A Long Journey of Tears

Retiring in 2008 from the full time pastoral ministry,  I have taken my time to let time give me some perspective on the journey.  In forty years of ministry, there were lots of wonderful memories. Lots of places that I got to go because I was clergy. Places that I would not have been welcomed if I had not been clergy.  There were people I met and people I got to listen to and read that were exciting and powerful.  I had five great pastoral situations. Each was different and each was special. We did some special things in each place.  I have no regrets about the churches I served, the friends I have made. I am even satisfied with the enemies I made. I might say that I am happy that the people who did not enjoy my ministries did not enjoy it. If the mantra is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, I think those that felt afflicted need to be afflicted.

But despite the fact that my own local situations were enjoyable, I must confess that the larger bodies of the church have done nothing but had conflict the whole time.  At the national level it has been nothing but one fight after another.  Always there was some issue that was supposed to be going to divide the church, drive people away, and cause the collection to go down.

When I got out of seminary in 1968 the Presbyterian church was divided in the Southern church and northern church. Both of them were engaged in constant arguments over the question of integrating the worship. Civil rights and segregation were major topics of concern.  Every session had long meetings talking about what they would do if a black person came to worship in their white church.
Pastors lost their position because they preached integration too much.

While that issue was boiling up a second issue was not far behind, the war in Vietnam.  The country was greatly divided over that issue and if the country was divided then certainly congregations were divided, and long debates at the different levels of the church court were over what to say or preach about participating in the war.

When we moved to Texas one of the issues that got put up as the next chapter in the fight was the whole question of whether or not children should be admitted to the Lord's Table.  Should Baptized children be given communion or should they have to wait until they made their own profession of faith.  The argument was supposed to be about children at the Communion Table, but it was really about the meaning of Baptism.  For the longest time Baptism in the Christian tradition had included both the water and the confession. Two parts which in Adult baptism came at the same time. Presbyterians used to say that the baby got the water and then at age 12 made the confession so Baptism was a 12 to 15 year process. The decision to allow babies who had received the water to the table changed the meaning of Baptism.

But that was just a passing fight. We had the fight about church union and reuniting the southern and northern parts of the Presbyterian Church.  We had a fight over whether or not to have women elders, and then whether or not to have women ministers. Some denominations are still having those fights.

Now we have the fight about gays and lesbian people whether or not to allow them to join, to elect them as officers, to allow them to preach, and to perform worship services for them.  One of the amazing thing to me is that we have had these issues brought up, and one of the best stalling tactics has been to claim that we need to talk about them. The motion to decide is postponed in order to have dialogue, and then there is little dialogue.

The history of the Presbyterian church in this country talks about a split and a fight between what was called the Old School and the New School.  I think that split has never gone away. When we get through with the gay and lesbian issue, there will be another one.

The claim is always made that the issue we are debate will divide the church. I suspect that rather than one issue causing the Presbyterian church to lose member, it is just that people have gotten so tired of all the fight that they just no longer want to be a part of a church that talks about unity and love and yet cannot find a way to show it.