06/03/2026
Hi beloveds. I wanted to share with you that this past weekend at SEPA Synod Assembly, the clergy and laity of our synod voted on a resolution rejecting Christian nationalism.
What does this mean? We were deciding whether to take an official stand, as a synod, as the collective Lutheran churches in southeastern Pennsylvania, rejecting Christian nationalism, which we might simply define as the weaponization of the gospel to cause harm to immigrants in the name of God.
Christian nationalism is a merging of national identity with religious identity so complete that we begin to believe and assert that our acts in the world are divinely protected and inspired, and that God has a vested interest in protecting our nation above others.
The resolution was proposed and signed by 35 clergy, present company included. On the assembly floor, I addressed our synod with these words.
🌿🌿🌿
In the 80s and 90s, American evangelical Christianity meant having a personal relationship with Jesus and a personal ownership over your own salvation. This was a gentle evangelical Christianity.
But across our nation and in our little corner of Pennsylvania, the veneer of gentle evangelical Christianity has faded away, revealing something far older and far more dangerous - a Christianity that acts as a defender of empire, an American Christianity that offers Jesus with a Bible in one hand and chains in the other. This is the Christianity that theologized the enslavement of African peoples, that says God blessed Manifest Destiny, and indeed God bless America and make us mighty again on the earth.
As people of faith, we must name this sin boldly and clearly - Christian nationalism is anathema to God’s will. It is a wholecloth rejection of imago dei. We must name it so we can identify it, and we must identify it so we can boldly, clearly repudiate it. God is calling us to do this.
As Lutherans born of the Reformation, we have a unique ability to speak against institutional failure to follow God’s voice. And as Lutherans in the ELCA, my friends, we really must do it, because the E in ELCA stands for Evangelical.
Beloved neighbors in SEPA, we need to take a stand right here and right now. If you are worried about preserving the institutional church, be not afraid, for our Lord said the days are surely coming in which there will not be one stone left upon another that will not be torn down. And if denying Christian nationalism is a sin, then let’s sin boldly. Thank you.
🌿🌿🌿
Beloveds… the resolution passed. We, the Lutherans of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, have committed to loving God and loving neighbor by repudiating Christian nationalism. We have decided, together, that we will not tolerate the weaponization of the gospel to harm our neighbors, our country and our world.
We will stand firm in the truth of God’s love for all people, and we ask God to help and guide us.
Amen, amen, amen.
