I Have My Work Cut Out for Me!

For much of my career (ordained #PCUSA, Jan. 1970), I've been aware of the great divide in this nation: Ecumenical Protestantism, Progressive Judaism and Liberal Catholicism on one side, and on the other side, Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism.

For lots of reasons, I suppose, I've always reached out to Evangelicals and Fundamentalists - no big deal, I'm sure - like a cup o'coffee or a hamburger and some conversation. I wanted to be a bridge builder.

Can't say that it ever worked! Generally, they believed I wasn't even a Christian, or, at best, a very poor one. Though I've never thought of Evangelicals and Fundamentalists as "not Christian," though I was never comfortable with their "conversionist" theology, me being a "covenantal" thinker, with infant baptism as the liturgical cornerstone illustrating God's sovereignty in these matters. Many a time, I was told they would be praying for me, and on a number of occasions, I asked them not to pray, since their prayer was mostly a call to God to change me into their own image - hardly a prayer of love, and surely not a prayer for learning together about God's greatness.

Anyway, the divide has only grown wider ... what was at one time a silence between the two sides has now escalated into a shouting match, as Evangelicals find themselves on the losing side of the Marriage Equality question.

Evangelicals certainly have had their day in the sun, you might say, ever since Ronald Reagan learned how to play them to his political advantage, and there was a time when they felt on top of the heap, and crowed ever day, with books and sermons, that Ecumenical Protestantism was on its last legs, and there would be a new Evangelical America free of abortion, without Marriage Equality, with Bibles and prayers in the schools along with creationist curriculum.

Well, that certainly didn't come to pass, and now the sun seems to be shifting a bit, with Evangelicals now confused, because it seems that their god is no longer working things out as had been expected. And all of this is turning into a deep and violent anger.

The current state of affairs is very disheartening. I don't even know any longer how to talk to an Evangelical ... whatever we might have had in common 30 years ago now seems to have evaporated.

Evangelicals, led by the Huckabees and Santorums, have hardened in their thinking and politics in light of Marriage Equality - because what they truly what is a theocracy, not a democracy. Sadly, much of this Evangelical fervor now is tangled up in Southern Nullification, old-line racism, State's Rights, misogyny, and guns.

FOX News has chimed in on this, too, with full voice, and GOP candidates have joined the fray, all trying to out-Bible one another, yacking endlessly about "religious freedom" and the rights of believers to "practice their faith."

It's a first-class mess, and I have no idea how to deal with it, other than to be what I am - and to articulate my vision as clearly and compassionately as I can, and do so with passion, too, not laying down in front of the Evangelical freight train, but countering it with clear and incisive theology and ethics.

I have my work cut out for me.

Sorrow for Evangelicals Who Oppose Marriage Equality

Watching evangelical pastors condemn Marriage Equality while "quoting" the Bible is very much the same, I think, as those who cited Scripture to justify the persecution of Jews, the enslavement of people of color and the denial of rights to women.

Let's face it - in the conversation of faith we call "the Bible," every kind of voice can be heard, from the sublime to the mean. So, merely quoting the Bible, citing some passage of Scripture, means nothing, any more than picking up a novel, grabbing a piece or two of it, and then claiming to know the mind of the author, or at least the whole of the plot.

I feel a great sorrow for evangelical pastors who cannot cross over into a more enlightened world-view. They fear losing something, when in fact, it's all gain.

But truth be told, "condemnation" works in many a pulpit; it's easy to preach and fun to wallow in.

In all previous chapters of condemnation, from the Inquisition to the fight against civil rights, condemnation has proved wrong, though bolstered by plenty of Bible-thumping, or at least claims to "tradition."

Condemnation doesn't work.

The stance against Marriage Equality is failing, and will continue to fail. Sure, there will always be some who "fight the good fight" in their own skewed mind and world, as there are still those who subscribe to a flat earth and a geocentric view of the solar system.

I pray for evangelical pastors who are making a "brave stand" on their condemnation of Marriage Equality. They are on the wrong side of history with very little on which to base their claims. They know they're on shaky ground but cannot escape the clutches of their own traditions. And their congregations pay them to stay as they are.

It's all very sad.

Michelle Bachmann's Loss of "Religious Freedom"

Michelle Bachmann says that Minnesota's approval of gay marriage denies "religious freedom" to those who oppose it. 

I don't get that. Folks who oppose gay marriage can remain so; if their gay children get married, they don't have to go to the wedding. Their churches don't have to open their doors to gay weddings; their pastors don't have to officiate. No one's telling anyone to do anything, or stop anything. 

Nothing changes for them. 

It's like saying: "Giving my neighbors the right to have a dog in their apartment takes away my freedoms to not have a dog." In logic, one of the first lessons learned: "A" does not imply "B." 

Freedom to marry for LGBTQ persons does not mean a loss of freedom for those who oppose such freedom. No way, no how.

Jane Spahr on Trial - Presbyterian Church

As I read today's note (August 24, 2010) 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.