I am pursuing theological education at the Spiritual Formation with LSTC’s Project Starling. I want to get a proper formation and explore if God has a plan for me here in His church with the ELCA.

I continue with my Franciscan Lutheran Monk’s prayer groups, to emulate how to be holy without having much of the outside world intrude.

Both take years to pursue, which gives me plenty of time to discern. I don’t wish to continue down a path simply because I’m stubborn and I feel obligated; I want to fall in love with the Church at its roots and work my way back to where it is today. It might be that I have to go elsewhere, but I want to give it an honest chance to move me. Perhaps feel once again like the first day I came in.

I have a sketch of an idea that there’s a place for people like me, and perhaps if I can find a path, that’ll be a path for others who have left the church and wish to come back. That is what I truly hope God has in store for me.

I continue to pray for wisdom and guidance, and I ask you do too.

This one is tough, because I want to help the ELCA organization. I am deeply grateful for my miracle and I want to give back. I’ve found it difficult, but I endeavor to pursue my promise.

I feel like the ELCA is a left-wing social justice organization that sometimes worships and sometimes prays. I don’t think I’m alone in that sentiment, even for those who enjoy the social justice aspects of the Church.

I’ve traveled around the world – to Istanbul and Vietnam and many places in between. I’ve visited many mosques and Orthodox Churches, Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, etc. In all those holy places, they are a garden of peace and serenity in a chaotic world. Why not ours?

The ELCA Church seems bent on bringing in external conflicts into their houses of worship. So there is no reprieve from the noise; if anything quite the opposite. It’s a galvanizing force in the community when it comes to external issues, primarily social and political causes. It is a powerful force for many of our neighbors.

Yet….why must I choose between enjoying fellowship with my neighbors and the causes that they love? Is it one-size-fits-all? Why do I have to worry if I can just hear the liturgy in its elements? It’s only an hour a week, after all.

There’s a Church event coming up, and the person who sponsored it understood where I was coming from – I wanted to help but I didn’t want to Participate. I would help with set-up and take-down, but I probably wouldn’t attend. It’s the best compromise I heard all year. It seemed like a small thing, but it mattered because I didn’t have to feel like I had choose between my principles and my neighbors.

To be clear, I’m not demanding for THEM to change. I wouldn’t expect them to support things that go AGAINST their principles either. I choose to attend a liberal church, mostly because I want to go where my neighbors are and I want to belong. Sometimes it feels like wanting that isn’t enough.

Oh well, let’s see what comes next.

To pray the rosary it takes 25-27 minutes. The Irish do it in 7 minutes. They pray so quickly, so fervently, they push the words out in the world with such force one wonders if it is holy or deeply irreverent.

The Irish pray with such urgency, such passion, they pray with the fervent need for God and the angels to hear them. It’s the praying of the mother rushing to the hospital for her child; it’s the praying of a soldier in the middle of combat; it is the praying of the elderly for once more, just once more, to have their old strength save a stranger stuck under a car. The prays are said so quickly, so passionately, so urgently for fear that God won’t hear them in time.

They are prayed so intensely, so that God knows it’s important. The prays are said again and again, in case God forgets what they’re praying for. The prays are said with power and pleading of the Holy Spirit and all the saints and all the angels, so that if God will not hear their prayers, God will hear them repeated to them by those He Loves mosts.

To pray in such a way is to pray with all your heart, mind and soul. It is powerful, God does hear all the angels sing and rejoice. God loves the Irish, and He loves their prayers.

I struggle myself to pray like the Irish when I pray for the Church and its people. It is a gift that God bestowed upon them and them alone. He made them special in that way.

Keep the Faith

My gays and lesbians and all folx on the spectrum!

Where did YOU go?

Sure we got a few gay couples at our church, but we recently lost our only lesbian family!

Progressives have a lot of love for the LGBTQ+ community that is not very-well reciprocated. But we keep trying to impress this tiny demographic and are intensely focused on them. I don’t get it at all.

No one doubts for a second that ELCA is gay-fiendly. All the churches have huge Pride flags, host days of remembrances, embrace whatever Queer Theology has evolved into these days. It’s just that it’s fishing in a small pond when it comes to recruitment.

Gays and Lesbians have been married for a while. They had kids, and are raising kids. Because they are normal people who want to be treated as normal people. The Church treats them like they’re magical or under distress – it’s almost never the case and usually quite the opposite. Gay couples are far and away the top-earners in any social class. That’s what happens when two dudes live together with nil kids. The lesbians aren’t far behind.

And gays are normal people – it seems that most of them are bored and tired with all the attention paid to them. And another rainbow cupcake doesn’t move the needle.

So normal, in fact, that LGBTQ+ are now voting REPUBLICAN more and more. Ironically, that should be praised as a true victory for normalization, that LGBTQ+ folx can vote beyond their identity.

Based on available exit polls and reports:

• 2016: Approximately 14% of LGBTQ+ voters supported Donald Trump.
• 2020: Around 27-30% of LGBTQ+ voters backed Trump, with figures varying slightly by source.
• 2024: Exit polls indicate about 12-13% of LGBTQ+ voters voted for Trump, with some sources suggesting up to 18%.

Directionally, they’re comprising more and more of the Red vote. Which is a wonderful thing for several reasons.

1.) Inclusion to the Republican party as a significant voter base means that their agenda items will more and more be incorporated into the Party Platform.

2.) It means that LGBTQ+ are finally getting comfortable to vote for things other than perceived bigotry. Progressives had three elections to convince them otherwise and it looks like their message hasn’t resonated.

I don’t think Progressives have grappled with this new reality. To me, it appears the church is perpetually stuck in 2012, fighting for a cause that they already won with Marriage Equality.

Onto the TQ+ folx!

Gender-Binaries, Trans, and all the wild colors that are on the 436th+ version of a Pride Flag are loud and proud. (Maybe? I dunno. I guess they are? I hope?) This is where things get confusing, because there was NO issue until Progressives made it an issue, and it’s still not an issue. Mostly, these good people need support in social services, and have comorbidity issues that include mental wellness, poverty, personal identity….it’s a lot. Frankly, they have a lot that they need and it’s really not something a church can handle deftly, because professional services barely can keep up with the ongoing needs. But, THEY’RE normal too. Their struggles are not Queer-unique (maybe certain diseases are more prevalent, but nothing is special with their issues that are not represented in other groups.) So, our normal friends, are they okay?

Lets see!

Check out Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org).

Here I’ll give you two data points from their website – they’ve kept track since 2011 and have the deepest database on the stats

Since Transgender Day of Remembrance 2023, HRCF identified 36 deaths of transgender people, bringing total deaths since tracking began in 2013 to nearly 400

HRC Foundation has estimated that there are more than 2 million of us across the United States. 

White folks are 5x likely to die than Trans. I dunno what to say but I feel like Progressives don’t read their own studies from their own sources. Sure there’s bigotry and weirdness, but all in all that’s mostly within the LGBTQ+ dating community. It’s a body preference issue that really doesn’t impact 99.5% of society. As for the other issues, there’s complexity in these lives that won’t be handled in a quick rally, or a Sunday Funday celebration – it’s insulting to assume it would. It’s weird that Progressives try. It’s not even better than doing nothing – the money going to the conferences and seminars and all the frickin’ college courses….just give Queers the money directly and let them choose how to use it in their lives. Or give it to a LGBTQ+ resources clinic that is DEDICATED LONG-TERM to helping.

So why the obsession? Who are we doing this for anyway? The Progressives keep doing MORE events, MORE seminars, MORE conferences. The net results is to intimate that there are People are out there, doing Something Bad, Somewhere Close, and we need to make sure we (LGBTQ+ and Allies) are Safe. Safety is a great thing to rally around – you can never prove you’re TOO safe, after all…

But it’s really unhealthy to tell people a.) they’re victims and b.) there’s folx out to get them and WE are the “good guys.” Again, we’re a church. We’re not social services with specially-trained professionals. If they want to join a summer softball league to play against the Catholics – sure. If they want to participate in a bake-sale, color the cupcakes any combination they want! But keep the prayers holy and the services on-time.

Again, the whole purpose is for people to integrate and normalize their lifestyle. It’s a big country and I am not dense that there’s phobias everywhere. But…..does it need to consume so many days of remembrances? Do we have to put them all on a pedestal, a position plenty are uncomfortable with in the first place? Why do we treat people like they’re magical beings that do no wrong? And we offer help but what are we exactly committing to? We saw what happened in the past with migrants and I don’t know why we haven’t learned our lesson. At the end of the day, it’s an insult to their dignity and infantilizing.

If I had one message to my Progessive friends: stop using people as props – it’s rude and very patronizing. And no one likes it, so there! Also, don’t over-commit and under-deliver: it’s completely dishonest and everyone is disappointed. Hello Church Trauma (In my opinion, it’s really People Trauma. The Church Doctrine is pretty clear where it stands.)

That’s just my ignorant take on the matter. I think the church is over-doing it for a statistically small group that really doesn’t like the attention. And frankly, not a lot of them go to church, inclusive or otherwise. Sometimes it seems like it’s hard for Progressives to take a Win. And it annoys everyone, including the gays/lesbians/queer communities who just want to live normal and not have to CARRY this whole cultural movement on their backs, constantly. Progressives just don’t seem to care what LGBTQ+ folx really want and seem to insist that more flags will protect them, or we’re just another rally away from toppling….what? The Patriarchy? The “Man”? lol – Progressives love convincing people that boogeymen are real. But worse, they try to convince people that THEY can actually solve long-term problems. It’s just not the mission goal for most churches.

Women have always been the backbone for a successful church. They’re the glue, they’re the organizers, oftentimes the administration leaders, and to my astonishment – Pastors. They make the church activities run. But it’s gotten ridiculous at my church and other city churches.

Women are overwhelmed, too busy, pulled in too many directions trying to spin all the plates and somehow find time to pursue their own spiritual journey. They also don’t have time to think and really look at a big picture what is happening.

At any service it averages 70% – 75% women to men. I like to periodically do a head-count when I’m bored. I don’t know what’s listed in the directory but it’s probably closer to 50%/50%. That’s a problem because Men congregants retain children in the faith a lot better than Women (there are reasons for this, I don’t know if Progressives would allow themselves to listen to data and facts that is inherently sexist. It’s another weird bent in their ideology.)

We have a problem that is just cascading – the church desperately needs to realign around Fundraising and Building maintenance. It is aligned around the Music program and Social Causes. To be fair, that’s mostly what the congregation wants as well. Everyone likes ice cream and cake too if they had a choice.

We are staring into a recession and a bad winter. Building supplies are running low and the costs are increasing due to tariffs. We have exhausted plenty of our funds due to a plethora of causes (housing migrants, repairs, etc). Anyone that understands a spreadsheet can tell you that a lot of the city churches are on the edge of insolvency in the next 2-3 years.

Unfortunately, our church is a Not-For-Profit run in a committee fashion for decision-making. It’s literally the least-effective form of management to exist ever. In fact, it’s a management style developed not to make important decision – those get kicked upstairs to the Board – but to allow everyone to be heard and head up things like seasonal events and monthly operational issues.

I know, I know – there are people who will protest my dim view of this management style. I have sat on NFP Boards for 20+ years, President for 2 of them; I’ve formed my own NFP. I get to be cynical about this style of management because it’s a lot of sleight of hand when it comes to getting any decisions done. This works if everyone *understands* that and their role. Our congregation’s leadership seems very unsuited to the major issues coming. In the past few years all the leadership have suffered from combination of member attrition, burn-out, and whatever passes for church politics. There’s no “team-depth.” It’s very Jenga – you pull any two people off the leadership team and the organization doesn’t just wobble, it ceases to operate.

Where ARE the men? I don’t know. I have a Masters in Finance and 20+ experience working with NFPs, 10+ experience building fundraising and member-recruitment solutions specifically for Christian organizations – I could easily do a turnaround of a $500k/annual business in like 3 months. Well, maybe 6 months – I don’t understand the politics and goals. There’s at least 4 other men who could do a suitable job, especially if they’re supported and empowered. I know of 1-2 women that could too, but they’re busy keeping the church operations “above water.” The point is – we have what we need to turn things around, we just aren’t activating the congregation.

I’ve visited 8 Churches in April, 4 in May, and I’ve already attended 2 in June. I go to black churches on the West and South side – there’s something special going on over, btw. I go to Lutheran churches in the suburbs – doing extremely well. Any Lutheran church in the city is teetering on the edge – just take your pick. Pilgrim, Wicker, etc. Churches from other denominations are thriving right now and expanding. Ours are stagnating and limping.

The ELCA organization knows there’s a problem. But they keep promoting Social Causes instead of activities that would engage men. I’ve presented to whatever is the Men’s Ministry and they’re very Progressive and fret over “Toxic Men.” Whew, boy – the folks in charge of Men recruitment are “out-to-lunch” and act like Men are a Problem. I dunno what to say about that except…..beggars and choosers, my man. Beggars and choosers.

I see dozens of easy ways to push up attendance up. The church is doing a few of them, in a somewhat haphazard fashion, but it’s mostly women leading these things. They giving it everything they got, but at the end of the day it’s a volunteer organization.

I can’t blame the women’s work at our congregation – they’re holding the line the best they can. I do fault the mentality – I don’t see much in the way of encouraging/shaming/nudging men to get involved.

At our trajectory, I give us 2 years to resolve the issue before church consolidation becomes the only conversation worth having. I continue to pray for change and for the women in charge of leading it.

I joined my church accidentally. One night I stumbled in, drunk and worn out. I sat at a pew and asked God to get me sober. I bargained with Him and I felt…something I never felt before. I felt my heart breaking open. I wept.

I didn’t feel that feeling again for years, but I kept coming back hoping to have that feeling. I was so ashamed of myself, I could barely sit in the back of the church. I hid in the basement with the kids, or sat at an outside bench. I was in pain. I refused Communion for the first year because I wasn’t worthy.

I *knew* everyone at the church was Progressive, and they belonged here and I was a stranger. I was honest and upfront with the Pastor about it.

I was so confused. I never really understood how a church worked. And I tried and tried to learn, I really did. I got books that were recommended, I got a video from a fellow parishioner, I volunteered with janitorial and custodial efforts, I participated in events. I tried.

Things that happened

1.) In 3 years I knew absolutely no one beyond their names, and sometimes not even that. I thought that was normal.

2.) I got my AA sponsor because I recognized him at an AA meeting at church. And I asked him for help. He did.

3.) I understood that people were busy, and that I was an impediment to completing some task that I never really understood. I would have been glad to help, but I wasn’t asked and when I offered I was sort of brushed off in a nice way.

4.) I fell in love with this historical building and it became something special to me, and it became something for my kids.

5.) I was awkward, I said too much or made crude jokes. I just shut up after a while.

6.) Other, newer members seemed to “fit in” more easily than me. Including my kids and my then-wife. I felt like I was just a vehicle for them, because it felt like the members just gravitated to them more than anything I did, unless I could be useful. I could light a fire pit. I could pick up chairs.

7.) I thought I couldn’t receive Communion unless I was baptized in the Church. I. do. not. care. what Lutherans believe, that is iron-law in my belief. Converts have to show a sign of commitment, otherwise it’s just a country club.

I just kept screwing up and it felt like I was stepping on every rake in the yard. That’s what I thought – I thought that was the reason I wasn’t invited to join stuff. It was later I realized I just got lost in the shuffle, which doesn’t really feel good either.

I love the church. I deeply respect and honor the Lutheran Faith. I self-taught as much as I could. I joined a Lutheran prayer group. I am taking independent summer classes this year so I can complete my formation.

I don’t understand contemporary worship – it didn’t feel holy or in any way honoring God. I didn’t mind my kids playing downstairs, I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea of what Real church is actually like. This felt like….let me put it this way: On Easter, the Greek Orthodox cook a lamb in a powerful tradition that is culturally, spiritually and physically nourishing. My congregation serves s’mores for the kiddos. It’s that kind of comparison.

I’m stubborn though. That’s the problem. I’m too damn stubborn and this was the church I got sober. And I made a deal with God that if I did get sober, I’d serve Him for 30 years. I’ve served 3 years. It’s been painful, and humiliating, and very very confusing.

I don’t know why I’m Called to this church, and I don’t know why I didn’t stumble into an Orthodox Church or a Catholic or Eastern. I would have been happier. But this is where my miracle happened so this is where I’ll stay until I serve my time. If you understand addiction, you know that miracles are rare and if you get one, you do whatever it takes to make it come true and keep it true.

Where oh where did all the good Men go? Why can’t any of these wonderful, Progressive and well-educated, cute women find any *good* Men? Did they die off?

No, they’re in AA. They’re at NAMI. They’re at biker bars doing fundraising for Vets, they’re getting their house in order and focusing on self-improvement. Look at their Heroes: Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, etc – these are all guys who work out and talk about their problems in public and how to do better.

Men broke under the strain of being blamed for everything, accused of everything, passed over and dismissed. A few of us tried to be “Allies” but it was an impossible burden. We had to hold ourselves in contempt. Women were Speaking, Gays were Speaking, Men were silenced.

I went to a Church council meeting (my first and probably only one). We had one elderly gentleman who loved talking about the history of the church, we had one guy taking notes and saying nothing, and we had a committee head guy who leaned back on his chair and said nothing. In fact, no one really said much of anything except in glances and smirks and disapproving glares.

I gave a presentation. It wasn’t good – I knew it was dead on arrival when I walked into the room. I’ve done 1000s of presentations – to Colgate, to the CEO of McDonalds, The entire leadership team of Tyson Chicken (John Tyson was there! Pretty cool). I’ve walked into cold rooms, hot-tempered rooms, hostile rooms and toxic rooms and was fine.

I have never been in a room like this one.

I knew I was dismissed before I said a word, but I then proceeded for 34 minutes (my pastor counted) vainly trying to convey anything and try to get any reaction, good or bad. I had a meltdown in front of everyone.

This room was soul-less. I’ve never been to a place with no soul, and in a church no less. There was no generosity of spirit, no eagerness to understand, no room for discussion, no…collaboration. It was stunning. I was a parish member in good standing, I tithed monthly, I volunteered 2-3x a week, I helped set up Easter almost by myself (no one but a few noticed.) And….I was treated like I was a problem.

The sad truth is that I *was* a problem. I was some white dude trying to help. And Progressives DO NOT WANT HELP – they do the helping around here, thank you very much.

So, if Men can’t speak up, if Men can’t help, and if Men who dare to do so are considered a *problem*….then why have a church with them in the first place? I suddenly understood why there were no new men. The only men at church were married and old, and they were there for something to do in the morning as a nice activity.

Progressives, truly to their bones, are done with Men. And most Men don’t want to stay at a place when they’re dismissed, ignored, silenced, and considered a problem. I certainly was treated as such in my years at LMC. My wife came 2-3 times, and she was immediately embraced, offered a committee position, invited to do Bells, etc. I….made myself useful by setting up tables and chairs. I hung out with the old folks. I wasn’t asked for years to join anything. I didn’t know anyone and no one ever asked me any questions. I found out what the Progressives wanted from Men – they wanted them to serve and to be silent. Clean this and fix that, but don’t bring up any problems.

Where did all the good Men go? More like, where did all the good Women go…..

It’s been years holding back my critiques of my beloved Church. I do love my Church, warts and all. They’re a kind and misguided people who do more harm than good. They’re also helpless lot – they keep making the same arrogant mistakes the Democrats did, and they keep wondering why they’re attriting members and no one likes them anymore.

It got so bad that a lesbian couple actually started their OWN ministry rather than continue attending our LGBTQ+ loving and inclusive church, where the version 7.3 of the Pride Flag flies loudly and proudly for everyone to not care. When the church is too gay for the gays, you and I know something is wrong. Well, not the Progressives – they couldn’t see how offensive they were being and how the flags, among other things, drove gays away, not brought them in.

You see, Progressives are usually a condescending people eager to help everyone but themselves. They know the *Right* way to do everything, and they talk in a weird coded language that only they can understand and never explain their inscrutable ways to anyone. If you didn’t know, you must be ignorant.

Let’s talk about….when we took in migrant families!

So impressive and so brave – the Church took in 20+ people and house/fed/helped them for years. Our Pastor did an impassioned speech akin to a “If not us, who? If not now, when?” Very cinematic. I was inspired. No seriously, I was. I partly stayed on I was so impressed.

But the problem is if your savior is also your jailor, the Church goes from refuge to jail very quickly. The Church imprisoned these people (oh, don’t get me wrong anyone could go anywhere and do anything but was it safe? What about the kids…) Some worked joyously, grateful for the generosity offered. But joy turned to resentment turned to worry – by the time the last family left, the Church had thefts every month. What were those families doing? Didn’t they know we were the “good guys?!” Why would they steal from their saviors?!

Because we treated them like second-class humans. We didn’t mean to, but it ended up that way. We told them what to do, we didn’t collaborate (I swear, anyone at my Church would scream that we did! we did collaborate!) and we pushed alien values and norms on them. The couldn’t speak up from themselves – the power dynamics had it set that they had to be ever-so-grateful even if the “help” was not wanted or the “help” actually caused more problems than resolved. The migrants were drowning in “help” and there’s only so much a traumatized family can cope with before it literally destroyed them. They weren’t allowed to be active participants in their own journey, and had to rely on us to help them through a system that only the Progressives believed would work. I mean, c’mon – 20 million people crossed the border on the explicit plan to have a permanent under-class of cheap labor. Biden had a plan to reinvigorate manufacturing and agricultural sectors in order to do that we needed to a permanent low-caste of people that were wholly dependent on the State for all things – food, clothing, education, permission to work, permission to move freely, housing. If they became problem, we could easily deport them on a whim – we all knew this threat was in the air. Oh I know, Progressives would never do that, blah blah, blah. A threat unacknowledged only grows.

Please understand that my church, at the end of the day, is part of a larger NGO program that is heavily-subsidized by the State. We do have similar values. It was weird seeing such smart people being duped by the government. Heck, I wonder if the people in government even knew *they* were duping us or if they were just part of one big con. It’s hard to tell because there’s so much double-speak and self-denial in their thinking that I think even THEY got confused and frustrated.

When the families came, there were large parties and celebration. When the families trickled out, it was done through the back door, shamefully. We took a massive accomplishment and treated it like an embarrassing misbegotten situation that we wished to sweep away and Talk No More About It. What disgrace. I don’t think we even celebrated this monumental accomplishment among the congregants.

If we treated the migrants like people, we would have worked with them. No, I know people at the church did, but we overshot what we were capable of doing. I guess it’s easy for me to say “hey, give them a few months, and then send them on their way.” But we’re not their nannies, we’re not social workers, and we acted like we were all those things and we did all of them poorly. It WAS disgraceful – we wanted to be everything and we were nothing.

We helped no one. We fed them and housed them, so they couldn’t be grateful. Let me repeat it – the migrants weren’t allowed to be grateful. Then when the help came, they had to grin and bear it, and through clenched teeth they offered gratitude, but not thanks. It’s the same way a plantation owner comes around handing out oranges for Christmas to the workers. You cannot be grateful to your jailor who swears they know what’s best for you and has taken over all aspects of your life, whether you consented or not. Everyone mis-read the situation, myself included. I was stunned by my church’s passive cruelty and it baffled me. Why did we promise so much when we had neither the resources nor will to see things through? I do not know.

See, one can say “thank you” if the roles are even – if people can speak with dignity. But how do you say “thank you” to the person who has stripped away your humanity and taken away your agency? You can’t even speak up. Heck, no one spoke their language except for a Pastor that was busy at conferences and a few others. We wheeled them out like show ponies to the congregants periodically to display our “good works.” God, I felt humiliated for us all. Did anyone else? If they did they kept silent, because in a Progressive Church etiquette and norms are paramount when it comes to doing Good in the world.

Perhaps the Church did know what was best. I don’t know. I don’t think so – I haven’t seen anyone come up with anything close to a cogent and humane plan in the years I’ve been there. But if they did know best, their arrogance to be Heroes was so unwanted you could feel it.

The dirty secret, the original sin, is that we willfully participated in a reverse Underground Railroad, whereby Progressives were sneaking slaves INTO the country. Slaves a harsh term – indentured servants is a better approximation of what it was/is. The migrants understood this. I understood this, everyone in the country understood this. Progressives did not understand anything of the sort.

In the years we hosted those families, I saw a few baptisms and none remained to join the congregation. We spent months and years trying to help them through a system that frankly wasn’t meant to work in the first place.

I feel bad for our lay leadership. They toiled with legal and housing, driving and job searches. We bit off way more than we could chew. We burned out good people when we never had a real path forward. These people earnestly tried, tried hard. And it was not rewarded.

I could write up the events and the instances I witnessed, but it all boils to the same porridge. We were Right, they were Wrong. We were powerful, they were weak. We knew the Right way to do things, they did not. We demanded gratitude, and then we expected nothing. We dismissed and ignored them. They were gone and we moved on to whatever came next.

Well, more to discuss.

I love being a Catholic – I have family in Italy that can trace their roots to the Normans, back to the legendary de Hautfield family filled with Roger II and William the Conquerer and the Count Tancredi of Sicily. The faith was always ever-present and the legends of my heritage keep us stalwart in keeping the traditions going. I love the politics. I swim in the different flavors within and without of the Church – Eastern Orders, Trad vs Vatican 2. As my old Professor of Loyala Prof Von Beeck – he said the Catholic Church is a big family with a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins who tend to squabble and fight within the family, but it IS a family. It’s belonging in a way that many people miss out on these days.

But I chose to be Lutheran. Lutheran, to me, is not a universal religion. It is a religion borne in a time of strife, when the Powers within the Church drifted too far into venial corruptions and meddled too much with the lives of its people. It was a populous response to injustice and it took on all the Great Powers of Europe and beyond. In struggle, it forge a place for itself at the Great Table.

Welcome the stranger, eh? Well, the Lutherans came to the Table unbidden and unwanted, even when it carried a flaming message of hope and change. Even when it was beloved by its people and by others.

It is a religion tempered in wars and civil unrest. It is a movement birthed in pain and an acknowledgement of that pain.

In essence, it’s perfect for these times. It will be a hard winter. Everyone knows this, but no one can prepare. We are scattered by ideology, tired from disease, weary from helping the strangers in our midsts, and we have so many plans that have been put on hold. The money and people are leaving, going elsewhere into the four winds. The children are gone. There’s only a remnant of the faith left. It is a weakened Church nearly on its knees, only with the promise that tomorrow will be worst than today. If we ever needed a miracle, like a leader such as a Martin Luther to lead us, it is now. If there was ever a place for it, it is here.

We’d probably not recognize him or hear his message. We’d cast him out like others. We are indifferent to the truth and content in our own narratives. The world that keeps slipping into chaos as we ponder and fret.

So new blood must enter the church. I am a weak vessel, but God called me to be of service. I will continue my heritage to serve God as all my ancestors have done, and as my children will do after me. We are Tancredi’s, after all – it is a family that follows God’s will whatever it may take us. This is a first step to expand our reach into a wholly new direction than where we’ve trod before.

God bless and protect.