The city of Louisville recently soared with excitement as not just one — but two — of their basketball teams wended their way through March Madness to the Final Four. That’s Louisville, the home of the headquarters for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
As the men’s and women’s basketball teams stunned opponent after opponent, the University of Louisville was knocking on the door of being only the second college ever to take national championships in both sports in the same season.
Coincidental to my avid fansmanship — my Syracuse Orange came oh, so close! — I was reading at the time “Improvisation: the Drama of Christian Ethics,” by former Duke Dean of the Chapel, Samuel Wells. Wells asks about the missional-geographical contexts of denomination headquarters.
Does the denomination consider itself to speak for the truth, which needs no defense, or for a group of beleaguered believers, whose interests need upholding? Does the denomination consider itself part of government, concerned with the balance of power and the benefit of all? Or does it presume that it will always be with the marginalized and oppressed, and therefore never at the castle, always at the gate? Where does the denomination locate its national center of operations, and in what kind of premises? … (pp. 95-96)
When reading that paragraph, I couldn’t help but wonder about the reunion-driven decision to move our denominations’ headquarters from New York City (Broadway, Wall Street, U.N., CBS, ABC, NBC, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Knicks — and the God Box) and Atlanta (Coca-Cola, Delta, CNN, Braves, Falcons, Hawks — and the other God Box) to Louisville (baseball bats, fried chicken and a two-minutes-long horse race).
No insult intended, but we jumped from the heights of impressiveness to a place a bit less impressive. Of course, the reasons to move were substantial. Neither of the two denominations’ respective headquarters could be allowed to “swallow up” the other. We needed to move toward the geographical center of denomination and its national mission field. We needed affordable facilities in a city with good transportation. Add an inviting welcome mat thrown us by the locals, and all those factors added up to Louisville.
But one reality impinged upon that decision: the denomination was moving away from the halls of power, centers of ecumenism and the markets of commerce to set up shop in a middle-American city. It was choosing to leave the castle to set itself at the gate.
Among the many analyses of denomination decline — from shifting demographics to accusations of misguidedness — one I’ve not heard shouted was our decision to move from the center to the margins.
In my heart of hearts, I have to think that that was just the right kind of move to make.
It IS the kind of move we Presbyterians have made time and again in our global missions service. Do you want to find the Presbyterian mission co-workers in India? Look for them among the untouchables. Want to find our workers in the Caribbean? Look among the peasants, the dislocated.
Such moves in mission service and in locating denomination headquarters happen to be the kinds of moves made by the eternal God whose incarnation came not in Athens or Rome but in Bethlehem. That suffering servant would commission his followers to do likewise, perching not in seats of power but of humility.
Jesus taught that those humbling themselves would be exalted. And in March Madness, Louisville’s men’s team was crowned national champions and the women’s team came in second. Both carried the city of Louisville to a place of honor and acclaim.
The Presbyterians serving alongside those teams’ arena have not experienced such exaltation directly, but their celebration of basketball prowess does give a hint of the glory that awaits all who will humble themselves in the sight of the Lord.
