination. So the PNBC, at its best, has this legacy of braiding social justice and the “religion of Jesus,” as Howard Thurman would put it. But the other interesting thing is that our church is housed in Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, known locally as “Restoration Plaza.” Which is, by some accounts, the nation’s first community development corporation.

[The plaza] exists because the Community Coordinating Council got together with then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and there was a bit of pushing and pulling, but ultimately it continues to be something that makes a huge difference in the community. [In 1966, Kennedy toured Bedford-Stuyvesant with community leaders who criticized the senator about speeches and empty promises. This inspired Kennedy to work together with activists and local politicians to launch a development plan for the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood that would combine “the best of community action with the best of the private enterprise system.”]

For instance, during the week the Brooklyn NAACP meets in the same place where we meet for worship on Sundays. The National Council of Negro Women meets in the same multipurpose room. And we’ve had the Brooklyn NAACP president join us for worship and talk about some of that work. And so the notion of weaving together all of these different organizations is what Gabby and I, along with our congregation, are really excited about trying to curate and bring forth in the world.

I think co-pastoring speaks to possibilities of interpersonal power sharing and deliberation. It’s not concentrating on any one figure. I think seeing shared stewardship of decision making points to a different way to organize church.

I think the peace traditions of the church are, for me, what makes the church radical. Not simply peace as in the absence of military violence and police violence, but peace in the sense of relations that do away with predation and allow for a kind of unusual belonging — we see this in the lion laying down with the lamb.

Predation is something we need to get beyond. We need to move toward a space of belonging and interdependence. This is a thicker vision of peace that underpins the push in our politics and economics and even intimate friendships and partner relationships. For me the urge toward peace and the end of predation is what excites me about pastoring.

What do you think about the suggestion that people voted for Trump because of economic anxieties?

I’d approach it this way: The idea that people voted for Trump because of inflation concerns — the price of milk, eggs, housing, gas — I think that’s partly right. I think the post-election call is for class plus [identity] politics and class plus faith.

Some have pushed back saying, “We need to talk about class and not identity politics,” but that misses the opportunity. Class shouldn’t be something that we separate and divorce from the rest of our lived experiences; [it is] very much at the center of the multiple dimensions that shape who we are and how we show up together and hopefully achieve something like solidarity.

Tell me about the Institute for Christian Socialism. How do you organize the Christian Left?

I think the ICS takes the connection between Jesus and Mary’s vision very seriously. Jesus tells us that the gospel is about good news to the poor and announcing the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor.

But Jesus gets this from his mother. Mary’s Magnificat talks about, “The mighty being dethroned,” “those who are made to be lowly and humble are exalted,” “the rich are sent away empty,” and “the hungry are filled with good things.”

I think those two points of inspiration are the counterpoint to racial capitalism and imperial ways of organizing society, and so I think socialism is a much better approximation of the kin-dom of God than capitalism. We are trying to put that point squarely before folks through [our online magazine] The Bias, through base societies, and small groups where people come together and explore what community, identity, and story look like beyond some of the handed-down scripts of Christianity. I think ICS, along with many other organizations that are already doing this work, are pointing to a different way of imagining Christian presence on the Left. I see folks moving beyond individual pockets of discontent and disillusionment to build something together.

But I think it’s an uphill battle in the U.S. and abroad for folks trying to organize for a more equitable, just, and inclusive way of organizing our politics and economics. How do we deal with dissent and dissonance in a way that honors people’s humanity while also trying to push the ball forward for the liberation of the world?

Full disclosure: I participated in the base societies when they first launched and then there was a bit of organizational upheaval that ensued, and I was dissatisfied with ICS’ lack of transparency. How has ICS worked to become more transparent?

We had a series of forthright conversations with folks through Discord and other means about some of the challenges that ICS was going through.

I think we’ve emerged from those challenges over the past 12-16 months. You are not the only one who has shared that concern. It took conversations with the board and members to figure out how to build deeper trust.

How can we build a deeper base of decision making together? I certainly wouldn’t suggest it’s something that has reached a perfect place, but I think we have made some strong strides and have had multiple rounds of frank conversations that were really key to repairing trust. This has been an explicit step to remove some of what may have been experienced as asymmetry or non-transparency.

What do you do with the mad you feel?

I think the arts provide a space to feel through the things that can’t be talked through. I think there’s a point in which arguments and movements, if they don’t turn to the arts, if they don’t turn to freedom dreams, then we miss the opportunity to speak to right and left brains, to the entirety of our individuality, and our fullest selves.

For me, a song that has always been embedded in my memory is a song from Solange and Lil Wayne called “Mad.” And [the interlude is] Solange’s father talking about all of the racism that he experienced early in his life and how he just was eaten up in some ways by the mad that he felt. And Solange talks about how you “have the right to be mad.”

Some of it is just knowing that someone experienced anger like I did for similar sorts of reasons. Some of it is allowing the music to soothe me, to calm me, to relax me. Some of it is I think anger — rage — is informative. Audre Lorde talks a lot about that.

But also I think anger or rage clarifies, motivates, and keeps me in touch with the very human sense of the work. The first eulogy I did was for a 20-something who passed not because the Lord called him home but because of an inequitable health care system where he couldn’t afford insurance. That made me incredibly upset. Still does. So some of the mad I feel helps to foster the push for a more beautiful, more just, more fair society.

Jesus Didn’t Tell Caesar What To Do? The Religious Right’s Most Confusing Claim 1MAR18

ANOTHER attack on Christianity in America, this one carried out by jerry falwell jr in defense of the gospel of greed and the alt jesus the evangelical right wing worships. falwell's tweet should be condemned as apostasy, he is attempting to justify christian sharia law being imposed on the nation while rejecting the teachings of Jesus Christ in Matthew 25. Christ himself warned of false prophets Matthew 24:4-5  "4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Take heed that no man deceive you.  5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.' " So a clearer rendering of what Jesus meant in Matthew 24:4-5 would be: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many shall come claiming to represent Me, saying that I [Jesus] am the Christ, yet shall deceive many.” That is, they would proclaim Jesus as the biblical Messiah and would claim to be His representatives—but they actually would be part of a massive religious deception.  This from Benjamin L Cory / Formerly Fundie and there is much more on religion in America here......

Jesus Didn’t Tell Caesar What To Do? The Religious Right’s Most Confusing Claim

 March 1, 2018 by Benjamin L. Corey

“Jesus never told Caesar what to do” is the confusing new battle cry of some leaders among the Religious Right.

While there’s plenty of things my former tribe have said and done over the years that have left me scratching my head, nothing is more confusing to me than their use of this claim:

image: http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/sites/385/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-01-at-10.19.28-AM.jpg

Saying “Jesus never told Caesar what to do” is a way of stating the correct claim that Jesus never told the formal government how to operate.

That’s entirely true, but for a few reasons not germane to this post. This point on Jesus and Caesar does get used in Christian circles from time to time, but it’s typically an argument that’s used by my fellow Anabaptists as a partial reason for why some Christians don’t believe in voting or participation in government at all. It could also be used to support an argument if one wanted to claim that we should refrain from imposing Christian values or principles on government entirely, but those are the only two possible uses for this term I can come up with.

But for a Religious Right leader to use this argument to support their position that some biblical principles need not apply to government because “Jesus didn’t tell Caesar what to do?” The premise itself is a living contradiction to the entire purpose of the Religious Right.

Day in and day out, the religious right tells us that our nation needs to turn to God—not just individually, but corporately. We are told that we need “Godly leaders” who will stand on “God’s word.” When choosing between two candidates, we’re always told to vote for whoever is committed to running the country on “biblical principles”.

In fact, even the entire past presidential election was based on this: the Religious Right’s number one selling point for Trump was convincing people he’d appoint conservative Christian judges who would steer the nation’s laws in a more “biblical” direction.

And those laws that Christians on the right think are unbiblical? They’ll not only condemn them all day long, but the Religious Right as a movement was established for the purpose of changing laws they find unbiblical.

First it was abortion. Then it was same sex marriage. Who knows the next issue they’ll rally around, but the undeniable truth is this: everyone knows the Religious Right is a movement that exists to change or establish laws in accordance with (what they think are) biblical principles.

Folks like Franklin Graham even traveled the country encouraging Christians to run for any elected position they could find, so that Christians could influence government and laws on every level possible.

Let’s put it this way: their entire purpose for existing is to tell Caesar what to do.

So why would someone like Jerry Falwell even use this term?

The key is in context: they use the term when it would come at a cost to them.

They’re fine with telling Caesar what to do when it comes to their favorite issues—because in these cases, what they’re really doing is telling other people what they can or can’t do.

But when it comes to biblical principles about caring for the poor, the sick, and the hungry?

Well all of a sudden when we get to that principle, they realize the same hand that points a finger all day long… now has four pointing right back at them.

And in that case?

Well, all of a sudden “Jesus never told Caesar what to do.”

Dr. Benjamin L. Corey is a two-time graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and holds his doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also the author of the new book, Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith, which is available wherever good books are sold. www.Unafraid-book.com

You can also follow him on Facebook:

5 Ways I'm the Worst at Following Jesus 29DEZ14

I am a sinner and a saint, all people of faith are. And so some judge me as a real sinner and hypocrite and I confess they are right and I am. But I also ask why they are judging me, is it out of love, or self-righteousness or an attempt to justify their decision not to believe? And I also have to ask, do you only see my faults and failings? Don't you ever see my attempts to be good, to practice my faith as God, as Jesus commands? I will try to do better. This from +Sojourners .....

5 Ways I'm the Worst at Following Jesus

by Christian Piatt 12-29-2014 | 4:05pm

As you may know by now, I’m starting a new project in which I try for a year to really, seriously understand what it means to follow Jesus in western, post-industrial 21st century society. What does that look like? Do any of us actually do it? And to what degree, seriously, are we supposed to actually be like Jesus, as opposed to finding our own way to walk a more Christ-like path on our current context?

Wind-up shoes walking. Image courtesy zimmytws/shutterstock.com

My biggest concern at the moment is that though a lot of us claim to “be Christians,” or even to follow Jesus, a lot of us don’t spend much intentional time trying to figure out what that means and what it looks like in daily life. We try not to be too crappy to other people, try not to kill, steal, adulterate (is that even a word?) or worship graven images. We try to love, and to accept love — though we still hurt each other. A lot. The world is messed up and so far from realizing the fully kingdom-inspired image of wholeness and reconciliation to which God invites us.

And at least in my theological world, that’s on us, not God. I believe, with all of my being, that the audacious vision of God’s kingdom, here and now, isn’t something we sit around and pray for God to make real for us. Like Jesus said, we can (and should) collectively do greater things than even he did. When people experienced healing in his presence, he never said, “Hey, I did that!” Rather, he always told them that it was their own faith that made them well.

That’s pretty amazing to consider. And inspiring. And terrifying.

So here I am, not so much trying to be Jesus, but trying to at least follow his life, teaching, and example better. And in taking my own personal inventory, I can see that I pretty much suck at it. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up, but it’s clear I have plenty of work to do. Here are five examples:

I like stuff. I was raised in culture in which the very economy depended on my affinity for stuff. I mean, what did George W. Bush tell us to do to help us heal from 9/11? Go shopping, of course! I try to break the habit, but dammit if stuff isn’t awesome, shiny, fun, and freaking everywhere. Maybe I need to work the twelve steps for my stuff addiction. Maybe we all do.

I want people to like me. Especially in the public sphere, my career more or less depends on it. I post a new article and watch with either a sense of self-satisfaction or dread as the page-views roll in or stall out at a trickle. I get the sales reports form my publishers and see my own self worth in the midst of the numbers. My ego is so wrapped up in my identity — more specifically, what I do — that it’s hard for me to talk about who I am without jumping to my work.

I’m critical of others. I’m a real pro at finding fault in other people. Some psychologists suggests (and yes, I dropped out of my PhD in psych, thank you) that such a critical view of the outside world is simply an obfuscation to keep us from dealing with our own lingering sense of a lack of worth. But the thing is, I’m onto the fact that, lots of days, I can be a real asshole. Maybe for me, it’s more about assuring myself that everyone else is nearly the same degree of asshole as I am. The thing is, when I lean on this kind of justification, nothing changes. If our sense of worth hinges on comparisons, we’re all screwed.

I let fear dictate my actions. It’s funny to me when people write to me about my writing being vulnerable, brave, or the like, because to me, it’s proof positive that so much of my life is simply about trying to reconcile fear and keep it in some sort of healthy context. By naming it, my hope is that it loses some of its power. But it keeps coming back, and more often than not, it weaves its way into my consciousness like some kind of virus, infecting my judgment and my perspective. If, as Paul notes, we availed ourself to a more perfect love, there would be no room for fear. Clearly got to keep that one on my to-do list.

I’m willful. One of Jesus’ most powerful phrases ever uttered, at least for me, was, “Not my will, but yours, God, be done.” It’s one thing to submit your own will to something bigger than yourself under normal circumstances — it’s entirely another to do it when you’re facing death. It’s not that I think that we’re all called to be martyrs for our faith. Hardly. But if we can’t let go of control and place our own agenda and idea of how things should be in the back seat on the basic, day-to-day stuff, how can we possibly do it when things get really serious? It’s a little trickier for me, since I’m not sure I’m on the “God has a consciousness and will like human beings” train, but I do know, when I take time to contemplate, what is for the Greater Good. And more often than not, I want to get there, but only if I can filter it through my own personal agenda first.

If I achieve nothing more than working intently on these five things in the coming year, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a great deal closer to the Jesus path I’m talking about than I am now. Of course, considering this all is being documented here on a public blog, on our podcast, and ultimately in a book, it may be a bit of a set-up.

Dammit, there I go, putting things through my own personal agenda-filter again. Starting again, again…

Christian Piatt is the creator and editor of BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE and BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT JESUS. He co-created and co-edits the “WTF: Where’s the Faith?” young adult series with Chalice Press, and he has a memoir on faith, family and parenting called PREGMANCY: A Dad, a Little Dude and a Due Date. 

Stop Saying the Church is Dying (a sermon from the Sarcastic Lutheran) 10MAI14

FOR those who worry the Church is dead, and for those who smugly say God is dead, here is a sermon from Rev Nadia Bolz-Weber reenforcing our faith and affirming the Church (and GOD) is alive and well. This was preached at the Rocky Mountain Synod of the ELCA meeting, but it applies to all denominations who are true to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Stop Saying the Church is Dying (a sermon for the Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly)

May 10, 2014 By Nadia Bolz Weber 

Inside a cave church in Cappadocia with Sara Miles.

A week ago I was fortunate enough to be standing near a cliff in Cappadocia, Turkey taking in the view of hundreds of caves carved from volcanic rock in an alien looking valley. My friend Sara asked what I was thinking about. When I confessed that I was worrying about preaching at my Synod’s assembly next week, Sara didn’t hesitate to remind me sarcastically,  “Oh, you mean that little text on how Jesus tells us not to worry?”
So, yeah, nothing like worrying about preaching a sermon on how Jesus says we should not worry to make ya feel like a schmuck.
As today got closer and closer I would tell myself  “don’t worry, just come up with a plan”. I’d read the text, call my preacher friends, pray, repeat. And I am here to say that I did not, by worrying, add a single sentence to my sermon. Not one.
But I did become curious about what worry really is. And I began to realize that, on some level, worry is nothing more than fear.  Fear that either I will not get something I want or fear that something I have will be taken away.  And both of those fears seem to be centered on finitude. The fact that nothing lasts forever.  That everything comes to an end. And Jesus says who by worrying can escape this reality? But also, worry is kind of all about scarcity…. because I don’t know about you, but I have never once worried that I would have more money than I need next month.  I have never once worried that I might be happy and healthy and live a long life.
And we come by this fear honestly in a society in which a perceived state of scarcity is what drives the free market economy.  But I think Jesus points here to a bigger reality than that.  A reality he calls the kingdom of God. A reality he always seems to describe as being like things around us that are common, and small and insignificant and unimpressive.
Which is as good a time as any to talk about the Lutheran church. It’s no news to anyone here that there is a lot of hand-wringing these days about the longevity of the Lutheran church.  And yeah – to be sure, we used to be bigger, more significant and more impressive.  Sure, we used to own more property, have more members, bring in more cash and leverage more power than we do today. It’s hard to argue with numbers. But the thing is, buildings,  numbers, money, power – and other aspects of worldly success may indeed be signs of A kingdom, but brothers and sisters, they are not necessarily signs of THE Kingdom.. I mean, were this denomination of ours a company, then for sure, investors would be scurrying for cover. But, people of God, maybe now is the time for us to take a hard look at the ways in which the church has tended to judge our success on a set of values that perhaps we had no business buying into in the first place.  Namely our society’s free-market corporate American values of what success looks like.
If that is the case, then I repeat – we came by it honestly. Swept up as we were into having banked so much cultural currency in America.  But those days have gone.  They’ve gone.
And so, what are we left with if we are no longer the Lutheran church of 1964?
We in the year of our Lord 2014 have moved our bishop’s office from a fancy office space surrounded by PR firms and media companies in the seat of Denver’s power grid and into a slightly run-down church building in an unimpressive part of town. To some this may a sign that the “church is dying” but to others it is a sign that the church is living. Perhaps our definition of success can shift more toward what is foolishness to the world and yet life to those in Christ. Buildings and budgets and social currency will fall away. But what stands is the kingdom of God. Which Jesus tells us is the Father’s good pleasure to give to us.
Society will still have the Fortune 500 for profits, and non profits for service and day care centers for children and the ELKS Club for socializing and Starbucks for overpriced coffee and many other things we may not ever be. But we should never judge ourselves as the church according to these things because you know what the culture around us will NEVER do? Preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments and proclaim forgiveness of sins. You know why? That’s OUR job.  That’s our main job and while we are free as the church, to participate in any number of other activities in the world that seem bigger and more impressive let’s remember:  We are those who have been, and continue to be, entrusted with nothing less than the Gospel.  And what I’m about to say is a shamelessly prideful (and being shamelessly prideful is, I have been told, “not Lutheran”) but in a world where people are constantly being fed spoonfuls of nonsense and told it is Jesus …we have a better Gospel.
So given what we’ve been entrusted with, we cannot be distracted any longer by a corporate American Empire version of success.
So let me be the first to say, if in your congregation, regardless of size, prestige or property, if the Word is preached and the Eucharist shared and water poured and forgiveness of sins received, then congratulations, your congregation is a success. So when the numbers crunchers and church consultants say the church is dying…may I suggest that we only say this when we forget what the definition of church is.
And when we forgot whose the church is.
Because as the prophet Isaiah said, the Word will do that for which God purposes it and people, regardless of what happens to institutions, and trends and property and budgets…even when the president of the United States stops inviting us to the White House Prayer breakfast – Even if there is never any such things as a White House Prayer breakfast and old church building are more often condos than centers for worship, God will be praised.  God will continue to send for the Word which God has always sent forth.  So let us step back from the worry of how the church is dying, because long after we have gone, the WORD will remain.  Long after the ELCA is gone, even when my beloved House for All Sinners and Saints is gone, the church will not be dead because people will continue to gather in the name of the Triune God, hold up bread, say it is Jesus and that it is for the forgiveness of sins. Just as we will do here tonight so will it forever be done until the time in which we gather around the throne of the Lamb.
But let’s remember this, people of the Rocky Mountain Synod, that the Gospel is not just entrusted to you for you to proclaim, it is, to be sure, also intended for you to hear. So since we Christians are a forgetful people – and need to be reminded of that for which the church was even created in the first place – so…
People of God, do not worry because we have this Word-
That there is a God who created us and all that is, this same God spoke through prophets and poets, claimed a people to be God’s own and freed them from the shackles of slavery. This same God led those people through the wilderness to a land of milk and honey, and told them to always welcome the stranger and protect the foreigner so that they could remember where they came from and what God had done for them. Then in the fullness of time, and to draw ALL people to himself, God came and broke our hearts like only a baby could do and made God’s home in the womb of a fierce young woman as though God was saying, from now on this is how I want to be known. And as Jesus, God the Son kissed lepers and befriended prostitutes and baffled authority. Jesus ate with all the wrong people and on the night before he died, he gathered with his faltering friends for a meal that tasted of freedom. He held up bread and told us to do the same thing and he promised us so much: that he would be with us, that forgiveness is real, that we are God’s, that people matter and that death is done for and that after a tough resurrection, grilled fish makes an awesome breakfast.
Which is to say, God chose to enter the finitude we fear– enter into the uncertainty and danger of mortal human existence in order to point to something bigger.  Bigger than what is fleeting and finite.  In the incarnation God has given us nothing less than a small measure of eternity through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ.  And made us an Easter people – not people who vapidly pretend that everything’s ok – but people who live in the Christ reality of death and resurrection. People who live in the reality of a God who brings live things out of dead things.
I say this as someone who a week ago was hiking in those desolate valleys of Cappadocia, a land that for 1,000 years was populated with Christians and now is not. That is to say, we are not the first group of Christians to worry about the decline of Christianity.
Sara and I would climb up into caves and look around at ceilings filled with Byzantine Christian iconography. A thousand years of Christianity and now only ruins left. Yes, the big, impressive, successful Byzantine Empire fell, and yet the church of Jesus Christ did not die, if it had, how could 2 middle aged women stand in old cave church 600 years later and sing Christos Aneste? Christ is risen. A song that no matter what, will continue to be sung, because worry not, the tomb is empty, and God will be praised. Amen.

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Sermon on Jesus Rolling His Eyes (and also divorce) 16FEB14

FOR those who have suffered at the hands of the Church, from Rev Nadia Bolz Webber.....

Sermon on Jesus Rolling His Eyes (and also divorce)

February 20, 2014 By Nadia Bolz Weber 

2014-02-16 NBW Sermon<—–click here to listen along (sermons are spoken events. So much of the meaning comes from the hearing of it.)
Years ago there was a project undertaken by Bible scholars whereby they were trying to ascertain what was really knowable about Jesus of Nazareth as a historical figure.  The scholars would take the Gospels, verse by verse and vote as to which things they thought Jesus actually said and which they thought were made up later. They wanted to determine the historical accuracy of Jesus’ words and actions. Now, there was more to it and perhaps this is a legitimate academic endeavor –  it’s just not a question I personally find at all interesting.  I could care less what fancy Bible scholars say is more or less historically accurate when it comes to Jesus’ teachings.  What I would be game for, is if scholars started voting on which of Jesus teachings were more or less done with his eyes rolled.  I mean there are just some texts where I feel like I can almost hear the annoyance in his voice.  Like when on the way to Jerusalem, he tells his disciples that he is about to be betrayed and handed over to the authorities, and condemned, beaten and die and then after 3 days rise again and they are like, “so when you come into your kingdom will I be seated at your right hand or will it be Steve?” – you know the guy was like…really?
I mention this because I wonder if this section from the Sermon on the Mount didn’t have an undercurrent of “I can’t believe I even have to say this to you” to it.
But he does.  He does have to say these things to us. Because we, like those who first heard them, are a forgetful people.  We need to hear what it means to uphold the 2 commandments that matter the most:  Love the Lord your God and Love the neighbor as yourself.  Because we so easily get bogged down in details, we can fail to see the big picture.
A couple weeks ago we were studying the 10 commandments in the catechumante class.  The Thou Shalt Nots of the 10 commandments are pretty recognizable to even the least religious among us.  Growing up I was taught that the law – especially the Ten Commandments – are there because they are God’s prescription for our lives.  People would say that the word Bible stood for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Basically the importance of the Bible is that it gives us all the rules we have to keep so that we are right with God.  God gave us these rules (and a bunch of others that the church added along the way) and they are there because God loves you and wants you to be happy.
But now I see it differently. Now I think the law is less about God loves you and wants you to be happy and more about the fact that God loves your neighbor and wants to protect them from you. And God loves and wants to protect you in so far as you are also someone’s neighbor. That is to say, that this strange God we have who created this world, and spoke through fiery prophets and freed a people from slavery and gave them a law and said they were his…this same God who came to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and loved people so completely, this God is strange, but what God is not – is distant.  This God does not create the world, give us some rules and then leave us to it. Because what we see in the teachings and life of Jesus is that people matter. Human relationships matter to God.  The way we are treated matters to God. So some laws are established for that.
But Laws are made for us, not us for laws. That is to say, there is a spirit behind each law that at times trumps it’s letter. I know that may sound like slipping dangerously into moral relativism, but so be it.  Our obsession with moral absolutes comes from clinging to the letter of the law as though it can love us and save us when really that’s what Jesus is for.
And you know who got in trouble, like all the time, for breaking the letter of the law? Jesus. Hey Jesus, your disciples are not washing their hands.  Hey Jesus, why are you eating with sinners? Hey Jesus, we saw you heal a guy and it was the Sabbath. And as we see over and over again, Jesus had no patience for this. The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath, he would say. And that usually shut them up.  You know, until the next time.
All of that is to say that: what Jesus seems to be doing in our text for today is reminding us of the spirit of the law so that we know how to love one another.  That insulting people and being mean to them may not be murder, but it certainly does not uphold their dignity.  And again, Jesus rolls his eyes and is like, “I can’t believe I even have to say this”
What Jesus seems to be doing here is reminding us of the spirit of the law so that we know how to love one another.  That sexting and flirting and lusting over someone who is not our spouse may not be technically committing adultery but it certainly does not uphold our dignity, or that of our spouse or the object of our lust.
Jesus seems to be unfairly raising the bar on us, but in reality he’s just insisting that we not do violence to each other through loopholes. That we not put our relationship with the law above our relationships with our neighbor. And if that seems harsh and unnecessarily strict, know that he says all of this so that violence is not done to you as well. God loves you and wants to protect you.
Which brings us finally to the dreaded divorce text. This week I asked for your stories about how this text has shown up in your lives and on two occasions, the responses caused me to tear up in public, which as I’ve mentioned before is not exactly my favorite thing.
Now, I really try to not yammer on and on about the historical reality in the 1^st century. But what is important to understand is that at the time (if my memory of seminary serves), if a man divorced a woman it was often a death sentence. She relied on him for security and income.  It’s not like today when she could just go back to teaching or work in a shop to make her way.  She often would not be welcome back in her father’s home. So the reality of divorce for many women was that it sentenced them to a life of poverty and possibly begging or prostitution. So for Jesus to say, look, just providing a certificate does not get you off the hook, her dignity needs to be upheld – well, this was a way of saying that God loves you and your spouse and desires that cruelty and violence not be done to either of you. Jesus was wanting to protect women.
So, this week, as I read your stories, stories of being violently yelled at and slapped and choked and having church folk stand over you and say that God loves you only if you stay with the man who does this to you, when I read about another of you being a 24 year old woman who was literally abandoned by your husband and then how your church would no longer give you the Eucharist, when I heard of the shame felt by one of you as a divorced man who felt like he wore a scarlet letter D in church, when I heard of loveless marriages that went on for decades…I thought how the hell is it that the church can manage to take a text meant to protect people and make sure violence is not done to them, and then use this same text to do violence to so many for so long?
I don’t know what to say. I just know that it is real. And if Jesus rolled his eyes when having to re-orient his disciple’s understandings of things, I can only imagine his reaction to what has been done with his teachings about protecting people.
And so tonight, from this pulpit, and under the yoke of this stole and from the office of a clergy person and with whatever authority that still manages to hold in this world… I want to offer an apology. As a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ, please hear me say I am so sorry this happened.  If you are someone who has had violence; emotional, spiritual, physical or otherwise done to them in the name of Jesus Christ (of all names under heaven), if you have been shamed or excluded or denied what is only God’s to give, if you have been made to stay in a situation that denies your humanity or kills your soul because someone said that’s what God wants for you,… on behalf of the church, I apologize.
And let me say this one thing more: We do not serve a distant God, but one who actually cares about how you treat people and how you are treated. People matter. Relationships matter.  The diginity of human beings matters. May the church, of all institutions, uphold this truth and ask forgiveness when we do not.
Amen.

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