ANNUAL Board MEETING: Dr. Peter J. Schmeichen, "Reflections for People of Faith in a Time of National Crises"

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Dr. Schmeichen analyzed the current national crises with a richly figured historical, cultural and biblical narrative. Americans are not ready for the truth, he said. The bad news is that the fall out from this current tragedy will last a long, long time.

Given this state of affairs, Dr. Schmeichen asked, “What do people of faith do, think, and say?” He offered this advice: “They can talk about truth and hope.”

Speaking the truth will challenge the false reality of words and word games played by the Bush administration. The administration treats their defeats as public relations problems, rather than a lack of competency. They blame the Iraqis and evidently plan to pass their problems on to the next administration. They will never admit failure. When the truth is revealed, Schmeichen said, it will get worse: all the money will be gone; people will be angry. It will lead to the biblical equivalent of “the destroying of idols – in the modern sense – idols of consumption, military idols, technology idols, the idol of oil.

People of faith have hope wired into their history and biblical texts. A redeeming God mandates Hope. The biblical narrative tells us that hoping for redemption is not the same as hoping for military victory, but hope in the possibilities of reconciliation. The American public is conditioned for happy endings found repeatedly in popular culture. This kind of hope is on a collision course with reality, in all of the parties involved: Washington, soldiers, and military families.

During the discussion period, Dr. Schmeichen elaborated upon the question about what people of faith should do when our fellow countrymen are faced with texts that they don’t want to hear. It was here that he turned to biblical texts telling us of the judgment of God that promises the hope of reconciliation. “We need to have honest discussions about how to prepare for these moments,” he said. “There is a moment in the Book of Acts,” when Peter is asked what to do. Well, we need to understand the differerence between the government and those who have sacrificed their lives for the misguided policy of the govrnment.

Dr. Schmeichen cautioned his audience that “If you sneer, or gainsay, or make them feel stupid, they will hate you.” People of faith should guard against demonizing others. We should understand that soldiers acted out of patriotism –they were manipulated. We should distinguish between what our government intended and what our soldiers intended. We were all deceived. Some still believe and there will still be some who won’t admit it. We will have to suffer with them. Dr Schmeichen closed with a metaphor from Cold Mountain where the enemies meet at the table. “Finally, we hope and pray for political solutions, not military solutions.