| Teach Your Children Well |
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Last week, along with Mike, Hy, Beverly Coller, and Matt Craig, I attended the annual synod assembly. It was my first time at the assembly, and it was a very interesting experience, spending time with hundreds of people, lay and clergy, who care passionately about the future of the ELCA. As with so many religious communities, the Lutheran church stands on the threshold of the new century, searching for ways to support churches at-risk, create new, vibrant churches, and to keep currently thriving churches healthy and growing. In the months and years to come, we will wrestle with many major issues, both spiritual and financial. The way we deal with these issues as a church body will hugely affect the future of our denomination, for better or worse. It is a very exciting and most challenging time to be a Lutheran! The assembly unfolded during a week that challenged us on a different level, a week that broke our hearts as new atrocities in Iraq were committed, and revealed. Bishop Almquist, in a powerful address to the assembly, spoke of the horrific events at the Abu Ghraib prison. He mentioned that many of the young American prison guards had tried to explain their actions by saying that their superiors had never told them about the Geneva Conventions. The Bishop shook his head in wonder and asked, "But didn't anyone in these young people's lives ever teach them how to treat another human being? Maybe not. Maybe no one ever taught them." Since the assembly last week, more sickening details of prison abuse have surfaced. Nick Berg, by all accounts an incredible young man, was murdered for all the world to see. And so, on both sides, one thing is crystal clear. Human beings are treating one another with unspeakable cruelty, claiming ignorance and pointing blame to others on the one hand, claiming a righteous "religious" imperative on the other. The result is the same: too many people have abandoned the single, core message of all the world's faiths: Do good. Love your neighbor as yourself. Live in peace. A new generation is growing up in this mess we have created and perpetuated. Children are born without prejudice. They are taught hatred. They can be taught love instead. The eyes of our little ones, all over the world, are watching us. What do we want to teach them? What do we want them to see? People of faith in every nation have so much common ground, if only we can claim it. The seeds of peace live in the heart of every human being. The Sunday school lessons must be brought home. Do good. Love your neighbor as yourself. Live in peace. As my Evan accepts his appointment to the Naval Academy at the end of this month, my personal concerns about this war are intense. As an officer someday, he will be responsible for lives. He may be asked to make tough moral choices in an incredibly complex military situation, at home and abroad. It is my most fervent prayer that he will remember what he has learned at home and at this church. Together with other young people on both sides of this conflict, I pray Evan will be part of the dawning of a much better world. It all starts here. Do good. Love your neighbor as yourself. Live in peace. Teach your children well. |
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