The All-American Church

“I urge…that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for…kings and all those in authority” (1 Timothy 2-12).

As we celebrate our nation’s birth, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more All-American church than the Presbyterians.  From the very beginning, we’ve been involved in and supported our nation’s work.

• 25% of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Presbyterian.  The only minister to sign it, John Witherspoon, was a Presbyterian pastor.
• The Presbyterians were such a major influence in the War of Independence that King George  III and many members of the British Parliament called it “The Presbyterian Revolution.”
• When delegates for the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 to lay out the blueprint for our nation’s government, they used the Presbyterian form of church government as a model.

That’s not to say, however, that we Presbyterians always agreed with our government’s decisions.  Back in 1833, there was a bitter division over the US government that split Old Union in half.  Some of our forebears were upset about the Constitution’s claim that civil power comes from the people.  They were convinced that the authority to rule a nation comes from God alone, and refused to participate in a government that didn’t recognize its covenant relationship with God.  Old Union, however, traces its roots to the faction that decided to take part in our nation’s government, in spite of this flaw.

Our denomination has always found it important to speak to our nation’s policy-makers as part of its responsibility for the stewardship of our country.  As General Assembly stated clerk Gradye Parsons put it, on the one hand we “have been defenders of the role of government, and on the other hand, disturbers of governments. Presbyterians have argued with the government about many issues, such as slavery, education, temperance, labor conditions, segregation, war, and the environment.”  We recognize patriotism is not a simple support of whatever our nation does.  For Presbyterians, patriotism means speaking out on issues that will help our nation be a just land.

As I write this column, our church’s General Assembly, the national governing council, is preparing to meet in Detroit.  Every two years, elders and ministers from across the nation gather to discuss and vote on issues that affect our church.  During these meetings, General Assembly frequently speaks out about matters of national and international importance.  We recognize that God calls us to be good stewards of our nation and the work it does.  We are called to speak for what we believe to be God’s will for our nation.  Some of these topics are controversial, and you may disagree with what the General Assembly decides.  And that’s perfectly fine!  We are part of a church that recognizes freedom of conscience.  We are free, and in fact encouraged, to discuss and debate these issues among ourselves, with the goal that we may bear witness to God in a nation in need of his guidance.

The They

The Germans have an expression that doesn’t translate into English well: das Man.  It’s sort of like “someone:” people out there that aren’t identified.  Das Man describes an undefined group of people who set the tone for what’s expected of everyone.  No one is das Man, but everyone can be part of it.  In English, let’s call it “the they.”  If we’re not careful, The They can take over and paralyze us all.

Here’s an unfortunately common example.  The church session is discussing ways to solve a problem or to move in a new direction.  But The They shows up and takes control of the conversation.  It happens when an elder says, “There are some people who won’t like that.,” or “I’ve had people tell me that we should do it this way.”  The They has arrived, and they are very powerful if you let them.

The power of The They comes from the fact that you don’t know who “they” are.  If you were to express your concerns about an issue to an elder, the two of you could discuss it.  The elder could ask you about your concern, and you could ask the elder about the session’s consideration.  You may end up disagreeing with each other, but you will have had a chance to understand each other.  And who knows?  Your concern may be based on a misunderstanding, or your thoughts could help the session look at the issue in new ways.  But if you tell the elder, “I’ve had people come up to me and say they don’t like it,” what is the elder supposed to do?  There’s no one to ask what “they” don’t like, to explain the session’s thoughts, and to find out what “they” would like to do instead.  The They is not a partner in a conversation about how to move forward; it is a tyrant telling everyone the way things should be.

It’s a priority for our congregation to get along, not upset one another, and to care about each other.  It’s one of the things that makes our church special.  But it becomes a problem when our desire to keep everyone happy means we avoid doing anything that “someone” might not like.  When this happens, The They has veto power over everything that the church does.  It’s likely that someone will disagree with whatever we do, but that’s not a reason to do nothing.  When the overwhelming majority want to go in a particular direction, it’s unfair to let a few people prevent it from happening.

The They gets its power from two factors.  First, there’s fear.  If there’s something you don’t like, you’re afraid to speak up directly.  You express your concerns instead to someone that you trust.  Your friend now can tell others that “someone” doesn’t like what’s happening.  Or, perhaps you do speak up for yourself, but you are afraid to stand up for your opinion.  Instead of saying “I don’t like it,” you may say, “I know that there are people who don’t like it.”  When we have the courage to express our opinions directly to those who can do something about it, The They loses its power.  Second, there’s a lack of respect.  If the pastor, session, and other church leaders don’t have a good track record of listening carefully to people’s concerns and taking their ideas seriously, no one will want to voice them.  Instead, they’ll gripe to their friends and hope that “someone” does something about it.  Respectful consideration of expressed opinions is part of being a healthy church.

Let’s take the power away from The They, and claim it for ourselves.  When we all have the courage to express ourselves directly, and when we respect each other enough to listen closely and take it hear, we can give das Man the boot.

Patient Endurance

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

The New Testament tells us that the three great Christian virtues are faith, hope, and love.  But along with other virtues such as joy, gentleness, and humility, we are urged to pursue patience.  And patience is increasingly difficult for us to find.  When we want something, we want it right away.  Any delay in attaining our desires seems to be more than we can bear.

Patience is a critical part of the Christian way of life.  When we seek God’s answer for our prayers, do we ever get bent out of shape because he answers them too quickly?  Not that I’ve ever seen!  We struggle with how long it takes for God to do what we want him to, or what we expect him to.

This is not something unique to our microwave, instant oatmeal era.  For thousands of years, God’s people wrestled with how long it seems for him to get around to doing what we hope for.  I suspect that as the ancient Israelites suffered as slaves for four centuries in Egypt, more than a few of them wondered why God was taking so long to deliver them.  I count at least ten times that the psalmists ask the Lord, “How long?”  How long will you allow the wicked to prosper?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I struggle?  One of the greatest crises in the early church was what scholars call “the delay of the parousia:” a fancy way to say that they thought Jesus would return very soon.  He didn’t, and he still hasn’t.  Nearly every generation of Christians since the resurrection has hoped that Christ would come in their time.  And so far, he hasn’t.

I suspect you’ve experienced the same thing in your life that I have: that which you’ve been hoping and praying for just never seems to happen.  It takes forever, and you don’t know how much longer you can last.  You simply can’t understand why God is taking so long.  Perhaps it even makes you wonder if he cares, or will ever take care of you.  “Waiting on the Lord” sounds inspirational when you read it in the Bible or hear about it in church, but living it can really drain you.

In the leadership program that I’m going through this year, we’ve talked about the need for changes to happen slowly.  When we see something as a church that “needs to be fixed,” we often jump in with a quick fix, without considering what’s really going on.  And we’re likely to latch onto one Big Idea that we think will take care of things, when in reality the process includes many different small steps, some of which will work and some of which won’t.

The Greek word (úπομονη) that we typically translate as “patience” doesn’t simply mean sitting around on the bench the hallway, waiting for something to happen.  It can also be translated into words like “endurance” and “perseverance.”  Waiting on the Lord takes effort, and it means we’re at work while we watch for what he will do.

Beyond Science

God created us to be a unity of body, mind, and spirit.  But that’s not how many of us view ourselves.  It’s an unfortunate side effect of the Scientific Revolution.  The scientific process, which began to take off in the 1600’s and 1700’s, is a remarkable way to understand and study the physical world.  None of the medical and technological advances that we enjoy today would be possible without it.

The downside, however, is that because science is so good at helping us learn about the physical aspect of reality, we’ve come to believe that everything worth knowing can be known through science.  In fact, it’s commonly assumed that if science can’t study it, then it doesn’t exist.  But there are aspects of reality that have nothing to do with what science can study.  There is more to what makes us human that what experiments and fancy equipment can measure.  We call it the spiritual part of who we are.

But because we’ve come to overlook, ignore, and even deny the fact that we are spiritual as well as physical beings, some interesting things have begun to happen.  While organized religion like churches are only one way to explore our spiritual nature, but the gradual decline that our nation is seeing across the board in church participation is one aspect of our lack of spiritual awareness.  Going to church for your spiritual development makes no sense for people who don’t know or care that they have a spirit that needs developing.

But there’s no denying the spiritual part of our humanity.  Our natural desires to connect with the spiritual part of life comes out in all sorts of odd ways, even while many people in our society refuse to accept any sort of formal spirituality.  Consider, for example, our society’s fascination with the “paranormal:” things that can’t be explained by science, things that fly in the face of what regular life is all about.  What else can explain the popularity of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and alien invasions?  It’s simply our instinctual urge to connect on the spiritual level, coming out in odd ways because we’ve forgotten that we are spiritual beings.

On the other hand, people have explored and developed their awareness of the spiritual part of existence for thousands of years.  We’ve learned a lot, and as Christians we recognize that God has shown us a lot, most importantly through Jesus Christ.  We don’t have all the answers, but at least we’re asking the questions that others don’t even know are out there.

That’s what church is all about: the opportunity to explore and understand the fullness of what it means to be a person.  It’s a place to develop your own spirit, and to understand the world in ways that science never can.

What Would Perpetua Say?

“What would Perpetua say?”  During the mission trip in July, the question became a constant reminder of our purpose and a way to maintain a good attitude.  Hopefully it can do the same for you as well.

At our host church’s Tuesday night prayer service, the speaker told the congregation the story of Perpetua, a young Christian woman who was put to death around the year 203 because of her faith.  He made sure that we all understood the level of suffering and agony that she and her companions endured before being killed in the arena in front of a cheering crowd.  As her father pleaded with her to renounce her faith so that her life would be spared, Perpetua remained adamant, declaring “I cannot call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.”  Her love for Christ was so strong that she actually desired torture and death in order to be faithful to him.

During the week of the mission trip, when any of us would begin to complain about the hot, sweaty, dirty work we were doing, someone was sure to ask, “What would Perpetua say?”  If she was willing and eager to go through all that she did because of her commitment to Christ, certainly we could handle whatever we were dealing with because of ours.

The speaker at the prayer service told the story of Perpetua for a reason.  When we feel inconvenienced and weary because of our service to the Lord, it is good to remember that people like Perpetua have served and given so much more than we ever will.  Not only this, but they did it eagerly and cheerfully because of the love they had for Christ, and their desire to give their all to him.  Are we willing to follow Perpetua’s example, even if it does not lead to torture and death?  Will we find ways to serve Christ and build up his kingdom?

Our denomination has just adopted a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, an explanation of our faith from the sixteenth century.  It is divided into three sections: guilt, grace, and gratitude.  First, we acknowledge our sinfulness and our need for God’s help.  Second, we recognize and celebrate the way that God has redeemed us.  Third, we live lives filled with expressions of thankfulness for what God has done for us.  Perpetua is an example of the third step: bringing honor to God by what we do as a grateful response for all that he has done for us.  At times, our expressions of gratitude to God may be inconvenient, uncomfortable, or even downright painful.  But if Christ is at the center of our existence and it is something that honors him, how can we do anything other than that?

Being a Christian is more than putting your faith in Christ and accepting his gift of grace for you.  It means committing yourself to giving him your everything.  Spending a  couple of hours at church on Sunday morning is only the start of what it means to be a faithful member of Christ’s church.  We can each find ways to participate in the church’s ministries: not for the purpose of maintaining our institution, but for bringing Christ’s light and love into a hurting world.  There is so much we can do as a congregation, in addition to what we are already doing, if we all do something very simple.  When we have the opportunity to do something to build up Christ’s kingdom but we hesitate because it will require a sacrifice, we can ask ourselves a simple question: “What would Perpetua do?”

Augustine, on God

Augustine of Hippo is the most influential Christian thinker between the apostle Paul and the Reformation (although Thomas Aquinas may be able to give Augustine a run for his money).  This excerpt from the beginnng of Augustine's Confessions is an example why.  It offers more insight for contemplation than you'll find in entire books of theology, or an entire lifetime of a preacher's sermons.  While translators typically present it as prose, I've laid it out in a poetic form to make it easier to reflect upon.  (The translation from the original Latin is by R. S. Pine-Coffin).

You, my God, are

      supreme,

      utmost in goodness,

      mightiest and all-powerful,

      most merciful and most just.

You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us,

the most beautiful and yet the most strong,

ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you.

You are unchangeable and yet you change all things.

You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you.

You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud.

You are ever active, yet always at rest.

You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need.

You support, you fill, and you protect all things.

You create them, nourish them, and bring them to perfection.

You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing.

You love your creatures, but with a gentle love.

You treasure them, but without apprehension.

You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain.

You can be angry and yet serene.

Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same.

You welcome all who come to you, though you never lost them.

You are never in need yet are glad to gain,

never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts.  

We give abundantly to you so that we may deserve a reward;

      yet which of us has anything that does not come from you?

You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe nothing to any.

You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby.

You are my God,

      my Life,

      my holy Delight.

But is this enough to say of you?

      Can any man say enough when he speaks of you?

Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!

      For even those who are most gifted with speech cannot find words to describe you.

Can I Come to Your Church?

“Can I come to your church? I’m gay.”

No one’s ever asked me that question.  Maybe it’s because churches in general have a reputation for being less than welcoming to homosexuals.  Maybe it’s because they’ve heard comments from congregation members which give the clear message that there’s no place for gays in our church.

Our church prides itself in being a caring, supportive family of faith that welcomes and includes everyone.  As someone once said to me, “We take in strays.”  But are there some “strays” that we turn away?  Are we failing to live up to our calling and identity?

Some people in our congregation believe that homosexuality is a sin, perhaps worse than most other sins.  Others in our church think that sexual orientation doesn’t make any difference.  Whatever you believe, I hope we’d all agree that it’s not easy to be gay in our society.  It’s a burden.  And Scripture tells us to carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).  When we turn a cold shoulder to someone who is gay, we block ourselves from being able to accompany them as they seek to be faithful to God in circumstances that those of us who are straight can only imagine.  We force them to carry their burden in secret, afraid of how we might respond to them.  The devil loves secrets; when we keep our struggles in the shadows, he can use them to torture us and block path for us to experience Christ’s grace.

We churches are not doing a very good job of letting gays know that there is a place for them in God’s family.  A recent survey of 910 homosexuals in western Pennsylvania, conducted by Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, reveals that 75% of them have heard negative comments about homosexuals in their congregations.  Only 5% believe that their church would respond positively if they “came out,” while 80% believe they would face a negative reaction.

I’ve heard many well-intentioned people say that we should “hate the sin, not the sinner.”  The words that jump out in that statement are “hate” and “sinner:” certainly not words of welcome and invitation!  While it may not be as catchy, it’s more Christ-like to say, “We love you.  We will work together with you to discover God’s grace.”  During his earthly ministry, Jesus spent a lot of time with the notorious sinners of the day, like tax collectors and prostitutes.  I can’t picture Jesus saying to them, “I hate your sin, not you.”  Rather, I believe he looked at them as individuals, as people he loved deeply.  As he shared his love with them, they were able to discover ways in which he could take their shame and misery, and work a new thing in their lives.  As the church, we are the community of Jesus Christ.  It’s up to us to live up to whom we say that we are.

“Can I come to your church? I’m gay.”  If someone asks you that question, I hope you’ll answer, “You are a child of God, and deeply loved.  Welcome!”