I Thought I Was Being Friendly:

Straight AheadI thought I was being friendly for all those years when I made casual conversation with people by asking the most obvious questions such as: What kind of work do you do? How many kids do you have? Where do you live? According to the new interpretation of social grace being promoted by some, these questions are not as friendly as I thought. According to these advocates of a new kind of "social political correctness," these questions should not be asked. By asking these types of questions, say some egalitarians, we are only attempting to label people more conveniently. By this cynical reckoning, we really don't care about the people, but are only interested in defining them by our own standards of snobbery so that we can feel intellectually or socially superior. As a pastor, I always ask the typical questions so that I can get to know people--whether they are church members or just casual acquaintances. After all, we are defined in many ways. We are defined in superficial ways such as our appearance, our physical handicaps or lack thereof, and our education and social background. We are also defined by our job, our family life, even by where we live. Those who detest asking the obvious questions say that these factors are not the important aspects of a person. Rather, they say, we should be interested in what a person thinks and how a person feels. We should be interested in these things, of course; but does it not say a lot about a person when we find out what they do for a living, where they come from, how they got there. Vocation should be an important consideration for any Christian. And after all, vocation is a matter of choice--at least, in the United States. None of us are appointed to our present job by a government agency! We should not be ashamed of who we are, where we work, how we got to the place we are today. They're a part of us. I don't think one occupation or vocation is intrinsically more worthy than any other; and if I don't ask the obvious questions, how will I ever know the obvious facts that are part of a person's everyday life? Maybe those who wish to be "socially politically correct" should get a life, and get real!

The Social Obsession:

Straight AheadThe major Christian denominations are preparing to issue a "social creed for the 21st century" and to celebrate the original "social creed: for the churches as they commemorate the founding, in 1908, of the Federal Council of Churches, now known as the National Council of Churches. Additionally, the stated clerk of the PC(USA), Clifton Kirkpatrick, joined ten other religious leaders in October to call on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. They said that it was a matter of economic justice. Again, we see the mainline churches engaged in their social obsession. Involvement in social issues by the churches is not new, of course. The difference today is that religious leaders seem to think it's their responsibility to speak out on every social issue. The leaders of mainline denominations usually take the liberal side. The leaders of evangelical or more theologically conservative religious groups generally take the more conservative political stance. The liberals seem to be the most hypocritical, though, since they criticize the conservative evangelicals not only for their conservative stance, but for taking such an active role in the political process. That's a very strange criticism, since the liberal wing of Protestantism has been doing the same thing for at least 50 years. When will the religious leaders from all across the theological spectrum realize that the power of the church comes from the Holy Spirit, not from a secular spirit of politics? When will we remember that our true vitality comes when we are involved in the mission of bringing people to faith in Christ, not the mission of dubious material gains? Increasingly, it seems that when churches talk about their outreach and missions projects, the emphasis is almost totally social and material, not spiritual and eternal. Have done, O church, with this social obsession!

Happy Reminders; Back Home Again!

Tonight, Lydia and I are back home in Jackson, Alabama.   We have just returned from our weekend of preaching at the First ARP in Gastonia, North Carolina.  The trip and the series went well.

 

I was reminded of all the reasons I love the Piedmont Carolinas.  I was reminded of the good things about the EPC.  (The ARP church has a contemporary service at 8:30 each Sunday that is very well done.  I actually realized that I even miss some of those contemporary Christian songs and choruses a little bit.  And we met some people with strong EPC connections.)

 

I was reminded of the difference between ministering in a congregation and just maintaining a congregation.  I was reminded of many other things I won't list here; but they were all happy reminders.

 

The weather here is unseasonably warm.  The rest of the week will be busy, as I prepare for services on Sunday.  My future is no more certain than it was two weeks ago;  but I've also been reminded again of who's actually in charge--and it isn't I!