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Pastor won’t
By Mary Adamski
forsake his
causes, even
in retirement
Star-BulletinState lawmakers who send their children to private schools should be prohibited from making decisions about the public school system, says a grandfather who may soon make that his cause.
"I think we should call all the legislators to task -- and all the school teachers and principals to task -- who have pulled their children out of public education," said the Rev. Donald Johnson, retiring pastor of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.
"They ought not to make decisions about public education because they have compromised their will to support it. It would be the same if I sent my kids to Central Union Church for Sunday School."
Johnson is the grandfather of eight children in public schools, one of whom will be in a classroom of 38 students next year.
It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows Johnson to hear him step beyond sermon to sociological stand. He's been pastor for 30 years at the Makiki church, which has a long history of involvement on social issues from anti-Vietnam War to Meals on Wheels. That commitment led a number of members to leave in the early 1990s, when the majority chose to become "reconciled in Christ," the denomination's code indicating "welcome without judgment" to gay and lesbian members.
Johnson, 65, will leave his pastoral position Tuesday.
He sees symbolism in the eclectic entertainment slated for his farewell luau tonight: Japanese taiko drums, Chinese lion dance, Hawaiian music and hula, and Celtic bagpipes, a reflection of the diverse congregation he has led.
"I am basically a parish pastor who deals with people whoever they are, and tries to show them the same kind of welcome Jesus showed in his day.
"My theology has always allowed for paradox," Johnson said. "I can tolerate people with views widely different from mine without negating them and without pushing them away. But when you have a diverse community, you have lots of conflict."
Johnson was one of a coalition of clergy who spoke out in dismay at the mean-spirited tone of advertising by some Christian organizations against the same-sex marriage proposal on the 1998 ballot.
That came six years after the congregation struggled to reach its position on welcoming homosexuals. It was a decision tinged with personal insight. They had seen a parish leader come out in a Lenten reflection -- admitting his own family had rejected him -- and later formed a team of personal support as he died of AIDS.
Hawaii is in a synod, or district, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, that also encompasses Orange County, Calif. The synod is also "reconciled in Christ," he said, but only one other of the 11 Hawaii churches has voted that stand.
He thinks that somewhat reflects comparison between the metropolitan location, where 40 percent of the members are single, and suburban churches, which serve young families and a less cosmopolitan flock. "I think the solution, what everybody needs, is to know one gay person who has the same spiritual values they have and has the same integrity, and keeps their boundaries appropriately," he said.
What Lutheran Church of Honolulu may be best known for is its status as a concert venue. Classical music lovers crowd the sanctuary to hear performances of the music of Handel, Mendelssohn and Bach, a fitting tribute to the church's beginning 100 years ago by German immigrants.
"People only think of us in those two terms and don't think of us as a place of creative work with children," Johnson said.
The church last year took over operation of the preschool on the premises, formerly operated by a day-care company, and is remodeling to expand it. It also sponsors a second preschool at the Pearl City Joy of Christ Lutheran Church.
"Social concern has been on my agenda ever since a seminary professor said, "You know it would have really helped on the Jericho road (the setting of the Good Samaritan story) if they'd put up lights and a police force, rather than just take care of the one who got wounded.'
"Ever since I made a commitment to (join) the leadership of Christianity, I know that you can feed the hungry. But you should go to the Legislature and say, "We ought to have not a minimum wage, but a living wage, so that young people who have children with one income can live on it.' And, it's not enough just to feed the hungry, but fix the economics so that people are cared for.
"Mainline Christianity ... often begins to take some of the social positions I've taken, and they are not easy to deal with," said Johnson, seeing that as key to a shift to growing numbers in fundamentalist non-denominational churches.
"People who are just trying to get their lives together will choose a church setting where there aren't so many difficult issues, and where they just simply get their own needs taken care of ... with basic morality and some support on how to raise a family, simple values. Then they take popular social positions, such as "traditional family values.' "
Being a lobbyist on behalf of his grandchildren is just one item on a retirement agenda. Johnson wants to write a children's book about the powerful underground Swedish dragons from his ethnic heritage encountering the "ethereal, full of light and wisdom" dragons of Chinese lore. He plans to teach classes to state prison inmates and Kokua Kalihi Valley members, telling them to "write their stories in their own voice."
But, possibly first on the agenda is the 25 tons of rock his wife, Ruth, gave him for Christmas. He plans to terrace the steep back slope of his Kaneohe home, plant fruit trees and "in old age, I will give fruit away to the neighbors and make banana friends."
Johnson's son, Mark, a Lutheran pastor in San Bernardino, Calif., will preside with him at services tomorrow. Sons Daniel and Jonathan and the grandchildren will also be there.
