the Outlook Blog

As I read today's note in the LA Times about Jane Spahr to be tried by the PCUSA, I couldn't help but think of the text for this past Sunday, Luke 13:10-17, Jesus setting a woman free from 18 years of affliction, and doing so on the Sabbath, to make a point (he and the lady could have waited 24 hours) - healing is what the Sabbath is all about.

And then the synagogue leader weighs in - scolding folks, "Hey, we've got six days for work, and if you want healing, come on those days, but the Sabbath is for rest - keep it holy - no work!"

And that's when Jesus lays into the leader and his gang, "You hypocrites. You wouldn't treat an ox or donkey this way - you lead them to water on the Sabbath, so why deny the water of life to this woman on the Sabbath? What better day is there for revealing the love of God and the freedom therein?"

While Jesus stood on the intent of the law, the leader clung to the letter of the law. And according to the law, the leader was right and Jesus was wrong. 

So, here we go again, arguing about our laws.

And missing the point of the kingdom of God.

Jane Spahr is technically wrong, if that's the tact we wish to take. Jesus was wrong, too, and someone might have told him, "Wait 24 hours. Then do your healing. No one will be offended, the law will be maintained and everyone will be happy."

But Jesus didn't wait, because love and mercy and forgiveness and hope can't wait.

So ... we'll drag Jane into the mud of our own foolish little world of rules - rules that keep people bound - hungering and thirsting for a better day.

We wouldn't treat a dog this way.

But people?

Yeah, keep 'em tied up, and tie 'em up all the more with rules upon rules, until no one knows which way is up.

Sure, I am what I am - a supporter of marriage equality, comfortable with the biblical work done by Jack Rogers and others.  

And I've been called an apostate, a heretic and a servant of Satan.

No one has the final word, and I surely don't claim that, but with prayer and study, I've made my decision some years ago to no longer wait, and just to keep myself honest, I continue to study and think about these things.

But I write this note with a certain conviction, that Jane Spahr is pointing the way ahead, reminding us what the church and our faith is all about - setting people free. While the charges fly and the legal briefs are prepared, the PCUSA finds itself in the uncomfortable place of the synagogue leader.

That's how I see it these days.  

With the stats in, and so-called "conservative" churches experiencing either a shrinking or a slowing of numbers, the old saw of the last 40 years no longer holds up so conclusively: that liberal churches are declining and conservative churches growing.

Even in the best of times, this claim never had much substance, but was surely used by conservatives to batter their liberal sisters and brothers, becoming a source of pride, even as they danced over the grave of denominationalism. And was, at the same time, an occasion for denominational types to wring their hands in embarrassment and begin backbiting and blaming. 

The latest Christianity Today (June, 2010) carries a fascinating article, "Life in Those Old Bones," reminding us that denominationalism is very much a human dynamic, because we like to hang together, so to speak, and that denominationalism offers resources and strength for mission.

Even for "independent" churches, the need to cooperate and work together is evident in something like the Willow Creek Association, with more than 11,000 member churches in 35 countries and 90 denominations. Functioning much as a denomination, the WCA offers support, curriculum, training and mission opportunities.

Ed Stetzer says: "... denomination-like networks will, I believe, become more like denominations than networks in the years to come, just like the networks of the past (e.g. Methodists) are denominations today."

While writing from a conservative perspective, Stetzer notes the ability of denominations to weather storms and guide troubled congregations. Independent congregations can easily fall apart in tough times; the American landscape is littered with the debris of independent congregations that foundered on theological issues or the failure of leadership.

Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, Stetzer notes: "Denominations are the worst way to cooperate - except for all the others."

"Denominations at their best are not places to get something but places to give and to serve."

With regard to missionaries, Stetzer notes: denominationally funded missionaries are able to spend the bulk of their time in mission, while those who need to raise their own funds are driven to spend less time in the field and more time raising funds.

A healthy denomination, says Stetzer, is "a home, not a prison."

Who can say what the future holds, but God's people always migrate toward one another in various forms and fashions to do a better job in mission. We are called to love one another, and that's never an affective word, but an ethical word - to love is stand with one another for a purpose greater than ourselves.

I love the Presbyterian Church - the church of my ordination - given to me by women and men who trusted me, believing that I would handle with care the legacy bestowed.

I haven't always been as clear as I am now. There was a time when I saw our failures and our faults too clearly. While those faults and failures remain, as they do with all of us, I see more clearly today the goodness and the joy of community within which we live and enjoy and sometimes despair over our diversity.

For me, I'm grateful for Louisville and our systems. We get a lot done. We're on the spot when it comes to crises like Haiti's earthquake. We still plant churches, we train pastors, and we're working overtime to figure out the times in which we live.

Hats off to my Presbyterian sisters and brothers. God will continue to give us a future, because being together is still God's way.

A good friend and his congregation were recently dismissed, graciously, to the EPC, and though he and I differ significantly on quite a few things, he and I have known one another for nearly 20 years and each respects the other.

Knowing one another, there can never be charges of any kind, because of our mutual regard and respect - for we have come to our differences via much the same path: prayer and study, faithfulness to Christ and a love for the church.

Yet, like Paul and Barnabas with regard to Mark, here we are, on different sides of some major issues.

In our conversations with one another, one thing we agree upon: we're both terribly tired and mutually eager to get on with the mission of Christ as the Holy Spirit unfolds that mission in our respective lives.

I told him that I would daily pray for him, his congregation and the EPC. Frankly, at first, praying for the EPC wasn't the most pleasant sensation, but I stayed with it, even as I prayed for him and his congregation.

Interesting phenomenon - my spirit is healing; I find myself praying for the EPC more agreeably, as I know he prays for me and my gang - prayer without prejudice, but simply a prayer for blessing.

All in all, we have reached an impasse of major proportion, and it's time for us to deal with it rather than attempt the humanly impossible, and we have to quit deferring our struggle to some distant hope for a miracle - church history reveals its better, after a long siege, to go our separate ways, lest even more damage be done.

Like Paul and Barnabas, there was a separation of the ways. Yet, I suspect, they prayed for one another, and we can do the same.

History has seen the deck shuffled many times. In this land of cabbages and kings, it's not likely to be any other way.

One thing for sure, we have to cease the court battles.

And for the churches who leave, I would hope they have the means and the will for some financial remuneration - it's only fare.

Yet Paul says this: owe no one anything but love, and that we can do.

The words "apostate" and "heretic" have no place in the life of the church today; we are all sisters and brothers of Christ in the family of God. We must stop vilifying one another - it only brings hurt to the Body of Christ and shames us in the eyes of the world. And it's time to bid farewell to one another; we won't live that far away from one another, and I suspect there will still remain plenty of opportunities for us to enjoy fellowship and engage in local and regional mission. Who knows, there might be union Presbyteries in the distant future. It happens all within the family.

So, ca we really pray for one another?

We can, and we must!