Thursday, December 20, 2007
On Being Presbyterian
Here in the blogosphere I tend to hang around with people that are a bit different than I am. I have no idea what a lot of people think of the fact that I am PC(USA), but judging from the generic jokes about my denomination that I read out there, I am guessing many of my friends pray fervently that my soul will not be swallowed by the PC(USA) liberal beast, or think that I am some sort of anamoly that defies explanation.
I started thinking about this because of this piece by the Classical Presbyterian. In it he describes many of the tried and true bureaucratic formula and high scholarly double-speak we Presbyterians use to justify our continual slide into a liberal morass of actual meaninglessness. There is no pullquote, you have to read the whole thing - only takes a minute, I'll wait. For me this was very funny, for many of you, it is liable to be horrific.
There are just a couple of comments I want to make in light of this. First of all, as horrific as many of my more conservative brethren may find our way of doing things, you all need to understand the fingernails-on-chalkboard reactions I have to some of the stuff I hear coming out of the some of your leaders, conventions, and gatherings. I am tempted to list some of those things, but I think I will resist the temptation because that is off-point.
My second comment is that I am Presbyterian because I believe in Prebyterianism. I believe in its form of church government, the theology it once stood for, and most especially its empowerment of the laity if they would but pick that power up. I freely admit that those things are not working right now, but am I to abandon them or stick around and try to make them work?
"Well, aren't those things available in the PCA or the EPC?" With all due respect to my friends in those denominations, The PCA seems to me, certainly locally, to be Presbyterianism grafted with the worst of the Baptists, and the EPC seems to be Presbyterianism grafted with the worst of Evangelicalism.
Which brings me back to my first point about your stuff being ugly to me, as my stuff is ugly to you. I hate to break it to you, but none of our churches are perfect, in fact they are all pretty far off the mark. Playing the "I'm right, you're wrong" game is a bit like arguing over whose poop is the most fragrant.
That is why I generally do not engage in the denominational battles. I'd rather expend my energy making what I think is right work right than I would telling you what is wrong with your stuff. Somehow I think if we all did that. our differences would quickly fade into the woodwork.
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I started thinking about this because of this piece by the Classical Presbyterian. In it he describes many of the tried and true bureaucratic formula and high scholarly double-speak we Presbyterians use to justify our continual slide into a liberal morass of actual meaninglessness. There is no pullquote, you have to read the whole thing - only takes a minute, I'll wait. For me this was very funny, for many of you, it is liable to be horrific.
There are just a couple of comments I want to make in light of this. First of all, as horrific as many of my more conservative brethren may find our way of doing things, you all need to understand the fingernails-on-chalkboard reactions I have to some of the stuff I hear coming out of the some of your leaders, conventions, and gatherings. I am tempted to list some of those things, but I think I will resist the temptation because that is off-point.
My second comment is that I am Presbyterian because I believe in Prebyterianism. I believe in its form of church government, the theology it once stood for, and most especially its empowerment of the laity if they would but pick that power up. I freely admit that those things are not working right now, but am I to abandon them or stick around and try to make them work?
"Well, aren't those things available in the PCA or the EPC?" With all due respect to my friends in those denominations, The PCA seems to me, certainly locally, to be Presbyterianism grafted with the worst of the Baptists, and the EPC seems to be Presbyterianism grafted with the worst of Evangelicalism.
Which brings me back to my first point about your stuff being ugly to me, as my stuff is ugly to you. I hate to break it to you, but none of our churches are perfect, in fact they are all pretty far off the mark. Playing the "I'm right, you're wrong" game is a bit like arguing over whose poop is the most fragrant.
That is why I generally do not engage in the denominational battles. I'd rather expend my energy making what I think is right work right than I would telling you what is wrong with your stuff. Somehow I think if we all did that. our differences would quickly fade into the woodwork.
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