Sunday. I drove two friends to worship at a
new, experimental church to the west of here, in East Liberty. (They had phones giving them directions
which got us fantastically lost… but we got there. And back even.)
It’s called The Open Door.
It
has been a long time since I have been in a church service where I was arguably
the oldest person in the room.
It’s not just that I’m getting older. But how often do we find a church where everyone in
attendance appears to be well under 50?
I didn’t mind the lack of air-conditioning or the poor acoustics; the
service was informal but dignified.
Clearly, they have a warm and close community. Perhaps 60 people were in attendance, with small children
and babies around the edges. The
music was a single guitarist accompanying some traditional hymns, the words of
which, and most of the rest of the liturgy, were projected on a screen. The preacher spoke eloquently and
informatively about the Kingdom of God in the teachings of Jesus. We celebrated communion to a Celtic
liturgy. It was wonderful.
This
happened around the corner from a positively, almost grotesquely, huge
Presbyterian church. I understand
that that church, East Liberty, is doing good, missional things in the
community. That is certainly commendable. But the future, I think, is in places like the
smaller gathering I attended.
Later
I went to a meeting at the First Presbyterian Church, in downtown
Pittsburgh. This was a bombastic
mausoleum of a monstrosity, with prominent American flags, and stone furnishings
that would take a nuclear bomb to move.
It was dark, with pictures of former pastors hung around the area behind
the massive pulpit. And no
air-conditioning. Clearly they are
not interested in ministry in the 21st century. (I can overlook the lack of air in a
small, poor, start-up community.
But in a church that must have a huge endowment, and is clearly not
making anything like a green statement, it is simply irresponsible. It positively shouts: “Don’t come here
in the summer!”)
The
afternoon Assembly business began with the election of a Vice-Moderator, which
is usually a formality. Not this
year. Neal’s chosen
Vice-Moderator, it was revealed a couple of weeks ago, had performed a same-sex
wedding last spring. Same-sex
weddings are not permitted under our current rules. I disagree with that prohibition. And it is one of the major controversial issues before this
Assembly. However, it is not so
much the rule-breaking that is a problem for me, as the mealy-mouthed way she
sort of admitted it and sort of didn’t.
Her signature is on the license, which is pretty clear. Neal’s response was weak as well. Something about being able to stick
with someone you disagree with.
My
view is that she should have either not done it, or done it and affirmed her
conscience on the matter. But the
apparent equivocation offends everybody.
In
any case, the Assembly elected her by a 60-40 margin. Whether that is predictive of how other votes will go, I
don’t know.
Later
I went to a meeting about “Next Church,” at that facility I talked about
above. Next Church is a gathering
of Presbyterians to move forward and develop new ways of doing things, apart
from the institutional structure.
It makes me nervous that this is funded and instigated by some very big
churches and their pastors. I fail
to see how there is any creativity to be found in these places which are so
thoroughly invested in the status quo.
But I understand that their meetings are attracting some other
folks. It remains to be seen if
these large churches continue to support Next Church when it moves in
directions that threaten their status and privilege, as it must if it is to
accomplish its goals of finding new ways of doing things. If we have a future it is not going to
emerge from well-endowed institutions with well-paid clergy. Most of them are often more concerned
with protecting their own turf and perks than with supporting innovative and
experimental ministry initiatives.
We’ll see.
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