The Church Knows How to Run an Airline

I happened to be in Philadelphia City Hall yesterday. I was there on business for once. No synod chasing me this time, although for a moment I wondered!

As I waited for my appointment on the fourth floor near City Council Chambers, I watched the security screening process. It was a slow day until about 3 pm when the line to pass through security started to grow.

Many of the people in line were clergy. A man with a camera labeled Channel 6 set up his equipment next to me. I thought I recognized one or two of the clergy from our Ambassador visits. They were carrying signs that said POWER. One in particular seemed to be taking charge to some degree.

So, I thought, the clergy do know their way to City Hall. So few showed up for all the hearings on the Synod’s lawsuit against Redeemer (something for which they were directly responsible).

I looked up POWER when I returned home.

POWER stands for Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild. 

They were in City Hall to influence the vote on airline leases with an interest for better pay for airport workers. The airlines are wealthy enough to pay their workers better, they feel.

Sounds like a good cause. And they may be right about the airlines. Everyone deserves good pay. I’m sure they know best.

The website has a list of 40 churches. Most participating POWER churches are Roman Catholic. Three are Jewish. There are some Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal congregations represented and a few others, too.

Only two of them are Lutheran (or at least have “Lutheran” in their name) and one of the two is closed. Our Ambassadors had visited both of them. My memory served me well. The two pastors were who I thought they were!

POWER’s mission in part (from their website):

POWER uses our belief in God’s goodness and compassion for the suffering to organize and empower the people of Philadelphia to live and work together so that God’s presence is known on every block, that people work together to transform the conditions of their neighborhood, and that life flourishes for all.

Shining a light on broken systems:

POWER has come together to lift up a new prophetic voice and bear witness to the fact that these systems no longer work for too many families in too many Philadelphia neighborhoods.

We at Redeemer know that we can count on clergy for one thing. They will always stand ready to hold other people accountable for decisions and policies. Shining a light on their own systems rarely happens.

If they could just hold up their protest signs at their own Synod Assemblies and address how their leaders, systems and policies are shaping our city.

One of the pastors I recognized is on Synod Council, a key policy-making body.

It looks to us like grabbing the property of city churches to benefit hierarchical salaries and suburban missions is their city-shaping policy. Part of that policy is neglecting urban congregations and allowing the laity to work hard with little help and no hope of recognition—even when their work is successful. Attacking lay members who raise an objection to this system is their idea of justice here and now.

However valid the objectives, let’s look at who is talking. The Church doesn’t pay minimum wage to its most loyal workers. They pay them NOTHING. In fact, in the Church, the workers are expected to give. The best ones aim for 10%. Entitlement? Tradition? Whatever, it’s free labor with no earthly benefits. (I’m not complaining about the decades of work I gave for nothing. I wasn’t serving them.)

Only a couple of Lutheran churches are represented in POWER—both from the city and one of them recently closed. One of the things our Ambassadors have noticed is just how powerless the Lutheran clergy are in running their own affairs.

POWER believes that people should have a say in the policy decisions that shape their lives and therefore should not shy away from the exercise of power to promote justice and advance the common good.

What is that old saying? Practice what you preach?