This past week the denomination I serve, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, had our General Assembly. For the past several years, we held our General Assembly concurrently with our sibling denomination, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America. The story of the two denominations that share a confession, a constitution, a directory of worship, and almost all other documents is more complicated than I could explain here. It is certainly more complicated than I even know.
To summarize, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America was formed in the years after the Civil War by Black Cumberland Presbyterians who wanted to have their own churches, autonomy, and the ability to determine their own direction as a denomination. The result is that in 2019 we still have two different denominations of Cumberland Presbyterians based almost solely on race.
Our General Assemblies have been working together toward unification for many years. There have been several major attempts, and some have come very close to unifying, but so far we remain two separate institutions.
Last week at our concurrent General Assembly meetings, both assemblies voted to send the plan for union to the presbyteries of our churches as part of the unification process. We may be on the road to finally coming together as one denomination again.
From one point of view, it seems that there is no reason we would not be unified. All the major documents are shared. All the theological statements are shared. Our form of government is the same. When I first looked at this issue, it seemed there was an easy solution. But I was naïve.
I work hard to try to see the world through eyes other than my own. I know I can never fully understand what a woman goes through or what a member of the LGBTQ community goes through or what an immigrant to the United States goes through, as hard as I might try. And I can never understand what a Person of Color goes through in the United States.
I did receive some clues as this process has gone on. Some of the resistance has been about things that might not have occurred to me. There is fear about the way each church will be represented. Will the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America simply be swallowed up and no longer have a voice in the church? There is fear about the use of property by the new church. In our system, Presbyteries own property, not local churches, and there is fear that the presbytery will sell the properties of some churches to benefit others.
Initially these scenarios seemed unlikely to me. But I have to realize that this is the way history has treated my Black sisters and brothers. They have been discriminated against, not allowed to register to vote, their property has been given to whites, their voices have been drowned out. I know I can't see things from their point of view accurately, but when fears like these are voiced, I have to try to see why these fears are real. And I have to conclude, they are very real, because that is the lived reality of a Black person in the United States.
Once again, I hope to be aware enough that I can pledge to stand with those who have been mistreated, abused, overlooked, and ignored. I only know part of the stories of the people who have been treated this way, but I hope to hear your stories, stand with you while you take the lead for your autonomy, and work with you for justice. I believe God intends an end to injustice, favoritism, prejudice, and all forms of abuse, systematic and individual. If you are a white, straight, cisgendered man like me, we have to lay down some of our privilege and listen. Listen to how others have been mistreated by people like us.
Then we can hope to begin to heal the divides.
May God help us.
That's the view from where I stand today...
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Complicated Systems
This morning Joy and I had a bit of bad luck. Joy was taking a friend to a very important meeting when suddenly our car, the car I bought new in 2009 and has been nothing but perfectly reliable for us, stopped running. I was just about to leave for work when I got a frantic phone call from our friend, letting me know what was going on
Thankfully the car conked out only a few blocks from the meeting, so our friend made it on time. But I rushed over to see what I could do. When I got there, there were police and a very friendly employee of a local business who charged up the battery of the car so I could get it to the church. He actually charged it up three times before I got it back, and I am extremely grateful... Thank you, Jonathan!
Turns out that it was pretty easy to diagnose that the alternator had gone out. It was still smoking when I got there. Good news... the alternator on this car is right on top and SHOULD be relatively easy to replace. That might be the subject of my next post if all does not go well.
But it got me thinking about complicated systems like these. Cars have so many things going on in them. This part is connected to that part and to that one and if any one of them doesn't function properly, something will go wrong. For years the tire pressure monitoring system has been non-functional in this car. Annoying, but no big deal. But when the alternator goes out, that is a really big deal. The car won't run. Interestingly, it won't change gears, the key won't come out of the ignition... It's a mess.
Systems that are interconnected like this need care and maintenance to run efficiently. Even then, an unexpected issue can arise like the meltdown of an alternator, that will shut everything else down. That one failure stops the entire system.
It's like that in our lives, too. Maybe we have issues like the tire pressure monitoring system. It isn't going to shut us down, but it shows the system is not functioning perfectly. But a single important part can stop us in our tracks. When that happens, there's nothing to do but pull off on then side of the road, get a tow or get help from a friend or even a perfect stranger to get to where you can work on your system, and take the time to fix/heal.
Just as an extra word, the system is bigger than I would have imagined. Joy would not have been driving that car, except that last week we noticed a screw in the tire of Joy's normal car, and haven't had the time to take it in to get it fixed. So, she has been driving my old car instead. One small screw in the system, what seemed to be an entirely different system, led to today's frustrating breakdown.
It's good in these situations to recognize that this is no one's fault. It just happens. And we will take time out today to deal with the problem, fix it the best we can, and move on.
That, too, is the same for things that happen in our lives.
May you always have time to fix/heal when you need to do so, and may always know it's OK to take that time.
That's the view today.
Pastor Chris
Thankfully the car conked out only a few blocks from the meeting, so our friend made it on time. But I rushed over to see what I could do. When I got there, there were police and a very friendly employee of a local business who charged up the battery of the car so I could get it to the church. He actually charged it up three times before I got it back, and I am extremely grateful... Thank you, Jonathan!
Turns out that it was pretty easy to diagnose that the alternator had gone out. It was still smoking when I got there. Good news... the alternator on this car is right on top and SHOULD be relatively easy to replace. That might be the subject of my next post if all does not go well.
But it got me thinking about complicated systems like these. Cars have so many things going on in them. This part is connected to that part and to that one and if any one of them doesn't function properly, something will go wrong. For years the tire pressure monitoring system has been non-functional in this car. Annoying, but no big deal. But when the alternator goes out, that is a really big deal. The car won't run. Interestingly, it won't change gears, the key won't come out of the ignition... It's a mess.
Systems that are interconnected like this need care and maintenance to run efficiently. Even then, an unexpected issue can arise like the meltdown of an alternator, that will shut everything else down. That one failure stops the entire system.
It's like that in our lives, too. Maybe we have issues like the tire pressure monitoring system. It isn't going to shut us down, but it shows the system is not functioning perfectly. But a single important part can stop us in our tracks. When that happens, there's nothing to do but pull off on then side of the road, get a tow or get help from a friend or even a perfect stranger to get to where you can work on your system, and take the time to fix/heal.
Just as an extra word, the system is bigger than I would have imagined. Joy would not have been driving that car, except that last week we noticed a screw in the tire of Joy's normal car, and haven't had the time to take it in to get it fixed. So, she has been driving my old car instead. One small screw in the system, what seemed to be an entirely different system, led to today's frustrating breakdown.
It's good in these situations to recognize that this is no one's fault. It just happens. And we will take time out today to deal with the problem, fix it the best we can, and move on.
That, too, is the same for things that happen in our lives.
May you always have time to fix/heal when you need to do so, and may always know it's OK to take that time.
That's the view today.
Pastor Chris
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