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With God On Our Side 090424

My deepest theological roots were watered by the poetry of Bob Dylan. As a youth I spent hours each day in the presence of two-sided LPs by BD, JB, K3, AG, S&G, and PPM. Meanwhile, each unrhythmic Sunday sermon was sort of listened to one time only. Baez’s rendition of Dylan’s song “With God On Our Side” inspired a lifetime of resisting religious justification for the conquest of violent victories. “If God were on our side, he’d stop the next war.”

As I matured, I learned that the third commandment was not about childish cussing. Using the Lord’s name in a “wrongful way” (or in vain) was more about misrepresenting God. Thou shalt not use God to justify actions that actually go against God’s desire for us. Thou shalt not say God is on our side and against them — when we proclaim “there is no them”. Thou shalt not use God’s name to justify violence, oppression, racism, sexism, pyramids over tables, to name a few.

Later still I was taught that the worst wars and most violent acts in human history have been done in the name of God — and the times aren’t changing today. The song “With God On Our Side” revealed the importance of learning lessons from history instead of ignoring or distorting history; after all, every LP has 2 sides. How many times can a preacher proclaim the all-powerful prefers “his” politician? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

Which song lyrics have influenced your beliefs and impacted your life? What songs inspire you,, lift you up, and bring you joy? Which genre of music spoke to each age and stage of your life?

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Labor Day  Sept. 2, 2024

Once I thought of it, I tried to thank my mom each Labor Day; her labor gave me life. Although she died in 1998 I still say thank you for my life and life lessons, but I struggle to find just the right words without Hallmark making manufactured “Labor Day” Cards.

The morning of her labor in 1997, my wife and I labored to find just the right words of appreciation for our son’s birthmother. Hallmark didn’t have pre-written birthmother cards, so we had to express our own feelings with “sighs too deep for words”.

Her extended family were so supportive of our adoption that they gave our son a baby shower on his “birth” day. Their hospital room overflowed with her family, love, gifts, and support. We also gave our son’s birth mother caffeine sodas, skinny clothes, love and appreciation. We maintained contact through the adoption agency so that twice a year we thanked her with letters and pictures. After ten years, we helped out son begin to write years of thank-you notes about his life.

I would much rather write her the thank you notes than a questionable judge or intrusive politician. I am thankful she chose life, and I am thankful she had the freedom to choose. I am more than grateful that when she had a constitutional right to choose, she made the choice she did. How would we thank her if the decision were forced upon her? Would our son have entered the world with resentment instead of love?

When have you impacted another person’s life with a difficult choice you made? How much do you trust others to make good choices in their lives? Where do you spend most of your energy – trying to control other lives, or working on your own?

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally)

At Seventeen  August 26, 2024

“At Seventeen” (a year before the song) seventy tornados swept through several states on Wednesday April 3, 1974. By Sunday we still didn’t have electricity, food, or water. We went to  the church of my youth to meet our most basic needs — imagine that.

During worship I sat by my latest hero, Major Mott of the Salvation Army. I sat among strangers in a sanctuary where I usually knew everyone. Worship did not focus on the carnage of Rolling Fields, Crescent Hill, Indian Hills, or Northfield, but on the hope of people coming together and working together to do something for the future. Everyone was welcomed to share in the meal of communion — a thanksgiving remembrance with bread and wine.

Moving into Fellowship Hall, we sat around tables eating sandwiches. Sandwiches….. all we seemed to ever see were sandwiches. We were tired of making so many sandwiches; we were “fed up to here” with eating sandwiches. Yet, we were “well fed” by sandwiches. The community had blossomed beyond the sanctuary walls. I sat with a friend who attended synagogue the day before. “Another damned sandwich” suddenly tasted sacred. 

After those two communions, when I looked out on my neighborhood, nothing had changed. I could still see my house unblocked by blown away trees. I could see the devastation of other homes. Nothing had changed, but I had changed. I had stopped, prayed, worshipped, and shared two communions with strangers and friends — now neighbors. I would not be the same again.

Tell a story to someone about when you left a service of worship different than when you arrived. When has an ordinary meal been transformed into sacred space for you? What life events invited your transformation and how did you respond? 

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally)

Inspiring Neighbors 082424

50 years ago, April 3, 1974, a tornado devastated most of our neighborhood in East Louisville. Without electricity analog clocks read 4:42 for over a week; without food or water my wealthy neighbors were desperate; without structural support homes lay in ruins; without trees our vision was expanded. 

Our church, Second Presbyterian, sat on a hill that the tornado bounced around. Everyone lifted our eyes to the church on a hill for help. Major Mott of the Salvation Army arrived with generators, water, food, and caring leadership. He didn’t say, “I alone can fix this”; he didn’t try to con money out of our suffering; he didn’t denigrate anyone for who they were; he didn’t wall off suggested solutions; he didn’t complain about an inconvenience dulling his image. 

He did divide us — by dividing us into teams to work as one community to help all our neighbors. Some cooked meals, some moved water tanks, some helped search for valuables, some collected bricks to recycle. Me? I climbed on remaining roofs to place protection preventing further damage. I was inspired to do what I had never done before — climb a ladder onto my first roof, then my second, then my third….. all to do something to help strangers move into transformed futures.

When mom’s friend looked up and said, “Wallis, how did you get up on that roof?” I yelled down, “I don’t really know how I got up here!” I didn’t know at 17 what I know now. I was lifted up there because of loving servant leadership in the name of Jesus who came “not to be served but to serve.” 

Who inspired you to do something you’d never done before to improve lives? When have you helped neighbors you didn’t know before? Where have you found hope in devastating events?

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Clergy Killers August 13, 2024

In 1999 a pastor in a “Healthy Congregations” workshop told us about a man who told his board, “A lot of people are complaining to me about our pastor.” The board members wisely asked him to identify “a lot of people,” but he refused to name them — “to preserve confidentiality”. They asked for specific examples of complaints; he refused to give them — only generalities. He threatened the board, “You’d better take action because so many of these important members will leave the church and take their donations with them.”

After an investigation, when no evidence was found to back up the threats, the bully relentlessly escalated — accusations now went from he’s not visiting enough to financial and “maybe” sexual abuse. Some wondered what truth there might be to these attacks. The pastor doubted himself and his call to be a servant leader. After his heart attack, when he swore that “the whole church is against me”, it was revealed it was two cruel people who brought the carnage and chaos.

That’s when I read the book Clergy Killers that had been published in 1997. I learned how often clergy killers bully their way to power in a church. When pastors think the whole church was against them, it is almost always 2 or 3 — what we began to call a TLG (that little group).

From the introduction to the book: People rightly often criticize and disagree with their minister, but clergy killers are intentionally destructive. Whether you call them mentally ill or evil, they insist on inflicting pain and damaging their targets. They call on others to do their dirty work, subvert worthy causes, lead acts of sabotage, and cause their victims to self-destruct.  (Pg 9 Clergy Killers: Guidance for Pastors and Congregations Under Attack, G. Lloyd Redinger, 1997, Westminster John Knox Press).

Have you ever experienced someone bent on destruction who says “somebody should look into” some false accusation? What is it about a church that allows clergy killers to gain so much power? Read the book, or stay tuned if you want to learn some positive ways to respond.

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Bearing Fruit  August 12, 2024

In one of the seven authentic letters the Apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament, Paul says to the church at Galatia (Galatians 5 for those playing at home) that for freedom God has has set us free in the loving way of Jesus. He warns: do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Paul writes 2000 years ago that “the works of the flesh are obvious…. adultery, impurity, licentiousness, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, and things like these.” Those behaviors remain obvious today by those convicted of abuse of power, who divide with fear, who are only faithful to themselves, and whose lies reveal crowd envy.

But then Paul continues with the positive: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” You can never be legally indicted for bearing any of the fruits of the Spirit.

These are not the “gifts of the spirit” — something you inherit or receive. These are fruits — something you cultivate, seek, enjoy, show, and are nourished by as you grow in love and service to God and all humanity.

Friends of mine at “Life in the Trinity Ministry” decided Protestants need prayer beads too; Catholics shouldn’t have a monopoly. For ten years I’ve used the 9 beads to pray for the grace to cultivate the 9 fruits of the sprit in my life.  Over time, that one spiritual practice can be transformative.

Where do you see freedom and joy expressed right now? How are you attracted to people who bear the fruit of kindness and self-control? How do you seek to cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life? 

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally)

Life Islands  June 7, 2024

On Sunday evening, as I went into my hospital room, my parents went out. It wasn’t personal; it was business. They had been invited to dinner with the CEO of M.D. Anderson Hospital. I was left alone to listen to “Godspell” on a cassette tape while my youth group was performing it live.

One nurse sensed my sadness. She sat with me as I told her about my friends, my church, and what I was missing that night. Back then, on a slow Sunday, a nurse had time to be present for over an hour. Back then, I was admitted on Sunday for a surgery on Wednesday. I was 18 and healthy, and I needed something to fill the two days of waiting besides feeling sorry for myself.

On Monday my weekend nurse invited me to her weekday floor. Her patients were teenagers with cancer whose immune systems were compromised by chemotherapy. They lived in “life islands” for 3 months in a germ-free environment. Only sterile food and items could be passed into a plastic bubble that surrounded a bed, a chair, and a table. If I entered their space, I could kill them; if I were a companion through the plastic, I could help to heal their isolation.

Except for a few scheduled tests, I had two days of being teenagers together — strangers in a strange land. I wasn’t another cancer patient, parent, sibling, doctor, or nurse — I was someone new to listen, laugh, share, and care. Centering on their needs dispelled my self-centeredness.

Away from my private prep-school, I was becoming a chaplain without credentials. I visited 8 kids one on one. Soon enough I would ask myself: “Was a preppie preparing for a calling?”

How have you answered the question, “What is mine to do?” When has focusing on another’s needs taken your mind off your own? How have past situations become preparations for your future?

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally) · 1 Comment

Jury Duty May 31, 2024

During seminary I was summoned for jury duty. Without question, I was immediately scratched by one side. I asked a friend the rejected playground question of my childhood: “Why wasn’t I picked? What’s wrong with me?” My friend said, “Probably your seminary address; lawyers figure ministers are strong-willed thinkers. They want to be able to sway a juror to see things their way.”

I lived under that baseless theory for thirty years until I was summoned with 60 people for jury duty. Even though I made sure I proclaimed my vocation was ministry, I still was one of “the chosen” — though I wasn’t fully convinced I wanted to be.

The trial wasn’t a white-collar crime; it concerned violence. Various body-camera views from officers called to the scene were edited and shown. One victim testified the violence wasn’t that bad; her son was really a good boy. The accused man took the stand to have his say.

We the jury seemed to spend more time in the break room while the lawyers and judge met, than we did in the courtroom. I almost finished the book I had been invited to bring in the summons letter.

The judge gave us written instructions about options the law gave for various degrees of guilt or innocence. I was elected jury foreperson because I had a career of running meetings where every side was heard. That was the first I learned how the other jurors  reacted to what they heard. After clearing up three questions, we became unanimous in deciding the severity of the crime. We ordinary people in an alien environment made a decision that led a judge to sentence a man. I was disturbed (and made a little afraid) by the man’s eyes looking to blame everyone in that room (except himself).

I received a gift I wish more jurors could receive — confirmation that dispelled uncertainty. In the parking lot, an observer told two of us we had made the right decision. When we were out, the defense made sure the body-cam footage was highly edited so we didn’t hear officers mentioning previous encounters. Other evidence was suppressed as too prejudicial. She said, “If you research his past cases and sentences, you’d learn this wasn’t his first time, and I hope you helped make it his last. Thank you for your service.” I was thanked for playing a part in a system of justice that worked.

What roles have you played in our system of justice? When you say the Pledge of Allegiance — with “liberty and justice for all” — who does the “all” include? What does the promise of “liberty and justice for all” mean to you?

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally)

Neglect  5/10/2024

Brian McLaren taught me: “What you focus on determines what you miss.”

I have compassion for those who neglect the gifts of leadership that God gives women by focusing on a letter written in reaction to Paul decades after Paul’s death — 1 Timothy — “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” When men want to grasp power, this regressive line is their battle cry of patriarchy. 

I’m thankful for those in my life who continue to widen my angle of focus. I’m grateful I don’t have to miss….

women who were leaders in the Hebrew Scriptures 

ways Jesus raised and praised women he encountered

female disciples who faithfully witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion by the empire

every first Easter sermon in all the gospels preached by women

the women Paul named as interpreters, ministers, apostles, prisoners, financial backers, co-workers

“In Christ there is no longer male and female” for all of you are one Galatians 3:28

I am inspired by the vision of women scholars, healing my limited sight with new perspectives. I am transformed by the voices of Sophia/wisdom that defeat my deafness and open my ears to cries and whispers. My lameness is being healed as I learn to walk beside and not over other human beings. I’m emboldened by women who teach me to “speak the truth in love” and not remain mute/dumb.

At some point in the evolution of my church, a group of men in suits, ties, and wing-tipped shoes discussed, prayed, and voted to heed God’s call to allow women to be servant leaders as deacons, elders, and ministers of the word and sacrament. “Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

Who are the most significant women in your life? Where have you seen the pendulum swing toward and away from equality? How have you been transformed by women’s wisdom?

Mother’s Day extra credit: read the prophet Hosea, chapter 11 to listen for maternal images of God. (If you don’t have a Bible, various translations are free online — not just from a salesman)

Posted on by Wallis Landrum (Wally)

“Are There Any Women Here?”  May 8, 2024

Seminary was an inspirational practice of one small society of shared study, service, and support seeking to live into the good news that Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed as the empire of God. Most of our twenty-something class were twenty-something ourselves. One third of our class were women, which set a new record. 

Presbyterians began ordaining women as ruling elders in 1930. As we entered seminary in 1979 Presbyterians had been ordaining women as teaching elders (ministers) for 23 years (all my life) — as short or long as the distance to “9/11” from today. Most churches were supporting my classmates with the high cost of seminary (and the personal cost of their beloved calling). 

Yet, the women had stories of stumbling blocks placed in their path of following the way of Jesus. Some men justified their prejudice with biased biblical babel, reciting a few verses they used to keep women (and God) from having a choice. The struggle meant that the most gifted and talented in my class were the ones who had persevered through the obstacles. 

When we experienced together a new movie called “Life of Brian” and the scene that asked of the bearded stoners “Are there any women here?”, we laughed until we cried. Four years later, I cried as we compared job interview stories. While churches actually asked me about my calling, my gifts for ministry, what I loved about serving God, my hopes and dreams for the church…..  some of my friends were actually asked, “What do you wear under your robe?”, “Can you lock up the church at night?”, “Do you have a preacher voice?”

When have you been made to feel “less than” another person? What has diminished your freedom to choose? How has overcoming obstacles strengthened your abilities?