Saints and Sinners: A congregation united
I used to envy the inspirational preachers I heard. While the rest of us were being laid low by our troubles, they had a ready solution for every difficulty.
Not only that, they seemed to be saying that we should welcome our troubles. Without them, our lives would be intolerably dull. Problems made life an exciting adventure, a glorious challenge, they’d say.
Then three of my favorite inspirational preachers committed suicide and I came to see that inspirational preachers were sometimes like philosophers who were optimistic about other people’s problems.
I later learned first-hand the contradictions found in inspirational preaching. My own preaching was meant principally to be inspirational but sometimes the things I said to uplift my congregation failed to lift me when I was in the doldrums.
That was always a puzzling disappointment to me but it never caused me to lose my love for good inspirational preaching, which gives hope and assurance that the worst may not befall — that indeed the best may happen.
But I admit I am still shaken when I hear that some preacher, who has been an inspiration to me in life’s struggles, has himself succumbed to the stresses of daily living.
It’s like learning your doctor has died of the illness for which he had been treating you.
Clergy suicides can rock a congregation but so can other things. I get the same letdown feeling when I hear of clergy marriages breaking up. Marital problems involving the clergy create rifts in a congregation’s membership as parishioners take sides in the squabbles rocking the parsonage.
Then there are outside politics and hot topics in the news, such as the crisis in Iraq, that are not only dividing nations but is polarizing churches across this country. At a church I attended, a man had an idea for handling the polarizing — both theological and political. His idea may resolve a problem that can split congregations down the middle and spoil the church experience for many.
This man suggested the following for a divided parish:
During the Sunday service, the conservatives in the congregation would be seated to the right, the liberals to the left. After the service opens with everyone singing “Onward, Christian Soldiers” (“We are not divided, all one body we”), a velvet curtain would descend down the middle so the right side won’t know what the left side is doing.
The minister would then preach to the right on such topics as “Christ’s Concern for Law and Order,” the “Ten Commandments” and “Initiative, Enterprise and Integrity.” Then he would go over to the left and preach about “Christ’s Concern for Compassion,” “Are Absolutes Obsolete?” and “Poverty is OUR Problem.”
Just before the service ends, the curtain would rise and the congregation would sing “Blest be the tie that binds.”
Does your congregation fit into this gentle satire?
(George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.)