THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

June 19, 2004

Is it just me, or does history seem to be moving at a dizzying pace around us? So much has transpired in these last few years. The Reagan funeral really drove the point home. My memories of his presidency seem so fresh, but it really was quite a while ago. What a grand spectacle it was, and it set me to thinking.

Everybody talked about how Reagan broke the malaise that even the idiot Carter acknowledged had taken hold of the nation. Yet Carter did not see his own role in creating that malaise. It just seemed like there was nothing left in the country to get excited about or of which to be proud.

One of my most vivid memories is how Carter deliberately set out to make the White House a less grand and formal place. Jimmy was known to work in the Oval Office without a tie. I remember it so clearly, he stated a policy at the beginning of his administration that he wanted the White House to be "more approachable." The Good 'OLE Boy sold off the presidential yacht, and delayed a long needed upgrade to Air Force One in an effort not to appear too ostentatious. Basically, Carter wanted to be just one of the guys occupying the most powerful office in the world.

Reagan was so different. At first I thought he was ostentatious, but eventually I realized he wasn't. He did not take himself too seriously, but he did take the office he occupied deadly seriously. Ronald Reagan refused to even remove his jacket in the Oval Office. He realized something that the rest of us had forgotten at the time. The symbols and trappings of power associated with the presidency do not belong to the president; they belong to the people. Furthermore, the people need those symbols and trappings so there is something in which they can have pride.

We do not respect that which does not seem respectful. Carter deliberately removed some of the respectability from the office. Clinton was a different matter altogether. Clinton was just a low-life, trailer-trash horn-dog that tried to wrap himself up in the respectability of the office. The respectability did not hang well on such a frame. We in the nation fooled ourselves into thinking it looked good, but the world saw it for what it was, and now look at the mess we are in.

In both cases, people thought less of the country because of the damage done to its trappings and symbols.

Ronald Reagan made America something to be proud of again. Once we had our pride restored, look at what has happened. We have undergone an era of unprecedented growth and prosperity. Ronald Reagan lifted us up by giving us something to shoot for. There is nothing worse than thinking we are done; we have reached the zenith. Reagan showed us we had much left to do, and he encouraged us and told us we could do it.

As I reflected on these things, I could not help but be struck by the parallels to the church and the movement within it to greater levels of "approachability." In the name of making church more inviting, or appealing, or user-friendly, or approachable, or whatever you want to call it, we have stripped much of the grandeur and respectability from it. This is the Carter side of the equation.

Then there are the scandals that have rocked the church from the Jim Bakers to the Catholic priests; these scandals rob the church of its proper voice. This is the Clinton side of the equation.

The church really has lost its sense of mission. We no longer seek to change people, we just seek to raise the budget. We lift no one up, thinking that if we offer a challenge people will just go away. We cheapen God, by hiding the grandeur and selling off the treasures.

Ronald Reagan beloved image of a "city on a hill," is a biblical image. That image is supposed to be about the church not the nation. I don’t mind that he borrowed it, but it is just a crying shame that the church can’t seem to figure how he used it, and us it for themselves. For him it was borrowed, for us it is a birthright and yet we cannot seem to get it straight. Makes me want to weep.

Is there a lesson to learn from this rant. Yeah there is. It is about leadership. Reagan was a leader -- therefore, "city on a hill" worked for him. The church is filled with people in leadership positions that could not lead people out of a mall. There is a huge difference between organizing and leading.

Presidents are not administrators - they are leaders. They have staff to administrate. The church needs to find leaders. We need to raise the bar on what it takes to enter into a leadership position. This is true for the clergy and for the lay leaders. We need to stop organizing and start leading.

People will never come to Jesus because of good administration, they have to be led to Him. As I have said before -- programs do not get the job done, people do.

Lord, why is this lesson so hard to learn?

 With Love,