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Progressive theologian preached at the church on multiple occasions
The polemics site Protestia, which describes itself as committed to "cataloging theological mischiefmakers for our Museum of Idolatry," shared multiple clips from a sermon given at Pilgrim.
An article on Protestia's website names the speaker in the videos as David Weiss. Weiss' personal website identifies him as a "theologian, writer, poet and hymnist committed to doing 'public theology' around issues of ecology, sexuality, justice, diversity and peace."
The full text of Weiss' sermon at Pilgrim, from June 12, 2022, is available on his personal blog. The worship bulletin from Pilgrim confirms that Weiss was "preaching minister" on that day.
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"It's Trinity Sunday and I must confess, I'm not much interested in reflecting on the sacred mystery of the godhead: three persons in one divinity, whatever that means," Weiss said in one clip. "Like you, I am reeling from the rising gun violence in our country and our seeming inability either politically or culturally to stem access to assault weapons or our love affair with violence."
"Like you, I am torn over the racial injustice, the roots of white supremacy that reach everywhere in our society," he added. "Like you, I am transfixed all over again by the spectacle of January 6, the fragility of our democracy and the rising threats of authoritarian white 'Christian' nationalism that seems hell-bent on making America great again by erasing voting rights, reproductive rights and pursuing a xenophobic assault on all manner of civil rights."
An additional cause of concern listed by Weiss was "the planetary crises, climate and so much more" that "threaten Earth's capacity to host life." He suggested in another clip that Christians had an obligation to acknowledge "a God-drenched kinship with all that is" and renounce "the aspiration in Psalm 8 to rule over creation or imagine that God has set it beneath our feet."
"What may have been innocent words of praise 3,000 years ago became an ecocidal delusion in the last centuries and decades," he contended.
A third clip shows Weiss asserting, "While the early church and most of the Christian tradition rushed to reserve divinity-in-humanity exclusively for Jesus, there is zero biblical evidence that Jesus felt the same way."
Previous blog posts on Weiss' website indicate that he preached at Pilgrim Lutheran in April 2023, September 2018 and March 2015. He served as a "theologian in residence" there a decade ago.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
