Recently, Phyllis and I had dinner with an old friend of ours. She is a comrade of many years; we spent many hours together walking through life, learning about Jesus, exploring Christianity and the church.
But then we went away and she became a leader in a church-plant.
And then the plant went wrong. Bad wrong. The pastor had an affair with a church member, refused correction, went across town and started a new church. Stinky; messy. Wrong.
The other night, we spend our meal listening to her rant angrily against the Church. She called it the Christian jihad, and spent time ventilating about all the difficulties and problems that Christians have and cause.
She ranted about Creationists and their intolerance for anyone who didn’t believe God made everything just as it is in six 24-hour days. And those “days” are just as we know them. She ranted about churches that insisted “you leave your mind at the door.” She went on and on about preachers who said stupid abusive things, misused the Bible as a club and claimed their sermons to be directly from God.
Some of these guys I know. Some are just reckless. Some are just dumb. (Is the word “doofus” in your vocabulary?) But the injury is just as real and lasting.
She complained about all the intolerance in the church. And how sermons were tailored to fit people’s prejudices. She fussed about how intolerant Christians are of people who were just not like them.
And then she asked me a bunch of questions: What if Abraham never existed? What if there was no Moses? What if it’s all allegorical? What if the Bible’s a big hoax; a fairy tale? She sounded as if she’d watched the daVinci Code too many times.
It was obvious she was hurting. It was apparent that she’d been abused, either knowingly or (and I hate the use this word) innocently. (Maybe “innocently” is the wrong word entirely; maybe I should use the word “unknowingly.”)
And I know in all these years of ministry, I’m not lily-white. I’ve said things, done things, been things that were more discouragement than encouragement. I’ve been dumb and verbal about it! I’ve been less than courteous. And I’ve been insecure and immature. And sometimes all these things happen in the first twenty-minutes of my day!
But…
How do you help someone like our friend? Or can you help her? I mean it sounds like she’s been helped enough. It sounds like she’s been spiritually and emotionally manhandled, mistreated, beaten and shelved. Her faith is shaken (but she says it’s not!) and she’s bitter and biting!
I guess the worst thing is I couldn’t disagree with her. (Except maybe about the accuracy and reality of Scripture… and those are basically faith statements, anyway.)
Much of the church is intolerant and self righteous. Much of the church is abusive. Much of the church refuses to love anyone or anything that’s not like them. We’re not much of a beacon of love and acceptance, are we? It’s really much more about conformity than about love, isn’t it?
And Leadership often takes the role of master rather than servant. Their word often becomes law. And frankly, it seems to me, Scripture is misused more often than it is used correctly. And proof-texting is anathema! But normal! Maybe a concordance is a tool of the devil!
How do we remedy these problems? Or can we?
Good hermeneutics is about reading the Scripture as it was written and intended to be read. Not as a magical book. There is mystery in it, but no magic. You can’t use it to cast benevolent spells or make things happen, just by reading it. The Bible tells the wonderful story of God’s people. Chosen, yes. But chosen, not so much for privilege, but to bear the responsibility of the Covenant and God’s redemptive mission in creation. Chosen to partner with God and take good news everywhere.
And in the narrative there are always “indicatives” - statements that tell us how things are. And there are “imperatives” that tell is what to do, how to behave and how to live our lives. Some things are “prescriptive,” some things are “descriptive” and some things even “provocative.” But good hermeneutics helps us to divide the “imperatives” from the allegories.
The Bible is not a rulebook for living and finding “rightness” and “wrongness” in the world. There is comfort there and direction and reflection. But it’s not intended to be rules. The NT is different form the OT. But that’s another story…
And leaders need to learn how to “lead” rather than “rule.” You can actually lead people where they want to go. It’s no problem. And this is pretty much what leadership is supposed to be - especially in a NT Holy Spirit-filled community. Pontificating is just not a NT way of leading. Serving and speaking the truth in love is a NT way.
We make a big deal about the Reformation being about the Priesthood of the Beleiver. By that we mean we don’t need a priest or intermediary between us and God. We can go directly to God. But sometimes we fail to remember that God can go directly to us. Or someone else. The NT way is about God speaking to anyone. Or actually - everyone.
So can I help her? Do I need to?
But she’s certainly not alone… Recently, I’ve made many new friends who are equally injured. Lame dogs. Beat-up and left by the roadside for dead. Abused by “men of God” who because of their own abuse or insecurity have been less than Christ-like.
So I’ll pray and believe and seek, ask and knock. And by the grace of God not be that kind of leader…
