Category: Faith and Politics

EARS TO HEAR THE MEMORIES OF D-DAY

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Government Reform

The commemoration of June 6 as D-Day always feels important to me because of its historical significance and the fact that my father fought against Fascism in World War II. My dad wasn’t part of the Normandy Invasion. He was a young enlistee in the war and by the time he went through flight training and officer candidate school the war in Europe was winding down. He did fly a few missions over Germany as a B-17 pilot before VE Day, but his most harrowing experience ironically came after the war. The B-17 he was flying back to the States lost both engines and had to ditch in the North Atlantic. He was one of only four of the 17 on board who survived.

So I take fascists and dictators very seriously, and what is going on in our government today makes me furious. All those brave men and women who risked and thousands who lost their lives will have sacrificed in vain if the MAGA devotees of Donald Trump are allowed to finish destroying our democracy.

In all my years of studying evil governments from Pharaoh to Putin did I ever dream it could happen here. I’m not naive. I am painfully aware of the ugly chapters in our own history, but in all those episodes the leadership has emerged to return our nation to a course based on the critical values of equality and justice our democracy depends on. In the last 18 months under the dictatorial rule of the Trump administration such leadership has not risen up in numbers significant enough to stop the chaos and corruption.

We need examine our current situation through the famous warning that comes from an 1887 letter Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton regarding the moral standards used to judge historical leaders. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My fear now is that those with nearly absolute power in the U.S. are so determined to keep it and protect themselves from prosecution for their crimes that they will do anything and everything to rig or cancel the midterm elections. If that happens our experiment with government of the people, by the people, and for the people will be dead for at least a generation. What evil that can happen with absolute power fills volumes of human history, and the last 18 months have shown we are not immune from the dark side of human nature.

And that brings me to a nightmare on this D-Day that I cannot get out of my head. I hope and pray with all my being I am being too pessimistic, but for the first time in my life I can imagine a time when an allied group of nations like those who defeated fascism in 1945 might be necessary to invade the USA and liberate us from our own captivity.

Another famous quote we need to dust off and live into is the one that says “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” While frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson, the true origin and evolution of the sentiment are fascinating: The sentiment originated with Irish statesman and orator John Philpot Curran, who stated in an 1790 speech: “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.

The shorter version is much easier to pay lip service to, but Curran’s warning about the servitude that we risk if we fail to be very vigilant and act on it packs a much more powerful punch.

This whole situation reminds me of Jesus’ words which are so important they are repeated six times in the Gospels: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”                                        

June 6, 2026

The Great American Cancer

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Government Reform, hope

There is very little in our polarized society that most of us can agree on. One exception to that is cancer. I don’t know anyone who is in favor of cancer. My extended family is definitely on opposite sides of the political divide, but we have all come together multiple times in common grief as people in four generations of our family have died from glioblastoma brain cancer.

Our saga began with my 86 year-old grandmother, then my mother at age 70, then a second cousin in his early 30’s, and what we hope is the last was that cousin’s 9 year-old daughter. The little girl’s memorial service was so large (over 300 people) they had to hold it in a big building at the county fairgrounds.

And I know our story is not unique; it’s just the one I’ve lived through most intimately. It’s a tragic story for anyone who travels that road. That brain cancer is still very deadly, but the good news is that medical science has made great strides in treating many other kinds of cancer.

What we haven’t found is a cure for is the cancer of racism that has threatened our American democracy from its very inception. As we near the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence it seems like a good time to reflect on that part of our story many would like to erase from our history books and our consciousness. But as with physical cancer, the longer we deny the malignancy is present the more deadly it becomes.

Contrary to the sanitized version of out history that the current administration is promoting, the fact is that 41 of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence actually owned other human beings. That’s 73% of those who signed this document proclaiming that “all men are created equal” and said “For the support of this Declaration… we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” did so while enslaving other human beings! And that practice had been going on in this country at that point for 157 years, and it took almost 90 more years and 600,000 lives lost in a Civil War before those black persons were emancipated. Do the math – people were enslaved in this country from 1619 to 1863, or nearly 250 years. We cannot celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday without acknowledging those two and a half centuries as well.

To be fair to the signers of the Declaration some of them repented and freed their enslaved persons later, but that token number pales in comparison to the total numbers of those in captivity. According to the 1860 U.S. Census, there were exactly 3,953,760 enslaved people in the United States, about 12.6% of the total U.S. population.

But according to the simple history I was taught in my public schools that problem was all rectified by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution. End of story. My history text books omitted any reference to Andrew Johnson’s destruction of Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction, Jim Crow, thousands of lynchings, and destructions of black communities all over the country. I am pretty well read, and I didn’t know anything about the infamous destruction of Tulsa’s wealthy Black Wall Street community until we commemorated its 100th anniversary in 2021.

I review all that uncomfortable truth because there has been the temptation throughout our history to think the cancer of racism has been cured or put into remission only to have it metastasize and erupt in new and worse forms later. In my generation we fell into that trap at least twice. In the 1960’s more blood was shed in Selma, Birmingham, Memphis, and Mississippi, along with other cities across the country, but the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Brown vs. Board, and other victories for justice seemed to justify the terrible sacrifices made.

But then came the backlash in Nixon’s Southern Strategy, Ronald Regan, and the conversion of the Party of Lincoln to the very things the Republican Party was organized to oppose in 1860. And then the pendulum swung again and Barack Obama was elected as the first Black President of the United States. The once impossible became reality, and we dared hope that the malignancy of racism might be excised from the American culture for good.

Again, we were wrong. The cancer went back into remission for 8 years. It was not gone, but merely dormant until its smoldering embers were fanned into a roaring blaze by the son of a racist New York slumlord. When Donald Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 he announced a campaign for President that appealed to the most basic fears and insecurities of white Americans who are threatened by a multicultural and diverse racial society. For 8 years of the Obama administration the fear and anger among whites who felt their privileged status threatened by any thought of equality with other races festered and metastasized into a resurgence of the systemic racism present in our history for 400 years.

What Trump and his oligarch buddies have done to our democracy in the last 10 years is almost beyond comprehension. We are living in a bad combination of 1984 and Project 2025. The billionaires are running and ruining our country just like the Southern Plantation Owners of the 19th Century and the Robber Barons of the 20th. One of those eras ended in Civil War and the other in the Great Depression. It remains to be seen how deadly this outbreak of American Racism will be, but we stand a much better chance of surviving this one if we celebrate our true history and not just the parts that make us white folks look good.

Prophet Pope Vs Profit President

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Faith Development, Government Reform, peacemaking

The recent war of words between the Trump administration and Pope Leo both infuriates me and makes me very sad. I am astounded that the President and his Roman Catholic Vice-President have so little knowledge and respect for the 2500 year-old tradition of prophetic voices from the faith community speaking as the moral conscience to powerful political leaders. Trump and Vance act as if Pope Leo’s admonitions against war and violence are something new and radical when they are as old as the Moses, Nathan, Micah, Amos, and Jesus himself.

My sadness comes from my own failure as a pastor and preacher and that of the church itself to do a better job of educating our congregations about this age-old tradition of speaking truth to power. I can only speak for myself, but I know that throughout my ministry I have treaded very lightly on the prophetic aspects of my call; and I regret that deeply. My personal journals and conversations with colleagues often reflect my grief that I “sold my soul for a pension and a parsonage.” By that I mean that I avoided controversy and conflict in my congregations to have a “successful” ministry, i.e. keep my job and not create problems for my church superiors.

Far too often that meant going along with or avoiding political views I disagreed with to keep peace with the church members who paid my salary and supported the church’s budget. That is not at all the example set by prophets in the Bible. But before we go on let’s clarify what a biblical prophet is and isn’t. Popular usage of the word “prophet” often equates to one who predicts the future. Biblical prophets do that in a sense because they often warn people what will happen if they refuse to repent and follow God’s will.

But that definition of a biblical prophet is too limited. In the fullest sense the prophets of the Bible are those who are spokespersons for God. And that role often means confronting the powerful rulers of society who are more concerned with profits than prophets. Examples include Moses in the book of Exodus demanding that Pharaoh release the Hebrew people from the slavery which was essential to Egypt’s economic system. Or one of my favorites is Nathan bravely exposing King David’s sinful behavior directly to the King himself. (2 Samuel 12)

Later prophets like Micah and Amos try unsuccessfully to warn the leaders of Israel and Judah that their greed and selfishness will lead to their downfall.  Nowhere is what faithfulness to God spelled out more clearly than in Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” No objective observer of our current political leadership in the United States can deny that we are failing on all three of those measurements for obedience to God.  And to his credit Pope Leo as a contemporary prophet is pointing those failures out.   

President Trump and his acolytes have particularly taken offense at the Pope’s criticism of the war the President and Benjamin Netanyahu are waging against Iran.  They are demanding that the Pope and other religious leaders support the war, failing completely to understand the biblical mandate all of us as Jews and Christians have to be advocates for peace.  The Hebrew prophets Micah and Isaiah both make this clear:

“For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:3-4, also found in Micah 4:3)

I cannot escape the irony that these verses describe these instructions for peace are to come from Jerusalem.  Israel today doesn’t even live up to the limitations for just revenge set down in the Pentateuch.  Even AI on my computer knows more about the Scriptures than Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and Netanyahu.  Here’s what AI says:

“An eye for an eye” appears in the Old Testament as a legal principle of proportional justice (Lex Talionis), ensuring punishment fits the crime (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21). Jesus references this in Matthew 5:38-39 to instruct followers against personal retaliation, teaching them to “turn the other cheek” instead.”

One of the best lines I’ve heard this week came from comedian Jimmy Kimmel.  He said, “Maybe Trump should read the Bible instead of selling them.” And I’d recommend he start with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 where we can get as close as we can to what Jesus’ philosophy about the faithful life.  The heart of those teachings are the Beatitudes which we all need to be reminded of regularly especially in these dangerous times.  So I’m going to give Jesus the last word here from Matthew 5:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falselyon my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

You Can Make a Difference

by Steve Harsh, posted in brokenness, Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith Development, hope

Genesis 18:22-33: So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”  And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes.  Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”  Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”  Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”  He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.”

In these days when it feels so hopeless to to make a difference this story about the threatened destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah speaks to us about the power of each good life. Abraham bravely negotiates with God to try and spare whatever righteous people there may be in these two cities.

Disclaimer: I do not believe the God of grace I know punishes evil by inflicting destruction on individuals or whole cities, although there are times I wish it were so (as long I’m not the guilty party, of course). But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some deeper truth in the story.

For example, what if there were a few brave people had stood up to President George W. Bush in 2003 and demanded proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before committing our troops to a long deadly war? Or what if a handful of founding fathers had stood firm against slavery in 1787 instead of kicking the can down the road to the deadliest war in our history 75 years later?

One child siding with another who is being bullied can stop the cruelty, and even if not both the victim and the protector feel the priceless solidarity of friendship. One or two men refusing to laugh at a sexiest or racist joke, or go along with an unethical business practice can empower others to do the same.

Those who have read Genesis know the unfortunate fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Apparently Abraham couldn’t find even 10 righteous men, and the two cities were destroyed.

As an aside, I can’t pass on from this story about Sodom and Gomorrah without pointing out a serious misuse of this text which in some circles is used as a condemnation of homosexuality. That charge is not justified by the text and is clarified later in Ezekiel 16:49 where we find: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy.” That makes so much more sense because it is consistent with the constant emphasis in all the Scriptures to care for the widows and orphans, to love one’s neighbors as oneself, and Jesus’ stark admonition in Matthew 25 that “just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it me.”

How often are those same weaknesses in Sodom and Gomorrah the source of our failure to do the right thing, even when we know clearly what we should do. Excess of food and prosperous ease are symbols of comfort and privilege that we Americans should pay careful attention to. Doing what is right but unpopular is one of the hardest things to do because it puts at risk our own comfort and safety. But what we choose to do or not do does make a difference.

The familiar quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” sums up much of what I’m trying to say. (My research says this quote is often attributed to Edmund Burke but may actually be a paraphrase of similar words from John Stuart Mill.

As we all know it takes courage to do the right thing when it is so much easier to go along with the crowd. My favorite quote to describe that is from “Inherit the Wind” by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee:

Attorney Drummond says to Bert Cates who is on trial for teaching evolution: “It’s the loneliest feeling in the world-to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down. To have everybody look at you and say, ‘What’s the matter with him?’ I know. I know what it feels like. Walking down an empty street, listening to the sound of your own footsteps. Shutters closed, blinds drawn, doors locked against you. And you aren’t sure whether you’re walking toward something, or if you’re just walking away.”

But those acts of courage make a huge difference, just as they might have in Sodom and Gomorrah. But that is ancient history. What matters now are the moments today when we are asked to take a stand for righteousness and justice when everyone else is sitting down.

There are so many injustices it feels overwhelming to even try to pick one to address; I know it certainly does to me. But that cannot be our excuse to sit on the sidelines. For me there is also a very real fear of incurring the wrath of those in power if I speak up against them. I wrote a paper in grad school entitled “They Shoot Prophets, Don’t They?,” and the recent murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have done nothing to lessen that fear.

I have never liked conflict of any kind; so speaking truth to power is way out of my comfort zone. But my despair over what’s happening to our democracy is stronger than my fear. I am reminded of the closing scene of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” where the bodies of all the main characters are strewn across the stage and Edgar alone is left to bring down the curtain. He says, “The weight of these sad times we must obey; say what we feel, not what we ought to say.”

Dear Creator and Sustainer of all that is good, just, and true, we are living in very sad times. Unjustified, unconstitutional war is robbing your neediest children of food and health care here at home and raining terror and destruction in the Middle East. You have called us to love our neighbors and our enemies. You have taught us that a few righteous, courageous people do make a difference. Give us courage to stand up when no one else can or will, to speak what we feel and not what the powerful tell us we ought to say. You have put a right spirit within us. Show us how we can most faithfully let that holy light shine into the darkness of this season of our lives until others join us and together our lights expose the evil around us and within us and drive it from our midst in a blaze of resurrection. Amen

Temptation: Fall or Faith?

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith Development, Gratitude, Lectionary Texts, Lenten devotion

The lectionary texts for the first Sunday in Lent this year include Genesis 3:1-7 (“The Fall”) and Matthew 4:1-11(the Temptation of Christ). What a perfect contrast these two Scriptures give us of human frailty and divine strength. In the former Eve and Adam fall like a ton of bricks for a couple of lies from a talking snake! And in the latter the New Testament version of the serpent promises Jesus food (after a 40-day fast!), divine glory and protection (for bungee jumping off the temple without a bungee), and worldly power (over all the kingdoms of the world, including Greenland and Venezuela).

And Jesus, with impeccable theology, politely tells Satan to go fly a kite all three times. And, of course, Peter reprises human frailty again at the end of this drama by denying Jesus three times. Adam, Eve, and Peter all are marked with the Ash Wednesday reminder that we are all dust, and to dust we will return. But Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life.

These stories remind me of my need again this Lent to examine and resist by own human weaknesses; to be a little less fearful and self-centered, and more faithful to the sacred burden I carry as one created in the image of God. “I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Nadia Bolz-Weber has shared in her Substack that she is going to observe Lent this year by looking for and recording 40 days of good “stuff,” which if you know Nadia you know she describes that exercise more graphically! As a glass-half-empty kind of person I need all the help with gratitude I can get, especially in these days of doom-scrolling doldrums. So I have decided to launch my own discipline of being aware of at least one good or beautiful thing each day of Lent.

My good stuff for today was seeing a beautiful red headed woodpecker at our bird feeder. The big red head is a gorgeous bird, and I feel especially blessed that we see one fairly regularly at our house. The habitat for the big woodpeckers is being destroyed by urban sprawl, but at least for now we still have enough wooded land around us that the developers haven’t snarfed up that we get to enjoy this one I call Woody. The bad news is he/she doesn’t stay at our feeder very long; so I wasn’t able to get a picture today.

I googled the Red Headed Woodpecker today just for fun and was rewarded with some great Lenten news. What I found is that for some indigenous people the RHW represents the spiritual values of determination, strength, and perseverance. Those seem like exactly the values lacking in the Genesis 3 story which are on full display in Jesus’ replies to Satan in the wilderness.

Humans in paradise still aren’t satisfied with all the blessings they have and are greedy for more. But the Son of God, starving in the wilderness, knows that faith alone is enough to get us through any and all trials and tribulations life throws at us.

Time to Stand Up and Be Counted

by Steve Harsh, posted in brokenness, Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Government Reform, spiritual discipline

Twice in my ministry that I know of I had parishioners complain to church superiors about political issues I took a stand on. I’m embarrassed by that, not about those two incidents, but ashamed there weren’t a lot more of them.

When people argue that pastors shouldn’t express political opinions that usually means they disagree with said opinions. 

It also means they don’t understand how political Jesus and the biblical prophets were. Not to mention that pastors are citizens too with equal rights to their own opinions.

Some would add those opinions must be expressed outside their role as pastor. But the problem with that approach is that clergy are really never able to step outside their ordination vows and be just a normal citizen. Clergy as spokespersons for God are constantly in the crucible where secular and sacred clash.

I say that now because the United States is at a very critical crossroads in our history. We are on the verge of civil war because of the brutal and unjust occupation of Minneapolis by thugs posing as federal law enforcement agents. No one operating outside the bounds of federal law and Constitutional safeguards can claim law enforcement authority. 

Today another American citizen, a VA nurse no less, was gunned down while simply trying to hold these vigilantes accountable by taking pictures of their activities. If ICE is operating within the law why would they object to photographic evidence of what they are doing? Or why do they hide their identity behind masks? 

The ICE occupation of Minneapolis is just one symptom of Donald Trump’s Emperor Complex. His appetite for raw power is insatiable – from Venezuela to Gaza to Greenland he is trying to assert his faux power at the cost of destabilizing the world’s balance of power.

He enjoys destroying things like NATO, the East Wing, and the Constitution just to prove he can.
The biblical scene this dangerous farce calls to mind is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. In particular Satan’s third temptation reminds me of Trump’s and any dictator’s moment of truth.

Matthew’s Gospel tells it this way: “Again, the devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.” (4:8-11)

We know what Jesus did in that moment of testing. Without hesitation he sent Satan packing with a clear statement of his core beliefs. By contrast I think we all know what kind of transactional deal Donald Trump would make given that offer of world domination. Never mind that the one offering the deal is as phony as a three dollar bill.

More importantly however is this question: what would I do if tempted like that? Will I go along with cruelty and injustice so I can keep my privileged and comfortable life? Or will I speak up for God’s ways of truth, justice and mercy in whatever way I can? Will I keep contacting my cowardly congressional reps or give up because they have been accomplices with injustice so far? Will I keep hope alive for the salvation of our democratic way of life or throw up my hands in surrender?

There’s a great line in the play “Inherit the Wind” where Henry Drummond tells Bert Cates “It’s the loneliest feeling in the world – to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down. To have everybody look at you and say, ‘What’s the matter with him?'” But that is exactly what Jesus calls us to do when he says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 and Luke 9:23). 

And that choice is not new with Jesus or Bert Cates or you and me today. Way back in the history of the Hebrew people there is such a moment where the refugees from Egypt are about to enter the Promised Land, and their leader Joshua challenges them with these words, just as God challenges us today:

“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

That’s not an idle or ancient question. It’s as current and urgent as the blood stains in the snow of Minneapolis. Whom will we choose to serve?

Be Still and Know

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Faith Development, Sermon, spiritual discipline

I haven’t written anything yet in 2026 because I’ve been too depressed and angry about what’s going on in our country and world to muster enough energy to think, let alone write. I knew I am not alone in those feelings, but it felt strangely comforting when I read these words this morning from one of my heroines in the faith, Nadia Bolz-Weber. Nadia wrote, “I woke up wanting to write something that might be of help right now and I’m all tapped out. I got nothing.” She shared instead some modern Beatitudes she had written 10 years ago which were helpful and worth hearing again.

Fortunately for me I agreed weeks ago to preach this Sunday at a local retirement community, and that commitment forced me to wrestle with my faith and my doubts, and here’s what the Spirit has led me to prepare for that worship service.

When I told a friend I was preaching here at 3 pm he said, “Isn’t that nap time for old folks?”  If it is for you we’ll wake you when we’re done!  And then ironically shortly thereafter I saw an interesting article about something many of us remember from childhood.  How many of you remember pulling out your rug or blanket and lying down in kindergarten while soothing music played on the record player? 

The article is called “When We Taught Children How To Rest – And Then Forgot It Mattered.”  I don’t know the author,but he or she makes some important points I want to share with you. 

“For millions of children growing up in the 1950s, ’60s, and early ’70s, this ritual was as essential to kindergarten as finger paint and the alphabet. It wasn’t filler. It wasn’t babysitting.

It was the lesson. Stillness Was Once Part of the Curriculum

Educators believed something we’ve slowly forgotten: young children need quiet.

Not just sleep—but stillness.

A pause where feelings could settle. A space where overstimulated minds could wander safely.

The science agreed. Children’s brains and nervous systems were still under construction. Rest wasn’t a reward. It wasn’t optional. It was developmental maintenance.

Then We Decided to Hurry.  By the 1970s and ’80s, something shifted.

Kindergarten stopped being about socialization and curiosity and started being about readiness.

Pre-reading. Early math. Staying on track. Getting ahead.

Schedules tightened. Testing crept younger. Parents worried about falling behind before childhood had even properly begun.  Naptime began to feel inefficient.  Unproductive.

A luxury we could no longer afford.

And we act surprised when childhood anxiety soars.  Naptime wasn’t just about sleep. It taught us that rest has value, that quiet has purpose, that you don’t have to be productive every minute to be worthy……  We once dimmed the lights, put on a record, and gave twenty small people permission to just be.  Maybe it’s time we remembered how.”

A few weeks ago when we had that lovely warm October God reminded me of that wisdom.  After worship I spent some time praying in the beautiful outdoor chapel that we have at Northwest UMC, and the words that came to me were “Be still and know that I am God.” I have meditated on those words many times in the days and weeks since, seeking the balm they offer in the chaotic world we inhabit just now.

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t remember where those words come from in Scripture until I googled them. They are of course in verse 10 of the Psalm we just read, and the opening verses set the scene powerfully for having faith to be still when life is literally crumbling around us.

The psalm begins with these words:

“1 God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,”

Scholars believe those words were written as the armies of Assyria were besieging the city of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.  Many of us can relate today.  We feel under siege from bodies that are feeling the slings and arrows of the aging process.  Or that the very values we thought our country was founded on are under attack, and we feel helpless to do anything about it.

How can we not wonder if God really is our help and refuge? Where is God’s help in this all too real time of trouble?  As I typed those words originally for a blog I write, and I’m not making this up, a notification popped up on the top of my iPad screen that said “Don’t Stop Believein’!” “Don’t Stop Believin’!”  I literally looked around to see if Big Brother or someone was reading over my shoulder!  It was spooky, but even more real than the message I heard that day in the chapel that said to be still and know I’m God.

As it turns out that message was a notification on my iPad advertising that the rock band Journey who sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” is coming to do a concert in Columbus next summer, but the timing of that message seemed way too relevant to be just a coincidence.

And that is what the psalmist is saying to the besieged, hopeless folks in Jerusalem surrounded by the mighty armies of King Sennacherib of Assyria.  Don’t stop believing!

God says, be still and know I am God, which implies the rest of that sentence – I’m God and you’re not.  So trust me.  I got you out of Egypt and through the wilderness, and I’ll get you out of this mess too.  But like us the people of Israel don’t always get it.  In my imagination I can picture God, like any frustrated parent, wanting to say, “Shut up and Listen!”

Every age has its moments of siege.  “A Mighty Fortress” that we sang earlier was written based on this Psalm by Martin Luther in about 1527-29 when he was under terrible persecution from the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.

After Luther refused to retract his writings, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull excommunicating him in 1521. 

Luther was summoned before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the imperial assembly, where he famously refused to recant his views, leading to his condemnation. 

The Edict of Worms (also in 1521)declared Luther an outlaw, banned his writings, and made it a crime to harbor him, with punishment for heresy being burning at the stake. 

To protect him, Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony arranged for Luther to be “kidnapped” and taken to Wartburg Castle for his safety, where he translated the New Testament into German.

Even as Luther was protected, his supporters faced severe repercussions, including loss of jobs, imprisonment, and execution, as persecution against Lutherans intensified across the Holy Roman Empire. And through all of this people sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” which became known as the Battle Hymn of the Reformation.

The most powerful words in that hymn for me are, “The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.”  That was true in 1528; it’s true today; and it will never change.  That is what it means to be still and know that God is God.  God’s in charge and will prevail in God’s good time – not ours.  And because of that we can still pull out our blankets,   put on some soothing music and sleep in the heavenly peace of innocent five-year-olds. 

Benediction:

Because of God’s ultimate rule of the whole universe, no matter how bad things seem at this or any moment, personal or in history, we can“Be still, and know that I am God!    I am exalted among the nations;    I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.”  Today, tomorrow, and Forever.  Amen

The Original Christmas Carol: Mary’s Magnificat

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Christmas, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.    

Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their throne and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:46-53)

Those famous words we call The Magnificat are some of the most profound and radical part of the Christmas story. They are often ignored because of the discomfort they cause for us privileged people if we take them seriously. They are uttered by a poor pregnant peasant girl as she begins to grasp the power and mystery surrounding the birth of the baby in her womb.

Her words, of course, are a total rejection of the blasphemous Prosperity Gospel and Christian Nationalism so prevalent in our culture today. Mary’s words remind me of the disconnect between the Christmas Gospel and American materialism, namely the class divide between the working class and the investor class.  That division exists because of some missing links in the American Dream success story.  Not everyone has the same resources or knowledge about how to play the capitalistic financial game.

I grew up in a one-income blue collar family. I didn’t understand it as a child, but in hindsight I realize we lived pay check to pay check. When my dad lost his job because a union buster bought the newspaper he worked for my parents had to sell our home and move into a rental property.

There was no extra income in families like mine to be risked in playing the market. We had Christmas Club accounts at the bank to save up a little for next year’s Christmas. Families like mine had no need to learn how to invest because there was no money to do that with.

My other insight about our capitalistic system as I ponder Mary’s words is that the very people who still today can’t afford to invest are the ones working for low wages and poor benefits so the Fortune 500’s can make big profits and pay good returns to their stockholders.

Those same companies don’t promote fiscal education but feed the frenzy of consumerism. So those low wage earners run up 20% interest credit card bills and mortgages they can’t afford which keep them in perpetual debt and unable to benefit from the advantages of the unearned income of the investor class, of which I am now a part because that’s where my pension funds were directed. That income is, of course, earned – just not by the investors, but by the hard-working, pay-check-to-pay-check labor force.

It’s a vicious cycle older than Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, and young expectant Mary is the Holy Trinity of Christmas ghosts past, present, and future continuing to proclaim the true values of the Kingdom Jesus came to bring.  

Be Still and Don’t Stop Believin’

by Steve Harsh, posted in brokenness, Faith and Politics, hope

A couple of Sundays ago when our Ohio October was still summerlike I spent some time in the Chapel in the Woods at our church after Sunday worship. Because of scheduling issues I attended our contemporary service that Sabbath which is not my preference. That Sunday was actually World Communion Sunday, a day that always has special meaning for me, especially in our fractured world today.

On that Sunday our church celebrated World Communion primarily at our traditional service because the contemporary service had been set aside for our annual Blessing of the Animals service. Communion was still celebrated at the contemporary service, along with treats for God’s four-footed critters that came to be blessed.

Needless to say it was a lively and noisy service, which is always fun, but it was not exactly what I needed that day. So, after worship I spent some time praying in our beautiful outdoor chapel and the words that came to me were “Be still and know that I am God.” I have meditated on those words frequently in the days since, seeking the balm they offer in the chaotic world we inhabit just now.

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t remember where those words come from in Scripture until I googled them. They are of course in verse 10 of a Psalm I have used dozens of times in funeral services, and the opening verses set the scene powerfully for having faith to be still when life is literally crumbling around us like the East Wing of the White House.

The psalm begins with these words:

“1 God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”

Those are the opening verses of Psalm 46 which some scholars believe was written as the armies of Assyria were besieging the city of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Many of us can easily relate. It feels like all the values we thought our country was founded on are under siege.

I could recite a whole litany of things we’ve lost in the last 10 months, but I will focus instead on one of the most recent and egregious violations of Christian morality and Constitutional order. Because of the government shutdown SNAP benefits that help feed 42 million Americans have been cut off for the last 6 days.

There are contingency funds available to pay those food stamp benefits, and that has always been done in every other shutdown we’ve had. The only difference this time is the one who resides in what’s left of the White House.

Two federal judges have ordered the President to release those funds and provide food for hungry Americans, including the elderly and children. But Donald Trump has decided to ignore those court orders so he can use those 42 million people as political bargaining chips in the high stakes game of chicken he is playing with the democrats.

Meanwhile the President has given $40 million of our tax dollars to Argentina which hurts already desperate American farmers. He’s spent millions on unauthorized military action against Iran and Venezuela, and is threatening to do the same in Nigeria. But he refuses to even negotiate with democrats about skyrocketing health care premiums or to follow court orders and feed hungry people.

It seems useless to remind Washington about what Jesus said about feeding the least of these, although I have done so repeatedly with my three Republicans representatives in Congress. The tone deafness of this administration to calls for empathy and justice for our fellow human beings certainly feels like basic human decency is under siege.

How can we not wonder if God really is our help and refuge? Where is God’s help in this all too real time of trouble? As I typed those words, and I’m not making this up, a notification popped up on the top of my iPad screen that said “Don’t Stop Believein’!” That message came because the rock band Journey is coming to Columbus, OH next summer, but the timing of that message seemed way too relevant to be just a coincidence.

And that seems to be what the psalmist is saying to the besieged, hopeless folks in Jerusalem surrounded by the mighty armies of Sennacherib.

5 “God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
    God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice; the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.[c] Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
    see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.”

And because of God’s ultimate rule of the whole universe, no matter how bad things seem at this or any moment, personal or in history, we can
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
    I am exalted among the nations;
    I am exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

On Ash Wednesday last year we had an experiential worship service, and one of the things we were asked to do was create something from clay that was symbolic of the meaning of the season of Lent. I made this symbol which is still on my desk:

Some people thought it was a fish, which would be ok; but that is not what I was going for. I started out with an infinity symbol and then made one end into a heart. For me it symbolizes the only thing we can really count on and the only thing we need – God’s Infinite Love.

That ‘s what enables me at times to be still and know God’s in charge, even when the infidels are literally not only at the gates but in the seats of power.

Jerusalem was reborn from the ashes and somehow, someday the land of the free and the brave will be also. Be still and don’t stop believin’.

October 13: A Clash of Cultures

by Steve Harsh, posted in Economics, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

On this second Monday of October we Americans have a controversial federal holiday about the founding of our nation. With that in mind Father Richard Rohr had some interesting thoughts to share last week in one of his daily meditations.

“After touring Indian Territory in 1887, Senator Henry Dawes described the Cherokees in this way:  

The head chief told us that there was not a family in the whole nation that had not a home of its own. There is not a pauper in that nation, and the nation does not owe a dollar. It built its own capitol … and built its schools and hospitals. Yet the defect of the system was apparent. They have got as far as they can go, because they hold their land in common…. There is no selfishness, which is at the bottom of civilization. Till these people will consent to give up their lands, and divide them among their citizens so that each can own the land he cultivates, they will not make much progress.”

“Progress,” according to Senator Dawes, meant individualism, materialism, and even selfishness. None of these ideals are Cherokee values, nor do they represent the values of other Native Americans….”

Compare and contrast those values of “individualism, materialism, and even selfishness” with these from Jesus and Christian Scripture:

Jesus tells a rich young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21)

Luke 6:20, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ mother Mary offers her prayer known as the Magnificat immediately after the birth of Jesus: “

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53)

And then in the Book of Acts we have this description of the early church: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:42-43)

There is no sign of any “individualism, materialism, or selfishness” in any of these descriptions of God’s kingdom. The Christian view of a beloved community sounds a whole lot more like the societies of the indigenous people who lived in the Americas for thousands of years before 1492 than the consumer culture that destroyed who and what was here before the Europeans arrived.

Let’s pray on these things today no matter what we choose to call the second Monday in October.