Can You Hear Me Now?

The constitution of the congregations of the denomination in which I serve (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) include a chapter which lists the duties of the pastor. In most congregations, those duties include this charge:

The pastor shall speak publicly to the world in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, calling for justice and proclaiming God’s love for the world.

Public witness. That is an important piece of what the church is called to be (A city on a hill, the salt of the earth), and also what we who work for the church are called to do. And yet, far too often, our witness has consisted of "Come join us for worship!"

One reason that I advocate for clergy and other church leaders to get involved in social media is that it gives us a voice in the public square in a way that we have never had before. The Rev. Evan Dolive is a great example of this. Perhaps you have heard of Victoria's Secret's new line, aiming at ever younger girls? Chances are, you heard of it because of Pastor Dolive, a Disciples of Christ pastor in the Houston. He wrote an open letter to Victoria's Secret and published it on his blog, and to date it has been viewed 3.7 million times.

I've had the opportunity to ask Evan a few questions about his experience.

David Hansen: How long have you been blogging? Why did you start?
Evan Dolive: I have been blogging for a little over a year now. I started when I began writing for a local paper. I wanted a place to host all of my writings. After a few posts, I began to write pieces just for the blog. My goal was twice a week and some weeks I did that and some weeks I didn’t. I wanted my blog to be a place where Christianity was seen as multifaceted and rich not bland and boring. When I was in seminary at Lexington Theological Seminary we were taught that we were not being trained just as ministers, but rather ‘public theologians.’ I use this mind set when I approach a topic or situation that I am blogging about.


DH: Prior to this post, who was the primary audience of your blog? 
ED: My primary audience were Christians, non-Christians and those disenfranchised with the modern church. I wanted to provide a place where the public life seen in a different lens and Christianity was not viewed as a literalist, legalistic religion. I wanted people to know that a life lived for Christ didn’t have to look like the 700 Club. :-) The primary readership were my Facebook friends and Twitter followers.


DH: What was your traffic like before?
ED: Not all that great... a deemed a success a post that received more than 50 hits :-). The best post I had before this one was a reflection on the “Chick-fil-a Day back in August 2012- it received 2500 hits in two days.

DH: At what point did you know that this was going viral?
ED: I would say when I hit 60,000 page views in a day and then the next day I had 60,000 page views before 8 am.

DH: Tell me about traditional media reaction.
ED: I have been interviewed by four local Houston stations- CBS, Fox, NBC, CW. I have been interviewed by two national news organizations- CNN and HLN (Headline News).
I know of about 20 print articles that talk about my post -- I would say that is a low ball number.

DH: What advice would you offer to pastors about social media?
ED: Don’t think it is waste of time. Social media is the ONLY reason why my letter went viral. I once had someone tell me that they didn't use social media because “they didn't care when I went to the bathroom.” (implying that only useless information is posted on social media outlets). While is true for some people, it not for the majority of people using social media. The world is changing and more and more people are using social media. It is a valuable resource for connecting people together. In the emergent and younger generations (the ones that every church says they want to target) the understanding of community is vastly different than the “Baby Boomer” and “Greatest” generations. In these particular generations, people will take spirituality and community where ever they can find it and that includes the internet.  Social media is not going away it is only going to become more integrated into our lives like the new Facebook phone. Social media connects people from around the world and in the same congregation and therefore should be used effectively.


Most of the commentary I have seen has been debating Evan's criticism of Victoria's Secret. Is Victoria's Secret out of line, or is Pastor Dolive over-reacting?
Such questions absolutely miss the most important point. 

With one post, Evan got us all talking. Church people. Non-church people. News commentators. Cultural commentators. All asking the same questions. Whether or not you agree with "An Open Letter to Victoria's Secret," it changed the conversation.

Facebook is the new public square.Twitter is the new public square. With the click of a mouse, Evan Dolive changed the focus of the public conversation. He was not a celebrity blogger. He was not a nationally known theologian. He didn't be a full page ad in the local paper or a tv spot during the SuperBowl.
Just a pastor, striving to be a public witness. Just a pastor, who one day clicked "publish" on his blog.

And what about you? What about your church?
Will we speak publicly to the world?

(I am grateful to Evan Dolive, whom I have gotten to know on various social media prior to this, for taking the time to answer my questions and provide some background. Bookmark his blog to keep up with his fantastic posts.) 

The Lorax & the Empty Tomb

(Spoiler: I'm going to talk about the end of the movie. If you don't want to know until you watch it, then don't read on)

I’ll admit it, I was excited about the seeing The Lorax with my daughter. It was one of the books that I grew up with, and I was excited not only to share it with my daughter, but also to see it brought to life.

I was a little bit anxious about the overlaid plot. If you remember, the book is just the Once-ler telling his story. And so, the movie was given a bit more of a plot – the Once-ler’s re-telling was set within a larger story. But I thought it worked very well.

In fact, I was pretty impressed with the movie overall. The animation did a wonderful job of bringing the vivid world of Dr. Seuss to life. All the characters were great and very … um … Seuss-like. Ok, so the music left a little to be desired – but to be fair, I still have the great songs from The Muppets running through my head. Danny DeVito even sounded the way I had imagined the Lorax in my head.

Then came the ending. They gave The Lorax a happy ending! Do you remember the book? It ends in a tree-free world of smog, with the Once-ler figuring out what “Unless” means: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” And that is it.

But the movie ends with new trees growing, the Once-ler seeing the return of blue skies and the animals – and even the return of the Lorax. Everything all wrapped up, brought back together to a happy ending and a nice musical number. None of the uncomfortable challenge from the end of Dr. Seuss’ book.

Just as if someone had tacked a longer ending on the Mark’s Gospel, telling stories of the resurrection.

Mark’s Gospel ends just like Seuss’ book. There is the beginning of hope (an empty tomb, one last seed), but if the story is to have a happy ending it is up to the audience to make it happen. If trees are going to get planted, the reader of the Lorax will have to do it. If there is to be a witness to the resurrected Christ, the hearer of Mark’s Gospel will have to be that witness.

Dr. Seuss and Mark both leave us in the darkness, with just a glimmer of hope. They place that hope in our hands, and call on us to go back into the world and bring the light with us.

The truth is, though, that we would rather have a happy ending. We would rather hear that “They all lived happily ever after,” and not have to change our lives. We prefer stories that make us feel basically good about the world, rather than stories that challenge us to change ourselves and the world.

A good Lutheran, Theodore Geisel knew that the world is not all sunshine and happy endings. There is a task for each one of us, to bring the light of the resurrection into a world of smog and darkness.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

It is true about caring for trees and our environment. It also about caring for God’s children.

Top Illustration: From The Lorax, Universal Studios and Illumination, released in 2012. Image is property of the copyright holder; Fair use claimed for as image is used commentary & discussion of the work in question.  

Bottom Illustration: From The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Published by Random House, 1971. Image is property of the copyright holder; Fair use claimed for as image is used commentary & discussion of the work in question

A September 11 Story

In addition to being a graduate of the finest Lutheran institution of higher learning in the US, Rebecca Kolowe is a diaconal minister in the ELCA. In 2001, Rebecca was an ELCA missionary serving in Cameroon. A few years ago, she wrote this piece on the anniversary of 9/11. (You can read more by Rebecca at her blog)

September 11 is an eerie day for me, as I assume it also is for most Americans in the post 9/11/2001 era. What it must be like for most Americans to remember the happenings of that fateful day, however, and to have it define their consciences and their very beings, is not something that I am familiar with or can understand from experience.

The truth is that my September 11 story is one of life as a missionary in a predominately Muslim town in Central Africa. On September 11, 2001, I was living in Ngaoundere, a bustling town on the central plateau of Cameroon. I was teaching English and Bible at a Protestant High School where many of my students were Muslims. When those planes hit the World Trade Center, it was a little after 3 p.m. in my part of the world. I had just finished teaching for the day and had gone out to the market to buy rice, milk powder, and cheese.

My 9-11 story is that on that afternoon I walked into a shop for ex-patriots that is owned by a prominent and beloved Muslim family in our town. Madame Alizar and her husband are originially from Lebanon. They have made a good living opening their shop selling things that Africans don't eat (like cheese) to the many missionaries and foreign buisiness people that come to Ngaoundere.

On that afternoon the TV was on in the back room. When I came into the shop, Madame Alizar saw me and came out to the front counter. She grabbed my arm frantically and said, "What are you doing here?" Something was obviously wrong. She told me that I had to go home (to my home in Ngaoundere) at once, that something horrible had happened in America.

By the time I got back to my home, it was all over, and the other missionaries were looking for me. They had CNN International on and we all sat down and watched. We knew that this was REALLY bad. Perhaps some of us even knew what it might mean for our country. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I did not.

My experience of 9-11 is not one of fear. I don't understand what it was like in America in what must have been those horrible days following the attacks. I hear stories of the eerie quietness of the skies. I hear that the churches were full that following Sunday, and that people stopped each other in the street and remembered their humanity for a while. I have heard those stories.

I have also seen how much 9-11 shaped our consiousness as Americans into something that I didn't recognize when I finally came home to U.S. soil in July of 2002.

On September 12, 2001, I awoke to another average school day. Life just went on. And then there was a knock at my door. A Muslim woman who was my neighbor had come to offer her condolences for what had happened the day before in the U.S. I told her it was OK; I appreciated her kind words, but she didn't have any responsibility for what had happened. Then she told me something that I believe sets my 9-11 experience apart from probably just about every American I know: She said that she didn't have any personal responsibility for the violence, but she was sorry anyways. She talked about how disgusting it was that this horrific act of violence had been done in the name of her religion. She told me that this is not what Muslims believe, and that the Prophet Muhammed would not have condoned this.

This might not have marked me so deeply except that over the course of the day, it happened again and again. Muslim people who I knew, and ones I didn't know, came to me again and again, all day long, to tell me they were so sorry that this had happened and that it had been done in the name of a religion that they espoused. These people, my Muslim neighbors, were truly grieved by the violence that had been committed in the name of Islam, the Prophet they love, and the God they love.

When I came home to the U.S. I began to realize how different my 9-11 experience was from others' experiences. September 11, 2001, changed the face of America in ways that I do not believe are all positive. And, it seems to have been the defining moment of my generation, like the way the Kennedy or the MLK assassinations shaped my parents' generation, or the Great Depression and World War II shaped my grandparents'. And, strangely, I find myself being left out of that defining moment. I missed it--I missed the defining moment. That makes me incredibly different. I believe it also makes me incredibly lucky.

I have been given a gift. For many years, I was afraid to tell people about how the Muslim community cared about and supported me and my fellow missionaries in the days following September 11. It is a very unpopular message, but a true one. I know now, as I did then, that it is a story that needs to be told. I just haven't been able to tell it until very recently.

I know a very different Islam than the one that was portayed here in the days after 9-11. Don't believe everything that a too-liberal media tells you that you should believe about the events of that day and its aftermath. Don't believe everything the government tells you, either. The politics of fear have encroached on our lives and controlled us for too long. Propaganda was not just used in communist USSR or Nazi Germany to control the people; it has been used here in America, too, by our government and media over the last 8 years, and used well. Don't buy in to the idea that Islam is evil. "Islam vs. the West" is something that we have blindly accepted without really knowing what that means.

Remember September 11 for what it was. It was a tragic day in a world full of tragic days. Remember those little glimpses of humanity that you saw in the days following that tragedy. I know I do. I often think about those faithful Muslims who ministered to me in the aftermath of what has become an identity-altering day in the life of my nation. Pray that unity and new birth will arise from the ashes of that day, and that that unity and new birth will include a new identity where people of all faiths can be seen as valuable.

Faithful Conversation

On Sunday night, I was up late watching the news come in that US Special Forces had killed Osama Bin Laden. The next day, processing my reaction to the news, I felt the need to have some sort of service at the congregation I service - some opportunity for us to pray and talk together. I bounced the idea off colleagues who helped me think whether or not this was really the appropriate course of action.  In the end I decided to go ahead and have a service of prayer and conversation on Tuesday night.

I had a couple of reasons for deciding to do this. First, this was a historic event - one of those, "you will remember where you were when you heard," events. And I believe that we need to make the faith community a part of those events in our lives. As people try to figure out the meaning of major events in our world, the church cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. People are looking for answers - and if they cannot seek those answers in the church, they will look for them elsewhere. The death of Bin Laden certainly will not be the end of terrorism, but it is a symbolic victory - and who knows better how to talk in symbols than the church?

Second, the death of Osama Bin Laden brought forward raw emotion for many people. It brought back to the surface feelings of grief, anger, and fear that originated in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The church needs to be a safe place for people to come and live out those emotional responses. A place where the people of God can expose their wounds and their scars, seeking the comfort of one another and the presence of the Great Healer.

And third, the death of Osama Bin Laden stirred in many people the tension of their dual citizenships in the United States and the Kingdom of God. As Americans, there is a natural response of nationalistic triumphalism, a certain rejoicing at the execution of justice. As children of God, a pondering of how this fits into God's justice and Jesus' command to love our enemies.

And so I called for a service of prayer and conversation. It was intentionally not a "class" or a conversation in the Parish Hall. We met in the sanctuary. The people of God find our meaning in worship, in prayer, and in Scripture. I sent out emails, spread the word over facebook, and on Tuesday night about 30 people gathered in the sanctuary of St. John - Prairie Hill.

I prepared a bulletin of sorts. It had a bare bones liturgy, but more importantly it had some pertinent prayers and readings from Scripture. I didn't know if we would use the liturgy, but I wanted it to be available as a structure in case the conversation got heated or we need the structure to move us forward.

We opened with the gathering litany from the ELW Vespers service, and a prayer for the Spirit's guidance in our worship and conversation. And then, I opened the floor. We talked about how we heard the news, and our initial reactions. We talked about how our reactions changed after we had sat with them for a couple of days. As we talked, from time to time I would stop the conversation and offer a prayer or a reading, to keep us centered. Almost everyone present shared in some way, and in all we talked for about 45 minutes. We closed with Luther's evening prayer and a benediction.

The prayers I included came from ELW with some slight modification. The were the prayers for enemies, prayers for our nation and our leaders, prayers for those in military service, the prayer of St. Francis, and a few others. The readings I included were the judgement of Cain, Romans 12:2-21, and Matthew 5:38-48.

Everyone in that group that gathered expressed some sort of conflict about their reactions. What did it mean to pray for our enemies? What if you were not able to forgive your enemies - not just Bin Laden, but the people in your life who had wronged you? And we talked about those tensions, together. I shared with them the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his conflict over the decision to take part in the plot to assassinate Hitler. I talked a little bit about Luther's two Kingdoms. I'll be honest, I don't remember everything I said. What I know is that, at the end of the night, we had all expressed our relief at the death of Bin Laden, our struggles to love and forgive our enemies, and our desire to become people who live into the Sermon on the Mount.

And I took a number of other things away from this. Even in the very conservative area where I serve, there was a real sense that rejoicing was not the right response to the death of another. As much as my clergy colleagues have been talking about this over the last few days, you would think that most people's reaction was one of joy. I certainly did not see that. Relief is a much better word. Less a shout of alleluia, and more a collective sigh of relief.

I also observed that people were hungry to hear what the church has to say. They wanted to know, what does this mean for my faith? What does Scripture say? I think we (clergy, church leaders) have done the people of God a disservice by not making the church a place where people can come to make sense of the events of the world. I'm not talking about political commentary or partisanship -- they can get that everywhere else. Nor am I talking about being berated by a prophetic pastor who tells them how far short they fall and how wrong their politics are. No, I am talking about a safe place, where they can engage in dialog with each other, the Scriptures, and their pastor about how their faith can help them understand the political and historic events of the world.

Finally, I observed that the congregation was hungry for me, as their pastor, to be honest and authentic with them. The room opened up when I talked about my own struggles to love and forgive my enemies. Had I tried to say that I am able to live into the Sermon on the Mount without struggle, they probably would have tuned me out. Yes, pastors, speak with authority when God calls us to. But, there are other times when your people need to hear you say, I don't know, or I pray for God's strength - because God knows there are people I struggle to forgive.

Pardon the rambling nature of this note. I am still very moved by the experience that we had, talking and worshiping with these people whom I love so much. Their faith inspires me, and their willingness to listen for God's voice speaking through the Body. It was a small group that gathered, but I think that what took place last night at Prairie Hill was exactly what everyone needed.

Why Twitter Matters

I avoided Twitter. I set up an account about a year and a half ago (@rev_david), but it largely sat their unused. I didn't see the point. It seemed like a waste of time. I couldn't see the personal or professional benefits of learning my way around Twitter. Sure, I used Facebook extensively. I blogged. I was not opposed to social media. I just didn't see the benefit of this particular form of social media.

About a month ago, I thought I would dive in.  I connected with some people. I had some good dialog with new people and with old friends. As a theological, homiletic exercise, I tweeted as Judas.

And then came Wednesday, April 25. It was in a flash on my Twitter feed, which I keep up while working in my office, that I saw the news of tornadoes in Alabama. Tornadoes headed for Chattanooga, my hometown, and the current home of family members and friends.

So I searched. Who was tweeting from Chattanooga? From North Georgia? I contacted my parents, to check and see if they were okay. They were without power, riding out the storms. Sitting at my desk in Brenham, Texas, I had better information about what was happening in and around Chattanooga than they did at times. Through Twitter, I knew exactly when and where the tornadoes where appearing in the Chattanooga area. All of a sudden, Twitter didn't seem like a waste of time.

And then came tonight, Sunday, May 1. Relaxing after getting home late from a very long Sunday, I was talking with recently met colleagues about "low Sunday," the first Sunday after Easter. Just about ready to call it a night. And then, a tweet: "President to have a press conference at 10:30 pm." People began to speculate. This was sudden. This was late at night. What could it be?

Many guesses. Then, a few rumors. Then a flood. "POTUS Press Conference national security related." "Related to Bin Laden." "Reliable sources say Bin Laden is dead."

I turned on my TV. Nothing. The Apprentice was still on NBC. The news channels said it was a security related press conference. That was all. And then, some fifteen to twenty minutes later, "Confirmed: Osama Bin Laden dead."

Ok, it was fifteen to twenty minutes that the news was out on Twitter before in the media. That may not seem like much. But the fact is, this was reliable information, spread by the people, directly to the people; without filter. And all of a sudden, Twitter didn't seem like a waste of time.

Yes, you can still waste time on Twitter. Yes, there is a great deal of inane content on Twitter, and even more unreliable information disseminated through Twitter. Like any crowd-sourced information source, Twitter has its flaws. And yet, at times it works. And when it works, we get a glimpse of what social media is designed to do.

Many thoughts running through my mind tonight, waiting for the press conference to begin. But among them is this: Twitter does not seem like a waste of time tonight.

Secret Millionaire (aka Hidden Poverty)

I watched Secret Millionaire for the first time yesterday. I had seen that it was going to be in Houston, so I hit the record button on my DVR. I have resisted watching the series until now. The whole concept seemed gimmicky to me, and it made me uncomfortable for reasons that I couldn't put my finger on. So I didn't watch. But watching this most recent episode, I think I am a little more capable of putting my finger at what disturbs me about the concept of this show.

Ok, yes. It was moving. It was heart-warming to see the good work done by the social agencies featured in the show (Lazarus House, No More Victims, and the Sean Ashley House). It was heart-breaking to see the poverty in the neighborhood visited by the "secret millionaires." It was touching to see the millionaire couple appear genuinely moved by what they saw, and respond with generosity. All that is true. And, if that is all that matters, then it was good entertainment.

But this is not just entertainment. This is life - life in our country, life in our culture. When Kevin & Diane Hearn arrived in Houston's 3rd Ward - a neighborhood that Kevin had grown up in - they were shocked at what they saw. In their daily life, they don't encounter people who live in that sort of poverty. They live in a different America. In the 3rd Ward, the average annual income is around $5,500. In the Hearns America, that is on the low side for a daily income.

• How about instead of asking people like the Hearns to help in communities like the 3rd Ward for entertainment, we say that no one should have to live in that sort of poverty in our America?
• Wouldn't it be a great America if organizations like the Lazarus House, the Sean Ashley House, and No More Victims didn't have to scrape by on shoe-string budgets?
• How is it that a show like "Secret Millionaire" - and the generosity that it highlights - does well in the ratings at a time when we are cutting our funding of social services for the poorest people in our country?

Maybe a show like Secret Millionaire is good entertainment, good television. But when I watch it, I can't help but feel like it is a symptom of a very deep-seated illness. A reflection of our twisted thinking about wealth, the Gospel, and what it means to love and care for our neighbor. We seem caught in in a mindset that our first priority is to look out for ourselves, take care of ourselves, and close our eyes to how our actions affect anyone else.

Should a nation that calls itself Christian, that claims a Christian heritage and values, be able to close our eyes to the suffering of any of God's children? Should there be an option for us to live a comfortable life where we never have to see the "other America" - the America that struggles below the poverty line?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not just talking about the extremely wealthy, like the Hearns. It's us in middle-class America too. I've never been to the Houston's 3rd Ward, and I live just down the road. But what would happen if we spent the $30 a month to help lift people out of poverty, instead of on our membership to a gym like Curves? What if we spent $50 a month to provide healthcare for those special needs children, instead of on our satellite tv subscription? What if we spent $5 a day on education for children from troubled homes, instead of on another latte? What if we really start to look at the affects of poverty in America, instead of letting the poor be hidden from our eyes?

I'm just asking the questions. I don't know that I have the answers. But they are questions that I think that we need to ask together. Or, we could just change the channel.