About Your Church Profile...

I read your church's profile the other day,

on our Church Leadership Connection,

the matching service for

pastors seeking new congregations to serve,

and congregations seeking new pastors.

You told me of the beautiful scenic area 

in which your congregation is nestled;

yes, I know it well

It's gorgeous.

You told me about your generous, full-time

compensation package with benefits

and the lovely manse,

great for a pastor with a family.

You told me about your active congregation

And your dedicated lay leaders and ministries

Excited for a pastor to come and join them.

You told me about the great school system

And all the cultural opportunities

And what a lovely community 

it really is all around.

"Wow!" I thought,

"I really need to consider this one!"

And then you used the phrase, 

"We are a Bible-Believing, Conservative Christian Church,"

and my heart dropped,

along with your profile,

from the top of my list

to the floor

Because in one coded phrase, 

you told me:

You would not welcome my LGBTQ+ kids,

Let alone my Neurodivergent kids,

You would not welcome

my multiracial family, either;

And very likely, 

You wouldn't want me

as a Clergy Woman, anyway.

And furthermore, 

Most of our friends and family

Wouldn't be welcome to visit on a Sunday morning

even though we'd be living in a gorgeous area

perfect for camping and vacations.

And how is it even possible

That such a phrase could be posted

in a profile

in a presbytery

in our denomination

that ordains Women, and People of Color,

and LGBTQ+ people, and strives to work

for equality and justice for all people

and your congregation is in a state

that still prioritizes equality and justice

for all people

at a time that pastors and their families

and so many other families

are fleeing states that 

do just the opposite?

No, I understand exactly how carefully

that phrase is chosen

and who that church wants to attract

and who they mean to keep away.

I think briefly of writing back, 

"Are you sure you are in the right denomination?"

But likely, it would do no good.

All churches believe in the Bible, 

Some just believe 

in using it

as a weapon.

And so, 

because our family has been through this 

with other congregations before, 

and won't go through that again,

goodbye profile

goodbye full-time compensation package

goodbye lovely manse

goodbye great school district

goodbye lovely community

goodbye cultural opportunities

goodbye desirable scenic area. 

I refuse to sacrifice my family

on your bloody altar of hate.

--

(c) 2024. Rev. Le Anne Clausen de Montes (she/they) is ordained in the PC(USA) and serves on the Leadership Team for the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice (ACWGJ), and as a liaison to the Racial Ethnic Advocacy Committee (REAC). Le Anne also serves on the Committee for Racial Ethnic Ministries/ Self-Development of People (CREM-SDoP) for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. Le Anne coordinates the Iowa Faith Leadership Network, the Center for Faith and Peacemaking, and Neurodiversity-Affirming Congregations, and is working to develop the Peace Center of North Iowa. She also pastors a rural UMC congregation part-time, and is a part-time hospital and Hospice chaplain. Locally, Le Anne Co-Chairs the Mason City Ministerial Association, the North Iowa Diversity Appreciation Team, and Mason City LGBTQIA+ Pride, as Coordinator of Community Care. The congregation in question was matched automatically through the denomination's matching system.

Invocation for the Dawn of a Red State School Year

Welcome back, Students,

you might notice a few

changes this year:

We cannot teach you

Real History,

nor Real Social Studies,

no genocide nor slavery

no systems of iniquities

and no Real Science,

nor even Real Biology,

lest you learn too much about

chromosomes and biodiversity

and the preacher down the street

should happen to disagree...

And no Real Literature,

even the classics

which your parents

and grandparents learned

...and loved...

And don't worry,

we've emptied

the shelves

in the library

of so many Real Books

about Real Lives

and Real Loves

of Real People

and Real Experiences

including the Reality

that human babies

are not delivered by storks

and also, that sexual abuse:

rape, and molestation,

are very Real Things, too.

And we can neither

Acknowledge nor Affirm

who you Really Are:

not your Pronouns

not your Name

And we cannot discuss

your Real Family

and your very Real Parents

who Really love the Real You

if they do not fit the

Aryan Family Ideal.

No! Not even

if your grandparents

and great-grandparents

or perhaps even

your great-great grandparents

fought against this Nazi nonsense

nearly a century ago.

No, now, our Statehouses

and our Governors

fully embrace it

and demand it

for you've got to be

carefully taught*

lest the teachers be

fined and fired

the dollars add up

the careers fade away

And remember,

Red State Students,

you don't need College

to Succeed

for the Corporations

are your Salvation

and they need Bodies

to Consume

the younger the better

We'll defund any University here

who dares to offer 'DEI'

And remember,

We can't have you

learning elsewhere

what we won't teach you here.

After all...

If Education is Power,

then Empires would crumble

and Tyrants might fall...

--

*the lyric, "you've got to be carefully taught," comes from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, 'South Pacific,' which was frequently banned for discussing topics such as racism and interracial marriage. It was more recently quoted by Lin Manuel-Miranda in 'Hamilton.'

--

2024, Rev. Le Anne Clausen de Montes. May be shared and reprinted with attribution. Le Anne is a former international human rights worker and peacemaker, prisoner of conscience, and pastor in the Presbyterian Church- PC(USA). She coordinates the Iowa Faith Leadership Network, Neurodiversity-Affirming Congregations, and the Center for Faith and Peacemaking. She resides and raises four children in Iowa, where a series of recent laws, including SF 496, ban books describing sex, LGBTQIA+ content, and other diversity-related content and materials from the public K-12 curriculum, and ban DEI support programs and content from public colleges and universities. Her most recent published work may be found in 'A Liturgy for All Bodies' (Cyclical, 2023).

On the Real Value of One's Education: Vocation, Greed, and the Student Loan Crisis

At the beginning of another school year, I write this reminder:

The value of an education,

and especially higher education,

is not solely,

nor even primarily,

economic gain

(aka, the size of your paycheck).

Unfortunately, our country's dominant political narrative since the 1980's has been that it should be reserved as a luxury for the already, or perhaps soon-to-be, wealthy. This narrative has been increasingly reinforced with every recession, every collapse of an industry that required a college education, the soaring cost of college following government budget cuts, and of course, the U.S. student loan crisis.

Education, including early childhood education, PK-12, higher education, vocational education, continuing education, and lifelong education, should be a universal human right, available to every person who has the desire to learn and grow. This is how we move forward as a human society; and likewise, we break apart as a society whenever we try to restrict who has access to complete their education--whether by race, by gender, by religion, by nationality, or by economic status.

What the student loan crisis and the for-profit university scandals in the United States have taught us in these past few decades is that education should not become a commodity for profit, because it then becomes a weapon to do harm rather than to help people live into their full calling and vocation.

We will do well in this country to follow the example of many other countries in the rest of the world--to invest in our people and their education as a common good, for our common future--rather than denying people the opportunity or exploiting them financially due to their families' socioeconomic background.

--

2024, Rev. Le Anne Clausen de Montes. May be shared or reprinted with attribution. Le Anne is a graduate of Mason City Schools and Wartburg College in Iowa, and was an international human rights worker and peacemaker prior to seminary. She is working to create the Peace Center of North Iowa, and coordinates the Iowa Faith Leadership Network, We Parent Together, and The Way of St. Elizabeth. Le Anne's most recent published work is included in 'A Liturgy for All Bodies,' (Cyclical, 2023).

If Meredith Willson's Mother Had Facebook

 If Meredith Willson's mother had Facebook,

She might've written about

the rows and rows

of marching band uniforms

lined up on dress racks

at the start of the school year;

and the concert tuxedos

for orchestra and band both

and the industrial-strength suspenders

and the snaps

that hold those pants in place.

And of the fitting process

and the unfamiliar sizing

and the, 'yes, it looks okay

with the arms at the side,

but put your arms up

like you're actually playing

your trombone

your viola

your cello

your tuba

your flute

oh yes, definitely

you'll want a bit more

freedom to really move.'

And a conversation about

the relative merits

of marching uniforms

that zip up the back

or button up the front;

back zippers require

someone to 'have your back,'

but they sure look snappy

And when you are in orchestra or band

you have two more years of practice

wearing tuxedos for prom

than anyone else at school

And of how the gowns are kind of convenient

because they don't get quite as overheated

under the lights during the concert

And then over to the table

for the shoes

And the gloves

(gloves are for

the marching band,

not the orchestra,

because that might be

rather difficult on strings)

And with reminders to go find

a white, button-down shirt

and black socks

to go with the tuxedo

before the first concert, please

And the small army of mothers

who keep everything organized,

tagged, labeled, noted, listed,

bringing order to chaos

with remarkable efficiency

and grace and humor

for managing

teens at the end of summer break

before the first school bell has rung

and the amazement of mothers

being newly initiated

to the process.

--

(c) 2024. Le Anne Clausen de Montes has a 9th grade Orchestra student at Mason City High School in Mason City, IA, home of 'The Music Man.' Their family also includes a 7th grade trombonist, a 6th grade cellist/ string bassist, and a 3rd grader biding her time with a ukelele. She is also a co-Admin of the Mason City Musicians Facebook group, and composes church, protest, and choral music at New Songs for Peacemakers. May be shared and reprinted with attribution to the author and link to original post.

The Institutional Structures of The Church Are Not 'The Church.' The Church Is The People...

Institutional structures of the Church-- such as the denominations (ELCA, UCC, UMC, PC(USA), etc.) and mid-councils (presbyteries, synods, classis, conferences, etc.) are not the Church.

The People are always the Church. These institutional structures are much more like the temporary 'houses' of the people of the Church--a home designed for a specific time, place, and set of social conditions.

When a house no longer meets the needs of the People it is intended to house, it makes sense to modify the housing, or to change it altogether-- just like we renovate our homes, or move into larger homes, or into smaller homes, at various points in our lives. Sometimes we can even take a very old, historic home, and fix it up to make it useful for a new generation to live and grow--and at other times, that's not as feasible an option due to the age, the construction materials, the accessibility issues, or the labor and cost of making it usable again vs. the benefit likely to be gained.

Our modern Mainline denominations (UCC, UMC, PC(USA), ELCA, etc.) are not the People of the Church; but rather they are the temporary houses of the people of the Church, constructed mostly to accommodate the social situation of the postwar Baby Boom. Sometimes households were joined together during this era, and new houses were created or renovated. At other times in our history, households split over issues such as slavery, Civil Rights, women's ordination, and LGBTQIA+ equality, and the people moved into separate living quarters.

We must never forget that the walls that house the People, are not the People. To change the boundaries of a presbytery or synod or conference; to merge; even to separate denominational structures when needed for reasons of justice and equality--these are not failures. These are the lives of the People, and we adjust the housing to meet the needs of the People.

Perhaps in this next decade or so, we will finally realize that the arguments between White European Reformers 500 or so years ago, aren't really great reasons for us to remain in our separate little walls and houses anymore. Maybe we will even realize we have far more in common and far more to be gained from joining together, than we have ever really realized.

Similarly, we may realize that it's ok to separate from and put some distance between people who would discriminate against and harm people based on race, sex, orientation, gender identity, immigrant status, disability, or other human demographic factors--and those who would seek to welcome, include, and protect them--even if we seemed to share a lot in common in the past.

And as the Baby Boom enters its sunset years and our demographic patterns change and our populations migrate from farm to city, or even from one region of a state to the next, we, too, can look for ways of rearranging our housing to meet our new realities.

Housing exists for the People, not the other way around.

Sometimes we people forget that we do not exist to preserve an unsuitable house at all costs. Houses should not consume so much of our time and energy and resources that we have little left with which to live the rest of our lives, to love and learn and grow, and to be active in the world around us.

--

Frankly, it is not so different with the walls of our own congregations, our 'Houses of Worship.' Like our own family houses, sometimes we need to expand or move into a larger home as our family grows; and sometimes we need to move into smaller, more manageable housing as our family changes, moves, or the older generations die. Sometimes a big old house is beyond our energy and resources to maintain, and it's time to let a younger, growing family put it to use. At other times, a house can become too old and unsafe for use; or perhaps the land it is on could be better used to serve the needs of the community in a different way.

Even in times when a house, or a House of Worship, needs to be demolished, we can still offer them first to nonprofits who can recycle and repurpose building materials, creating new life and new beginnings where something we once loved is ending.

Similarly, when our institutional structures of the Church change, or are even dissolved, we can offer what we have in assets, or in other gifts, practices, events, and traditions, to create new life and new beginnings for new gatherings of people and new formulations of community. We can even find ways to use what we have had to do justice--such as when the assets and property we have attained came at the expense of Indigenous, Black, or other displaced and unjustly treated groups of people.

The housing is for the People, not the People for the housing.

The housing is not the Church.

The Church is the people.

Using 'Freedom of Conscience' to Justify Discrimination Is Unconscionable...

 In the PC(USA) General Assembly this summer, we have an item of business called the 'Olympia Overture,' (POL-01), which will do two things if approved: 1) it will finally add 'orientation and gender identity' to what passes for our denomination's 'nondiscrimination policy,' about a decade after our denomination ended its ban on LGBTQIA+ ordination and weddings; and 2) it will allow presbyteries to question candidates for ordination whether they intend to carry out their duties without discrimination. Of course, in our denomination, candidates for ordination can 'declare their scruples' to any point in our tradition or polity, and the presbytery can still vote on whether or not to accept them as a candidate, on a case by case basis. That part is not changing.

Not surprisingly, the people who still do want to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people are up in arms, claiming their 'freedom of conscience' is being violated and that they were promised a decade or so ago when we ended our ban that they would never have to change. Petitions have been filed. The discriminators and their allies are claiming discrimination and victimization.

I am going to speak very bluntly from my personal stance on this issue:

It's 2024. Grow the @#$% up.

It's not discrimination to call out discrimination, or to be held accountable for discrimination.

Also, let's be real: you can't be an ally for the LGBTQIA+ community and also an ally for the people who want to discriminate against them. That's not how it works. There really is no middle ground between discrimination and non-discrimination.

There are at least two other Presbyterian denominations where discriminators can discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people as much as they want, and they'll likely never change. A lot of discriminators went there, and they'll certainly welcome more discriminators, too. However, they won't be welcoming any LGBTQIA+ folks any time soon.

I firmly believe that discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ community to be as heinous a sin and as grievous a disqualification from the ministry as any other form of sexual abuse, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, disability discrimination, or nationalism.

If you are a clergyperson and you discriminate against LGBTQIA+ persons, then I don't want you as my pastor and I don't want my kids around you.

If you are a congregation that discriminates against LGBTQIA+ persons, then I don't want you as my church and I won't be bringing my kids there to learn from your hate.

I get that this all might have been 'new news' to a lot of folks a decade or so ago, but there has been more than enough quality scholarship and books and resources and theological education out there to bring people up to speed on why there is no solid Biblical rationale for discriminating against LGBTQIA+ people in 2024. People have had time to go get themselves sorted out and educated on this issue. I am, therefore, quite understandably, out of patience with anyone who is still out there, demanding the 'freedom' to discriminate.

Frankly, I'm ok with a Great Reorganization whereby all of us in the mainline denominations, who have some congregations and clergy who discriminate and some who do not, to split--and for those of us who are ready to work in favor of full inclusion to work together cooperatively in building a new ecumenical American church movement. After all, I have far more in common with a Lutheran, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, a Disciple, a Mennonite, or a UCC member who is committed to full inclusion, justice, and human equity issues, than I do with fellow Presbyterians who want to discriminate.

Having some congregations and clergy within a denomination who are still free to discriminate also 'cheapens the brand.' Imagine going into a chain restaurant who promises a great customer care experience--but not that one branch that's in your town, because that's the one where they always spit in your lemonade. If you know they're going to spit in your lemonade in your local branch, are you really going to drive over to the next town to try the same chain, or are you going to avoid them altogether?

It's not about numbers; it's not about 'unity,' it's not about 'keeping the peace' at all costs. Instead, it's time to do what is right. Much like with racial justice and gender justice, it is time to let go of our regrettable past; take accountability for our past harms done; and be truly free to serve Jesus and love our neighbors as Jesus would have us love.

Should Churches be Political? Or Non-Partisan?

To be nonpartisan as a church means that the leaders do not endorse candidates for political office from their pulpits; and that members of the church are free to belong to any political party (or no party) as they choose. Nonpartisan churches do not believe that any political party or candidate is 'divinely ordained' for political office.

However, it is a good and right thing for churches to be *political* in the way that Jesus was political--in the sense that Jesus was directly concerned and engaged with what was happening in the Polis, the city. Community-engaged churches work to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, befriend the lonely and outcast, heal the sick, welcome the foreigner, tend to the dying, and to work for justice for the poor and oppressed.

On Finding And Living Our Joyful Vocations: (An Alternative Commencement Address for the Women of the Class of 2024)

To the Class of 2024, especially the women who are graduating, I would like to say this:

You may have been told some diabolical lies that your degrees, and any future titles and promotions, and your vocational hopes, dreams, and ambitions are worthless--and that your true place as a 'Christian woman' is in the home.

You may have been told these things by the same kind of people who promote White Nationalism disguised as Christianity. The kind of people who promote hate against LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities, and immigrants, and people of other religions.

These people who say these things are not the Good Shepherd, but rather thieves, who come to steal and kill and destroy. The Good Shepherd, instead, has come "so that you may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10).

If anyone is going to speak to women today about their calling and vocation as Christian women who have graduated from an institution of higher education, let it be this:

God has created you and given you a good mind and many gifts and talents for service in this world. Yes, if you find your joyful calling and vocation in raising a family and becoming a homemaker and have the significant financial means it takes to do so--then do so.

However, it is also Biblical and faithful to find your joyful calling in many vocations, whether or not you raise a family as defined in the traditional sense of biological children and marriage. Even the Benedictine Sisters, at whose college such a nonsense commencement speech was recently and unfortunately given, have themselves, by definition, found their joyful vocation in not being married and not raising biological children in a 'traditional' home. Instead, they have lived out their joyful vocation in another long-held tradition of Christian history, that of women's monasticism. Women's monasticism, of course, freed women up until this last generation to pursue vocations in multiple fields, including higher education and medicine, that were otherwise closed off to them if they had opted for marriage and raising children.

However, as most of us now know, a woman can also faithfully pursue her joyful vocation both in raising a family and also becoming highly educated and successful in her career. As most of us have heard by now, the unfortunate commencement speaker's own mother is a respected medical physicist at Emory University with multiple scientific articles published in her field.

The Bible and Church history is full of wonderful examples of women who pursued their joyful vocations with or without marrying or raising a family, and working inside or outside the home. Even Paul references Lydia as a successful businesswoman who finances his work; and his colleagues Phoebe, Priscilla, Apphia, Chloe, and Nympha, who were ministers and leaders of early congregations.

We should never mistake flawed human patriarchal fantasy for authentic scholarship in Biblical Studies or Early Church History--and this is precisely one of the reasons we need more women in higher education and religious leadership especially. God has called us and created us to have life, and live it abundantly, not fearfully.

So, to you who are graduating and seeking the next steps on your journey, I say: find your joyful calling and vocation and pursue it. My joyful calling and vocation is as a pastor and a parent; as a community organizer and a writer; as a composer and an artist; as a peacemaker and a poet. Draw on the stories of women in Scripture and in Church History, who have always had to break down barriers and contend with the patriarchy in order to live out their joyful calling and vocation in service to God and others in the community. Pay no attention to any small man who would tell you God has not made you as fully human, fully beloved, fully equal, fully gifted, and fully called to serve as anyone else--except to remind other people who are being harmed by such speech that this is not what God has called us to be.

Congratulations, Class of 2024! May you go on to find and pursue your joyful callings and vocation!

The 'Good Old Days' and the Unpaid Labor of Women

Most of what we consider 'The Good Old Days' of the American Church relied heavily on the unpaid labor of women.

The American Church was able to get away with it for as long as it did because women had so few options for vocations and financial independence.

Even though most families with children now need at least two incomes to cover basic living expenses, churches frequently bemoan how families aren't as involved and parents don't volunteer as much as in the days when a single income could support a family with children.

The branches of the White American Church which frequently seem to be most 'thriving' in family participation are often those which shame women for working outside the home, and/ or for having interests and hobbies outside their families and church groups.

Meanwhile, 50 years after U.S. women won basic financial civil rights, even moderate mainline churches are often still reticent to pay women church professionals equally to their male counterparts--as pastors or otherwise. Many congregations still feel that a woman pastor is not a 'real' pastor and should not be hired for a full-time role unless a male candidate is not available.

Recent Ridiculousness, Right Here In River City...

 To briefly recap some recent ridiculousness, right here in River City, from the usual suspects:

1. 'We cannot possibly start any new projects to improve the city until the potholes are fixed, every last pothole, and there are no new potholes, forever. Only Mason City has potholes, and they keep having new potholes every year, and it is surely because we have bad leaders. All money for projects, even grant money, must be some taxpayer's money somewhere, and it would be better spent on fixing potholes, even if it's not legal to re-appropriate it for fixing potholes. Also: nobody ever does anything new or interesting around here. Our city leaders should definitely start some new projects or something interesting. I don't know why they don't try that. Just don't use any taxpayer or grant money to do it though.'

2. 'There are not enough high school marching bands in the Band Festival anymore. Surely this is because high schoolers Just Do Not Care, and not because the fifty school districts within driving distance fifty years ago have consolidated down to a fraction of that since the farm crisis. There are definitely more towns with high school bands in Minnesota. This definitely has nothing to do with the massive public education cuts made by the Iowa State legislature. It is definitely the fault of the local 'woke' school board. Also the local high school marching band can't possibly sound as good as it used to when it was under the Old Mascot.'

3. 'The local school board is full of 'Social Justice Warriors' who clearly hate teachers and that is why there's not an agreement on the teacher contract. The book banning White Nationalist school board candidates who liked the Old Mascot and attacked trans students and hate immigrant students would definitely have given the teachers a better contract.'

4. 'There were never, ever, ever any Immigrant people who did not speak English in this town before. They all just showed up yesterday. My grandparents and great grandparents spoke perfect English and never had to learn a new language when they got here five generations ago from [insert country]. The teachers back then never had to deal with immigrant children like they do now. No, don't show me any of your 'woke' historical photos or news clippings or the local cemetery or church records. Can't see how any of that would be relevant to this discussion.'

5. 'There aren't enough floats in the Band Festival. There need to be more floats. Why aren't there more floats? Also the parade is over two hours long. That's too much....'

(For the record, the Band Festival was one of the best in recent memory, and we had perfect weather for it Saturday. The bands were all amazing, especially our local band, and each high school band had an impressive number of kids participating given the size of their school districts. And there were at least 20 different languages being spoken in our local school district a century ago, many of them European and Eastern European, but also from around the world, due to our local industries).

Jesus Never Created A Country Club...

Jesus never created a single country club.

Not one.

If we want to follow Jesus in our churches,

we cannot insist on exclusivity.

We cannot look down our noses

at newcomers, like bouncers,

and decide 'they' don't fit in

We cannot snark about them

over coffee hour

and then lament

about our declining numbers

We cannot seek to uphold the

White, affluent aesthetic--

the sand upon which

so many congregations

have built their houses

over the past century.

We cannot be divorced from

the neighborhoods surrounding us--

if the people around us

are not like us

and our relationship with them

is mostly, 'get off our lawn,'

then we have failed

to be the servant leaders

Jesus asked us to be.