Presbytery

My family has been Presbyterian just after it became impractical to be Druids. So you could say it's been in the family a while. When I decided to do the ministry thing, I went to a seminary with twelve, yup, twelve different schools included in the amalgum. I took classes at them all, Buddhist, Unitarian, Baptist, Episcopalian, Franciscan, Jesuit, etc. Learned a lot about a lot. And in the process I migrated to this interesting place called home. Boiling it all down Presbyterianism made the most sense to me. It had just as many warts as most of them, but there was a grace in it, a freedom with a down to earth sense of realism and honesty that drew me.

Fast forward thirty odd years and I still feel that way. It's not the easiest way to go. It bonds us with people that alternately infuriate and frustrate what I sense is best. But that very bonding is perhaps the best part. All the abrasion and struggle demands tolerance and patience and putting the Law of Love into action.

Last night we had a regular meeting of the Presbytery. This is a gathering of all the ministers from about 50 churches and an equal number of elder delegates. We do the business of this governing body. These meetings will fry your brain if you let them. Kick in the tolerance and patience and add stamina. But we worship and we laugh and we get to see people that we've been too busy to see since last meeting.

There was conflict simmering just beneath the business. Factions doing their thing. Financial issues coupled with dissatisfaction with staff. Sound familiar? So I got up and invited everybody to a party at our house in October(Chris and I planned it in about 30 seconds during debate over an amendment to the original motion). They all laughed and I had to give a speech about the church needing more hospitality and less business. We'll see what happens. My wife is a saint. They should all take lessons from her. I do.

I love the church. I love how it has lifted up scholarship and learning and wisdom and caring and the arts and music and fellowship in a cynical and lonely world. I love the way it points beyond itself to something we can't even see, but we affirm as being as or more real than anything the culture sells. I love the way it won't settle for easy answers. I love the way it transcends boundaries and pulls at polarities and pokes at self importance and arrogance. I love the way it couragously embraces suffering and humbly confronts evil. I hate seeing it die because people are too busy and too narcissistic(however you spell that). But if we've got to die we'll go out the way we've always been. Obstinate and unwilling to settle for anything less than the kingdom of God.

What do you think? Should we play twister at the party?