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January 2004 |
Guest Editorial
Can I report a mugging?
By Philip A. Amerson
One wouldn't expect to be "spiritually mugged" at the sanctuary door, but that was the crime scene. Ironically, I suspect my attacker meant well; I am sure he only intended a small mischief. Even so, his words were bruising. The assault was not on me personally, but on seminary education generally and our denomination's commitment to serious theological inquiry.
One Sunday, I had just concluded my role as guest preacher in a nearby Southern California congregation when the assailant found his place near the end of the greeting line. As I shook his hand he introduced himself as a visitor "from back East." Then he struck: "Good sermon," says he, "surprisingly good for someone from a seminary." I could tell from the way he curled the word "seminary" into five syllables that it wasn't a compliment. Then, naming his home congregation, he continued. "Most churches are dying because of folks like you. Seminaries cause students to question their faith and they don't help them understand the work of a local church." The came his coup de grace: "My home church won't send anyone to seminary; we have our own program that teaches everything future leaders need to know." Message delivered, he rushed off. I took a deep sigh and turned to greet the next person in line.
This incident, my "spiritual mugging," remains in my thoughts. More than anything I remember the fear in that man's eyes. Although the fellow was on the attack, he seemed frightened and fragile. Psychologists, who study the fear response in humans, tell us that what is diminished is any ability for a person to see alternatives, to improvise new solutions, to make good decisions about the future. The natural impulse is to turn inward, to shut out that which is unknown, to seek familiar and repetitive patterns in the hope the world will remain as it has been. Had I my wits about me on that Sunday morning I would have invited this gentleman to come and visit our campus, to meet some of our faculty and students. Addled by the incident, I didn't reach out and before I could make a response or even get his name, he was gone.
Fear is a powerful motivator. Sadly, I see more and more fear-based decisions about our future as a denomination. Seeking security, we end up dividing the world into liberal or conservative, Southeast and West, contemporary and classical, lay and clergy and, yes, local congregation or connectional institutions.
Prior to arriving in my current appointment at the Claremont School of Theology I was a parish pastor in Bloomington, Ind. Hardly a day goes by that I don't miss this work as pastor. But I also love the challenges of theological education and know that my ministry in both places is connected to a larger whole. The seminary and parish are important allies in the sharing of the Gospel of Christ in our world, but fear keeps us from finding common connections.
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I would suggest that it is fear, even more than ignorance or mean-spiritedness, that causes our divisions, distrust and disagreements. |
The work of theology is said to be "faith seeking understanding"; this is true as far as it goes. In our seminaries we think, teach and test our theologies. We are called to think clearly and carefully about religious matters, to do research so that the faith is better understood and appropriately shared in the world. We also teach future pastors and lay leaders, inviting them to the excitement of a life of study, devotion and service. And, we test our theologies -- that is, we live them, and share them, in ministry in real life settings. We know that all life is provisional and our faith is continually worked and re-worked in relationship with others and with God. Thinking, teaching and testing the faith -- there are few places where this is better done than in our United Methodist seminaries.
Why is this important? Simply this -- I believe my "spiritual mugger" was more shaped by fear and a hunger for easy answers than he was by faith. As a denomination we have a number of voices offering kindergarten-shaped answers to God-sized puzzles. We need some mature thinking about God's mysteries and our personal and communal ever-evolving calls to faithful living. A friend once reminded me that "for every complex problem there is a simple solution ... and it is almost always wrong."
Some tell us that the right answer is to follow the model of the mega-churches, even when more than 80% of our local congregations have fewer than 200 members. Others suggest that small groups are the only answer even when there are other congregations modeling important ways to welcome hundreds of new persons to worship monthly. Some say we are too liberal, others that we are too conservative. Some tell us that we need more formal liturgy, others that contemporary music is absolutely essential. Some say we need to be like a movement with a litmus-test set of answers to difficult issues to determine who is accepted and who is not. Others say that creeds are not as important as right relationships with those who are on the margins of the church. Some say that we must immediately merge Conferences, reduce the number of bishops, or consolidate or disband our General Agencies.
Fear of financial scarcity, fear of human differences, fear of declining membership, fear of nontraditional theological exploration, fear of anything that we believe we cannot control or predict pushes us to seek the simple answer at hand. I would suggest that it is fear, even more than ignorance or mean-spiritedness, that causes our divisions, distrust and disagreements. Fear leads to "us" and "them" distinctions, to an inappropriate division between congregational work and seminary work. Fear leads to spiritual muggings, and this at a time when we need each other more than ever.
If and when I see my spiritual-mugger again (are you out there reading this column?) I will first want to shake his hand and call him "Brother." Then I will make him an offer. If he will spend a week with me on our campus, meeting our students and faculty and sharing his concerns with them, I will bring some of our students and faculty on a visit to his church where we can learn from him of his interests and concerns.
The Gospel is too big for us not to embrace one another; the thinking, teaching and testing that must go on needs the gifts we all can bring.
The Rev. Philip A. Amerson is president of United Methodist-related Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif. Amerson is a member of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He was the former senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Ind. Amerson moved to Claremont in fall 2000.