Transparency Matters

Recently there has been an uproar on the campuses of United Lutheran Seminary (ULS).   The cause of this uproar is over President Theresa Latini’s former ministry twenty years ago as director of OneByOne, a Presbyterian Church-USA (PCUSA) organization whose mission was “to educate and equip the church to minister the transforming grace and power of Jesus Christ to those in conflict with their sexuality.”  President Latini states that her views have changed regarding the LGBTQ+ Community and I believe her.

That being said I saw this train wreck coming.  While I did not see this particular issue creating the firestorm it did, and rightfully so, I did not think the merger of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg was the proper course of action to take.  You see the merger was born out of chaos, secrecy, and speed.

For financial reasons one of the seminaries was not going to survive.  The thought processes of the powers at the time was how best to salvage this institution without closing it.  The decision was to merge the two seminaries into one unit and start fresh.  New name, new logo, get rid of tenure, drastically change curriculum to attract new students, and fire unnecessary staff.  Sounds simple doesn’t it.  It is if you are not one of the folks being fired, losing tenure, or an alum whose institution where you graduated from no longer exists.  I am not against change per se and have even been a change agent in my life.  One cannot serve in the United State Air Force for thirty-three years and not see and make change happen often.

However, the changes to create ULS were accomplished at lightening speed without careful due diligence while keeping stakeholders in the dark.  To say it was a done deal would not be inaccurate.  While change may have been necessary folks were hurt by this process and were hurt by the church.  To make matters worse the Board of Trustees did all this without full transparency and that is unacceptable.

While the church is comprised of people and people can and do make mistakes I believe the angst currently be felt throughout the ULS community could have been avoided with a more careful and deliberate approach.  As it stands now the Board of Directors, President Latini, and other the officers of ULS have a huge job in front of them trying to regain the trust of all stakeholders.

Can this be accomplished?   I hope it can but it will not be easy.  There is anger, sadness, loss of trust, and despair felt by many.  I pray that this major chasm can be repaired but a new way of moving forward needs to be instituted.  A way forward that is transparent and Christ Centered. That is my hope and prayer.

 

For everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:

Can you remember a time when you experienced an imminent death?  Remember the uncertainty and sorrow you felt at the loss soon to occur?  Maybe it was a time when a loved one only had a matter of days or hours of life here left to live.   You could feel deep inside you the dread of the coming loss.  Maybe you have gone into battle and wondered if you would survive.  You were scared and fearful of what might happen and then when you did experience loss it was of a buddy who just seconds before was alive standing right next to you.

On June 30, 1863 near a town called Gettysburg in the state of Pennsylvania, many people were probably feeling this same dread.  On this date the Confederate Army, under the command of Robert E. Lee, was marching upon Gettysburg from the north and the west.  At the same time, the Union Army, under the leadership of George G, Meade, was marching north.  Both sides knew it was not going to be long until the shooting began. I am sure most men, as all soldiers do before they go into battle, were fearful that this would be their earthly end.

Much like is was 154 years ago today at Gettysburg there will be a death tonight on the outskirts west of town. At the stroke of the midnight the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG) will be no more.  For all intents and purposes it will die.  This grand and glorious institution that has trained women and men to become pastors, chaplains, deacons, and other leaders of the Lutheran, and other faith traditions, will be no more.  After 191 years of dedicated service, the signs stating “The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg” will come down.  There will be a death and it will affect many.

Since I first heard the news of the coming death of my alma mater I have felt at least three of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ “Five Stages of Grief”; denial, anger, and depression.  It is indeed a sad day for me, one that I have dreaded.  The sadness is compounded in the simple fact that many of my close friends and colleagues will lose their jobs tonight.

While there will still be a seminary that sits in the same location in Gettysburg the name will be different, the curriculum will be different, and there will be many other changes coming.  I am not saying change was not necessary.  To continue as things were was not feasible.  The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) and LTSG are combining to become the United Lutheran Seminary with campuses at both former locations.

I write this today because I want folks to know that the grief I, and many of my fellow graduates, feel is real and it hurts.  I have learned, both in my pastoral care classes at LTSG and while serving a year-long residency of Clinical Pastoral Education at the VA Healthcare System in Pittsburgh, that we as humans must give ourselves time to grieve.  I also learned that as clergy I should not push those with whom I am ministering with to try to get over their grief.

No, I have learned that grieving can take a while and perhaps is a life long process.  Quite simply put, Jesus grieved over the loss of those he loved and he did not get over that grief in one day.

So I will grieve in my way, I will visit my alma mater and view her from the various locations on the battlefield as I did when I lived there in community.  I will walk the surrounding battlefield and remember my four years there.  I will cherish my memories of the people I met who have now become good friends.  I have those to help me in my grieving process.  I also have my faith.  Faith that God has a plan and I cannot see what it is yet.  However this is grieving time.

While I am not ready to jump on the ULS bandwagon yet I am not saying that day may not happen in the future but as the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes states there is a time for everything.  I take great comfort in this fact.

The title of this blog post comes from Ecclesiastes 3:1.  For me today is a time to mourn and that is perfectly fine, no matter how long it takes.

Thank you Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, I will never forget you.

 

An Open Letter to Ferguson – Community Begins With Conversation

There are so many stories, and versions of stories, coming out of Ferguson, MO that I just want to yell SHUT UP already!  Quite frankly I am having a difficult time believing anything I hear as the stories keep changing while the days and months pile up since the tragic events of August 9, 2014.  What I do know is this, a 18-year-old male, who was preparing to start classes at Vatterott College on August 11th is dead.  Plain and simple a human being is no longer among the living.  This is both sad and senseless.  I will not try to argue whether Michael Brown was threatening Officer Darren Wilson and that Wilson was right in defending his life.  How can I?  I wasn’t there and didn’t see what happened.  I also will not argue that Michael Brown was unarmed and gunned down by a trigger happy police officer.  Again, I wasn’t there and did not see the event unfold.  As the majority of the folks in the rest of this country I have received only second, third, and farther removed accounts from which to glean information and make a decision about what occurred that day so I won’t speculate.  The news media and pundits have the country so stirred up that a bit of stepping back and breathing is much-needed.

What I will state, and this is what is really sad, is that this police officer, and the folks in the Ferguson community, should have been in conversation with each other.  To be in conversation I mean to really get to know each other, to greet one other when they pass on the street, to seek to get to know each other better.  You see with conversation comes community, with community comes trust, with trust comes understanding, and with understanding comes the reality that we all live in community with one another.  All of us, regardless of the color of our skin, our religious affiliation, political party, ethnic background, size of our financial portfolio, it doesn’t matter because we all inhabit this planet called earth.  In order to live in community we must seek to understand each other.  When we do this, instead of mistrust, there is trust, instead of fear there is love, instead of ratcheting up of anger, which can lead to lethal means of ending life, there could be the benefit of the doubt and the will to seek a solution rather than violence and ultimate death.

This can happen when we seek to engage rather than ignore.  When we seek to understand rather than prejudge.  Let me give you an example from my own life.  When I was attending the Air Force Chaplain Assistant School at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL in 1999 this event happened. The area around Maxwell is primarily African-American and I knew this but really never thought twice about it until this day.  On my way home from class I stopped in at the local public library.  I love libraries and whenever I travel I like to visit them to see their collections and read the local newspapers.  When I walked into the Rufus A. Lewis Branch of the Montgomery City-County Public Library to visit I was eventually made aware of many pairs of eyes looking at me.  When I returned the stares I suddenly wondered if I had broken some sort of Montgomery Public Library protocol or something.  I walked up to the librarian and asked her, since I was a visitor, if there was something special I needed to know.  She stated, “No, it’s just that we don’t get many white folks visit us here at Rufus Lewis so I guess we are surprised to see you, is there something I can help you with, are you lost?”  After I told her what I wanted to see and she directed me to the newspapers I started conversing with some of the patrons there.  You see, I was an oddity, a white man visiting their library.  However, after they realized that I wanted to be there to do the same thing they were doing I was no longer considered an oddity or something to be stared at.  Within a short period of time I was accepted into their community.  When I was on my way out the door every single person there thanked me for coming and welcomed me to return.  The simple act of my visit to a library became an opportunity for conversation and me being accepted into their community.

So may I offer just a bit of advice for us all during this time of upheaval and mistrust.  Sometimes it can start with one individual doing what can seem simple and not that extraordinary.  It started with me wanting to visit a library in a town where I was a stranger.  A stranger of a different race than the majority.  It ended with me being accepted as part of that community.  To the folks in Ferguson and every other small town and big city in America, may I suggest we do the same.  Go visit your library, or _________________.  Get to know the folks there, let them get to know you. Have a conversation with them.  If we do this, maybe then love will replace distrust and hate.  Give it a try, you have nothing to lose and so much more to gain.  Like me, you may make some new friends.  You never know until you try.

Calm Before The ?

I was walking on the ridge this evening, Seminary Ridge that is, here in Gettysburg.  As I looked to the west I could see dark clouds gathering and if was any warmer today I would have thought a thunderstorm was coming in.  However, the weather man, or weather woman is only calling for rain for the next several days.  I could smell the rain in the air and the animals, squirrels and birds, seemed to know it was coming too.

As I remembered back upon my reading of the battle that happened here in July 1863, I recall that rain fell upon the soldiers that fought here on July 4th.  If they were Confederate, who were leaving Pennsylvania after their failed attempt to invade the north, their mood was one of sorrow and defeat.  If they were  Union, who were cautiously making sure the Confederates were indeed leaving, their mood was one of triumph as they had stopped the Confederate advance.  Many men lie in the fields surrounding the town, either dead, or dying and their agony was multiplied by getting soaked as they were unable to move to shelter.

I cannot walk these fields without imagining what this place looked like those almost 150 years ago and how it must have differed from the tranquil scene that one sees today.  These are the days of remembrance for me.  I think of the coming summer when Gettysburg will be the scene of remembrance of this great battle.  Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected but on this day, on this ridge, I am alone.  Alone with my thoughts, of war and its aftermath and how this place was transformed these 150 years ago.

While war is never, ever the answer to anything, it is a fact of life in this broken world.  War is destruction and death.  War is grief and sorrow.  War is not pretty.  However, remembering this place and what happened here is important if we as a society learn something from the remembering.

As the dark clouds gather, and the people come, let us never forget the words of Abraham Lincoln, “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

So Now What?

Sounds like a good question after a week of being introduced to so much new and valuable information.  What do I do with the numerous new modes of social media I have learned about these past five days.  Do I use it all, some of it, none of it?  What to do?

What I usually do here in Gettysburg when I am contemplating a question that needs an answer is to take a walk.  I wanted so much to take a walk today, to no only exercise like my doctor has strongly suggested, but to get outside in the fresh air.  We have been having rather pleasant weather here in Gettysburg this week so I wanted to get outside to stretch my legs and think after sitting indoors all week.  However since it was raining when I got out of class the walk had to wait until another day.

While I couldn’t get out for my walk I still wanted to think of ways I could use social media in my communicating with others, not only now in 2013 but also in a future parish setting.  One of the most important things I have learned about using social media is to be genuine in all my social media interactions.  I don’t think this will be difficult for me because I have always tried to be genuine in my dealings with others.  What you see with me is what you get.  I don’t play games nor do I put on airs.  I am the same at school, in a church setting, or sitting in my living room at home.  I understand genuine.

Just as I know I cannot be all things to all people I know I will not be able to use all the social media I have learned about this week all at once.  I will have to pick and choose what I feel will be most helpful in getting my message out.  Since I believe that my message is to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I will have to pick and choose carefully.  Now I feel equipped to make those decisions.  Of course I won’t be making those decision alone.  I will have help.

Think I’ll take a walk and pray.

A Long Day

I have hit the proverbial wall today.  It’s day four of our Media Meets Religion class and I believe my brain has taken in all the social media information it can handle for the week.  This phenomenon is what I like to call “The J-Term Push”.  I know when I take a three credit course in a week during J-Term that it will be a grind come Thursday but the benefits far outnumber the fatigue that usually sets in by this time.  Knowing that this happens to me by day four I keep pressing on and in the end I am tired but happy at the result.

One of the benefits for me in taking a J-Term class is that I get to meet students from the Washington Consortium that I don’t get to meet during the regular Spring and Fall semesters here at Gettysburg Seminary.   In addition, I get to meet, or see again, various alumni that come back for continuing education classes.   This class has in it not only LTSG students and alums but students from Wesley Theological Seminary and Catholic University.  The amount of information that is being shared is so vast right now I don’t know if I can retain it all but I do realize that I know much more today than I did on Monday as far as social media is concerned.

The major learning that happened for me today is realizing that I don’t need to use every bit of social media out there  but to pick an amount of what is available that will suit the needs of the church where I will be called.  It is far better to use some media well then to use  all of it poorly.

As I anticipate tomorrow’s ending of our class being together for nine hours daily this past week I will feel two things.   I will feel a sense of accomplishment in that the goals I set for myself this week will be accomplished.  I will also have the realization that I have enlarged my network of tech savvy colleagues that I can turn to in the future when I need help.

That is what I call a successful, tiring, productive week.

Day 3 of “Media Meets Religion”

Day three of the Battle of Gettysburg was the climatic and final day of that battle.  Day three of our “Media Meets Religion” class is not our final day, probably not climatic, but it was very informative.  We were privileged to see and hear, by Skype, Neva Rae Fox from the Episcopal Church and John Brooks from North Park University and Seminary.  What they both shared with us I found valuable for my future ministry and it was a pleasure having them with us by using some of the new media we are learning about.  I learned much today but one thing that stands out is that to say “no comment” should never come out of my mouth if I am dealing with a crisis.  In addition, I learned some other strategies that I can employ when dealing with the media.

Again I am astounded at the amount of experience in using social media or the willingness to learn how to use it by my classmates.  I feel that I have gained sixteen new colleagues with whom I can share ideas, ask questions of, and connect with now and into the future. It is bittersweet for me to realize this is the “half-way” point of our class.  Shortly we will be coming to the end of the week and a separation, in physical terms, of our being in each other’s presence for nine hours of each day.  As any class that I have taken there is a beginning, a middle, and an end.  We have just come to and slightly past the middle.  The next two days I look forward to with anticipation and the wonder of what I will learn tomorrow and Friday.

When I go to bed each night I take a mental inventory of how my day went and what I learned, what worked, and what didn’t work in that day’s journey.  On good days I smile as I look back on the day and thank God for another day of life.   On not so good days I may not be smiling but I still thank God for the day.

Tonight I will be smiling. 🙂

More to Learn

Today was a day of new learning.  While I was familiar with Facebook, I learned new things I could do to make my Facebook account more user-friendly for me.  In addition, today was my first full day using my Twitter account.  I see why people like Twitter, I was able to access a lot of info instantaneously.  And of course, here I am again blogging.  I have always liked social media since it has come to being in my lifetime.  To be able to learn from professionals in the field has helped me use what I know and add to that base of knowledge to see how I can use this today and in my future church ministry.

Having Rev. Verity Jones from The New Media Project speak to our class today by Skype was very helpful as we touched on many aspects of social and how it can benefit the religious community.  She was very generous with her time and for that I am grateful.  Her willingness to share her website’s helpful information with us will benefit me in the future.  I have bookmarked her website for future use.

We ended the day watching the movie “The Social Network”.  I must say after seeing this movie I have some mixed feelings about Mark Zuckerberg.  While I know you can’t believe everything you see on TV, this movie does not paint a very glamorous picture of Mr. Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook.

This class is an exciting opportunity to exchange ideas with other students here at LTSG, students of the Washington Consortium, and alumni.  I admire the amount of experience in many different venues that my classmates have and I am using this experience,of being with them this week, for everything that I can gain from their knowledge and experience.  In addition, whatever I can bring to my colleagues I share willingly.

On to day three!

Finally Here

Well, I finally got to the place where I can add content to this blog.  I can’t believe it took me so long to get here but here I am.

This blog is a requirement for the When 21st Century Media Meets Religion class I am taking this week and my first attempt at creating and posting to a blog.  I guess my biggest concern about posting to this blog is wondering who will care to read what I write.

It seems to me, in one way, to be a large ego trip to see if anyone would want to read this but in another way I can see posting to a blog is a great way to pass along information.  I can see where I may use this media in the future to relay information to members of my congregation.  Well that is, if I can figure out how to get back here.  I am looking forward to the adventure of posting again.

And by the way the RAVENS are going to Denver.