"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness." (Jesus, Matthew 23:27)
----------------------------------
We are well into the CGGC's Yay God Tour 2014.
The eNews has reported on the goings on in the ERC, ARC, GLRC and MRC plus the California Eldership in a way that could make anyone want to add those accounts to the end of Acts 2.
Same old, same old.
About the time of the meeting of my own ERC this May, I picked up an old ERC Conference Journal from about five years ago and skimmed through that docket which projected the same tone of awe and praise for the Lord's amazing blessing on the Conference that we read this in this year's eNews articles. Interestingly, Conventional Wisdom today is that five years ago things were really not so grand, after all...
...but, of course, all is groovy now!
Because I could not attend ERC this year, I asked several others who did attend to give me their impressions.
After highlighting many of the reports by Commissions, staff people and one member of the Conference invited to give a testimonial to the effectiveness of a leadership program in transforming his congregation, one of my friends said with intense frustration, "I’m tired of the Hype..."
My sense is that many in the CGGC are tired of it, too.
----------------------------------
I was particularly struck by the totality of what I read about the Midwest Regional Conference gathering.
The first thing I read about it was not in the eNews. It from a blog posting of a CGGC friend who is a member of that Conference. Like me, my friend is no longer draws a salary from his calling. And, like me, his current job kept him away from his Conference's sessions.
In his post entitled "Missing Conference," he articulated much of what is in my heart but with a feeling and sensitivity that is beyond my gift and calling. His words are poignant to me. I feel them deeply. Because he also speaks for me, I quote him at length. Consider his words as coming from me, if I had his tender heart.
Among other things, he said:
"... like my friend [i.e., me] who wrote a similar post, I too wish I were there. . .There is that group of people (usually found at the top of the leadership structure) who have this total disdain for anyone with even a smidgen of prophet in them. They don't like to be challenged, don't want to hear truth, and mostly they probably just have a giant fear of conflict. . .Contrary to what many people think, people like me are not really angry at others, and we don't want to be troublemakers. We're actually trying to be helpful! There are things that we feel need to be said. Personally, I really WANT to fit into the group and be a part of discussions and help try to make things better. But it's frustrating. And I can't explain it very well. . . I'm tired of fighting the battle. I'm tired of caring. I'm tired of trying."
I, for one, think he explained it VERY well.
Can you feel the despair, the anxiety in those sentences--the yearning for a genuine fellowship that is in the Spirit, rooted in passion for commonly embraced truths. Can you feel the love for Jesus? Can you feel the pain of separation?
I can sense, in those words, similar moments when Elijah and Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul felt their own longing for fellowship in the Lord with the religious institutionalists in their own times and places.
Now, contrast the passions, sorrow and laments contained in my friend's sentences with the jubilant, gleeful account of Midwest Regional Conference sessions contain in Ed's eNews published on June 27.
As is the case with all of Ed's accounts of the gatherings of the institutional CGGC, Ed's account of MRC is absolutely pentecostal. According to Ed, the Word was preached with clarity. The Ordinances were celebrated with authenticity and power. Reports of God's blessing on renewal efforts were promising. Accounts shared regarding church planting and the growth of the seminary were exhilarating.
You'd think that if there are tears shed among the people of the MRC, they can only be tears of joy.
But, that is not the whole truth, as my friend's yearning, anxiety and despair make clear.
---------------------------------
One surprising characteristic of the CGGC Shepherd Mafia is that when members of our body are hurting--as my friend is--those people are not reached out to with compassion. They are not nurtured. They are not encouraged. They are not restored.
Their suffering is pretended away.
Their existence is whitewashed, expunged from the CGGC record.
I trust that there is much truth in Ed's account of the goings on at MRC sessions. But, as always, I know that Ed's truth is far from the entire truth.
It strikes me that, in Jesus' description of Judgment Day in which He likens that Day to the day that a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, Jesus says that it is not only what we do in His Name that will matter, it will also matter whom we do it.
He promises to say, "Whatever you did to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did to me."
Yet, in the eNews CGGC today, there are no least of these remaining among us. All is joy. All is blessing. All is peace. All is strength and growth and power.
The existence of those in despair has been covered over with whitewash that dazzles the eye.
Like my ERC friend, I am tired of the hype.
Like my MRC friend, "I really WANT to fit into the group and be a part of discussions and help try to make things better."
Awaiting the day that the CGGC feels the godly sorrow that produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete