Sanctuary: Being Christian in the Wake of Trump (Heidi Neumark) -- A Review

 

SANCTUARY: Being Christian in the Wake of Trump. By Heidi B. Neumark. Foreword by Lenny Duncan. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2020. Xiv + 226 pages.

                What does it mean to be a Christian in the wake of Donald Trump? He may no longer be President of the United States, but he has left his mark on our country and our psyches. For some, Trump as President was an anointed figure on par with King Cyrus. Some even equated him with Jesus. These are Christians who elevated him to great heights and this despite his less than Christian demeanor. Nevertheless, many of his Christian supporters have hailed him as the most Christian president ever. As you might imagine if you’ve visited my blog before, I’m not among those who have made that claim. On the other hand, for others, Donald Trump was and is the devil incarnate (even if you don’t believe in a literal devil, he seems to embody devilish behaviors). I’m not sure he is the devil incarnate but he is devilish (in my opinion). However we choose to view him, we live in a much more polarized and divided world. This is the world we are tasked with navigating.

                For those called to minister among persons most affected by Trump's policies, including immigrants, people of color, and those from the LGBTQIA community, these have been harrowing times. COVID only added insult to injury. So, despite Trump's loss in the 2020 election (a loss he continues to dispute six months later), no one knows what the long-term effects of his tenure will be.

                Among those who have been called upon to minister in and among those most affected by the policies of the previous President is Heidi B. Neumark, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan (NY). While this congregation was planted by German immigrants at the turn of the twentieth century it is now situated in a very diverse community of persons, who have found their way into this church because they are seeking to be Christian despite the challenges of poverty, discrimination, racism, and more. The congregation and its ministries that are lifted up in this book are not your typical suburban Lutheran congregation. At the same time, Heidi Neumark is not your typical pastor. She is fully committed to social justice ministry and isn’t afraid to push the envelope. With that as the context, Neumark brings to our attention stories of life lived by the people inhabiting her community and how the church has responded to its neighbors.

                Sanctuary is a book about a particular church set in a particular geographical context as well as a specific period of history. The title is appropriate since most of the stories told in the book occur in the sanctuary of this century-plus-year-old church. The format of the book is such that we move through the liturgical year, only she begins not with Advent but with Christmas and ends up in Advent. Lutherans are a liturgical people so the choice of the liturgical calendar as a guidepost is appropriate, though again, you would expect the story to begin with Advent. I should say that she begins not with Christmas so much as with what happens after Christmas. She begins the book with the congregation's annual Three Kings pageant that takes place shortly after the 2016 election. So, the story really begins with Herod, and in this story, Herod is re-imagined in the form of Donald Trump. With a significant Latinx population in the neighborhood and congregation, this annual pageant follows Latin American traditions for January 6. She writes that for the congregation "featuring Herod as Trump was much-needed pastoral care, offering an interlude of comic relief and truth-telling in a season of daily deception, delusion, anxiety, and fear. It enabled us to take a collective, holy exhale and keep going, like the kings, by a different road" (pp 6-7).

                As the story continues, we move through the liturgical calendar, meeting the people who inhabit Trinity Lutheran Church. We learn about the ministries of the congregation that include providing shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth as well as a sanctuary for refugees. We learn about the effects of gentrification and urban renewal in the neighborhood. Readers will quickly discern that this is no ordinary congregation, but it is deeply Christian.

                It is difficult to describe how Neumark weaves the stories of the people who make up her community, both church, and non-church, with the events that mark the liturgical year. You almost have to read the book to get a sense of what she's up to. While ending a book with Advent might seem odd, it is strangely appropriate. That is because Advent not only invites us to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child, it also looks forward to the coming of Christ. In other words, Advent is an eschatological season. The vision of the future she offers the reader isn’t necessarily a happy one. But, she holds out the promise that if the people of God work together we can make a difference in the lives of those who inhabit our communities and for the future of our world.  

                When the book was published in 2020, Donald Trump was still President and the election had yet to take place. At the time it came out Neumark could not know whether he would be defeated or re-elected. But that really makes little difference to the story told here. That’s because Trump may no longer be President, we continue to live with the consequences of his four years in office. Not only that, but although the book came out in September it appears that the book had been completed before COVID hit (there is no mention of COVID in the book, but we can only imagine how the pandemic affected the congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church and the neighborhood it serves).

                In closing, I should note that I met Heidi Neumark several years ago when she was honored as Parish Pastor of the Year but the Academy of Parish Clergy. Though she was serving a different congregation at the time, I remember her being a pastor who is committed to the welfare of others. In Sanctuary, Neumark fleshes out that commitment, and in so doing serves as an inspiration to others of us who live in very different communities to be beacons of light in places of darkness. I will say this, if you have lived your lives and ministries in the suburbs or small towns, this book will be eye-opening and challenging. And that’s a good thing. Take and read and ask how you can embody the presence of Christ in the world.