Guest commentary by Glen Bell
I am grateful for Heath Rada’s call for change and reform. He is right to invite us to bold, immediate stops to rebuild trust. God’s vision of our distinctive character demands it. Our work of proclamation and mission requires it.
But there are two great barriers: we do not recognize the need before us and we resist the changes to which God calls us.
Presbyopia is the age-related decline of our visual ability. Privilege is our often unrecognized positions of power and influence. Both have become dangerously intertwined with two other factors: our continuing need for God’s redemption and the changed landscape of society.
In “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” John Calvin noted our incapacity to see what is right in front of us: “For just as eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern nothing distinctly; so, such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused.” Without God’s moment-to-moment deliverance, we twist the church into our own personalized ideal, the one we desperately desire. We give in to the temptation to choose our sisters and brothers, those who share our opinions, affirm our values and appreciate our perspectives.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Those who live their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial.”
In our failure to embrace the real church, we have damaged our Presbyterian witness.
We search for a church evangelical enough or progressive enough or moderate enough, just the right shape and size. We yearn for one in which all of us think and vote the “right” way on all the issues of the day. We covet a church in which our fellow Christians vote for “our” candidate – and certainly not any of those others. We crave a new gospel, composed in our handwriting, reflecting our morals and jettisoning our pet peeves.
In our feeble vision, we have renounced the Good News and embraced a truncated gospel, the out-of-focus gospel of which Paul speaks in Galatians 1:6-8.
On two separate occasions recently, I have had the opportunity of listening to faithful leaders in the church. One is a conservative pastor, whose ministry has been marred by the misunderstanding and opposition of others more progressive than he. He has been left with disappointment and bitterness. The other is a progressive pastor-to-be who was about to be ordained almost 20 years ago, just when our church decided it was not open to gays and lesbians. Both have been left with painful disappointment.
Because our vision often blurs God’s intentions, we have harmed these two and our church.
As a straight white American male in a culture that often discourages and discriminates against others, I am personally and overwhelmingly privileged. And no matter what my background or you background is, this is true: To be an American Presbyterian is to be privileged.
This unrecognized privilege, when combined with all the ways social networking now drives our relationships, has damaged our connections to one another. As Pope Francis writes in “Laudato Si,” our “openness to others, each of whom is a ‘thou’ capable of knowing, loving and entering into human dialogue, remains the source of our nobility as human persons. Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim. Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences.”
In this toxic mix of presbyopia and privilege, with our brokenness magnified by social media, how do we build trust? How do we regain a sense that our greater church constitutes a healthy bond of union, community and mission?
I am convinced we will discover God’s joy as we find the courage to share our stories with each other. And we will find the strength to share our stores only as we encounter those who listen with grace and care.
The first church I served was a rural and predominantly white congregation. Ellen, a wise elder of a neighboring African-American church, shared her vision of heaven as an experience beyond space and time in which all God’s children are together, rejoicing and celebrating. “We had best learn how to get along together in the here and now,” she said, “as we will be glorifying God together in eternity.” I can think of no better way to begin than by listening to one another.
Beyond our present divisions are the critically important questions we must answer: Is it more important to be “right” than faithful? Or, will we reach out to one another in a spirit of reconciliation? Will we build trust instead of tearing one another down? Will we find the courage to share our stories?
Will we listen?
GLEN BELL is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, Florida. He has served churches in North Carolina, Indiana and Florida. He currently serves on the strategy team of the NEXT Church and the board of The Presbyterian Outlook.
