Monday Evening – Keynote Address
For my
presentations with you, I have been given the title “TRANSFORMING PRESBYTERIES
INTO CARING COMMUNITIES”
In my
experience, this is an exceedingly tall expectation, especially in an era when presbyters
– both elders and pastors- are, increasingly ‘bowling alone’, as Robert Putnam puts it in his book on the
collapse and revival of American community.
First I
shall remember with you presbytery meetings I have sat through that were not events of caring communities;
Second, I
will remind you of three major barriers that prevent presbyteries from becoming
caring communities;
Finally, I
will propose a spiritual grounding that I consider fundamental, and therefore essential,
to transforming any church body to be a caring-giving community.
Tomorrow
and Wednesday morning with you, I want to build on this spiritual grounding by
applying a number of “reframes” of perspective on how to envision a
presbytery’s care-giving and how to reframe common organizational structure and
language for care-giving according to this re-imagination. In all three of
these presentation will focus on pastoral
relationships, rather than continuing to disconnect pastoral care of
pastors from pastoral care of congregations, and vice versa.
In
all of these presentations I shall intentionally seek to think outside the box so as to stimulate you, even provoke your
wisdom, leaving in your capable hands any practical ways you might try to apply
in your presbytery any of my outlandish ideas.
I. HABITUAL
SHORT-FALLS OF PRESBYTERY AS A CARING COMMUNITY
1. presbytery
fellowship as discovered togetherness
based upon shared beliefs or life-styles - ‘see how congenial we are’ - the
co-dependent syndrome
2. presbytery
fellowship as safe camaraderie based
upon selective perception and limited honesty
- ‘see how nice we are’ – the
etiquette syndrome
3. presbytery
fellowship as professional pastor-ing based upon image and ministerial role - ‘see how successful
we are’ - the career syndrome
II. THREE BARRIERS TO PRESBYTERY AS A CARING COMMUNITY
1. physically limiting
association - barriers of geographical
distance, shortness of time,
political dynamics of professional and congregational competition
2. structurally limiting association – processes of
institutional maintenance, programming, scheduling for the retired and/or the
self-employed, and so-called ‘ordered business’ –Roberts Rules of Order as
weaponry
3. substantively combative association – denominational
divisions and culture wars from societal norms of winning-and-losing ways of
dealing with differences – rhetorical righteousness on the floor of presbytery.
III.
TWO BUILDING BLOCKS FOR TRANSFORMING PRESBYTERIES INTO CARING
COMMUNITIES
1. Recovery of presbyters’ shared awareness
of their life together as God’s gift to all presbyters
a.
God’s gift of our created human
solidarity that can transcend our
differing beliefs and agendas.
b.
God’s gift of relating as presbyters to each other in grace- based
ways, rather than works-based contests
c.
God’s gift of celebrating faithfulness
rather “success” in ordering
presbytery life and work
2. Reclaiming a shared awareness of community as
primarily the result of God’s redeeming grace, rather
institutional reform.
a. SALVATION BELONGS TO GOD, [Rev. 7:10] not to presbytery meetings, not to congregations
or pastors, not to books of confession,
worship or order, not to pastors
b.
WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US IS SIMPLY THAT THE COMMUNITY
OF PRESBYTERS AND OF PRESBYTERIES IS
‘DO JUSTICE, LOVE KINDNESS,
AND WALK
HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD.
[Micah
6:8]
I am convinced that
presbyteries become caring communities only as they recover a shared awareness
of God’s caring for and through them, both as individuals and as together a
presbytery. Therefore, I want to
convey my conviction and perspective on presbytery care-giving by sharing with
you a current newspaper account of God-given, grace-fueled community that
occurred five days after
ON SEPTEMBER 15TH, AT
FIRST, I WANT TO THANK YOU
FOR BEING BRAVE ENOUGH TO FLY TODAY. THE PILOT
BEGAN.
THE DOORS ARE NOW CLOSED AND
WE HAVE NO HELP FROM THE OUTSIDE FOR ANY PROBLEMS THAT MIGHT OCCUR INSIDE THIS
PLANE. AS YOU COULD TELL WHEN YOU CHECKED IN, THE GOVERNMENT HAS MADE SOME
CHANGES TO INCREASE SECURITY IN THE AIRPORTS. THEY HAVE NOT, HOWEVER, MADE ANY
RULES ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THOSE DOORS CLOSE. UNTIL THEY DO THAT, WE HAVE
MADE OUR OWN RULES AND I WANT TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU . . .
HERE IS OUR PLAN AND OUR RULES. IF SOMEONE OR SEVERAL
PEOPLE STAND UP AND SAY THEY ARE HIJACKING THIS PLANE, I WANT YOU ALL TO STAND
UP TOGETHER. THEN TAKE WHATEVER YOU HAVE AVAILABLE TO YOU AND THROW IT AT THEM.
. . WHOEVER IS CLOSE TO THESE PEOPLE SHOULD THEN TRY TO GET A BLANKET OVER
THEIR HEADS. THEN THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE. ONCE THAT IS DONE, GET THEM DOWN
AND KEEP THEM THERE. DO NOT LET THEM UP. I WILL THEN LAND THE PLANE AT THE CLOSEST
PLACE AND WE WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM. AFTER ALL, THERE ARE USUALLY ONLY A
FEW OF THEM AND WE ARE TWO-HUNDRED-PLUS STRONG. WE WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE
OVER THIS PLANE. I FIND IT INTERESTING THAT THE
THEN THE
PASSENGERS WERE ASKED TO TURN TO THEIR NEIGHBORS ON EITHER SIDE AND INTRODUCE
THEMSELVES AND TO TELL ONE ANOTHER SOMETHING ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR
FAMILIES. FOR TODAY, WE CONSIDER
YOU FAMILY, THEY WERE TOLD, WE WILL
TREAT YOU AS SUCH AND ASK THAT YOU DO THE SAME WITH US. [The New Yorker Magazine,
Sisters and
brothers, I believe that we are created, empowered, and courted by God’s grace
to see ourselves and our presbyteries in a post-9/11 world like those people on
that flight out of