A Progressive in a Conservative Community

I live in a very conservative community. Very conservative. I am not conservative. A few people have figured that out, but not too many. I'm here to minister to the people, not promote my brand of politics. The election last year was hard on me. When I once again received the email about how Obama was a Muslim and thus could not be president, I wrote back to the young man and encouraged him to campaign for McCain, but to do it on the basis of McCain's experience and politics, not on the basis of a story that had been discredited repeatedly. (I sent him all the links proving the story wrong, and encouraged him to do his own research). The young man never responded, and vanished from worship for a couple of months.

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I was once criticized because I forgot to pray for our troops. That is a normal part of the prayers of the people, but that Sunday I forgot. I was told I was anti-military (anti-American) and didn't support our troops. I pointed out that my brother and father were both veterans. I was told that it was shameful that I was anti-military with those family connections, but I obviously was. I apologized and explained that I had overlooked it several times, but my words were ignored.

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I have been told that worship close to Memorial Day and Veterans Day should celebrate the military. I offered to help plan services in honor of those holidays for other times, but refused to make that the entire focus of Sunday morning worship. I always talk to the children about those days and include it in the prayers of the people, but I am a lectionary preacher who believes (foolishly, according to my critics) that the focus of worship should be God. I was told my insistence on focusing worship on God those Sundays was going to result in the loss of members.

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Another time I was criticized when I prayed for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. I was told that God hated the Arabs, and I should not be praying for them. I pointed out that was news to me, and that my understanding was that God had created them and they were God's children, too.

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Today we scrambled in the office, trying to find someone who could tell us about the community service for Memorial Day. I wanted to put an announcement in the bulletin, but the organizers hadn't provided us with the information and weren't returning phone calls (the mother of the organizer finally gave us enough info to have something in the bulletin). The irony was that I knew that if we didn't have anything in the bulletin, the organizer of the event would be exceedingly critical, even though it was his responsibility to get us the information, and he didn't. (I wish I hadn't slept through the class on mind reading at seminary).

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I write all of this as introduction to the real story: Some months ago, I was asked to write an inspirational column for a weekly regional agricultural newspaper. My column was to appear the week of Memorial Day. I approached the task with much fear and trepidation. How could I write something that recognized Memorial Day and didn't compromise my beliefs? It really felt like a no-win situation for me. I finally sent in an article which I called "Prayers in a Time of War." I suggested we need to pray for our leaders, our troops, their families, oh, and our enemies. I sent it to my brother the vet, to make sure that I wasn't coming across as anti-military or anti-American. With his reassurances, I sent the column in, along with another column about facing the challenges in the economy with faith in God. I told the editor I wasn't sure when he would be recognizing Memorial Day, so he could use whichever one was most appropriate.

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I received an email from him telling me he was going to use the Memorial Day column and print it this week, rearranging the schedule to accommodate it. He had forgotten that Memorial Day was early this year. He asked for permission to save the other column for emergency use. I agreed. Today, I received a copy of the newspaper. There, at the bottom of page three, over my smiling face, is the column I wrote, complete with a new headline: "Pray for Our Enemies, Too!" Sigh.

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It won't matter to some people that I talked about supporting our troops and their families or the tremendous stress they are under. The sympathy and support, my admonition to pray for and thank our soldiers and veterans will be forgotten. It won't matter that I quoted Jesus' instruction to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. All that will matter, all that will be remembered, is the headline. It will be offered as proof that I am anti-American. Some days I just can't win.