16 December 2009
Group 2 A Time for Burning
History
Stories of main characters:
Reverend William Youngdahl moved from an integrated Lutheran church in New Jersey to an all-white congregation, Augstana, in Omaha, Nebraska. He is more progressive than his congregation and wants to try a very limited attempt at social integration of blacks from the black Hope Lutheran Church in the same city. After being their pastor only a year, he is trying to lead his congregation more quickly than he has prepared them or heard them out. One group member stated–what was frustrating to watch was how “his great idea” was handed down in a Palmer-Model-1 way (subject to expert to amateurs) to the council, rather than watching the ground for the seeds that had germinated and allowing the people of the congregation to own it, or better yet, demand it.
Ernie Chambers, is a black nationalist barber on the black side of town who interacts with the white Christians and challenges their motives for integration as white condescension. He is very good at dialoguing and challenging assumptions.
Church council member Ray Christiansen experiences conversion from his separatist attitude and fear of dividing the congregation and becomes an advocate for civil rights. He sees the urgent need for racial integration and tries to move the other council members toward social justice.
The stories are of white Americans who are not comfortable with black Americans because of the history that they grew up with- thinking that black Americans are different or inferior. We also have black Americans who have bad feelings toward white Americans due to a history of slavery, inequality, and poor treatment. We have white and black church leaders who want to see past the history that is influencing these groups and look toward the future focusing on the gospel of Jesus and the command to love our neighbors. The history within individual persons, families, the church as a whole, and the history of the country and it’s political and moral issues are all connected to this context. The stories do conflict, in fact that is what the video is largely about.
Learning that emerges from the history could be negative if we continued to allow the history to teach inequality and racism. The educational leader would want to challenge the learning based on this history as the religious leaders in the film are trying to do.
This video struck one group member with the tension between Pastor Bill’s understanding of his prophetic role and his place as one among a larger community in which God is also moving. This is a gathered people of God, no less than their counterparts at Calvin Presbyterian, despite their dehumanizing characterization at one point as being certain “types of people.” Perhaps Augustana Lutheran needed the crisis to move forward, or perhaps there may have been alternate approaches to leadership.
This video could help teachers to reveal Jesus Christ’s teaching to love our neighbors as ourselves. It could intend to foster conversion in the hearts of those who are racist or prejudice. Religious experience is shown as being understood as something that is exclusive and unaccepting of differences. The goal of this curriculum could be to show a group or individual it’s incorrect or negative ways. This video is educating toward a view of society as equal and integrated.
Most important learning goals- love your neighbor as yourself…all are our neighbors…be hospitable and welcoming to all. one of the most important things that we should be doing as leaders of the Church is to try to bridge gaps, bridge hurts and discriminations.
Our group discussed the statement of Christ’s about removing the logs from our own eyes before removing everyone elses. Christianity has many logs. The first is against one another. Where in the film we witnessed racial discriminations, typical of the time period, within the church we also noticed that today we are dealing with denominational discriminations. This denominal discriminations causes such a disconnect for people that Christianity comes off as hypocritcal. We need to remember that we are all Christians and that as Christians we are called by Christ to love one another. History has already taught us that discrimination, hate, and distance only harms us. We need to learn from history or we are doomed to repeat it.
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17 December 2009 at 7:25 pm
group4 says...
The period of history that “A Time for Burning” can mirror at some level the rights that are being discussed with the gay community at this time. Obviously this not exactly the same, but the reactions that are occuring within the church today are seen in history. I agree that the hate and discrimination can only harm us. This is a place to learn from history and move forward differently.
18 December 2009 at 9:42 am
“After being their pastor only a year, he is trying to lead his congregation more quickly than he has prepared them or heard them out.”
While I agree with the above statement, I wonder at some point if there is a real benefit in this kind of approach. I think by being so “radical” in his approach he made people think about the subject and take a stance either for or against what they were doing. In many ways his approach was the tiniest step he could take to start the conversation. During the movie, it seems that the congregation would rather just look the other way than to engage in conversation about what is happening and why it is happening, especially in the church.
We (the Church) need to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and approach the unapproachable people and topics in a humble way. Sometimes it feels as if one side believes they are absolutely right, which doesn’t seem so much like humility to me.
18 December 2009 at 10:19 am
Great Summary Group Four! When I watched this video I was completely blown away by the ignorance and inability for christians to love their neighbor. This history was not that long ago.
I found your insight about Augustana Lutheran needing a crisis to move forward interesting. Often this seems to be the case. I think if anything from this video and history is to be learned, it is that those who are not against something, or are in support of change need to speak up before the crisis happens. In this case, those who were in support of visiting the African-American homes and the pastor should have spoken up. I am seeing this in my church today. There are people speaking up against the social statement very loudly, and very few people who are for it speaking up.
I also paused to think if there are any good examples of history teaching us something good and positive. It would be hard to see that in this video. But surely, there are positive examples and resources in which we can learn from history? It would be cool to see a video like this in which the visits did happen and to witness how their church was transformed in a positive way, rather than from a crisis.
thanks!!
18 December 2009 at 10:31 am
Thanks, group 2, for such a thoughtful summary! I’m particularly drawn in by your statement, “Most important learning goals- love your neighbor as yourself…all are our neighbors…be hospitable and welcoming to all. one of the most important things that we should be doing as leaders of the Church is to try to bridge gaps, bridge hurts and discriminations.”
One of the things that struck me about this film was the narrative of some of the church members who claimed to “love” their African American neighbors but just felt uncomfortable with the idea of worshiping with them. “I can’t explain it,” one character said. “I just feel uncomfortable.”
This highlighted for me the tension between the larger ministry goals of the church and the methods through which they work toward accomplishing them. It seems for the most part that the congregation did not disagree with the pastor that integration should be a goal. Instead they seemed to disagree on how to get there, which makes the whole event even more interesting.
It’s fascinating to me to watch how people can use bureaucratization to resist movement forward. They can nominally agree to a concept or goal and still look like the good guys but then use the “system” to slow things down to a point where nothing ever gets done, which is what I think happened at Augustana Lutheran.
18 December 2009 at 10:52 pm
I too was drawn to your statement that the “most important learning goals are to love your neighbor as yourself…all are our neighbors…be hospitable and welcoming to all…” It reminded me of what Parker Palmer wrote about hospitality and how it is related to knowing the truth. In his book he states that “to be inhospitable to strangers or to strange ideas, however unsettling they may be, is to be hostile to the possibility of truth; hospitality is not only an ethical virtue but an epistemological one as well” (p.74). I don’t think we can every really know the truth of what it means to be a Christian if we don’t create a space which includes showing hospitality to all people.
18 December 2009 at 11:26 pm
There were several things that struck me as I watched this film. First, I have been told that when I become a pastor at a congregation, I should take the first year or so and make no major changes, just watch, learn, listen and get to know the congregation – the people, the history and the visions. I was bothered by how vocal the pastor was at Augustana Lutheran Church….I felt that he was driving the changes and not as someone previously said letting it become an idea of the people that could grow into their own ownership. As boundary leaders we are encouraged to “blur” the lines and network people, however, we also read about starting small and building on those steps.
The second thing that concerned me was that we saw conversations occurring in what appeared to be a small group comprised of leaders in the church. What about the other people in the pews – perhaps they too should have been invited to hold such groups allowing for a time for sharing of deeper feelings.
I too saw how this resonates with what the ELCA is currently facing…unfortunately, I think we too often hear from people who are upset with a decision/issue and those who are okay with a decision are passively silent.
19 December 2009 at 7:22 am
hessma says...
While I agree with the advice that as a pastoral leader it’s wise not to make major changes in the first year, I think it’s worth remembering — about the situation in the film — that all the pastor was doing was encouraging his social concerns committee to meet some of the people in the church’s neighborhood. It was the teens of the church who precipitated the crisis by inviting some fellow teens to visit worship. Imagine: the youth of a congregation leading the congregation! I think as a leader, in learning terms, it’s worth noting how rarely we’re “in charge” or can control the timing of things that spark learning!