2008

I was asked by Mary Louise Spears of the QC Times to write thoughts about the coming of 2008 and the Quad Cities faith community. This is what I wrote.

Dear Mary Louise,

Thank you for the opportunity to reflect on the coming of 2008 and what it might hold for persons of various faiths in the Quad Cities. Among all Americans, we Iowans seem especially aware that a presidential election is soon upon us. As a person of faith, I hope that the presidential election focuses on matters of great importance-addressing the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and increasing human rights, especially women's rights and equality for our brothers and sisters who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered. I hope that all states will follow the lead of the commonwealth of Massachusetts in granting the opportunity for civil marriage as a civil right.

Is it too much to ask for a serious and deep reflection from the religious
community on sustainable development? In the coming book from the Human
Rights Watch, State of the World 2008, the following argument is made:

Growing evidence suggests that the global economy is now destroying its own
ecological base and offering little to billions of impoverished people. In
response, pioneering policymakers, business leaders and concerned citizens
around the globe are creating the architecture of sustainable economies, one
innovation at a time.

Because all of the great religious traditions ask of us that we be good
stewards of the earth, and that all creation holds within it a goodness that
is definitive, can not the religious communities help to make progress in
this crucial area?

I mention these because they are crucially important, but I will focus the
rest of my comments on areas that I will monitor closely in 2008. I will focus on two
opportunities available to our local Quad Cities community.

THE 5th ANNIVERSARY OF THE IRAQ INVASION

In March of 2008, Quad Citians will have a chance to make their voices heard
on the 5th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of a sovereign state,
Iraq, by U.S. forces. I would be especially mindful of this anniversary, but
especially significant is that this anniversary falls in the time of the
Christian calendar's Holy Week.

During that time, the church is invited to think deeply about two topics
that hold great interest historically and presently: the role of
empire/imperialism and the role of the hope that the church rests upon.

The great question for the American church during 2008 will be: shall we
place our hope in the privilege that we are afforded because of American
imperialistic strength, while the overwhelming majority of the globe suffers
in poverty or shall we place our hope in the work for solidarity with the
suffering and the poor and the witness of active-non-violence and
peace-making shown by Jesus?

Specifically, I see that the big days for possible action against the war are March 15 and March 19.

If I am not mistaken, March 15 is the Saturday before Palm Sunday in the Christian calendar. There are two passages in the lectionary on Sunday that are especially worthy of reflection here. The first is the simple request of Jesus to his disciples that they stay awake. To my mind, this request to stay awake in the face of imperialistic violence has a certain resonance in our current context. After five years--the second longest U.S. war I think I read--some are tired, some are despairing, some are fatigued and fearful. There is widespread pessimism I suspect. But the peace-makers among us ask us to stay awake.

The second piece I think is
26:50 Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you are here to do." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.
26:51 Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
26:52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."
Look at how beloved the agent of imperialist domination is in the sight of Jesus. He calls him 'friend.' Then of course the sword and the lesson therein of Jesus. But I'm especially struck by this word, "friend." No matter what you do, Jesus seems to be saying, I will remain a peace-filled compassionate force.
March 19, if I am not mistaken, is Maundy Thursday. The one who had taught in his moment of difficulty that even the agent of imperialism and violence is to be called friend now shows what that kind of friendship looks like in the washing of the feet, in humility and solidarity. And the simple message of the day is everyone can glorify what is holy and good because everyone can love.
I should think that a peace-based holy week set of liturgies, ecumenical as possible, might be important for the community.

KRISTALLNACHT 70th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
The second is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. I quote from the US Holocaust Museum website.
Kristallnacht--literally, "Night of Crystal"--is usually referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass." It is the name given to the violent anti-Jewish pogrom of November 9 and 10, 1938. Instigated primarily by Nazi party officials and the SA (Nazi Storm Troopers), the pogrom occurred throughout Germany (including annexed Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia). The name Kristallnacht has its origin in the untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes plundered and destroyed during the pogrom. The term became a euphemism for this brutal pogrom and does not adequately convey the suffering it caused.
Hundreds of synagogues all over Germany, including Austria, were vandalized, looted, and destroyed. Many were set ablaze and firemen were instructed to let the synagogues burn but to prevent flames from spreading to nearby structures. The shop windows of an estimated 7,500 Jewish-owned commercial establishments were smashed and the wares within looted. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. Mobs of SA men roamed the streets, attacking Jews and killing about 100 persons. In despair at the destruction of their homes, many Jews, including entire families, were driven to suicide.
My plan is to work with the Yom HaShoah Committee and Rabbi Henry Karp and other community faith leaders to bring attention to the commemoration of this God-forsaken event. We imagine a community event with artists, scholars and a service of some sort. I personally plan to bring in Martin Doblmeier, the filmmaker of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Pacifist, Nazi Resister and others to shed light on the continuing implications of the Holocaust, and especially Kristallnacht, for contemporary persons of faith. Bonhoeffer is a leading example for me at least of the kind of witness to the God who sides with the oppressed and the marginalized that must never be forgotten. He wrote:
1. Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christian should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Sermon on II Cor. 12:9)
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2. There remains an experience of incomparable value . . . to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled ---- in short, from the perspective of those who suffer . . . to look with new eyes on matters great and small. Letters and Papers from Prison

I believe that we have a great chance with the 70th commemoration of Kristallnacht to engage the community in serious and sustained conversation about what it means to be a person of faith in such a privileged society as ours. I look forward to many different kinds of congregations engaging in this conversation.


Of more immediate concern in my own congregation is to continue to work on issues of social justice, to continue to lift up the idea of freedom as a crucial component of the religious way, and to provide opportunities for people to connect—with one another, with their own best instincts, and with what is holy and enduring in the world.

Thanks for this opportunity.

Rev. Roger Butts
Unitarian Church
Davenport, IA