seventyfive

THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

September 11, 2003 - A Special Note

This should be a tough day for all Americans, but alas for some it is just some cheap and tawdry emotional whirlwind to be ridden and discarded. Shame on them.

From my perspective there are only two appropriate ways to mark this day: 1) In prayer for the dead and their survivors; 2) Killing any member of Al Queda or the Baath party. I have done the former, and mourn the fact that I am too old and too fat to do any of the later.

God Bless our President for his steadfast resoluteness to never let it happen again. God Bless our military for its effort and sacrifice.

September 6, 2003

A friend pointed out to me this last week that I am hard on pastors. I do not deny this characterization, nor am I chastened by it. I am very hard on pastors, and I believe with good reason. Why, just a few postings back, I wrote about how using God’s name wrongly is THE unforgivable sin. See here is the deal, if we are all ambassadors for Christ, the Pastors are like the Secretary of State, or the Foreign Minister. They bear a more prominent and visible role in representing God, by their own choice, than any of the rest of us.

People always say, "They are sinners just like the rest of us." That is a statement of fact that I cannot argue. I do not ask of them that they be sinless, I ask of them that they be more aware of their sinful state, and that they make an example of their repentance. Why do you think I have written so much about repentance and confession and intimacy with God? It is in these areas where I expect the pastor to be special. The words "I’m sorry," and "Please forgive me," should spring faster from a pastor’s lips than any other soul.

Somehow, we have developed a leadership model that says the leader should be infallible, and should never admit error. But that simply is not Christianity. Strength in Christianity comes not from a lack of mistakes, but for a willingness to address mistakes. Christianity finds its ultimate strength in a humbling death on a cross. Given that example is it really so hard for a Christian leader to find his/her strength in a simple, "Gee, I’m sorry, I did not know my actions would hurt you in this way – please forgive me."

On Elections…

As the California recall rolls on, I find myself both joyous and sad. Joyous because never has a public official deserved recall more than Gray Davis. Sad because I find myself confronted with the reality that I have to vote for a candidate that is not my first choice in order to make sure that the office is not occupied by someone even worse than the white-haired idiot.

The logic is inescapable. Vote for the candidate that is closest to your viewpoint that has a shot at winning. Tom McClintock is closest to my viewpoint, but has no shot at winning. Arnold, is next closest to my viewpoint, though a far cry away, and has a real shot at winning. So I vote for Arnold. In other words, I accept same-sex "unions" (as distinct from marriage) in exchange for a fiscally solvent state, and the possibility that I will have some clients in the future. This is not a comfortable choice for me, but I do not see a way out of it.

This has made me think long and hard about being a Presbyterian. Presbyterian government is long on elections and precisely the kinds of political calculations I just described. I stand by things I have said earlier – on paper the Presbyterian system avoids the kind of personal corruption that is rampant in Catholicism and Pentecostalism. But systems like Presbyterianism are prone to the tyranny of the majority, and therefore, and inevitable pull into worldliness.

It is no secret that the way to avoid these things is in education. It is upon this very ideological ground that public education was founded in the U.S. Democracy works when the majority of the people are educated, because armed with the same information, people typically arrive at the same conclusions. Can the church be any different? Is it surprising that one of the first things to lag in a dying church is adult education?

I have said it before, and I will say it again here. If the church is going to survive, it needs to rediscover what it means to make good Christian people.

See, here is the thing. Good people in the church means that we will have enough basic agreement on what is and is not important. Thus the politics of the situation will not force us into prioritizing and deciding between two rather important principles, as I am being forced to do in the secular realm of the recall election.

I am not good at making these distinctions and decisions. I desperately want to vote for Tom McClintock, but the result of such a vote will be to let Cruz "Taxalote" win, which will send the state off the edge into oblivion. I understand this logic and can live with it in politics.

I don’t know about the church. In the church, the choice only exists because we are attempting to preserve something. I must chose between homosexual ordination, or breaking the church up. I am not sure the church is really worth preserving. Therein lies the difference.

The end of California is a big deal. I am not at all sure if the end of any particular congregation or denomination really is a big deal. There is nothing else if there is no California. If the PCUSA ceases to exist, there is always the PCA or the EPC, or the Congregationalists, or the Quakers.

I arrive back at the point that all this can be avoided by building better Christians. That is why I am going to lead a high school bible study this year. Pray for me. I hope this will help make better Christians.

With Love,