Between us
Go with God C
By Walter Wangerin Jr.
ount backward. Count 25 years backward, a quarter century—to the time the ELCA came flush-
faced and wide-eyed and hopeful into being. From three separate cities of the United States, by electronic weavings, we met and sang a lusty “Gloria” together. And on the Epiphany of 1988 I began writing this column for this magazine. I called it then—and, for the last time, I call it now— “Between us.” You and I: we’ve come a long way together.
I was 43. I am 69. The world is not what it was. I mean the whole world! Nor are we what we were. Nor is the church. We rejoiced at our birth, didn’t
we? Three bodies had become one, and “One” surely manifested the pleadings of our Lord: “That they may be one. ... As you, Father, are in me and I am in you.”
“One” would be a finer wit- ness. “One” would gather a greater strength, could accomplish more than the “three” that had been, could perform a sacred service, judging the poor with righteousness; deciding with equity for the meek of the earth; belting our waists with faithfulness.
Wangerin, an author of many novels and books of essays, is an ELCA pastor and senior research professor at Valparaiso [Ind.] University (
walterwangerinjr.org). His “Between us” col- umn appeared quarterly in The Lutheran.
But, truth be told, during the past 25 years our joy has been tempered, and the “One” has suffered fractions by factions. “We’ve moved,” I wrote in my very first column, Jan. 6, 1988. “We’ve moved from separate neigh- borhoods into the same neighbor- hood, a new neighborhood a bit strange to us all. There’s no one who need not adjust somewhat. Adjust- ments to this ELCA will prove nei- ther spontaneous nor easy. “Difference can drive us to sus- picions. Suspicions can cloud our clearer knowledge of one another. False understandings can cause fear and foster enmities. Please! Differences are not dangerous! But this sense of strangeness without a mutual trust can exaggerate our dif- ferences until we feel endangered— and then we ourselves shall have become the danger after all.” Even so. Even so. Twenty-five years later, and we are in some respects diminished. Numbers and money, that sort of thing. But not in purpose, not in faith, and never, never in the Christ whom we are pleased to call our “Head.” It is from him—from no one else!—that cross-blood burst upon us, revived us, and now courses through our veins. It is the brilliance of his resurrection that shines on our present and on all our futures, what- ever form the church will take. And it must be by his grace that we can by a willing forgiveness keep healing and re-sealing the unity of the body of Christ.
“Fear not!” the angel says. And so do I. 14 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org Again, here’s the analogy I
offered you in that first column of mine:
“Several years ago, because the parish we served was in the inner city, Thanne and I moved into a neighborhood strange to us. “We came smiling. We soon grew tense: teenagers shouldering boom-boxes, strutting on rhythmic, rubbery legs, talking rough talk, throwing themselves forward with belligerence. Son Matthew’s bicycle was stolen from our porch. “At night rows of cars parked across the street, their headlights fierce on sweating torsos that twisted into dancing, clapping, cracking gum, while young men gambled and drank (Dark Eyes Vodka in twisted paper bags) and puffed pot ....” All of which stressed us out with its strangeness. Many, many good people lived in the neighborhood. Folks supported one another as do farmers at the har- vest. But my embattlement troubled my sight. The article continued: “One night when the kids were in bed upstairs, Thanne and I heard a sudden, sheep- bleating Eeeeeeee!
“Down the steps at breakneck speeds came Matthew, 9 years old and terrified. “ ‘Dad! They’re throwing stones at the windows!’ “ ‘They?’ “ ‘Bang!’ said my little boy. ‘Bang! Bang!’
“ ‘Everyone stay put!’ I roared,
then charged through the front door, my blood roaring with courage and cowardice, not the first notion of
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