Our moderate Morris churches need to combine

First Lutheran (my photo)

It is just too cotton pickin' cold out this morning. Climate change for sure, n'est-ce pas? And the cold spell is so extended, unrelenting. Through next Sunday? Yesterday was Sunday which meant another trip to town for church. I was going to write "morning church" but it's really in the afternoon. Coffee hour precedes our Sunday service at First Lutheran. 

First Lutheran! Shall I suggest "how the mighty have fallen?" Our division of the Lutheran faith is now even under attack from the new presidential administration. This new administration is so prickly about so many things. Get up in morning and see new headlines about DJT being angry with this, angry with that. But my goodness, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest? That bastion of total propriety and conformity? 

Well we certainly used to be the embodiment of mainstream and morality. That's what my parents signed up for with the Lutheran church. I tagged along realizing I'd have to memorize my "Catechism." None of this was my choice. It was mandated for all us kids. 

But no one could keep me from flipping on the TV when I got home from school to get the news about more lost lives in Vietnam. And then we saw the nation's kids rise up and say "hey, what is it with this war? Isn't it rather insane?" 

Well yes, but you could not count on people like my Lutheran pastor to raise their voices about it. My pastor at First Lutheran in Morris was a Nixon Republican. A different clergy member who was assigned to work with my confirmation class ended up years later dying from AIDS in Florida. At least that's what we all accepted as being true. 

But we were all expected to be good little boys and girls and respect the duly constituted authority in America. We were not supposed to rock the boat by questioning the "war effort." The U.S. was a force for good in World War II, right? What if the U.S. had not been drawn into WWII? Prior to the war we had a smaller military than Portugal. Had we not gotten into WWII, would we have ever sent our young men to Korea, to Vietnam? To other places? And what did all that get for us? And think of the lost lives, lost treasure. Oh and of course think of the tragedy among the Vietnamese people themselves. 

But we're supposed to move forward. So now we have Donald Trump developing into the dictatorial ruler of the U.S. And he would not have gotten this far without America's "Christians." 

The ELCA of the Lutheran church has been an outlier. We have tried to take a reasonable view, a reasonable measure, of Trump's MAGA. And now of course MAGA is all about retaliation. So how will all this turn out for the Lutheran churches of Stevens County? Morris has two in-town ELCA churches. Both are without a pastor now. 

We have a church in town that is 1/2 Methodist and it appears quite in line with the ELCA. It strikes me as moderate which I would equate with intelligent and fact-based with its attitudes. Federated Church has been blessed by having a stable pastor situation. 

 

Faith Lutheran

Consolidation?

So here's the deal: I think our community would be greatly blessed by having Faith Lutheran, First Lutheran and Federated combined. And you know what? I really don't think Good Shepherd is far afield from us any more, not like at the outset when it was formed. I don't think it's outlandish to suggest we could have one sort of "mega church" that would reflect true mainstream Christianity. 

Size would bring greater resources to do the kind of things that First Lutheran by itself could once do. For example, have a true "UMM Sunday" that would really be a big deal. Some UMM students would be part of the service. There'd be a big pot luck meal in the basement i.e. fellowship hall. Let me repeat that it was a "big deal." 

We used to have an hour-long soup supper/fellowship time before the Wednesday advent services. I have told people "hey, I'll run to Willie's and get some Chips Ahoy Cookies myself if that would help make it happen." No, there was no social hour. I did not attend. 

 

The ideal, yes

What mainstream Christianity needs in Stevens County is a building on the outskirts of town following the Wal-Mart principle - nice big parking lot. The two ELCA churches and Federated are in-town. Federated has the most agreeable location. 

As for the two ELCA churches, it's probably uncomfortable to discuss their issues. Faith Lutheran? A big advantage is it's all on one floor. This is like a slam-dunk advantage over First Lutheran. However, Faith is located in a part of town that increasingly has a distressed look, i.e. run-down. The fire right next to the church sure exacerbated that. I have walked to that church along Pacific Avenue and seen a residence that bothers me, would seem like a "nuisance." Who wants to look at that? 

Pacific Avenue: when the town was first planned, Atlantic and Pacific Avenues were meant to be co-equal. Benson more or less turned out that way. 

Today west Morris just does not seem as prosperous. Looks like Morris really cannot expand any more to the west. The ground gets too wet. Look at the swampy area close to Morris Lumber and Millwork. 

To the east? Man, that is quite the desirable place for new homes. And many of these are opulent homes like with a garage just for your RV! That really shows up the homes in the old residential core areas of Morris. 

The neighborhoods around First Lutheran have a few of these issues as well. But First Lutheran has the nice big courthouse parking lot right next to it. 

 

Watch your step

The negatives for First Lutheran? My goodness this is uncomfortable to throw out there, but the darn building was designed when no one thought about handicapped/elderly accommodations. And now I am becoming elderly. Egad, steps and stairs all over the place. Elevator is on far end of building because they had no choice but to put it there. And there is a notorious spot outside the east handicapped entrance where ice forms in a low spot in late winter/early spring! 

First Lutheran has a pipe organ that was a big deal when it was first obtained. My father had a role in that. And can you believe, it never gets used any more? I guess I can believe any discouraging news about First Lutheran now, anything. 

 

Federated Church

Affirming strength

If there's one point I want to make resoundingly in this post, it is that the smaller moderate or reasonable churches of Morris should join to form a totally viable one, this to send a message to all of Stevens County that real mainstream Christianity - not the right wing political kind - is truly viable, a survivor here. 

I know we have a congressperson who is an extension of DJT, would salute him at all times, but we can do better than that. And regarding those long-ago Vietnam war protests, just think of how the young protesters were stigmatized, characterized by so many as un-American rabble-rousers. But today? Today everyone agrees that the war did in fact call for vigorous protest. Wow, you could not have convinced Rev. Cliff Grindland of that.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com