November 30, 2004
Trust
Andrew, advanced man for Jesus, gets his fifteen minutes of fame today. He trusted what he heard and followed suit. His commitment, of course, was primarily an act of faith, but his faith informed his trust which is as it should and must be.
So much of our energy with regard to God these days has to do not with trust, but with control. At some deep level, our increasingly inordinate concern for doctrine, theology, and some elusive thing called “Anglican orthodoxy” seems grounded in distrust. We want faith to be a dependable system, not a personal risk. We want assurance of its benefits, proof of its performance. We have our eyes on the prize, not on the giver of the prize.
When we gather in communities of faith, we insist on negotiating contracts to protect our interests. We don’t call them contracts, of course, but what else are we doing when we argue about budgets, vision statements, liturgical norms, and leadership? We demand commitments, letters of agreement, pledge statements, creeds, and job descriptions.
In our polity, when it is exercised properly, legitimately, and only with appropriate and welcome episcopal oversight, parishes have both the privilege and the responsibility to call their rectors. But fear permeates the search processes, and it now includes extensive (and expensive) background checks, takes longer and longer, causes unnecessary delays. Is this a sign that the searchers don’t trust their own abilities, that they worry about the congregation’s trust in them, and that they don’t even trust prospective pastors?
All of this is embarrassingly doubled in spades in those dioceses where bishops frequently and irregularly intrude into the search process and into the autonomy of the Standing Committee suggesting that neither do they trust us. But as insulting and patronizing to the laity as this is, maybe there’s a reason. Maybe they neither trust those who elected them nor those officials throughout the church who approved their election and subsequent ordination. Maybe they don’t even trust themselves. How can any good come of such distrust?
I wish we could simply trust that the Holy Spirit will do what is right, and trust that we need to listen up. I wish some of our bishops could, as well. Then we might have a net that works. Like the one Andrew used.