Warren Air Force Base - a story - Agust 26

Today is my last day in Cheyenne. I tried to visit the museum at Warren Air Force Base, a home of America's Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles force, but I was not allowed on the base due to heightened security. They would have let me in if I could have found someone on the base who would be responsible for me. I drew a blank. I did get the attached picture at the entrance.

This is the story that I was told yesterday by a long-time elder at First Presbyterian Church.

During World War II, Warren was a Prisoner of War camp for captured Italian and German soldiers. Security was not especially tight. The prisoners were allowed to come to church and to do some work for people in town. One German prisoner was especially close to a camp commander, who was a member of First Church. The prisoner sometimes came to church with him.

After the war, the former-prisoner was repatriated to East Germany, from whence he somehow made his way to West Germany, and thence to the United States, and thence back to Cheyenne. He and his German wife lived in Cheyenne for many years, where through industry and skill they bought and renovated houses. Later, they moved to Florida, where he died, and, recently, his wife also  died. They had no children. The widow left First Presbyterian Church of Cheyenne a multi-million dollar bequest.

which was just received and finalized this summer.

What do  you make of that?

Two Very Different Churches - August 25

I spent much of  the morning at the First Presbyterian  Church of Cheyenne, and much of the afternoon with the First Presbyterian Church of Burns. The two churches could  hardly be more different.

The Cheyenne Church is the epitome of establishment. It occupies a large beautiful stone edifice only a block away from  the Wyoming capitol, and adjoins the Wyoming Supreme Court. It has a gorgeous sanctuary, 500 members, and an extensive staff. It is one of the oldest churches in Cheyenne, and, if truth be told, one of the wealthiest. As usual, my welcome there was extremely warm. The  pastor and elder with whom I met provided accounts of the rich history of the church. The theological tone is quite moderate. They have had a few disgruntled members over the years, some leaving because of personal issues, and some theological. A  few have left for more liberal milieus, and a few have left for more conservative ones. The controversial decisions of the PCUSA are rarely discussed. The pastors have not yet had a request to perform a gay marriage. They will cross that bridge when they come to it. This is the church where people have a deeper commitment to civility than to being right. I felt very comfortable there.

The First Presbyterian Church of Burns is 30 miles east of Cheyenne in a very small, rural community.  The streets are not paved.There is a regional high school there that draws students from a wide area. The church is in an attractive, well-maintained facility, with a  new multi-media audio-visual system. It  has a membership of 27 and an average attendance of about 20. I met with the  pastor and with their entire session (governing body). The people were warm-hearted and  welcoming, and we laughed a lot at their good-natured jokes about liberals. This church is, they say, composed of like-minded people who are all "conservative Christians." They are deeply saddened and grieved about the secular direction of our culture and the accommodation of the PCUSA to that culture. They believe that the church should lead the nation/community toward righteousness, rather than accommodating to its worldliness. They are deeply opposed  to any church sanctioning of homosexual relationships, because it goes against what the  Bible says "in black and white." One person fears that the Bibles sold in the  future will omit certain  passages and change certain words to make it more palatable to a degenerate culture. Similarly, they were deeply distressed about the PCUSA General Assembly's decision to divest from several companies that are deemed complicit with the destruction of Palestinian communities. They see the church as becoming anti-Semitic. The Bible says, they say (and they are right - see Genesis 12:3 for instance) that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. They see America as now being cursed because of our supposed abandonment of Israel. Interestingly, one person said that, to be consistent, if we  insist that Israel should return land to the Palestinians, then the US should give back all the land it took from the Indian nations. But these people, who could probably tell that I was not in agreement with their position, were personally very warm to me, and they insisted that, in any written report, I should make it plain that they love everyone.

These two churches represent the great conflict and divide, not only in Wyoming Presbyterianism, but in American  Protestantism - indeed, one  might even say, in  American Christianity.They spring from very different ways of interpreting the Bible. The opposing positions are held by good and earnest people. But their beliefs and opinions seem irreconcilable.

Cheyenne Korean - August 24

Today I made contact with Pastor Yoon Kak Cho of Cheyenne's Korean Presbyterian Church, and we met for a while at their building. Pastor Cho was born in Seoul, came to Canada as  an adult, and then to the US, where he has been a pastor in Portalnd Oregon, and now  Cheyenne. The Presbyterian Church has had a long, enduring, and strong missionary connection with Korea, and many American Koreans are Presbyterian. There is, perhaps, a similarity between Calvinism and Korean culture. 

The Cheyenne congregation is small - about 40 people maximum, he says, at a picnic. Winter services are smaller! Pastor Cho estimates that the total Korean population of Cheyenne is about 100, many of whom are women who are wives of American Air Force veterans. (Warren Air Force Base is in Cheyenne.) 

Pastor Cho said that the National Council of Korean Presbyterian Churches recently issued a statement saying that although the PCUSA has recently approved permitting the ordination of gay people and also permitting same sex marriage, the Council has unanimously stated that the Korean Churches will not do either one. Since the PCUSA ruling was permissive rather than prescriptive, the churches have that right. Pastor Cho said that, without such a statement, which was broadcast to the entire Korean-American community through its newspapers, the Korean churches would most likely withdraw from the PCUSA denomination. Koreans, he said, are more conservative, and he perceives no willingness in their churches to accept or embrace this change, either in his congregation or in the Korean churches as a whole. If they are allowed to exempt themselves from this permissive ruling, they can stay as loyal members of  the PCUSA. Other than that ruling, he says, we are Presbyterians.   

Sunday, August 23- God's Providence

The Diamond Horseshoe Restaurant

I decided to attend the  small Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne this morning, instead of the larger downtown First Church, thinking that I would probably find a depressed congregation. I was right to attend, and I was wrong about what I would find. It is indeed a small congregation (about 30 worshippers today), but it is alive and well in all ways. The newly renovated building is lovely. The people were exceptionally warm and friendly. The worship service was well-designed and very engaging. The "interim pastor", who has been there nine years now, is remarkable. His name is Rodger McDaniel. He is almost my age. He is a lawyer as well as a seminary graduate, and he is a Disciples of Christ minister happily serving this small Presbyterian church. He served in the state legislature.He is an attorney. He ran an unsuccessful campaign (as a Democrat) for the US Senate in 1982. He was head of the State Department of Family Services and Mental Health. He writes a weekly column for the local newspaper. This is an avowedly progressive congregation, yet one of the regular attendees is a Reagan appointed federal judge.

Ironically, I was told that this congregation was formed by persons who split off from First Presbyterian  Church almost fifty years ago when the national church made a donation to the Angela Davis defense fund. For those of you who are younger and unfamiliar, Angela Davis is a person who was considered a radical civil rights activist, who was a member of the American Communist Party, who was arrested, charged and tried for conspiracy in the armed take-over of a California court room in 1970, in which four people died. She was acquitted.  At that time, he PCUSA was split between northern and southern branches; the northern church made the donation to her defense fund. This contribution led to great protest in the church, even though she was acquitted. (One might draw from that fact that we did the right thing in contributing to her defense.) The issue is still controversial to this day, and I hear repeated complaints about it. So it is ironic that this now-progressive church in Cheyenne owes its founding to people who were upset by the church's contribution to her defense. 

What this shows, I conclude, is that turmoil in the church can produce unexpected results. And, for Presbyterians, this is a testimony to the providence of God.

Cheyenne - August 22

Today was a quiet day, with no appointments. I slept very well in my room at the Round Up Motel, which the office lady tells me was built in the 1940's. It's quaint and retro, with far more character that the more expensive brands! I have everything I need. And the office lady also pointed me to the nearby Diamond Horseshoe Cafe for a delightful breakfast. The motel is directly across the  street from a very large compound called The Outlaw Saloon. I am sure I would find it educational to inspect that establishment, but, despite its possible educational value, it is not to my taste.

I used the free morning to go to the Wyoming State Museum, adjacent to the rather magnificent gold-domed state capitol. It's a good historical museum, illuminating special events in Wyoming history, beginning, it seems, with the creation. I was pleased that, in their section devoted to more recent history, they displayed a prominent photo memorial to Matthew Shepard.

After the museum I walked around  the city, and it was a nice moment when I heard, in the near distance, a church bell striking the noon hour, followed by a carillon rendition of "Faith of Our Fathers" (or, as  it  is now often called, "Faith of Our Forebears"). It was especially a nice moment when I approached the imposing stone church and discovered that it was the First Presbyterian Church of Cheyenne - built, according to the cornerstone - in 1923, and, I am sure, much too large for its present congregation. Still, it's nice.

Tomorrow  I  will not attend  worship there. Instead, I will go to the Highlands Presbyterian Church, a small  congregation in another section of the city. Cheyenne is, of course, Wyoming's largest city, and there are three Presbyterian churches here: First, Highlands, and Korean. I will make contact with all of them.

One other interesting moment: at the very grandly restored Union Pacific train terminal, now a museum, a British couple were inquiring whether passengers still used this terminal. When they were told there was no passenger train service to Cheyenne anymore, they registered shock, and the lady exclaimed,"But they have all that track!" Dennis O'Brien once wrote a book, called, I think: God and the New Haven Railroad, and Why Neither is Doing Very Well."  I could not help but think of it.

Fort Laramie - August 21

I am haunted by places where there has once been so much life, but where there is now so little. I want to stop at every historical marker, and I regret that the rush of traffic, or a busy schedule, or my poor vision makes me miss so many of them. The interest in once-lively places that have  become lonely places may have driven me to the Presbyterian churches of Wyoming. It certainly motivated my stop today at Fort Laramie, which was, in fact, the most interesting historical stop thus far in my adventure.

Fort Laramie, which had previous names of Fort William and Fort John, was the only fort that oversaw both the entire migration on the Oregon trail and all the resulting Indian wars. It was first built as a trading fort in 1831, and it became an army military post in 1849 just after the migration west on the Oregon and California and Utah trails began. All trails ran by the fort, where pioneers were able to buy supplies. Ruts made by the wagons are still visible. The fort remained in operation until 1890, when all the Indian nations had been forced onto reservation lands and the  frontier was officially declared closed. Although other forts were built throughout the west to "protect the pioneers", none was built as early or lasted as long. The fort was the site of the two significant treaties that the US made with the Indian nations - one in 1851 and another in 1868 - guaranteeing those nations sovereignty over their land in return for safe travel. Both treaties were blatantly broken by the US. Finally, after the battle  of Wounded Knee, the Indian nations were subdued.

Being at Fort Laramie brought back to me the movies I saw every Saturday as a child - most of which had one plot: wagon trains and get in trouble; the cavalry  comes to the rescue. Seeing Fort Laramie was, for me, a very tangible impetus to reexamine the myths by which we live.

There are Presbyteruian  churches in both the  village of Fort Laramie and the neighboring town of Guernsey. Both are served by one pastor, who has recently moved  here from Pensylvania. She was formerly an Air Force sofficer. While both churches are small, they seem to be active and  untroubled.

Interesting Encounter - August 20

Today was unscheduled, so I took a chance that turned out to be very interesting. There is a small church near Torrington that has left the PCUSA and has become a "non-denominational Community Church." I learned from the General Presbyter, Steve Shive, that the current pastor of this church is a Dartmouth grad, which struck me as a very unlikely possibility. Although I had not planned to meet with him, I thought I would give it a shot anyway. I did not have his phone number or address, so I just drove to the church, and luckily, his phone number was posted on the door. (It is a very small church in a very small place.) I phoned him, told him who I was and that I had been chaplain and Dean of the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth, and that I'd enjoy having a chat. He came right over, and we talked for two hours.

The Yoder Church

What is significant about this conversation is that it was exceedingly honest and earnest. The pastor's name is Michael Glatze, Dartmouth class of '97. Although few people here seem to know it, he has had a very public life first as a gay activist, and later, after a dramatic conversion, as a conservative Christian opponent of homosexuality. He is not a PCUSA minister, but he was the supply pastor at this small church when it voted to leave the PCUSA because of (among other issues) the denomination's positive stands on gay rights.

I did not know what to expect from Michael. What I found was a warm, caring individual who has firmly advocated a lot of contradictory positions in his life, and who is still trying to figure things out. His faith has grown, and is still growing. He is questioning all his dogmatisms, of which there have been many. It was a pleasure to speak with him.

This, is I realized, is an important part of my project. It is an important part of the story. A little church votes to leave the denomination, perhaps not even knowing that their pastor had been a strong advocate for gay rights. If they do not know it, it is not because Michael has been trying to hide his life. In fact, based on an article about him in the New York Times, a movie was recently made about his life, called I Am Michael,  starring James Franco. It was shown this summer at the Sundance Festival. (The movie has not yet been released to theaters,  but it has attracted a great deal of attention, including reviews in the New York Times and elsewhere.) I am sure that the story of Michael Glatze is not over. (Michael kindly gave me permission to write about our visit in this blog.)

Michael Glatze