This is No Church

Not quite a year ago I was honored to serve the family of Lance Corporal Curtis Swenson.  This fine young man and marine was killed in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device.  It was an honor to serve the Swensons, but it was so hard.  Not nearly so hard as it was impossible for his parents, Dave and Kay, and his family.  They were devastated by this loss, as they should have been.

Healing has been hard.  The wounds are still open.  And it is apparent that those wounds have been freshly ripped by this week's Supreme Court ruling allowing for hateful protests at military funerals.  The court has ruled that free speech, no matter how vile, must be protected in public places.  The ruling was in response to a man's suit against...a church?

That same church had targeted Lance Corporal Swenson's funeral last year for protest.  I will not give space to the hateful signs that the protesters carry, but they are enough to make me vomit.  The church, the military, the community, and the Patriot Guard surrounded the Swenson family last April.  Had protesters come, they would have been met with hundreds, many hundreds of people who would have kept them far away.  When we left the church for the long trip to the cemetery in southern Minnesota, we were not met with signs of protests.  We were met with signs of thanks, American and Marine flags, salutes, tears, waves. 

I am no legal scholar, and my opinion of the Supreme Court ruling is of little importance.  But I am a Christian pastor, and I am appalled that the suit needed bringing in the first place.  Remember, this suit was brought against a church that purports to be Christian!

The signs these people carry, and their slogans, are as far from Christ as Satan himself.  I am not distressed when Christians disagree with one another.  But when we use the language of evil to support our cause, we have moved to the side of evil.

I am sorry that the pain of the Swenson family and so many more families has been renewed by this ruling.  I am incensed that it is caused by a "church".  Jesus said that there were two commandments:  Love God; and love neighbor as oneself.  I am thankful when we succeed at obeying those two, and we need to repent when we fall short.  But if we are to speak as this "church" speaks, we have completely lost sight of both commandments.   They may enjoy the right to speak as they choose, but they do not speak in the name of Christ. 

Military families may feel betrayed by this Supreme Court ruling.  May they never be betrayed by those who follow in the way of Jesus Christ.