Peace Unity and Purity

Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier Journal reported on his blog, http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/faith/2010/ about the latest report from Presbyterian Research Services:
Peace or purity?

Nearly half of Presbyterians put equal importance on "peace, unity and purity" in a church. But among those who give them different weight, conservatives are far more likely to pick "purity," while liberals prefer "peace." Those results are among a raft of newly released data from the Research Services of the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)The results date from 2006, when the church was about to vote on recommendations from a task force whose formal name included the words in question: the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity. The task force's recommendations served as part of the ongoing debate over role of gays in ministry -- a complicated story in its own right. But the name alone prompted the question of whether a church could really have all three of those qualities together.
Among the results:
•Some 29 percent of liberals chose peace, compared with 10 percent of conservatives.
•Only 6 percent of liberals chose purity, compared with 38 percent of conservatives.
Among both categories, however, the largest group put equal weight on the three values -- a majority of liberals and a plurality of conservatives.
Smaller percentages of each group chose unity.
Among moderates, exactly 50 percent put equal weight on the three values, with those preferring one of the three fairly evenly divided among the rest.
Large majorities believe there's a place for everyone in the denomination regardless of views on controversial issues.
That sounds like a vote for unity.

At the same time, large majorities believe that "a church that is not clear about what it believes is not worth belonging to."

My response to this, a long held conviction, that the constitutional ordination question in which one promises to uphold the "Peace Unity and Purity of the Church" is actually harmful to the church's ability to adapt to the 21st century.

"Peace" is actually a hold-over from old empire values--the Pax Romana—a peace enforce by hierarchical control. Instead of peace, we should encourage creative complexity and ability to create new structures to adapt to new times. Whenever a system moves through change from chaos, it always takes a more complex form, and with creativity, truth and goodness is increased.

"Unity" is also a hierarchically imposed focus on sameness, everybody has to agree on what to think. Heresy used to mean thinking new thoughts, now it means thinking thoughts that don't conform to the unity norm. Instead of unity we should vow to promote a respectful diversity.

"Purity" is a holdover from the post exilic emphasis in the Hebrew Scriptures when the community tended to think more about following the strict laws of the Torah instead of following the spirit of Torah which included major concern for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger in our midst. Instead of purity we need to promote a generous inclusivity, in which the circle of faith grows ever larger, drawing people in instead of circling them out.

I hope the Presbyterians will be able to move to adapt to the 21st century but I fear we're going to continue to push for the top-down values of peace, unity and purity.

New Leadership Book Welcomed

I welcome to the literature on leadership this new book by my friend and colleague Ken McFayden, Dean and Professor of Ministry and Leadership Development at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA. Strategic Leadership brings together Ken's deep study of attachment theory and loss with his thorough experience of church leadership through his consultations and his teaching. Three important ideas are put forth here that are not found elsewhere:

1. Our response to loss is related to our levels of attachment, and our ability to overcome it depends on our good grieving and re-attachment.
2. Since all change involves loss, churches seek growth without change (and wonder why it does not happen).
3. Churches yearn for leadership and resist leadership at the same time.

The book provides ample lists of helpful suggestions for church leaders facing changes, losses, and the challenges of the future.

As I read the excellent analyses, I wished his editors had encouraged him to include his engaging and delightful case studies to help the reader see how leadership works in changing circumstances.

Bibliographic info:

Kenneth J. McFayden

Strategic Leadership for a Change: Facing our Losses, Finding our Future.

Alban Institute, 2009. Paper. 101 pages. $17.00. ISBN 978-1-56699-392-0

Sacred Geometry Report

Amazing how a simple triangle with right angles and right proportions can help make a circle. That was the genius of Robert Ferre, "geometrician of the sacred," who led the "Seeking the Symmetry of the Soul" conference at Louisville Seminary last week. Forty people learned how to do the geometry and the lay out classical and Chartres style labyrinths in the classroom. About 15 people stayed for the second part of the experience--building a brick lined, 11-circuit, Chartres-style labyrinth on the grounds of Historic Farmington in Louisville. The picture above is the early work of laying bricks in place to create the circles that are the basis of the labyrinth. That group included folks from Ontario Canada and Maryland and North Carolina and Florida who were here to learn to put a labyrinth together in their places of worship.

Building the labyrinth was a joint venture of Louisville Seminary and its Biennial Labyrinth Conference, and Farmington, the historical foundation preserving the home of the Speed family in Louisville on Bardstown Road, and Sullivan University, right next to Farmington.

The Chaplain/Wellness Director at Sullivan, Dr. Renee Rust-Yarmuth, a trained labyrinth facilitator herself, has been wanting a labyrinth to use in her work with students so she was a strong force in pulling this three-way collaboration together. She was able to call into action the inspiring ethos of inter-departmental collaboration within Sullivan University to make this a reality. I was moved by the willingness of administrators and facilities workers to lend their resources to make the event so successful.

The cooperation of Farmington, with its director Andrea and the properties committee chair Herb Shulhafer was also gratifying. Herb found enthusiastic donors of the bricks needed for the project (about 4000 altogether) in the Russells of Lee Brick and Block Company.

Stop by Farmington at 3033 Bardstown Road and see the labyrinth created at the back of the property. It's a "liberty labyrinth" in tribute to the slaves who worked those fields. A truly redemptive project.

2009 Labyrinth Conference

Devotees and th0se curious about the labyrinth will gather on the campus of LPTS for a fascinating approach to the labyrinth. Robert Ferre, a prolific maker of labyrinths, will lead us through the basics of sacred geometry, the design principles of the classical labyrinths, basic spiritual practices connected with the labyrinth and networking to discuss the whole process. The conference comes in two parts:

Monday through Wednesday, October 26-28 is the teaching portion of the event on the seminary campus, with sessions from 9-5 each day.

Thursday and Friday, October 29-30, participants will actually build a brick labyrinth on the grounds of the historic Farmington, adjacent to Sullivan University in Louisville.

See the Seminary website for more information and online registration.

www.lpts.edu/academic_programs/labyrinth_2009.asp

Call me at 800-264-1839, ext 372, or Laura March at extension 382 for more information.

Visiting Whitewater Valley Presbytery in Indiana

I invite friends of Louisville Seminary and anyone looking for encouragement in church conflict to meet me at the Presbytery meeting of Whitewater Valley at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Marion Indiana. My presentation: "The Plot Thickens: Narratives of Change and Hope in your Congregation" will take place at 10:30 a.m. See the Presbytery website, http://www.whitewatervalley.org/ for more information. My powerpoint presentation is posted on http://www.slideshare.net/ . I'll also be doing a small group discussion after the presentation, and I will be available around the edges of the meeting for anyone wanting a conversation about Louisville Seminary or my presentation

News of the death of racism is highly exaggerated

Anyone who was ready with the obituary of racism in American will have to wait. The news of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s arrest in his own home and the exaggerated reactions to it around the country highlights the real and dangerous presence of the old prejudices. Focusing on Gates' behavior after being confronted in his own home only highlights the pervasiveness of racism. Reminders from some that black men should always go docile when confronted with police make the truth even harder to hide.

Those of us who are privileged European Americans should step up to say helpful things and promote the strength and health of the black community and the black churches.

In that light, I'm proud to point to the new initiative at my seminary, the LPTS "Black Church Studies Program" announced this spring and ready to begin this fall. See the link at http://www.lpts.edu/News-Events/article.asp?intID=321.

My colleagues on the faculty and staff, and particularly Lewis Brogdon, are to be commended for their courage and strength to persist and pursue this program for the sake of the black community and the black church!

Do as I say not as I do: Brochure Review

Out this spring from the Presbyterian Board of Pensions brochure series "Conversations on the Church," is a good piece of work by two leaders of contemporary Presbyterianism. "Presbyterian Leadership: Reflections on Leadership Renewal in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)" available online, see link below, by Linda Valentine, Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, and Clifton Kirkpatrick, recently retired Stated Clerk and currently President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and Visiting Professor here at Louisville Seminary, is a 21 page summary of current and helpful thinking about what the authors call a deep hunger for renewal of leadership in the church.

Drawing principles from the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition such as servanthood and the last shall be first, and weakness-trumps-power, and following excellent contemporary managerial theorists from Burns to Heifetz and Linsky, the authors propose five characteristics of Presbyterian leadership that are visionary and hopeful. As an inspirational and motivational piece, this is excellent work.

At the same time, the work is significant by what it reveals about the actual practice of Presbyterian leadership. Shining a light often casts a shadow. In this case, the words of the brochure are in stark contrast to the top-down, command and control practices of the General Assembly Council, the thoroughly inequitable treatment of personnel, and the lack of a strong, courageous vision in the face of antagonistic factions in our national governance.

We should do what our leaders say, not what they do, when it comes to organizational leadership!

http://http//web.pensions.org/Publications/pensions/Home/Forms%20%26%20Publications/Booklets%20%26%20Brochures/pub-505.pdf