Questions and radical changes

Editor’s Note: David Crittenden, transitional synod executive, presented a sermon June 21 at a meeting of the Presbytery of South Dakota. An edited version of that sermon is the column published below.
 

by Dave Crittenden

Transitional Synod Executive

As text:

Joel 2:28 – After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

Acts 11:9 – The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’

What is the Spirit Saying to Us? What is in store for the Presbytery of South Dakota and the Synod of Lakes and Prairies? Have we seen any visions lately?

I am a born and raised Presbyterian. I have been an ordained teaching elder since 1974. God has called me to serve at every level of the Presbyterian Church. In my almost 40 years of service our church has not changed much but I believe there is no doubt the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is changing and needs to change – at every level.

What we have always done has not worked for so long that we are all looking for a different or better way to answer God’s call or just simply survive. I have never believed God calls us to be a part of congregations, presbyteries, synods or a national church that only seeks to survive. God calls us as individuals to be a part of congregations and presbyteries that witness to God’s amazing grace and Christ’s saving love that transforms people and communities into places filled with vibrant life.

Yes, God calls each of us and us together to do more than survive. God calls us to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our communities and around the world. We, you and I, indeed the whole Presbyterian Church, are looking for a vision for the future that allows us to be the witness that we are called to be.

As many of you know the PC(USA) has announced another year where our gains have been exceeded by our losses. We know, as we look at the larger picture in our country, that the influence of Christianity is waning to the point of being a counter culture. Is the Presbyterian Church dying? Is Christianity on its way out? I believe, with every fiber of my being, God will not let that happen. At the same time, we must acknowledge that any vision for our future involves doing things differently. We cannot do what we have always done and expect different results.

First, while we know our younger generations may be as committed to following Christ as our older generation, that younger generation is and will be following in different ways than we did.

Second, we know we have become a multicultural nation. You may have heard Frank Yamada, president of McCormick Seminary, remind us there will not be a majority race in the United States by the year 2040. As a denomination we have a priority to become a multi-culture, multi-racial denomination. Yet it is obvious we are not clear on how that might happen.

What will our congregations need to do? As we look at who is sitting in the pews we realize the changes in our society will be quite a challenge for us. Those changes require us modify how we think about doing church. It may be so different – or different enough – that we won’t recognize our church.

And we ask what we need to do to fix this. We all would like a program or best practice to follow that would make our church and the larger church grow and flourish. We want to know the steps we need to take even if they are not easy.

One thing most people who have been studying our situation agree on is the answer or answers are adaptive and not technical. This means there are no steps we can each take that will fix our problems.

The answer may be different for each church. It means we will find the answers together and we will find them by listening to each other and looking for adaptive change together.

Most also agree that all this starts by asking the right questions. We need questions that get our creative juices flowing and encourage us to think outside our comfort zone. We need new thoughts.

Gil Rendle, a contemporary author who writes about the church and these challenging times suggests two questions: (1) How will we be with God? and (2) How will we be with each other? The synod is looking at two similar questions: (1) What is God doing in our midst and how are we responding to God’s invitation to be a part of it? and (2) How might this council – presbytery or synod – help those within its region be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ?

A part of answering our questions is to learn from our past. A large part of our past is recorded in scripture. The prophet Joel and the early church’s experience do have something to tell us. Joel was a prophet who pronounced God’s judgments on the southern kingdom of Judah. Joel’s vision for the future included a judgment of God’s people and foreign nations. He also spoke of restoration of God’s people through intense suffering.  Joel says “ … your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” Joel speaks of radical change, but points out that God provides the answers for the radical change. Sound familiar?

The Acts passage reminds us of Peter’s game changing vision. It is possible that without this one vision we would not be sitting here today. Peter provided a radical vision. Just how radical? Peter originally refused to follow God’s command. Then, his fellow Christians chastise him for going to the home of the unclean and eating with them. Peter asked the followers in Jerusalem to change the very foundation of their Christian belief.

Peter’s vision and Christ’s commands have taught us to include everyone. We may not be able to imagine excluding specific persons from our congregation as they come to visit as an individual or a family, but can we imagine what it will be like to find ourselves accepting large numbers of people into our congregations who are not only unlike us, but whose practices are very different than ours. The gentiles of Peter’s time who were uncircumcised and ate unclean food far outnumbered the circumcised Christians. They radically changed the church. Is your church – your congregation – able to withstand that kind of change?

Peter and the church at Jerusalem faced our first question: What is God doing in your midst and how are you responding to it? Joel tells the people of his day what God is doing and what they should do. Take a moment and try to imagine what it would be like for your congregation or this presbytery if someone shared a vision that involved such a radical change. What would your honest reaction be? Would you believe them? Would you be willing to risk change on the strength of a vision? What does it take to make such radical change?

With the prophet Joel and Acts 11 as background, how do you answer the first question: What is God doing in our midst and how are we responding to God’s invitation to be a part of it? And how might this council help those within its region be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ?

It is important that the presbytery be diligently looking for the answer to the second question: How might this presbytery help its congregations be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ? What do you or will you need from the larger church – the synod and General Assembly – to help your congregations?

I believe that when we search for the answers to these questions and when we become open and responsive to God’s response, that is when the vision is most likely to come to us.

 

Implications of the 'gap'

by Phil Brown
Synod Executive

What are the implications of creating a “gap” in our structures by removing synods?

I’ve covered a lot of this ground in my initial and lengthy response to the commission. Now I’m selecting one or two at a time to highlight. In an earlier blog comment I pointed to one very significant implication contrary to the claims of the Mid-Council Commission folks who assert the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be a more “flat, flexible and faithful organization.”  The tempting and faddish terminology is what we all want to hear.

My response, however, is to encourage folks to think critically about the proposal and such an assertion. Are synods the only, or at least the significant, reason we are not “flat, flexible and faithful” structures? How can such an outcome be sought, if that’s our purpose, without simultaneously examining the role and function of the General Assembly and its many agencies?

As I suggested in earlier comments, while the current proposal effectively removes a player from the field, it fails to level the field and expands the distance from home plate to the outfield.

Another implication of the “gap” not under discussion is really more foundational to the origins of the PC(USA). A (General) Synod was first formed in this country prior to the formation of a General Assembly. Their purpose was oversight and review of presbyteries when they began to expand in number. Similarly, when the church grew and multiple synods were developed, the General Assembly was formed. A key role, in fact a critical purpose, for the General Assembly was the review and oversight of the work of synods.

So, when the Commission introduces its work, including what it learned from the “listening” sessions, it asks, “What is not working?” “Synods” is the response.

At the same time the Commission never asks a question about the forms of “review or oversight” in which the synod engages with its presbyteries, much less how synods are reviewed by the General Assembly.

In brief, there’s the required reading of presbytery minutes. And there’s the participation in the search and review process for presbytery staff. There’re the meetings with councils and those groups charged to look at new visions and configurations for a new day in the life of presbyteries faced with far fewer human and material resources and a more limited sense of unity.

In fact our synod staff provide provisional support to those presbyteries currently without staff and more presbyteries are on that road.

 

There is the significant work of the Permanent Judicial Commission, including remedial cases and allegations of misconduct. There’s the work with CPMs and COMs in both call processes, and complex conflicts and dissolutions. There’s the communication and regular work with presbytery staff, adapting to new designs and position descriptions.

Picture how this GAP is going to lead to more vital, missional congregations?

Consider the GAP, the removal of the review and oversight responsibility of synods -- then, consider the Commission’s recommendation that enables non-geographic, missional presbyteries.

 
Where is the review and oversight? That’s pretty bold!

Reflecting the world

by Phil Brown
Synod Executive

I like questions. I walk with questions – those for myself and those I ask. Good questions seek knowledge and understanding – foundational for Presbyterians.

You may wonder or can probably anticipate where questions led my commencement address (see the previous post) to Buena Vista University graduates.

I talked about the questions they had brought with them to college four years earlier. Is this the right place? Can I make it? Can I afford it? Will I find new friends?

And, based on their college experience, there were those questions upon leaving and moving into the world. You can guess some of them. Can I pay my debt? Will I get the grad school I want? Will I find the right Job? The right spouse? And on and on.

I had some real live answers to those questions because I’d interviewed a dozen or so students a few months earlier. I hoped that at least those students would be listening. I enjoyed and found meaningful the opportunity to share their comments.

But I needed then, and now, to move question a bit farther along. Keeping the question theme in the realm of academics only works so long. The graduates, each in their own way, needed to take that next step beyond their diploma.

And they were entering a world with incredible divisions, from our towns to our states to our country and across the globe. It was true last spring and it remains true today – think of the Super Committee and its inability to resolve differences. There’s the gap that exists between rich and poor – think of Occupy Wall Street. There are governments that are not of the people and for the people – look to the Middle East and the revolutions in the streets. Maybe our own nation?

Then think about how we live. There are amazing advances in technology and science – think Time magazine’s piece on technological singularity. There is a significant emphasis on the individual and far less on interpersonal community – unless the community is virtual.

There is a disappearing capacity to articulate and live out a moral life. And I know if I asked you, the list would multiply. The speed of communication is mimicked by rapid social change.

So my challenge to the graduating class, my challenge to you and, in its own separate way, my challenge to me is to formulate a question to carry – not just about individual lives and journeys, but about the common good.

What question do we live with that will lead us to serve the common good?

Do we see the disparities in the world around us, in the places we live, work or go to school? Where are the divisions? Where can we serve with our gifts? What difference can we make?

These days we seem to have more answers than questions, and we seek company among those who agree with us.

And we seem to be living that way as a church – a reflection of the world in which we live.

I don’t sense faithfulness to Jesus Christ in such behavior.

Living with a question

By Phil Brown

Synod Executive

Last spring I had the opportunity to speak to a group of college graduates – commencement at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. It proved to be a fascinating challenge for me because I’m more accustomed to addressing some shape and form of a church group.

It’s a pretty heady experience to be asked to address commencement, but when I thought about it, I realized – and this may be true for you – that I couldn’t remember much about any commencement in which I’d received a degree.

So I did a little research among friends and colleagues and sure enough, the same response. They’d say, “I don’t even remember who spoke.” But they all said assuredly, “I’m certain you’ll do just fine, Phil.” How encouraging.

This could be a futile effort, I thought. It will take a lot of work to prepare something and the graduates won’t remember anything – possibly by the time they recess.

Without more detail about getting to the next step, I finally thought of the challenge posited to my younger son during his graduate school experience. His faculty advisor affirmed Jess’ disciplined study habits, but he challenged Jess to prepare a question for each class or lab time based on his preparation.

It reminded me of a quote by Albert Einstein: “If I had one hour to find an answer to something on which my life depended, I’d spend the first 55 minutes framing the right question. Once I did that, I know I can resolve the problem in less than five minutes.”

Jess’ advisor observed that it’s one thing to prepare and take in all the reading and note writing, but it’s quite another to craft a question for the next classroom or lab experience. The effect, the professor said, is that the process expands your learning capacity. Your antenna will be up, the advisor said. Your mind will be seeking uses, looking for what’s different, inquiring about what’s missing, asking what you need to know. It’s the way you need to examine the material you consume before coming to class.

That’s a great idea.

But it wasn’t the end of the challenge.

The advisor urged him to shape another question coming away from his classroom or lab experience. It’s a question that looks ahead. You want to know where all that leads. You want to know what you’ve learned. You want to know what’s missing. You want to know about the impact of what you’ve just seen or heard.

The advisor assured him that to leave a class, an experience, with a question on his mind will open up the whole world for a response.

The instruction – to carry a question – is as valuable to us as it is to any graduate student.

When I do, I receive input from surprising places, people and sources because my life is living a question rather than answer.