All Is Well™ with the Church of “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”
From St. Paul, MN comes this story of a pastor who grossly misjudged the tenor of his flock:
The reverend [sic] of a St. Paul church says he needs to raise $200,000 to pay off a church loan after most of his followers left…
The Rev. Oliver White runs Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul. The 69-year-old said he needs to raise the money by June 30.
“We lost our income when we lost a number of people from our congregation.” White said.
My goodness gracious! Whatever could the Rev. White have said to cause his flock to desert him, and his future to be so black? We read on:
White said two-thirds of his followers left after he said he supported same-sex marriage, and said he was against the marriage amendment that will be up for a vote in November.
Oh, so that’s it. The Rev. White tried to whitewash the Holy Scriptures to his own liking, but his parishioners did not care for his attempt, and left him to be the black sheep (and pay the mortgage, to boot).
Has the good pastor perhaps learned his lesson?
The Rev. White? Not one whit:
“I think people are scared — scared of change, and what has been in the closet is finally coming out, and too many people are not willing to accept it,” White said.
And who changed, Pastor White? Was it Scripture, or was it possibly you?
Also, what really scared them, Pastor White? Was it the “Scripture” you suddenly discovered hidden in the dark all along, until precisely you decided to bring it into the light? Or could it be that you were the one who scared your flock with the sudden change in your religion, Pastor White? (Going from white to black will do that, you know.)
And why would you have thought you mightn’t scare them so, Pastor White?
He argued they have to accept it, adding that it’s a civil rights issue.
Ah—a “civil rights” issue, you say?
Would that be “civil rights”, as in your right to a speedy and fair trial on Judgment Day, Pastor White? Or as in your right to confess Christ crucified as your savior, even while you try to lead His flock astray—those seeking souls whom He has entrusted to your care?
Does anyone have “civil rights” before God?
But perhaps we misjudge you, Pastor White. Perhaps you were talking only of civil marriage, and not the marriage sacrament of Christ’s church, which symbolizes Our Savior’s relationship with His one, true Church.
“It’s time for our society to do as Rodney King did and say, ‘Can’t we all get along?’ That should be the 11th commandment as far as I’m concerned,” he said…
The “Eleventh Commandment,” Pastor White? That “we all just get along”? “Live and let live?” (It sounds as though you’re the one who wants to mix religion into civil life, Pastor White.)
Doesn’t that “Commandment” tend to undermine the first ten?
Why can’t my neighbor just live with it if I turn out my wife and invite his to move in with me? I just want to “get along” with her. What’s wrong with that?
“We should not try to legislate morality, in terms of who should get married and who can’t get married.”
But—but—Pastor White? Didn’t you just say that we should legislate your “Eleventh Commandment” into law, for everyone to follow?
How is it that, in the Gospel according to Oliver, society has to obey Rodney King’s commandments, but God’s are optional?
How did you expect that message to sit with your parishioners, Pastor White?
White said they are praying for a miracle donation, but says even if they lose the church, those remaining members will find another place to worship.
And just who is the source of miracles, Father White? It wouldn’t be that same God who joined the first man and the first woman together in holy matrimony, would it? Or are you now worshipping a different deity, whom you expect to save you and your remnant from having to find another place of worship?
Never mind answering that, Father White. I know what you would say, anyway, because all those pastors who are misleading their flocks say the same thing—even if they lose two-thirds of their sheep:
“Never fear—all is well™.”
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13 comments
I’m sure his new “constituency” will step right in, fill the pews AND the collection plate. Problem solved! -sarcasm off-
[1] Posted by midwestnorwegian on 5-31-2012 at 05:35 AM · [top]
He could have led with that and stopped there. I’m all for the states, counties, townships, etc. getting out of the marriage biz. If folks want to get married, draft an agreement (attorney, church, Legal Zoom) and sign it. If you want a Christian wedding, take your public nuptials in church. If you want an event, hire a notary.
[2] Posted by iamaworm on 5-31-2012 at 08:05 AM · [top]
“He could have led with that and stopped there.”
Hi, Festivus—yes, if he had done it at the coffee hour, instead of in the pulpit.
If he meant it as political opinion, then he should have kept it out of his preaching.
And if he meant it as religious doctrine, then he was preaching a false Gospel.
Either way, he had no business preaching politics while masquerading as a teacher of Scripture.
[3] Posted by A. S. Haley on 5-31-2012 at 09:54 AM · [top]
He is UCC - even less well-schooled in logic and consistency than those indoctrinated at Episcopal seminaries. I have to admit, however, to being surprised that his congregation was distressed over his support of same-sex “marriage.”
[4] Posted by AnglicanXn on 5-31-2012 at 11:42 AM · [top]
I’ll admit that I feel somewhat amused when pro-same sex marriage people go, what? what’s all the fuss about?
And nobody seems to be able to answer them with the simplest answer, by bringing your agenda into the Christian church you are attempting to render that religion meaningless.
Period.
Oh, and stop trying to make this a civil rights issue. Stop comparing yourselves to people who had to fight their way out of slavery, who had to fight their way into being free to live in houses of their choice, who had to fight their way into the voting booth.
Because you, gay people, are not that.
[5] Posted by JuliaMarks on 5-31-2012 at 12:32 PM · [top]
If we were in the South, I’d say that Mr. White might have a chance of putting some old Southern Democrats (the Ross Barnett sort) in the pews (about the only new people coming to Episcopal churches these days), but there aren’t too many of those in Minnesota.
[6] Posted by All-Is-True on 5-31-2012 at 12:50 PM · [top]
#3 - no evidence he did this in the pulpit. As I read this, he was presenting his (wayward) opinion on the matter. And unfortunately for Rev White, his flock seems to know right from wrong. If he was concerned with civil liberty, he should realize that the greatest civil liberty occurs when the government is not involved in personal relationships. Rather, the greatest spiritual and civil liberty occurs with a life in alignment with God’s purpose.
[7] Posted by iamaworm on 5-31-2012 at 02:05 PM · [top]
You may be perfectly correct, Festivus (#7); I cannot prove it from anything in the story. It’s just that, in my experience, pastors don’t lose two-thirds of their congregations over some off-hand remark delivered during the coffee hour, or said on the steps after the service. It’s when they wrap their false message in a mantle of pastoral authority.
[8] Posted by A. S. Haley on 5-31-2012 at 02:20 PM · [top]
I’m betting that the pastor did say this from the pulpit for a couple of reasons:
(1). It probably was the result of several ongoing conversations that were stalemating (as the same-sex debate probably is) on the board, so the pastor did the next thing that activist/charismatic do: he went to the congregation at large.
(2). If you really want to push your point of view (and makes other feel as if they have no other choice put to either agree with you, drop the issue, or leave the church), the pulpit is one place because it is a venue where the people in the pews cannot respond like in a vestry meeting. I think generations of ministers in past times were more aware of the power that the pulpit had, and out of this respect they confined their teaching to the scripture and were careful about wandering into other waters. Most of the liberal revisionists don’t have this respect or restraint. They turn their pulpit into a literal ‘bully pulpit.’ When my wife and I took our family and left the local Episcopal church here, it was after the rector continually went off of scripture to talk about global warming conjectures and his views on Iraq, Afghanistan, illegal immigration, etc. Not that we cared that he was politically a leftist, but that he was fine bullying us in a venue where we could not respond. We came there after 2003, but apparently there was a group of people after Gene Robinson who told him they wanted the local church to start thinking about leaving ECUSA. Apparently, we attacked them from the pulpit as well. (He told the story one way, and they told it another. After what I saw with my own eyes, I believe them.)
[9] Posted by All-Is-True on 5-31-2012 at 02:34 PM · [top]
I meant to say, “he attacked them from the pulpit.” I am off from teaching until summer school, but I have a 6 year old who is telling me every 2 seconds to see what her dollies are doing.
[10] Posted by All-Is-True on 5-31-2012 at 02:37 PM · [top]
Should I send the address of the Arcus Foundation so he can apply for a grant?
[11] Posted by Undergroundpewster on 5-31-2012 at 05:30 PM · [top]
Sorry to let you and TEC know, but “All is well” is already owned and operated by Kevin Bacon in Animal House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
[12] Posted by Robert Lundy on 6-1-2012 at 08:08 AM · [top]
Hopefully the UCC can discover its underutilized hierarchical identity and he can sue the parishioners for any uncompleted pledges.
[13] Posted by Timothy Fountain on 6-1-2012 at 11:37 AM · [top]
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