Lutheran Liberalism Down The Tubes?

The instructions read: Bring in a photo of someone who has been a saint to you in your lifetime. These photos would then be posted on a display in the narthex. I thought about it quite a bit. Family saints? Nope, sorry. Friend saints? Some are close but then who wants to be one? So I grabbed a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL) because. . . I took it to choir practice on Wednesday and gave it to my friend who was in charge of putting the display together. Being a Liberal Lutheran he took the photo. Karma works in wondrous ways. The photo disappeared. The display on All Saints Sunday was of, guess what, family and friends. A new set of rules appeared. The photo had to be of a dead person! The person had to be a Christian! The lady in charge of All Saints Sunday went into hysterics. She thought she was being set up. The pastor had to unhook his boat and cancel his fishing trip. A letter surfaced that challenged the Conservative Right Lutheran Faction (CRLF) to produce the photo. I remained complacent, content to sing songs of praise and thanksgiving. Meanwhile the wheel of Karma advanced further. The photo was deemed inappropriate. It suddenly materialized in my choir notebook. I took it home and restored it to its place. Meetings were held. I was more or less condemned in absentia. Was my salvation at risk, I thought? Should I recant. I remembered Luther, “I will not recant!” The pastor met me in the handshake line. “We need to talk,” he said. I waited in his office flashing back to Viet Nam and the chaplain who offered me a cookie. I vowed not to take a cookie. He came into the office, peeling off the alb and becoming human again. I notice a copy of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge in his bookcase. What is his intent, I wondered. He was very kind. He told me about the rules. I said that the rules had changed. He didn’t contradict me but indicated that no they hadn’t, only the level of naiveté and ignorance of the congregation had changed. I agreed that under the new rules the photo was inappropriate but that I had played by the rules. I defended HHDL as a man of compassion and lovingkindness. He stated that although that is true, HHDL is not dead. I said no he isn’t but he has been more than once. I told the pastor that I was upset about the recent elections and the swerve to the Christian right and I used the word extremism, which, in hindsight, was a poor choice of words. In these days of branding I am now branded. The L on my forhead? Is it for Luther? Is it for Liberal? Looney? Time and Karma will tell.