Church History Doesn't Matter. . .

(Except it does)

There are many ways to see the divine. The Lutheran tradition I have joined is one way. Buddhism is another. Wicca is another. Science is another. It goes on

So, in a sense, studying Lutheran church history is absolutely and completely unimportant. We could abandon this history; we could ignore it. But to do so, would be to close our particular window into the divine. And I happen to love our window. And I also know that we can never understand something as immense as God through one window only, but we can begin here. Closing any window lessens our understandings.

And for us, knowing the wrong our church has done. Knowing the harm and stating it clearly is a step toward keeping that window open. We must speak openly about Luther’s anti-Semitism. We must speak clearly about all the ways Lutherans joined with other Christians to keep women and Queer folx out of church leadership.  We must speak clearly about our own history supporting colonialism and racism.

Those of us who have been harmed will not join others at the windowsill if we don’t know you seek a path to forgiveness. And step one is honest understanding.

And in acknowledging and understanding the times we strayed into the blaze of fear and exclusion, we can also come to understand the joy and the beauty of the church in ways that we might otherwise miss, that we WILL miss if we do not study all the truth of how our church developed and grew and began to become.

Because my loves, this church is beautiful too. And our history, building from resistance and rebellion is powerful. Beginning with Luther: "Here I stand. I can do no other." we grow from a needful strength in who we were into who we can be. Our historical rebellion must now be the rebellion against white supremacy: Here we stand because Black Lives Matter. Our historical rebellion must be the rebellion against Queerphobias: Queer I stand! Our historical rebellions must now stand in rebellion to misogyny and in strong support of all who are marginalized, all who have borne the brunt of our world built on colonialism and racism and fear. We have a history of our rebellion to draw from, to guide us, and to bring us into a beautiful, continuing rebellion toward love.

So I tell a new truth. In my title, I said, "Church History Doesn't Matter . . ." And it doesn't -- IF we are are willing to close our Lutheran window to the divine, then we can ignore our story. But, if we want to keep that window open (as I do), church history matters so very, very much.